Fall 2009

Having fun at home.

Going on their daily walk.

Handsome boys on their 1st day of school!!

Hope all are doing well. The final month of summer was super busy for us all. Ben and Alex started a new football team, Chris and I did many projects around the house to get it ready to go on the market, our contractor Mike remodeled our master bathroom, Chris got foot surgery (on his little toe, he's getting better), I went to NY to shoot a film crash documentary for TLC (should air sometime late October) and Ben and Alex bid farewell to summer and started kindergarten. So thanks to all who have been patient and withstood our unreturned phone calls and slow email responses... we are still here!

The house is much quieter now that Ben and Alex are gone at school during the day. I'm sure the babies miss the fun commotion. Sadly I kinda do too. Ben and Alex went to the babie's geneticist Dr. Cramer a few weeks ago. Since both Chris and I are carriers of the ML II errant gene, Ben and Alex have a 50% chance of being carriers of the gene like us. Their results came back that indeed both of them are just like Chris and I -- they also are carriers. That does not mean that they will get sick. It means that if they have children with someone else that is a carrier (1 in 100,000 chance) they will have a 1 in 4 chance of having a baby like Dorian and Wynn that are affected by ML II. So we'll be keeping the results and once they go down the road of having children, it'll be something to discuss with the future daughter-in-law to do some genetic testing. By the time that happens, there will be so many more medical advances that who knows if ML II will even be a problem anymore. All I know is that when it came time to draw their blood, Ben was a warrior -- very tough, barely flinched. Then all decibel records were broken as Alex was howling like he was giving birth when it was his turn. We told them they had to have their blood drawn to start kindergarten, then we took them straight to McDonalds afterwards as a reward. (yes, sometimes lying is justified!)

Next month the babies will start some Synagis injections to help protect them from RSV. Synagis is given to preemies or to children younger than 2 who have heart diseases or pulmonary diseases, or congenital airway abnormalities. Hopefully this will keep them healthy through the cold/flu season. We'll be taking extra precautions of all of us getting flu shots and very diligently hand washing, etc. We'll find out from our doctors also if we need to get swine flu shots.

The babies visited our orthopedic doctor, Dr. Brown and we were happy to see that their bones have gotten stronger (calcified) and the bowing in their legs is less severe in both babies. Dorian still has one leg that is pretty bowed but it's not as bad as it was last time and we'll just keep a close eye on it with our doctor. Wynn continues to get weekly auditory therapy here at home, and both babies have twice-a-month physical and cognitive development therapy here at home as well.

Other than that, we're waiting to hear this week if we got the foreclosed home in our neighborhood that we bid on. It's a little bit bigger, with a guest room for visiting friends/family, and has a pool in the backyard. Which is why we put the house on the market in case we need to sell this if we get the green light. It's kinda hard keeping a house with 7 people clean enough for house showings, but we're all pitching in so it's been good. Hope everyone has a great month!