Picnic Dinner

So, I had this crazy idea the other night to pack up the kids take them on a picnic dinner. Tim was helping a friend move and I wanted to get out of the house for a while. It went pretty well. We got drive-thru and headed down to this little spot by the Carbon River. We were spread our food out on a blanket, the babies used their big board book for a tray, and just enjoyed the cool air. Megan played at the little park for just a bit then went looking for treasures by the river.

Megan was brave enough to put her toes in the water. I tried it out, it wasn't too cold.

It's a pretty setting and fairly clean. The babies enjoyed looking at the river and hearing the sounds.
Here is Megan with one of her treasures!

I'd definitely do this again when the weather is hot!

After all this time.....

First of all, let me just say that I cannot believe I have time to sit here and blog! I must be neglecting something. Oh ya, laundry, yard work, the dishwasher. Oh well....Anyway, we've had another bout of sickness with Andrew. It was pretty bad this time. An extremely high fever-105.6-followed by diarrhea and no appetite. For Andrew to push his bottle away, you know he has to be sick. So, after nearly a year at home, basically no lung issues and overall good health, we had our first visit to the ER. Pretty amazing when we are dealing with three 24 weekers! It wasn't anything dramatic, but the dr. thought Andrew might need some films done on his abdomen or chest, or further testing they couldn't do at the office. Apparently, a high fever with no other symptoms is okay for about 3 days, but after that they want to investigate. Here's how it all played out. Fever started on Saturday, we visited the convenience care clinic on Sunday because he was possibly exposed to strep, they tested his white blood cell count and did a throat culture. Both of those came back fine so we went home thinking it was a virus. Then on Monday he was still fevering and he vomited once, followed by a bloated, hard tummy. So, back to the dr. and that's when we were sent to Mary Bridge ER. Can I just say I really don't like ERs?? I tried not to sit down in the waiting room, but Andrew got pretty heavy so I relented and just made sure no part of our skin touched the chair. Well, after about 4 hours, two diarrhea diapers, three rectal temps, and a urine sample, we were sent home again with the conclusion that it was a virus. His fever broke yesterday, and things are looking up today, so far. He actually slept last night and took 6 oz. this morning! I think he got word that I was going to start weaning him off his bottle and he didn't like that much. Little does he know.....:-)))

Well, that's the word on Andrew. I have some fun pictures to post so I'll get to that soon!

Bumblebee Triumph

Okay, so I said I was going to add a little variety to the blog. Something I like to do when I have time... ha, ha, ha... is read quotes. I thought it would be fun to share some on the blog with a little reflection or story to go with them. I found this one and I couldn't pass it up.

"Aerodynamically, the bumble bee shouldn't be able to fly, but the bumble bee doesn't know it so it goes on flying anyway."
-Mary Kay Ash

I bet you can't guess who this makes me think of? Some of you already know that way back when, at about 21 weeks into the pregnancy, we were told by doctors that Molly would not survive the pregnancy. Well, she obviously missed that conversation, along with many others, because she is certainly alive and loving life! Shellie, you picked the perfect Halloween costume for Molly :-)

I guess we should call her Bumblebee instead of peanut!

What I say to you is, go for it! Don't let anyone tell you that you can't do something, because the only way to truly know, is to try!

Things I've Learned

Okay, so I've been running this through my head for days now and I'm finally getting to it. Some of you know that I would love to write a book that shares our story with the triplets and all that surrounds it. So of course, I start reading up on how to write a book....and it says that one of the most important things you can do is write. Write about anything. And read. You know, in all my spare time :-) So, I've decided to have a little fun with the BLOG in hopes of one, making it more interesting, and two, practicing my writing. Bear with me as I tread this new ground. I will try to be funny at times, emphasis on try, reflective at others, and sometimes just plain old me. Plus, the pictures are becoming a bit redundant, I'm sure! This will add variety!

I've decided to call this first post of my new endeavor "Things I've Learned"

What have I learned from my time with multiples?? I've learned......

*how to bathe and diaper three babies in under 10 minutes

*that one baby was a walk in the park

*who my real friends are

*how to accept help

*to turn the computer off and go to bed

*that I'm capable of way more than I ever thought

*that children are forgiving

*how to have faith

*that prayer works

*to toss out schedules and rely on routines...afterall, babies are unpredictable but love predictability

*to put a diaper on a sitting baby

*that size doesn't always matter

*that "normal" is a relative term

*how to celebrate the smallest victories

*that perfect comes in different shapes and sizes

*to let the house go...sometimes

*that sweeping the kitchen floor three times a day is to be expected

And lastly, I've learned....

*that patience and flexibility are equally virtuous!

If you become too focused on the "What's supposed to happen", you will likely miss your child's cue of what he or she needs to happen.

So, in answer to the ever-asked question "How do you do it?", that is it. I rely on routines and systems, and I pay attention to my children and what they need, not what they "should" need.

Alright, task accomplished. I hope I didn't bore you and that you found some enjoyment from reading my reflections. Till next time......

More Photos

We spent the day out in the yard Friday and Saturday trying to start and finish some projects. My sister Tori came over to hang out the babies so I could help Tim. Here are some pictures she took.

Molly looking as cute as ever!

Hailey practicing her phone skills. She actually puts the phone to her ear when you say "Hello"!

Megan posing by the wheelbarrow of rocks. She helped us out by sweeping dirt into holes.
Andrew, the ham that he is! He is coming to love the camera!
Given the daily driving I'll be doing this coming year to get Megan to school, we figured she might as well learn how to drive :-)

That's all for now! Not much else to report other than Molly is doing well with her feeds. She is up to 12 lbs. 10 oz. now. At least that was the last weight we got yesterday.

Forgotten Facts

I forgot to mention one other skill Hailey has accomplished.....waving Bye Bye! It's incredibly cute :-) And, we now have 6 teeth. Andrew has two bottom and two top, although we aren't sure if the top ones are his front teeth or his incisors. Hailey has two bottom ones. We think Molly is working on a bottom tooth, but it could be a while still.

Play Time and more!

It's been a while since I actually updated you all on how the babies are doing. It is starting to feel weird calling them babies, because they are growing so fast and quickly becoming kids instead. They are definitely keeping me busy and no, it's not easier now that they are out of the "newborn/baby" stage. But manageable nonetheless! Here is what they have been up to:

Hailey is close to standing on her own. She also now nods her head yes and shakes her head no. She claps, but only once or twice at a time. She has become quite social and will practically go to anyone for a snuggle. She is clearly a daddy's girl, but I come in a close second. Her cognitive development is coming along quite nicely, and she is figuring out concepts like in/out, on/off, and open/close. If it weren't for her size, you'd never know she was a preemie!

She figured out how to wear Megan's slinky as a boa! She is definitely going to be a girly girly!

She's also learned how to turn on the faucets when she wants something or isn't getting her way! It's cute now, but I'm sure in the future it won't work so well :-)

Andrew is just all boy! He's into every cupboard, is trying to figure out how to open the gates, and pretty much doesn't let anything get in his way. He has a few words, well we think they are words. He says "dada", "mama", and "ah duh", which we think is all done. He can sign for more, but usually just screams! Andrew is cruising along furniture and doing his best to crawl. I've noticed that if he has a destination in view where he will be pulling up to standing, then he crawls on all fours. Otherwise, he sticks to the army crawl. It's actually kind of funny because sometimes his legs get going too fast and he topples over on his head! Of course, he just picks himself up and keeps going! He's a ton of fun and definitely keeps me on my toes!

Here he is clapping, a trick he is very proud of!

As you can see from this picture, he loves the camera and has become quite the ham!

Molly continues to improve every week, doing more and more things. We seem to have made some good progress on her feeds. As you know, she was back on her feeding tube, which at first, I was very disappointed and discouraged about. But then I realized that I could use the time to our advantage. So, what I did was gradually bump up the volume of her feeds until she got to 120 mL per feeding, which is 4 ounces, 6 times a day. Not only did she tolerate this with no problem, but she also started to gain her weight back and get stronger with each day. She is currently off the feeding tube (going on 48 hours) and is doing quite well. Most of her feeds she finishes the 4 ounces, sometimes she stops at 90. The important thing is that she is happy, healthy, and gaining. That's Molly for ya! As for her physical development, she is doing some nice pivoting on her tummy, rolling all over the place, and if interested in a toy, can sit for about 2-3 minutes. The problem with sitting is that she is very tight through her torso and hip region, so it's a bit uncomfortable for her to be bent at the hips. But she is getting better. She is also doing her fair share of fighting for toys and making her presence known. Not that it was an issue before :-) The other fun thing with Molly is that she is starting to cuddle up my shoulder. She never did this before, I think because she didn't like things around her face. But now when she is tired, she snuggles down and I love it!

Molly sitting at the play toy! She loves this toy and will sit for a few minutes playing.

I had to capture this shot of Molly playing with her toes!

Family Shots!

One last thing, remember a while back when I shared the story about Hailey on the stairs? Well, the gait alone no longer keeps Hailey or Andrew off the stairs. They have both figured out how to open it and head on up! So, we now have to make sure it is latched, not just propped shut!

So, that about wraps it up for the McCann triplets!