Cooling off in the summer heat

This weekend we took the kids to a great park in McMinnville. They have a lot of great equipment to play on, wonderful padded flooring, a sand pit, and fountains to cool off in. Mom and I took our three kiddos and our niece Sydney on Saturday to play. Then on Sunday, Kraig was able to join us for another great day of playing.

Kaden and Konnie enjoyed the water a lot on Saturday, but Kory wasn't so sure about it. Kory enjoys the water in the bathtub, and in the pool at home, but the fountains make a lot more noise as the water collides against the pavers, plus the water is a little cooler. But having Kraig's help today, we were able to let Kory explore the water again, and really take his time. Kory did great!!!

Kory getting ready to brave the water





Kraig and Kory exploring the stream of water





Mommy and Kory playing in the water





The boys enjoying the water together



Kraig and the boys




Kaden really enjoying the water





We all had such a wonderful time, and it helped cool us off from our 90 degree heat.

Ahhhh the park

Oma and I took the kids to a park in McMinnville and had a wonderful time. We had two of our nieces join us as well, Kristen and Sydney. The weather was nice and sunny...it was a little too hot, but there were a lot of great big trees to provide wonderful shade.

Kaden in his first football stance...




Konnie enjoying the fountain...




Kory enjoying the sites...



Poor Kraig has had to miss out on a lot of time with the family now that he is going to school. For those of you that don't know...Kraig will be losing his job in June 2010, and the Freightliner plant is to finish relocating to Mexico. Fortunately, the employees will qualify for NAFTA retraining and Kraig is going to go to nursing school. It is a job that he has wanted to do for a very long time. His interests were renewed when the boys and I had so much hospital time last year. He thinks that he might like to work in the NICU, imagine that...a big 6'2" guy handling little tiny preemies...too cute!! He certainly has a lot to offer...a wealth of experience. He will be a great nurse wherever he decides to work. Kraig is doing great with his studies and is getting excellent grades!!! We are very proud of him.

Two brother wrestling...

I couldn't resist sharing a couple of photos from a few weeks ago. The boys were just playing on the floor as usual. They both wanted the same little toy and then the wrestling was on...

Kory pins Kaden...



"It's mine..."



"No it's not..."




"Yes it is..."



And the tables turn...

Day at the beach

We spent a day at the beach last week...it was so much fun. It was 90 degrees at home in the valley, so we thought that the beach should be warm, around 70 or so. Unfortunately that was not the case, as the beach was in the low 60s. We had a great time playing with the kids and visiting with our friends. Konnie has always loved the beach and it appears "her boys" do too.

Kaden has a great time crawling all over. In fact, he crawled all the way to the water and would have kept going if Kraig and Konnie hadn't stopped him.



Kory had a great time too. He loves crawling in the sand. This is especially great considering that he used to have some fairly significant sensory issues, and many textures used to bother him and he would quickly pull his hands away from things. Kory also had a great time rocking on his blue dog...




Konnie loved running around, blowing bubbles, roasting marshmallows over the fire, building sand castles, and playing in the water. I really think that the beach is her favorite place on earth.



We decided to put the boys in a play pen, to keep the wild boys contained, and build a sandle castle with Konnie. Kraig was really getting into it. He is a very serious sandle castle contractor. He took his folding shovel and dug a big area out and put the loose sand in the middle for construction. It was a lot of fun and turned out great.



What a wonderful day!!!

Weekend activities

Last Saturday was very busy...Kraig had a bass fishing tournament, so Mom and I decided to take the kids to a local childrens museum and then to the park afterwards for more playing and a picnic. The weather was fabulous and we had a great time!! We got to walk across a new footpath bridge across the Willamette River, that used to be a bridge for trains.



We discovered that it is a little challenging to try to take a double stroller around this particular facility, so when we go next time, the boys should be in backpack carriers!! Konnie and I ran around the wonderful playground at the museum, while Oma was able to get the boys to sleep while rolling their stroller back and forth. After Konnie and I were all worn out, we decided to head back to the park for lunch. We had a nice little lunch and played some more. Kaden and Kory had a great time crawling around on the grass and had a blast riding in the swings...







It sure was a wonderful afternoon playing with the kiddos and they loved playing at the park!!

Next, we headed to Kraig's fishing tournament in Newberg and helped a little bit with the weigh in. It was so hot...at least hot for us Oregonians! Kraig had a great time fishing! Then it was time for us all to head home and rest!!

We met with the vision development specialist...

Oh my goodness, what an amazing day Tuesday was. We met with a optometrist that specializes in vision development. That meeting has changed our lives, especially Kory's life!!!

Dr. V, examined Kory on Tuesday afternoon. She watched how he used his eyes, and used prisms to try to figure out what degree of prism he needs to help correct his eyes from crossing. She also put prisms in front of one of our eyes, to show us what Kory sees. That really put things into perspective for us.

She has given us so much hope for Kory's vision and his future. We were so worried that Kory had huge issues with his vision, but it now looks as though with some prisms and some vision therapy and exercises that we can correct his vision problems.

God has surely blessed us yet again.

Oh, and we weighed the boys the other day and Kory has gained 12 ounces in the last 3weeks. Unbelievable!!! The boys are only about 1 lbs apart now. Just a two months ago, the boys were nearly 4 lbs apart. Kaden weighs just over 21 lbs and Kory is just over 20 lbs. Grow boys grow!! It is amazing to think that they were 2 lbs at birth!!!!!

The boys are sure progressing...

Well, just a little over 2 weeks ago, we took the boys to Doernbecher to have their big preemie check up. Several different specialists looked at the boys and did various tests to assess how well they are doing. It sure was a busy day...we spent over half the day at the hospital.

Dr. R came in and was ready to check the boys out. He asked us which boy should go first. I thought since I had more concerns about Kory, that we should start with him to be sure that all the concerns were addressed. He did an exam on Kory and I mentioned the concerns that I had about his eyes, and his development compared to Kaden.

I could tell with the physical exam that he was performing on Kory, that he was checking him for Cerebral Palsy. Previously, I have asked our pediatrician and Kory's physical therapists, if they saw any signs of CP and they have always said that they haven't seen any. But I was still nervous to ask the question of Dr. R, sort of afraid to hear some difficult news. I knew that being in denial about it wouldn't help Kory, so I thought I would just be brave and ask him. So Dr. R, said that he too didn't see any signs of CP. I knew this was amazing, and we are so thankful. I didn't realize until the following week, while meeting with one of Kory's physical therapists, just how amazing this is...she asked me if I realized that 85-90% of 25 week preemies have CP. Of course I didn't remember the statistics, but just sat there crying happy tears. I am in constant amazement that our wonderful sons are both alive and so healthy. The odds of them both living was only 25%. So just getting over that hurdle is amazing. Then for both boys to avoid CP, all together...simply a miracle!!.

While Dr R. finished testing Kory, the audiologist came and took Kaden for a hearing test. Kraig went with him and about 10 minutes later came back with both ears testing out perfectly!!!

In so many ways, Kory has really caught up with Kaden in the last few months, except in the vision development area. Kory is very nearsighted. He had 2 eye surgeries while in the NICU. Kory doesn't make eye contact like most babies do, and has lazy eyes. First, his right eye was lazy, so we put a patch on his left eye for 1 hour per day, to force the right eye to work. Four months later, his right eye is now the strong eye and the left eye is lazy, so now we patch the right eye. We know that some of his outer peripheral vision was damaged during his first ROP surgery, but the surgery was a must to save as much vision as we could. Dr. R gave us a referral to see a vision specialist. With Kory's vision being poorer, he is further behind in his development. So I pressed Dr. R to find out what should be done with Kory's eyes, and he suggested that we see a vision specialist.

Then Dr. R checked Kaden out and he tested out pretty well. He is a little behind in most areas, but nothing that a little extra time and energy won't fix. Kaden does not qualify for any services from Willamette Educational Service District right now, as they adjust his age for his prematurity until the age of 2 years. After the boys turn 2, they will reassess Kaden's development and he will likely qualify for services then to help him catch up.

Kory and Kaden were also evaluated by a speech and language pathologist. She gave us a great list of things to help the boys catch up as they are behind in this area too.

Wow, that post was much longer than I had intended it to be. Have a great day!!!