Happy 4th of July!

Here are a few shots we took of the boys in their patriotic outfits from Auntie Mollie :-) We had an absolute blast with Oma and Auntie Mollie -- so much so, we didn't get any pictures with them! (How awful is that?) We've loved having all our special visitors and look forward to having Grandpa and Grandma here next weekend!

Update on Murphy...we had his follow-up tests last Thursday. He braved them like a champ (including the THREE times they tried to catheterize him before they finally got it in the right place) -- but that was seriously the worst of it and the rest of the day was fairly uneventful. His first test (where they put the radiation -- or something radioactive -- into his system to detect how efficient his kidney is functioning proved that both kidneys are performing equally well. So, even though the left kidney is still a little dilated, the dilation is not affecting the effectiveness of his kidney. The second test pumped a solution into his bladder to see if any of the liquid travelled up through his ureters to his kidneys. The x-rays showed that the solution was able to travel up to the kidney. They labeled it as "stage 4 reflux", however, since the kidney is not being affected, they do not feel that surgery is needed. YIPPEE -- no surgery :-) We need to continue his antibiotics throughout his first year and be on guard if a fever develops -- but so far, so good -- and we'll just keep our fingers crossed that he stays healthy and outgrows this kidney situation.

Stats for the record:
At 8 weeks...Murphy weighs 13 lb. 5 oz. -- yikes! and he is 23 1/4 in. long. The Germans joke that I am feeding him cream instead of milk -- whatever, as long as he's healthy, we're happy!