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