Back in mid-May, Miss Heather and I loaded up the boys in the mini-van and took them to get fancy photos taken at the mall. As you can see, Houston, Gabriel and Zeke wore the Reds baseball caps Daddy bought for them while he and Mommy were in Ohio visiting Cincinnati Children’s Hospital for Mommy’s fetal surgery last July.
The hats are symbolic for our journey over the past year, with the twins surviving TTTS and thriving outside of the womb, Zeke conquering his CCAM woes, the 3 Amigos just bonding and loving each other like brothers should do, and our family finally all together, happy and healthy and under one roof … not to mention the fact that Daddy has big baseball plans for the boys when they’re older! Click the photo below to check out all the cute pro pics.
Zeke (top) & Gabriel ponder, “What has Mommy gotten us into now?”
Zeke is better than new since his lobectomy. Last Saturday was the only semi-bad day he has had since coming home from Brenner’s. Granny noticed that the incision site was a little puffy. Plus, Zeke had a slight fever and was pretty grumpy. But all is well now … the puffiness is almost totally gone and Z-Bird is happy as a clam. Dr. Petty says the slight swelling is normal; it’s just the tissues underneath the skin recovering from the trauma of surgery.
Gabriel left poor Zeke in the dust during his brother’s hospital stay. Gabriel was already the more advanced crawler prior to the surgery. And since Zeke was bed ridden for the better part of a week, and then returned home fatigued, fairly medicated and weighing 7 ounces less than Gabriel (Zeke weighed 17 lbs., 1 oz. on 6/16, and Gabe was 17 lbs., 8 oz. on 6/20), he couldn’t even roll from back to belly the first couple of days he was home.
Zeke’s doing much better now, enjoying tummy time for brief periods and doing some limited crawling, although he gets frustrated much quicker than before. Surely it doesn’t help Zeke’s confidence level that Gabriel has taken off like a wild buck, crawling around the house like nobody’s business and getting into everything he can get his grubby little paws on — including changing the station on our XM Radio. Gabriel is one strong lad! Who knows, our “little hot mess,” as one nurse called Zeke, may decide to forego crawling altogether and go straight to walking. We shall see.
“Thank you, Lord, for our miracle babies (Gabriel on left, Zeke on right) & their loving big brother,” say Mommy & Daddy.Â
On Saturday, I took Houston to swim class, while Daddy lifted weights. Well, Houston finally let go of whatever it was that was bothering him about being at the Y (yeah, his third lesson didn’t go so hot). Since Daddy paved the way, I was able to get Houston into the water! He had a blast, making friends, letting Mommy swim him around the deep end, playing on a neat underwater ledge, frolicking in some fountains, having fun with lots of water toys, going under the rope, and even doing the hokey pokey with all the other kids at the end of class.
Then the next day, Houston attended children’s church for the very first time. He was a pretty good boy, although a couple older boys easily hyped him up whenever they so chose. Also, Houston’s utter love of hugging did initially freak out some kids; they soon got over it, once Bull tempered his zest for the gesture. Considering that the new atmosphere is much more stimulating that the church nursery, I’d say our tazzy boy handled himself quite well.
Zeke’s crooked hat perfectly illustrates his goofy and fun-loving personality.
Houston’s allergies seem to have gotten a bit better in recent days. We slather him with snazzy lotions, vitamin E and corn starch for his eczema. For his seasonal allergies, we continue to give him Claritin and “razor-blade flavored” eye drops (what I call them due to his dramatic reaction to the drops) and always run a humidifier in his room when he sleeps. I hope Houston gets over these darn sensitivities soon and is especially healthy for his fun-filled outdoor birthday party this Saturday.
Here are a few funny Houston translations:
- tett-unh = tortilla
- pett-ance = pizza
- bruv-urh = brothers
- pook = puke
- in-yare = in there
- *uck = truck
- cock = clock
- piggy = The Muppets
- cwooz = Blue’s Clues
 Gabriel flashes “the look of judgment” — a standard facial expression that both twins possess.
Note: here’s some proof we really do live at “the zoo.” Because the competition for attention has really been upped since the twin’s arrival on the scene, Stanley has been bringing us “gifts” more and more frequently. These have included both living and dead birds, chipmunks, mice and lizards. His murderous ways hit an all-time high when Zeke and I were away at the hospital when the nutty feline brought in a live bunny and proceeded to torture and kill it under our bed. Granny heard the whole ordeal and lucky Daddy got to clean up the mess. Needless to say, we got handy-man Papa to remove our cat door.
