Doctors Visits, Sniffles and Growth

The boys have been very busy these last few days... We had several doc apts., we all have colds and we saw our developmental pediatrician today. We interviewed another pediatrician last week since our current one is not on Brandon's new insurance... we are soooo sad about that! We hope we like the new doc! Christian went in Monday to have his helmet fitting apt. We decided to do Christian in a helmet and not Brock. Since our insurance did not cover the helmet we had to make a tough decision... Brock's head is so borderline that we elected to put C in but no B. We go and pick it up on Monday.

We saw the developmental ped. today and had a great report for both boys... C was 16 pounds, 24 1/2 inches long and had a 43.1 cm head. He is doing great catching up on his charts! He measured at 5 months and 1 week for all his motor skills which is great! Since the babies are almost 7 months chronological age and 4 months corrected age, they are expected to be at about a 4 month level right now and we are a bit above that! They have until age 2 years to really "catch up" with their peers. We had LOTS of questions and a test with the developmental lady (who C was not to fond of) and she felt they were both doing really well. B was an avg of 5 months and 3 weeks in motor skills and weighted 17 pounds, 6 oz and was 25 1/2 inches long with a 44.2 cm head. He is fully caught up on the size scale of a normal 6 month baby. He didn't mind the developmental pediatrician as much as C :)

C also had his 6 month hematologist apt this week and we checked out A'ok! He had great clotting and kidney functions so we are superstars there! That doctor called him a "miracle baby" and I have to say, I agree. The hematologist is in the same office as pediatric oncology and you have never felt so lucky as when you are sitting with other parents of children with cancer. It was a blessing to be cleared from their office and told "not to come back" :)

We had a couple of visitors in the last few days... The Crimmon's family came to see us last week with their super cute toddler Erin. We now have a good idea what we are in store for when the boys can walk :) We had our friends the Williamson's over with their 5 month old triplets and the babies all had a great time! If we had 5 munchkins we would FOR SURE need a bigger house! We always love seeing them and I know the babies will have a great time playing when they are older and then finally we had cousin Grady and my mom this week! B loved playing with Grady's feet and trying to smack him in the face. Very cute!

Finally we have all been fighting the sniffles this week! B and I both got it early this week and the boys have been sleeping, sneezing and coughing but not enough to take them into the doc. It is not fun having the sniffles and taking care of babies... I don't think mom's should be allowed to get sick.

Doctors, Snow and Valentines Day

Christian in front of the fire.

Brock looking for Valentines Day love...

Yummy rose... can we get another one of these?

Nope... just found the thorns.

Cuteness.

Look at all the stuff daddy got mommy... thanks daddy!

What a week around here.... Dallas got a massive snow storm and had over a foot of snow on Thursday! Very exciting day for us all, especially since most of us lost power and we also had a doctor apt for the boys helmets. With Valentines weekend, no power and snow it was a different weekend for sure.

Thursday the guys had their RSV shots... Christian weighted in at 15 1/2 pounds and Brock was 16 1/2. C is really gaining on him :) We had to get over there in the snow... so after that morning apt., I canceled our afternoon hematologist check up for two weeks from now. Mom can only do so much :) Friday we woke up to a beautiful, cold morning (and house). Sara and Bryan ended up coming in the middle of the night to huddle by our fire since their power had gone out early. We woke up and decided to head to our helmet apts. Since it was 9a we were the only ones there with the bad weather. The boys both had pictures and measurements taken... they are both candidates for the helmets, but neither one is very bad. Christian is flatter than Brock (common with NICU time) and Brock's head is bigger but we will see what our insurance covers for the guys... these helmets are VERY expensive so hopefully our insurance will cover them and they will be round little heads in about 2 months :)

We spent the rest of the weekend relaxing, painting, playing, staging photo shoots, watching movies and enjoying.

xoxo, Jenn

6 Month Check Up and More!

Aunt "KK" and cousin Grady.

Christian.

Birthday girl Nana and Brock.

Papa Rog and C.

Jenn and the baby goats...he is THRILLED to be picked up!

Christian on Sat... his first meal :)

C LOVES it!

B wearing most his first meal.

B.

Happy SuperBowl! We have had a big week/weekend this weekend. Starting on Friday we did out 6 month check up with Dr. Dennison. I really, really love our pediatrician and am so sad that due to Brandon's new insurance not being "in network" with the group that we will need to change. It is depressing... all my friends use him as does my sister so all my good referrals are for him! Back to the apt... Brock weighted 16 pounds, 7 oz (25% for regular 6 month old babies) was 26 1/4 long (40%) and his head size was 17" (30%) all his percentiles were for regular 6 month old babies with no regard for his prematurity. He his 3 out of 4 milestones for a 6 month old. Yeah! Doc thought that he was just amazing!!! Great, Great news!!! Christian was 14 pounds, 14 oz (8 %) was 24 3/8 long (under 5 %) and had a head size of 16 3/4 (20 %) all his measurements were on the regular 6 month chart as well! He has REALLY grown since his 4 month apt. Christian hit all markers on the 4 month baby chart and 2 of 4 on the 6 month baby chart which is SOOOOO wonderful! We did hear that we need to see a specialist for Christian's head shape. It is not uncommon in multiples and preemies to lay on your head more than a normal baby and to have a head that is flatter in one area than another. Our doc felt C was boarderline so we are going to go see a specialist for both him and Brock on Friday (I figured if one was going the other should too) for a potential helmet. I am thinking that he is an ideal candidate and we will most likely be putting one or both in a helmet to help their head be more "round" in shape. More to come if we end up in the helmet....

Next fun times for the babies was on Sat. with our first food!!! The both had oatmeal and B LOVED it and C was a little confused but did take some down. The babies for sure wore more than they ate. Brandon and I had such a great time feeding them and I see many more outfit changes in our future during the day as our feeds increase. Right now we are once a day, in a couple of days we move to two and so forth. In a couple of weeks we will add in veggies and fruit. We will slowly increase what we eat over the next few months and by 9 months be having a breakfast, lunch and dinner plus bottles. Yum!

After our first real meal we drove to Fort Worth to celebrate Nana Lois's Birthday! She turned 39, amazing since Sara is 33 :) Sara, Bryan, Brandon and I brought sides for dinner and a Nana cake for the B-day girl and had a great time!! Kathy and Alan and old family friends Tim and Darla had dinner with everyone. The babies LOVED having so many admirers and had a great time with cousin Grady. The three all got held and played with ALL day and night and loved every minute.

Sunday morning we let Brandon sleep in about an hour and nana and I feed the boys more oatmeal.... still funny and they wore most of it again. Then nana watched the boys so Brandon and I could go to their church. Always a treat! We came home, ate, packed up and got back to Dallas about 230p. Great weekend!

Brandon leaves tomorrow morning for a work trip, the boys have their helmet apt, RSV shots and also a follow up apt from C's blood clot (in the NICU) this week. They are going to really be OVER doctors after this month. It seems all docs want check ups around the 6 month mark.

On the plus side, we did get a BIT more freedom with the guys. If we are ok with them maybe getting sick we can risk taking them to indoor places like small, quite restaurants, freestanding stores on off times... that kind of thing. We have not done it yet so we will see.... RSV season is typically over in March so we are really close to not having to worry as much.

Have a great week!

Very Big Weekend

Dad napping on sat. morning.... who better to wake him up then our little bundles of joy?

I love sleeping with dad.

For the Barefeet we had a BIG weekend! Since we are on house arrest with the boys, we really don't have big weekends anymore... except for this one! On Friday we took it easy and I got ready for co-hosting a baby shower for my dear friend Shanna. She is having Boy/Girl twins and has been at Presby Dallas hospital for the past 6 weeks or so. She has been such a good sport about it and on Sat. about 20 of her friends got together and celebrated her new so to be additions. She is at 28 weeks this week (good job girl!) and is working hard to hit 36! On Sat. night Brandon and I had a date night at Kobe Steaks... yummm. On Sunday we had two wonderful visitors. Thanks for coming to visit and feed Kristin and Suzanne! You all are welcome anytime :)

We have some pretty lucky babies

All the Barefeet men

The boys in their BOB stroller....we spend A LOT of time in this! Thank you again Eckman's!

Christian

Brock and then C

All three babies... Grady Brazelton, Brock Barefoot and Christian Barefoot

Brandon and goat. Brandon SUPER happy and goat not so much

Jenn and one of the newest goats... the only brown one of the lot.

1/25/10- Karen with her matching "chicks". Looks like one happy Grammy.

The boys exploring their super play mat... thank goodness for these! The boys love them at home and at grandma's! C on left and B on right

B on right and C on left.

My parents with the little guys (in their BIG hats), my dad holding B and mom has C.

What a cute country family :) Yee-Haa

Mom and C.

Brandon's family with the boys, 1/24/10. Brock on the left and C on the right.

Don and Karen with two very happy boys

What we normally get from these two :) C on the left and B on the right.

Christian and Brock in their western duds.

Best looking cowboys in town

C on left and B on right

Dad with his super cute look alikes

My very favorite western men...Sat. Jan 24th . My mom says I don't get one's with Christian smiling very often so here is one.

Dad and Brock.

To be blessed with so many wonderful grandparents! This weekend the babies got to see BOTH sets of their grandparents and I know they loved every minute of it! I know they loved it since they cried and cried for Brandon and I once everyone left! Don and Karen (B's parents) came in on Friday night and on Sat. we all headed to Fort Worth. Brandon and I got a great date night in at the Fort Worth Stock Show while we had 4 wonderful baby sitters :) Sunday Brandon's parents were nice to watch the boys so we could go to church. Since church is one of the biggest "no no's" for the boys because of the large crowds, we don't really get to go very often. Sunday afternoon Brandon left for Virginia for work, his parents spent the night with relatives and I stayed in Fort Worth with my parents. It was so nice to have my mom help out this weekend and cook for all of us and open their home to all of us..... I think they might even have the babies back after all the crying :) We all got to meet our new family baby goats (which were three hours to three days old, take walks and just enjoy the clean country air.

The boys turn 6 months tomorrow... where has the time gone?!? I was sent a NICU blog of a new twin mom (whom I have never met) that is just starting her NICU journey. I just can't believe that 6 months ago tomorrow my water broke. I remember just how scared I was and all I could say is "mom... it is to early, it's to early," on our way to the hospital. Now 6 months later it seems that is just how my men wanted to make their appearance... with a bang. Now knowing their personalities, I just couldn't imagine it any other way.

Getting into our routine

We are doing great around here these days. We have dad back from his business trip (yeah!). I tend to be ready for him to walk in the door when he gets home after a few days :) Brock looked at him and gave him the biggest smile when he got home. It is beautiful weather here again (the reason we live in Texas) and the babies and I had a big day. We picked up lunch from a drive through Panara for Sara and I and then I went to visit her and Grady with the babies. We had lunch, fed babies and then went for a walk. I walked about an hour with Sara and then Ashley came and met us with Lily Pad (her super cute King Charles) and we walked some more. The boys love the BOB stroller which makes me love it more! We came home and mom did baby manicures this afternoon so hopefully the guys will not get their face anymore.

Tomorrow it is supposed to be 72 and I see more outdoor time for us. Sara- sorry Christian threw up on your couch :)

We have gotten into a good routine around here lately with only 4 feeds a day. My next big hurdle is always getting the guys to nap in their crib. I have been so hesitant to do this for so many reasons. 1. I like to look at the while they sleep in the living room and 2. I always have to be home at the same time if we make it into a big routine. Right now we only nap in our cribs if we have visitors that would keep the guys awake... I am thinking next week I will start the new crib routine, then again I said that last week.

I feel like my days fly by when I am home with the guys all day. I just love it all and wish I had a "Jenn copy" so both boys could be snuggled all day. Brock is already pretty much over being snuggled and I know C will be soon. B likes to be active and stand, move and be entertained all day. C will still let me hold and love on him for the moment.

This weekend we head to Fort Worth to stay with my parents and we have Brandon's parents along with us. I bought Brandon rodeo tickets for Christmas and we are attending on Sat. while the grandparents hold down the fort. The ranch had some new kids born this week to their momma goats and I can't wait to see them!

Have a great weekend!!

Weights

Well we have two VERY big babies!!! Today we went in to get their RSV shots and Christian weighted in at 14 pounds and Brock was 15 pounds 14 oz. The nurses were VERY impressed at their large weight gain. In 33 days C gained almost 2.5 pounds. Wow.

The babies are doing just great. We are still waiting on Brock to roll over but he loves to stand, laugh, smile, coo, grab his toys, play with his light rattle and generally be the center of attention. He is and will continue to be my handful baby. Christian is smiling away, rolling over, starting to stand for a second, can sit while against something, makes great eye contact and really loves his mom. Where ever I am in the room, Christian is looking. He loves to be held and is a really wonderful baby.

We are pretty tired these days at the end of the day from playing, entertaining and loving on the babies. We change clothes no less than 4 times and are LOVING every minute. I just can't believe they are already 5 1/2 months!!!

We will try to snap some more pics and get them downloaded soon. Not much free time around here these days :) We miss the good old days when we did a lot of napping :)