Visitors

My best friend Jen came in town from Colorado for the Cowboys game last weekend and her husband came in from Lawton (he is finishing up his army commitment) and in laws (from San Antonio) all came by to see the boys. They just loved the Cowboys hats and had so much fun playing with Aunt Jen, Uncle Travis, and Mrs. White. Thanks for coming by everyone! :)

Aunt Jen tries to keep a hold of Cyrus while he is elated over the hats he sees.


Uncle Travis lets Collin try on his hat... Wow, Collin likes it!


They are so big on me, that's funny!
I really like you Mrs.White, thanks for coming by to see us. :)


Cyrus puts the hat on Aunt Jen that he stole from Collin's head.

Oh Cool! Now we are both wearing hats!!
Cyrus' fits a lot better than Collin's.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This is our first Thanksgiving at home with no one coming to us. It is just Craig, the boys, and me; a quiet and low key day. We are very thankful that we have two happy children who are as healthy as they can be at this point. We are thankful for the people who have helped us through all we have been through for the past two years- my parents who have been invaluable in their support and emotional availability, all of our family for being there when we needed you with love and supporting the boys, our friends for their love and support, the doctors, nurses, surgeons, therapists, our mircopreemie friends who can relate to our plights, and most of all the strength of these two little miracles to have thrived through such overwhelming odds to be where they are today. May each Thanksgiving day give us more reasons to be thankful and may each year be better than the last. Now I am going to go enjoy this day off, which is a day without DR appointments, therapy sessions, and the boys are not going to be force to eat full meals if they do not want to. That's more for me to relax than for them of course. :P

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!


Can I have chicken and stars for Thanksgiving this year, mom?


We just love the dryer... But Cyrus is getting bored I think.


Cyrus can be my seat to look at the light!


We have claimed this piece of shelving
in the name of the Swain Twins!


Now Collin, listen up... here are the design plans for our
Mecha-Legs to reach the computers
and other hard to reach items.

Feeling Better

We thought at first it was just a cold or allergies, but their congestion turned into a coughing, miserable, snotty, sleepless mess. So we did the usual Tylenol runny nose & cough during the day with Benadryl at night, pushing the fluids and not working so hard to make them eat. We had their two year check up on Thursday, where they were weighed and measured standing up for the first time... My boys are growing up! :) It makes me so happy to see them getting bigger and doing more, but I digress.

So we got our shots and our PCP (Primary Care Physician) is recommending the gastro DR to us (again) b/c of Collin's increased reflux problem. He also gave us some really great medicine for their cold which looks like blue airplane toilet water, but it doesn't taste bad and it is 12 hour medicine, versus the 4 hour on the Tylenol. Woo HOO!! They have been doing so much better and this morning they are looking like themselves again. The other thing our PCP recommended was therapy through Cooks for Collin to replace the therapy from TWU we will be losing at the end of the month.

Today is going to be a busy day so I better get to it, but I wanted to jot this down while I had a few minutes. Fun pics to come...

How early was I?

I have about four friends and then a few acquaintances who are pregnant and a few were curious how far along I was when Collin & Cyrus was born... I also have been on pins and needles whenever I hear about pregnancies and I worry about how their pregnancy will go and all that. So I went and did the math and discovered that to be technical:

Collin was born at 25 weeks, 2 days; 103 days early

Cyrus was born 25 weeks, 5 days; 100 days early

They were approx. 15 weeks or 3 1/2 months early... Crazy when I think about what I know now compared to what I knew then. Amazing. Just wanted to document this... Must go sleep... This is my scrapbook...My journal... My memories.

Prematurity Awareness Month

I just wanted everyone to know that November is Prematurity Awareness Month. So please consider all those pleas from the March of Dimes when you get those address labels, either using them with guilt or tossing them so you wont feel guilty. Go to the website and donate or find a local donation center. Children like mine depend upon it.

Online Donations links:
In Honor of Collin and In Honor of Cyrus

Collin, just over a week old, 4 IVs, a ventilator,
and more... Look what these little ones
have to go through.

Cyrus only a few days old, just barely two pounds,
and wearing Craig's wedding ring.

Halloween and Such

We had a good Halloween, our first time to Trick or Treat. Cyrus absolutely loved it, taking about three houses to get the idea and just having a ball. We only went around two streets (which was more than plenty) and a friend of mine drove all the way from Dallas to help me take them around. Next year will be even better, when Collin will (hopefully) be walking and can say "trick or treat" and enjoy all the loot they will acquire. This year however, most of it will be consumed my Mom and Dad.

Our therapy at TWU is going excellently and we are so sad that it will be over at the end of the month. Collin has gotten so much out of it and his eating, oral manipulation, and fine motor skills have improved drastically in the six weeks we have been in the program. He has even said a few words now: "yea!" "eat," and more clearly "mama." But he says yea the best, holding both arms over his head in a touch down motion. We have been fingerpainting and learning to tolerate more textures (rice is still a big no no) and he loves to play in the ball pit now. Cyrus has the best time while we are there jumping on the trampoline, riding the big swing and playing in the rice box.

I think both boys are going through a growth spurt and are taking more bottles at naptime and bedtime, Cyrus especially. He takes two bottles everynight before going to bed... even after having a full dinner that he feeds himself. He can eat a whole toddler entree now, so its not like he is not eating (at least at dinner time), but I have learned that neither one of the boys like mashed potatoes. We will have to give that a try a few weeks down the road. So, we are super busy for now and working hard to keep them at the top of their game, and I am trying to not to be over whelmed by all the work we are doing everyday.

Big sister Gaia will be staying with us the rest of the week while her mom has a c-section tomorrow to deliver her fourth child. Congratulations to her and Gaia will be the big sister to a total of FIVE brothers. I will have to get up at the crack of dawn to get her to school the rest of the week but we will get to go to her school carnival on Saturday, so that will be fun. Um... I am sure there is more; we had a quasi-birthday party for the boys on the Saturday between their birthdays. It was fun but exhausting as I had expected. :P Well, on to the pictures so I can hopefully get some things done around here before the boys get up from their nap.

Cyrus loved wearing his dinosaur costume!

Collin in his lion costume at therapy.
Too Cute, and so fitting for him!

I had to show the tail... it really made the outfit!

Where is Cyrus?

Collin with Miss Stacy playing on the trampoline at therapy.
BTW, it was on Halloween. :P