Not going anywhere and loving it...

I really enjoy the days that we are all at home. Don't get me wrong...Hermitville is no fun either. But pretty much every day I'm loading up all my kiddos and it's just nice to not do that today. I was actually able to get everyone down for their naps and they were able to finish them for once. Nice!!!
Olivia and Emma are really growing. Emma weighed in today at 10.4 on my scale. That is with a dry diaper on and socks and of course her pulsox probe. So I think we are gaining. She loves to talk and smile. She is just so pleasant to be around. Not that demanding - yet. Olivia is a mover and a shaker. She has started to crawl some. Oh I am so not ready for this!!! She keeps me on my toes.
The thing that is funny and irritating all at once is this. Emma takes a pacifier and I love it! Olivia used to take one and suck her thumb and she has decided against both. This has been awhile now. Well, Olivia will crawl her little self over and take Emma's pacifier and put it in her mouth. Emma is usually not happy about that. Then I have to wash it because Olivia has a small cold. I keep telling Olivia that she had her chance to use one and she still can but she can't keep doing this to Emma. It's like "No thanks, I don't want one but I'll go take hers". How about that? What a stinker!!!
Loren is Loren. Loren does things when she gets mad. She'll hit her leg. She'll take off her clothes. And her new thing is she will drool/spit out her mouth until it is on the highchair or on her belly. Again...lovely!!!
Alyssa is growing up and is so sweet!! I'm just loving her brain right now and how sweet she is. She is so motherly to her sisters. I'm ready and I'm not ready for her to go to kindergarden. It is a good thing we still have a little while.
Well, I must go. Until I have another 5 minutes to spare.

Thanks for the tips...

Thank you for all the tips and ideas to help. We have looked into everything...grants, WIC, Kids insurance for IL, ....everything. We don't qualify. We are just over the range of everything for a family of 6. We have exhausted all our options and talked with many people including our Early Intervention Nurse. Nothing. We will just see how things go and do the best we can. Right now, we have one case of Enfacare we are working on. They have opened it up that we can also give her Neosure so that will help out to have another option. I'm not stressing. I'll just keep weighing her and seeing how we are doing. Thanks for all the advice.

NICU visit

We had our NICU visit today. Emma is doing fabulous! That seems to be the word from there. They discontinued her oxygen and her apnea monitor. They said that we should keep her on the pulsox machine during the night until we are out of the RSV season. He said at least until the end of March. That is fine because it will just allow me to sleep a little better. We are also keeping the nebulizer for now. Even though she is not getting her breathing treatments we need to hang on to it until we are in the clear with cold season. He said it could keep her out of a few emergency room visits.
She is 23 1/4 in. long, head circum. is 38 1/2 cm. and her weight is 9 lb. 14 oz. He said growth wise she is doing well heighth and head circum. but we need to fatten her up. She is on Parent's Choice and they want her on Enfacare. (Enfacare has higher calories). I have put her on Parent's Choice because it costs $11.88 a can. I can feed her for about $100 a month. It costs me $600 a month to feed her Enfacare. I have bought several cases so I know how much it is and how long it lasts. It is frustrating because I want what is best for her but do we put $700 on the credit card every month for the next 8 months (they want her on formula longer than normal). Plus we put rice cereal in it, which is about $50 a month. We also started baby food so there is more there. It all adds up. They are going to see if they can get a rep. to help. I'm all about the responsibility on our heads. We had three close together. Three in diapers. Two on formula. But between feeding Emma and Olivia on the two kinds of formula - that is $850 a month that we can't pull out of the air. Plus, with the economy right now...we need to put money back too. It just is frustrating to be in a place where you are having to choose between your child and going further into debt. And all because there is 2 extra calories per ounce. I don't get it!
I hate to even write my frustration because it was a good appointment and she is doing fabulous!!! But....what do you do????
To leave on a good note....Emma is off all medications and technically off all machines. Yea!!! Go Emma - you Rock!!!

Baby food and tantrums....

Emma and Olivia are 8 1/2 months old. Gestational, they are about 5 1/2 months old. I went ahead and started them on baby food. Oh I really don't enjoy this part but it has to be done. I'm not one to rush starting baby food. The bottle is just much easier. :) But I did start it. I'll have to take some pictures and post them. Olivia is doing pretty well except she doesn't open her mouth very much. She starts sucking on her tongue as soon as she sees the spooning coming her way. Emma opens her mouth but then once the food is in, she is like "What the heck is that and what am I supposed to do with it?"
Loren has reached a new stage (starting yesterday) of temper tantrum throwing. Maybe this is because we are nearing 2 years of age. I don't know but it has to stop. I've just been putting her in her crib when she throws her fit and she can stay there until she is done. Her main fit comes when we come home and she refuses to get out of the van. It's absolutely freezing outside and I don't know what kind of buttons she would push in the van. But I'm sure I would find out next time I got in. Yep, lovely!!
Other than that, I don't have a lot to write. Olivia is coming close to crawling. Emma rolls from her tummy to her back. Olivia is all over the place. We had to take them out of the same crib because Emma isn't going to live long if we keep her confined with Livy. So we'll see. Last night Emma slept in the pack n play. We have got to figure out what we are doing with the sleeping/room situation. Plus, Livy knows we are in the same room. You get up and you see these little eyes poking out over the bumper. It's like she's saying "I know you are there".
Alyssa had a great report today from her teacher. We are starting to work on her address and phone number today. The address is pretty easy because it is the name of her cousin, Anne.
Well, I'm off to attempt naps for the twins.

Shots and weights...

Sunday, Feb. 1st, our nurse came out to give the girls their RSV shots. They have to get weighed to know how much of the shot to give them. So the nurse had been here January 2nd to do the last shot. At that time, Emma weighed 8 lb. 6 oz. Sunday (a month later) Emma weighed 9 lb. 13 oz. She gained a pound and a half in a month. Really, really great!!!! Olivia weighed in at 14 lb. 14 oz. Both are doing very well. We have Emma's NICU appointment on Feb. 10th. Hopefully at that point she will be off all machines, oxygen and meds. Wouldn't that be great!!!! I just ended her last breathing treatment. I need to see how she will do while I still have her on a machine. So far, she is doing incredibly!!!! We'll see what they have to say.
Well, I'm off to get Alyssa from preschool. What a miserably cold day!!!! I'm so ready for Spring!!! Please get here soon!!!!