8 Months!

The boys are now 8 months old. Can you believe it?!? We are so thankful for each day that we have we them and for their continued good health. I am not for sure if I would have cherished each day as much as I do know after Reed's heart transplant. I know that I would have enjoyed them every day but his 'rough' beginning of life made us truly grateful to God for His rich blessings that He bestowed upon Ryan and me.
Now, these pictures are pretty funny. My nanny came in town and brought the boys these UK onesies. Thank goodness for Kentucky relatives!
Braden was obsessed with grabbing Reed's ear.
Reed thought that it kind of tickled at first.

Braden still enjoying Reed's ear.

Reed realizing that it doesn't tickle anymore!

Braden trying to bodyslam his brother. Braden better do this while his brother is smaller than he is!!!

Can you tell that Reed is getting some meat on those bones?! He went for his cardiology appointment today and he weighs 16 pounds 2 ounces. He is not only taking his bottles now but likes to eat sometimes at 2 hour intervals. I never would have thought I would be so grateful to keep making more bottles.

Do you think that Ryan is really asleep in this picture?

Martha Lynn, Camille, me and Braden went up to church camp one day last week. I took Braden because I figured that I would not have enjoyed the day with both boys there. People asked why I took B over R but there was really no good reason other than the fact that I didn't have to remember to give medicines while at camp:-)

Braden is already ready for camp. He loved being outside all day and only took a nap on me while in the pool! Ryan came up to camp that night and we enjoyed hanging out with some of the youth group kids. I sure missed camp this year but it woun't be long before I will be sending R and B to camp as junior campers.

Enjoying some tummy time.

The sequence of toy stealing:

What happens when Nana and Papa are left alone with the boys for a few minutes! We thought about an arranged marriage for Camille and one of our boys but we decided on Saturday that this was not a good thing!! She was crawling all over them and 'beating' them up! She better enjoy this while she can because I have a feeling that it won't be too long before they are making her cry! Just kidding! I hope that Reed and Braden are best friends with sweet Camille.

Reed a little confused by Camille's forwardness at such a young age! Zach and Martha, you better watch out for this one!

Reed has been practicing sitting up this week and is doing much better. It's still a lot of work for him but he will get it!

Braden with his best buddy, Big Bird.

Do baby's know how to fake smile? When I took this picture, I really thought Reed was fake smiling for the camera.

Braden watching some Einstein in his big boy chair. They grow up way too fast!

Rollin' On

I love this picture of the boys getting ready for bath time. They love to play with each other's hands. Reed let Braden eat his fingers for a long time before he realized that it hurt a little bit!
This was right before R let B know that it hurt!
The early morning is some of the best times with the boys. They are both so rested and are in the best moods. They are both good babies but the late afternoons tend to be the time they are a little fussier.
Can't you tell that Reed just woke up!

I am not for sure what kind of face Reed is making here but I thought it was kind of cute.

I think that he looks like such a big boy here. We are so proud of the improvement that he has made over these last few weeks and we are so excited about how far that he has come.
Braden absolutely loves the outside. When they get fussy in the afternoon, outside is my first choice for curing their fussiness. I will put one of them in this bouncer and the other in the bouncy seat in the tree. That buys me a good hour of their contentment!

Braden has really started "talking" a lot. He says dada and mama but tends to say dada more often:-) B still does not crawl but loves to sit up and stand anytime he gets a chance.

Mom and I took the boys shopping today and let me tell you, Braden is a little entertainer. He had the ladies just a laughing in the store. The more they laughed, the more he put on!
A lady shopping put it pretty well...she said "That one is going to be the one into everything and his brother will probably just follow right along with him!"

Bath time is another time killer if we are in need of something to keep their or should I say my sanity...just kidding!

"What did I get a hold of?"

"It sure does taste good!"

The progression of getting tired in my jumpy chair after an hour of bouncing:
Braden still loves to ride his giraffe. I cannot believe how big my boys are getting already.

Yesterday, I left Reed on his play mat and this is where I found him. He has discovered how to roll to get somewhere.

Do you see any resemblance????

Another one of Reed's tricks is patty caking! Braden has been doing this for a while since my nanny taught him how and now Reed has caught on!

Thanks for checking on us and continuing to pray for our boys. We owe God all the glory for the progress that Reed has made over the past months and for the continued health of Braden and Reed!

New Things

That is right, Reed got his first two teeth last week! Something that Reed did before Braden:-) Just kidding...we do not compare or at least try not to!
Trying to get Reed to smile so we could get a picture of his new teeth.

Didn't quite get his teeth in this snapshot.

I do not think that B and R look alike but there are times when I can definitely see them favoring each other. I think that once Reed puts some meat on those bones then he and B will look more alike. They definitely have different body types. Most people think that Braden is a little thickster but we like to say that he is "solid." He really is pretty strong for his age an d doesn't have any rolls. Reed is skinny minny! He is now 15 lbs. 8 oz. so he working his way up.

We took the boys to the farm yesterday while my dad watered Craig and Tina's plants. They both love to be outside and I hope this doesn't change.

Braden wasn't quite sure of the hat I made him wear but he kept it on.

This Big Bird is one that we had when we were little kids. My mom kept most of our good toys and now our boys get to enjoy them too!

Reed blowing some bubbles

Ryan and I went to the lake this past weekend with friends and my parents took the boys to visit their families in Kentucky.

My dad's uncle, Uncle Charles, was the main reason for them going to visit. I am so glad that R and B got to meet him. I definitely want our boys to understand how important it is to take time to visit others and to value what they can learn from adults! If they are even half the hard worker that Uncle Charles was then they will be very successful!

Summer Times

We have just been enjoying this really warm weather we have been having and trying to stay cool. Braden and Reed love the water! If we ever run out of things to do, all I have to do is put them in their pool or the bathtub!

Ryan, my parents, and I went to my brother's farm on Saturday. It was pretty hot but we hung out under the trees or in the pool the whole time. I cannot wait till the boys are big enough to enjoy seeing the cows and petting the horses. I am sure that time will be here before we know it.
Braden likes anything he can get his hand on especially if it is in someone else's hands!

Braden watching over Reed!

Braden decked out in his swimming trunks and rashguard shirt?!? Who in the world came up with those shirts? I still put sunscreen on his pale little belly jsut in case they don't work.

Reed chillin' in the pool. He was too cool to wear the shirt to match Braden. This past Sunday was baby Bible presentation. My mom bought the boys these really sweet outfits. Ryan even liked them! I thought they looked really cute!!!

People say that Braden looks like my dad...what do you think?

Too tired to write commentary:-) Just enjoy the pics!!!
Playing in the kitchen sink at nana's house.

People ask me all the time about what medicines that Reed takes. This should give you a little idea of what keeps his new heart working. He will not have to take this many meds his whole life. The amount that he takes will decrease significantly after one year of transplant.

I think he takes more meds in one day than I have taken all year. Pictured below are the meds for two days om two separate rows. He gets them at 6am, 10am, 2pm and 10pm. We are so very thankful for how far the transplant procedure has come through the years and how improved the meds are. It is still a little crazy to me that these are what keep our sweet Reed alive!!

June Already!

This week has been busy with appointments for Reed but been a pretty non-eventful week which is a great thing! We had the followup visit with the neurologist to see how Reed was doing. The doctor just observed Reed and thought that he was doing well.
Later that afternoon, we had to go back for his followup EEG to check for seizure activity. We still think that the seizures that he was having were due to the surgery to relieve the bleeding on his brain. They keep children on seizure medicine for quite a while to just make sure that there are no more seizures. I think they will keep him on the medicine for several more months then start to lower the doses if the EEG is fine. They, of course, were supposed to call yesterday but we have not heard back yet.....I am assuming that everything is fine!
I am a little annoyed though because look at Reed's head after the EEG. I do not know how many of you have been there to watch or receive an EEG but the nurse scrubs your head with this abrasive to remove dirt and oil....do you think she scrubbed a little too hard???? Now we know why he cried so hard the whole time she was putting the electrodes on!
Do we look like twins???
Reed is doing physical therapy every other week and developmental therapy every week. We are just trying to get him caught up to where he should be at this age. He is still doing so well considering that he was in a hospital bed for 108 days!
We try to put him in this jumper at least 3 times a day to practice his neck and core strength. He does not last a long time in this.
Maybe soon he will be like Braden and stay in this thing for an hour and love every minute of it!

Saturday, my mom and I hosted a baby shower for my friend, Meredith Speck Clayton, who is having a little boy named Charlie in 4 weeks. We had some of my high school friends and their moms over for brunch.

I love these girls so much. Martha, Sarah, Meredith, Cindy and I all went to Kindergarten through 12th grade together. There were several other girls too but they could not make it this past weekend. I never thought we would all stay in touch like we do. God has blessed our lives richly through our friendships.

Last Saturday, we took the boys swimming at the Flatt's pool. They loved the water! Braden with Mrs. Laura but I promised her that I would not take a picture of her in her bathing suit:-)

Ryan with Reed and Braden

Braden has this new thing that he loves to do while eating...blowing spit bubbles. This makes for a lot of fun during feeding time. I try and tell him NO with a firm voice but a smile seems to always win over! (This is BRADEN not REED...whatever bib is handy I grab!)

How could you not laugh at this? Life is too short to get upset about things like blowing his food all over himself and me! I am sure my attitude will change if this continues for a long time.

"Mom, Braden stole my toy!"

"A sweet, little boy like me steal Reed's toy? No way!" I am playing with Reed on the floor trying to persuade him to roll over. He can definitely roll from his tummy to his back and will sometimes roll from his back to his tummy. He seems to keep getting an arm stuck under him when he tried to roll to his tummy. He will get it soon!

Thank you for continuing to check on us through our blog. We love to hear people say that they check the blog often to see pics of the boys. We are really grateful for all of you prayer warriors that continue to pray for our family.

Please continue to pray that Reed will continue to make progress, that he will have no long term problems from the bleeding on his brain and that his heart will continue to be a strong, healthy heart! Also say a prayer for that sweet family that gave Reed the gift of life. I am sure that a day or even minute does not go by that they do not think about their sweet little boy that is in heaven that gave us the gift of Reed! God is good!

Sorry so Long!

I know, I know....it has been almost two weeks since my last post that I failed to write the commentary. I really do try to post at least once a week but time just seems to slip by. Not for sure why!!
The boys are doing great and growing too fast! Braden is weighing about 16 lbs. 5 oz. and Reed weighs 14 lbs. 11 oz. Reed is a little bit longer than Braden measuring about 26 inches.
I cannot resist taking pictures every time that we are outside. Braden has really been into sucking his bottom lip so I am just waiting for him to have a rash from it.

Discovering his toes

I do not know what caught B's attention but it looks like he is waiting for someone to come out from behind the tree.

I have to work a little harder to get some sitting up pics of Reed since he is still working on that. He is making progress every day and that is all that matters.

Can't you tell from the picture that Reed is a little bit more serious than Braden. I cannot wait to see them interact with each other when they are older and see the true personalities come out!

"No more pictures, mom! "

"Seriously mom, I mean NO more pictures!"

They still love bath time!

I am afraid that we are doing to see these expressions a lot in the future when we catch the boys getting into whatever they can get their hands on! My dark, blue-eyed boy

Reed and Braden's cousin, Colin, came to visit them for a week. It was so good to catch up with Ryan's brother, Sean and his wife Sheena. Sheena bought the boys these matching outfits...I guess to represent that they are gator fans!

Braden is so much fun right now and wants to be on the move all the time. I truly think that he would live outside if we would let him.
Ryan and I laugh all the time at him. To give you an idea of the vibe that he gives off, three ladies came up to Ryan at church (while he was in the lobby with Braden since he wanted to talk too much) and said "that one looks like he is the mischevious one!" He may not be mischevious but he is definitely curious.

Braden sitting in my parents' garden. The first thing that he did was grab a hand full of dirt and put it in his mouth. I don't guess dirt ever killed anyone before.He is learning how to sit by himself. This picture eventually ended up with Braden lying face down in the garden!

Reed practicing strengthing his core. You can see that we have a bunny stuffed in between his side and the chair so that he won't fall over:-)

He not only wanted to try dirt but grass too. He didn't seem to like that as well.
Gotta love those blue eyes! Reed is doing better with tummy time. I usually have to hold his bottom down so that he won't just automatically roll over. You can tell in this picture that he is ready to roll over. He is doing much better with his neck control but still has a ways to go with his core strength. We are so proud of him and the progress that he is making. Ryan and I went with Josh and Mandi to a graduation party for one of their employee's son. The boys really enjoyed all the attention especially from the ladies. These little girls were so cute with Reed and Braden. They read to them and kept them entertained so that we could actually eat. Sweet Preston was sitting on the bench just watching...I think he was wishing that the girls would entertain him:-)

Reed looking more like a big boy. That could be due to his $2.25 pants that I bought at Old Navy. I don't like to dress the boys in pants and shirts that they will get to wear the rest of their lives but I couldn't resist a plaid pair for so cheap!

We are not for sure who Braden looks like but we do get that he looks like his Uncle Craig a lot. What do you think? Braden and Reed with their week older girlfriends, Madison and Macy. It is so funny because Macy and Braden both have the blond hair, blue eyes and Reed and Madison have darker eyes with brown hair. It is kind of crazy how much the demeanor of Braden and Macy are alike and Reed and Madison. If we still had arranged marriages, I think we would have an easy decision to make. I think that B looks like such a big boy in this picture. Ryan is already planning a trip for the four of us to go watch Kansas play next year. What our parents did before the invention of playpens! This works great for getting Reed to practice his sitting up and neck strength. Twins are so much fun! He didn't seem to mind the laundry basket too much. If you will notice, there is NO tube in any of these pictures. We haven't told Reed yet that he is tubeless because he will then think that he still needs it. About two weeks ago, Reed pulled his tube out about 4 times in two days. We decided to change his feeding shcedule from every 4 hours to every 3 hours. He has taken every bottle since then. He seems to be able to suck down 100 cc's much easier than 130 cc's. Doesn't he look much better without that yellow tube! Can you tell that Nana is trying to make my children advanced! I will admit though that Braden actually likes trying to drink out of a glass. However, about half of it ends up on his outfit. I usually put a bib on them unless it is time for bath time then I don't care if it is all over their outfit! Granddad got to spend some time with the boys this past Sunday. He was playing patty cake with Reed. Gotta love great grandparents!

Thanks for checking on us and please keep praying for Reed's full recovery. Thank you!