Yaaaawwwwnnnnn.

So tired. So...so...so tired. Ben had a "12-5 am" party last night and Jeremy and I were on the guest list. Lucky us. We didn't even get up until 2 pm today! I want to blog with everythinig that is within me but my eyes keep blurring everytime I try to focus on the screen. Sorry folks. Maybe tomorrow. I have some really cute pictures to put up of the boys from their one month celebration on Tuesday though. That ought to be worth the wait. Until then...

Ben and Abe's Namesakes

Quite a few people have been asking how we named the boys and more specifically if we named them after presidents. As much as I respect our country's presidents, Abraham Lincoln and Benjamin Harrison are NOT who we named them after. To help clarify, here are the boy's namesakes.

To begin with, it was important to Jeremy and I that the boys have Biblical names. However, we also wanted them to have meaning. So...

Benjamin Thomas: Benjamin was my mother's father, my grandfather, who passed away when she was a teenager. In the Bible, Benjamin was also the 12th, youngest and most beloved son of Jacob. The name Benjamin means "Son of my right hand." We just really liked the name. As for Thomas, it is Jeremy's middle name and close to my dad's name. Thomas also is a Biblical name and means "twin" in Hebrew. Ahhh! It's all coming together for you now isn't it??!?!

Abraham Isaac: To be honest, Abraham was the only other Biblical boy name we could agree on. I wasn't really even a big fan of the name but I let it slide because I was SO CONVINCED there was not two boys in there! Ha! Jeremy wanted the name Ezra and I liked anything but! Anyway, when Abe was born Jeremy was shocked and I was drugged and somehow we gave our precious boy this name! Not so sentimental this one is it?!?! As for Isaac, this is a family name on Jeremy's side. His great grandma, the boy's great-great, was an Isaac. She is still living and we wanted to honor her by giving one of the boys her family name.

So there it is. How we named the kiddos.

A Few Cute Moments...

Abe HATES his carseat!

~Dewey loving Ben~

~Sniff, Sniff~

~Ben in his carbed. He's too tiny for a carseat~

~Ben getting his diapey changed by daddy. SOOO tiny~

Diapers, Bottles, and Crying! OH MY!

(By the way, I wrote this blog last Wednesday afternoon. I thought I published it...nope! Happy reading!)

It's 4:26pm. I've attempted to write a blog about 17 times in the last few days but somehow I always end up not finishing it! Imagine that! Right now while I type, Ben is sleeping and Abe is starting to stir. He's such a Sloan man. Always ready for the next meal WAY before it's time to eat. He's not even supposed to get his dinner until 5:30. Poor little guy! Looks like the binker will have to do in the meantime. We've had a crazy couple of days to say the least. Because we didn't know when the fellas were going to come home, Jeremy hadn't planned his vacation time. We both thought it would be a good idea "at the time" for him to just work this week in hope of getting a little more prepared to take his two weeks off. So his vacation doesn't start until next Monday and I am flying solo in the meantime. We are stupid. I don't think either of us knew what two infants in the house was going to be like. Well, let me sum it up. Our world is rocked. The last two nights little Aber has decided to stay up and party until the wee hours of the morning. I don't think I've even seen 3:45 am since prom. On top of feedings and diaper changes every three hours, his sleep strike left mom and dad with little shut eye.

The boys had their first doctor's appointment yesterday as well. They got rave reviews. Little Ben weighed in at 4.7 and 18 inches long and Abe weighed in at 5.5 and 18 3/4 inches. It was their first outing too. They slept through the whole thing except for when the doc looked down their throats with the popsicle stick and they both gagged. They go back this Thursday for their "circs" as the doctor's office called it. All I know is that I will be miles and miles away from their room. I couldn't even handle the NICU nurses pulling the stickers off of their faces.

Well, it's time to feed the troops so off of blogger and to the kitchen I head. Before I go, here's a few of my fav moments from the past couple of days.

Highlights of the week:

• Changing their diapers and clothing without having to worry about pulling one of the stupid wires off of them or yanking on their feeding tubes.
• Having both boys in their bassinet next to our bed. At night, we just lay in bed and listen to the soft little noises they make while they sleep.
• Abe pooped all over our bedspread while Jeremy was changing his diaper, peed on the pillow and himself while dad was changing him and managed to pee on Carol twice. This ALL happened within 24 hours. I witnessed all of them. Hilarious.

We Are ALL Home!

It's official, we are all home. Both boys are full, sleeping and for now...quiet. Sigh. I'm attempting dinner and Jer's building a glider for the nursery. It's a blessed time. We've waited so long for this to be and now that it's here, I realize it's even better than I ever anticipated. I thought it would be strange to have the boys home and to have two infants in the house but oddly enough it's not. The world seems to be just as it should. Our family is finally together. What could be better or more natural than that.

The Rumors Are TRUE!!

I'm sure the news has made it further through the grapevine than we know but I'll announce it anyway...Right now I am sitting in bed with baby Ben next to me. That's right folks, Ben is home. He came home yesterday (Sat.) afternoon. We had a wonderful day and night (although not much sleep for mom or dad!) and this morning we are just hanging out. The even MORE exciting news is that brother, Abe, will be joining us this afternoon. In just a few short minutes we will be leaving for the hospital to pick Abe up and then AT LAST our family will be together. Both boys home on their 36 week milestone. My cup runneth over...

Thank you for your continued prayers and support. As time allows, we will be in contact with you all and would love for you to come see the babies as soon as we can arrange a good time. We have a lot of family that has been patiently waiting and they might return our shower gifts if we prolong their visits any more : ) We will try to get all of the new pictures posted of our little ones as soon as possible. Yeah for Ben and Abe!

A Really Good Day

Ben LOOOVES his binker!

Sweet Ben, sleeping

Hambone Abraham Sloan gettin' weighed!

Precious Abe loving his daddy time!

So today I did two things that I haven't done in a VERY, VERY, VERY long time...I woke up this morning...on my stomach!! Yeah!!! I also cooked dinner! Hard to believe I know but I just could not stomach another Subway sandwich!

Today was a really encouraging day in the NICU as well. Boys boys took their entire feeding from me! This is a huge deal as they were two weeks old yesterday and they had yet to do this. They are also growing like crazy! My little Ben is finally over four pounds! 4.2 lbs. to be exact. He's also beating his brother at the eating game. While Abe is just nippling two feedings a shift (every twelve hours) Ben is allowed to nipple a feeding whenever the nurses, Jer or I see fit. He's taking about six of his eight feedings per day! This is just a hair shy of meeting all of his "requirements" to come home! You should see him go! He's small but mighty! I think he'll have his mother's disposition, while Abe will be more laid back like his daddy. We're really hoping and praying that both boys will make it home by the middle of next week. It's all up to them though : ) We're especially praying that they won't be discharged separately. Once one is discharged, they're not allowed back in the NICU. Talk about a dilemma for mom~I don't even want to go there. Our little Abe is trucking along too. He looks so much bigger than his brother, it's hilarious! He's just a pinch shy of five pounds. 4.13.8 lbs. He looks so much chunkier though. I think it's because they are both the same length, but Abe has a half a pound on Ben. I bathed both boys today and they just made me laugh. Someone is constantly peeing or pooing all over the place. I am NOT joking people! These kids are constantly going! It's like they know the smell of a clean bottom or diaper! To make matters worse I still haven't learned my lesson about little boys...ALWAYS point "it" down! : ) Take note Sally!

Jer and I are hanging in there. Things are a little hectic with all the back and forth but that's how it goes. We had a chance this last weekend to go have a nice dinner at Savoy and the table next to us, as well as the restaurant actually picked up our tab! It was a nice night and a long time coming. We hadn't done anything outside of the house in almost two months. It was great to not have just order pizza and a movie for our night out. We did some much needed grocery shopping this weekend as well. We spent over two hours at Wal-Mart just taking our time and checking everything out...after all...it had been some time since either of us had been there! Ha! Wal-Mart! Who would have thought!

I know there's not any new pictures up...but really there's nothing new. Until they get discharged, it's kind of the same ol' stuff. We'll try to post pictures bi-weekly so you guys can see how much they are growing. I'm trying to think of a way that we can track their growth through pictures but it's yet to come to me. In the meantime any 'cute' pictures that I take, I will post in the blog so you don't have to view the whole slide show for just a couple of pictures.

Caught in the Act!

A glimpse into Jer's life at the NICU...what is it about the sounds of the hospital that just put a person in a coma?!?!

March 8th Family Update

So, a quick blog just to let you all know how we are doing:

• I am feeling MUCH better. I am finally seeing an improvement from the delivery/c-section, no longer walking like Quasimodo and actually able to shave my legs again! Halleuliah!! I've been able to go down to the NICU everyday and spend countless hours with my babies. They are the wonderdrug I'll tell you what. No matter how crummy I am feeling, I walk in those doors, pick one of them up and all is forgotten. The nurses are great too. They have me doing almost all of their care while I am down there. I get to bathe them, feed them, change diapers, get their food ready, take temps., etc. I finally feel like they are mine and I don't have to "ask" to pick one of them up either. It's been wonderful! Dad jokes that I run the place. We've got the most amazing "spot" in the whole NICU with a view of the entire downtown skyline. They have the boys right next to each other and their nurses always snag a recliner for me when I come in. (Recliners are a hot comodity in this joint!) I can't wait for them to come home though. Hopefully, just a little longer.
• Jer's a champ! I can't say enough about how wonderful he's been these last two weeks; heck, 9 months! He's so amazing with me and with the boys. All of the nurses can't believe how much he does and how unafraid he is to get in and get his hands dirty. Literally. Just last night Ben pooped all over his hand while he was changing his diaper. It was hilarious. Nothing like a little newborn mustard poo on the hand for a good laugh!
• Both boys are doing tremendous. Abe tipped the scales at 4.7 lbs today and Ben hit 3.12 lbs. They both took their first entire bottles too! Abe took 40 cc's. and Ben took 34 cc's. That's a little over an ounce for each. (30 cc's in an ounce, sound familiar Melissa?!?!). So they have met two of the three requirements to come home. They have to be completely breathing on their own. No oxygen or ventilators. (check) They have to be able to maintain their body temp in an open crib. (check) and they have to nipple all of their feedings, no nasal tube. This is the last requirement and because they are almost two months premature, the hardest to accomplish. The nurses compare them taking their feeding by bottle to us trying to drink a milkshake with a coffee stir straw. Pretty rough. But as they grow, they get stronger and it becomes easier to eat. I'm also happy to report that both boys are able to receive breastmilk for all of their feedings. This has been a pretty big deal to me that they get as little formula as possible, especially while in the NICU. It's just so much easier for their bodies to process the breastmik and they use so much less energy. I guess it also helps me feel like I am able to do something for them as well. It's hard not being able to take care of your babies because they are in the hospital. You don't exactly feel like mom all of the time. This is the only way I feel like I can contribute to their health and wellbeing sometimes.
• Unfortunately, we still don't have an estimated date for their release. They just keep telling us by their 40 week due date (April 13th). It's frustrating that we don't have anything definitive but we know that it's God's will that they continue their stay in there. Also, we still cannot have visitors. I know...I know...it stinks. But on the flipside, we are just so grateful to God for these little boys and their health. If there's anything good about a hospital, it's that it reminds you how lucky you are because there's ALWAYS someone worse off. I won't go into any grim details about some of the things we've seen and heard while in the NICU but let me just say I am constantly thanking God for his grace and mercy on our family. Thankfully, all our little ones need to do is grow. Soon enough we will be wishing that Nurse Albin and his baby whispering skills would make a housecall.

We're Home

We're home. I know several of you have been wondering and asking where we are; if we are home or still at the hospital. Well, we're home. We got home about 6 tonight only to unpack a few things and then leave again to grab a quick dinner and then head down to the hospital. We love getting to visit the babies in the evening, after visiting hours are over and we can just have them all to ourselves in the quiet nursery. It's a good thing there's two of them because I really think Jer and I would go to war over who got the hold/change/feed a single baby! Ha! We'll see how long that lasts. Pretty soon we'll be Rock-Paper-Scissoring over who HAS to change them : )

Ben and Abe are still doing amazing. The are in the "Growers and Feeders" nursery which means they are just there to "grow" and "learn to feed." There's lots and lots of stats to report but my mind feels so foggy and tired right now I think I'll settle with just "amazing." I just love them so much~Every time I hold them, I fall even more in love. They are our boys. Our sons. How surreal that is.

I hope to post more in the coming days...please be patient with us though. We are still recovering from the grand event : ) and what energy and time we do have we want to devote to rest and our babies. I know several of you are curious about their delivery and the details of this week and I promise I will get a blog up soon. For now just know that our whole family is doing well. Please continue to keep us in your prayers though. Specifically for our family's health and that the boys would continue to grow strong and come home FAST!!!

P.S. Jeremy has been updating the pictures in the slideshow daily. He has them dated so you can follow along with what pictures go with what days. Be sure to check that slideshow so you can keep up with how much they are changing! Also, unfortunately we cannot have any visitors in the NICU due to stricter regulations associated with flu season. As much as we would love for all of you to visit the babies, we just can't at this time. As soon as the visitor ban is lifted we will let you all know. (But not before we let Courtney know!)

We love you all.