3 months and counting

The girls are getting bigger and bigger...now over 10 pounds, they are eating baby food and cereal along with their formula. The reflux has all but disappeared and I think that it had to do with the preemie formula that they were on for the first month or so. We still use thickener just to be on the safe side with the spit up. They are full of smiles and silent talking and seem to want to laugh very soon.



We have had a busy spring so far...we visited Shannon in Batesville about a month ago and last weekend as well as this weekend Shannon and her family have come to visit here, it has been awesome spending time with my other family....they are as close as my own as anyone could ever get and I love them all. We went to Jim's mom's a few weeks ago and then again this weekend and it is so relaxing for me when we go there as I hand her the babies and say goodnight....This prooves to be the best sleep that I have had since their births. We picked up their new swings this weekend and it is nice to be able to swing them both at the same time because until now we only had the one that Mom and Tony had brought 2 months ago. On the way home today we went by the graveyards in Missouri where Jim's family is buried and took pics as well as decorated his brothers grave as today would have been his 32nd birthday.



We plan to make a few more trips this summer and as of yet nothing is set in stone.

Things are getting easier as the girls get bigger and I am excited for the milestones that are in the near future.

My summer courses start June 1st and I am excited to be using my brain again for something other than baby formulas and diaper fullness. Online this summer means that I have yet to figure out how to get out of this house everyday..I am not losing any of this weight...I think I will need to just leave every afternoon and make it a point to walk around the block or something...Jim lost his job at the liquor store when it shut down last month.

love to u all

BETH

UPDATE: There is something wrong with our van, we are not sure the guy at the tire shop said that it was a blown head gasket and the estimate that we got to fox it was 1300.00 RYK...we might as well just get another vehicle for that price or an entire new motor...I have no idea what we are going to do just yet,.,.,,Jim seems to think that it is not a head gasket as he has mechanic friends and they dont think that is what it is...well I guess we will see...this puts off any traveling that I had planned this coming month or so.

2 Months Old

Samantha

Stacey

Samantha and Stacey are growing! They weigh as much as a normal size newborn now...8 lbs. 6 1/2 oz. and 8 lbs. 3 1/2 oz.

They are smiling big now and Samantha can already roll over from belly to back...lol..she does not like to be on her stomach!

Things are better (with the colic) now that we switched them to lacto-free formula, put gas drops in their formula and use Benefiber for Kids to help them use the bathroom. For weeks we were all pulling our hair out as they were some crying babies--EVERY NIGHT!!! We are actually sleeping now, sometimes more than 6 hours straight...I dont know how to act when I get that much sleep.

The girls had their first cold (sniffles) last week and of course I was worried sick, they are better now but Big Brother is sick with a fever and sore throat for the past 2 days....he is going to the dr. tomorrow! The girls took their first out of town trip to Kennett a month ago and then this past weekend I took the kids to Shannon's (in Batesville), we had a good trip and the best time.

Hope this finds all of u well, I am sorry that I am not in very good contact lately..but as u can imagine I am pretty busy day in and day out!! Love you all!! BETH

SCAMP MARIE SWINDLE FAIN 5/2/91-3/6/2009

My baby Scamp passed yesterday morning around 3:00.

I am totally and utterly heartbroken and grieving!!!!

I have had him since before my 13th birthday and will never forget all of the years that we shared together...he meant the world to me!

He was an awesome kitten, always playing and was for sure always with me!!

He slept under the covers and loved turkey, butter, and tuna. He always gave hugs and would jump on my back when I wasnt paying him attention or was bent over...He meant the world to me!

He meant so much to me that Jim was always wondering if it came between him and Gamp--who would win...well I will never tell, but I am sure that one can guess what that answer is.

He loved to play with rubber bands and blush brushes, he would hide them...lol. He also loved POUNCE (Jim's fav. treat to give him) and catnip :)

He was a very talkative cat, never quiet (unless he was asleep), he would just meow to greet u, meow louder for food and yowl at night--we always said--just to hear himself talk. As he got older he would yowl at the walls and in the hallway at all hours...he was getting senile..

He had lived a full life and was the best cat (baby) I could have asked for.

The only time that we were apart in 18 years was when we lived on Speedway and the front door was left open for a time when I was not in the room and Scamp got out. We called a search party and we looked for days...calling his name and screaming down the street at all hours of the night...we looked everywhere!! I was almost as heartbroken then as I am right now! He was gone for weeks and it was such a relief when my friend Cathy found him just 3 or 4 doors down from the house and it seemed as if he had been there the whole time. He had lost his hair and about 10 pounds...he was as miserable without me as I was without him :(

He had just gotten weaker and weaker after his leg was broken..he went downhill really fast within the past couple of weeks and I knew that it was time....he was not in any pain

(as far as I could tell) and he only cried when he wanted my attention. (I wish now for more of that...It was hard with him and the twins all wanting to be in my lap at the same time).

There will never be another baby like Scamp, he was just the greatest...he was my best friend for almost 18 years and I will love and miss him forever!!!

2/21/2009 GRAMMY came to visit !!!!

Well, things are going to fast in my life lately and there is no real way to catch everyone up on the past few weeks that i have not had time to write anything down...but I am going to try to sum a little up today by working backwards :)

Yesterday my mom came to visit her grandkids and it was AWESOME!! There is just something about seeing my kids with my mom that I just love. It is almost indescribable. She held the girls all day long, and I think by the time they left last night she could tell them apart. NOT SURE THOUGH....lmao. It is getting harder and harder to tell them apart these days and I know that the older they get the more they will look alike.

Baxter came to visit and as u can imagine Sebastian got the biggest kick out of that!! Him and Baxter just played and played.

BTW, we got some snow and sleet yesterday and the ground is still just covered...it is beautiful

I am trying to play catch up but not doing a good job at it, everyone just be assured that they girls are doing fine and we are all happy and well.

Dealing with the girls reflux

The girls are a total joy and have made our lives complete!!! We never even knew that we were missing anything. I got scared the 5th when Stacey quit breathing on me....we took her to the clinic after I sucked this fluid out of her throat and they decidedto keep her overnight for observation.

We stayed and she was hooked up to machines to monitor her breathing, oxygen levels, and heartbeat. The next morning..after a night of no incidents and me getting some actual rest as I was not worried being in the hospital and hooked up to machines, they sent her down for a Upper GI scan....During the scan the radiologists told me that she had reflux...that the reason she didnt spit up was because the reflux just came to the bottom of her throat and she was getting choked on it, that that was the reason that she quit breathing.

We went home that night with a prescription for reflux medicine and a sleep apnea machine for home at night.

The medicine did not seem to do that good om its own and we were still having 2-3 episodes a day...I took matters into my own hands and put her on the thickener that Ethen used (thanks Angie for still having some) :)

We have only had 1 or 2 since and that is a relief.

Big Brother Sebastian

He is the most proud and loving BIG BROTHER!!! I am so proud of him, everyday is an adventure with him as he thinks everything they do is the coolest and most awesome thing.

He looked forward to seeing them for so long and I think that the reality of the last few months (with me in and out of the hospital) that he was so excited to see them and relieved that it was all over with...he was overwhelmed with emotion the first time that he held Stacey that he just cried....It was the sweetest thing..I looked at him and said are u OK?? He said yea, I am not sad I am so happy to see my sisters and I am just glad that they are here!!!

He hugs and kisses them all day long and would rather spend time with them than to do anything else...We are so proud of him :) Any worries that we had of him being jealous, etc. have been laid to rest...I wish everyone could see the way he looks at them...his heart is so full!!!

Coming home

The closer the day came to go home the more scared I got!!! The ice storm happened the night after the girls were born and I was scared to death to go home in the ice and to be in the dark with no central heat, etc. The girls were ready to come home the day after they were born..not me!!! I dont remember the c-section with Sebastian being near this painful..and the doctors are attributing it to the fact that my uterus was SO BIG!! I could barely stand it the day that we went home and that was not until Thursday January 29th. We put it off as long as we could...and made a plan as a family for the trip home. The lights were still out, so the first order of business was to have Dad, Phyllis, and Terry (Jim's parents) to come home and get the gas stoves going and get the house warmed as much as possible, and to make room in the basement for us to sleep down there with the big oven. The second order of business was the worry of carbon monoxide poisoning...So, Mom and Dad bought a detector that needed no electricity and it was a blessing...it gave me peace of mind and I was relieved to know that we had a plan and were going to be ok.

It was scary with them being so little and new to bring them home during a time like this. It was nice to have the family working together and helping to figure it all out.

After we came home, things worked as planned, we had no problems and the entire house was warmer than it is when the central heat is running. It was so warm that we just slept in the living room..The first night home was AWESOME!!! All the family was here and those that werent came to visit...The girls got to meet their Aunt Gina for the first time and their Uncle CJ was well enough to hold them. I was hurting pretty bad but in and out of lucidity with all the pain medication. I am thankful for the help and support of Phyllis, Terry, and my Dad...without them don;t know what we would have done, I love and appreciate everything that they did for us :) The lights were back on by Friday evening and there was nothing to worry about after that.