Great news article featuring our family

We're speaking for the March of Dimes Blue Jeans for Babies fundraiser this coming Monday and I was interviewed by my local paper about my boys.
Blue Jean for Babies was started in my hometown 19 years ago and has since become a national fundraising drive for March of Dimes.

http://www.readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=163429

Wear jeans to work in Berks and help a preemie or two
By Dan Kelly
Reading
Eagle
Ian and Lindsey Macomber's first son, Skylar, was born about eight
weeks prematurely.Lindsey said she knew her son would need intensive care in the
hospital.But she never dreamed the health of her children would be aided by
office employees wearing bluejeans to work.William Gage said he didn't know much
about the March of Dimes when he and his wife, Gwen, started the Blue Jeans for
Babies event in Berks County 19 years ago.The concept is simple enough: Buy a
button for $5 for the privilege of wearing jeans to work.The program started off
modestly but began spreading in its second year and now is part of the March of
Dimes national fundraising campaign. It raises about $35,000 to $40,000 each
year in Berks, Gage said."We had a friend who was involved in the March of Dimes
and she wanted to come up with something unique so we all put our heads together
and that's what we came up with," said Gage, owner of Gage Personnel of West
Reading.
The Macombers say Gage may make light of the contributions of Blue
Jeans for Babies and the March of Dimes, but their 1-year-old twin sons are
living proof.Their twins, Addison and Riley, were born 15 weeks prematurely on
June 17, 2008.Addison was 1 pound, 5 ounces, and Riley was 1 pound, 3 ounces.
Normal is about 8 pounds. Each was a little over 12 inches long. Normal is 18 to
21 inches long."Addison and Riley were also treated in Reading Hospital's
neonatal intensive care unit but the difference in their treatment in just the
past eight years since Skylar was born was amazing," Lindsey said. "The March of
Dimes funds research for babies and I credit them with many of the advances that
have been made."Other than being small for their age and a little behind the
curve in their crawling, Addison and Riley are doing well, their mom
said.Lindsey, Ian and the twins will be at the annual Blue Jeans for Babies Bash
at the Crowne Plaza Reading hotel, Wyomissing, on Monday from 5:30 to 8 p.m. in
the Designer Ballroom to share their story and offer their endorsement of the
March of Dimes.The party is open to the public so if you didn't get your button
at work you can get one at the door, Gage said.Contact Dan Kelly: 610-371-5040
or dkelly@readingeagle.com.

If you have a chance, check out http://www.marchofdimes.com/ and look for your local Blue Jeans for Babies event and please consider purchasing a button for $5!

Addison crawled!!!!!!!!

As I was sitting and eating my breakfast, I had the boys on the floor, in just their diapers. Addison was staring down this ball from one of their toys and all of the sudden, I see his arms stretch out and him pull his legs up and then he pushed himself forward!! So, not really crawling like other babies (on hands and knees) but he pushed himself forward a good couple of inches. And, he got the ball he wanted! I sat there for a second wondering if I had just seen what I thought I saw and then I immediately called Ian and told him the good news! He then did it again a few minutes later. I'm so excited and proud and oh my gosh! he's crawling!!!

New crib and food for the boys

For their first 7 months home, the boys slept in their carseats because of reflux. When we moved, back in April, we finally set up the co-sleeper and they were able to sleep in there just fine. They quickly began to outgrow the co-sleeper and before we knew it, they were over the weight limit and rolling onto each other. We've talked about getting them a crib and it's kind of been something on our "to do" list.

I was searching craigslist and I saw that a friend was selling her twins cribs. I went over and Addison and Riley had a little playdate with their old NICU twin buddies and I bought one of their cribs. Ian and I got it all set up, put in their new mattress and sheets, and the boys slept so well in it! I put one baby at each end and they stayed there all night. The next night, Addison discovered how much noise he could make when he bangs on the sides so he kept everyone awake for a little bit but they did end up falling asleep. They both have room to roll around without waking up each other but they're still able to stay in the same bed. They're still sleeping right next to the bed but I plan to slowly move them to the other side of the room (no, I'm not able to just move them away from me. I'm a bit crazy and I still get up in the middle of the night to make sure they're still covered and breathing).

Therapies have been going really well. The boys LOVE the Gerber Puffs! They eat at least a handful every day and they still eating lots of baby food. We also started giving them organic yogurt and cow milk. This morning, Ian and I went out for breakfast with the boys (the big kids spent the night at nanas) and Addison ate pieces of pancake! Riley was so tired and he tried a few pieces but he wasn't too into it. Addison probably would have eaten half of the pancake if I had let him.

Riley

Addison

We've met all of the new therapists

So, last week the boys started with their new physical therapist. She's awesome and I really think we're going to get some results soon. At the end of last week, we met the new occupational therapist. She mostly just did paperwork but she seems to have set some very attainable goals for the boys. She comes back out tomorrow to really start working on their fine motor skills. She has worked with other preemies and is currently working with a 3 year old who was born at 23 weeks.

Today their speech therapist started. She comes highly recommended by a friend of mine and I was very excited to have her work with the babies. She specializes in feeding issues and loves working with babies. Today wasn't too long of a session, she fed them both some stage 2 baby food to get an idea of where they were with their feeding/eating. I have a container of gerber puffs that I bought a few weeks ago and I only tried them once. I broke the tips off of the pieces and Riley gagged on them. I never even tried Addison because he's not as good of an eater. I've tried to give them small pieces of cheerios and they just push the pieces out with their tongues.

So, the therapist asked if she could try some puffs and cheerios. She put a piece of puff in Riley mouth and he CHEWED it!! He ended up eating whole puffs. And, to just make it that much better, he picked up a puff from the therapists hand, and with just a small amount of assistance, he fed himself!

Addison went on to eat puffs also. He was a bit lazier though. The first few, he let dissolve in his mouth and then after 3 or 4, he started to chew them. He did better with the whole puffs, rather than the pieces. He didn't really care for cheerios and they kept making him gag.

The therapist said that she's really happy with what they're doing since they're still considered "early feeders" since they've only been consistently eating for a few months.

She gave me the ok to start trying soft foods. Canned peaches or other soft fruit, small pieces of pancakes, etc. She doesn't want me to try dry foods yet but she's confident that they're able to eat soft foods. Next week we're going to try to start using a sippy cup and within the next few weeks, I think we're going to try scrambled eggs.

For now, we're replacing one evening bottle with a second jar of food. It went well tonight and hopefully it will continue to be easy to take away bottles.

So, we feel like lots of good stuff will come from the aggressive, 3 times per week therapy.

I wanted to share a cute picture. Ian and I took the kids to the Renaissance Faire last weekend. The big kids had a blast and the babies were so intrigued by their surroundings that they didn't sleep the whole time we were there. I took this picture while we were waiting for an archery demo to start. It's really hard to get both babies in a picture when they're in the stroller so you're only able to see Addison.

A big step for me today

I let someone other than Ian watch the babies. I needed to get to the gym and this morning was my only chance today so I walked them into the childcare room and got them situated. I was so nervous to leave them in a strangers care but I knew I would be just outside the room. I only stayed for a little over a half hour and I kept taking out my ear buds to listen for them crying. When I went to get them, they had just started crying. Actually, Riley started crying and when the lady picked up Riley, Addison started crying. But, they did just fine. It was a huge step for me, I haven't even let grandparents babysit (except the one time when Riley was in the hospital but that was out of necessity and there was medical staff all over). A completely child free date night might be able to happen in the near future!

The twins start with their new physical therapist tomorrow morning. I'm excited and nervous but I really believe that this is the best thing for them. Friday their occupational therapist will be here. We're still waiting to hear from the new speech therapist but she does come highly recommended.