6 months old and a NICU visit

The Beans were 6 months old two days ago! I cannot believe they are that old already. I cannot believe it has been 6 months. This day six months ago, I had just held Isaac for the first time, which was one of the best moments of my life. The Beans are really developing into 'babies' now instead of being 'newborns'. They have head control, they can roll over, they can play with toys to a certain extent, and in general they understand that they can have an effect on their environment. In fact, they get incredibly bored if you keep them in one place or position for too long - I am constantly switching them between the bouncy chairs, the playmat, the jumperoo, etc.

To commemorate this milestone and to kind of make the experience more real, I took the Beans on a visit back to the NICU. It was actually quite nice, and I (amazingly) did not have a panic attack! We got to see Jen, one of the nurses who took care of the boys alot in the beginning, and she was the one who let me hold Isaac for the first time. We also saw Martell, who gave us our initial NICU tour on our hospital maternity tour (which I didn't pay attention to because of course, why would I ever have needed the NICU!?). And Katie, my friend who also happens to be a NICU nurse and took care of the boys on several occasions. The last nurse we saw was Joy, who was a great source of comfort to me, she had the boys alot, and helped me breastfeed them initially. Everyone was amazed at how big the Beans are, and they kept telling me that I'm doing a great job. Man, the smell of hospital, especially the NICU hallway, really brought back memories. Of course I heard the sound of the monitors going off, which also brought back a whole host of feelings. I still hear it in my sleep sometimes, "beep beep beep...beep beep. beep beep beep...beep beep". I remember holding Gabe and hearing that, and seeing my sweet baby's heart rate drop into the 60's from the 150's, and his blood oxygen saturation drop as well as he momentarily stopped breathing. I know they've come a long way, and I'm thankful for that, but those memories are still very sharp sometimes.

Overall, I am happy, and I'm amazed that I've made it this long pumping for the Beans. That mommy milky really fattens up preemies! Also, both boys are teething now, which is what the picture is, them chewing on our Pooh teething rings that great grandma Kolbe got them. OK, enough reminiscing, this post ended up being more about me than them! Time for sleep, since they are sleeping as well, and they'll be up in a couple of hours to eat.