Things have been a little quiet here on the blog. This was in part, because I (Philip) spent a good portion of last week and part of this week back in Rogers. Part of our life-in-limbo strategy is to make every trip home count. So along with shuffling belongings between our home and hotel, I managed to cram 4 commercial photography shoots, an engagement shoot and a variety of home projects into the few days I was home. This was the longest stretch of time I've spent in Rogers since we were stuck in Fort Smith in early June and it was very nice to be back.

The other reason for our little period of silence was that the last couple of weeks have been incredibly difficult and stressful for us. Weston has been struggling a lot with sleep Apnea and last week, his Apnea episodes increased both in number and intensity. One evening while Kristen was bottle-feeding him, he managed to stop breathing long enough to turn himself blue and frighten even the nurses. Needless to say these events have had us stressed, tired, freaked out, overwhelmed and concerned. But we also take comfort in the fact that both of our kids are in a place where they are receiving the highest level of medical care and attention and we know that at some point, Weston will learn to just breathe. 

And now, some good news. Both twins are gaining weight. Weston has cleared the 5lb mark and is moving on up towards 6. Summer is just about 5lbs. She has also passed her carseat test and is taking all of her feedings by bottle. After a sleep-in at the hospital, the doctor cleared her to be discharged from the hospital and into our permanent care. As of this morning (July 24th), we shuttled our sweet daughter to our home sweet hotel room, 2 minutes from the hospital and from her twin brother. 

It was one of the sweetest moments in my life walking out of the hospital with Summer. And it was one of the hardest moments of my life leaving Weston behind. Weston will remain in the NICU until he passes his carseat test and goes 72 hours without an Apnea episode. Typically, the wait time is 7 days but since he is going home on an Apnea Monitor, the time he has to go without an episode gets cut down. Summer and Kristen and I will be living in our home sweet hotel just down the road for the time being. We have a policy in our family....no twin left behind :)

I know I've said before, but I'll say it again; Living a life-in-limbo would not be possible without you all. Your thoughts, your prayers, your well-wishes, positive vibes and words of encouragement have meant the world to us. I would especially like to add that we are absolutely proud to call downtown Rogers our home. During my time back, I had more people  in our little downtown area than I can count stop me and ask about the twins. One morning at Iron Horse Coffee Company, the lady behind the counter (we'll call her Hillary) asked me about the twins, even before she asked me what I wanted to order. Two days later, the owner we'll call him Emery) did the same thing. Our next-door neighbor who owns the bookshop gave me the biggest hug ever and said "everyone's been talking about you all". To be honest, I didn't realize so many people were following along and keeping up with our journey. But the more, the merrier :)