Boys' 1st Sunday at Church

For the first 10 months (almost) of the boys' lives... they've been in the NICU, or "homebound," unless they had a doctor appointment. The reasoning behind this was to keep them away from as many germs as possible.

At their 9 month check-up visit, I asked their doctor how much longer he thought we would be "homebound," and what we should do with all the upcoming holiday events, where there will be lots of people around. He said it was ok to attend family events, but that for the most part we would need to have the boys in a room away from the crowd. That, to me, almost makes it pointless to attend the family event... if you can't even really spend time with your family... I mean, I can sit at my own home in a room alone with my children... Usually my dad's side of the family comes to my parents' home for Thanksgiving Day lunch (about 20 people), but this year mom and dad (DiDi and Poppo) canceled, because they didn't want Chris and I, and boys to miss out. So it was just my immediate family. But I felt bad that we had to miss out on a year of our normal tradition.

Ok, back to church (since that's what this post is supposed to be about)... We also asked him about taking them to church. He told us this was fine as long as we get there a few min late, and leave a few min early. Basically so no one has a chance to touch them. Haha! And he made me look him in the eye and practically sign my name in blood that I wouldn't let anyone hold them except for Chris or myself.

This is not exactly an easy task to accomplish- not letting people in your church family touch or hold your children who they've never even met, who are almost 10 months old, and they have truly been praying for them since before they were born. Not to forget all the cooking for our family, that is still going on... These people have given us clothes, diapers, wipes, bibs, shoes, car seats, bottles, diaper bags, highchairs, strollers, books, toys, and just about everything else we own for them... I wanted to ask our doctor if he would come with us to church and be the one to tell all these sweet people, especially the older ladies, "I'm sorry, but please don't touch the babies..." I'm too worried about hurting someone's feelings. Chris on the other hand says, "Shoot, I don't care. I'll tell 'em..."

It ended up being pretty easy to keep the babies away from other's germs, because one of our ministers made an announcement last week, saying something along the lines of, "Bekah and the boys will be here next week. Please don't touch them." It was pretty funny because most people would run over to us to see them, and then stop about 3 ft in front of us, remembering that they weren't supposed to touch us. Haha!

Anyway, it was a successful hour. The boys were great. Slept through most of the service, or quietly played. Isaac was so enamored with all the lights and voices, which kept him occupied mostly. Eli was a little angel in his infant carrier, sleeping most of the time, or playing with his paci.

Here's some pictures of them, in their "church clothes," purchased by DiDi, of course ;) Wish I could EVER get them to both give me a big smile in the SAME picture... Oh well!