“Dodden, Didden, Daddus…”

The boys’ level of understanding has increased gradually, but for a while it seemed that they did not say a lot back. Lately, however, they have become quite prolific little chatterboxes! Three of their favorite words are: ‘dodden,’ ‘didden,’ and ‘daddus.’ We *think* it means ‘dad,’ but we are not 100% sure!

They are also very good at trying to repeat things. When we ask Evan, “what does the Turkey say?” he responds “gobba, gobba, gobba” in his soft little voice. Ethan is in love with saying “appesss” (apples) and they are both in love with “cars.” Aiden tried hard to say what his brothers say, but his favorite word is still “mamamama.”

We have learned that Aiden’s name has finally come up on the waiting list, and on March 16th he will being the intensive feeding program in Dallas. It is an all-day program which lasts for 5 weeks but it has a very high success rate. Over the last few weeks, he gained weight and is now much taller. Unfortunately, he continues to vomit bile and seems to be in pain (especially at night). Please continue to keep him in your prayers.

All three of the boys have become very “cuddly.” They will sometimes lie down on the floor or grab each other and try to hug. Ethan is so happy to be with his brothers, he often makes a high pitched little squeal (see the video below which shows a clip of him and Evan).

It was about this time last year that Aiden had to go back to Children’s hospital and ended up in the PICU after coming home from the NICU. Looking back, we thank God for everything He has done for Aiden and His constant mercy and goodness. Enjoy some pics and the video.

Evan walking his toy dog

Evan, that is not a phone!

Ethan, share with your brothers

Here he comes…stalking his prey

Attack!

Look at the eyes

Rosy little cheeks

The boys love these little books that make the animal sounds

Evan, we know you are a monkey…but you don’t have to climb on the toys

No, Ethan, you cannot have Daddy’s camera!

Catch, Aiden!

All three boys love playing with the balls, but Evan believes that they are his personal property.

When the boys want to see the letter video, they will go over by the TV and make their letter sounds

Evan, you are huge!

Here comes Ethan

Hi, Boo Bear

Outside with the ball — Evan, does it get any better than this?

Let’s roll!

Boys, away from the street!

Soccer, anyone?

Not much of a stunt, Evan

Ethan, when have you ever been at a loss for words?

In his recliner

Peek-a-BOO

So cute

Happy AND cute

Awwwww!

Hair, hair everywhere! Look at those wild curls.

Aiden finally gets his hands on one of the boy’s favorite toys.

And he is enjoying it…but he knows that Evan is coming to take it

So, he goes to the window and enjoys the outdoors instead

Evan is such a little boy

And little boys love to eat

Ethan, what are you watching?

A little Evanly bear enjoying his meal

Ethan, don’t play with your food

Pensive

Butt paste! Let me tell you, these little boys’ butts are very, very expen$ive!

Chelsa & Jacob’s Wedding

January is off to a busy start with the second wedding in as many Saturdays. Chelsa and Jacob had both their wedding and reception at the Prestonwood Baptist Church. They are a lovely couple and a few images from the day are below.

’09 is already flying by!

The new year has already been incredibly busy; it’s hard to believe that it is nearly February already! Between work, babies, doctors and therapy appointments (and just our crazy life in general), it has been a couple weeks since our last update, so we have a rambling update below.

Ethan and Evan are such little boys now, (sadly) they are definitely not babies anymore. They can consistently repeat their letter sounds from A through H, as well as many others (they have a tough time with ‘Q’, ‘V’, ‘W’ and ‘Y’). All of them are completely enamored with cars and wheels. The twins wake up in the morning talking about cars and go to sleep at night talking about them. On several occasions, we have taken a ride just so they could go in the car–they get so excited! They love looking out the windows at all the other cars on the road and in the parking lot. The entire car ride, they repeatedly “talk” about the other cars that they see.

When Manish is getting ready to leave for work in the morning, they say “Da. Car. Da. Car.” over and over, until he leaves. When he leaves, they stand at the gate that goes out to the garage and repeat over and over again “Da. Car. Da. Car.” with a sad look on their faces.

Aiden is gaining weight and has gotten so tall (he has even developed little cheeks!) but continues to throw up bile and has extended episodes where he seems to be in pain at various times of the day and night. The constant gagging and retching seemed to be getting significantly worse, so we did some re-trials of various meds that we had tried previously at increased doses. Most did not work, but we have found that a significantly increased dose of Zofran (an anti-nausea drug used for chemo patients) has helped some with the gagging and retching. Although it does not seem to have any effect on the vomiting, bringing the gagging and retching back to baseline at least helps to make Aiden more comfortable and helps him to sleep a little bit better. We will be replacing his feeding tube with a smaller “J”-only tube in the next week or so to see if that will help; please pray that this procedure will go more smoothly and be less painful for Aiden than our last experience.

As you may have noticed from previous posts, we (had) a plastic baby gates at each of the entrances to our family room to keep little people in. We had no idea that it was even possible, but somehow the boys broke one of the gates clean off of the hinges. After doing some searching on Craig’s List (and out of sheer desparation!) we were able to find an iron gate that will hopefully thwart the masses for a little longer. Many thanks to our good friend Mike D. for the baby-proof installation!

The majority of the pictures below are of Aiden as Manish was taking pictures primarily late at night to test out his new camera and lens. (For the technophobes, some of the images below range from ISO 4000 to 6400 with no flash and are still clean–rather remarkable!) Since Ethan and Evan are asleep by 7:45, there are only a few images of them to share. This means that Aiden gets the spotlight…which is his favorite place 🙂

Sweet baby

What a ferocious face!

Who needs food? Aiden has found something better…

Let it snow? Aiden, are you kidding?!

It got so cold, the branches froze…

The ice storm also coated the plants….it was beautiful (from inside!)

Definitely the right time for warm beverages

Who knew that getting a clean diaper could be so much fun, Evan?

Aiden also likes anything with wheels–even in books!

The boys destroyed the plastic baby gate, so we installed an iron one…hopefully this one is triplet-proof!

Ethan loves crawling into things. This little basket was in the family room and he decided to crawl in.

Evan decided it was time to retire

Guys, there is no way out of here…it is iron!

Aiden, don’t chew through your oxygen supply

Showing off for the camera

Coming your way…

Ethan and Aiden were having a blast

Laughing it up!

They all have to be in the same spot, doing the same things

Aiden is developing his own form of yoga called “Aiderobics.” This semi-headstand is his favorite move, also called “downward dog”

He LOVES laying his head on your feet (but be careful, sometimes he bites!)

Kristina & Brandon’s Wedding

The first Saturday of 2009 and our first wedding of 2009. In most states, a January wedding means snow and nasty weather. But here in Texas, you never know what you will get. Turns out that Kristina and Brandon’s prayers were answered with perfect weather. Both the wedding and reception took place at Temple Baptist Church in Flower Mound, TX. Enjoy some of the highlights below.

2008: What a year!

What a year it has been! Although we faced a number of challenges and difficulties in 2008, we had even more to be thankful for. The best gift of all? We enjoyed our first holidays together as a family, which was such a blessing. In 2008, Aiden spent nearly 50% of the year as in inpatient in the hospital. We look forward to 2009 and hope and pray it is nowhere near as crazy as this year was. Many thanks to all of you for your faithful prayers and support. We simply could not have made it through everything without knowing that you were praying.

Below are many Christmas pictures and video for all who asked! As you will see, Aiden has grown significantly just in the very short amount of time that he has been on the J-tube, which is an answer to prayer. He continues to constantly vomit bile. We had a promising first appointment with a new GI doctor this week, so we are hopeful that we have found someone here who is willing to work with the doctors in Boston.

The boys are talking up a storm, although we are not always certain what they are saying! 😉 . “Apple” and (ironically enough) “butt paste” are some of the new favorites for both Ethan and Evan, and Ethan loves “gars” (cars). Of course, “dis” (this) continues to be another favorite.

They are sprinting everywhere and trying to get into everything. They are also systematically destroying the house, one room at a time, as you will also see from the video. They love to empty the toy box and climb inside. Evan has figured out how to get to the TV by climbing over the couch and jumping across the gap to the chair so that he can reach and turn on the TV. In the video below, he miscalculates his leap and crashes (until he recovers and eventually succeeds). Just before Christmas, a friend from church shared some of their toys with the boys, including a stuffed Texas A&M musical mascot. In the video, you will notice that Ethan has adopted it and loves to snuggle with it while it plays the A&M fight song! Without a doubt, 2009 will hold many new and interesting adventures!

Our best to each of you in the coming year. From our family to yours — here’s to the New Year and all that it brings.

 

Ethan loves putting things on his head

Ethan, why so puzzled?

Aiden just loves life

Evan loves hanging out in his birthday suit

Quick, let’s turn it on before Dad sees us!

We tried to take a cute Christmas picture of all three boys in the box with little bows on their head. But as you can see, Aiden sunk.

…and he continued to sink…

He finally said “Enough”

Such an adorable Christmas gift

Ethan realizes he is being photographed in his birthday suit

He loved “swimming” in styrofoam

Aiden loved watching (from a safe distance)

Love the pants, Evan!

Ethan enjoys reading

Boo has such big, expressive eyes

All dressed up and ready to go in his little Christmas outfit

Peek-a-boo

So cute!

What big eyes you have, my dear!

Brrrrrrrrrrrrr! It’s cold out there!

Loving his little frog

Ethan and Evan believe that Aiden should share whatever he happens to be playing with

So excited to open gifts on Christmas morning! The boys are excited too 🙂

Ripping the paper off is just as much fun as the gift!

Aiden was excited

He loved playing with all of the paper!

The twins loved all of the new toys

The little dog was a popular toy…

Manish kept saying he loved the boys’ PJs and wanted some like them….soooooo…. He says he will only wear it and have his picture taken when Hannah also does

Boys and their toys

Awwwww, Aiden!

Evan loves jumping on Daddy. Manish’s back takes quite a beating.

Ethan saw this little shoe box and decided to climb in for a ride

A perfect Christmas gift: Three Little Monsters

It fits Evan perfectly

Aiden thinks he is too sophisticated to be a monster

Ethan says he is a terror, not a monster

Aiden loves the little table toy that plays music

He also likes to pull his socks off

Their first Christmas together

The little cars were a huge hit!

What an eventful Christmas day

Aiden found this book inspirational

Peas in a pod, er, twins in a box

This was what they did to our family room

We tried to replicate a picture from last Christmas (see below), but it did not quite work out. Even so, we are so glad that Aiden is home.

From Christmas 2007

One last book before bedtime