The Latest

Jillian is not a fan of the rice cereal

First colds : (

Sniffle, sneeze, cough, cough, cough

So cute!

Um...Avery you like these things?!?!

Jillian all bundled up

Avery is ready for the cold weather already

Sweet Jill

Smiley Avery

Aunt Laura and I wore these dresses

We met Great Grandma Vera

We love to jump in our jumper

Love this face

Teething Avery

Snuggling with NaNa

Chewing on our crunchy books together

Dr. Roten gave Jill a clean bill of health! Her heart is fabulous!

Avery

Jillian

One of our favorite things to chew on

Jill feels great!

Go Pokes!

It's been a long time since our last update...let's just blame it on the fact that our internet leaves a lot to be desired. The girls are 7 months now and are getting so big. They roll in all directions and are getting up on their hands and knees. They'll be crawing before we know it. Both of them have two teeth on the bottom and have just this week cut a top tooth. They are babbling all the time and they are super interactive. Avery still loves to eat her cereal, and has added green beans and sweet peas to her favorites. Jillian is taking her bottles like a little pig! We've tried solids with her, but so far she won't eat them and take her bottles. They are more fun every day and we thank God for blessing us with our sweet girls.

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

Jillian meets Great Grandpa Everett


Avery Rose meet Great Grandma Rose

You like my Grinch bow?

A very special visit from Santa!

Listen sister, I can get that out for you!

Just laying around

Avery trying out green beans!

Jillian getting a tube free nap

I can roll over now!

I love to stand up!

In the last month the girls have grown so much! Jillian got to come home with her feeding tube. We scheduled surgery for a g button and then decided to give her a feeding tube break for a night. That was 4 nights ago and it is still out. We're praying she continues to eat well so that another surgery won't be necessary. In the meantime, she's rolling over and beginning to giggle. She's much happier now that she's off all medications and is tube free!
Avery is now trying out veggies at lunch time and still loves her rice cereal. Just recently she's been really fussy and low and behold, I felt a tooth today! She loves to stand up and I'm pretty sure if she could walk and drive a car she'd be at college right now.
We can't thank everyone enough for all of your prayers for our family. Please keep them coming. Jill's moving in the right direction and we want to keep it that way!
In addition to all the changes with the girls, I've decided to not return to teaching. It takes two, sometimes 3 to take care of the girls right now because Jillian is still working on eating. We had already started discussing my not returning to work in the Fall, but given the circumstances with Jillian's recovery we went ahead and made the decision for me to being staying home now. It was not an easy choice to make, Jacksboro has been so good to me, but ultimately my family must come first.

Jill's Home Again

I took 105mL and my goal is 100mL! Mom and Grandma were excited!

Avery loves to suck her thumb

Mom, this tape is not very fashionable.

Avery and Jill checking each other out

Baby circuit training

I rolled over ALL BY MYSELF!

My hands are always in my mouth

Avery and Jill chatting it up while Jill gets fed through her tube.

Avery "reading" her book at the dinner table

Jill got to meet some of the Dallas Cowboys before she left.

Jillian is home now, feeding tube, pump, and all. We were glad when the doctors said that there was no reason to sit in the hospital and do what we could be doing at home. Therefore, I learned how to drop a feeding tube so we could go home. Jillian's days vary from hour to hour, but we think that we've found the right combination of meds. She's weaning off of the methadone, so we've started a routine of Tylenol and benadryl to help take the edge off. It seems to be working so far, she's taken more of her bottles today than any other!

Avery is officially rolling from back to belly, and belly to back now. She's very proud of herself and we're proud of her too. She's so much happier now that we're all home and she doesn't have to get in her carseat everyday. We're waiting for the day she begins to laugh out loud, I'm sure it's not far off. She's working very hard to learn new things, I think it's because she wants to be ready to teach sister when Jill is well again.

While this is not the ideal situation and we would rather Jill be off all meds and without the feeding tube, this arrangement is much better than the hospital. We have a way to go still with her recovery, but we are so grateful for the progress that has been made. Her heart is functioning beautifully and she stays PINK all the time...no more blue baby!!

A good day!!

Jill's empty bottle!!

A very happy mommy and a tired Jillian

So today has been great!! Jill drank 85mL of two bottles and 90mL of her last one which is her goal! It has taken an army of people to get her to take them, but we've had success. Many thanks to the nurses and care partners who have danced, talked, and sang to Jill to keep her awake and going. If we continue to have success through the night they'll hopefully take her feeding tube out tomorrow. Then another 24 hours of success and we can go home!! Keep praying and thinking positive thoughts, we're making a break through!!

Still at the hospital

Hungry Jill and our friends Anna and an unhappy Luke

Thank you for my bath Grandma

Well, we're still here at our home away from home. Jillian is still having trouble eating. She wants to, but only takes 1-2 oz and then stops. I'm thinking she's got reflux and so we're in the process of having gastro tests run to check. This last week has been a long a frustrating one with no answers, but hopefully we'll see progress soon. We are SO SO ready to be home together as a family.

Uhhh Mom...this pillow they gave us is nice, but I don't think it's going to work.

Avery trying out the exersaucer

I LOVE rice cereal!

Jill rocking her button!

Our first Thanksgiving!

So we have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving, but most of all that we have two healthy baby girls! We have had a minor setback in Jillian's recovery though, she doesn't want to eat. It's not that she can't or doesn't remember how, she just doesn't want to. I'm not positive, but my gut feeling is it's the medicine they are giving her to wean off of the pain meds. She's very happy, but has no appetite. We are back in the hospital tonight and she is receiving continuous feeds through the night so she can make up for what she's missed. Tomorrow we will work on bottle feeding, but we have the feeding tube in now so that she can get the full feed even if it's not through the bottle. We're not at all happy to be back here, but we know that we have to do something now before she gets dehydrated. Otherwise, we'll have a much bigger problem on our hands.
In the meantime, Avery is VERY close to rolling over. We are all watching her and willing her to just have a little more momentum. She, unlike her sister, is very hungry and has started rice cereal. She LOVES it and we LOVE watching her eat it. She gets very excited and let's you know if you're not moving fast enough.

We are so very grateful for our precious girls, and they are most definiatly the best things we never knew we wanted. Please continue to pray for both of them, but most of all for Jillian's recovery and that her eating improves quickly so we can go back home.