Who looks like who?

I have been wanting to post this for a while now.  I was able to finally get some of my baby pictures and Thomas's baby picture scanned into our computer.  Its amazing to see how much our girls resemble Thomas and I.  Rachel definitely resembles me and Haley resembles Thomas.  What do you all think?

My mom gave me a dress that I wore when I was 7 months old.  I got a picture of Rachel and Haley wearing it.  I can't believe they fit into it though it was a little short.  It was more of a shirt on Rachel. 

Amanda (me) at 7 months old

 

 

 

Rachel

Haley

Below are a couple of pictures of me when I was ~18 months old.  Do these pictures resemble Rachel?

Amanda

Amanda

Rachel

Rachel

Below is a picture of Thomas when he was ~2-3 months old.  Does this picture resemble Haley?

Thomas

Haley

Haley

Its so neat to see baby pictures of Thomas and I and then to look at our beautiful girls and see the similarities.  It's amazing how genetics work.  We love our girls! 

Daddy's Home!

Thomas flew to Salt Lake City, Utah last Saturday night for his grandmother's funeral.  Grandma lived 89 long happy years.  We love and miss her, but I'm sure she is happy to be with those she loved. In particular Grandpa and her mother who she hasn't seen in 71 years.  I am quite confident that Grandma is also with our precious sons and daughters who have gone on before us.  We are grateful that daddy has arrived back home safe and sound.  While Thomas was away, my week was a bit more busier.  I survived despite the exhaustion.

Daddy and his girls

Here is an update on the latest with the girls:
 Rachel is getting closer to crawling perfectly.  Right now she does this scooting kind of crawl, but it doesn't stop her from getting anywhere.  She has been getting into things on the floor that I wouldn't have thought she would get into.  I need to really start baby proofing the house, especially before she does crawl correctly.  She will get there sooner than later.  Everyday I see her getting closer to it.  She has been working hard on it.

Rachel trying to crawl

Haley went to the ocularist for her prosthetic eye/shell a week ago.  The ocularist is currently making a clear contact lens for her left eye.  This clear contact lens will be used to test the tolerance to it before he makes the prosthesis.  Next month we will get her started in the clear contact lens.  If all goes well with that then we will move forward with the prosthesis.  The prosthesis will help her left eye to look normal.  Right now her left eye is small and is not growing well.  I have to say it will be interesting to see how she tolerates the prosthesis.

Haley

Here are more recent pictures I wanted to share:

Rachel

Rachel

Haley

Haley loves jumping in this

Rachel just loves watching Haley

 

Our 4th Anniversary

Today Thomas and I celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary. Its been a great four years together. We have been so blessed to have each other.  Thomas has blessed my life in so many ways. We have had trials that have tested our marriage, but through those trials our marriage has become stronger. I am grateful to a loving Heavenly Father who is always there to guide us and help Thomas and I. We are so blessed to have the Gospel in our marriage. I know because of that we have been able to pull through the difficult times in our marriage.  The difficult times have been a blessing as they have brought us closer together.  We have been able to enjoy many wonderful, joyful and blessed experiences together in our four years.  One of those experiences is having our 8 precious children and the opportunity to have Rachel and Haley here with us now.  We love them so very much.  We are grateful that families are forever.  We look forward to many more years together.  For our anniversary Thomas brought home dinner.  We enjoyed that together.  We plan on going to our church's temple on Friday (1/14).  We were married in this temple and look forward to visiting again.  We are grateful to our wonderful friend for offering to babysit the girls for us so we can have a little couple time together.

These pictures are of Thomas and I on our wedding day 4 years ago - January 12, 2007 at the Houston Texas Temple

Rachel got her Helmet OFF!!!

We went to Rachel and Haley's orthotics appointment today and were told that Rachel can get her helmet off!!!  Yea!!!  Her head measurements in regard to roundness and symmetry are now within normal limits.  Rachel wore that helmet for 5 long months.  It was totally worth all the hassle and the stinky smell.  Her head looks so much better. 

Before and after pictures of Rachel's head

Before the helmet (8/1/10)

After the helmet (1/6/11)

The helmet now sitting on the shelf

I'm so happy to get to put headbands and bows on Rachel's head again.  I hope she starts to grow more hair soon.

Rachel

Haley had her head measured today and has made good progress in her head reshaping.  It looks like she has 1-2 more months.  I hope for only 1 more month. 

Haley

17 months old - The funny things they do!

Today the girls are 17 months old!  I can't believe next month they will be 18 months!  They are getting older so fast.  I still remember the day they were born and the day we finally got to bring them home.  The girls are doing ok today.  They are both getting over a cold, but are playful and feisty as usual.  They are always doing something that makes me laugh or smile.  Over the past couple of weeks I got some great pictures of some of the funny stuff they do.  Enjoy!

Rachel and those glasses!  I can't keep them on her correctly.

Haley and that hair after her bath.  So cute!

Haley loves her blanket.  She has to have it when she sleeps.

Haley asleep in her bouncer.  She moves a lot in her sleep and got herself in this position.

Rachel and the glasses again!

Haley still chews on her glasses.  Just can't win.

Rachel rolled/scooted to the magazine basket.  She chewed the corner of the magazine.

Rachel then rolled/scooted over to the diaper caddy.  Here she is chewing on the edge of the basket.

Rachel in the middle of the mound of toys.

Finally got the toys under control thanks to this toy bin organizer.  Love it!

Updated/revised Website

Our website Stanseljourney.com was revised and updated a couple of months ago.  I know this post is a little late, but wanted to announce it anyway and to give thanks to our web designer Ryan (F Sharp web design).  He has worked really hard on our website and has done a great job.  We appreciate all his hard work.  Our website design looks great and  I plan on adding more pictures and more information in the future so check back often.

A picture of our computer screen with our website page up.

Happy New Years!

Another year has come and gone.  2010 was a good year for us.  So many wonderful things have happened.  Here is a recap of 2010 for the girls:

• The girls came home late February (this is #1)!
• The girls were blessed in our church on June 6.
• The girls turned 1 on August 4.
• The girls were at home with us all year for all the holiday's and celebrations.  It was so wonderful to be together as a family.
• The girls have not had to go back into the hospital due to sicknesses.  This is amazing to me since the doctors warned us that they may be in and out of the hospital since they were extremely premature. 

Rachel and Haley have each accomplished many things this past year.  They have made some good progress which we are so grateful for.  Here is a list of the things both Haley and Rachel have accomplished.  These are just some of the highlights.  They have accomplished so much than this.  If I wrote it all, this would be a very long blog post.

Haley: 

• Got off her supplemental oxygen in April.
• Rolled over for the first time in May.
• Started eating baby food in July.
• Got her feeding tube out for good in September.
• Started sitting on her own early November.
• Haley has been drinking 2-3 oz once a day from a sippy cup since December.
• Finally hit 16 pounds in December (Haley has a hard time gaining weight.  She is a slow grower, but I switched her to Pediasure and now she is gaining weight better). 

Haley

Rachel:

• Got off her supplemental oxygen in early June.
• Rolled over for the first time in June.
• Rachel has been working on crawling since November (she is not doing it 100% yet, but getting closer everyday).
• Has been eating small amounts of baby food better starting late November (this with the help of the girls wonderful occupational therapist).
• Has developed and gotten significantly stronger with her head and neck control as well as bearing more weight on her legs and arms since November (Rachel has low muscle tone so this is great progress).
• Finally got a top tooth in December (Rachel got 2 bottom teeth in July and we had been waiting for more teeth since then).
• Rachel hit 19 pounds in December.  Rachel is growing very well.

Rachel

We love Rachel and Haley so much and look forward to seeing them grow and develop even more.  2011 will be a great year for them.  I can't believe they will turn 2 this year in August.  Time flies and my little babies are growing up so fast.  Happy New Years to everyone!

Rachel and Haley