We can hardly believe that the boys will be turning one this upcoming Tuesday. I was driving both to physical therapy this morning and drove past the hospital where I had an emergency C-section because Noah's water broke almost one year ago. I can hardly believe that two little beings barely over 1 pound now weigh over 15 pounds one year later. Truly God has been with us. He has blessed our little family and watched over us as we have gone through this journey of prematurity.

I created a darling birthday card to share with everyone. Noah can stay off his cannulas for a few minutes now so we quickly snapped a few shots of him so we could enjoy his chubby little cheeks without the oxygen cord! Both boys are just shining in these photos and you can see their precious little spirits. They are dear to our Heavenly Father and so loved by their family. They have been a joy to all of us.

Happy Birthday my beautiful, strong and valiant sons; you represent the power of miracles to all who know you.

We took an impromptu vacation this weekend to Redondo Beach in Torrance, CA. It was the best therapy I have had in months. Shane was down in Los Angeles Friday and my dad was flying out Saturday from LAX so we decided Friday morning, let's get a hotel on the beach and spend the weekend! It was so fun having something to look forward to that took us away from the doldrums of the every day at home. We took the boys out to the Pier and enjoyed the beautiful view and ate good seafood, etc. The boys were very well behaved and slept well in their pack n' plays that the hotel provided. I was so proud of them and it was amazing to feel like a "normal" family!!

It was our last hurrah before the RSV season starts. I included photos of our great family vacation. Grandpa was able to join us for Friday evening and part of Saturday before flying home. It was fun to have him with us! We look forward to seeing you again on Friday Grandpa and Grandma to celebrate the first birthday of Noah and Jonah!

Great things that Jonah is doing! This may seem like small steps to most but what a joy to see Jonah enjoying the Discovery Center that we borrowed from our good friend (thanks Brooke!) We love to see his small steps of progress as we are trying to believe in all the many possibilities for our tiny man.

I read a good quote the other day from a woman whose 7th daughter was born with Down Syndrome. She said, "I can either dwell on the millions of things [she] won't do or celebrate the thousands of things she can do."

I was profoundly touched by her faith and I am striving to see the same miracles every day.

Cute photos of Noah playing with his new cup, the only one he will drink from right now. Also, we are so close to crawling! Noah is practically there, if he would just coordinate his hands and legs right he'd be off!

Today we decided to try Jonah again in the Discovery Center. He actually enjoyed it and we found him trying to lift his head and look at the toys, especially those making noise. We plan to put him in this more to see if it can't help with his upper body control.

Shane took today off to go down to Los Angeles and took Jonah early this morning to PT. He said he had a great session and was putting weight on his legs with his therapist. Hip hip hooray! We've noticed him trying more this week to put weight on his legs, he still has bouts with Clonus but we are keeping at it.

Today's update:

We visited with Dr. Lee at the Children's Hospital Los Angeles Vision Center. Dr. Lee performed a very thorough examination (to Jonah's dismay) which included swaddling Jonah down so he couldn't fight and a nurse to hold Jonah's head still while Dr. Lee used special specs to pry open his eyes and examine his retina, etc. He was happy to report that Jonah's retinas looked great, no detachment but a bit of lagging on the left eye which may contribute slightly to his Strabismus but overall his retinas are clear and looking healthy. He said the scar tissue from his ROP surgery has lessened (good news) and he thought that Jonah should be able to have good vision, however...he did say there are always exceptions. He mentioned they often see post-ROP surgery preemies who have perfect retinas but poor vision so now it is a matter of waiting.

He was not concerned with the lack of dilation with his pupils, that is two specialists now who are not concerned with the fact that his pupils do not dilate. Apparently this may just be the way things are.

He deferred any additional surgeries for Strabismus to Dr. Kelly in Madera. He said he researched her and found she was well experienced and he has heard that she is not one to rush a child in to surgery if it is not warranted.

These are all good things to hear, I still wish there would have been more clear answers regarding his actual vision. We still worry about his slow progress with finding things visually, tracking objects, faces, etc. but it seems that everyone agrees that with preemies at this age you just have to wait to find out what the ending situation will be.

For now, it will just need to be a matter of prayer.

I loved this video of Noah, I wish I would have captured this morning. He was jumping up and down and giggling so much...it was adorable!

Cute photos of the boys with Grandpa. I love how Noah stole Grandpa's specs plus Jonah getting love from Grandpa. So cute!

Good job Noah! Today he weighed in at 15 pounds 5 ounces. Hip hip hooray!

Exciting things that Noah is doing! We almost have him successfully sitting on his own, right now he manages several minutes at a time of sitting but eventually falls back in to his rolling position. We are trying to get him to accomplish this before October. He also has started holding his bottle more and loves his biter biscuits. I had to include a photo of Noah after he had fallen asleep in his Discovery Center. Playing is so hard!