Do You?

Do you have a sister who packs her baby and husband in the car on a moments notice and drives for six hours when you have an emergency c-section? Do you have a sister who makes frequent trips to see you when your husband is 1,000 miles away and your babies are in the hospital for months and months? Do you have a sister that you can call and cry to for over an hour because you miss your husband, babies, home and having a life of your own?   Do you have a sister who wants to come over and watch the move Pollyanna with you because it brings back memories of being little girls and watching it with your mom-all snuggled up together on the couch with a big bowl of popcorn? Do you have a sister who is angelic, kind, sweet, thoughtful and willing to do anything to lighten your burden? Do you have a sister who takes a day or two away from her own family to spend time hanging out with you doing things like pedicures, foot rubs, back tickling and watching HGTV just because you need some "chill" time?

Guess what, I do. And let me just tell you, she is THE coolest sister ever.  Just thought I'd let you know.

    

Confessions

Today's Confession Time is brought to you courtesy of my obsession with food blogs.  Seriously.  I never knew how much time I could spend on the computer until I spent so many night time hours awake with my Sammy.  I could spend hours and hours-late night hours, that is, looking at food blogs. Strange, I know.  I guess you could say it's my guilty pleasure? Call it what you will, but I love them.

I've discovered that many of my favorite blogs are traps. I say that because one blog has links to other equally interesting blogs.  Which then means more time spent on the computer.  I find myself saying "Oh my goodness!  That looks SO yummy!  I HAVE got to make that!" at almost every recipe I see.  And so I mark it with the intentions of making it.  And tonight, I found several recipes I am dying to make.  For example, the Nectarine and Prosciutto Pizza with Arugula recipe I found at new favorite blog of mine. I am determined to make that one.  For reals.  In case you also share in my love of food blogs, I have a few of my favorites linked to my blog.  Just in case you are as strange as me:)

Funny Boy

It is 1:00 am and I can't sleep.  Why? Maybe it's because I am anxious to go home to California and actually live with my husband. And introduce our boys to all the lovliness San Francisco has to offer. Or maybe it's because my mind wanders one million miles and hour thinking of all the things I want to do or thoughts of the person I want to become or the mother I want/need to be.

At this very moment it is because my five month old son who is sleeping in his crib next to me sounds like a wild boar.  Im not kidding you.  This kid doesn't JUST grunt.  I'm actually not quite sure how to describe the noises he makes.  All I know is that they are loud.  And very un-human like.  On top of that, he has a serious case of the toots.  Am I completely immature to just sit and laugh at him?  Oh well if I am.....

And that's only a couple of the reasons why our Sammy is a funny boy.

Sincerely,

SJ

A New Beginning

In my last post, I indicated that the whole blogging thing hadn't been going as well as I had intended when I started it.  I also noted that there would be some changes coming.  Well my friends, the time has come.  I don't know if anyone even reads this, or really even cares.  Regardless, I am making the changes, even if it is just for me.  You see, I feel with all that has gone on the past 6 months, (yes, that is how long all "this" has lasted) I need somewhat of a "new beginning" or a fresh start.  Besides, with the new year and all, isn't it the perfect time for a change?  I think so.  With that said, (I guess written would be more appropriate) I am ready to do things a bit differently around here.  

For starters, this blog is not going to be solely about our sweet baby boys.  I need to mix things up a bit.  I have decided that in order to make blogging more enjoyable, I am going to post about everyday life.  This means my posts might be a delicious recipe I made, something funny or interesting, something that has been on my mind, a project I made or anything else I feel is noteworthy.  Yes, I think that is the change I need with this blog.  Besides, isn't variety the spice of life?  I think so....

Over the next few weeks, months and year, I would like to refine my skills in many areas.  Particularly my photography skills (okay, I don't think I even have any photography skills to refine), cooking skills (I absolutely LOVE to cook, bake and be in the kitchen in general...L.O.V.E it), sewing skills, wife/mother/sister/friend skills (is that such a thing?!  In my book it is), and this blog will be used as a place to document those things. 

Basically, this blog will be whatever I am in the mood to make of it that day.  So I hope you enjoy it.  If not, sorry.

And so it begins.  Out with the old and in with the new!  Yay for new beginnings!

Sincerely, 

SJ

Catching Up

Okay, so this whole blogging thing isn't going as well as I had planned.  I have been trying to catch up on everything, but kept putting it off.  Why? Because our Sammy came home!!! I am now the mother of one child at home and one in the NICU.  And it is NUTS!  Sammy came home on December 11 and we are hopeful that Drew will be out in the next week or two, but who knows.  He is doing well, just struggling with some apnea issues that he needs to outgrow.  When I brought Sam home, he weighed in at 5 pounds 15 ounces.  "What does he weigh now?", you ask.  8 pounds 10 ounces!  And he grows more and more everyday!  I always knew I would love being a mom, but I never imagined just how incredibly much! It is by far the MOST rewarding and enjoyable role!  I know it will be twice as rewarding when Drew gets home.  I can honestly say that I love waking up with him in the middle of the night to feed him.  He is chubby and squishy and oh so kissable!  Who wouldn't love snuggling with a chubby baby?! Although I had originally planned on being home in CA for Christmas, we ended up spending it in St. George at Jacob's mom's house.  It was so nice to have Jacob for two whole weeks! He was able to see the boys for the first time in 2 1/2 months. I'm pretty sure there was some major father/son bonding going on in those two weeks.  I think Jacob finally feels like a father now. Yay for that!  I feel like WAY too much has gone on for me to document at this point, so we will call it even by posting a bunch of pictures instead:) I hope you're the type of person who likes that kind of thing...'cause that's all you're getting this time around.  Enjoy!

   Best buds-or at least they will be soon.

                 Drew has the cutest little body! It's pretty much impossible for me to not kiss him all over.

      That's one proud and perfectly content dad. And a handsome one too:)

  Snuggle time for Drew and the mama.

Drew passed his car seat test!

       If you thought holding one snuggly baby was the best, try holding two. It's even better.  Trust me.

 If you're wondering if this baby boy is as cute in person as he is in this picture, he is.  Just sayin'......

 All decked out for Santa's Christmas Eve visit!

My most wonderful sister Koni and her new sweet baby Garrett.  If you could only see just how sweet,         squishy and kissable he really is:)  I'm in love with him.

FYI- I have big plans for this blog.  I'm talking HUGE, GIGANTIC, ENORMOUS....okay not really that big, but I am going to be making changes regarding the format and style of this blog.  And soon.  I just need to get my act together.  So stay tuned.

P.S.- I know the format of the blog is all messed up....Im working on some changes and that's one of them I'll make.  Just be patient:)

It's About Time

WOW!  I can't believe it has been so long since my last post.  Time has passed by so quickly, but slowly at the same time.  Just short of two weeks and Jacob will be here!!! After two and a half months of not seeing the boys, he will be here to hold, snuggle and love on them all he wants!!! Oh we can't wait!!! The past few weeks have been weeks of growing for the boys.  Sam now eats whenever and however much he wants.  Judging by the looks of him, I think he is eating plenty:)  He is a chubby and happy 5 pound 3 ounce baby boy and growing everyday.  It won't be long before he is out of the hospital!!! Drew is also growing and doing so well with eating!!! Usually eating is what holds babies in the NICU.  Not the Jennings boys.  They are great eaters!  Drew's issue is apnea.  He does great for the most part but still manages to squeeze in about two spells of apnea per day.  He has to stop his spells for five days straight before they will take him off his caffeine.  I don't understand why I can't just take him home back to CA and feed him one or two Mountain Dews per day.....is there a problem with that?  Totally kidding.
Breathing is all a matter of the brain.  His brain just needs to recognize when his CO2 levels are low.  Due to prematurity, it is just taking him a bit longer to recognize that 100% of the time.  Until he gets that down, we will continue living our lives in the NICU.  Hopefully soon he will grow out of it.
I have realized that my hopes of being back in CA for Christmas probably wont come true.  My new hope is that we can just be out of here at least three days before Jacob needs to be back for school.  I need to teach Jacob how to take care of these boys and we need get a routine at least somewhat established (as much as you can with twin preemie babies).  Who knows, Drew may completely make me eat my words and be outta here by December 23, but I, ironically, am not holding my breath.  Even if we are driving home New Years day, that would be great.  What better way to start off 2012 than by driving 950 miles with two precious baby boys!!! Good goal to start off the year???? I think so:)
I went back home for a whole week during Thanksgiving to spend some time with Jacob and to get the boys room put together.  Holy smokes!!! I never knew a week could pass by so quickly! I, once again, was not ready to leave by the end of the week.  However, my sweet brother Jason, and adorable nephew, Christopher, were so kind and flew out to drive back with me. I was lucky enough to spend a whole day with this sweet boy of mine...

And with this cute little one...

And eat pizza with these three boys....

At Ghirradelli Square!  We also took a stroll on the Golden Gate Bridge, which is something Jacob and I want to take the boys to do.  It is only one of the many things on our list of "fun things to do while we live in THE COOLEST PLACE ever" list.  And thanks to my trip out there, we now have an awesome double jogger stroller to take them out in!  YAY!!! I can't wait!

Meanwhile, while I was gone, these cute boys were busy growing and being the cutest little stinkers ever!

In case you can't tell, Drew and Sam look absolutely nothing alike; not even like brothers.  If you think they do, I promise you need your eyes checked because they don't.  Drew has tons and tons of bright blonde hair and has olive/bronze coloring partly because of his jaundice and partly because he has my coloring, he has an oval face, is a total mama's boy and is VERY particular.  Oh, and he LOVES to cry....its a good thing I can't get enough of him:)  I also love his sweet and strong cry.  After wondering if your child is going to survive, you learn to love the sound of their grunts, cries and changing their diapers.  Trust me, I know.

Sammy, on the other hand, is completely mellow and happy.  He rarely cries and if he does, it's because he is hungry.  Occasionally he will cry if he is trying to poop, but mostly he just grunts.  He has dirty blonde hair, a much more round face than Drew, is so chubby it makes me wonder how he breathes and makes me laugh hysterically.  Im pretty sure the nurses here think I have finally cracked and gone completely nutty because I sit in our room and laugh almost the entire time I am with the boys.  Im not joking.  Between the burps (Sam can now burp the alphabet and if you think Im joking, I'll be happy to show you in 6 months when he can have visitors), the toots (both boys are awesome in this department), the grunting, crying and trying to eat anything in sight (including high flow tubes), I am extremely entertained and can't imagine ever being bored.  I love my boys.  It has been so fun to watch their personalities unfold.  Although we don't have them home yet, I can't even begin to explain how much I love being their mother.  I can't imagine any greater calling in life than being a wife and mom.  Truly it is such a blessing. 

Big Changes!!

I know I haven't been the best at keeping things updated lately.  I always think I'll get around to updating the blog, but by the time I get home and talk to Jacob on the phone, it's midnight or later and all I want to do is sleep.  There have been some big changes in the last few days with the boys.  Let me first start off by letting you all know that I took a MUCH needed trip to San Francisco to be with Jacob.  I loved every second of it!!! I missed my boys like CRAZY!!!! But I have also been missing my ever so sweet Jacob for the past few months.  My intentions were to get the boys' room at least somewhat put together.  Did I succeed?  Nope.  Not at all.  But Jacob and I had a lot of fun, so I am counting that as a success.  My trip was not relaxing in the least bit.  I was going going going just like always, but I can't even begin to explain to you how wonderful it felt to be in my own home and bring groceries back to MY home, and drive OUR car.  It was amazing.  I love our house and where we live.  I could stay there for a really long time.  I think I would like to live in our own house and not an apartment :) but I honestly don't want to leave the location.  It's perfect!! I am SO glad we have the opportunity to be out there.  We can't wait to bring the boys back and just all be together.  Anyway, it was a wonderful trip and I can't wait to go back for Thanksgiving in two weeks!!  By then the boys will be about 37 weeks and will hopefully be within a couple of weeks of coming home!!! YAY!!!  While I was in San Francisco, I was able to meet Jacob's dental school friends and their wives (LOVE them!!).  They wanted to dress up Friday night (before Halloween) and go out to eat.  Anyone who knows me knows that I don't like Halloween and I HATE dressing up.  I wasn't too excited to dress up, but decided that I needed to let loose and just enjoy it.  I picked Jacob up at 5:00pm from school in down town San Francisco and we headed to his friend's house to get our costumes.  This is what we ended up as.......

Jacob was Zorro and I was his Senorita.  We ate at the Cheesecake Factory and then walked around and took some pictures.  We even had a bunch of people pull off to the side of the road to take pictures with us.  It was quite the entertaining night!  After we dropped everyone off, we headed back home to have some treats and watch a movie.  It was wonderful!  I wasn't ready to leave Jacob, but I was so excited to see my boys.  I flew into Vegas and then drove back up to St. George.  I couldn't get there fast enough!!! I drove straight to the NICU.  I literally jumped out of the car and ran in to see my sweet little ones.  I washed up and headed back to their room to find that the nurses back a darling "Welcome Back Mommy" sign.  They had also anxiously been waiting for me to arrive because they knew I would be pleasantly surprised by what I saw!  I walked into their room and first went to Sam's bed.  I burst into tears.  He was so big!!! "Are you sure this is my baby?!!!", I asked.  "Yes! And so is this guy over here!" They said pointing to Drew.  "Oh my goodness!" was about all I could say with tears running down my face.  The nurses immediately pulled up a chair, got out some pillows and began to get the boys out for me to snuggle with.  I still couldn't believe how big they were!! Sam went from 6 liters of flow on his oxygen down to 3 and was about ready to be turned to 2 liters and start oral feedings.  Drew was on 8 liters, but that was great for him!!! I couldn't have been more pleasantly surprised.   They placed both boys in my arms and I sobbed for about 20 minutes straight.  This time it wasn't because I was sad or frustrated, but because I was so grateful for these two miracle baby boys.  "Are they really mine and Jacob's?"  I asked.  "How can I be so lucky as to have these sweet and pure babies?" I can't begin to explain how grateful I am for these boys...everyday I get emotional thinking of how blessed I feel to be their mom and to be married to the most sweet and wonderful man I have ever known.  Life is good...not just good, but beautiful, perfect and the best!  There are hard days, but that is part of life.  We are getting over a lot of our rough days and have been seeing many more good days than bad days.

                                                            Drew loves his binki

                                                                      Sam's first bottle!

Sam's first time in clothes

Sam is now eating from a bottle and takes 2 bottles per shift!  I LOVE feeding him.  It's my new hobby:) I can't wait for Drew to start taking bottles too.  They are both three pounds and are growing everyday.  Sam has quite the little personality and makes me laugh every day! Drew is much more serious, but also makes me laugh when he lies awake in his bed and looks around with his giant beautiful eyes.  I love these boys!!!