Kamryn's Baptism

(Auntie Kara, Uncle Kyle, Mama Laura, Daddy Craig, Kamryn, Grandma, Grandpa)

We wish we could have been there to celebrate her special day with you!!  

Trying out my new camera... :)

Em
Addy
Hailey

Slam Dunk!

Look what Daddy taught Addison!

Christmas Fun

Family photo - Emily, Addison, Hailey  We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!!!

Their new cars from Grandpa and Grandma!  Emily gets the motorized one cuz she's the most daring as you can see that she's standing up while riding. :)  Hailey gets the "coup" (in the middle) because she's a little more reserved and likes to have her feet on the ground. :)  And Addy gets the Big Wheel cuz her feet are always moving and she is the big girl after all! :) However they are all going to be great at SHARING their cars with each other, right? :)  They LOVE their cars!  It is going to be wild this summer!
Boxes were a huge hit this Christmas as well as the wrapping paper. Here's Emily in the box with her sisters waiting to get in as well. :) 
Tearing into their presents.

Addy on her big wheel. 

Emily 

Hailey above and Hailey below all decked out in her "pretty pretties."  

Merry Merry Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas!  We hope you all have a wonderful time of celebration with family and friends.  And I pray that you all get some time to reflect and spend some time with your Savior as well.  I know for me, Christmas time gets so busy that it's hard to stop and sit down and thank Jesus for coming to this world as a baby in order to save us from our sins.  I heard (from Rick Warren) a message about the very first Christmas when the angel announced the purpose of Christmas. "I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people" Christmas is a time for Celebration.  "For unto you is born this day a Savior who is Christ the Lord."  Christmas is a time for Salvation.   "Peace on earth, good will toward men."  Christmas is a time for Reconciliation -  to restore our relationships to God and to each other, to have peace with God and with each other.  

So this Christmas, may you all experience a time of celebration, salvation, and reconciliation.  Merry Merry Christmas!!!

And, I would just like to give a little advertisement out there for Skype for those of you who haven't heard of it.  It is seriously the best invention.  We were just able to celebrate Christmas with my family in Denver while we are here in Wisconsin.  We were able to open gifts and laugh together and SEE each other on a live video screen on our computers - all for free.  It is so great and I felt like we were actually sitting there with them.  We have used skype before but it meant more at Christmas time for some reason.  They were able to see the girls tear into their gifts, catch Addy walking a lot, see Emily making funny faces, and watch Hailey climb in the boxes.  I love being able to see my little neice and feel like we're actually with them right now.  Needless to say, I'm very thankful for my family, and for advances in technology that allows us to feel so close when we're really so far away.  And, while I'm giving shout outs to things that are amazing, I might as well tell you that Candy Cane Lane Tea is unbelievable too. :)  ENJOY your Christmas day.  Love you all!  

Check this out..

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/21rjnVWgBgGq7rw4cvlu

1st Snow

I promise you they will be skiers someday.  Ha.  Maybe not for a while. :) 

Our first attempt at introducing them to the snow didn't go so well.  I'm not sure if they disliked the snow or their snowsuits more.  I think we'll just stick to the indoors this year...or at least wait until we only have an inch of snow to try again.  :)  It was fun while it lasted though(a whole 7 minutes - kinda crazy that it took me longer to get them all dressed!)...and we're so glad Ryan made it home safely!   We had to give it a try though. :) 

Addy - NOT a fan. 
Emily prancing around in her big boots. 

O Christmas Tree

Winter Wonderland

okay wow.  It is winter.  and bad.  We woke up this morning to a foot of snow.  And it's still snowing!  It's pretty....and lovely and wonderful and all of that however Ryan has been out of town all week!  He was supposed to be taking a red eye back this morning and get in at 8 a.m. but the airport is CLOSED!  So, he was coming from Seattle, got stuck in Minneapolis, and is now driving with 8 other work people to see how far they can get!  Otherwise they wouldn't be able to get a flight until TOMORROW!  ahh!  I hope the roads are okay.  And, have I mentioned that this week is the first time I have snow blowed in my life?  I am very proud of myself that I managed to first of all figure out the snowblower by myself...and then snowblow our driveway and our road isn't even plowed yet!  All I can say is that it's a GREAT thing that the girls still take a morning nap.  :) 

Here's Emily and Hailey playing in the diaper box this morning.  Soo much fun. :) 
Our snow covered house...and check out the snow blowed driveway!  Yay! 
Very proud of myself. :) 
This is what I saw when I opened the garage door.  (Sorry it's sideways.) 
They LOVE the rocking chair.  The faster I rock, the better. :) (E-A-H)

Other than all the snow, things are better over here for the most part.  The girls are all healthy...but a couple of them might be teething.  I have had a cold all week which really makes it hard to be a mom...but I'm feeling better so that is GREAT.  I wish I could take the girls out to play in the snow but it's way too hard to try to accomplish that on my own.  Maybe when Ryan gets home. :)  I hope everyone is staying warm and safe wherever you are!  

All we want for Christmas...

is no more sickness! :)  The girls are doing better now.....and we were actually able to get out of the house today after a very long week!  The NICU has an annual Christmas party for all the NICU graduates so it was soo neat!  Last year over 400 kids came!  Some of the neonatologists dress up as Mr. & Mrs. Clause and then they have all kinds of stuff for the kids to do and see and they hand out gifts and it was so great!  The nurses are there to visit with again and it's really neat to be able to talk to other parents who also had kids in the NICU.  What miracles to see sooo many healthy children running around, knowing that they were all born before 31 weeks.  One other family with triplets were there so it was neat to meet them face to face since we "know" each other through the multiples club.  Anyways, this was the girls' first time to see Santa so we weren't sure what kind of reaction we would get.  But they thought nothing of Santa!  They just sat there like "what's the big deal anyway?"  :)  They were so cute though. :)  

(emily - hailey - addy)

Here we are with the girls' primary nurse Renee.  She was in charge of planning this entire party!  She did amazing!  Her daughter Tessa was even an "elf." So cute! 

And this is sweet Ruth, one of the many volunteers at the NICU.  She never had kids of her own but volunteers to hold all of the babies in the NICU who's parents live far away and can't get there or who's parents don't visit often enough.  I would love to volunteer like this one day!  

These are Tough Times...

I don't even know how to start.  Being sick with the stomach flu is awful.  Being sick with the stomach flu with 3 babies with the stomach flu is a whole nother story.  

I think I'm through the worst of it now....but wow...that was NOT fun.  I'll give you a glimpse of what the past 24 hours were like but feel free to not read if you don't like the word "puke."  :) 

So, I started to feel gross yesterday afternoon so when the girls laid down for a nap, I did too (which I never do) so you know I wasn't feeling well.  They only slept for an hour and then all of the sudden I hear Addy and Hailey screaming.  I go upstairs to find them and their cribs CovERED in puke.  They were screaming.  I didn't even know who to pick up or how to pick them up when there was puke everywhere!  I have never dealt with this before and felt so helpless.  I just picked them up and sat down trying to console them while just sitting in the puke.  I couldn't even leave them to clean it up cuz they were so miserable.  It was awful.  Then, I proceed to throw up...and that is horrible when you are throwing up with 2 of your 3 babies CLINGING to you as you are sick.  Then I manage to change their clothes...and no kidding, as SOON as they were in their new outfits, they puked AGAIN.  Everywhere - this time all over our carpet too.  ahhh!  I run to get a bucket.  While running, the other one threw up.  all over the carpet and new outfit too!  ahh!  So back to comforting them in their "surroundings" which then covers me and yea...this happened every 10 minutes for the first hour and a half.  We went through LOTS of outfits and our carpet won't be the same.  Thankfully Emily kept sleeping.  Did I mention that Ryan is out of town?  So he was driving back in bad roads and didn't get home til 8:30 when this began at 2:30.  So I was soooo weak and exhausted from throwing up myself and trying to have the energy to comfort and clean up puke.  It was the most horrible few hours ever.  Then Emily woke up and she was just being very good and happy for a while so that was great.  But then last night at midnight, she woke up with puke all over her crib.  I'm so glad I predicted this and had put a towel in her crib.  So, since I knew that they keep puking every 10 minutes at first and then every half hour....I just sat up with her from midnight til I don't even know when holding the bucket for her.  Then she did go to sleep and now she's still sleeping.   Poor girls!!!  I'm feeling better today so that is GREAT cuz I really don't know how I was going to continue.  I'm telling you, I can handle a lot with triplets...but 3 babies with the flu is absolutely unbearable.  I'm not kidding.  And the worst part is that I needed help so bad but you can't ask for help because then they would get sick!  Thankfully, I think the worst is over though now...and God has renewed my strength this morning.  I pray that Ryan doesn't get it now....and that the girls will get hydrated again....and that we will never experience this again!!!  Thanks for listening.  

Eating Frenzy

Hmm....feeding is always interesting around here.  Tonight for dinner, most of the girls' food ended up on the floor.  I think it was a new game once I started seeing macaroni stuck to the wall.  Our wood floor is never going to be the same.  Any tips out there on what to feed one year olds?  They don't really like eating everything that we eat yet....and they're getting sick of the stuff that they have been getting.  Some days they LOVE carrots and other days they won't even touch them.  Same with peas...and I guess I make horrible mashed potatoes because at Thanksgiving, Emily was all over Grandma's potatoes but when I make them, she spits them right out or throws a heaping handful of mashed mushy potatoes on the floor.  Ahh!   The girls love eating fruit of any kind though...and Emily is getting smart now where she just waits and waits for me to get to the "good stuff."   They even tricked me the other day by throwing their sweet potatoes on the floor.  When I came back in the room with another round of food, I didn't notice the sweet potatoes on the floor and I thought they ate them all.  They are really smart girls!  Ha! :)  

This is after ONE meal.  I swept after lunch...and this is after dinner.  And yes, I did actually take a picture of the dust pan.  :) I guess I was impressed. :) 
The culprit for throwing mac n cheese on the wall.  (emily) :)
A glimpse of part of the floor.  Notice one of the noodles on the wall?  

Next on my Christmas list....a PUPPY to clean the floor! :) 

article

We continue to be VERY thankful over Thanksgiving and all throughout the year.  This article was on the front page of yesterday's paper.  What a great message about giving and persevering...and what a great reminder to be thankful. 

http://www.jsonline.com/news/ozwash/35113449.html

Addy took her first STEPS!!!!

Addy has come a long way so fast!  All of the sudden she started balancing and then took her first steps.  She was only walking along furniture before and would never balance.  It makes me wonder if it has something to do with getting her ears fixed that all of the sudden she can balance and walk!  So happy for her!  She is so cute cuz she gets so proud of herself!  

The girls continue to act and feel much better.  Again, we are SO thankful that everything went well!  Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  Here they are, back to their usual selves, getting into trouble.  :)  They LOVE the tupperware cupboard. :) 

Addy KNOWS she's getting into trouble. :)  Check out that face. :) 

Every day in the winter we see deer in our backyard or their tracks.  The most we've ever seen were 17.  The other day, there were 8 but I got a picture of 7 of them.  :)  
The girls must have seen the boogie man. :)  

Surgery

Addison
Emily
Hailey

Phew....we made it through.  It is a nice feeling to know that it's over.  The girls did very well though.  They couldn't eat after midnight last night and they were so good considering they were starving!  We got there at 11 and then Emily went in for surgery at 12:30.  They gave each of them medicine to make them relaxed at first which was kinda funny cuz they acted a little bit drunk. :)  Then they took Emily in, then Addy, then Hailey.  It is such a quick surgery - 15 minutes!  Emily did great - and only had fluid in one of her ears.... and for her recovery, she was kinda wild and crying but once she got a bottle, she did fine.  Then Addy had fluid in both of her ears and she did AMAZING in the recovery room.  She was just very quiet and calm and did great.  Then Hailey was the worst of them all because she had thick nasty fluid in both of her ears which means she was on her way to another ear infection (which doesn't surprise me because she was healthy for one week - so she was due for another round!)  But then in her recovery, I got a little scared because she broke out in a rash.  I was like "OOOOHHH no.. not this again!"  But it was a different kind of rash and it went away after we waited awhile.  So she must have just been allergic to the blankets or something that they put on her.  But she is better now.  So we were home by 2 and then we fed them a ton and put them down.  Emily and Addy are already up again and just more fussy than usual.  I guess they should be back to normal by tomorrow.  Thanks to everyone who has been caring and praying for us.  We can really feel your prayers.  Here's Addy, Emily, and Hailey in their little hospital gowns in the pre-op room.  

Surgery x 3 and Funeral today

We are headed to surgery in a little bit here.  We have to be there at 11, then Emily goes in at noon, Addison 15 minutes after that, and then Hailey 15 minutes after that.  Please pray that everything goes well and that their recovery is "okay."  As of right now that sounds like the worst part because they can hallucinate and throw temper tantrums cuz they don't know what's going on.  So please pray for everyone.  And the funeral for my Grandpa begins at the exact time that Emily goes in for surgery....my Uncle and my dad are even planning on speaking so please pray for everyone there too.  It is so hard to be away!  

I will keep you updated as best I can...

We appreciate your prayers SO much.  

THANK YOU!

Blessed be Your name!

Like the song says on this blog "You give and take away...Blessed be Your name" in good times and bad.  We are mourning the loss and celebrating the life of my Grandpa.....and we are praising God for the birth of my BRAND NEW NIECE at the same time!!!!!  Kamryn Lyn Peters was born yesterday!!!  I can't WAIT to meet her and I love the feeling of being called an "Auntie!!"  Congratulations Craig and Laura!  Welcome aboard the amazing journey of parenting!  We LOVE you and wish we could be there with you right now!  

The funeral for my grandpa is on Tuesday...and my girls are all also going to be having surgery to put tubes in their ears on Tuesday.  It is a big day all around.  We would love your prayers for everyone....  THANK YOU!

Things are looking up...

and we are saying THANKS.  Seriously.  I feel like hugging my doctor.  Those steroids are AMAZING.  I can't believe how fast they work.  Emily got a double dose yesterday cuz it looked like she was going to pop...and we put her down for her nap MISERABLE and red and purple and SWOLLEN and then we wake her up and the swelling had gone down a lot and the purple was gone and she was just pink everywhere.  She is feeling MUCH better already as she is "playing" with her sisters again.  PRAISE the Lord for healing her and thank YOU all for praying for us and for Emily!!  Now we just need to pray that in 4 days, when we stop the steroids, that the rash doesn't come back.  What a crazy week.  We are headed to the Dr. again to re-check her (can I just say that that will be EVERY day this week?!)  And then we're headed to the ENT to get her ears checked out for tubes.  Here is a picture of Emily BEFORE she started turning purple and when she was just a "teeny bit" swollen.  Sorry but I won't show you any pics of her when she was really bad.  

Heartache

Sigh.  

What a day.  Well, I woke Emily up from her nap and you should have seen her.  She got even MORE swollen than she already was.  It was very scary.  She was so swollen that her eyes were starting to close....and she was turning purple in places and red and yellow.  I had a Dr's appt at 11:15 and she woke up at 10:45.  i didn't know if I should rush her to the E.R. or what.  But I just went to the Dr. and saw the Dr. right away.  It was quite the scene.  All of the nurses came to see her and then my Dr. had all of her partners come in to look at her too.  Then they had a "meeting" about what to do for her.  Poor Emily!!!!!!!  I can't even tell you how much this hurts me too.  It is a rough day.  So, basically she has this really bad allergic reaction to the shot that only less than 5% of people get who are allergic to it.  She has it BAD.  So, now she's on steroids to help bring down the swelling and help with the rash.  i HOPE it works!  Ryan couldn't focus at work so he came home early so that is SO nice.  Emily is sleeping in his arms now as we don't want to put her in her crib cuz we want to watch her all the time.  She is a fighter though, she has been from day one...so we know she will get through this.  It's just hard seeing her be so miserable.  So, please keep praying for her...that these steroids work, and that when she stops taking the steroids (in 5 days), that the rash won't come back (because that can happen).  Thank  God that Hailey is feeling great and is giving us smiles to cheer us up.  Addy is feeling a little jealous that Emily is getting all of the attention but other than that, she is feeling okay too.  

And, on top of all of this going on....my wonderful Grandpa Peters (my dad's dad) passed away this morning.  That makes all of this so much harder because I can't be there with my family for the funeral since my "own" family is sick.  I'm so thankful that we got to be there in August for his birthday and I'm SOO glad that my girls got to meet him at least once.  Next time they see him will be in heaven and how cool of a reunion will that be! :)  My grandpa had been in the nursing home for a month and today was the day that my grandma was going to try to take him home.  Like my mom said, it was providential that God decided to take him home instead.  We will miss you so much Grandpa.  But every time I look at Emily, I will think of you.. because she is the one that looks so much like you (without her rash!) :) We love you Grandpa.  

Scary...

You wouldn't even RECOGNIZE Emily this morning.  She woke up at 5 a.m. with blood all over her face.  I freaked out!  Fortunately, it was just due to her nose bleeding...but still, scary!  The rash is 10 times worse then it already was yesterday.  It is so crazy how she is reacting to this!!!  The rash is COVERING her poor little body, and it's affecting her joints now so she is having trouble crawling and getting around.  And, she is completely swollen everywhere this morning.  Seriously, her face doesn't even look like her!  I feel SO bad!  It's like this hurts my heart or something.  She just looks miserable and acts like it's really itchy and uncomfortable too.  We are headed to the Dr. again today.  We will be at the Dr. every day of the week this means.  What a week!  If you could please continue to pray for my family, that would be great.  Please pray for peace for me...and that Emily would get over this rash and get through her pain okay.  I know God gave us His peace and was right by our side when the girls were in the NICU, so I know He will see us through again.   Thanks SO much for caring...

Any guesses?

Why do I have a feeling that EVERYONE is going to know who Emily is in this picture?  

I feel so bad for her!  I just thought I would let you get a glimpse of her rash - and all you can see is her head!  I think Addison and Hailey can tell that their sister isn't feeling well.  Emily just wants to be held and they just keep staring at her and wanting her attention.  So sweet. 

Poor Emily!

My poor little Emily.  She is COVERED in this nasty rash!  We went to the Dr. and found out that she had an allergic reaction to the shot that she had on Monday and Tuesday.  This rash isn't contagious, but it will last about a week and will probably make her joints hurt and be painful and itch and everything.  Poor girl!!!  Her ears did look better...so that is good.  But yea, now that she's allergic to this, she really can't get another ear infection because there are no "good" drugs left to give her!!!  She's allergic to all of them!  SOOO crazy!!  So....since she can't get another ear infection, we got her appt with the ENT doctor moved up so she will probably have the surgery next week for tubes.  Addy and Hailey don't go til Dec. 4.  I just really hope that these tubes help her and that she doesn't get another infection!!  She just looks miserable.....

Thanks for your prayers.....

I will keep you posted. :) 

3 days in a row...

Well, we're headed to the Dr. AGAIN.  3rd day in a row.  Emily went to bed last night with a rash now.  It looked like small mosquito bites - she hasn't had a rash like that before!  Then, this morning, she woke up looking HORRIBLE!  Poor girl!  The rash is all over the place and does NOT look good.  So we're headed to the Dr. again.  I just don't know what is going on with my babies!  If you could please say a prayer for the Dooyema household, that would be MUCH appreciated as I am sick too which makes everything a lot harder.  I can't believe it's only November.  I wish it was March.  Thanks so much for praying - I seriously believe that your prayers got us through last winter.....

Unbelievable!

My girls should win an award for ear infections.  Seriously.  Emily and Hailey have been on antibiotics since last Monday for ear infections....yesterday Emily came down with a bad fever and had a horrible night.  So this morning I took them all to the Dr. to get Emily checked out.  I thought it would be a quick in and out but noooo. I waited 45 minutes to see the Dr. and then found out that the antibiotics aren't working for Emily so she had to get a horrible shot!  And we have to go back tomorrow for another one!  Poor girl!!!  So after she got this shot, we had to wait around for 20 minutes to make sure she didn't have a reaction to it.  This WHOLE time that we were there, Addy was being so good.  She was just hanging out in the stroller so quiet the whole time.  After an hour and a half of her sitting there, (because my hands were full with the other two) I thought something must be up.  So I felt her head and sure enough, FEVER.  So while I was still there, we went back into the room and had the Dr. look at her.  SHE has an ear infection too now!  So she was only clear for one week.  Unbelievable!  I think tubes are really calling their names.  I hope they work!  

So, I was at the Dr. for over 2 hours today.  Quite a day.  You should have seen me try to go to the bathroom while I was there with all of them.  It was quite the site because Emily would NOT let me set her down.  I did get some extra help from the nurses....I just never thought we would be there that long or I would have called Grandma Kathy!  Oh well...got to go while they are napping.  I think I am going to disinfect my whole house right now.  I hope all of YOU are staying healthy!