Dedication Sunday

April 17th, 2011 - We dedicated the babies today through our church's "baby blessing" ceremony. We got to pick a dedication Bible verse, or blessing, for each of them & then stand in front of our church family to ask for their support in raising them to know God & love Him. For Casen, we chose Psalm 37:23-24 - "The steps of a man are established by the Lord, and He delights in his way. When he fails, he will not be hurled headlong, because the Lord is the One who holds his hand." For Collins, we chose Colossians 1:9-10 - "For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God." They did great on stage & even let Dr. Hall hold them both for a prayer! It was a special time for our little family. Looks like the entire experience wore out Case & Lainey... Wampa & Gram came for the baby dedication.

Pop, Nana, Aunt Megan, & Aunt Lindsey came in from Dallas to see the twins' dedication. Nana with Casen & Collins.

Gram holding Casen & Collins.

Aunt Lindsey (the soon-to-be Aggie) & Casen (isn't he handsome?)

Bryan & Collins enjoying the beautiful weather.

Our little family!

It was such a beautiful weekend, we took the twins out strolling on one of Longview's walking trails Saturday afternoon.

Typical tummy time with the twins... Casen loves to lift his head up & look around while Collins is very content to stay wherever I put her. She can lift her head. We just have to coax it out of her!

Out & About

Casen & Collins saw Dr. Kae on Friday for their well-checks and 2nd round of shots. Case weighed 10.4 lbs and was 22.5 inches long. Collins weighed 9.2 lbs and was 21.25 inches long. They are getting SO big!! They both did great with their shots - we've got some tough little kiddos! We decided not to take them out of the house too much until after their 2nd round of shots. They got them just in time for us to attend the hospital's NICU reunion this weekend. We were able to visit with the doctors & nurses who provided such awesome care when they were first born. Dr. Chen & Dr. Chris holding Casen & Collins Dr. Chen & Dr. Chris took care of the twins while they were in the NICU.

Here we are with Brooke, one of our favorite NICU nurses.

Casen has started socially smiling & is SO cute! He is also spending more time searching for his thumb. He hasn't quite figured out how to make it work, so he ends up sucking on the heel of his hand most of the time.

Casen chillin' in one of the several bouncy seats we've been able to borrow from friends... thanks, Rachel!

Casen & Collins enjoying a little time on their play mat & having SO much fun! Collins Elaine... our smiley girl! Isn't she adorable?!?!

Thumbs Up!

Look who found her thumb! Lainey has always loved keeping her hands up by her face. She started sucking on her fist several weeks ago, but this week she's discovered a nice little thumb attached to that fist. It's awfully cute now... I just hope we can break the habit easily when she gets older! Casen started smiling more this week. He still isn't socially smiling much, but he loves his play mat. Case is a growing boy! Collins takes 100cc of milk at each feeding, but Case is ready for more after his 130cc.

Michelle's grandpa has been visiting for the past 3 weeks. He's going back home to Arkansas today, but we had so much fun seeing him while he was here. Grandpa says he's seen Casen & Collins grow a lot since he's been here - we can't wait for him to come back!

Great Grandpa Jay holding Case & Collins.

Our week ended on a sour note... Michelle came home last night to find that our house had been broken into :( Luckily the thieves were long gone. They left the back gate wide open & Mia got out, but she came home before the police arrived to inspect the house. They ransacked the bedroom a bit (I suppose looking for jewelry), but ended up only taking a flat screen TV that we were borrowing from Michelle's parents & several fishing rod/reel combos. So creepy to think about those kind of people in our home & touching our things! However, we are very relieved that things didn't end up worse. It's scary to think... what if we were home when they were here... what if the kids were with me... what if Mia didn't come home... what if...