Saturday update

We're having a nice relaxing day at home. This is the first Saturday we haven't had any volunteers around (not until this evening) and it's quiet and kind of strange! I kept notes of my first few hours alone with the babies this morning, thinking it might make an amusing blog post, but I think it's just pretty boring. :)

Just after 11:00 a.m. I took the girls to the Cowan Retirement Center to visit my mom and the residents and visitors there. The girls loved the break from home and all the attention, of course. Marcie is such a little charmer!! Gracie is more sober and more focused on things than Marcie is.

This afternoon my dad and I took David and Will on some errands. Poor Seth was the only one home all day, but he doesn't seem to mind. He's so good-natured, seemingly more so since he got rid of all the oxygen apparatus. Thank God, that is still going really well! He has just become more and more one of the pack, rolling around on the floor, sitting and playing with toys, submitting to being climbed on, grabbing and touching and talking to the others, and always ready with a chuckle and smile for us. He is SO precious! When I think back to how we nearly lost him, humanly speaking, I can't thank the Lord enough for sparing this precious little guy. Our circle would have such a huge Seth-sized hole in it. He's even more adorable and delightful than I realized way back then. I never would have thought that 10 months from his birthdate he would be completely off of oxygen. I have never seen the power of prayer more vividly and powerfully displayed in my life. Thank you to all the hundreds or even thousands of you who have prayed for him and for us! We can tell God's hand has been on us this whole time, especially on Seth.

One of our NICU nurses, Frances, visited yesterday. It was such a treat to have her here and "show off" the babies and their skills. She remembers such funny things about them from the NICU, like what a sloppy eater Will is, Marcie's demands for attention and her birth mark, and the "Miss Grace" song another nurse taught us to sing to Gracie. There were blessings during that very hard time, and the nurses and other staff were very much among them!

One really exciting development today was Seth voluntarily putting what he KNEW was food into his mouth and eating it, not once but two or three times! It was a Gerber arrowroot cracker, and he chewed/sucked and swallowed - and gagged, but hey, it's a great start! And even after gagging the first time he apparently liked the taste enough to try again. :)

Here are a few pics of the kids: Seth in his bath after his breakfast this morning (the speech therapist wants him to experiment with his food, so he was COVERED in baby cereal and fruit!), David butting into Seth's occupational therapy session yesterday, the boys in matching outfits from Donna, and Will and Grace laughing at each other out on the porch with David in the background.

Gracie makes this funny face and breathes heavily and rapidly through her teeth just because she can.
Isaac used to do the same thing. :)

Love and Gratitude,
Carrie

Goofy girls

We have two very silly, cute little baby girls with blue eyes and blond peach fuzz on their heads. Their antics, crazy mouth noises, funny faces, grins, wiggling and playing are constantly entertaining. It's such fun to have "twin" girls! Others can't seem to resist the double cuteness either, so we're blessed with matching clothes. :) Thanks, Donna, for the adorable purple outfits!

Marcie on the left, Gracie on the right, just goofing off on the stuffed puppy and with the hanging toys.
My mom's favorite color is yellow, so I knew she'd love these darling hand-me-down outfits.

Marcie. All the kids love burrowing into the puppy because it's so soft. Yesterday I picked up a large microfiber bath mat while at ALDI; Gracie saw it in the cart and tried to throw herself down from the seat above so she could lie on it. I had to put it next to her so she could cuddle it for the rest of the shopping trip. We were hard-put to wrest it out from under her when it came time to pay for it!

Krista, who we know from PNG but is on a business trip to Dallas, had to take Aunt Cynthia's place working with Aunt Pam tonight since Aunt Cynthia is on a business trip to PNG! Grace and Pam on the left, Krista and Marcie on the right. Krista says her facial expression seems to say "Just take the picture!" It really was like wrangling a wild animal to get Marcie to even look at the camera! Poor Aunt Samantha had to put on quite the show in the background. :)

No more oxygen!

I wrote this text yesterday afternoon: "Seth is in the pulmonologist's office sitting up, going crazy with the paper covering the table, flinging his arms and legs around, vocalizing and babbling and chortling continuously, and satting 100% with no oxygen! Last night after having been off oxygen for 14.5 hours he was still satting 95%."

We were given the go-ahead to discontinue his oxygen altogether, so we left it off last night. NO alarms all night long and he was still satting 95% this morning!! To top it off, he has been eating bite after bite of baby food and is tolerating the bottle (although still gumming it rather than sucking). He vomits only infrequently (1-2 times/day) and his growth chart goes up nearly at a 80-degree angle! We cannot thank and praise our Father enough for all of His kindness and great mercy in Seth's life and ours. We cannot thank you prayer warriors enough either! Oh, I forgot to update the answer to the prayer request that he would stop waking up and vomiting around 5 a.m.: that is no longer happening, praise God!

Please pray he continues to make progress and that The Lord will continue to be glorified in his little life.

Love,
Carrie

More pool pictures

Grandma and Gracie

Marcie loved being tossed in the air by Aunt Samantha

Seth and Will were like puppies, all cuddled up together to sleep after swimming!

All the babies, including Seth, loved the watermelon. This is Gracie.

Grandpadad and David in the spa

Such a cute picture! David is so pleased with himself up on the rocks, and Will is "swimming" in the background

Grandpadad and Seth (both are pure Peterson!)

Seth and Isaac in the same onesie

Around the house and at Grandpadad's and Grandma's

Gracie in the ever-popular box

David loves cruising around this little house from First Baptist Dallas!

David pulls up on everything all the time. He's a busy boy! Will has started fighting him for toys and for my lap space. 

A better picture than previously posted: Aunt Jody with David in her arm, Gracie, Seth, Will, and Isaac with Marcie

The boys (David was too goofy to sit still, so he's rolling around on the floor)

Grandma with the girls in their dresses from Sharon. Gorgeous ladies!

First real pool experience!

The kids LOVED the pool at Don and Sandi's, although it took Marcie a little bit to warm up to the idea (literally). What a gorgeous day in Texas! What a blessing to all of us Joneses and crew!

Will in Daddy's hat

Marcie "flying" from Aunt Sam's arms

The kids really enjoyed climbing the rock fountain (with an adult right with them in case of  slippage!)

Grandma and a VERY HAPPY Gracie!

Seth and Aunt Jody

The whole gang before getting in the water. Love the boys' Lifeguard shirts from Lynnette! David, Marcie, Gracie, Seth and Will (looking a little unsure, but he was the most water crazy of all!)