Happy 3 Weeks

Before Rio was born, the best advice we got was to cherish every moment because before we knew it she would be grown and all those little moments would be gone. After having her and realizing how true this was, that was the first piece of advice I would pass on to new parents. Yet, for the past three weeks, I have not been able to follow my own advice. Instead of enjoying the good moments, although few and far between, most of our energy has been focussed on getting through the bad moments. Well today has been a good day, so time to start cherishing the good times and here are some reasons to be thankful:

1. Both boys are 1kg! (more or less). Asher now weighs 1028 gms and Nolan sooooo close at 998 gms. Asher is tolerating breast milk again, so "should" be up to full feeds within the week.

2. We have all survived 3 weeks. For 21 days all five of us have woken up in the morning and made it through another day, stronger.

3. I got an unexpected kangaroo care session with Asher today. I have come to realize that even more so than the stability of the boys, it is dependent on the nurse and whether or not she wants to make the effort/take the risk. Asher's nurse suggested it today, and he handled amazingly. He did not set off a single alarm for the hour I held him. Tomorrow we will attempt a session with Nolan.

4. Nolan is setting off the alarms less. Still a bit of an attention hog, but quieting down considerably. The less ABDs for both of them, the quicker they get back on CPAP.

5. Lastly, but most importantly, we have two new beautiful boys. The situation of their birth may not have been ideal, and they are by no means out of the woods, but we are now the parents of not one, but THREE amazing kids. All that has sort of been lost in the rollercoaster that has been the past three weeks, but it is now what I am making a conscious effort to focus on. Those boys are loved and we are all going to fight to get them through this.

So here are some new pictures from their "three week birthday". Here's hoping that every day going forward can give us some glimmer of happiness like today did.

Nolan resting peacefully

Asher alert

Nolan getting some attention