Our little turkeys are both home!!!

After 80 days and nights, including bed rest, delivery, the NICU, IV's, feeding tubes, leads (wires that monitor heart rate 24/7), and monitors that beep all day and all night, our babies are finally home!  Of course, Riley decided to make a grand entrance by holding out for a national holiday.  We already have so much to be thankful for, but talk about a Thanksgiving that we will never forget!  Morgan attempted to bust her sister out early by pulling out her feeding tube last week.  Riley was just beginning to take full bottles and took a few in a row before pooping out.  For a minute, we thought the light bulb had turned on.  Little did we know, Riley had her own agenda.  Now, she is sucking down bottles like a champ!  The doctors had so much confidence in Mike and I, that they pretty much asked us if we thought she was ready!  We knew it was for real and we were surrounded with nurses who totally agreed.  Now, let the fun begin!  We spent the night at the hospital on Wednesday and we barely slept a wink in anticipation of the big moment.  By 5 am the doctor was writing up a discharge summary and by 7 am we were burning rubber out of the parking garage!  We were SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO happy and relieved!  Of course, we were also totally exhausted!  The girls enjoyed their first Thanksgiving with Mommy, Daddy, Grandma Marilyn, and Unkie Dave!  Of course, my mom managed to put together another Martha Stewart-esque feast while we all rotated between holding babies and cooking!  We are always tired after a turkey dinner, but all the food mixed with emotions, excitement, and relief took our night whole new level of tiredness!  The girls decided to party all night with Daddy (till 1 am), and party all morning with me (beginning at 2 am).  In other words, they didn't get much sleep!  :)  Here we go!  Thanks to everyone for their positive thoughts and prayers over the last few months!  Here are some homecoming pictures:

Ready, set, let's GO HOME!!!

Riley was all bundled and ready to go!

A Happy Thanksgiving, indeed!

Our first Thanksgiving!

A little overeating took place!

Together...at home...at last!

Oh boy!  Here we go again!

Doubled!

Since the arrival of the Garfoot Girls, Riley and Morgan have doubled in size.  We are now breaking the scale at about 7 pounds and 5 pounds.  Holy cow...did we ever think that we would get this far?  Overall, things are still going great!  Riley is enjoying the fact that she gets to have the room all to herself. I think she is milking it (no pun intended) because she knows that soon she will be sharing a room for a few years.  She is up to about 5 out of 8 bottles a day and getting stronger!  We want 8 strong bottles before she can come home!  She is filling out and looking more and more like her sister everyday.  However if you really look close, you can totally tell them apart.  Both girls have such different personalities.  Riley is sweet and feisty.    She is a very picky eater (she definitely didn't get that from me). We are so excited to get her home!

Riley is getting big!!!                     Morgan is growing strong!!!

Morgan is running the show at home.  We revolve around her schedule.  Sometimes she eats every 2 hours and sometimes she goes 5 hours and sleeps the entire time.  We are not about to disturb her slumber!  In fact, I feel rested!  Now that Mike is healthy and we are back on track, I have been sleeping more and resting lots before daughter #2 arrives!  Morgan seems to be a very advanced preemie...okay, I am a bit biased, but this kid can hold her head up and push herself up my stomach to get closer to my head. We have to swaddle her up so she doesn't get too much activity and stimulation.  She stays up for 2 hours at a time just looking around, pooping, grunting, and kicking the air.  

The Girls and I!

Mike really missed his girls while he was sick.  In fact, Uncle Dave (my brother) and Mike decided to get a little creative one rainy night.  My Mom and I spent the day nurturing Riley at the hospital with Morgan and we arrived at my house to a BIG surprise!  The boys had taken all of the furniture boxes and built a pirate ship for "Captain Morgan".  Okay, so it will be a year or so before the Girls can actually play in a pirate ship, but practice makes perfect.  In fact, they had even hooked it up with thunderstorm sounds, gently swaying lights and bells, cardboard swords, a rubber chicken for "dog-fishing" bait, and a lightning show to add to the ambiance! It was very impressive! "Dad" and "Unkie" are already having lots of fun in their roles!

The Pirate Ship in our living room!!!

One down, one to go...

I knew this would be the hardest part...having one baby at home and one at the hospital.  I love getting a taste of parenting at home, but it is emotionally difficult to enjoy yourself when you know that your other little tike is sitting in the hospital for her 5th week straight.  On top of that, my partner in crime, Mike, has caught a doozy of a cold, so he is in complete quarantine for a couple of days.  It is one thing to not see your child, it is another to see them and not be able to touch them or hold them.  Poor guy!
Here is a total family update:
Morgan - happy as a clam!  Eating, sleeping, pooping, and grunting!  She has mommy and daddy all to herself and we can't seem to put her down!  She had her first doctor appointment today and she did fantastic!  She makes so many silly noises and loves to sleep with both arms over her head!
Riley - just chillin'!  She is working hard on her bottle feeding and is starting to get the hand of it.  We are up to about 2 bottles a day out of 8.  Once we get to 8, they are kicking us out!  She absolutely melts into my arms every time I arrive at the hospital!  Morgan and Riley snuggle together in their crib and Riley just stares at her sis while Morgan nibbles on Riley's fingers!  Too cute!
Mike - on the mend!  He caught a cold and it was a big one!  Luckily he has a beautifully remodeled  guest room to hang out in!  It is so hard to for him to watch on as I snuggle all day with Morgan and then take off the the hospital to be with Riley.  He misses his girls!  We should be able to let him out of quarantine soon!  I got really used to passing Morgan to him when I needed to get a bottle ready or switch the laundry over!  I am counting down the minutes until I can have my healthy husband back!
Dani - in cruise control!  Life with one baby at home seems like a cake walk because I keep reminding myself that there will soon be two!  Morgan is her own alarm clock and I just adapt to her schedule.  I am sure that I will be singing a different tune when #2 arrives!  :)  Have I slept?  Sure.  How much?  Don't ask!  It would take too long to calculate my intervals of sleep!  Thank goodness for that motherhood energy that appears out of nowhere!  Without it, I would be a disaster!  Now, I just want my Riley home!  I want a day when I don't leave the house and I just hang out with the girls all day and all night!  I know, I should enjoy this transition...but I am over it! I will mourn my departure from the hospital, but burn rubber on my way out of the parking garage!  Here are some more pics to enjoy!

Home  sweet home...

Kona meets his sister...if only he knew that there is another one on her way!  :)

I may be discharged, but I can still hang out with my sis!

The Babies` Room (Part 2)

The Babies`Room (part 2) from Mike and Dani on Vimeo.

Morgan is movin' home!!!

Morgan kicked in to high gear and earned herself a trip home!  She accidently ripped her feeding tube out last weekend and they decided to keep it out because she didn't need it any more.  She started eating all her food through a bottle and the doctor walked in and asked if we wanted to take her home the following day (today!).  We were ecstatic and we spent 24 hours getting all her ducks in order!  She passed a car seat test, hearing test, got some shots, and we filled out lots of paper work. Luckily, they send you home with just about everything you need, so we were ready!

The drive went great!  I got to sit in the back and hang out with Morgan.  We walked through the door and you could see the sense of relief on both of our faces!  One baby down, one to go!

First things first...time to meet the rest of the family!  The cats actually ran out to meet Morgan!  Mitz ran up to her and sniffed her while Pixie just stared from a distance!  Kona loved Morgan!  She smelled like fresh baby and poopy diaper...a dogs delight!  He couldn't sit still and kept rearranging his position to get a better glimpse!  This is the beginning of a fabulous relationship!

One month old...

Here we are...November 3rd...it was one month ago when these girls surprised us with their arrival.  They have come a long way in a month!  They have fattened up (6 pound Morgan and 4 pound Riley), filled out, learned to breath, eat, and sleep all day with wires sticking out and monitor bells ringing in their ears!  It was exactly 8 weeks ago that I checked in to Evergreen for bed rest.  You know you have been here a long time when you start saying hi to all the nurses and doctors that you pass in the hallway.  It really has become a 2nd home to us.  We have had do many amazing nurses and doctors take care of us!  Riley and Morgan are known as the "girls" and the doctors refer to us as "Garfeet"!

We have simply fallen in love with these girls!  They also seem to love each other as well!  :)

Our little pumpkins...

This was only 2 weeks ago...they were 5 pounds and 3 pounds!

This was Halloween night...another costume made by our nurse, Sue!

They are now a whopping 6 pounds and 4 pounds.  This reminded Mike and I of week 16...we found out that we were having twin girls and that was also the week that we found out that Baby B had a 2-vessel umbilical cord (rather than 3).  When we heard they were 6 ounces and 4 ounces at the time, we didn't think of it as a big deal...now we know!  They call Riley small but mighty around here!