Nana Walton Masterpieces

Just after we found out the sexes of the twins back in October, when I was 19 weeks pregnant, Nick and I thought it would be fun to keep it a secret. We swore to each other we would not tell anyone the sexes of the babes. We had a ton of fun keeping the secret and enjoyed hearing all your guesses and laughed at attempts to trick us into giving up the info.

Well, we kept the secret from everyone except one person...Nana Walton (Nick's grandma).

Before leaving for Florida in November Nana asked, "Bre, I know you aren't telling anyone the sexes of the twins, but would you consider telling me because I'd like to make quilts for them?"


Now, we were tough on everyone else and refused to spill the beans...but how could I say no to that!? Of course I told her, without thinking twice. Nana came over to show me the fabric before leaving for Florida and we were both giddy about these beautiful quilts she would be making.


After 5 months of working on these gorgeous quilts, Nana and Bompa came back from Florida this weekend and rushed over to meet Cal & Teagan for the first time and give them their quilts.

Here is the unveiling of Nana's works of art...

On the back is her signature:

Made for Teagan Kay Walton (& Calin Pierce Walton)

by Great Grandmother, Scotty

Margaret Fleming Walton

2008

We have a few other "Nana Walton Originals" around the house. Here is a picture of Ethan on his "Nana Quilt" when he was 8 months old. By the way, check out how much Cal & Ethan look alike!

THANK YOU NANA!!!

78 and Sunny!

Today was a beautiful day- Spring is finally here!!!! After what seemed like the longest winter of our lives, we are excited to get out of the house and hibernation to enjoy life again!

Grandpa & Grandma Rooney bought Ethan a new bike while we were in the hospital with Cal and Teagan a couple weeks ago. He learned to ride it that week in their empty living room (empty because they are painting). The timing couldn't have been better. He is great on the bike and loves riding to the park, shops, library and bakery. A couple months ago I was worried about his transition to a bike, in fear that he'd just want to ride in the stroller. No worries now!

Here was our day today...

The day started with a smile!

We biked to the park...
Grandpa stopped by...
Mom's view, on the way to the library...
Home again to play outside...

Mesmerized by the Mobile

Cal and Teagan love their crib mobile. This is how I find a few moments alone to escape to the computer to update the blog...

Tubeless Teagan

She did it! Teagan took her feedings vomit-free for over 36 hours. And in that time her oxygen saturation went up to 99%, from around 89%, so they removed her oxygen tube!

After monitoring her without tubes overnight she was given the OK for discharge and we brought her home last night!

Go Teagan! Now she just has to gain some weight back to catch up with her 10.5-pound brother.

Day 5 at Children's

Today was our 5th day at Children's Hospital.

I'm exhausted and don't have the energy to give the full story right now, but just wanted to update the blog and let everyone know that we are still at the hospital with Teagan.

Calin was discharged on Monday night because he improved quickly. Although he is still sick and coughing often, he is strong and recovering well without the need for oxygen.

Teagan's situation was much worse from the start as she was extremely dehydrated from vomiting. Her coughing is so hard on her little body that she has been gagging and vomiting up every feeding. She has had a feeding tube in since Saturday night because she was too dehydrated to find a vein to place an IV for fluids.

Today was the 3rd day we tried stopping the feeding tube to attempt feeding her with a bottle. For the past 3 days we've been trying to feed her 1 ounce of milk every hour, but she ends up vomiting it back up by the 4th or 5th hour. After vomiting we start the feeding tube again so her body isn't too stressed. After all, she needs the energy to work on healing her lungs.

Today (cross your fingers) she has taken 1 ounce every hour for 7 hours. If she can make it 24 hours we can remove the feeding tube. Then we'll work on getting her oxygen tube removed...
One step at a time.

Children's Hospital is a wonderful place and the nurses are so supportive. Everyone wants to come to our room "to see the twins." I guess its not often they get to see two babies in a bed together.

RSV

Just a quick update-

Cal and Teagan have been at Children's Hospital since yesterday morning. They both have RSV and are finally both stable after a very scary 48 hours at the hospital.

Promise to write more soon...

Pictures from my cell phone:

Teagan

Calin

Divide and Conquer

Sleep. Oh how we miss sleeping!

It's been almost 8 weeks of 4-5 hour nights and it's taking a toll on us. Our minds are consumed with thoughts of sleep and strategies to get just a little more sleep each night.
Last weekend my parents slept over and took Cal & Teagan for the entire night, giving us the most fabulous gift of 10 hours of sleep!

That was a little taste of heaven! Now we're even more focused and determined to get these two to sleep longer at night.

Until now, when the first baby wakes up we've been waking the other one up in order to keep them on the same schedule. In the past week we decided not to wake the second up to feed when the first wakes. Teagan has been sleeping great- up to 6 hours at a stretch! This is great..BUT Calin still wakes up hungry every 3 hours. This combination makes for a completely sleepless night.

Here is why:
Last night BOTH fed at 9pm.
Calin woke up at 12:30am.
Teagan woke up at 3am.
Calin woke up at 4am.
Teagan woke again at 6am.
Calin again at 7am.
Then Ethan is up and my day begins.

SO...Teagan did great and is now learning to sleep longer, which is the goal. BUT that only left me with 4 1/2 hours of sleep (10-midnight, 1:30-3am, 5-6am).

What to do?
We made a decision to Divide & Conquer!
It's much easier to only wake up with one baby, so we will be splitting up at night. Nick will take one baby downstairs with him for the night and I'll keep the other one with me. Nick will feed his baby bottles for the night and I'll breastfeed the other. Waking up with just one baby will be so easy! We should get a little more sleep this way and it will help them learn to sleep in longer chunks at night.

Nick, Heads or Tails for who gets Teagan!

Calin & Teagan- almost 8 weeks old: