The boys are almost 14 months now. They are making strides that have us completely amazed. Grant can walk dozens of steps at a time, and Adam can crawl, pull himself up, and move around the house at will. Adam's fine motor skills seem to be surpassing Grant's as he can manipulate certain toys that Grant hasn't quite mastered yet. He also has started to ascert himself, and at times actually bullies Grant. Grant takes it all in stride and rarely complains, except when Adam gets a handful of hair. But not to worry, Grant takes advantage of the size difference when it suits him. But it's not always pushing, shoving, and pulling hair. Last night both boys were playing with an electronic air filter (don't worry, I was there and it was completely safe). Adam was standing on one side, and Grant was on the other near the on/off switch. Grant knows how to turn the unit on and off and adjust the speed. For some reason, Adam thought this was hilarious and was belly-laughing the entire time, which made me do the same. My only regret is that I didn't get a video of the whole thing. There are several things that I miss, and maybe I should strap a kiddie-cam to their heads so nothing is missed.

Halloween, not one of my favorite holidays, is soon. Heidi already has their costumes and we will take them to a couple of houses for trick-or-treat. I'll post the pictures on Dropshots. In fact there are some good videos and pics there now.

Other than the reduced amount of sleep, life is very good. We can't imagine life without these guys. Every day brings a new accomplishment and new surprises. Time is passing very fast as they grow. Take a look at the Dropshots when you can.

Sat PM - It's been quite a few days, culminating with this afternoon's birthday bash. I can't say that every person near and dear to us was there, because they weren't. I can say that every person who was there is very near and dear to us, and words are inadequate to describe how great it was to have everyone celebrate the twins' first year. It's very difficult to spend quality time with those who come to a party when you're the party giver. We wish we could have spent hours with everyone, but that wasn't possible. Just know that we deeply appreciate the love and support that you showed just by coming.

It will likely take few days to get all the pictures from all of our great photographers, but I hope to set up a separate "1st Birthday" folder on the Dropshots web site. Keep checking by after a few days from now. If you want, ignore the pictures of the paleskin guy holding Grant on the slip-n-slide. It's been many years since he's seen the sun for an extended period, and it will probably be several more.

Again, our love and thanks to each and everyone.

Fri AM - I'm sure that I've lost most, if not all, of my readers by this time. So this could be considered a "putting-on-hold" post to the boys' blog. They are doing so well that I literally don't have time to post their progress. I consider this a good thing, as trying to keep pace with a couple of soon-to-be 1 year-old boys shouldn't allow time for much of anything else. I'm not going to say this is the end of the blog, but the posts will be in frequencies of months rather than days or weeks.

Adam has made progress that has exceeded all of our hopes and expectations. He can sit up on his own and can even stand for a few minutes if he's holding onto something that interests him. He babbles and interacts with us, although he is primarily a momma's boy. This week we had another good visit with his cardiologist, and he's doing quite well in that department. If he continues to progress, there is a chance he may be taken off his heart medicine at the first of 2008. There's still some time to go, but we are very hopeful. His big issue now is eating. He doesn't like solid food and getting him to take a bottle is a production. We have to distract him with a TV show like Barney or one of the other PBS kids' shows. That being said, he weighs 15 lbs. and is doing OK with his growth. We would like to see him grow faster, but we'll take what we can get.

Grant is now officially mobile. He crawls all over the house and pulls himself up on whatever will support him. He also babbles and tries to talk with us, and he's a daddy's boy, which makes things quite convenient when they both need TLC. Actually Grant is becoming more independent and is fairly fearless when it comes to exploring the house. He likes the cats, but only Luby (our older cat) is allowed to be near him as she can handle more abuse without counter-attacking. Unlike his brother, Grant eats most anything put in front of him. He tries to feed himself, but most ends up on him, in the chair, or on the floor. When we feed him, he can put a lot of food away, as you can see from the pics and videos. He now weighs 25 lbs.

August 25th is their first birthday, and it's been quite a year for us all. As we look at them each day, and at the past photos and videos, we can't believe how they have grown and are becoming little people with their own personalities. Our lives have been made better, and we can't imagine being without either of them.

Keep checking Dropshots for our updates there, and every few months or so here. Our thanks to all of our friends and family for your love, prayers, and support which have brought us so very far.

Sat AM - My posts are becoming less frequent, but that's a good sign as the boys are both thriving and doing quite well. We recently took them to a reunion that The Woman's Hospital has for all of their NICU "graduates". They reserved the Children's Museum for the event, but we literally never got past the entrance. It was great seeing the doctors and nurses who had cared for us (yes, all 4 of us), and at times it was quite emotional. This was our first official outing, and the quarantine has been lifted. Since then we have taken both boys out a couple of times, and Grant makes frequent trips with me to run errands. Adam isn't quite the accomplished traveller that Grant is, but he's getting there.

If you want to see how far each has come, check out the Dropshots site. It does a better job than I can do. I will say that Adam is over 13 lbs, and Grant is over 22. Adam likes to lay around and kick his feet, while Grant is obsessed with pulling the chain for the ceiling fan light. I think they are starting to become more aware of each other, and most of the time they seem to be pleased. Grant may be developing a jealous streak, but it's nothing serious yet.

Within the next 2 weeks they will have their checkups and more shots, but we don't think anything serious is going on. I'll post the results when we get them. Enjoy the Dropshots...

Afternoon in the Bluebonnets

Wednesday PM - I'm posting with the hope that I haven't lost any readers. It's been over 2 weeks since my last post. As the boys grow, they get more of our time, which leaves less time for blogging. They are both asleep now, as is Heidi, so I'll try to take advantage. I'm not sure where to start since so much has happened, but I think I know what most of your are interested in, so I'll try to hit those first.

If you haven't lately, check out the Dropshots page and you'll get most of the updates just by looking. Each boy is growing and progressing at a fast clip. Adam is catching up to Grant, but I would guess he's about 3 to 4 months behind. He weighed 12lbs 4oz last night, and he's doing things that we remember Grant doing a few months ago. During the last 10 days or so, he has taken some big steps in his development. He's more aware of his surroundings and seems to be enjoying life more now than ever. He's smiling and laughing more, although his favorite thing is when we do things to make Grant laugh. Adam prefers to sit on the sideline and not be a participant in all the shenanigans. Yesterday, the doctor gave approval to start small amounts of cereal, but today we tried and he hated it. But Grant hated his the first time too, so I doubt this will last long. All of Adam's checkups have gone well, the most significant being his cardiology exam. All tests so far show that his heart is doing fine with no complications. Our hope is that he can be weaned from the heart medication as he grows. If you saw the pictures we made in the country (with the old house and bluebonnets), you won't be surprised that some of us came down with allergies after our trip. What may (or may not) surprise you is that one of us didn't. And that would be...Adam. I guess he doesn't have time for such small irritations. But it's true; Heidi, Grant, and I all had stuffy noses, watery eyes, and all the other allergy symptoms from being out in the flowers. Adam had zero, zilch, nada. No complaints, but he never ceases to surprise and amaze us.

Grant just keeps eating and growing, and his personality is still moving towards the fun-loving, even slightly mischievous. He's really taken an interest in his toys, but doesn't always do the things with them that we would expect. I've started rolling a ball back and forth with him. Since he is able to sit up, this and many other play activities are easy for him now. He also loves to go outside, but with summer coming (or already here for those of you living outside of Houston), I'm not sure he'll feel the same about that. We suspect that he will be crawling before long, then all bets are off. Oh yeah, he's also starting to show a little bit of sibling rivalry. Not so bad just yet, but he wants to know what we're doing with Adam, and he wants to be involved unless he has something better to do. Today, I had to change his car seat to the next size as he has outgrown the first.

Our mornings are still the happy time of the day. Both boys are usually in a good mood when they wake up. As the day progresses and the evening comes, the "witching hour" may or may not strike. They can be happy or very unhappy anytime after 6 PM. Adam usually will go straight to sleep if that's what he really wants, but Grant fights sleep until he can't hold his head up anymore. It makes for an interesting evening if someone is watching them solo. Fortunately this doesn't happen often.

Just so I know I haven't lost anyone, leave a comment so I'll know you're still there. Or just send me an email. I know I don't have to explain the infrequency of my posts, but I still like to know that you're out there and reading. Hope to hear from you soon...

Saturday AM - It's been an interesting week. Adam has broken through the 10 lb. mark and last weighed just over 11 lbs on Thursday. On Wednesday he decided to remove his feeding tube (again), but his timing was good as we had a doctor's appointment the same day. The doctor decided we should go without the feeding tube for awhile, so that's what we're doing. It's a little scary (for me, not so much Heidi) because we have to monitor his intake very closely, logging each and every ml he takes in. With the feeding tube, we were able to "pump" in extrac ml's overnight while he slept. Now it all has to go via the bottle. He tends to be a lazy feeder and falls asleep when he's eating, so we're making the extra effort to get his calories in. It's better for him as he seems much happier without the tube poking in his nose and going down his throat, and without all the tape plastered to his face. I have a few new pictures on "Dropshots" and hope to have more before too much longer.

Grant officially weighs over 20 lbs and is still a character. He's still the more laid back of the two, but he does have his moments. He can sit up now, only tipping over occasionally. His arm strength is building and he pushes up on his arms on a regular basis. It won't be long before he's crawling, and we'll have to relocate everything within reach.

As both boys grow and change, we enjoy them more every day. There are times when we're exhausted, but the smiles we get from them recharge our batteries and we know it's all worthwhile. Catch you next time...