Christmas Part II

The second leg of our Christmas journey took us home to Chattanooga. There we got to see just about everybody. The girls were thrilled to see Nanna and Pop.

As well as their Grandad and Great Grandmother.... (and if you look really closely you will notice that my magical clavicle ball came to grandad's house as well

And we even got a chance to spend some time with Mary Jane's Great-Grandfather (that's the girls' great-Great-grandfather!!) He turned 100 and it was exciting to have FIVE generations all together (Pop, Granny, Nanna, Mary Jane, and the girls).

And of course there we saw everybody else as well...

..and there were presents......lots...

...and lots of presents.

I know what all of you are thinking. You're worried that with all this visiting and presents and there very cornucopia of adventures which await one when they travel to Chattanooga, that Mary Jane would not getting any brother sister bonding time with Mark. Well never fear....

...there was plenty of time for that too.

(you almost can't tell he's struggling to get away from her hug ;)

grandparents

Over their short post-womb life our beautiful girls have had a number of visits from their grandparents. Here are a couple of quick multi-generational photos.Above: Grandma Broge was here back when the girls were still a bit too small to be passing around (sorry grandma). Three generations of Broge women. Only one born that way;)
Above: Nanna came a couple of weeks later and got to hold one (don't worry grandma...next visit for sure!)
Grandad came a couple weeks after that and got a chance to hold to!o Now we just need grandma and grandpa broge to have a chance!

“hole” lotta love part IV: A New Beginning

Well…here we go again. Some of you may remember from way back when (about a week ago) when we were going through the PDA campaign, that Parker needed surgery because she was not responding to the ibuprofen, but Emma Jane handled the ibuprofen well and it was closing her PDA, but had not closed it. Well, guess what…the PDA has gotten larger.




"You've got to be kidding me!"











What does this mean? Good question. For a more precise explanation we turn to the graduated nurse practitioner in the family: Mary Jane
“Clinically Emma Jane appearance is unchanged. They have been able to wean the flow on her oxygen, she is tolerating her feeds, she shows no signs of distress, however she does have a murmur again, the PDA is larger and if she does begin to show signs that the PDA is affecting her adversely then she will have to undergo a PDA ligation as her sister did.”
For the medically ignorant explanation we turn to Jason:
“Emma Jane looks the same, but looks can be deceiving, lurking underneath is the same danger which was plaguing her sister. Currently this is not putting her in any immediate danger, however, as we saw with Parker, things can change fast, and we may end up having to have the same surgery. They want to wait as long as possible because the older she is the easier it is on her.”
For the overly simplistic explanation we turn to Jojo the idiot boy:
“Emma Jane eat. Emma Jane poop. Emma Jane breathe. Emma Jane heart go..um swishy swishy (sound of a murmur).”

On a lighter note: Grandma left. Nana is coming back tomorrow, and she is bringing the cord with her. So a big thank you to all who offered to pick it up for us, or even ship it to us (wow Weav…that was cool), but it is coming by way of Nana.

Blessings,
The Broges

PS HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMILY (sorry we haven't called...life is...well...you know...but we love you and wish you the happiest of birthdays)

“Enema Jane” or “Emma’s big poop” (guest starring Parker Broge)

Emma Jane seems to have felt left out, what with all the attention going to her sister lately. She decided last night t to not tolerate her feeds and then scare her parents this morning. It’s a long story, but since it all works out in the end I will shorten things up and tell the quick version. She was showing signs of something seriously wrong with her intestines. They did an x-ray and decided that she probably just needed to poop. Actually this whole “regularity” issue turns out to be a really big deal. The amounts of food they are getting now is still not enough to be their primary source of nutrition, but it is imperative their digestive systems kick into gear. Both girls have been very slow about “producing stool” which is slowing down the amount of food they are being given. Parker is way behind Emma Jane on this, but that is to be expected with the surgery. Emma Jane has been a champ up till now, but the stress of being good has finally gotten to her and she has decided to hold onto her poop and to not tolerate her feeds. In response it was decided to suspend Emma Jane’s feeds until she pooped (Parker was in the same boat still from the day before). In order to help make things “easier” for Emma Jane she was given a glycerin suppository (okay…so it was a suppository not an enema…but I couldn’t resist a title like “Enema Jane”). Let us just say…the suppository worked and…um…I don’t think Emma Jane weighs 2lbs anymore. I don’t think any parents have ever been so excited to see so much poop at one time come out of someone so small.
The rest of the day went well. If you are looking for specific prayer requests it would be for our girls to be “regular” and that they would tolerate their feeds.
Thank you. Blessings,
The Broges (Jason, Mary Jane, Parker and Emma Jane.)

PS Mary Jane would like it to be known that she disapproves of the title to this post, not because it isn’t clever and witty (it is and she knows it), but because she is afraid you will walk away believing Emma Jane had an enema. I have shown her, and read to her the sentence where I explained the whole suppository thing, but she wants to be really sure you know exactly what went up Emma Jane’s bottom. She is a nurse after all.

PPS There are actually two other HUGE events we need to discuss in the near future, but they both deserve their own posts of thanks. Let me just say for now that the nursery is now a lovely shade of yellow and the girls will be bundled in two of the cutest blankets ever made…again, more about that later.

PPPS Here are some fun pictures.

PPPPS And some more silent videos from the camera (still haven’t gotten that cable)
Parker...buck nakedParker on dad with a tastefully placed blanket to hide the unseemly chest hair

Grandma, Dad, and Parker (also shown...tastefully placed blanket)

Parker starring in "No Pictures, No Pictures"
After 10 hours, mom and dad are starting to get a little bit tired

Emma Jane is practicing the "Crane" move made famous by the Karate Kid

Emma Jane buck naked....boy is she going to be embarrassed we she tries to get married.

Emma Jane has learned how to suck her finger.

Very cute, and the moment we turned the camera off...she puked.

Mom's are great!

We here in the Broge household just want to be clear: Mom's are great. In particular we would like to sing the praises of two women Penelope Broge (my mom) and Kathy Baker (Mary Jane's mom). These two women stand as shining examples of how a great mom should be. This could be a blog solely dedicated to singing the praises of these women, but it isn't. This is just one meager post, so I will have to content myself for now with saying: Thank you. Thank you Nanna (Kathy Baker) for getting here so quickly when all this began. Thank you for all the work around the house you did, thank your for your generous financial support. Thank you for your tears, your words of love and for the fact that you've already bought your plane ticket to come and visit again next week. Thank you Grandma (Penny Broge) for getting here so quickly when the girls were born. Thank you for all the work around the house you did and for your generous financial support. Thank you for being here ...right now!... and for all the icky household jobs you have volunteered to do.

Our children are blessed to have you two as their grandmothers. Thank you.

Update on the girls will come later tonight after I get back from the hospital (has tended to be after 10 before the posts get up here). I will include some pictures, and if all of you are good (and if we get to bestbuy this weekend to buy the cable we need to get the video from the camera to the computer) I will post some video of the girls this weekend.