This is the end of Justine Marie and Lauren Ann - Part 2 covering the period beginning on May 23, when they were one week old and ending on May 29 when they were two weeks old. Justine Marie and Lauren Ann - Part 3 is the next blog album beginning May 31, 2005.

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Sunday, May 29, 2005: Daddy Troy and Justine

Then later, when things settle down, Troy has an opportunity to "kangaroo" with Justine, but it's hard not to fall asleep! The Special Care Unit is dark and warm, and there's a constant white noise with the machines hooked up to all the babies. It's the perfect environment for a little snooze, chest to chest with baby!

Sunday, May 29, 2005: Mom Connie, Aunt Stephanie and Uncle Todd

Never a dull moment when it comes to the Special Care Unit and Troy and Connie's twins. Aunt Stephanie and Uncle Todd, who live only a few blocks away from Connie and Troy, visit the babies and watch intently as Connie changes a diaper.

Friday, May 27, 2005: Special Care Unit

Here are those two darling stuffed animals again, still watching over these precious babies as they sleep and grow under the blankets covering their incubators.

Wednesday, May 25, 2005: Lauren and Connie
Connie ends what must have been a very long day watching over Lauren.

Wednesday, May 25, 2005: Connie and Justine

After such a busy night of being weighed and getting a new bigger diaper, Justine is very ready to snuggle in for some "kangarooing" with Mom, Connie.

Wednesday, May 25, 2005: Justine in Her New Bigger Diaper

After weighing in, Justine was promoted from the teeny diapers to the Big Bird diapers. Wow, this diaper looks huge on her!

Wednesday, May 25, 2005: Justine Gets Weighed

After we left the hospital for the airport, Justine officially weighed in at 2 lbs-9 oz, her birth weight. As usual, babies lose a few ounces of body weight after they're born. But now Justine is back up to her birth weight and everyone is very happy with her progress! She is only 2 lbs., though, and looks very tiny on this huge scale.

Wednesday, May 25, 2005: Todd
We had to leave those adorable babies in the Special Care Unit and head back home to Las Vegas. One good thing, though, we met Todd at O'Hare. He was traveling on business with a layover at the same time we were waiting for our plane. We spent a couple hours with him in the American Airlines Admirals' Club and hand delivered to him two packages of French pave candies, cubes of sweet sugared jellies from Hediard's in Paris, his favorites!

Wednesday, May 25, 2005: Justine and Troy

Troy was a busy Daddy this afternoon - after settling Lauren down by covering her with his warm hands, he moved off to Justine's incubator to hold her feeding tube while she ingested a few cc's of breast milk.

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

This is Justine's sign.

Wednesday, May 25, 2005: Justine

As Troy comforted Lauren, Justine just kept sleeping away. Nothing seemed to bother her and we didn't want to awaken her either.

Wednesday, May 25, 2005: Troy and Lauren

Troy asked one of the nurses if he could put his hands around Lauren to see if it would comfort her so she could sleep. Of course that was no problem and when he reached inside the incubator to wrap his hands around her, she immediately stopped moving and seemed to go right to sleep. It was very touching! But look how huge Troy's hands look around tiny Lauren's head and body.

Wednesday, May 25, 2005: Grandpa Bob, Lauren and Daddy Troy

Usually Bob takes all the pictures, but this time I grabbed the camera so he could be in one with Troy and Lauren.

Wednesday, May 25, 2005: Lauren

Lauren is still a bit unsettled as we watched her. She just couldn't find a comfortable position.

Wednesday, May 25, 2005
This is the cute sign that one of the nurses made for Lauren. Justine has one too.

Wednesday, May 25, 2005: Tiny Lauren
I felt that Lauren just couldn't be comfortable with all these tubes and wires. Plus the tape they used looked like it hurt her cheek. But you couldn't think about those things because you knew she was getting all the medical care she needed. In this picture, Lauren is only 1 lb.-9oz.! Look how huge that teeny diaper is on her!

Wednesday, May 25, 2005: Grandma Marti, Lauren and Daddy Troy

After watching Justine sleep for a while, Troy and I moved over to Lauren's incubator. She wasn't sleeping - in fact, she was moving around - probably a little too much.

Wednesday, May 25, 2005: Sweet Justine

Justine is the sleeper - she always seems to be sleeping. But that's good because she grows more when she's sleeping.

It's The Next Day, Wed. May 25, 2005

Wednesday, May 25: Grandma Marti and Justine

We've had a restful night after having dinner with Troy, Connie and Stephanie near the hospital and now we're back at the hospital after meeting Stephanie for a quick coffee break near her office in downtown Chicago. We'll be leaving for home in a few hours, but wanted to see these darling babies one more time before we left town. Here I am cooing over Justine, who is peacefully sleeping!

Tuesday, May 24, 2005: Grandpa and Grandma with Lauren

We couldn't help but smile at these darling little babies, though. They were adorable, even if they hadn't quite grown into their skin yet! Here Bob and I couldn't get enough of just watching them sleep.

Tuesday, May 24, 2005: Lauren's Awake

It kind of hurts to see this photo of Lauren. She was clearly not comfortable and couldn't go to sleep. She was so tiny the littlest diaper almost fell off her. In this picture, she is only 1 lb. 9 oz - incredibly small. But she was perfect in every way and getting the best of care in the Special Care Unit.

Tuesday, May 24, 2005: Grandma Marti & Daddy Troy with Lauren

Well, don't I look look like the 'wreck of the Hespress", as my Grandma Jensen would have said. Bob and I had flown from Paris, a 16-hour flight, to Chicago just an hour before this picture was taken. We'd had no sleep and I sure look like it. But we wanted to see these babies and nothing was going to stop us, not even a bad hair day!

Tuesday, May 24, 2005: Grandpa Bob & Daddy Troy with Lauren
As you can see in the photo, Lauren is pretty feisty back there in her incubator. She had so many tubes, wires, cords and tape all over her teeny body that it was inconceivable that she could have been comfortable.

Tuesday, May 24, 2005: Justine Sleeping

Justine was sleeping very peacefully and since the babies grow faster when they sleep, we didn't want to disturb her. It was painful to see all the tubes and wires attached to her tiny face, though.

Tuesday, May 24, 2005: Our First View of Justine

This was truly amazing - our first new little granddaughters, so tiny at 1 lb 9 oz for Lauren and 2 lb 9 oz for Justine, were as special and precious as they could possibly be! At this point, they were one week old and both in incubators. We saw Justine first.

Tuesday, May 24, 2005: So Good to See Troy and Connie

When we arrived at the hospital, we weren't sure what to do as you needed authorization badges to get onto the 3rd floor. But we managed that and as we stepped off the 3rd floor elevator, a little bewildered as to where to go, we almost ran into a handsome young man. Turns out that young man was TROY! It was soooo good to see him and he looked wonderful! Connie was in the waiting room and she looked great too. We gave them some souvenirs from Europe and little clothes we'd bought the babies in Paris, then headed into the Special Care Unit to wash up and put on hospital gowns before seeing the babies.

Tuesday, May 24, 2005:

We Arrive in Chicago

We flew into Chicago from Paris, arriving in the late afternoon. Stephanie had made arrangements for us to stay at the Hyatt just a few blocks from the hospital. We checked in and immediately walked to the hospital to see the babies.

Monday, May 23, 2005: Lauren at 1 Week Old
Lauren was smaller than Justine by almost a full pound when they were born, so she has more growing to do. The nurses tell Troy and Connie that Lauren is feisty and she moves around so much when she's awake that she works off the few calories she takes in. So we want Lauren to relax and sleep.

Monday, May 23, 2005: Justine at 1 Week Old
Troy said this particular Monday was spent watching the girls sleep. They are still seven weeks or 49 days early - hard to believe!

Monday, May 23, 2005:

Stuffed Animals
Bob and I sent several boxes of baby gifts to Connie and Troy before the babies arrived. One thing we found were sweet curly, plush animal lambs. We picked up two and mailed them off. I believe Troy said the cute purple elephant(s) were from Connie's parent, Betty and Jerry. So each Mr Elephant and Mr. Lamb watched over these precious babies.

Monday, May 23, 2005: Connie
The babies are now one whole week old! They are doing very well and progressing as expected. Here Connie watches over them as they sleep and grow.

Sunday, May 22, 2005: Tiny Fingers & Toes
Our thoughts were on our new twin grandaughters, Justine Marie and Lauren Ann, who were born May 16 in Chicago 10 weeks early. I believe this is Justine's feet and fingers. Although their parts are tiny, everything is complete and perfect, including their little fingernails and toenails.

Sunday, May 22, 2005: Bob and I are in Paris
Welcome to Justine Marie and Lauren Ann - Part 2.
When the babies turned 6-days-old, Bob and I were spending our last days in Paris, France. Bob took this photo of the Eiffel Tower from the bridge over the River Seine two nights before we left. We were delighted at 10 PM when the whole tower began to twinkle, sparkle and glow, and it continued to dazzle everyone for 15 minutes. But . . .