Team Beard

Halloween, Thanksgiving & Christmas

2010-01-10T22:00:00.000-08:00

This is going to be a long post considering I haven’t posted anything in forever! I promise I will be better this year!!

Final beach trip - Early October

We took our final trip of the year to the beach in early October, my mother-in-law, sister-in-law & her family went with us and we had a great time. We can't wait for warm weather, we're ready to hit the beach again!

Halloween

We spent Halloween at home, G was a Lion and L was a Bumblebee, we had tons of trick or treaters so we didn’t end up taking the babies out, we just hung out at home and gave out candy. Here are some pics from that night, as well as some pictures I had made of the kiddos in October, maybe I’m biased, but I think I have 2 of the cutest babes around!!!

November & December

In early December, G Diddy had another eye exam done under anesthesia & the Dr. said everything still looked great, we will continue our regular appointments with the Opthamologist and follow up with the Surgeon in a few months. We are getting better with the Contact, it’s much easier to put in and take out now& he seems to be adjusting to it well. Both kiddos have had a couple of ear infections and sinus infections, but other than that we have been well.

Christmas was crazy/a lot of fun this year, I still don’t think they quite got it, but I’m sure next year will be even better. I think they were overwhelmed with all the presents, they didn’t really know what to play with. I actually took some of the toys up and put them in the closet for their birthday. We enjoyed our time with the Family & celebrating the real reason for Christmas.

L had some blood drawn around Christmas and we found out she has Hyperthyroidism, which accounts for her lack of appetite and no weight gain. We went to an Endocrinologist on Friday and she started her on medication and didn’t seem to be concerned about her size, which made me feel better. We have been stressing over getting her to eat and gain weight and have had some pressure from the Pediatrician (as well as ourselves) so it was nice to hear a Dr. say, “don’t worry about it, she will cath up gradually, just keep feeding her like you have been doing”. I think part of the problem is that she is a full-tim walker now, and she is everywhere. G isn’t far behind her but he still isn’t walking, he just hasn’t gotten his confidence up yet.

So now it’s January and I wouldn’t be happier if I woke up tomorrow and it was 80°outside. January always seems sort of depressing to me b/c there’s nothing going on, after having the holidays starting in October with Halloween thru Christmas, then BAM! January comes and there’s nothing except cold, cold and more cold.

Here are some pictures from over the holidays! How was your Christmas?
Jenny

Labor Day

2009-09-10T11:40:00.000-07:00

It's been a fun filled summer since my 4th of July post! I'm sad to see Summer go, but this is the first year that I have been ready for cooler weather!! We welcomed a new baby girl H to the family at the beginning of August, she is precious!

We spent a fun Saturday afternoon at Arrington Vineyards, we took the babes and they were very good, there were lots of kiddos running around!! I was hesitant about taking them but it was very kid friendly and the wine was great!!!

We went back to the beach on Labor Day and as usual had a great time! Since the babes have started crawling and are now trying to walk, it’s almost impossible to get a good picture of them! Everyone tells me this is not unusual for 18-month old babies, so I will just do the best I can.

My best girl.....

My best guy......

We also had our 1-year evaluation with the State Early Intervention Program and it went very well. I can’t believe that it’s been a year that we have been receiving services, I highly recommend that if your children need the services, please take advantage of this program. They have made a huge difference with L & G. We are still patching Gavin’s eye to strengthen the bad and will continue to do so as long as the vision continues to improve in that eye. He is still losing contacts like the stock market is losing money!! We have lost 4 or 5 in the last couple of months, I’m sure insurance is probably getting ready to say, ENOUGH, but what can they expect from an 18 month old?!

All in all, L&G are doing great! G has started to develop an attitude now, L has always had an attitude (some say she is like her mother) and they are starting to throw temper tantrums. I wonder if the terrible twos will hold off until their adjusted age of 2 years old, which would buy me another 10 months, instead of just 6……..Probably not?!?!

We are starting a new sitter in October, they will actually be going to someone’s house on the days that I work. I am very nervous about it, but I know that it will be good for them to be around other kids. Hope everyone is doing well, we have the annual Griswold’s Family Get Together at Todd’s sister’s house this weekend, so I will have more pictures to post next week.

July 4th, The Beach, Etc.

2009-07-23T05:09:00.000-07:00

Things have been busy here at our house the last few weeks,we have been busy with therapy, getting ready for our trip to the beach, adjusting to life with a contact in a 16 month old baby..... how he can manage to lose a contact 2 times and break a pair of glasses in less than a week ~~is beyond me~~ doesn't surprise me, he is after all a baby! :) We went back to the eye Dr. last week and they changed the power in the contact for G's right eye & said that things are looking great, we are still patching to optimize the vision in that eye, and we will continue to do that as long as the vision continues to improve, which it is! Can I get an Amen?!?! L also had her 9 month recheck and he said her vision is still great and she doesn't go back for 9 more months. That being said, both L & G are on the move, crawling on all 4's and now pulling up as you can see below. Since 2-27-08, and I saw them for the first time, not even weighing 3 pounds total, all I wanted was for them to get bigger, I just wanted the bad times to fly by & now here I sit 16 months later, saying to myself, where did the time go? They are growing up & I don't like it...granted I feel much better about their future & their health than I did the day they were born or even a year ago, but I want them to stay young & innocent forever. We are getting excited b/c L & G will be getting a new baby cousin in the next couple of weeks, we can't wait to meet baby H!!! We love her already!!!

We went to the beach on July 4th & had a blast! I think they decided on the way down that they don't like the car seat, they fussed for a little while so we just took our time, stopping a couple of times to get them out of the car seat. The weather this trip was great, so we were able to spend lots of time outside. They ate sand by the handfuls, had ice cream for the first time, got little tan lines, the whole deal! We saw good friends that we haven't seen since I got pregnant and they fell in love with the babies, just like everyone does.... Now I may be biased (ahem) but I happen to think that I have the cutest babies in the world, but I ~~always~~ don't ever tell them that b/c I wouldn't want them to get conceited at such a young age!! :)

This is what my life has come to! :)

2009-06-10T13:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was taking a load of laundry to our room & heard a crash, I came into the living room to find my 2 "sweet" children in the middle of this mess....... Which isn't too bad I know, but I'm sure the worst is yet to come.

Summertime!!!

2009-06-08T12:39:00.000-07:00

We took our second trip of the year to the beach Memorial Day weekend and AGAIN the weather wasn't great. It's been kind of the pits both times we have been this year, but we're holding out hope for July 4th, usually the weather in July is ~~great~~ 90 degrees, SOLID sunshine and NO breeze. We have been trying to spend as much time outside as possible since we were isolated all winter, we took the babies to the pool at Todd's mom's over the weekend and they loved it. I need to get a little float for them to sit in so that they can be more free, when we are holding them, they just want to get down, not knowing that they will sink right now!! G got a contact lens for his right eye last week and it is going well. It did not go so well the first time we tried to take it out, but it has gotten better. He also got a new RX for his glasses and seems to be able to see much better. He & L are both crawling all over the place and starting to get into everything. Baby-proofing has officially started in our house!! Here are a few pictures from the last couple of weeks.

My little beach babe!

Super (rainy) Saturday!!

2009-05-16T19:35:00.000-07:00

Daddy's gone to the beach to fix the A/C at the Condo before we go on Memorial Day Weekend, so it was just the babies & I this weekend. It was an ugly, rainy Saturday, so we didn't get to go to the Strawberry Festival.... boo hoo! So we stayed in and played, read, and napped. Sat. afternoon we met my mom at Target & went to eat at Chili's, then it was back home for bath time and bed time!!

Not me! Monday

2009-05-11T12:02:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I did not fill the bathtub up with water and let play my children play until the water was cold and then refill it again because it had been one of “those” days and I “needed” to check my ~~Facebook, Email, Twitters, etc.~~ a break. All done on my Crackberry of course, I really would NOT leave my 14 month old children unattended in the bath tub.

I did not drop subtle hints at my husband ALL week that there was this really pretty comforter at Target that I wanted, hoping I would get a Target gift card for Mother’s Day…. (I got said gift card!!!)

I did not call the eye Dr.’s office 3 times in one day because they didn’t call me back in a my timely manner.

I did not laugh in the ~~face~~ ear of the lady at the Nanny agency when she told me the registration fee was $800.00!!.........

I did not get up at midnight to read all the Twitters from MckMama, causing my husband to ask me what the heck was my phone doing beeping that many times at night & who could possibly be texting or twittering me that many times. I didn’t explain that I ~~am obsessed with~~ love keeping up with MckMama’s blog……

Surgery.......

2009-05-01T17:24:00.000-07:00

G had another surgery on his eye yesterday at Vanderbilt Children's. Dr. Recchia did an exam on Wed. & said that he thought he had some vision in that eye, but there was some scar tissue in his field of vision so he wanted to go in & clean that out and also do a complete retinal exam while he was under anesthesia. The surgery went good, he was able to get a good look at the retina and everything looked great, and he was able to get the scar tissue out. In his words, "things look 500 times better than they did a month ago", which we were so glad to hear!! Again, he is such a little trooper, he reacted a little differently to the anesthesia this time than he did before, he was a little slower coming around and he was very agitated and upset when he was waking up, but he is much better today.

We are SO thankful to Dr. Recchia for all that he has done for us, we really feel like he cares deeply about G and making sure that he has the best vision that his eye can give him. If anyone needs a retinal specialist, go see him, he's great!!! (He treats adults also!!!) This is another hill we have just about gotten to the bottom of, even though G's vision won't ever be normal in that eye, just to have some vision in itself is a miracle, MOST of the time when a retina completely detaches, vision is not at all likely but once again we have been blessed!!!

Life as we know it has changed!!

2009-04-28T18:29:00.001-07:00

So, this is the scene of the crime! Most of you know that G flipped out of the Pack and Play on Sunday, we had been talking about how we needed to lower the bassinet part of it & we just never got to it, until Sunday that is!! He is fine, I cried much longer than he did!! We have officially came to the point in our lives, where it's time to lower cribs, they have outgrown the swings, they are crawling around, eating plants and falling out of pack and plays!! I never would have thought that 1-year ago, I would be rearranging my house and getting ready to babyproof!!! We are so excited about the progress the babies have made!!

And here he is that SAME afternoon, trying to pull himself up again!! I guess we have found out who the little daredevil is going to be!

They are officially on the move! I was doing dishes in the kitchen & they were on the quilt in the living room..... or they were supposed to be & this is where I found L! I will catch another picture of G & post soon!

April 2009

2009-04-20T19:14:00.000-07:00

So I haven't posted in a while & I know I need to be better about it so, I will start trying to update at least once a week. The babies are doing great, they are both working so hard on learning how to crawl, G just about has it mastered. He also has 4 and a half! teeth and little Miss L has none yet, but she is getting close. We go back on April 29th for G's followup on his eye surgery, at that time he will do an Acid Test?! (Sounds scary!) and will hopefully be able to determine if he has to have any more surgery, if the retina has stayed attached & what, if any vision he has in that eye. We have had a busy past couple of weeks, we have had a yard sale, bought a new vehicle, celebrated Easter, L & I had our first girls only shopping trip and we had the March of Dimes Walk this past Sunday in the pouring down rain!! Needless to say, this paranoid momma didn't have her babies out there, they were tucked away dry and warm with Grandma & Aunt Leann!! Here is a picture of them decked out in their Team Beard gear!

The past week or so I have been spending my time at night after the babies have gone to bed (Todd included!) and reading other blogs that people have told me about or ones that I have found on other blogs. Most of these blogs tell a story of babies, and some of them include stories that don't have a Happy Ending. I honestly believe that I have shed as many tears in the last week or so reading these blogs as I did when the babies were born. Believe me, I know that my last year has been tough and I have had plenty of pity parties for myself but to go through what some of these families have, I feel even more Blessed than I already did, if that's possible b/c I know for certain how Blessed we are. Some of these stories, the families knew months before giving birth that their babies wouldn't live days or hours in some cases. I can't even begin to imagine how to prepare to say goodbye to a precious baby that you just met, but many families have had to do this very thing. I just ask that each of you that read this blog, hug your children a little tighter tonight. I don't know what the future holds for my 2 babies, they are doing so good right now, but we still have a long way to go with them, I do know that God has a special plan for them, he has already used them to touch so many people's lives, I can only imagine what the future holds for them! I will leave you all tonight with some pictures of my precious babies from Easter!!!

Happy St. Patricks Day!!

2009-03-17T19:26:00.000-07:00

My little munchkins!!

2009-03-17T18:58:00.000-07:00

So, I haven’t posted in several days, but most of you all know that we’ve been kind of busy at the Beard household. G’s surgery went better than the Dr. expected but we still won’t know if he will have any vision in that eye at all for a few weeks, so in the meantime we are going to keep praying!! He has definitely been a trooper thru all this as well as his precious “big” sister, she was So excited when she saw us this morning, she was asleep last night when we got home from the hospital & I always listen to my mom… “never wake a sleeping baby”, so she didn’t see us until this morning! She has also learned to “patty cake” in the last few days & she’s so cute when she does it, of course we have to jump up and down & cheer so that she gets the praise she wants/deserves!!!

My little trooper!

The shirt says it all!!

Are we cool or what? L is obviously thinking about the glasses?!?!?!

This picture says it all, twins do rock!!

Cake?!?!?

2009-03-02T09:03:00.001-08:00

They had such a good time playing in the cake, well at least G did!!! L wasn't sure about it, so she had a meltdown!! It was the best birthday party ever!!!

Birthday Celebration!!!

2009-03-02T08:57:00.000-08:00

They had a great time opening presents, of course most of the time they were more interested in the paper, boxes & bags than the presents. I believe they have more clothes than Todd & I do!

The birthday girl in her TuTu!!

From Small Beginnings, Come Great Things..............

2009-02-27T05:35:00.000-08:00

G 2-27-08

G 2-27-09

L 2-27-08

L 2-27-09

As I sit here looking at my two babies playing and laughing, it's so hard to believe that 1-year ago, I was laying in a hospital bed with a NICU Dr. telling me that I needed to prepare myself that my babies only had a 50-50 chance of survival and that if they lived, they would most likely have multiple complications. Everyone always talks about how exciting it is & having a nephew, I know how it's so fun to sit in the waiting room and wait for the new daddy to come out smiling and showing everyone the pictures on the camera...... for us, the new daddy came out of the delivery room crying and not even sure if his babies were alive. We had probably 15 people in our hospital room but no one was laughing or smiling all you could hear were sniffles and tears flowing.

A couple of weeks after the babies were born L's primary nurse asked me how I was feeling about the whole delivery, birth, etc. and I didn't really know the answer at that point, I was going thru the whole grieving stages, sad, mad, happy, etc. and she asked me if I felt cheated and that's exactly what I felt. For most everyone childbirth is the most exciting thing in the world & for us, it was the saddest time, next to losing our fathers. We never got the chance to enjoy people coming in to see us in the hospital room and being so excited to peek at the babies. When we had visitors, our time was spent counting down the hours to 72, b/c they told us those were the most critical.

I remember, when I saw them the first time, I said to myself that they would never live a month, much less even survive at all. We immediately went into Auto-Pilot and just prayed and prayed and hoped that God would send us not one, but two miracles and did he deliver or what?! Not that they didn’t have a rough start, but to have came so far from 1 year ago. There is no way to ever Thank the NICU Drs., nurses, respiratory therapist for all that they did for us in those 117 days, not only did they take care of our babies but they also took care of us, they were always there to give a hug or a word of encouragement, we will love all of them forever & they will always hold a special place in our hearts. I would also like to thank all of our Prayer Warriors all over the world & I really do mean “all over the world” who have prayed with us cried with us and rejoiced with us this last year, L & G still have a long way to go but without your prayers over the last year, I think the outcome may have been different. I will leave you all with this, “Hope, Where there is life there is hope”.

2009-02-27T05:34:00.001-08:00

L 2-27-08
L 2-27-09
G 2-27-08
G 2-27-09
As I sit here looking at my two babies playing and laughing, it's so hard to believe that 1-year ago, I was laying in a hospital bed with a NICU Dr. telling me that I needed to prepare myself that my babies only had a 50-50 chance of survival and that if they lived, they would most likely have multiple complications. Everyone always talks about how exciting it is & having a nephew, I know how it's so fun to sit in the waiting room and wait for the new daddy to come out smiling and showing everyone the pictures on the camera...... for us, the new daddy came out of the delivery room crying and not even sure if his babies were alive. We had probably 15 people in our hospital room but no one was laughing or smiling all you could hear were sniffles and tears flowing. A couple of weeks after the babies were born L's primary nurse asked me how I was feeling about the whole delivery, birth, etc. and I didn't really know the answer at that point, I was going thru all the grieving stages, sad, mad, happy, etc. and she asked me if I felt cheated and that's exactly what I felt. For most everyone childbirth is the most exciting thing in the world & for us, it was the saddest time, next to losing our fathers. We never got the chance to enjoy people coming in to see us in the hospital room and being so excited to peek at the babies. When we had visitors, our time was spent counting down the hours to 72, b/c they told us those were the most critical. I remember, when I saw them the first time, I said to myself that they would never live a month, much less even survive at all. We immediately went into Auto-Pilot and just prayed and prayed and hoped that God would send us not one, but two miracles and did he deliver or what?! Not that they didn’t have a rough start, but to have came so far from 1 year ago. There is no way to ever Thank the NICU Drs., nurses, respiratory therapist for all that they did for us in those 117 days, not only did they take care of our babies but they also took care of us, they were always there to give a hug or a word of encouragement, we will love all of them forever & they will always hold a special place in our hearts. I would also like to thank all of our Prayer Warriors all over the world & I really do mean “all over the world” who have prayed with us cried with us and rejoiced with us this last year, L & G still have a long way to go but without your prayers over the last year, I think the outcome may have been different. I will leave you all with this, “Hope, Where there is life there is hope”.

Ahoy Matie!! :)

2009-02-23T18:21:00.001-08:00

Well as you can see, G has to wear an eye patch, boo hoo! He is actually doing ok with it, he doesn't like it by any means but he's gotten much better since the first day. We are hoping this will only be a few weeks, so in the meantime, he's our little Jack Sparrow!!!

And of course, I can't post one without the other, so here is Miss Prissy! A sneak preview of her first Easter Dress, she looks thrilled, doesn't she?!?!? :)

Sitting on our own!

2009-02-11T13:00:00.000-08:00

L can finally wear a bow in her hair!

I can't believe that they are sitting up all by themselves, people ask me all the time, "are they crawling or walking yet?" Are you kidding me, sitting up is a huge deal for us right now, the other stuff will come later!! Every time I look at them, I can't believe how far they've came. In 16 days, they will 1-year old! I think their theme song should be, "Look How Far We've Come" by Nickelback!!!!

2009-01-27T18:14:00.000-08:00

They already have us wrapped around thier fingers!

11 Months old today & Cheetos!

2009-01-27T17:43:00.001-08:00

11 Months old today..... It's hard to believe that in 1 month my precious babies will be 1-year old. Where has the time gone? I remember when they were in the NICU that we would never thought we would see this day. To all the non-believers out there, just take a look for yourself..........

We have started trying meltable table foods, Cheeto Puffs were today. They aren't quite sure how this table food stuff works.......

2009-01-26T11:19:00.000-08:00

Our First Christmas!!

Bath Time for Us!!

2009-01-26T11:15:00.000-08:00

G likes to have his picture taken more than his sister!

My first post

2009-01-21T12:21:00.000-08:00

This is my first post on our new web page/blog. I decided to go with a blog because, the other website that we were using charged me every month and frankly I could spend that money elsewhere! I hope you all enjoy..... I will be updating as often as possible and will post pictures frequently. It's hard to believe that in a little over a month, L & G will be 1 year old. What a long, crazy year it's been. We have been so blessed and ask ourselves everyday what we did to deserve such blessings!