Happy Gobble Gobble Day!

What's better than juicy turkey, buttery mashed
potatoes, fresh cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie?
All of you!!!

Today, on Thanksgiving, we want all of you to know
how much we deeply appreciate all of your love and
support. It's been a crazy ride for us during these
past few years, and we've come through it all stronger
because of our family and friends. We are so grateful
for all of you and for the health and happiness we have,
as well as for the hardships that help us grow and
appreciate life and love even more.

Below is Turkey #1 (a.k.a. Benton), who made a
special Thanksgiving headband at school.


Not to be left out, Turkey #2 thought he'd join
in the fun!


Happy Thanksgiving to you all! Gobble,
gobble...we love you!

Noggin Couture

Temperatures are dropping here in Seattle, so we've
had to pull out some extremity warmers for the boys.
Fortunately, we just received some handsome handmade
hats from Great Aunt Cookie! Having won various
awards for her craft, Aunt Cookie spins and dyes wool,
rabbit fur, and other materials into beautiful yarns. She
then knits some of the most beautiful hats, booties, and
scarves we've ever seen!

Check out Benton's new red hat. Apparently it's very
difficult to achieve such a rich, saturated red hue.


And here is Iron's new hat. It's made of wool and
bunny angora. Does it get any cuter than this?!!


Well, Iron wasn't too pleased during our
fashion show. Don't take offense, Aunt Cookie...
he was just really hungry!!! :-)


Thanks so much for the hats! We all LOVE them!

Ring, ring, look at that fing'!

To show Tam how much he appreciated her carrying and
caring for Iron during the pregnancy, Dennis decided to give
her a "push present" (despite the lack of pushing). He worked
with a local jewelry designer to design a ring that honors
both boys. Below is a shot of the finished ring. The darker
green stone is an emerald, and the lighter green stone is
peridot. They represent the birth stones of Benton and Iron,
respectively. The metal is palladium, which is rare member
of the platinum family. Isn't it beautiful? Tam loves it and
says she'll proudly wear it every day for the rest of her life.
Thanks Dennis! :-)

Owlstanding!

Hi, everyone! We're back after a bit of a posting delay. It's
been busy here...all three boys (that includes Dennis) have
been fighting colds. On top of that, our two night nurses and
one of our afternoon nurses got sick in the past two weeks,
so we've had our hands full. So what else is new?

First, Benton got orthotics! As you know, he's still struggling
with bearing weight on his legs, and as such, he has not made
much progress with walking. Lately, the doctors have noticed
how pronounced his navicular bone has become, and they all
feel we need to correct that before it gets too bad. We believe
Benton will walk someday, and we hope these orthotics move
him more quickly along that path.


Above is a shot of Benton's new orthotics. When most people
think of orthotics, they envision a hard piece of plastic that goes
underfoot inside a shoe. Benton's are just like that except each
extends around the heel and up the ankle. Below is a shot of
the orthotics in shoe. He's "standing" in his walker device here.


As for Iron, he's growing quickly and developing quite
a personality. Here he is with a BIG smile! He's sporting an
outfit from Grandma Wedra's friend Mel, and he's holding
a small stuffed owl that Grandma Wedra gave him when he
was just hours old.


And every now and then we find Iron standing on the
couch, looking out the window for other owls. (Okay, so
he really can't stand yet on his own, but he can keep the
stance for a few seconds after we pose him like that!)


I believe we shared before that Benton smiles and laughs
when Iron cries. I guess you could say Benton is pretty
happy lately...


Here the boys are behaving better with Grandma
Hills.


Of course Iron doesn't cry all the time. Look at this...
he's "handsome just like daddy". Mama agrees!


Back to Benton, many of you know he has very little
strength in his arms, and he normally avoids using
them. Check out this video -- he's grabbing onto a
wrought iron bar on our coffee table and pulling
himself toward it! Go B! (Sorry it's a tad dark.)


Last but not least, Iron is cooing more these days.
Here he is smiling and verging on giggling or
talking. Those are some cute coos!

Wiggling with Willa

Willa Woods and Iron spent yesterday afternoon on a
fun shopping trip through Fremont. They slept most
of the time but were happy and playful with each other
after their late afternoon feed.

"Look how big and strong our muscles are after feeding!"
(Note the round bellies!)


Both babies are growing very well. Iron visited the
doctor last week for his 2-month well child visit,
and he now weighs in at 12 lbs and .5 oz! Willa is
two weeks behind Iron, so she still has time to
catch up.

We'll leave you today with a cute video of the two
wiggling together...

Happy Halloween!

BOO! Happy Halloween to all our favorite ghouls and
goblins out there! We hope you're enjoying this
frightful yet fun holiday and that you're only counting
half the calories you consume. Eventually all our teeth
fall out anyway, right?!!

Well, we have some cute Halloweeners at the Hills
house this year. Here's Benton the Bovine, the cutest
cow in the pasture.


Benton got to wear his costume to school yesterday.
Here he is with his classmates and teachers.


And here's our other son in his Halloween costume.
Can you guess what he is???


An Iron Skillet!!!! (Hardy-har-har!)

Okay, you don't like that? How about an airplane?!


Here's Daddy holding up his two bundles
of joy...


Anyone for a staring contest?


Lately, Benton has been having a bit of a hard time
waking up in the morning. Maybe setting the clocks
back tonight will help; meanwhile, we've had to go to
extreme measures to arouse him (see video below)!

Benton Licks Minor Surgery...

As many of you know, on Tuesday Benton underwent
a triple procedure surgery. All three parts were considered
minor procedures that his doctors kept saying they'd like
to perform if ever Benton was put under anesthesia. So
instead of waiting for a big, more major surgical procedure
(thankfully, nothing like that is currently on the books),
we decided to coordinate these more minor procedures
into one. Many of you have asked how it all went and how
Benton is doing, so this post is for you!

Here's Benton in his gown, waiting to be taken back for
surgery. We think he knew what was about to happen...
he was in a horrible mood. Daddy tried his best to calm
him, and he finally fell asleep.


Benton first had a frenulectomy performed of the lingual
and upper langua frenula. That means they clipped the
skin that was tightly tethering his tongue and his upper lip.
When these frenula are too tight, they can present problems
with speech development and oral feeding. We all know
Benton struggles in these two areas anyway, but we don't
want to further inhibit development. A tight upper langua
frenulum can also affect a smile as a child grows.

Here's a shot of Benton's mouth the night we returned
from the hospital. You can see the first stitches under the
tongue and between the upper lip/upper gum. Anyone
want a kiss? Now French kisses are on the menu! ;-)


After the frenulectomy, which took about 15 minutes and
left him with 10 stitches, Benton had a 90-minute BAER
hearing test. BAER stands for brainstem auditory evoked
response. The test detects electrical activity in the cochlea
and auditory pathways in the brain. Results summary:
Benton's ears are working just fine! This is great news for
us. What is left undetermined is how Benton's brain
processes the information received from his ears.

The third and final procedure was a 60-minute brain MRI.
It's been quite some time since Benton had an MRI, so his
neurologist thought it'd be a good idea to get a current
look at his noggin to see if any changes are apparent. The
Genetics team also drew some blood during the MRI to use
for testing purposes (they still continue to search for a
diagnosis).

Hours later, we got to see our little boy again. Understandably,
he was quite out of it. Here he is, safe again in Daddy's lap.


Benton seems to be recovering nicely at home. He doesn't
appear to be in too much pain, and he's moving his
tongue around quite a bit. The stitches should dissolve
within a week, and he's already stuffing burp rags, toys,
and everything else he can touch into his mouth. We're
not sure when we'll have the MRI results, but we hope
to get word within the next week or so.

Thanks to all of you for your prayers, well wishes, concern,
and love for Benton!

Boys Being Boys

Hello, family and friends! Greetings from the House
of Hills. Today we'll share with you a random assortment
of photos and video clips shot over the past few weeks.
We'll start with Benton, who is taking his big brother role
very seriously by sporting jamaloos from neighbors Nancy
and Vance.


We think he loves his little brother very much...


Aaaaaaawww!


Benton also rough houses with Iron like any big brother
would. (Wait, who picked this fight?!!)


All this lovin' wears both boys out, and sometimes
Grandma Hills comes to the rescue.


Other times, they crash in bed together. So cute!


Speaking of cute, here are a couple shots of
Iron looking extra alert. First in his car seat...


And then in Daddy's protective arms.


In addition to protection, Daddy serves another
important role: Iron uses him to give us a signal
that he's hungry!


Last weekend we were thrilled to be visited by
Candy (one of Tam's best friends from high school)
and her husband Karl and baby girl Josephine.
We've not seen Candy for many years, so it was
great to catch up over the long weekend, even if
it did rain all but a couple hours of it. Here's the
happy family on the Burke Gilman Trail in the
Fremont neighborhood.


And here's Candy and Karl at the Fremont
Sunday Market.


But my favorite shot is one of Karl and Candy in
front of our Japanese maple. Beautiful! Thanks
for visiting -- we love you lots!


Many of you many have noticed that Benton's hair
was getting a tad long. So a couple days ago, we
took him to see Auntie Dawn for a cut. Benton was
scared throughout most of the trim...


And tried some tricky blocking maneuvers.


But in the end he gave in...


And behold, how handsome he looks!


Grandma joined us for the trip to Dawn's and
kept Iron pacified. Mmmmmm...Grandma is
finger lickin' good!


Upon returning home, our boys went back to
being boys. Here Benton thinks he can steal
Iron's actual pacifier!


Today we thought we'd leave you with a special
treat: Iron is learning to smile. Enjoy!

Iron Gets Wings!

Earlier this month, Tam and Iron took to the
friendly skies to travel home for Grandma Rosie's
90th birthday party in Moline, Ill. Not able to find
an acceptable itinerary in and out of Moline, Tam
and Iron flew in and out of Louisville (where Aunt
Deeky lives) and drove home with the Lagerblade
brood to Moline for the party.

Iron did very well--better than expected--on
the flights. Mama was so proud of him! Following
are a variety of shots taken of the Louisville/Moline
adventure.

Not surprisingly, the first to get her hands on Iron
was Aunt Deeky. Look how in love she is! (By the
way, those of you who watch "Private Practice" may
have noticed this outfit sported by Violet's baby in
last week's episode!)


Of course Uncle Ross wanted to meet his
newest nephew as well. What a wonderful lap!


It wasn't until we got to Moline that Cousins
Reece and Rex decided they wanted to hold
Iron, too.




And finally Iron got to meet his other
Uncle Dave!


While in Moline, we visited the Shady Knoll Farm
pumpkin patch. Following are various shots from
that outing, starting with Iron and Aunt Deeky in
the Bunny Village. Iron's not too sure about that
bunny, but look at those cheeks!


Uncle Dave held Iron near the scarecrow, but there
was no scaring possible while in those protective arms!


Reece and Rex decided to see how they
measure up these days...


And Iron thought he'd do the same.


The Lagerblade family...


Children of the corn???


The twins and their boys (minus Benton!).


Aunt Deeky calls this an Iron sandwich!


Has anyone seen Iron?


Before we left the patch, the boys picked out their
pumpkins. Mama also picked out hers...


Later during our trip to Moline, we saw Iron
smile for the first time.


We also saw him make faces like this one...


We ended our time in Moline with Grandma Rosie's
90th birthday party. Here she is surrounded by her
three kids and many of their offspring.


And here's a gorgeous table displaying a tribute to
Grandma through the years.


After all this travel, Iron got a bit disoriented
from time to time...


What?!! Are you laughing at me?!!


All in all it was a great (but tiring) trip! Here Iron
is dreaming of seeing big brother Benton again...