Meeting my triplet "nephews!"

Hi!  I just got back from an amazing weekend in South Dakota visiting my friend Heather who just had her triplet boys 8 weeks ago.  It was the BEST weekend!  First of all, I just love how God answered prayers and gave me perfect driving weather IN JANUARY and that my girls and I were all healthy IN JANUARY so that I could even go!  I'm so thankful!!  I left last Weds. afternoon and Jody came over to watch the girls and hang out here while they napped.  Then Ryan had them Thursday and Grandma Kathy had them Friday.  Then Ryan was with them for the weekend and then I came home Sunday night.  The girls seemed to have a great time with everyone and Ryan survived too!  He may or may not have put Hailey's shirt on backwards for church on Sunday but other than that, he did GREAT!  I'm so thankful to have such great help here so that I could go help Heather!!  

Anyway, so Weds night I got to their house and as soon as I saw the babies, I just start crying.  I cannot believe that we BOTH were blessed with three HEALTHY sets of triplets.  It gives me goosebumps just thinking about it.  And to see them so perfect and THREE of them at once.  They had been prayed for for so long!  My mind  (and my heart I think) was flooded with memories of my girls in that adorable baby stage.  And that they were Heather's!  I will never believe this.  So after tearing up, I of course had to hold each one and say hello.  I never wanted to put them down!  I could hold babies all day!  So that night I helped Heather with the 11 oclock feeding so Evan could get some sleep....so then I ended up going to bed around 12:45...and then woke up at 4 for the next feeding....and then Evan's cousin was there so her and I did the 4 oclock feeding together so Evan and Heather could sleep.  That lasted til about 5:30....and then I was "on duty" to sleep by the babies and listen for any spit ups (2 of them have reflux)....well my body is still on normal sleep mode so I didn't go back to sleep after my 4 a.m. wake up time.  And I've never been a napper so that was a longer day!!!  But totally doable when it's not every day!!!!  

It's so funny too because I'm like petrified or paranoid about boys and changing their diapers!  I'm just not used to it and I freak out that they are going to pee in my mouth.  :)  So wouldn't you know it...at 4 a.m. ...sweet little Andrew PEES on me!  Thankfully not in my mouth :)  ...but still!  I let out a little scream! :)  So funny though.  :) Here are my fave triplet boys. :)  Micah weighing in at 10 lbs. 7 oz, Derek is a whopping 11 lbs. 8 oz already!  And then sweet Andrew at 8 lbs. something....  They are TOO MUCH!!!

 Micah - Micah is so sweet.  He has reflux pretty bad and looks like he's in pain when he spits up but he hardly complains about it at all.  He just grunts. :) Such a sweetie.

 Andrew was my little snuggler this weekend.  He LOVES to be held and I love that about him.

 Big boy Derek.  Derek is the little comedian of the bunch.  Something about him is just so funny.  Little faces he makes or how he gets soo excited to eat that his mouth goes crazy looking for the bottle.

 Speaking of bottles.....this is only a few of them!!!

 And I can't wait for the day when all of Heather's kids and all of mine can finally meet...but for now, I just put their pictures together....I wonder if they'll get married someday.. :) :) :)  My girls just seem SO big now!!!

 Andrew, Derek, Micah - It's so neat how the babies would be fussing or just uncomfortable and not wanting to settle down no matter what you would do....so then we'd just lay them on the floor right next to each other.  They'd settle right down and just lay there kicking each other and sucking on each other's elbows or heads and all of the sudden be so content.  Multiples will always amaze me.

 One of Derek's funny looks :)

 Heather's FOUR boys under the age of TWO.   Tyler, Micah, Derek, and Andrew.
And all I gotta say is that Heather is an AMAZING mom.  She really does have the patience of a saint and I give her sooo much credit.  Having another kid on TOP of triplets is unbelievably hard.  JUST when the babies would all be sleeping or quiet....you'd want to take a nap...or you'd want to clean up all the bottles or EAT something or whatever....there would be sweet Tyler who would say "I need mommy" or "mommy play downstairs" or "Don't pick up the babies."  He is just at an age that demands a lot of attention...and a lot of energy!  I was in awe at how great Heather was with him...and how she would muster up enough energy to chase him around the basement or read him books or whatever...even when she was EXHAUSTED.  She'd be nursing 2 babies and I'd be feeding the slowpoke Andrew :) ...and then Tyler would wake up...so then because Tyler loves mommy to get him out of bed...Heather would have to stop nursing two, and then go get Tyler who would then need breakfast or want to snuggle or whatever while 2 babies keep crying to finish nursing.  She is a phenomenal mother and her boys are SOOO blessed to have her.

I LOVE them!  (Andrew, Derek, Micah - and Auntie Shell) :)   One night Heather and I did get to go out for dinner together to catch up without distractions so that was super fun.  And, on Saturday, help came over so that I could take Heather to the mall to for real shop for the first time in like a year!  She kept saying it was the best day and she finally felt "normal" again!!  I love you Heather!!  You are DOING IT!!! And you are doing SO well!  (unfortunately Heather and I must have been too busy with babies that we never got to take a pic of US  - or we didn't WANT to take a pic of us because most days we were in our PJ's all day and hadn't showered!) :) :)

 And then I got to meet ANOTHER preemie!!!  My cousin Janelle had her first baby girl Maci at 26 weeks.  She weighed 1 lbs. 6 oz....so she's been in the NICU a LOOOONNGGG time.  I thought Janelle and I would have so much in common since we both had preemies but wow - there is a HUGE difference with your NICU experience when you have a three 3 pounders versus a 1 pounder.  My girls didn't have to go through HALF of the stuff that sweet Maci had to go through.  It's a miracle just looking at her.  She is now 5lbs. 8 oz and doing so much better!  She will probably be a few more weeks or a month til she gets to go home...and even then she might have to go home on a G Tube because she hasn't figured out bottling while sucking, swallowing, adn breathing all at the same time.  So please keep her and Grant and Janelle in your prayers.  This has been a LONG road for them!! She's already been in the NICU for TWELVE weeks!  Wow!

 Maci Grace

Fun in the Snow

I am loving this Wisconsin winter this year.  It started much later and we didn't even get snow until January!  I kinda like that.  It's been much warmer too which makes the winter much more doable. :)  I feel like this winter is flying by!  The girls were definitely ready for some snow though....so here Addison and Hailey are making a snow family with dad. :) 

 Hailey gets pure joy from throwing snow balls at people. :)

Hailey putting on the finishing touches on HER snowman. :)

 Emily, me, Ryan, Hailey, and Addison  :)

 Daddy's girls :)

 And check out these triplet boys in our front yard last night!!!!!

Christmas in Colorado 2011

 Hi!!  And Happy New Year!  Well this year we decided it was time to go to my hometown for Christmas since we haven't been there for "actual" Christmas for 7 years!  It was so much fun!  I loved being able to go to my home church and be with my WHOLE family for a whole week!  We had a blast!  And traveling with the girls at age 4 is awesome!  Have I told you I love age 4? :) :)   They just knew what to do and were old enough to wheel their little backpacks around the airport and they knew to just sit in their seats and wait for a "princess drink."  Addison probably said to me like 25 times on the way down there "This is so fun Mom."  :)  I love traveling with my fam!  They are troopers!
Above is a pic of the girls in the airport...it was just too cute seeing them wheel around their luggage together.  :) And below is a pic of my sister and I!! :)

 Emily & Grandma Gwen watching everyone open presents...

 Auntie Heather reading a humungous book to the girls. :)

 COUSINS!!  Bryce, Kamryn, Hailey, Addison, and Emily

 And Grandpa and Grandma with all of their grandkids!

 Isn't he a super cute nephew?!!!!

 And the girls had so much fun and my cousins Jordan and Jenna's house.  Jenna is a fabulous babysitter!  I wish she lived out here!!!  Jordan and Jenna also took the girls bowling one day.  They loved it!  :)

 And Denver got a foot of snow the day before we got there.  We haven't had ANY snow in Wisconsin so the girls were pumped to play in it!  I actually think they were more excited to just EAT it! :)  I have about 30 pics of them just eating the snow. :) Em is so intense about it!

 Ouch.  Poor Hailey. :)

 Cousin pic - Addison, Hailey, Kami, Bryce, and Em.

 They sang a LOT of Christmas songs on Grandma's piano ...a LOT.... :) (HEA)

 Watching a movie at Uncle Kyle & Auntie Heather's place....

 Gotta love Beauty and the Beast and cozying up with family :)

 The girls and Great Grandma!  She is famous around here for all the beanie babies that she has! :) (AEH)

Grandma and Kara babysat one day so that Craig and Laura and Ry and I could go up to Copper mountain skiing! Thank you!!  IT WAS SO GREAT!  I really love skiing and we had a lot of fun.  It was PERFECT weather out...not too cold and not too hot.  Beautiful.  

 HAE  

 Okay yes we like to dress up. :)  So got back home in time to go to a New Years Eve party with friends.  It was a Couples Costume party.  So I went as a giant Loofah (you know, that scrubby thing you have in the shower)...and Ryan wore his robe that has his name embroidered :)...and bought some chest hair and a wig and grew out a lovely mustache.  I could hardly look at him that night! :)  But it was fun!!  Hope you are all blessed in 2012!!!

Merry Early Christmas!

Hi!  Well last weekend was a great one!  We celebrated early as we'll be celebrating with my family later!  So Friday night we celebrated with just our family and it was so great!  We had a nice dinner and then gave the girls presents.  They were ALL about it all this year.  It was so much fun.  We took each of them shopping and had them choose something to buy their sisters too this year so that was great.  They were very particular about which sister got what.  Emily REALLY wanted this Strawberry shortcake dress when we were shopping and I said she had to shop for her sisters....so I said how bout we give it to one of them (and then I'm sure they'd share it with her :) )  ....well no...then she didn't want to do that.  So she'd rather not have it in our house at all than give it to one of her sisters.  So funny.  It's just so neat watching the girls learn about giving and receiving and sharing and all the joys of the season.  I love it!  

We gave the girls Leapsters this year (they are like little video game type things except they are educational!) :)  So far, they love them!  Hopefully they'll be GREAT on the plane ride! :) 

 The only problem with gifts and everything with triplets of the same sex...is that they seriously want everything that their sister wants.  They are the same sex at the same stage in life with seriously a lot of the same interests!  So no matter what toy they get or whatever, they always want to play the same "type" of toys at the same time.  So if we don't have 3 of them...it is a cause for lots of tears and "refereeing" and Ry and I going nuts trying to have someone have it for 2 minutes, now switch....2 minutes again, switch...ahh!!  So people say we shouldn't get them 3 of everything....and believe me we try not to....but seriously if you don't get them 3 of something similar, WE go crazy more than they do!!  People tell us that then they won't learn how to share....but I feel like they've been BORN sharing.  They've shared the womb, they've shared us as parents since day one, they share their room, ALL their toys, their clothes, their friends, you name it!  It's just tough with the whole triplet Christmas thing and I just wish I could explain what it's like better.  That being said, they LOVE it when they get to open a present that is JUST for them.  They know they'll have to share it eventually...but the fact that they can call it their own is a big thing.  Here they are in 3 different dress up outfits from Great Grandpa Junior.  Thanks! :)   Strawberry Shortcake (Em), Ariel (Hailey), and Rapunzel (Addy)

 Then Saturday we went to Grandpa and Grandma Dooyema's for "Christmas" over there!  We had appetizers first and the girls got to be fancy and drink sparkling grape juice from grown up glasses.  :)

 They are always interested in whatever baby Erin is doing.  She's getting so big!

 Here is an attempt at a grandparent/grandchildren shot....this is the best one!  Addison, Hailey, Erin, and Em :)

 Then Sunday night the girls had their Christmas program at church.  They did great and sang all the songs!  So cute!!!!  (EHA)

 Em giving their friend Isabelle a look.  Not sure if she sang off key or what. :)

 Em had fun playing with her friend Lydia's hair during the program too. :)

 And here Addy is in her Dr. dress up clothes from Grandpa and Grandma.  She says she wants to be a Dr. for little babies when she grows up!  I can see it!

 And Em is a beautiful bride!  This pic makes me tear up a little!  My babies are SO BIG!!!!

 And Hailey Grace as a fireman....love this girl. :)

 And then Monday they had their school Christmas program and they also did a great job!  They get very focused and pretty serious up front.  They do the motions and make sure to sing.  It's kinda fun cuz I hear them singing some of these songs at home and they correct each other if someone sang the wrong word or something.  Here they are following their stars all around the school looking for the BIGGEST and BRIGHTEST star....which they ended up finding by us again and a real baby "Jesus" was under it!!!  So then the kids sang Happy Birthday to Jesus.  So sweet.

 Here's Hailey and Erin today!  It is Auntie Jody's first day back at work as she's a nurse so we got to watch Erin all day!  We are LOVING having her here!  She is such a sweetie!!!

 And Hailey today after she gave herself a makeover.  :)

Aaron Rodgers and our girls!!!!

Go Pack Go!! :) 
So, last week, our family friend Laurie insisted that we try to get the girls on TV to ask Aaron Rodgers some questions.  (Every Tuesday people submit video questions to Aaron and he picks his faves and answers them on TV).  So she came over and we asked the girls to just think of a question that they'd like Aaron to answer.  Turns out, they got on!!!!!  So they were on the news last night at 10:00 and then again this morning!  Can't believe they got on.  They were so excited to see him answering their questions.  Addison said "That's pretty cool Mom." And she's SURE the Packers are going to win the superbowl now.   And Hailey was a bit distraught.  She said "I'm pretty sure his other favorite color is pink.  I bet he left his pink shoes in his closet."  And the other day the girls were chatting over lunch and I heard Emily say "I really hope Aaron answers my question."  They are quite the fans.  :)  I really do feel like they are famous now or something. :)  So funny.  We started getting text messages like crazy.  Ryan's coworker texted "I just saw the TRI-FECTA on TV!"  Then we went out for lunch today and I thought everyone was going to recognize them or something.  So funny.  So glad he's an amazing quarterback and also a role model who shares a faith in Christ too.  Gotta love him!!!  GO PACK!  Here's the video! Just click the link :) 


http://bcove.me/ihcj2x54

Triplet boys!

Hi!!!  Well I'm super late on posting this now but my friend Heather HAD HER TRIPLET BOYS!!!  They are like a week old now but I am so unbelievably happy for her, proud of her and STILL in shock that she just had triplets too.  I feel like we will talk about it our entire lives...like we will never really believe it that I had triplet girls and she had triplet boys.  I love it. :)  She did an AMAZING job carrying them to 34 weeks!  Andrew was 4.10, Derek 5.12 (!!!), and Micah 4.15.  That is awesome. :) This week has been hard not being able to be there with her!  I call her like every day just to hear the latest update on who drank how many cc's or who's off what machine or whatever.  It is all so familiar and so fun to have your best friend go through so much of what I already went through.  I told Ryan "this makes me want to have triplets again!"  And then he said "Take it back! Take it back!" :)  Oh dear. :) 

Anyway, I'm just so excited for Heather because I truly LOVE having triplets and I know she will too.  Yes it's definitely tough and there are definite "seasons" of difficulty...but I love how they always have a playmate...and how they understand each other so well...how they come home from school singing songs that I don't even know...I love how they get to have a sleepover every night....I love how we get to have family nights and play "Princess Yahtzee" together....I love how I get a break cuz they're all in school at the same time! :) I just love my girls and it's so fun watching them grow up.  Here they are giving us an electric guitar performance.  (These guitars play "I'm a Barbie Girl" all at 3 different paces...and then they sing "twinkle twinkle little star" OVER that sound.  We like these guitars in the basement. :) 

 Here's proud big cousin Hailey with baby Erin!!  They can't wait til they can play with her!

 I love how the girls go downstairs to play and then this is how I find them having "girl talk" and taking turns telling their dramatic stories.

 The girls with their "boyfriends"  - all big Packer fans. :) (Addy, Tyler, Braden, Hailey, Lucas, and Em)

 Getting ready for Christmas over here!!
And I should really let Grandma Kathy write this little excerpt but she told me the other day this story about when she was babysitting.  We have this Little People Nativity set...so they were playing with it and re-telling the Christmas story to the girls and Emily was supposed to be the innkeeper.  So she was instructed that when Joseph and Mary come and ask for a room she has to say no.  Well, when Joseph (Grandma) pleaded and begged for a room - Emily, just got so concerned and felt so bad for Joseph and Mary that she said "Yes!  You can have a room!"  But then Grandma and Grandpa had to say "no no no, that's not how the story goes.  You have to say no.  There's no room in the inn."  So then Joseph (Grandma) pleaded again for a room - a garage or even a closet to sleep in...and the innkeeper (Emily) would just look at her with big compassionate eyes and say "Yes!!" Grandma instructed her again to say no ....there was no room for Joseph and Mary in the inn so they need to have baby Jesus in the barn!  Emily got frustrated and didn't want to play anymore. She said "I don't like the way this story goes."  She so badly wanted baby Jesus to be born in a hotel.   :)
She's always been our little compassionate one. :)

4 Year Old Dr. Visits

What a morning.  I'm not sure who hates the Dr. check ups more - the girls or me.  It was nuts!  I would have thought by age 4 that they would be getting easier.  But nope - this time the girls all wanted to write their letters and interrupt the Dr. and I trying to talk every 2 seconds.  They were INSISTING I keep telling them letters to write instead of just color a nice picture so I barely heard anything the Dr. said.  And then, it was time for each of them to get 3 shots.  Yikes.  It is TERRIBLE when the other two have to watch their sister scream in pain.  That instantly starts them screaming in FEAR even before it's their turn. So then 3 girls are all screaming and kicking and I'm trying to hold one down with all my might (and the help of 2 nurses)...and then I couldn't comfort the one who was done and oh man...it was rough!  And for some reason Addy didn't even want the Dr. to examine her one bit so she hardly even got a check up!  I don't know what happened to her because right before that, she was all smiley and wanted to tell the Dr. that that's what she wants to be when she grows up ...a Dr. for babies.  So cute.  But today, TODAY she wanted nothing to do w/ Drs.  Oh man.  So we all came home in a bad mood and I think I could have cried too!  It was just a LOT of stuff to juggle - trying to make sure one doesn't bug the Dr. too much while she's trying to look at the other one and then meanwhile the OTHER one is sticking stickers to the ground or whatever and yea.  So far, I have LOVED age four and have said that I think we've really turned a corner as far as how challenging this triplet thing is.  But today was a hair-puller-outer morning.  Oh man - my poor girls.  :)  And did I mention that we were there for TWO hours in one little dr. room?  okay - enough about that. :)
ANYWAY  - now that I've been able to get that out - I really can't complain at ALL with how the girls are developing.  In fact, it is a true miracle as to how they are all doing.  The Dr. was shocked - like mouth open shocked that they are able to do as much as they can do.  I guess they are doing things that they make sure kids know before kindergarten and they are only in 3k!  I'm so amazed how their brains know so many things AND THEY STARTED OUT AT ONLY 3 POUNDS!  A.MA.ZING.  The fact that they know the whole alphabet and can write every letter...and write their whole names...and that Addy can ride w/ no training wheels and that they can all even pedal a bike...and the way they hold their pens...and that they can draw people with more than 5 body parts...I guess all of this is really good!  It's hard for me to know when I just compare the 3 of them....and they are all so similar in their development that it just seems normal to me! :)  So anyway, even though I could have cried out of frustration this morning, I also could have cried because I feel so blessed and so proud of my three girls.  They really are such a joy and the BEST I could have ever asked for.  PRAISE God from whom ALL blessings flow.
Here's their info:
Addy - 43.6 inches tall (she's off the charts in height), 42.5 lbs (90% for weight)
Emily  - 40. 4 inches tall, 36 lbs, (50 -75% for both)
Hailey - 40.5 inches tall, 36 lbs.  (50-75% for both) :)
And I should really be writing down or video taping SO much of what they say lately.  They are VERY into imaginary play and it is hilarious watching and listening to them talk.  They love having "girl talk" where they all sit around in their chairs and tell dramatic made-up stories to each other.  So funny. At night time, after we pray, they get into very deep talks about heaven and hell and God and you name it.  The questions stump me though!  Like Hailey was asking about hell and her first question was "So they don't have any potties in hell do they mom?  You have to just go on the floor right?"  Oh man...and then talking about God the Father, and Jesus, and how the Holy Spirit lives in their heart...I told them how they are all one God but yet all different.  And Addy said "So do they wear the same clothes?"  um....it is all so hard to explain but I LOVE their questions! :) I wish I could remember more of what they say....I just love how "lovey" they are at this stage.  They could go on and on all night telling me how much they love me. :)  I hope that never stops. :)
And every day in November they've been writing on a leaf something they are thankful for to hang on our thankful tree.  The things they write are just so random and so interesting.  I'll tell you a few...
leaves, their piggy banks, rags, cameras, paper and blankies, hairclips and lights, and the neighbor dog Vinnie.  :)  So even though these things are so random, they make me think too.  It's not every day that I realize I'm thankful for lights...or even rags to wipe their messy faces :)....and I've never really thought to be thankful for hairclips...but it's so true - imagine if we could NEVER tie our hair back.... :)    I really am thankful for SO MUCH....but most of all, I'm thankful for my little fam. :)