What a handful.....Austin (left) and Cole
about 10 months

Cole's first reach for Daddy...look closely,
Austin watching in the Johnny Jump Up...

Uncle Christian with Cole....
the love of music runs in the family.

Grandpa and Grandma with all their grandchildren...
Ashtyn is 3 weeks younger than Cole and Austin
(the wires you see are the heart monitors the boys were sent home on)

March 14, 2004
Cole (left) and Austin
the night before we took them home, we spent our first night with boys...
this is how they were sleeping when we got to their room...holding hands!

3 a.m. - the boys sleeping. Comfortable much?
Five hours before we headed home...together!

3 Generations of Martin's...
a beautiful moment!
All generations were crying...

Holding the boys...this was how we spent every night for 3 months at Scared Heart in Eugene.
Lance and I would each hold a baby....for as long as we could....

Grandma Brigitte...both babies in one arm!

Grandma Debbie...what a handful...both Grandma's visited weekly for Cole and Austin's entire hospital stay!

Grandpa Joe and Cole...

Sharing a bed in the hospital...

Growing Austin (left) and Cole -
this is often how the boys slept.

First time we saw Austin's face...no wires and no tubes.

Jan. 15th, 2004 - "baby A" - 26 weeks and four days
1 hour after being born, a machine breathing for him, within 3 hours Cole was breathing on his own....medically - a miracle.

Cole was baby A and Austin, baby B.

This photograph speaks volumes...and even after I have found it in the archives of my computer, it makes my heartache and my stomach tighten....my eyes fill with tears.

Daily, I would write letters to Cole and Austin because we could not touch them, I would cry every day and pray for them to just survive through the night!

It is hard to imagine for some....giving birth to your baby and just touching them would send their system into complete shutdown and their heart rate would drop...

It was day 9 when we first held Cole

...A true test of faith...


"baby B"
Day 16 - Austin had a machine helping him breath for 12 days.
This is a nurse handing Austin to me for the first time.....I was terrified!
Notice the size of Austin's foot in comparison to my thumb.

Be thankful for your children and their health......
cherish your lives!