Five Months and Counting

Diane goes Blog on us....except for the picture titles....


OK, so let me start by apologizing for what I am about to say.......Chris is an ass. Now that I have that off of my chest, I will follow that comment by saying that he is really good at creating the text for these blogs, and I will never be as funny as him.....but he refuses to type tonight so you all are stuck with me.


The twins are both doing really well. I can't believe how fast they are growing. Wes has now mastered rolling from front to back and also back to front. We also think it wont be long before he is sitting up on his own - the kid is a hoss. Wes' favorite thing to do is pull his pacifier out of his mouth and then scream for you to put it back in his mouth for him. He also laughs and smiles a lot.


Mia has finally shown us that she can roll from front to back - although she will only do it once and then cry if you try to get her to do it again. Her favorite thing top do these days is blow bubbles and make scary baby growling noises - hard to explain but really funny to hear. She also smiles a lot, but gets really angry if you wake her from a nap before she is ready to be awake.


It has been 6 1/2 weeks since Wes has had one of his stop breathing episodes. It seems since we switched his medicine to Prevacid and started thickening his formula he has done much better. We just finished up a 21 day heart monitor on him and should be getting the report sometime at the end of this week. We put him on it just to be sure that his heart was working ok and not the cause of his weird episodes. My understanding is that we would have been notified immediately if there was something critical going on with him - so we are assuming that the report will come back normal as we heard nothing during the 21 days. I have since found an online support group for parents that have babies with severe acid reflux - I actually read about other kids in this group stopping breathing because of acid reflux. Hard to believe that stomach acid could be the culprit of such craziness - but we are now really believing that it is the case. Anyways, the good news is that he will eventually grow out of it and in the meantime it looks like we have found the right medication and formula to keep it under control - keep your fingers crossed for us.


That's about it here in Colorado. We hope you enjoy the new pictures.






They really do like each other













The smiling one...almost always happy













Not always this happy, but is always ready to party.














Hey, thats my elephant....

Our Loft is Finally Finished !!!!

What should have taken about 4 weeks to finish only took us 3 months. We managed to fit it into many doctor visits and hospital stays. Luckily we had two weekends in a row without anyone getting sick to be able to finish it up.

Poopff

About the title. ...I have taken up making up new words in my spare moment or two. I came up with this one the other day after I put the dogs out to go to the bathroom. One of the dogs went #2, thus the poop part. I turned my back for a couple of minutes and when I turned back to let them all in, the pile had disappeared....thus the pff part (as in poof). So next time you have a pile of poop mysteriously disappear, it is called poopff. Another favorite word of mine, but I cant take credit for it, is shipoopy. Credit can be given to Family Guy. I think I have been changing too many diapers....

Since last time we talked, lots has happened, but I just cant seem to remember it all. Diane says it is because I am old, but I'm insisting that I have so much knowledge stuffed up there, I just can't fit anymore. The days fly by so fast, yes faster than Wes' fast pants and shirt. We seem to spend all of our work vacation time on doctor visits and hospital stays. Still have no definate answer on what is causing Wes' breathing spells. He has had a cardio evaluation, upper gi, EEG with an neurological exam, and an EKG with a cardiac exam done with nothing found on any of them. The best guess is still acid reflux disease or gerd (gasto esophogial relux disease). It has been three weeks since his last episode. Hopefully he will grow out of it soon.

We took the twins on their very first plane trip back to St Louis over Easter. It was quite the adventure. Being the smart parents we thought we were, or at least Diane is supposed to be smart, I just barely get by, we decided to feed them right before we boarded the plane. The great idea was based on thinking they would sleep right after feeding and there would be no problem. Wrong, at least on Wes' account. He had a 20 minute meltdown where he screamed the whole time. He wouldnt stop until we gave him another full bottle which he woofed down and then fell asleep. Doesn't everyone love flying next to a sceaming baby...thought so. Mia was great and didnt have any problems either way. On the way home we fed them right after we got up in the air and didnt have any problems. It was good to see everyone while home since it has been a while since we have been back.

Wes learned how to turn over the other day, Friday to be exact. He has done it several times since then too. Both kiddos are also sleeping through the night or at least we only have to get up once to give them a binky. Mia is finally getting over her latest cold where she got out of daycare for two days with a 102 temperature.

Our loft we added to the house is almost complete. We just have to finish painting and carpet the stairs, loft area and hallway upstairs. It will be great when finally finished. We are hoping to finish the painting next weekend and then get the carpet installed.



and here are some pictures:



Wes and the magic ring













Mia and Wes on Easter













Mia and her tasty treat













Newest Cardinals fan















Grandma Tepen and most of her great
grandkids (3 are missing cuz the stupid b*#^$
Rhonda wouldnt let them come)

Owee !!!!

Mia and Wes have started chatting in their own little language. Even though it may be hard to believe, Wes' favorite saying is owee. He will say this usually four times in a row. It is really cute to listen to him and actually fun to say yourself. Go ahead and give it a try....say it outloud four times in a row...'owee owee owee owee'. Wasn't that fun. It has recently become the Colorado Tepen's new motto!!!!

Unfortunately, it is also our new way of life. After Wes' long stay in the NICU right after birth, he has decided that he likes the hospital and doctors office more than home. Five weeks ago he started with an episode where he stopped breathing. Diane was able to bring him around and start breathing again, but ten minutes later he did it again. Once again, he came back around. That was the beginning of his episodes. We brought him into the doctor and they decided it was acid reflux disease and put him on medication. The second episode, he stopped breathing and was taken to the emergency room where he spent three nights in the hospital with RSV. They attributed his breathing problem to the RSV and was allowed home on oxygen. While he was at the hospital, both me and diane got sick where we were both home for an entire week. He came home on a Sunday about noon. That afternoon Mia started getting a lot worse with her breathing, a fever and color. So, it was back to the hospital for a one night stay about four hours after he got home. It was one of the hardest weeks of our lives, trying to care for both of them on oxygen while we were both sick.

This morning came another surprise for the both of us. Around ten this morning, he started acting weird while laying on the floor playing with one of his toys. We picked him up and he was really lathargic. A short while later his eyes dilated and rolled into the back of his head. Then he turned really rigid and stopped breathing. He started breathing again, but was still groggy and out of it. A few minutes later, the same thing happened. We called our doctor where they told us to take him to the hospital. Unfortunately, he didnt want us to drive him because he had a third seizure in half an hour. We called 911 and he got his first ambulance ride. They put him on seizure medicine and sent him home. He is supposed to see a neurologist sometime next week to get evaluated. We are hoping for the best.

Believe it or not, Wes isn't the only one playing the doctor game. On this past Monday, while Mia was at daycare, her attendant was holding her and tripped over another baby on the floor. On the way to the floor, Mia hit her head on one of the hard plastic toys laying on the floor. She was very unconsolable and she had to be picked up from daycare and taken to the doctors. She checked out ok but was very fussy the rest of the day. Fortunately, she was back to her old cheery self the next morning.

I was hoping to add pictures and talk about fun stuff, but will leave it for the next update.

Six Weeks of Pure Bliss

We cant believe it has been six weeks since the twins were born. Time flies by so fast because we basically dont have time to do anything but take care of the kids, cook some grub and get some sleep in.


We're watching you !!!










As an example, I've been trying to recount my two by fours for the basement now for about 2 weeks, I think one of the kids ate the piece of paper that had the first count on it or Diane threw it out, not sure which....she just flicked me for typing that, and it hurt like the dickens. She has now started calling me names, I think pansy was the last term she used, or at least the clean one I can use on the family blog we have here. But I digress....now it was moron cuz she doesnt like this sentence and the previous one I typed....all this coming from someone that up to this point has refused to type an entry. She claims to be a critique.

On to the fab two Tepens of Colorado. They made six weeks and are still pooping and peeing on perfectly clean diapers, Diane and changing table covers. We are able to see more of their eyes because they are staying awake a lot more as they get older, including the 3 am to 6 am time frame. I can occasionally sleep through the crying in the middle of the night. I think I learned that ability from trying to ignore Diane as much as possible. (another flick and was called moron again. ) We have joined the frequent diaper and formula club because we go through so many, cant image what it is like for people with more than two at a time. Here are some more pictures, enjoy, and we will put up more when we get the chance.


Fast Pants
look close, Wes has cars on his pants. I wish I had cars on my pants.










Nursery, Finally finished

notice the nice frames.....as i'm flicked for a third time in addition to the evil Gondira glare.










Bed Time for babies










And a picture of our newest family addition is included.

No more green screen !!!

Babies First Christmas

We just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and hope your New Years is going to be as fun and exciting as ours looks like it is going to be !!!

EAT, SLEEP, POOP X2 - That is what we do !!!

Now that we have had a couple of weeks at home to settle and get into a routine, it is time for the parents to leave. It was really nice having them around to help out with cleaning, cooking and taking care of the kiddos.

Mia and Wes have been sleeping at about 3 to 4 hour intervals, morning, noon and night. Diapers are disappearing faster than flies at a frogs vacation in Ethiopia. Luckily, we have saved a couple of diapers by Mia pooping onto the changing pad while being changed. This was a pretty funny sight watching Diane trying to catch the Poop Fountain with the clean diaper while trying to save the newly changed pad. But, unfortanately, those diapers were countered by the three diapers in a row we went through in five minutes from Wes' business.

If you want to see the babies, just give us a call to let us know when you might be visiting. Everyone is more than welcome. No guarantees that Mia, Wes and Diane will stay awake during the visit though.

Doesn't Reynee take great pictures?

and last but not least, mucho thanks to Andrea Snyder for creating our birth announcements.


HATS 'R KOOL















MONKEYIN' AROUND