Just Another Week

Well, we haven't put up any pictures for a little bit, and the grandparents are restless. I think that it's just been a little bit busy lately. I was on call last weekend, and the call was pretty terrible, so it's taken a bit of time to recover. Therefore I haven't been snapping as many pictures as I might otherwise. But it's another call I get to check off the list!

Trevor had some good daddy time with the kids while I was gone, and enjoyed taking them on a bike ride and even out to dinner by himself. I always find this gutsy -- I mean two 15 month olds can be a bit hard to manage in a restaurant by yourself, but he's pretty laid-back and doesn't get as upset as I do if they start 'misbehaving'. It must be my mommy uptightness, wanting them to be perfect... I actually think they were pretty perfect for him, though, so it all worked out :)

Otherwise, we've just been enjoying the weather with walks and playing in the park. Elsie and Jess are still not walking (everybody keeps asking), but I think that they're doing fine. Of course Elsie took another tumble this morning and bloodied her lip again, so we may have another setback. She walks back and forth in her crib without hanging on like it's no big deal, but when you put her on the floor, she just refuses. Oh well, everybody with twins tells me that it's much better this way, and that I have no idea how hard life is going to be when they both start walking anyway.

A Visit From Nana

This past weekend, the babies got to see their Nana when she came out for a visit to go to Leah's wedding shower. We had a good time just playing and doing some shopping for the kids. We brought them to the mall to let them play on the giant breakfast food, and they managed to not get trampled. We realized that Elsie is probably not going to be shy as we watched her crawl over and hug a cute little boy. It was almost a year ago that Sugar came out to stay with us and take care of the babies for the first four months after I went back to work -- crazy how time flies. Elsie and Jess had their 15 month check-up today and they are doing well. They're still little pipsqueaks with big noggins, but totally healthy. Of course, Jess has now picked up the fever that Elsie got rid of last week, and they'll probably both be cranky from their shots, but hopefully it will pass quickly.
It's been a typical spring week in Denver so far -- almost 80 degrees today and the possibility of snow tomorrow. My version of spring cleaning has been to start sorting through the closets and getting rid of piles of clothes -- some that just will never fit right again, and some that just will never be in style again (Abby is helping me to decide which ones these are). I can tell it's been awhile since I've done this since I keep finding maternity clothes in the mix. Trevor was inspired and went through his huge pile of scrubs and sorted out the ones that he didn't like. We can actually close our drawers again -- it's the little things that make you happy, right? Here's a few pics of the kids from the past week.

Elsie finally has enough hair for a bow!


This is Jess with his new favorite "toy", the diaper pail.


They still love to snuggle and rock before bed.


Elsie managed to open the Nesquick and dump it all over the floor. She was so happy though, as if she had just created her own little indoor sandbox, that we almost hated to clean it up.

Visits and Cuddles

This week Aaron and Leah are in town for their spring break and getting a few things ready for their upcoming wedding. They got to spend some time with their favorite (and truthfully only) niece and nephew. Elsie and Jess still have their colds, but now Elsie is having pretty high fevers along with the coughing. She gets back to herself with a little motrin, so we're hoping it passes soon. These are a few pictures of them being goofy and cuddling and playing with each other, which they have so much fun doing.

Yeah for Poppie!

We got some good news today for the Nydam family, and Jess and Elsie are very happy about it. Trevor's dad Ron, (also known as Poppie to the babies) was diagnosed with leukemia in January (AML with previous myelodysplastic syndrome) and has been undergoing chemo in Grand Rapids. The next step was to be a bone marrow transplant at the end of May, which is a very rough procedure after the age of 60. We were preparing for a long haul with a three month hospital stay in Ann Arbor, but after a consult with the BMT specialist at U of Michigan, it appears that the bone marrow transplant will not be necessary for now. They do not believe that he has the myelodysplastic syndrome, which is what was necessitating the transplant. This is great news, and means that Ron and Sugar can spend at least some of their summer out here in the mountains and visiting their grandchildren (and us too, I guess -- though they're much more excited about the grandchildren). We are thankful for this answer to prayers, and continue to pray that the rest of the chemo goes well and that Poppie can stay in remission for good so that he can take these little tykes backpacking like he has always wanted. Notice that Elsie and Jess have their Calvin Seminary sweatshirts on to root for their favorite Calvin Seminary Prof, Poppie.

First Little Shiner

Nothing too bad, just a little tumble today. This occurred while Jess was pushing around the dining room chairs, which is a favorite activity. He seemed to recover pretty quickly, but I had to grab a picture for the grandpas and grandmas :)

Playing at the Park

While the weather was decent, we went with Dave and Jill to the park to play. If you look closely at this first picture, you can see Elsie dumping sand on Jess's head. He didn't seem to mind. They had a good time, and even seemed to enjoy having dinner across the street at one of our favorite restaurants.


They can still both fit in the same swing, and they like to swing together. The first time we tried them in the swing, they didn't like it alone. But as soon as we put both in, they had a ball.