Doctor Appointments

Dean had his appointment with the Pediatric Cardiologist this week. He had an EKG and an Echocardiogram. The purpose of the appointment was to see if Dean’s heart chambers were enlarging and see if his heartbeat was normal or too fast. The worry was that his heart was pumping more blood faster due to some of it shortcutting the circulatory system by going from the heart to the lung mass and back to the heart. This would cause his heart to beat faster than it should and, since it’s a muscle, it would grow larger than it should for his age.


I’m happy to report that the EKG and Echocardiogram showed there was no enlargement of his heart and he has a fairly normal heart rate for his age. There is a slight murmur but we had been told about that before because it’s due to his condition. Once the mass is removed or disappears, that murmur should go away. The appointment went well. Thanks to Grandma Esther, we got there on time and had enough hands to hold, feed and change babies. Here are a few pictures from our appointment.

Grandma Esther and Dean

Dean hooked up for his EKG

Mom holding Dean’s arms down and attempting to calm him with a bottle during the Echo.

Dad holding Dean after the Echo. We had to keep his clothes off so the doctor could listen to his heart. Dean doesn’t like to be sans clothes unless it’s warm, and it was not warm in there!

The next day, I had my follow-up appointment with my OB/GYN. We had promised to take the boys this time so she (and the office girls) could see them. Plus, we never got a photo with her in the hospital. We had planned on taking one in the delivery room, but that all changed with the complications. So we took the camera and snapped this photo.

Left to right: Mom holding Dean, Dr. Lori Carrillo and Dad holding Daniel

We absolutely LOVE Dr. Carrillo! If you live in the Phoenix area and need an OB/GYN recommendation, let me know and I’ll pass along her info.

In other news… I decided to take some pictures and video clips of our tummy and back time on the floor. The boys don’t always love it, but on this particular day they did pretty good. Appreciating tummy time takes time, so we keep plugging away at it. I had promised to post the video clips here, but they're not uploading, for some reason.  I'm going to have to figure it out and post them later.  That's all for now.

The last two weeks: Part Two

Picking up where I left off…

We had more visitors last weekend. Edward & Lala Agundez! They’ve been friends of the Hamby family since I was about 8 or 9 years old. They had 6 children-1 girl and 5 boys (one is named Daniel)-so they know a little something about raising boys! I know we’ll look to them over the coming years for advice with raising Dean & Danny. I failed at taking very many pictures, but here are two.

The boys have just found their “social smile” skills and here is a quick snapshot of Dean testing it out on Lala. Unfortunately I wasn’t ready for it so I have a blurry Dean and a sharply focused couch. At least I caught it though! I haven’t been so quick as to catch Danny’s smile yet.

Here is Danny and Lala. I didn’t get any pictures of Eddie with boys but you can see a bit of his arm in this photo.

We went to dinner and then stopped by the last home football game of the season at the high school where Scott works (he announces the home games). We wanted to let daddy show off the boys to some of his coworkers and students. Thank you Eddie & Lala for the gift! We will take the boys shopping for some special outfits!

Our family and friends have been so generous in giving us gifts and hand-me-downs for the boys. This last weekend we had another gathering where such gift giving occurred. My sister-in-law, Laura, had a little get together at her house where the boys could meet her mom (Linda), Grandma (Mary) and Aunt (Lori). The boys had a good time (they were held the ENTIRE time), we had good food and we came home with new outfits! Thank you so much for your help in keeping our boys clothed, which in turn keeps money in our bank account! Well, it frees it up to spend on more diapers anyways!

 Grandma Mary with Dean

Linda with Dean

Lori & Cousin Rebecca with Danny

My favorite picture of the day is this one of Dean (Linda is holding him). Two reasons it’s my favorite: Dean is smiling AND he’s sleeping peacefully!

Our weekend was pretty packed with visitors, the get together at Joey & Laura’s and then the Harvest Festival at church Sunday evening. Here are two pictures from the evening.

Cousins Hannah (Safari girl), Rebecca (Spy girl) and Benjamin (Storm Trooper from Star Wars).

The Smith family of four. Everyone wanted to know what the boys costumes were going to be. My response was “Twins who don’t look alike.” They weren’t dressed up really. Just wearing their jammies and wrapped in blankets.

That’s it for now. The next post will be about Dean’s cardiologist appointment and some tummy time, video included. 

Last two weeks: Part One

I’m a little behind in updating the blog. We’ve done a few things in the last couple weeks but I haven’t exactly had free time to post anything. Dean’s lack of sleeping has taken a toll on us, so anytime they are both asleep, we’re furiously cleaning, doing laundry and prepping for the next feeding. Here’s part one of a summary of the last couple weeks…

Aunt Elainea came for a visit and stayed two nights with us. She was such a big help! She did a lot of holding and even assisted us on our first Costco outing. It took us a while to get everyone and everything in the car, but once we were on our way the trip went smoothly. Here is a cute picture of Aunt Elainea holding Dean.

That evening after Aunt Elainea left, we took the boys outside for some sunshine before the mosquitoes came out. It was a little chilly so we wrapped them up and put on some hats. Unfortunately, the newborn size hats we have are too small and the next size up are too big. We opted to use the bigger ones. This made for some pretty funny pictures.

Here’s dad with the two boys

Dean in the too cool hat with sunglasses

Danny in the “Born to Ride” hat. I call this picture, “Pope Daniel Wayne I.” Doesn’t it look like the Pope’s hat?

The next three pictures are just funny. I snapped them as we were hanging out on the couch together. The way they interact when next to each other is sometimes so funny!  I'm pretty sure they're carrying on a conversation but I have no idea what they're saying.  Maybe one day they can tell us.

I realize most pictures here are of the boys and dad or the boys and someone else. It’s easier to be the one behind the camera…especially when I’m desperately needing a shower and clothes that don’t have spit up on them! However, we were able to get a couple shots in these last couple of weeks.

                                          Mom and Daniel

Mom and Dean

Here is a cute picture of the boys sleeping during naptime one morning. I can’t remember the exact day this was taken, but I know it was a rare moment because both boys are sleeping at the same time. Lately it hasn’t been the case. Poor Dean is having a hard time going down for naps and going back to sleep after night feedings. We’re all out of ideas as to what we could possibly try. If any of you have any tips, send ‘em our way. We have tried everything and are now just letting him cry himself to sleep. This is quite painful though because he will cry for an hour sometimes! He just wants to be held and walked around. I’d honestly be tempted to do that if it weren’t for having two babies. Danny wouldn’t get any attention if I held Dean as much as he wanted me to. It is really exhausting for Dean AND me! Thankfully, my wonderful mother-in-law comes over to help out a couple times a week. This gives me just enough of a break to either clean up the house a bit or take a shower and a nap. Sadly, the one I choose is really based on how much I smell like spit up milk. If it’s not so bad, cleaning wins out. If it’s pretty ripe, a shower and nap win. Let this be a warning to you all: if you plan on coming by to visit, it’s best to let me know in advance so I can, at the very least, change into some clean clothes and possibly take a shower!

Part two is coming up...