Attempt 2 went better.

So yesterday Hayden was in meltdown mode the whole time we were trying to get our pictures taken. It's really unlike her, she is usually Miss Personality and flirty as all get out...unless she is not getting her way, which she wasn't because I wasn't allowing her to get into everything in the studio. The photographer was nice enough to come to our house this morning to do the second hour, and Hayden was a dream! However Lily was being a pill...LOL I don't think I will ever win. I think between the two sessions we got some good stuff of everyone, can't wait to get the pics back next week!
We had some friends come over for lunch today and the trio were so funny, our friends kids had light up shoes and the babies could not believe their eyes. They kept bringing some of their own lame, non light up shoes to offer as trade, they were disappointed that they were not taken up on their numerous offers :)
Then this evening we had company for dinner, and the trio were racing back and forth happily screaming...they were quite entertaining. Even better news looks like we may be getting started on converting our garage into a third bedroom sooner that we thought. When we bought this house the garage door was removed, the space was carpeted and they were using it as a bedroom, but to be an actual bedroom it needs some remodeling work. We hope to have it started very soon! When it's done we will move in that new room, the trio will move to our bigger room, and the smaller 3rd bedroom that they are in now would be free for guests or a new addition :)

Sorry no pics...my camera is such junk I am almost tired of fighting with it, but I will try to get some tomorrow maybe.

Attempt 1: Christmas pics with 16 month olds=

FAIL! We did get a few decent pics, mostly of Xan and Lily, but Hayden for some reason was just in melt down mode the entire time. Our supposed 2 hour session became a one hour session with a reschedule to try again at our house tomorrow morning. Fingers crossed that they cooperate a lot better, but then again they are 16 month olds so how much can we really expect :)

No pics yet, it'll be a week or so before we get them back from the photographer but I did snap a couple of Hayden before we left. I tried again to give her a little pony tail but I knew it wasn't going to last long so I snapped these.

I feel like every time I turn around I am feeding kids.

It is totally exhausting, and makes me wonder why I ever complained about bottles LOL Not just the physical labor of carrying three 30 pound toddlers to and from their highchairs 3 times a day, but the mental challenge of trying to not feed them the same things over and over. This whole meal/menu planning is much harder than you might think...or that I ever thought it would be. I am not one that likes to cook or be in the kitchen, so it's even harder for me to not do hot dogs or PB&J all the time...they only get each once, maybe twice a week and I feel pretty good about that. I am lucky that they will eat just about anything (they even love all veggies)...hence the 30 pound 16 month old part :) Lily is the more picky and slower eater out of the bunch, and I find she needs a little ketchup for her to really get into most meats, she really is a mini me isn't she hehehe. On days when Jason is working a 16 hour shift ( he has worked 4 of these in the last 2 weeks) I am on my own for all meals and just feel like I am racking my brain to keep giving them a variety but also nothing too involved cooking wise. And the milk, goodness they are going through a half GALLON a DAY!!!

OK enough about food...some other updates. The girls have added a few more signs, they can now sign friend and kiss, they can sorta sign help and are working on play. Xander is coming up with one or two but he is just not as interested as his sisters, he is too busy doing studly boy things :) Hayden is kissing everything, her siblings, the dogs, the couch...everything, it is so cute! They have also started offering toys to each other, they will go so far as to chase someone down and thrust a toy at them. Though they will turn around shortly after and hit or bite each other, as if to let us know it's not all sweet all the time hahaha.

Not too many pics over the last couple of days...just been too busy herding babies. Here are a couple from today.

After nap time...my little sunshines :)

Lily Bug was late to rise awww

Hayden and Lily grubbing down, I would have taken a pic of Xan too but his food was already gone, he is a bottomless pit!

Fight For Preemies!!!

November is National Prematurity Awareness Month! Jason and I know what it is like to have a preemie, 3 of them actually, and to experience the scary and bumpy NICU roller coaster. That was the hardest month + of our lives, and many tears were shed. Thank goodness our babies made it, but sadly many do not. Check out the March of Dimes and their Fight For Preemies link http://marchofdimes.com/prematurity/index.asp Also Check out http://www.bloggersunite.org/event/fight-for-preemies to learn more about the unfortunate rise of premature birth, and what you can do to help.

Here is a little video of the pictures we took while on our NICU journey with the triplets.



I thought I would add a little more of our story. I started having a lot of braxton hicks contractions late in my 24th week of pregnancy. At 25 weeks I had an appt. with my MFM and though things were looking good he wanted to admit me for some over night observation. The contractions hit like crazy that first night and they were running through all the meds trying to stop them. I was given Procardia, Nifedipine, Terbutaline, none of that was working so I got the first steroid shot and they put me on Magnesium Sulfate. Jason and I cried...it was such a shock to go in for some braxton hicks thinking I would go home the next morning because all was fine to suddenly be looking at our babies being born at 25 weeks. Thank goodness the Mag did the trick, though I still got the 2nd steroid and was not released to go home. I ended up getting way too much Mag, my levels were way too high, I couldn't move, I couldn't see...it was the worst few days but it gave our babies time...precious time. I was taken off the Mag and watched, the contractions came and went, when they would start to get bad again I was given one of the other drugs to calm things back down. I stayed in the hospital for 6 long weeks. My 2 MFM Doctors were not in agreement with me going home 1 thought it was OK, and one did not. While the one that didn't want me to go was out for the weekend my other Doc did an ultrasound and things were looking up so he gave Jason and I the choice to go or stay. I regret that the 6 weeks had gotten to us and we jumped at the chance to go. That was 31 weeks....24 hours later Baby B, Hayden, broke her water and back we rushed. Just after midnight at 31 weeks 2 days the babies were born by Csection. Xander was first out, he weighed 3 lbs and 12 oz and cried for us right away. Hayden was born in the same minute as her brother and she was bigger at 3 lbs 15 oz...it took her a few seconds to cry. Little Lily was last out, the Doctor had a hard time finding her as she was hiding from him. She was 3 lbs 7 oz and did not cry until they got her into the adjoining room and gave her some help. I hardly remember much of my Csection just that I was so excited to see my babies. As they rolled me through to the recovery room the triplets were still in their recovery area and we stopped for a brief moment so that I could touch their tiny hands. I was not too with it so I only remember seeing them and trying to touch their fingers. I then went to my recovery room and the babies went on to the NICU. After my hour in recovery they took me to my room, on the way they wheeled my bed to the NICU and I got to see them all again. Lily was put on CPAP right after birth, but Xander and Hayden made it a few hours before they too needed to be put on CPAP. Since they were not yet on CPAP Jason and I got to hold both Xander and Hayden for just a moment, we didn't get to hold Lily, or Xan & Hayden again, until they were 4 days old and the CPAP's came off. The first week in the NICU was scary mostly for Xan and Lily, they both needed PICC lines and both had feeding issues, they had to go on and come off feeds a few times, Xander also needed caffeine. They all had to deal with A's and B's (apnea and bradycardia) but by week 2 they were really doing a lot better. Jason was a rock the whole time, I was not...I cried a lot and felt a lot of guilt. Our NICU Doctors and Nurses were just awesome, they did an amazing job and took such wonderful care of our babies. After 26 days in the NICU Hayden got to be the first one home, at 33 days Lily came home and at 35 days Xander came home. We are so lucky that they are totally healthy and growing like weeds, they haven't slowed down one bit!!!

They tattle on themselves LOL

For now at least, the trio are not getting away with much. They have not grasped the concept of when you are doing something you are not supposed to keep it on the DL...don't come bragging to your momma about what you have that you shouldn't. Even better they will inadvertently tattle on each other. So starts our funny story of the day... The girls have a little of their brother's problem solving skills, and they seem to put their little plans in action while I am other wise occupied with Xander. So today I am sitting with Xan and Lily comes hauling ass around the sofa to show me her prize, I look at her cock my head to the side and say "Lily what do you have?" Then she innocently smiles and looks to the kitchen, as if to say "we unhooked the locks on the gate keeping us out of the kitchen, we got in there and there is lots of cool stuff, come on ma...come check out the cool shit Hayden has." I make a move toward her to take the object that she had to show off to me which got them busted, the little turd turns on a dime and makes a mad screaming dash to elude me. I chase her and she runs right into the kitchen thus getting her sister busted as well. I grab Lily take the item, put her back in the living room, re-lock the gate and turn towards Hayden. She has been happily destroying our diaper stash, and grabbing shoes and books off the drawer of the changing table. She sees me coming and sits down in the middle of the kitchen and starts protesting what she knows is about to happen. I take all the items from her as her screams get louder then pick her up and plop her back outside the gate. Not two seconds later the little trouble makers were back at the gate trying to get it unlocked again. On the other side of the room Xan has finally mastered shimmying himself under the other baby gate and was making his way into the laundry room. What a day....no pics I was too busy LOL.

I do have this 6 min video for you to watch. This is about a little boy named Joel, his Grandpa made this video in hopes of making people more aware of child car seat safety, and while Joel was AMAZINGLY LUCKY to live through his accident, most are not...at least not without lasting injuries. The trio are 16mo old and closing in on 30 lbs, and are still rear facing in their car seats. The law is 1 year AND 20 lbs in most states, however the AAP has changed their recommendation to 2 years and 30 lbs. It is safer for your child to remain rear facing for as long as their convertible seat allows, not just while they are in their infant seats. It may not be convenient for you, it may not make them happy or quiet, it may not be EASIER...but it is SAFER. The video has some really great facts, I hope you will all watch. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8gU9zzCGA8

We made it to round 3!!!

Thanks to those that voted for the trio in rounds 1&2, we made it...to round 3!!! Now the next step starts. If you are not too busy please go here http://multiplesandmore.blogspot.com/ and scroll down a little until you see the voting spot on the right hand side. Click #10 (our new #) then click vote, and that's it....for now LOL I think you can vote once a day until the 16th. Please keep helping us!!!

The kiddos have been in 18mo clothes for a couple months now, we just switched to size 5 diapers. Here are a couple comparison pics, the preemie diapers from the hospital used to be way too big for them LOL.

Jason sent this text into a TV station...isn't he sweet :)

The trio having some signing time....they love watching.

16 months old today, and what do they get...

H1N1 shots, poor babies, at least the nurse was so fast the trio didn't even know if they should cry about what had just happened to them. They each let out one tiny "uh" like they were going to cry but it was over so fast they almost looked confused LOL They seem totally fine tonight, hopefully they will not suffer any bad effects.
Cute baby story of the day, the trio have started doing the "pat, pat, pat and raise your arms as high as you can and yell blast off" from Little Einstein's. They started doing this totally on their own, we never demonstrated this for them. It is so cute, I have to try to get it on video.
I got a start on Jason's Christmas gifts today....won't be able to share more until after Christmas though :)

The girls love their Daddy!

Kisses for my sweet boy

Xan, testing testing testing...all the time.

Auntie Allie would be so proud of you Lily Bug!

Today Lily discovered the purse, she loved it, and was putting it on her shoulder all by herself after I showed her how just twice. She was walking all around with it and the biggest smile ever, it was so cute, then Hayden came and took it from her. Hayden did not have the connection with the purse that Lily did though. I am seeing Lily being a more girly girl like her Auntie, and Hayden more tomboyish like me....so Al, these pics are for you :)

In other news, I got my H1N1 shot today. I was totally against it at first but I changed my mind...I just hope I did the right thing.

Lily Bug and her purse





Hayden coming in to jack Lily


Miss Hayden


Mr. Man being silly


Daddy rolling the pee pee dice, he was in the middle of changing Hayden when his phone rang. If I had done this I so would have gotten peed on.



Two pretty ladies, my sis and my niece Rowan awwww.

Alaska needs you Mulder!

We were supposed to go with my brother and his girlfriend to see a concert tonight, but it got postponed. So instead we had some yummy dessert at a fondue joint (Nick and Lisa, you got us addicted) then went to see The 4th Kind. I am even more of a believer now, I will not be moving to Nome....ever. It was fun getting out, and Grandma had a nice night with the trio.

Date night :)

Here I am 18 lbs down!!!

The QB does not tackle the cheerleaders!

Xander has been acting a bit frustrated the last couple of days, not sure what is bugging him but he is getting grouchy with his sisters. Though Jason loves his tackle technique and thinks he is going to be an awesome football player since he kinda bear hugs them then uses his weight to pull them down to the ground. I'll be sure to thank Hayden and Lily for helping Xan work out his football tackles.


Lily Bug has started coming up to us and if our arms are crossed she will uncross them and open them up then raise her arms up to be picked up...like she is clearing a path to being picked up LOL



Still working on the blog book, it's a big project, and this is just 12/07-1/09...yikes.
I am closing in on 18 lbs down whoop whoop!!!


We still need more votes...see the post below for instructions...PLEASE!!!

Xan Man such a hunk :)

Pretty Miss Hayden Cheyenne

The cutest Bug EVER

The dogs took some beatings, err...lovings, today :)

Cue the Mission Impossible music...Xander shimmying under the baby gate

Sakari also enjoys nap time :)