Boys 1st trip to Orofino

The boys had their 1st trip to Orofino yesterday. We had a big B.B.Q at Great Grandma Clo's house. The boys met some of their family from Boise, Aunt Lynette,cousins Lacy, Bonnie, Triston, and Ivy. It was a great time the boys were very good and we had a ton of food, which was a plus for me. Everybody enjoyed the boy's and judging from last night and today the boys enjoyed seeing some new faces. They were passed out all night and have been passed out for most of the day. Just want to say thanks to the family for great BBQ and a great visit. The pictures below were of the boys having a little play time before we left.

Boys in their Cribs, and hangin with a new friend

Sorry we haven't posted in a while. There hasn't been many changes. We are still trying to get the boys off their monitors. Kaden has been back and forth on his liter flow of his oxygen any where from .5 liters to .25 liters. Braylon hasn't been setting his monitor off. Our doctor down in Lewiston told us we could take him off his caffeine we did that for a day and then talked to our doctor in Spokane and he told us to keep him on it for 1 month, which is what he wanted us to do all along. Other than that the boys are doing very good. It has been a blast having the family home. The other day the boys hung out with their new friend Savonni. I thought they would have more interest but none of the babies really cared that there were other babies around. We will try to keep it updated as much as possible, with words or pictures.

Photos from our Homecoming

Boys playin around

It’s been a good first week home. The boys have adapted well to their new surroundings, as have Ashley and I. We met the boy’s new doctor for the first time on Thursday, Dr. Ambrosen, and he seemed to be very nice. We took the boy’s weight and Kaden was 6lbs 11oz and Braylon was 7lbs 14oz, which was good because they are both gaining weight. Ash and I have gone on a walk with the boys almost every day and they all came up to watch me play softball the other day also. They slept the entire time both on our walks and at the softball game. They seem to sleep through a lot of noise which is a good thing. They have both been mad eaters, not angry but aggressive with the bottle. They are still breast feeding every now and then but they seem to like the bottle more because they don’t have to work as much for it. I went back to work for the first time in a week on Saturday, can’t say much has changed there, it’s a lot different after being home with Ash and boys all week long. I got myself into a new habit with taking care and seeing the boys. I have to say it has been better than driving back and forth to the NICU. This coming week we have to go back to Spokane for a doctor’s appointment for Kaden. It’s just a follow up to see how he is developing and it will take up to 3 hours. Other than that everyone here is doing great. I have some more great pictures of the boys to put up and I’ll be doing that throughout the week.

1st Days Home

Boys oh Boys! What a great last few days. Ashley was welcomed home with some sweet signs taped on to the house, which was a nice welcoming for her and the boys. The signs said “it’s a boy, welcome home Braylon Michael Howland and Kaden Darold Howland.” They were from Ash’s family. The boys and I took Ashley (mom) to a nice mother’s day lunch and after that went for a walk. We took mom on the 5 mile walk, which was from bridge to bridge, since she wasn’t able to walk with us on the march of dimes. We took so good pictures and then we just went home and relaxed. That has been the theme the last few days, just settling in getting used to being a family in our home. The boys have been doing great, Kaden has 4ft tall 30 inch wide oxygen tank with his 50 ft cord so we can walk around with him in our house. He also has a few portable tanks that we can take with us on walks and when we run around town. Braylon has been doing great with his apnea monitor, and it hasn’t gone off yet.
The boys have been very comfortable in their new home, and I took some cute pictures of them lying in bed with mom. They look really sweet together. Today we took the boys around their new neighborhood, but they didn’t seem too excited about it. They slept the entire time. Well that has been our week so far. It has been so nice having other people in the house and being able to wake up to two screaming boys telling us they need to be changed and fed. It sounds bad but it’s a great feeling, at least for now.

Guess where we are

Sorry it has been so long since we have posted but it has been a long week. We had to room in with the boys and it was on separate days. We roomed in with Braylon on Monday and were able to room in with Kaden last night. So Braylon got his taste of the RMDH for 3 days and then he was reunited with his brother last night and it was a long night. Braylon stayed up most of the night and his brother held his own, as he slept most of the night. We still wake up every 3 hours for their care times and it has been catching up with us but it has been worth it. Braylon will be on an apnea monitor for a while and his brother Kaden will home with some help from a huge oxygen tank. They just brought it to our house.
Ya, that’s right we are finally home after 69 days at the NICU. We got into to town today around 3 o’clock and have just been enjoying the house. Its back to a clutter, but a happy clutter. I finally have other people in the house and we can start our journey. The boys don’t really seem to notice as they have been sleeping but I’m sure they are jumping on the inside. We are going to take this week to calm things down and have some family time for one whole week as I have taken the time off. So we ask for this week that in case people want to stop by and see the boys that they just hold off for a week or so and let us get settled in. We are so glad to be home it is such a warm feeling to actually get to sleep in our own house all together. Thanks to everybody for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers, for all of you were in ours as well. Too all the mothers happy mother’s day and we hope that you will have as great of a mother’s day as we will. We will put some pictures up soon and will try to keep the blog updated as much as possible.

Roid Rage

Yesterday was my first day back since hearing the good news. We found out that we get to room in with Braylon on Monday and he will be breaking out of the NICU. It is a happy sad feeling because we will have one boy out and the other will still be in. I guess it’s more of a positive feeling because we are moving in the right direction. They say that Kaden isn’t very far away and he has been nippling a lot of his feeds. If he nipples them for 48hrs the tube will come out of his nose. There might be asterisks next to his name because the boy has been taking steroids. I don’t know what the drug testing is like in the NICU but they might give him a 1 or 2day suspension before taking out his feeding tube. Maybe we will push for an appeal and get it knocked down a little. He does seem to have a lot more energy since being on the steroids and he is doing a lot better but he has had some roid rage recently. That’s about all the good news that we have for now hopefully more will come in the next few days.
Also yesterday was the March of Dimes in Lewiston. It was a long grueling walk but we all made it. I think there were about 60 people for team Beau, they raised over $9000, surpassing every other team. Way to go.