1 Year Check Up!

We had our 1 year check up yesterday and Asher is weighing in at 18lbs 6 ozs and Vaughn is weighing in at 14lbs 14ozs. Which for Vaughn is a pound up from his last weight check with is a true blessing as the previous weight check he had lost 3 ounces. They both continue to grow in length which is wonderful as I imagined they would be tall and thin like their Daddy. No major issues at this checkup which was different from all the previous visits, we are going to move to 3 meals a day for Asher and try to give bottles right before a nap or bedtime. As for Vaughn we are going to keep with his main nutrition as the half goat’s milk/ half formula for now as he just doesn’t enjoy eating. We are still going to try once a day to eat some solids as gestationally he should be eating more and drinking less. Vaughn has a hard time chewing and I am not sure if this is associated with his torticollis, as try to chew or eat with your head tilled to one side… it is hard. The food naturally falls to the left cheek. I gave Vaughn a small meltable puff while we were with the Pedestrian and the Dietitian to show them his difficulty and of course the first puff he ate great and so I asked my Mom to give him another and sure enough he choked on it and spit it out. I think they had a better idea of how hard it is for Vaughn (as he has to concentrate so hard) and understood why once a day was exactly where Vaughn needs to be on learning to eat. Daily development for Vaughn is a balance; he needs to try once a day but we can’t push him to hard or to fast as he has created his own timeline and is happy there. And we are happy that he is such a happy baby.

Genetics. This word was brought up yet again at our appointment….and I felt myself become instantly defensive. Thank God for my level headed husband who can talk me off the cliff faster than anyone and remind me that our Pedestrian is a specialist in preemie care. Both boys are behind in their development but Vaughn is even farther behind Asher. We have discussed doing some genetic testing for Vaughn with several doctors in different fields of medicine because his left eye is smaller than the right and his left ear is back farther and grows ever so slightly down. The reason though that we haven’t is because it really is a mystery to them because the boys are identical twins and so they share the exact same DNA and Asher doesn’t share the same issues. If they weren’t identical twins we would have began this journey already but Jerad and I truly believe that these issues all stem from his acid reflux and sleeping for so many months sitting up in his bouncer, resulting in the placement of his head. No real mystery here, just miracles. Vaughn is special, I know this and I bet you do too. Just one more quality about him that makes him unique, which proves he was created in God’s image. Now that he is technically a year of age we should start looking into his genetics and the testing isn’t too invasive. They would draw some blood and look to see if he has extra chromosomes or is missing some. Sometimes the test tells something and sometimes it doesn’t so we are in no hurry to know some information that we can’t do anything about or it may help us understand his delay. All I know is we are taking one obstacle at a time and once we get comfortable in helmets and have Vaughn's surgery, then we can focus on the next step. Vaughn is having an outpatient surgery next Tuesday though and we are going to ask, that while he is under, if they could draw the blood then so we don’t have to put him in any extra pain. Either way some genetic testing is in our future for our little hero. I am completely in love with these 2 little men and so proud to be given the opportunity to raise them. They are tough and strong and I know that God’s plans for them are big as this growing up stage is hard work. I pray we are doing a good job of instilling in them the characteristics of hard work and that at the end of the day, hard work pays off. From weaning off oxygen to wearing helmets it is all for the Glory of God.