A fun photo shoot!

Sweet dreams!

Miss Amelia is home!

Amelia got home this afternoon!  We are all home together now ... so thankful for that!  We love you Miss Amelia and we're so glad you're home.

These days ...

Luke has been home for three days now and it's amazing!  I love hearing his little noises from the next room, not having time limits on how long we can hold him (he is rarely put down ... I keep reminding him to enjoy the one-on-one time until sister gets home!) and not having to call for an update.  I'm so excited for sweet Amelia to join us ... we think about her constantly when we're not with her.  She is continuing to have small episodes of bradycardia so her homecoming is currently planned for this weekend ... if she behaves :)  These are crazy days ... running back and forth to the hospital, taking Luke to the pediatrician every few days for weight checks (our doctor is a woman I used to work with at Doernbecher ... she is wonderful and I have the feeling that over this next year we'll get to know each other quite well!), sleeping in shifts (Luke still has pretty bad preemie reflux so sleeping is hard ... for all of us!)  But they are very sweet days too ... I try to snuggle each baby for at least an hour totally uninterrupted each day ... learning their noises and enjoying them and  just being fully present.  I want to know what makes them unique ... they have so many similarities but they are very different too ... they will always be "the twins" or "the babies" (some day "the kids") but I also want to know what makes them Luke and Amelia ... as individuals ... It's exciting to be getting to know them!

Luke is home!

Thanks Auntie Elizabeth for the outfit!

Snuggle time!

He obviously is a fan 

Grandma and Grandpa

Hmmm ...  Well, Molly might be a bit jealous!

Plan B

Well, the good news is that Luke gets to come home tomorrow morning!  He hasn't had any episodes of bradycardia in six days now and is eating really well  ... so well that he's now hit the six pound mark!  He has the cutest double chin ... I just love it.  Amelia, who is now 5.5 pounds, had a drop in her heart rate yesterday so Tuesday is the earliest that she can come home and it may be a bit longer depending on how she does.  I wish, of course, that they could both come home together but these babies have their own schedule (if they didn't make that obvious to us already!) and I'm thankful that we're getting to bring one of them home now.  I know it won't be much longer until they can both be here with us!

The sweetest gifts!

It's amazing to me how much life has changed in the last year.  I spent my last birthday in Cambodia with a medical team from our church ... this year I spent it snuggling our two sweet new babies.  I've never had a year that has been so difficult or so beautiful.  Pretty amazing to me the journey that God has taken us on and I'm so thankful that I get to start this new year as a mom to Luke and Amelia.
The babies are doing so well!  They don't have feeding tubes anymore and are taking all of their bottles.  Premature babies often have drops in their heart rates and they have to go 5 days with none of those episodes and then they'll be able to come home.   Right now it's looking like Friday will be the day, they'll be 37 weeks old!  But I think I won't believe it's actually "the day" until they're in their car seats and we're walking out the door.  "The day" has changed about five times already ... once again, learning patience!  Something that I'm sure I'll need lots of to be a parent to these two!