Curnow Babes Together Again!

It's a big day for the Curnow Twins! They were moved into the same bassinet last night at about 2 am and are obviously enjoying their snuggle time together. Both boys are maintaining a steady body temperature and are eating and having regular BMs. They have remained off oxygen since Saturday except for one very short round for Gage (it was only a few hours).
Conner and Carter are on their way back to Billings this weekend with their Dad, and Ali is so excited to see them all. She said this morning that it was a very good day - she would see her husband and her older boys and the twins were finally in the same crib! Max, Bella and Brighton are looking forward to spending the day with them tomorrow at our house - as our kids are on winter break today and tomorrow. Ali and Joe thank you all again for your thoughts and prayers - keep 'em coming.

Baby Update - Huge Strides!

The Boys are doing GREAT!!! Both boys were taken off oxygen completely yesterday, and are holding steady today. Ali was able to hold them for the first time on Friday, and today (as you can see from the picture she texted this morning) is able to hold them both at the same time. They have feeding tubes currently in their little noses and continue to be fed Ali's breast milk through the tubes. They are hoping to transition to a bottle this week sometime. Both boys were taken off the bili lights this morning as well - the progress they are making is absolutely amazing. Please continue to send your thoughts and prayers to the babes, as they are obviously feeling the energy!

Ali with Brody (on her right) and Gage. Beautiful Momma, beautiful babies.

Connor, Carter and Daddy went home to Sheridan yesterday afternoon, which was hard on Ali as she misses her big boys (all three of them) so much right now. Joe is assuming the role of "Mr. Mom" with gusto, however, and Connor and Carter seem to appreciate the quality time they are getting with their daddy. Carter has also been enjoying frequent trips to the calving shed with Grandpa while Connor is at school, and Kendall and Mom are jumping in as much as they can.
It takes a village, as they say!
We are still waiting for little Baby Tenley to join us, which ought to be soon (Kendall's official due date is Thursday).

Welcome Gage and Brody!

After contractions for several weeks, a difficult decision to leave Connor, Carter and Joe in Twin to come to Billings and be closer to the NICU, and her water breaking at about 6:00 pm on Tuesday, February 8, Ali gave birth to her beautiful twin boys Gage and Brody at about 11:10 that night. It was a difficult reality for all of us, but after discussing the risks and benefits with her doctors everyone agreed that a c-section that night was the best for the boys. So, we all geared up and got ready for the newest arrivals to our wonderful extended family.

Here is Ali just before she went into the OR, and as she walked down to the OR to give birth to the boys.

Both Mom and Grandma Cindy were there (Cindy was with her when her water broke earlier that day) as was Kendall, myself, and Joe's dear cousin Tiff. Since Joe could not be there (he was driving with the boys from Sheridan to Billings), Mom went into the OR with Ali and is shown here in scrubs just before she joined Ali.

Above is a picture of Gage - whose face is a bit smooshed here. Below is baby Brody. Both boys are doing absolutely as well as they could be. They were big for 32 weeks - 4'4 and 4/10 (Gage was bigger and longer - over 19 inches compared to brothers 17"7/8. They are on C-Pap, which means they are getting extra oxygen through their noses, and are getting some help with maintenance of their body temps - but are otherwise doing very well.
In fact, Gage was intubated and on the vent beginning at about 6 am Wednesday morning, they extubated him yesterday at about 1:00 pm. Below is a picture of a very happy momma putting her hands on her baby immediately after he was extubated.
Connor and Carter are thrilled about the birth of their new baby brothers, and they were very interested in getting a peek their first trip to the NICU. Below are the boys looking in on Baby Brody.
And getting their first look at Baby Gage...
We are all just so thankful that these beautiful babes are going to be just fine. The doctor told us the night Ali delivered that babies delivered at 32 weeks have no long-term health problems and are just as robust long-term as their full term counterparts. All of the care Gage and Brody are getting now is completely normal and to be expected in light of their gestational age and the boys are making huge gains everyday! In fact, Ali just left me a voice mail that she held Gage for the first time this morning as was going to get to hold Brody this afternoon!

SNOW DAY!

Ali's Baby Shower

Ali's sister-in-law Erin Curnow and myself hosted a shower for her at the Granary in Billings. It was lots of fun. Erin completed the table center pieces (little diaper cakes wrapped in ribbon) and Jayne's Signature Sweets made this adorable cake. It was a great time with some great people.

"All the pregnant ladies" - there were three - at the shower. Shelly had an adorable little boy, Ali has now had the twins (more on that shortly) and Kendall is still waiting for Baby Tenley to arrive

Ali surrounding by some of her gifts.

Ali's little Niece Grace sat so patiently and demurely throughout the gift-opening. She was a very good (and adorable) little girl.

Kendall's Baby Shower

Ali and I hosted a babyshower (with Grandma Bradley's help - she gave up her home!) for Kendall in January. We had lots of Kendall's family and friends join us in welcoming Baby Tenley. The guests were asked to each create a scrapbook page for Kendall - while I don't have pictures of any of those, they did turn out wonderful. It will be fun for Kendall to fill them with pictures as Beautiful Tenley grows (now if she would just get here!)

The cake and the adorable letters Mom hand painted in the background.

The diaper cake that Ali made for Tenley - it was beautiful. This picture doesn't even do it justice, what a crafty gal.

Kendall with her Nieces.

Kendall and her grandma-to-be Bobby, along with Bella (ham).

Cousin Jenna, Bella, and Kendall at the food table.

Aunt Oie and Brighton. Love this picture.
The scrapbookers!

Friends and family working on their scrapbook pages.

My girls and Grandma the Great! Thanks again, Grandma, for giving up your house for the weekend.

Christmas Eve!

Max wrote his dad the card pictured above all by himself. He picked out a Bronco's desk football game, wrapped it and then attached this card that brought tears to all of our eyes. What a sweet kid!

Here are the Murphy Kids with their reindeer food setting cookies out for Santa before bed on Christmas Eve.
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And here we are saying goodbye to Shelfie the Elfie who was sitting on the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve day. We knew he would no longer be here on Christmas morning and had to bid fairwell.

More Christmas!

Our tree this year was beautiful - although the kids were more excited about the presents underneath it.

We had great friends over for a pajama party on Thursday the 23rd - Brighton had a great time with her little friend Finley.

And the Fullers joined us as well with adorable little (okay, maybe not little) Ryan.

Daddy and Bella are getting ready for Christmas Eve!

Christmastime!

We had Papa Jerry and Pam over for a gift opening the week before Christmas. The kids made wreaths with their pictures in the middle for all of their grandparents and are pictured here.

Papa Jerry and Pam gave Brighton this adorable rocker with her name on it - she loved it.

Our Christmas celebration continued over at Grandma Barbi's when we made (and ate) Christmas cookies. Our work is pictured below - they were delicious!