Fall Family Update!

And we’re back! You’ll have to excuse that long break, folks. Life has been a little crazy since the last post. Sadly, we’re starting to see that crazy is the new normal! This post doesn’t include everything that we’ve done, but it’s a start.

FAMILY

We started the fall season by getting ready for all the fall festivities, which included pumpkin painting!

And the babies tried on their first Halloween costumes!

We also made a trip down to Camden in October. I observed that Ellen is at her calmest when the vehicle is traveling at 60 mph or faster. Red lights are gruesome! It was the first trip to Camden for the babies and the trip also included some extra Halloween fun for Graham. He really enjoyed the fall festival put on by the Camden Baptist Church. Everyone liked his Gecko costume!

The weather was nice, which presented a great opportunity for a picture with Grandmommy and Granddaddy!

The babies have made a few trips to the doctor for help with all kinds of things their big brother passed along to them. If only they could blow their noses!

We made a return trip to Camden for Thanksgiving and enjoyed a lot of good food. Global warming isn’t all that bad if it means we can spend time comfortably outside in late November!

BABIES

Ellen and Harris are no longer sleeping in their swaddles. They now sleep on their tummies under some blankets. Their swings have really come in handy during sick spells. We’ve gone through approximately 400 size D batteries! Their bouncy seats have been very helpful at keeping them upright so they can nap.

Both babies experienced an allergic reaction to cereal and it took about 3 weeks for their tummies to bounce back. Not a fun period due to very little sleep. Julie has powered through and kept us all alive. The babies stayed with an all-formula diet until recently when fruit flavored baby food was introduced, with much success! Just as these babies are different from each other, they eat baby food differently, too. Ellen savors the flavor while Harris barely even tastes his food. Sometimes we don’t go fast enough!

Harris is still a little heavier and longer. At a recent doctor’s appointment, Harris was weighed 14.5 pounds. Ellen was weighed 12 pounds and 1 ounce.

Judging by their drooling and the way they constantly suck on their fingers, these babies will have some teeth soon. There is rarely a time now when something isn’t in their mouth, especially for Harris. I don’t remember Graham being able to stick his entire hand into his mouth.

If one finger is good, all five are even better!

A photo posted by Nick Baggett (@nick_baggett) on Oct 12, 2016 at 7:53pm PDT

Aside from their tummy troubles, ear infections, the occasional sniffles and some chest congestion, Harris and Ellen are genuinely happy babies. Harris is the more expressive baby but Ellen will give you a big smile every now and then too.

They still don’t really acknowledge each other. They spend time on their activity mat with each other and sometimes suck on each other’s fingers but they don’t outright look at each other. I thought that would have happened more by now. Maybe it will happen soon – Julie and I are really looking forward to them entertaining themselves!

GRAHAM

Graham has had a very busy fall. He’s had a blast along the way, from school to yardwork. It won’t be long until I can count on Graham to rake the entire yard!

Graham also discovered that leaf piles make don’t derail trails as much as one would think.

New concept for the next Thomas the Train film: Thomas and the Dad Who Just Gives In.

A video posted by Nick Baggett (@nick_baggett) on Nov 13, 2016 at 11:29am PST

This might be my favorite photo from this fall:

He has enjoyed learning lots of great things at school. He's REALLY become quite the artist. Check out this family portrait he sketched.

Be sure to check out his depiction of the babies.

As evident by his school photo, I’d say Graham really likes school.

He also helped us celebrate his Aunt’s birthday. They are kindred spirits that share December birthdays.

More recently, Graham has been working very hard at staying on Santa’s “nice” list. He got off to a great start with an EXCELLENT visit to see Santa with Harris and Ellen. Not the first tear was shed!

Grahambo also helped with our Christmas tree decorations.

And here it is, time for Christmas! Time really flies. I think this last picture really sums up our hectic lives! I don’t recall what was going on in this photo, but it seems to capture any given moment around here - - Julie hanging out of the window and Graham slinging his Spidey webs.

Thanks for reading! We’ll work on having more frequent posts in 2017!

Family Update - 11 Weeks

Now that Ellen and Harris are 11 weeks into this thing called life, it’s time for a family update!

THE TWINS

We so often associate “twins” with “same” but I’m here to tell you that these babies are not very similar. I’ve constructed the following table to highlight some of their key differences.

	Harris	Ellen
Gender	Boy	Girl
Head Shape	Square	Round
Body Shape	Long, Solid	Thin, Delicate
Hair Color	Dark Brown	N/A
General Mood	Content	Fear of Missing Out
Type of Sleeper	Great	Light
Type of Eater	Slow	Messy
Likes Paci?	No	Yes

I should note that these findings are based on my observations.

It would be unfair if I did not share the their commonalities. A few examples of their shared traits are:

• These babies grunt. When they’re eating. When they’re sleeping. When they’re trying to escape their swaddles. All. The. Time. 
• It’s unfathomable to imagine a pair of babies that toot more than Harris and Ellen. There is nothing dainty about their toots, either. Instead of “thunder and lightning”, I refer to this duo as “thunder and thunder”. 
• Both babies have begun smiling at us. This has been a huge game-changer. After weeks of blank expressions and unbreakable eye contact, it’s amazing to see how a slight smile changes their whole look. Harris definitely has the Baggett sideways grin. Ellen’s smile is just like her – beautiful! 

Both babies are doing extremely well. At a recent doctor’s appointment, Harris tipped the scales at 10.9 lbs and measured 22 inches long. Ellen weighed 8 lbs and is right behind at 19 and ¾ inches.

BIG BROTHER

Graham continues to be very interested in the twins and loves to help. I’ve never seen him get mad or frustrated with them, even during prime crying time. He has earned some nice rewards for his great attitude.

Graham and I recently took a trip to Toys R Us. Did you know that you can buy a life-size Star Wars figure??

Graham has spent time with all of his grandparents since the babies came home. My parents visited on their return from a recent cruise. While they were here, we dined at one of the nicest restaurants Birmingham has to offer and my Dad and Graham got a close look at the lobster tank.

Graham has also been doing a lot of swimming...

biking...



and he even helped me celebrate my birthday with a cookie cake that featured a theme he picked out just for me!

In addition to all of this, Graham started a new school year recently. It was an incredibly short summer and I know it won't be long before he will be starting kindergarten next year. I am not looking forward to that day!

JULIE

Mommy. Wife. ROCK. It's not uncommon for two babies to be crying, a 4 year old to be craving attention and me being grumpy all at the same time. Julie thrives in those moments and whips us all back into shape.

I've been so amazed at the way Julie has commanded every situation. She's so organized and structured - - it's like God made Julie to feed, cloth and transport these children. She somehow finds time to make a warm dinner for us every night to enjoy inside a clean home. She keeps us all in line and I don't tell her enough how great a mother and wife she is. Julie makes us ALL feel LOVED around the clock.

A lot of our home projects - - both inside and out - - have paused and it's more about maintaining things now. We wouldn't trade it for anything though! Come see us...we'll even let you hold a baby!

Home at Last!!!

The twins were discharged from the NICU at Grandview Medical Center today, June 27th - - two weeks after their birthday!

I left work after a few hours this morning to pick Julie up and head to the hospital around 10:30. When we arrived, Harris and Ellen were in their normal positions, just closer together.

We had to wait for the doctor to make her rounds to look the babies over one last time. While we waited, Harris and Ellen both got a bottle for lunch. Ellen had to wait her turn in the background. That's always been the case with Harris and their meals!

Soon, the doctor arrived and reaffirmed what we've been hearing - the babies are doing great, eating more and putting on weight. The twins got a diaper change and a new outfit. Harris wore the same outfit that I wore home from the hospital after I was born. Graham wore the same outfit when he came home too.

A representative from the Grandview marketing department came by to take our picture for their Facebook page and shared some interesting news. Harris and Ellen are the first twins to be discharged from Grandview's NICU.

They didn't make this a public post so I couldn't embed it. Had to take a screenshot.

After some (double) paperwork, it was time to pack up and leave! Harris and Ellen liked their new ride, the BabyBarrow 4000. Ellen is on the left.

The ride home was very quick and Graham was so excited to see his new brother and sister! He RAN out the front door to greet us!

He couldn't take his eyes off them, even when we were trying to get some family pics on the front steps.

Here's a better look at what the twins wore home. I think they enjoyed the scorching temps outside. They were sleeping just fine.

Graham couldn't wait to get the babies inside. He seemed to gravitate to Harris but I bet that will change.

Graham wanted to be a helpful brother and asked to hold the babies as soon as we brought them into the nursery.

Talk about a surreal moment. We just brought Graham home from the hospital the other day. Wow!

The rest of the afternoon has been all about feeding, preventing naps from being disrupted and changing diapers. We're very fortunate to have Julie's mother stay with us to help with these things and so much more.

In between rain showers, I manage to get some bows on the mailbox. I don't think this is what Julie had in mind but it was my best effort. I probably should have gotten some instructions from her before descending down that driveway.

So far, so good tonight. Julie is bringing back her super swaddling skills - Harris and Ellen don't have a choice but to like it!

Keep those prayers coming!! We've got schedules to sync up and double the diapers to change but with your continued support, we can do it! Thank you!!!

Update on the Twins

Julie, Graham and I really appreciate all of the kind words after the arrival of Harris and Ellen. Since we touched on their first day with us, the route to the NICU has become a very familiar path. I would like to say that Harris and Ellen have receive tremendous care in Grandview Medical Center's NICU and we know that we're very fortunately to be relying on the staff there for very routine care.

We've received calls, texts, emails and messages from all circles of our lives. A big outpouring of support came from our church family at Covenant Presbyterian. This has been a wild year for our Sunday school class - we've collectively welcomed 17 babies since January and 6 more are on the way. Our class has been one big team, assisting each other with baby showers, meals and prayer. Covenant as a whole has been supportive of us with prayers and help with Graham. The morning after the twins were born, Pastor Danny Giffen visited us at the hospital. Danny is a very knowledgeable and sharing person. Julie and Danny have known each other for a long time so having him come pray with us was extra special!

The next few days in the hospital were spent making more trips to and from the NICU to check on the twins. and to help with feeding, when possible. 

Harris spent a little more time under his hood, which helped with his oxygen levels. 

And Ellen stayed warm and comfortable in her incubator. 

And we continued to host special visitors, including Grandma Jane

and big brother Graham!

The twins have shown improvement each day. Soon, Harris no longer needed his hood and both babies were eating enough that their IVs were removed, which made it easier for us to hold them and feed them. We also realized that they really like their pacifiers.

A couple of interesting observations during our stay in the hospital included...

Lots of red plate covers on light switches and outlets. They're everywhere. I was told that the color red indicated that these sources of electricity were supported by the emergency generator. I have no idea if that's true.

Also, Grandview Medical Center has wheelchairs wide enough for two people.

We noticed that Ellen has really long fingers...

and Auntie Elle helped us get a good side-by-side comparison of Graham and Harris. With his hat on, Harris looks a lot like Graham. Harris is on the left here:

But I'm not so sure without his hat. We've said all along that he looks like Julie's Uncle Ray. Here he is after a bath:

Ellen looks a lot like Graham to me.

Eventually, Julie started to feel better and it was time for us to leave the hospital. The night before we left, the hospital treated us to a candlelight dinner in our room!

It was great! Julie had steak and I had salmon. They even gave us some bubbly. 

And if you're wondering how a candle works in a hospital, they're very realistic but not an actual flame.

It wasn't easy but Julie left our babies in the NICU and headed home the next day. Fortunately, we live very close to the hospital and can visit as frequently as needed. We celebrated Father's Day with no children in the house (Graham went to Camden to spend time with my parents). Harris and Ellen gave me this cool shirt:

The following week - the week after the twins were born - saw even more improvement from Harris and Ellen. They were both eating a lot and with fewer lines and tubes connected to them, Julie got to hold the twins together. I think this was the first time they've been side-by-side since their birthday. Harris is on the left here:

Towards the end of the 2nd week, both babies were meeting benchmarks and we were told that they would likely come home together with just a little more time in the NICU. Knowing that, Julie and I were asked to complete some infant CPR training and spend some extended time with both babies in a "halfway room". That's my term. From what I determined, it's like a hotel room in which families can adjust to life with their new babies before transitioning home. The room has a big bed, a TV and a shower in the bathroom.

Julie fed Harris and he showed that he is a good burper.

The infant CPR training consisted of practicing chest compressions on a doll while following along with video instructions.

The training couldn't have some at a better time as Julie showed that she had no clue which end of a baby to even administer CPR.

Kidding!

So here we are...Sunday, June 26th...the night before the twins are scheduled to come home. We've made sure to spend lots of special time with Graham this weekend and explained that Harris and Ellen are coming home soon. He seems ready and so are we!

Julie and I will be sure to keep everyone posted - thanks again for your prayers and support!