We havent blogged in a long time, and not for a lack of trying! The older these babies get, the busier we all are!
December was such an amazing month. The Holidays are the best time, they give us the opportunity to spend time together, celebrate and see all the good around us. Lucky for us, our December also has a few birthdays in it which for us means delicious meals, good wine and great company. And to top it off, Kevin and Katie L. were engaged on the 21st! Even more reason to celebrate. Welcome to the fam-jam Ms. Katie L., although you've been apart of us all along. This month especially was a huge reminder for us of how special it is to be home this holiday. Last year at this time, we would've given anything to be home with Chase & Reilly for Christmas. This year, we got our wish!
Chase started off the month crawling and now he is just motoring! He is standing anywhere he can, and getting into everything he can. He wants to walk so badly, but for now he is giving us mini-panic attacks as he learns to test out his balance. He is becoming such a little boy, it is so great. He is learning to play guitar (thanks to the awesome dog-guitar his dad got him), loves music, food, and anything Reilly has. Did I mention he loves food? So much for 3 meals a day, he eats about 8. There isn't much he doesn't like. He decided about two weeks ago to stop sleeping through the night, which is driving us crazy. We had it good- he would sleep for 10-11 hours, with the occasional resettle during the night. Now, we are constantly in and out of his room settling him, and have even had to feed him a couple of times in the past week. We hope it is just a growth spurt because it is making for rough nights for us. He is averaging 1-2 hours up straight during the night, usually smack dab in the middle of the night. Thanks Chase. Merry Christmas to you too! Just kidding, we love you, sleeping or not.
Reilly is such a little monkey. She is moving way more, talking a ton, and is such a happy little thing. Since having her tube pulled, she seems to be loving life much more. She can play on her tummy without being uncomfortable and seems much less irritable. She is sleeping much better, unlike her stubborn bro. She goes to bed around 8, has a dream feed around 12 and wakes somewhere between 4-6am. Not bad, considering she used to need to be fed around 12, 2 and 6, just a couple of weeks ago. She is still working on rolling and sitting but just doesn't have the muscle tone yet that she needs. She, unlike Chase, doesn't like to eat- unless its cheesies. If it were up to her, she would eat cheesies all day, everyday. We are trying everything, constantly testing out different things, different textures, different tools and so on but she just doesn't want to eat. Her mouth is young, they say, so she will need more time and thats no problem. Its funny though, when we are all at the table, she seems to want to eat. She watches Chase eat, will bring things to her face, but doesn't want anything to touch her lips or her mouth. One day last week she opened her mouth for stew, once, twice, three times… we were shocked. I kept asking Adam if he was watching. We couldn't believe it. She even made a little sound indicating she wanted more. Tried the same stew the next day- she wanted nothing to do with it. Cest la vie. It has happened before, loves yogurt today, hates yogurt tomorrow. Loves avacodo-banana puree this morning, hates it this afternoon. Thats okay though, its trial and error and we know when she is ready she will eat! For now, Chase gets her share of everything, which he is quite happy about! Other than when we are eating and exercising with her, she is so happy. She got her very first barbie (also from her dad) and loves it! I thought much too old for her, but she has really taken to it- loves to chew her feet! Who knew Barbie would be a great teething toy. Ha! She loves when you talk to her, sing to her, dance around, read to her- like all other babies. Life just feels fun now, busy and exhausting, but fun. They are both such little people. We cant imagine what it would be like if they were both moving like Chase- I would need 4 hands! Maybe 6. But for now, we are so happy with all that she can do and is doing. She will catch up, and then we better watch out! In January Reilly starts at Kidsability. We went for an assessment this month, and they determined that she was Priority 1 and that as soon as opening became available, she would start visiting the centre regularly for Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy. Right now we have these services, along with a Speech Therapist for feeding, coming to the house. But soon she will move to Kidsability where they have better equipment and more specialized therapy. Hopefully by spring she will be moving more and progressing along with Chase. It’s so hard not to compare, but we have to remember that they went through different things in the hospital, and that although they were both small, Reilly was SO small- 270g smaller than Chase which makes a huge difference in every aspect. She was 2/3s his size so he had a jump start. She has impressed and surprised everyone with how well she has done this far and we know she will continue to do so in 2014.
The babes were so spoiled by everyone this year. Its crazy. Adam and I sat around Boxing Day night and looked at the four laundry baskets of toys, books, and clothes that the babes were given. We thought about how fortunate they are to have so many people in their lives that love them so much, near and far. It is so nice to see them bring smiles to peoples faces, just by being their adorable troublemaking selves. We feel so blessed to have these two precious beans in our lives, and to have so many people around us that love them so much. We are so grateful for them both, for how much goodness they have created in us and around us. We know Shea is with us always too, watching over Chase and Rei always and bringing that extra little magic into our lives everyday. We cant wait for the springtime, where we can take the babies out more, visit many of you and really start living with these munchkins. Until then, we will continue to make huge messes in the kitchen, sneak out for walks as soon as the temperature breaks zero, sing lots, dance lots, eat lots (hopefully), take a ton of pictures, and enjoy every day that we are given with these two little blessings. It is hard to even remember this day last year because our minds and hearts are now so filled with wonderful positive things. I couldn't have ever imagined feeling the way I do today, had you told me last year. To anyone going through that right now, I hope by reading this you see that it does get better- so much better. You are on the toughest road you’ll ever be on, and it will wear you out more than you thought possible, but the view from the top is SO worth it. Keep on going, you’ll be so very glad you did. To all of you regular readers, our resolution this year is to blog more often, to fill you in more, and to hopefully not get so emotional every time we do. Adam gave me a fancy new computer for my birthday, so even more reason to blog. To make up for our hiatus over the past month, we will add crazy amount of pictures below. This was by far our best Christmas yet. We cant wait for all the years to come. Hoping you all had a fantastic holiday, and wishing you health, love and happiness for 2014.
p.s. Did you know we’ve had 35,000 page views already? You guys rock. Thanks for all your love.
