Halloween Costumes 2009 & updates

Evie and Maggie dressed up a couple of times for Halloween - but never to go trick-or-treating. Their parents just didn't have the energy. But, the girls did get to try out the official Hageman costumes!

And they had pink poodle outifits also!

In other news, Maggie FINALLY popped her 3rd tooth - top front right. She had her first 2 in May and 5 months later she finally gets her 3rd...I wonder if her teeth were waiting for her to reach 20 pounds (but she's not quite there yet either!). Evie, on the other hand has had 8 teeth since the end of August.

We had a great month of Doctor visits in October. The best news is that Maggie's heart defect seems to be resolving itself! A year ago the atrial septal defect was moderate in size. We visited the doctor 6 months ago and he just did a quick check-up noting that she seemed fine, still a murmur, but she was growing fine. So, this time he said it was a pretty normal check-up and on the echo cardiogram, it showed the defect was moderately small to small! If it continues this trend (of which we will check next year this time), it is likely we won't have to visit him again - and no surgery seems eminent at this point! Very exciting. Joe thinks his bribery worked and Maggie can either have a car or a pony (did I just document that for her to present later?).

Then we had the girls' eye exam (in Butte) and Maggie was a tiny bit farsighted (normal for toddlers) and Evie was a tiny bit nearsighted, but nothing to fix. So, we don't need to check eyes for another 2 years!

And the last exciting news is that the girls will be getting a baby brother in February! Let's all just pray this little guy isn't anxious like the girls and hangs out as long as possible :)

Joe and I are keeping busy as we started remodeling the upstairs bathrooms - master & girls' room. Well, I can't say we've done much but try to schedule it all. My cousin Tom has done the real work, and it is taking shape. The tile installer starts this week, but there are still some pieces I have to figure out how to get done (know any available sheet-rock tapers & texturers in Bozeman?)

Happy Halloween, the Holidays are just around the corner!

1 year adjusted "birthday"

What a great way to celebrate being released from the NICU, one year ago today, than to visit the NICU Nurses, Doctors, and other graduates at the NICU reunion. This is the first time we've driven back to Missoula since we left - but three hours is a bit of a hassle with babies. We had a very enjoyable time reuniting with the Nurses and folks we met in the NICU and the girls look "normal" for size when compared to other preemies. (Those big ugly well babies still knock our girls down in the charts for size - but we're catching up developmentally!) We also met up with Lou & Emy, our Ronald McDonald house friends who live in Darby - and had an extremely enjoyable evening with them catching up and talking about all kinds of random stuff (somehow, Joe and Lou ended up on fishing a lot!) Plus, we happened to head to Missoula on the same weekend Aunt Brandy & Uncle Zach flew up from Arizona for a wedding. So, they get big stars for making it to both the girls' birthdays this year - ha ha! Of course, did anyone take a picture - uh no. And it's not like we didn't have the media to do so!

Here's the baby update:

Maggie took her first unassisted steps on Saturday night, July 25. Evie was found climbing up the stairs for the first time hours earlier on the same day. Evie is making great strides with her assisted walking and cruising. They are working on their sign language. Today Maggie asked for "more" cheerios on the drive home this evening. They are also working on "milk". But their favorite thing is to "boop" your nose! So cute! Maggie just started to point at things also. Oh, and they are terrorizing just about anything they can get into! Evie isn't so keen on swimming pools or large amounts of water other than bathtubs, but Maggie is our little water baby - she loves it! And the best part is, they are sleeping until 6am! They've been great all week, Evie had a virus with a fever and rash the week before, so that was not a good week, but once she was over that, their parents have been getting some much needed sleep! So, speaking of, off to bed!

Maggie's Milestones - July 22, 2009

Maggie & Evie had a big day today. They went to the park and played on the slide and swings with Megan the nanny. For dinner they stripped down to their diapers and had spaghetti sauce & pasta - along with corn/peas/beans, cantalope, blueberries, dinner roll, Kix, etc. I wasn't sure if they were ever going to stop eating! Granted, bibs would have been a good idea, but I figured they needed a bath anyhow :)

After the bath, Maggie finally got enough courage to move from the 2nd stair, where she has been caught sitting numerous times over the last week, all the way to the top! She was quite pleased with herself that she kept crawling between the bedrooms and the top of the stairs. I kept asking her how she expected to get down, but she wasn't over her happy dance yet. So, I took her back downstairs, and she went right back up again. I found something to block it off and put her back in the living room. Uh oh, now we have 2 levels to search for her. But she wasn't done yet. Two minutes later, we find her inside the kitchen cart.

She really needs to figure out how to get down from places - but I suppose that's a bit much to ask :)


Next, we all went outside to pick the first harvest of peas (we are going to have a lot this year), and Maggie crawled across the grass, foot of rocks, concrete pad, up the 1 deck stair, and back into the house. She came back out to check out the dirty deck of course - so much for the bath! And thus, she passed out at 8:30, phew what a day!

I have been so poor at documenting things, that I figured I'd better write down her first trip up the stairs before I forgot. I've already missed her first real crawl (I think she started during our trip to Minneapolis June 12-15) and her first pull up (shortly after the crawling) and standing alone (she started practicing on her own about 2 weeks ago and can stand for 10 seconds now).

Evie still prefers her army crawl to real crawling, but is making progress as he sister can now beat her across the room. She is still "twinkle toes" when she does her assisted walk. Both girls love to 'raspberry' for minutes on end. I think we've been in a rasberry 'war' two nights in a row now. There's a lot of spit all over when that finally finishes :)

The most timely post I've done in a long time...but know off to bed as I've done my motherly documenting.

New pictures

I finally downloaded the pictures from my camera from the last 2 months. Although, I really should get pictures from other people, as they tend to take more pictures of my children than I do. But, you can find them on the picture website above. Aunt Brandy also posted 110 pictures from the Girls' First Birthday - there are some really great ones there too... same website, but try this link: http://www.b-n-z.com/gallery/v/Evie_Maggie/Home/First+Birthday/

I have some funny videos too, but that takes longer to upload and it is already past bedtime!

1st Birthday

After those first long 3 months of the girls' lives in the NICU, we weren't sure what was ahead of us. Yet the following 9 months flew by and already we are celebrating the girls' first birthday on Friday May 1. I am so thankful and feel truly blessed that we have 2 beautiful healthy girls!

Of course, we made it quite the celebration. Aunt Brandy and Uncle Zach flew and drove from Arizona to spend this milestone event with us. They were joined by all the Grandparents, aunts, cousins, neighbors, cowokers, and friends for an open house barbeque. Thankfully, it stopped snowing and the sun shone for the first time this week so that everyone wasn't huddled in the house.

Maggie kicked off the celebration by cutting a tooth on Thursday (ah, no wonder she has been so whiny!) Friday afternoon we did lunch with the Grandparents, Aunt Brandy, Uncle Zach, and Great Aunt Gayle (GAGO) followed by present opening. The afternoon was filled with preparations and playing with babies. However, by the time the party was in full swing, little Maggie was so worn out that Laura lulled her to sleep and she slept amid the converstaions. Thus, the girls didn't get to eat cake until most of their guests had left. But, Great Grandma Evelyn kept the tradition and made each girls their own little angle food cake with caramel frosting. Of course, the rest of us enjoyed the full size version. The girls thoroughly enjoyed the birthday cakes - and as most kids do - licked the frosting off first! They did eat some of the cake too - and Evie only threw it on the floor twice (after the frosting was gone).

We had several great picture takers, so over the next few days, we'll hopefully get thos pictures posted.

We are so happy to be able to finally share our joy of our girls with our friends. Thanks to God for an amazing first year and looking forward to so many more to come.

The Fairness Post

I've been meaning to post for several weeks now, I just can't seem to sit down and do it. Or if I do sit down at the computer, I am trying to clean the 30 emails out of my inbox. But enough excuses...

I have to document that the girls have switched places as far as being the "easy child". Evie was more difficult for several months this year as she tended to cry more and needed a little more work to get to sleep. However, she has turned into quite a doll for the past 6 weeks or so. She is the happy child that loves to roll and commando crawl around the floor. She will entertain herself with her feet, or the dog crate, or the carpet, and be content. She has also been the best eater. She opens her mouth wide just like a baby bird to eat her cereal and veggies (yet screetches when you try to wash her face). She is so cute when she talks to her toys and grunts 'uh uh' when she sees something she wants and starts to scoot for it. Yet, she does tend to blow out her diapers and outfits more than her sister! But what an enjoyable child she has been.

Not to say that Maggie isn't enjoyable, as she will laugh at something or nothing and takes wonderfully long naps! But it needs to be documented, that she has turned into the whiner. It may have to do with Maggie not being quite as mobile as her sister. She can roll around the floor...but just has not gotten that forward motion. She lays there swimming her arms and expects to get somewhere. She just won't put her hands down and push. She loves to sit, and was much better at that than Evie for quite a while. She even quickly figured out that she could lean all the way over to pick up a toy and sit back up. Maggie also likes to stand (with help of course). Thus, her latest thing as of the last week in April is that she loves to walk. She really has that one foot after another thing working and even keeps her heals down. She will pull herself up holding on to your fingers and wants you to lead her around the house. But she wants constant attention - she whines and cries when her parents leave the room, and just isn't happy sitting by herself or playing in the exersaucer anymore. She also has new requirements for going to sleep at night. Laying on mommy or daddy's chest worked for a few nights, but then she figured that one out.

I must say though, that babies at 6 months + bring lots of fun to their parent's lives.

Saturday afternoon

I have to admit, a full time working mom (out of the house and in) with 7 month old twins, doesn't have a lot of spare time to blog or edit video files. Or if I do have a few spare moments between feeding, playing with, consoling, and cleaning up kids...or cleaning up after kids - I don't necessarily run straight to the computer. But, since I am slacking on cleaning the house this weekend, I thought I'd work on some digital media. So, there are some new pictures posted, and after the girls had baths and naps on Saturday afternoon, we took a nice little video. It is 3 minutes, and the middle might be a little slow, but it gives you a good idea of a Saturday afternoon in the Faulhaber household. Oh, and Dad was taking a nap upstairs.

Finally, new pictures

I'll try to type later, but I did add pictures for the past 3 months! Look at them here: http://www.b-n-z.com/gallery/v/Evie_Maggie/Home/

Another month gone by

Wow, it is December 8 already and the girls are 7 months old! Well, essentially they are 4 month olds, but still!

The house has been a revolving door of company for the month of November. Cousin Shari and Oma and Opa, and Great Grandma Evelyn came to visit and help out 2 weeks in a row because Dad had to go to Redmond. Then Gma and Gpa F came for Thanksgiving. But now we have a few quiet weeks before the Christmas celebrations start.

The girls have started being more fun everyday. Evie's latest thing is "Thhhpt" - she can do it and loves it when we do it back - makes her laugh even mid-cry. She is still the fussy one and wants to be toted around like a sack of potatoes (thus the nickname "spud"). She also goes by Evie bear (i.e. Halloween costume) and Evie Claus (red Christmas outfit).

Maggie has become the talker - she will talk to us or stuffed animals or the TV. She is also mellow most of the time and can hang out with her toys or watching TV (oops). She is the thumb sucker and likes to play with her hands. Her nicknames are Maggie Bug (Halloween costume) and Maggie Elf (green Christmas outfit).

The girls got another round of their RSV shots - not fun, much crying. But they weighed in at 13 and 11 pounds for Evie and Maggie, respectively. They've had a few stuffy noses, but thankfully staying fairly healthy - thanks to handwashing and the fact that the girls don't go anywhere in public.

Otherwise all are doing well and looking forward to the holidays!

Oh, check out the new pictures also.

10 shots

Thursday was vaccination day for the whole family. Mom & Dad got their flu shots and the girls got 4 shots each - Synagis (to prevent viral respiratory tract -RSV - infections), flu shot, and 2 of their 6 month vaccines. This is the first time the girls were really upset by their shots, but they handled them just fine afterward and only needed a little tylenol. Otherwise, it was an uneventful doctor visit. The girls are gaining weight appropriately and Evie has almost reached the 5th percentile line on the growth chart for her adjusted age. I updated their weights on the top of the page also.

On Tuesday this week, we went to have the girls' photographs done. We did family pictures and a few of the girls in a basket, but Maggie wouldn't smile at all. So, we rescheduled for the Monday before Thanksgiving. Hopefully we can practice getting the girls to lay on their tummies and lift their heads up. But Evie is not very fond of tummy time.

Evie and I played dress up today. I'll have to download the pictures after I recharge the batteries. Then she got a bath - with minimal crying this time! Maggie was a sleepy-head today - she did get her Saturday bath, but maybe we'll play dress up tomorrow.

6 months old!

It is amazing to realize that we have been at this for 6 months already - wow about the amount of time that I was pregnant! So, as we zip into November, I realized that there are so many things I should be documenting and sharing. I know, every parent thinks each little step is so amazing, although every child goes through it. But, for the sake of the girls' Aunts and Uncles who don't get to see them but once a quarter or less, I'll share!

First off, I am writing this at 5:30 am, after feeding the girls for the first time this morning. However, it is essentially 6:30 am because we came off of daylight savings time. So, the girls slept from 10pm to 5:30am, 7 1/2 hours! And I woke up before they did and decided I would feed one before the other one was crying. I guess I will handle Evie being awake all day if she sleeps all night!

Last Saturday, Oct. 24, Maggie took a bath without crying!

Evie is trying to grow out off all of her clothes. She is still in 3 month clothes, but some fit better than others. Little Maggie is right between the newborn and 3 month clothes and so they are either too tight or too big. We did have really cute Halloween costumes, thanks to Uncle Andy. They were a bit too big - mostly the head, but I put them in them anyhow. I can't really say we celebrated Halloween, because we sat at home and only had 2 trick-or-treaters. Of coure, those were our friends who brought their little princess, Rhianna, and dragon, Owen over - so cute! But, looking at our neighborhood, it is totally understandable no one trick-or-treats - we are too spread out for efficiency. So, we pretty much just dressed the girls up for pictures - the outfits are too warm to wear in the house for long. But my Evie Bear and Maggie Bug are very cute! I think I will continue to put them in those sleepers as long as they fit them even though Halloween has passed :)

The girls have distinctive cries these days. Evie is usually the crabby one who wants attention, and does the normal cry. She even gets the tears going if you try to lay her down. As I mentioned earlier, she is awake most of the day and will only take cat naps while being held. She fell asleep on my legs yesterday. And I typically come home at 4:40pm to her asleep on the nanny. And when Evie is crabby, she prefers to be carried around like a sack of potatoes - and thus Joe has nicknamed her "Spud".

Maggie, on the other hand, is a little bit more calm and will hang out in the swing (typically falling asleep) or on the floor/playmat and just hang out. However, when she cries it is the saddest thing ever, and sometimes she just wails when the situation is not that bad. But oh it just breaks your heart. She must just get her tongue curved just right to make it sound like that.

But overall, the girls are doing great. They both like to 'stand' on my lap and push up with their legs. Preemies apparently have high muscle tone in their legs, which is why these girls can do that. Yet, they are not pushing thier heads up when laying on the floor. We need to practice on this, but neither are very interested in practicing. Tummy time is not Evie's favorite thing these days - she fusses until she gets put on her back. They are also still keeping their heads turned to the left or right instead of just laying with their faces facing up. Maggie looks up a little bit more - and is interested in the mobile and other toys a little more than Evie.

Oh, and I guess I haven't written that we did hire a nanny 5 weeks ago. Her name is Megan and she grew up in the area and recently graduated from high school. She has had more experience with toddlers than babies - but is very attentive to the girls and things are working out well. She works 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, so I work from 7:30 am to 4:30pm and Joe works 8:30 am to 6pm or so.

(I started this post a week ago and finally finished it at 5 am on Saturday morning - what does that tell you??)

It's about time, mom!

Gee, I haven't had much of a chance to post anything online, nor have I been very good at taking pictures the last two weeks. The girls are becoming so much more active. They began smiling responsively around September 28. Then last week they made fun sounds and giggled. Both girls started sucking their thumbs - or more typically their entire fists on October 14. Maggie is better at getting hers in her mouth than Evie. I took a video of Maggie doing it the first night. It is quite short.

Then, the girls were playing on the floor on Oct. 16 and I took the following clips of them being happy. They are their video notes for the Aunties Brandy and Christie.

5 month old milestones

Last night was a great night, and what better time then on their 5 month birthday?! Evie has been weening off of her oxygen and slept all night last night without it! She has been off of it since 10am yesterday morning and is doing great. It is wonderful as it makes her so much easier to tote around the house.
Then, the next milestone was that the girls slept 6 hours in a row last night. It may have to do with being out until 9pm with the Foundation staff at the CFO's house. But hey, we'll take it. Oh, and when the girls did wake up at 5am, they tandem nursed and Evie went straight to sleep. Maggie wanted some supplement, but then happily dozed off until 8:30 am as well. What a wonderful way to start the day!

Here are the girls' 5 month pictures!

Evie

Maggie

Hungry baby

This is probably the most timeliest post I have done in a while, but it is just so funny!

The story goes, I came home from lunch and Joe had fed the girls 1.5 to 2 hours before, but they were squirmy. So, I gave Maggie a snack and put her back to bed while I finished eating. Joe went upstairs to check on the girls and exclaims "Evie is latched onto Maggie's head!". I of course, wanted a picture, but that wouldn't have done it justice. Enjoy!

Across the state Doctor visits

We have visited 3 doctors in 3 cities in Montana in the last 7 days - but they all had good results!
On September 16 we drove to Butte to visit the eye doctor for a follow up check. The eye exam was much easier than usual as the Dr. was able to just look into their eyes instead of prying them open. The results were that both girls' eyes are nice and clear! They are both still far sighted as normal newborns should be, so that is good too. We get 4 months before the next exam (which puts us driving over the pass to Butte in the middle of January.

Then Wednesday the girls had a weigh in at their pediatrician's office in Bozeman. They both gained, but Evie is extending the gap between them. Don't worry, we have an excuse for Maggie in the next paragraph. Evie is up to 9lbs and Maggie at 7.5 lbs. Go girls!

Finally, On Monday September 22, we visited the pediatric cardiologist in Billings. It should be recorded that we were 22 minutes early for the appointment - and if you know me - that is amazing. I forgot that it was Billings and apparently no one arrives that early at the hospital as there was no traffic and the parking lot was empty. I understood Oma's concern about parking when we left at 10am as there wasn't a spot left in the parking lot. Oh, but back to the appointment. We flew threw the first 20 minutes - Maggie even had an EKG with lots of little stickers that looked like puzzle pieces. I'm not sure what that showed, as Joe doesn't have experience reading those (not something we learned in the NICU) and it must have been pretty normal. When the doctor finally arrived in the office around 9:15 am (one of the reasons I don't arrive early to appointments), he did her exam and said it was pretty boring/normal. He didn't hear a murmur either. Then he did her echo cardiogram and verified that her ductus (patent ductus arteriosis) had closed, but she still has a moderate to large sized ASD (atrial septal defect). And when he measured the ASD, it was 0.8 cm - which seems large to me even. Luckily, it isn't really causing her any problems except she is working a bit harder and thus burning more calories and not gaining weight quite as fast. She will eventually have it closed, but hopefully we can hold out until she is big enough to do the surgery via catheter instead of open heart. The Doctor said sometime between the ages of 4-6, but he said the catheter was an option after she was at least 5 kg. Things that would cause us to close it early would be if she has problems with lower respiratory infections (pneumonia) or is not regularly gaining weight. So, the story is get her to grow and we'll take care of it when we need to.

Back to work and Mr. Mom

I returned to work on Monday September 8. And it hasn't been too bad, I think it is much easier to leave the girls at home since Dad is staying at home. Plus, I get to come home at lunch - so I am really only away from them for 4-5 hours. I also think having to leave the girls in the NICU also has me accustomed to leaving them for a few hours at a time.

And Dad has been doing an amazing job at home. Not only is he handling two babies, but he has also managed to finish projects that I could not make any progress on. After Brandy and Zach removed wallpaper and primed the walls, Joe finished painting the holding pen and turned it into the playroom...

Yey! Now I have to put something up on the walls and find some cute furniture to fill the room.

Then, Joe finished putting the grommets in the curtains in the nursery, so that is finally done. Looks cute huh!

Baptism weekend

Our family rolled into Billings a little after 11am - a bit late for our 11am appointment with the pastor. So, Oma and Aunt Christie met us at the church and swapped cars with kids so that the girls could get to the house and have some lunch. That went well, but we forgot to give Oma and Auntie directions on how to get the girls out of their car seats. They figured it out with the help of the neighbors.

The celebration brought in all the Aunts and Uncles to Billings to meet and sponsor the girls for baptism and it was the first time for many to finally meet the girls. Thus, the house was quite aflutter with people and conversation both Saturday and Sunday.

The girls were baptised at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church on Sunday September 7, 2008. This event was our first "public" event followed by a gathering of relatives and friends at the Hageman's house. The girls were amazingly well behaved during church, probably because they were held the entire time. And they were brought into the family of God surrounded by numerous family and friends.

The gathering at the Hagemans was a bustle of food and conversation, followed by ooh and aahing over the girls and the cute gifts they received. It was so wonderful to get to see so many people that have been watching over our little girls for the past 3 months. It is such a blessing to have such wonderful friends and family.

We should have lots of pictures of the girls, but none of them are on my camera. So, I'll get those who took pictures to post them.

Lots of visitors

It's amazing that 3 weeks have passed since I blogged last. At first it was because there was nothing to blog about (and no time to do it), but then things picked up and were very busy around here. Labor Day weekend is an annual gathering with the Wilcox clan - primarily hosted by the Hagemans and Schafers up at Ennis Lake - but it all starts with a lot of preparation. And this year the prepwork was in my kitchen! But thankfully, not really done by me. Oma Bev came to hang with the girls and I and she spent the first day in the kitchen. Joe was stunned because we still had to scavage for dinner! But we got food for the entire weekend. Oma said - don't get used to me coming and cooking at your house, and I responded - don't get used to me cleaning up all of the dishes after you! It was a mutual understanding. But the house got tidied up on Thursday before the Hagemans headed for the Lake.

On Friday, Aunt Brandy and Uncle Zach flew in from Phoenix to see their new nieces. Actually, they came to help me get projects done that I just couldn't make any progress on. I think I had Uncle Zach fixing drains and putting items up on high shelves within 2 hours of arriving. But there was lots of baby cuddling too. Great Aunt Carol & Uncle Jim stopped by to meet the girls and see the house for the first time on Saturday. Of course, Aunt Carol got the whole routine, holding, feeding, & diapering for Maggie (Thanks Aunt Carol!).

Then it was off to the Lake. There was quite the gathering at the lake and some fierce ping pong and foosball competition. But the Lake was for visiting only as the weather was crummy! Cousin Leslie became the official baby holder along with Great Grandma Evelyn. Oma and Opa even gave up their master bedroom for the grandbabies and parents. Apparently, they didn't want to have to get up every 3-4 hours during the night! The girls did great - because of lots of holding. As far as the first overnight trip, we did fairly well with only one major forgotten item, an extra bottle of oxygen. Dad had to make a run back to Bozeman to pick up the extra - oops.

Labor Day Monday brought us back to Bozeman and rejoined by Aunt Brandy & Uncle Zach. Aunt Brandy jumped into her major project of turning the holding room into the play room, and the first thing on the list was removal of floral wallpaper. She did awesome and had it all down in just over 4 hours. They also ran errands and other various items before priming the walls for the paint. That was a late night project that everyone participated in but me - I was out of gas and needed to feed the girls. On Thursday they headed back to Billings.

Yet the house wasn't empty for long as Uncle Andy and Melanie came to tour Bozeman Thursday through Saturday. We gave him a good excuse to come to town.

We did visit the pediatrician on Tuesday the 2nd. The girls are still doing really well. Evie weighed in at 8 lbs! Maggie is still working on those quality pounds and is 6lbs 15.5 oz. But they are both jumping up on the growth chart. The Dr. did say that their heads are the first things that grow and Evie's looks huge! Other than that, Maggie is still having problems with giving her food back, so we started her on Prevacid for reflux.

A real mom

It’s official, I feel like a real mom…I cannot get anything done during the day except taking care of babies and am lacking sleep. This is more on the lines of what I expected of motherhood Thankfully, I have a husband who takes a wee morning shift of feeding the girls so I can get more than 1.5 hrs of sleep at a time.

Joe and I are getting more experienced with hauling the girls around in the car as we have been to the pediatrician twice and to Butte to see the ophthalmologist. We like our pediatrician – thanks to cousin Leslie for the recommendation! The pediatrician was worried about us after our first visit on 8/14 as neither of the girls had gained much weight since discharge from Missoula. However, upon our follow-up on 8/18, both girls had packed on the ounces and she was thrilled. Evie weighed in at 6 lbs 15.5 oz and Maggie was 6 lbs 3 oz. Poor Maggie does have a bit of an issue as she has thrush (yeast infection in her mouth), and she is not fond of her medicine and tends to give back her meals with it; or, she might have a bit of reflux. So, Evie has extended the weight gap even further over the past few days as she loves to eat!

We met the Missoula ophthalmologist in his associated clinic in Butte last Tuesday, as he takes appointments there one day a month. Butte is a MUCH faster drive than going all the way to Missoula. This appointment gave us good results as both girls’ eyes are looking well. Of course, the eye exam is never fun (Joe refers to it as aggressive eye interrogation), and Maggie cried loudly, but we figured out to give Evie her binky to soothe her. We have another follow-up next month to verify that Maggie’s eyes are totally clear, but we anticipate they will be mature and ‘clean’. The ophthalmologist did say that the girls were at a higher risk to have nearsightedness due to the laser procedures, but they were already destined to need corrective lenses. However, he did see that Evie is still currently farsighted, as typical for babies.

Both girls have figured out how to get their hands to their mouths. Evie sometimes helps to “hold” her bottle – although she is not very good about holding in her binky. I did go buy a bouncer as Evie likes to be awake after she eats. She is starting to enjoy it, but hasn’t quite gotten used to it. Evie did go on a walk with Mom and Bruce last night in the baby carrier – it didn’t put her to sleep, but she sucked on her binky most of the time and seemed to enjoy the fresh air.

The girls definitely are not neglected... Grandma and Grandpa Faulhaber spent last weekend down here – weeding the grounds and working on curtains. The girls then enjoyed a day with cousin Shari last Monday. I claim that she spoiled whiny Maggie and held her and snuggled her – and so now Maggie will cry until she is held and then she will fall asleep. Opa and Oma stop by as they head through town each Thursday and Sunday on their way to and from the lake for some cuddle time. Great Grandma Evelyn spent the day with the girls on Friday and did her share of cuddling and patting backs also.

Stroller ride

We finally did something that was worthy of blogging so that I could add another post - we took the girls on their inagural stoller ride in the double stroller. Granted, it took me 10 minutes to figure out how to get both car seats in it (move the front shade forward, remove the snack tray......), but then we took the girls out with the dogs and the Faulhaber Grandparents for their first walk on Saturday evening. Now that I have the car seats in, it should be much easier to get the girls ready for a nice jaunt around the neighborhood. However, we are a bit limited in the areas to walk because we live on the only one paved road before South 19th and I don't think the girls are quite ready for dirt roads yet! Otherwise, things are just "normal" at home - the girls are sleeping, eating, and pooping.