Baby Grace Update

Hello loved ones. This Thanksgiving we have so much to be thankful for and we thank all of you for your prayers and support through these rough times. It's been a difficult ten days since since Makaila went home to be with Jesus. We miss her dearly but are so thankful for the time we had with her. All the staff at UNM hospital blessed our hearts by accommodating our family and friends that were able to see Makaila. Sasha was able to see her and love on her. Grace and Makaila were reunited in Grace's bed for a while where they held hands and peeked at each other. We will be having Makaila cremated and taken home to Angel Fire with us. Grace has been doing really well for the most part. We realize that the road ahead for her will be full of ups and downs as we have already experienced. She is constantly monitored and her support is being tweaked all the time. She has been eating very well and with a little help doing everything else she should be. Continue to pray for her that she would grow quickly and keep fighting. As for now, Kelly and I have taken residence here at the Ronald McDonald House near the hospital. We have been visiting Grace every day in the morning and again at night. Kelly's mom and dad are in town and we were able to spend Thanksgiving with them and all the rest of the family. Kelly is healing well from the cesarean. Sasha is growing and changing so fast. She will be back in our care this week and we are so excited about being a family again. It has been more than ten weeks that she has been bouncing around with the family and we are so thankful to all of them for there help. I will continue to spend most of my time here traveling back and forth to Angel Fire as needed. We are working on a video for Makaila that will have so awesome pictures of her, so look forward to that in the coming weeks. God has been with us and held us and taught us many things during this time. We will always remember Makaila and her sisters will know how special she was. God Bless, Chris, Kelly, Sasha, and Grace.

According to Jer, Pt. IV

The reason for starting this blog is to not only to keep friends and family up to date on our ever growing and changing boys but also to document this crazy time in our lives called "parenting." With the fun natured spirit of that statement in mind, I write the following...

I preface the first story by saying in my 26 years of living, I think my toes have remained unpainted for all of about 20 seconds. Those closest to me understand the pain that unpainted toes cause me. It's like peanut butter with no jelly. Bread with no butter. You get the point, it just doesn't work. A new era has dawned in our house though and it's called children.

So we're sitting on the couch talking and enjoying our morning together when Jeremy says to me, "Hey, babe?"

To which I adoringly reply, "Yes, love?"

[J]"Um, do you think you could paint those? Your feet look like they are dead."

Ahem, not my most shining moment. Now do you see why I've kept them painted for so long?! I wonder if a red Sharpie would ease the cadaver like state of my footsies. Permanant and color. Now there's a thought.

Later that night or maybe even the next day, I guilted convinced Jer into changing a poopy diaper. I for sure might have even brought up the "dead feet comment" to help pursuade him to do it. Anyway, he agrees, does it like a champ, and even offers to rinse it for me. After he had been gone for a few minutes I decided to go check on him and make sure everything was okay. It wasn't. I walked by the bathroom only to see Jer stooped over the white bathroom rug and he was FURIOUSLY scrubbing. He didn't even look up when he blurted out "The poop, I dropped the poop." I could do nothing more. I instantly grabbed my stomach and preceeded to laugh until I was crying. He on the other hand did not find the situation to be quite as funny. I don't think he'll be rinsing diapers anytime soon either.

My, oh my, how children change your life.

Thanksgiving Recap and Black Friday

Wow! Thanksgving came and went in a big ol' hurry, didn't it?! Hope your day was a blessed one! Ours sure was. Here's how we spent the day...

Sittin around in one of these...

Watchin a little of this...
Eatin a little of this.......and that...
...and some more of this and that...
Then we sat around and stared at each other :)

Today Jer and I braved the day-after-Thanksgiving shoppers (for the first time EVER!) and ventured to K-Mart for their BOGO sale on Leap Frog toys. I was greatly disappointed to find out that the "sale" was for Wednesday ONLY! Bah! Everything was back to it's $26.99 and up prices. Too bad.

Whoa Baby! 9 Months Old!

9 months old!
Sweet Abraham
"Happy" Benji
He can't figure out whose toes are more interesting
This picture speaks volumes for what life in the Sloan house is like right now

A.B. fussing, but check out those chompers!
Too sweet

Happy that he's got the whole chair to himself and his sock to suck on!

We Went for the Going Out of Business Sale...

and found something we just couldn't live without.

Baby Grace Update

Thank you all for you concern and prayers. Baby Grace is doing well, allowed to be held once a day, and is taking a little milk from a bottle. She is by no means "out of the woods" but stable for the moment. Please continue to pray for peace and comfort for the family, as well as strength and endurance for the road that lays ahead for them all.

Memories

Last year at this time....

• I was huffing and puffing around the mall "trying" to Christmas shop. I had to stop numerous times for water breaks and bathroom shops. I was measuring 37 weeks and wondering what I was thinking the whole time.

This year...

• I am done with Christmas shopping and I bought as much stuff online as possible. Are you kidding me? Take two babies to the mall?!?!

Last year at this time...

• I bought my FIRST pair of Merrells because my back could no longer handle the strain of my belly in heels. I vowed I wouldn't wear them after the pregnancy.

This year...

• They are my favorite shoes. Ever.

Last year at this time...

• Jeremy and I would talk about all that life would be like with 9 month old twin babies.

This year...

• We know, and it's better and crazier than either of us could ever have imagined.

The First Year Learning Curve

Wow, 8 months is a hard age. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, just stating a fact. I actually caught myself uttering the following words the other day, "Eight months makes newborns look like a honeymoon!" Whaaaa?? You mean as in sleepless nights and exhausted days? Continual feeding sessions and colic? To which I reply "Yes." Granted, just as the sting of labor and delivery fades away, so too might the chaotic feeling of those crazy first days. Maybe it seems easier because I am now almost nine months past the starting line and on to waaayyy different baby drama. Where my days used to consist of marathon feeding, changing, and small chunks of play time, they now are comprised of refereeing The Deuce so Abe doesn't bite his brother for the third time (that's right, I said bite) and living in a state of constant sing and dance. I am forever making sure they aren't chewing on electronic cords, rolling into the coffee table, crawling into the kitchen and under the table or even getting into their daddy's expensive record collection. All of that, and we're not even talking about leaving the house! LONG gone are the days of taking them with me for a haircut or a sizable grocery shopping trip, or even a quick lunch with a friend. They just aren't able to hack the time in the carseat "unattended," if you will. Now being down to two naps a day and napping solely in their cribs, they refuse, I mean REFUSE, being in their carseat (or momma's lap) when they are sleepy. They want their beds, their blankie's and a nice quiet room. Again, don't get me wrong, I am not complaining. I am just mearly reeling from the sharp learning curve that exists in the first year of child wrangling rearing. It's a constant evolution and yet nearly impossible to know what's around the corner. It's a curve ball that makes tiny newborns look predictable and safe. And that curve hasn't even reached one. year. old. Yikes. Now that's a thought that makes me shake in my boots.

Prayer

Thank you for your continued prayers for the Koehlinger family. It is with a sad heart that I say that last night, Makaila passed away. Please continue to pray for Grace, who is as far as I know stable.

The Koehlinger Twins Are Here

Sorry for the delay, I have not been home to update until now...

Baby A: Makaila Celeste Koehlinger
Born 8:40AM
Weight: 2lbs 6oz

Baby B: Grace Christian Koehlinger
Born 8:41AM
Weight: 1lb 4oz

Please pray for Mikaila she is not doing well and might not make it. All we can do is pray.

Koehlinger Twins-Pending Delivery!

Well, twenty nine hours of excitement is finally over... so we thought. Tuesday, at around one o'clock, the nurses began their routine heartbeat tests on the girls. After a few moments, our smaller baby's heartbeat began to slow and continued for a good while. So much so, that Kelly was prepped for an emergency cesarian section. Fortunately, her heartbeat began to rise and normalized soon after. The surgery was called off, but Kelly remained in the "labor and delivery" area of the hospital for further monitoring. After the initial rush, Kelly began to have contractions which at one point came as close as two minutes apart. None of them where too intense with the exception of a few. Both of the girls heartbeats normalized after a few decelerations. Earlier tonight, twenty nine hours later, they felt as though Kelly and the girls were stable enough to go back to the room where she had been for the last three weeks. Since she had not been allowed to eat anything from the time of the initial scare, I went to get us some juicy hamburgers for dinner. However, before I was able to walk out the door, our doctor arrived and wanted to discuss our situation. She explained that after further review and discussion with the other doctors, they felt as though we had come to that place where the risks no longer outweighed the reward. The risks being many things, i.e deceleration of the heart, the occurrence of contractions(possibly a sign of infection), the questionable blood flow in the one of the cords, borderline levels of blood flow in one of their brains, and possibly having an emergency c-section vs planned, among other things. The reward simply being that little blessing of more time inside for the girls to grow. They feel as though the scales have tipped and now the better place for them is out here with us. We are now back in the room we just left and they will continue to monitor the girls closely throughout the night. They have arranged for surgery tomorrow morning, most likely between nine and noon. We are very excited and very nervous for our girls. With so many thoughts and emotions, it's hard to really say anything else than it's all in God's hands. Please just pray for our doctors, Kelly, and of course the girls. We already love them so much. We did get to take a tour of the NICU on Monday, which is where the girls will be for several months more than likely. Kelly will be back in her original room a few hours after the surgery for at least a few days. We still have a long road ahead of us. As much as we would have loved for these girls to have 4 or 5 more weeks we trust that we will be able to look back and it not even matter. We thank the Lord for getting us this far. If it not for His grace and all of you that He has given us, our joy may have been lost. God Bless you all. We will let you know when the girls arrive.

According to Jer and Sar, Pt. III

[Jer and I, in the spare bedroom, talking about Christmas gifts that are stored in there.]

"Bam"

[Looking at each other blankly, but resuming conversation.]

"Bam"

[Me]

"What was that??"

[Jer]

"It sounded like someone's hitting the outside of the house."

"Bam...bam...bam...bam...bam"

At which point, we both rush to the living room only to find Abe crawling, headfirst, into the wall over and over...and over.

He's going to be a genius. I just know it.

Koehlinger Twin Update!!!

Kelly will be 27 weeks tomorrow. This is truly a miracle in itself. She has yet to have any regular contractions or show any signs of infection. Kelly had been having ultrasounds done once a week and this last week when they made it twice a week. On the next ultrasound they changed it to three times a week and as of Friday they have decided to check them out everyday. The concern at this point is that the blood flow through the smaller babies umbilical cord is bordering on absent diastolic flow. This basically means the placenta isn't performing as it should. Also, her growth appears to be slowing according to recent measurements. Most likely, the blood flow will soon reverse, which is what there primarily checking for. If or when this occurs the girls will be delivered as soon as possible. As of this morning, the doctor said she believed this would occur within the next week. Which means babies! So, assuming all of the above is under control the biggest concern still is the size of the girls. Baby B isn't quite measuring 24 weeks and is 1 lb 4 oz where as her sister is right on schedule at 27 weeks weighing in at a whole 2 lbs.. Both are still at a pretty high risk, but that 3 week difference is huge. The odds of survival at 24 weeks is between 40 and 50 percent verses 27 weeks which is closer to 90 percent. Kelly is hanging in there and getting more beautiful all the time. Movies, books, and solitaire keep her pretty well occupied when she's not doing doctor stuff. Sasha and I went to Angel Fire last week for a few days to take care of some things and see some friends. We're back in Albuquerque now with my Mom at Sally and Asher's house. They've all been a big help with Sasha and everything else. Please continue to pray for more time for the girls and that they would both continue to grow and be healthy. Thanks. Chris, Kelly, Sasha and the girls (we're still working on the name thing)

Stick-it-to-da-man-neosis

Commuting
Computing

Not even 9 months old and already being prepped to work for corporate America.

VTech, you're "The Man!"

Belly Up!

Or in Benji's case, belly down. This is how we found him this morning when Jer and I went to wake him up to eat. For those of you not aware, our little Benji Boy had yet to roll over from his back to his tummy. He's been EXTREMELY close these last few weeks but just wanted to hold out on us, I guess. Last night he finally rolled over when he was playing before bed. It looks like his maneuvers are here to stay though.

Bag of Tricks

The other night Jer came up with the ingenious idea to give the boys some new shoestrings to play with. Sort of reinventing the wheel, if you will. Surprisingly, they were mesmerized and played well with and near each other for quite a while. Thank goodness for cheap tricks!

Sneaky shot by Mom

Lovin' them some shoe fastening lace!
MESMERIZED!
"I'mnotchewingonanything, Unh-uh, notathing."
Little piggy, oink! oink!

Eyes as blue as can be

Sweet boys, today you chew on these laces, next time I'll be teaching you to tie them. Life is but a vapor.

Ask and You Shall Receive....

(Abe, Mom, Ben)

This is how we go anywhere and everywhere. It's actually not as bad as it may look. I think I maneuver better than some do with one, not that it's attributed to my strength or anything. I just have the lightest car seats on the market and the sweet boys inside make the travels fly by (most of the time anyway!).

*Disclaimer: Carrying two babies in the above noted fashion MAY stop any of the following, including, but not limited to, Target shoppers, small children, old women, power lifters and/or pretty much ANYBODY (except other twin moms). : )

How Am I EVER Supposed to be Julia Child...

when these are my sous chefs?!

Sometimes You Just Gotta Grab the Dog By the Tail...

Which is exactly what Abe did today at his Uncle Shaan and Aunt Maxine's house. Then before any of the six adults in the room could stop him, he started to suck on it. Don't worry, it's only a 14 year old black lab. It's not like she's practically decayed from the inside out or anything.

Hope...

Jer and I went to Sams Club today to do a little shopping and this is what I saw when we got there...

No, not two little blond haired kids in our basket. A DOUBLE shopping cart! (This was the only picture I could find on the internet.) This may be extremely common where you live but here in great state of NM, it is not. This is the only cart like this that I have ever seen! You have NO IDEA how much easier this will make my shopping trips in the near future. Oh sweet Target, please take note!

Night #2...

and no swaddle for Ben. We may have had a breakthrough. And here I thought I would still be swaddling him until he went off to college~Wow, that wouldn't have been awkward!

A Message From the Deuce

Kitty Kisses

Evie, the kitty
A.B. gettin' smooched by Eve
We went to see cousin Eve dressed up for Halloween on Friday. Eve looked adorable dressed up as a cat, or as she likes to call them, a "mee-mow." Anyway she always loves to see the boys and they love to see her. It's very cute to see them already enjoying each other even at such a young age! I envision much mischief ahead!

Koehlinger Twin Update!

Hello all. We have made it to 24 weeks as of Tuesday. After a Q&A session with the doctor at our appointment, we concluded that the best thing for the babies would be for Kelly to be admitted to the hospital for close monitoring for the remainder of her pregnancy. Our goal is between thirty two and thirty four weeks. Kelly has calculated that thirty two weeks is two days before Christmas. The girls are looking good at this point and just need as much time as they can get in the womb. We checked Kelly in to UNM Hospital yesterday. It was pretty much an all day event and very tiring for the both of us. She has eaten two meals now and has said the food is actually really good. It's a little more like people food instead of cafeteria food. Sasha came to the hospital yesterday also and managed to hang out for a couple of hours with her mommy. Kelly's room is pretty nice and has some really good views of the sunset. Thank you all for your prayers and support. Please continue to pray for the 32-34 week range and that time would go by quickly for Kelly. God Bless. Chris, Kelly, Sasha, and thetwins.

Wagner Farms

Today a family tradition came full circle. Jeremy and I took the boys to Wagner Farms in Corrales. Growing up, this was a yearly trip for my family. When we were younger, we would pick pumpkins and apples and watch cider being made. As the years passed and we grew older, the trip became more about a lazy nap in the car and awakening to eat roasted corn, homemade tortillas and green chile stew. Although the activities of the trip changed over the years, one thing remained the same. The time together. No matter how good the food or how beautiful the drive, the best part was just being together and enjoying our afternoon.

Here are a few pictures from our afternoon at the farm. Happy boy, Benji

Changing Cottonwoods along the Rio Grande