"If you had one wish, and only one wish, and you couldn't wish for more wishes...what would you wish for?" I wish the babies would...

EAT!!!

eateateateateateat

Smiles and Parker lover her sister (A post from Mary Jane)

The girls started smiling and cooing in the past two weeks. It is awesome. I love it. I have attempted several times to capture their smiles on film, but it isn't too easy. Emma Jane started doing all of this first (ironically when she stopped eating- she had better things to do than eat. The girl loves to smile.) but Parker now has a lot to say and makes noises all day long. Here is are the best pictures I have so far... although I WILL get better ones:

Parker also has started licking everything... including her sister...




Then she felt bad for making Emma Jane cry and made it up to her by falling asleep on her (P.S. I didn't position them like this... it was all on their own).

As far as an eating update... Emma Jane seems to be doing better these last couple of days. We have been to the pediatrician and nothing seems to be wrong with either one of them except for a lack of desire to eat. Parker is now taking her turn (again) and appears to never be hungry. It is so frustrating. I have the dietitian telling me not to force feed them, only feed them when they seem hungry, etc... and then the pediatrician (and myself) knowing how much they need to take eat in a day in order to gain some good weight. I have relaxed the feeding schedule as much as I can, but I have several forces working against me. One, there are two of them and they need to eat roughly at the same time or else they are going to snack and eat at all hours of the day. Two, they are still so small and I am sure everyone who has ever had a preemie knows all you want them to do is gain weight. And three, lots of times babies with reflux don't show as many signs of hunger and only eat until the initial hunger feeling is gone- that is textbook what Parker does. She eats exactly the same amount and then the fight begins to get the rest down... I am supposed to make eating a "fun and bonding time", but no matter what I try... the result is the same- a battle of the will between me and Parker. Sometimes I don't know if she won't eat because it hurts or won't eat because she doesn't want to. Its hard to stay frustrated at her though. Lots of times as soon as I take the bottle out of her mouth, she smiles. And she is very happy and cute and fun when she isn't eating! All this is to say, prayers for Parker (and Emma Jane) to eat are appreciated.

In other news, I realize Jason never posted that we are officially done with the eye doctor!!!!!! The girls eyes look normal and we only go back for a routine check in 6 months. The good news is when we go back for that, they don't have to use the barbaric looking torture devices to look in their eyes.

Those are all the updates I think. I am going to go sleep for a few more hours. Happy reading...

Attack of the Christmas Cuteness

We've been asked a lot recently how people can pray for us, specifically. First off, thanks for asking. We have been so appreciative of all the prayers. I guess the big thing on our minds is eating. Parker is still having a lot of troubles with it, and the last 48 hours haven't been so hot for Emma Jane either, but we think that is because she might have a little bit of a cold. Parker, on the other hand, just seems to still be in a lot of pain when she eats.
If you were looking for more things to pray for I will be honest and tell you that Mary Jane and I would love sanity...sanity probably comes from sleep...of course it will be a while before that really happens, but all of you out there who are parents know what that is like. I guess we just pray that our three hours or so a night would be amazingly restful.
All that probably sounds pretty bleak. But it isn't so bad.
Nana (thanks again for all the help you gave us over the past two weeks...I really don't think we would have survived without you.)left on Thursday and we suffered through the weekend together just the two of us, but grandma and grandpa (Broge) are in town this week to celebrate Christmas with us, so once again we are blessed with some help.
--Blessings,
The Broges
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Warning....The E-mail is officially over....proceed at your own risk. The following pictures are so cute they may cause you permanent harm. Those with a known heart condition, or those who are pregnant or nursing are encouraged to look at another blog post now. If you should choose to proceed and examine some of these pictures the management will not be held responsible.




Okay...so Parker is completely asleep here. Some how, and for some reason we don't understand, she worked her hand up and decided to hold her eye open...and kept right on sleeping. (okay...cute but maybe not devastatingly cute)


Here we have Emma Jane...our chubby little munchkin. Generally this girl LOVES to eat. As you can see from the empty bottle...which she just keeps around in case she finds a ready supply of milk. The exciting thing about Emma Jane is that while she is only a few ounces bigger then Parker, she is really starting to fill out. She's getting some baby fat and looking more and more like a new born...some 17 weeks later.

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Warning...seriously....stop reading this blog...the next few pictures hurt a little
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You were warned
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Emma Jane in her hat, getting ready to go to the eye doctor

The little monkey herself, also sporting hat, in prep for going to the doctor.

You will note that she has been denied the use of her hands.

Silly monkey.