Ball Bin

One of the activities the kids have done in therapy is sit in a basket of balls, like you would find at a kids' play center. They seemed to like it and Megan enjoyed pushing them around the living room. It's rather fascinating to watch them explore their environment and have these sensory experiences. It's amazing how much you can overlook when your kids are considered "normal". With preemies, every little new skill and discovery is a victory :-)

No, Andrew is not wearing a muscle shirt. The PT put him in this suit that is supposed to help bring all his core muscles up and tighten his torso. It helps improve balance and stability.

Nose Picker

We finally got a good shot of Molly doing her single finger exploration. Yes, it actually has a term and is considered quite advanced for a little one like Molly! We couldn't be prouder :-)

I think Molly is proud of herself too. She can actually do this with both index fingers! Hey, everyone's got talent :-)

Haircut #2

Well, Andrew went in for his first professional haircut, clippers and all! He did a great job and now he looks so handsome :-) Watch out all you baby ladies!

March for Babies

Here are a few pictures from our March for Babies walk. It was such a beautiful day and we had a great time. How amazing to see so many people come together for a cause that is so very important and personal for us. Next year we are thinking of forming our own team, either for our babies or possibly reaching out to the community to get other families involved. The possibilities are endless! We were able to meet up with some of the nurses from the UW and catch up with a family that was in the same room with Andrew and Hailey. And we are so proud of little Megan. She walked the entire 3.5 miles without a hint of a complaint! What a trooper! All in all, it was a great way to spend the day.

Tim and the kids standing with the water behind them. With the blue sky and warm air, it was a perfect day for walking.

The city offered a great backdrop for the walk. Lots of fun stuff to look at.

Our family shot! Look at all those kids :-)

We attempted to get a shot of the kids with their NICU neighbors Robbie and Jake. Not bad for 5 under 1 :-) Well, sort of under 1!

Random Events

Well, as promised, I have some fun stuff to share today. I'm enjoying a rare chunk of uninterrupted time so I caught up on Grey's Anatomy and now I'm updating! What better way to spend a morning? Okay, maybe basking in the sun on a tropical beach would be nice......

Anyway, we have entered the world of gates! As you will see from the following pics, we have an avid stairclimber in the family. This is not a story I'm proud to share, but, hey, nobody's perfect right?? Last week I brought Hailey and Andrew down from their naps and went into the kitchen to start lunch. About 5 minutes later I noticed that I could hear Andrew playing but not Hailey. So, I wandered into the living room and saw that Hailey was missing. I bet you know where this is going. I thought maybe she had crawled around the corner and was headed to the computer room, as they often do. However, when I passed the staircase I caught a glimpse of something white out of the corner of my eye. Low and behold, there was Hailey about 3 steps from the top! I did my best not to panic and scare her, but when I got up close and said "Hailey, where are you going?", she did her best to kick it into high gear and get to the top before I got to her. I did let her finish, but I stayed right there beside her. Needless to say, we now have a gate at the bottom of the stairs. Both Hailey and Andrew were completely beside themselves when we first put it up, but they are used to it now. Only supervised stairclimbing from now on!

The Set Up

The Home Stretch

The Proud Finish

On to Andrew.....I've noticed this new trick lately and thought I would share. I think when they go in for their developmental evaluations, he should get points for ingenuity!

Apparently, it's just too much work for his arms alone to keep the bottle propped. And just for the record, he seems to prefer feeding himself, even though we'd rather hold him.

Molly is her usual happy self these days. She continues to eat when she wants and clearly refuses when she doesn't. She is a remarkable communicator! Those of you who know her understand what I'm talking about when I say she gives me "the lip." Here she is enjoying some pineapple fingers. Through feeding theraphy, we discovered she likes pickle juice!

We also did some goal setting with her.....

Maybe someday! Right now the 8 oz bottle is nearly as long as she is :-)

And in other parts of our world, this past weekend Tim and Megan enjoyed an outing at the Husky spring football game. They went last year and I think it will be an annual event for them. They go with our good friend Jeff and his daughter Ashley, who is the same age as Megan. While in Seattle, they visited our friends Lisa and Shaune from the NICU and enjoyed seeing their presentation for the Health and Sciences Open House. We were honored to have the triplets featured in their display.

The Girls

Ashley and Megan in front of the fountain

Well, that about covers it for now. Just some other random news....Molly has found her nose. I tried desperately to get a picture of it but she's pretty quick. I suppose one of the four had to be a picker.

Pics from the latest photo session with my sister Tori.....

This one was actually taken back in October. I guess the sun did used to shine around here!

Andrew, smiley as ever....

I don't know how someone can eat so little and still be so happy.....
Sometimes, when Hailey makes this face, she blows air and actually whistles! She's a genius :-)

Next post....March for Babies

Back to Blogging!

Okay, okay......I know it's been a while. Did I mention before that I have two mobile babies and one learning to eat? Plus a 4 year who's pining for entertainment? Needless to say, it's becoming quite busy around the McCann house. You may not believe this, but having triplets is actually getting harder as they get bigger. In a good way though :-) I happy to report that at the moment, everyone here has their health and we are doing well. Andrew continues to be as busy and trouble-seeking as ever!Attempting the stairs...something they do in therapy but are not quite ready to tackle on their own. This exercise is intended to help them practice the reciprocal motion for crawling, plus it helps with upper body strength.
I'm pretty sure at this point, Andrew must have a minor concussion. He manages to fall about 10 times a day, bonking his head on the floor or whatever obstacle happens to be in his fall path. Boys truly do behave differently girls!

Hailey has mastered the art of pulling up to standing, but still wants to combat crawl rather than the regular way, even though she can do it quite well! She has started shaking her head
"no, no, no" like Molly, and is making lots of new noises. We've also discovered that she knows how to play the "snuggle" game when she wants attention. It's pretty irresistible, especially for Dad.

She also loves feeding herself. If she has a choice between something spoon fed or a finger food, she clearly prefers the finger food. And boy can she eat. I have to cut her off, otherwise she would fill up on solids and not drink her milk. She's practicing using the spoon here. It can get quite messy :-)
Molly is also doing well.. As I said before, she is learning to eat and is coming along nicely. She had a follow-up appointment at Children's yesterday and we pretty much got the thumb's up on everything. Other than her weight gain, everything looked and sounded great. She had really good linear growth, which is wonderful for her lungs, and they were quite impressed with her overall condition. They said we can continue to keep her off the feeding tube and just work hard at getting her to take more volume. We also are going back to increasing her calories per ounce, which is no big deal, and hopefully that will help with weight gain. It has been so good for her to be down on the floor with her siblings, free from any tubes that can get in the way or be pulled out. I think she will learn a lot from watching the others and how they play. Of course, training a 13 month old to act like a newborn with eating and sleeping can be a challenge, for both her and the parents. But we are managing. Every ounce of effort is worth it on our part to keep that tube out. And to think, 6 months ago the docs thought she would need a g-tube!

Here she is enjoying meal time with everyone.

I know this picture is blurry, but see the fingers in the mouth? Ya, well, they are covered with melted butter and seasoning salt from corn on the cob! A girl after my own heart :-)

You might remember me mentioning a while back that Megan would be testing for kindergarten. She completed that a week or so ago and did pretty well. It looks like she will begin kindergarten in the fall in the Dieringer School district. This is exciting and a bit sad at the same time. It will be wonderful for her to have that special time for herself, but I'm sure I will miss her during the day. Being home this past year has given us lots of time together. A weekend or so ago we got out and enjoyed the beautiful Saturday afternoon. Megan had fun collecting sticks to make a bird's nest.



.....while the others played on a blanket and had a stretch break from the stroller
We also discovered the babies love playing on the couch cushions. Megan and her cousin Jake made this big bed out of the cushions and all the babies had a great time on it.
So, overall, the McCann household is happy, healthy, and hoppin'!

You may be wondering how the MOD walk went for us?? Well, due to the freezing cold we decided to skip the Tacoma walk and just do the Seattle one. So all of you who donated, we are still walking for the cause, just hopefully in nicer weather :-)

Here a few more pics just for fun!

Molly sitting pretty!
The Whole Gang!

Andrew used to be too small for this onsie! Can you believe it?

Have a great day everyone :-)

Bottles, Babies, and Brunch

So, it seems I've picked the absolute worst time to try and wean Molly from the feeding tube. With Hailey continuing to need around the clock TLC and Andrew deciding he needs middle of the night Mommy visits again, it's turning out to be quite difficult finding the time necessary to feed Molly! You would think a 2 am feed would be no problem, other than losing sleep. Wrong! It begins with Hailey screaming and wanting to eat, then I finally get her back down and start with Molly, only to be blessed with Andrew's second round of screaming. His first was at 11 pm. I'm not sharing this in search of sympathy! Just thought I'd slice off a little cross-section of our lives for you :-) However, on to more exciting things.....when I started this weaning deal, it was kind of on a whim, thanks to Andrew pulling Molly's tube out yet again. I've known for some time now that she can drink beautifully from the bottle and was waiting for, I don't know, a hunch or something?? Well, with permission from the dr. to give her a couple of days to get up to volume, I decided that this time around, I was going to win the battle. Molly, much to everyone's benefit, has won every battle thus far. So, I felt like it was our turn. And it seems, based on her last 5 feedings, that we are doing just that. Since 11 this morning she has had 5 feedings and each time she took 3 ounces! That is cause for celebration and motivation to persevere through whatever other challenges present themselves over the next few days! Amazing to think that just 5 months ago we were happy if she took 5 mL! And a month prior to that, we were still being told she would need a g-tube! Way to go Molly! I still don't fully understand why God thinks we can handle all of this, but we are getting through it one day at a time, one prayer at a time!

Thanks for sticking with us :-) More pictures to come next time!

Oh, brunch you ask??? Well, as I was settling down to fall back to sleep earlier, I started thinking about Mother's day and how I might feel this year, which led me to think about food. Well, when do I not think about food? Anyway, a strange realization came to me....I LOVE brunch! Breakfast is good, and I eat it because it's good for you, but my breakfast fare is pretty standard-cereal or an egg sandwich. Lunch is okay, but kind of a pain to fit in sometimes. Dinner is nice too, but way too much work and clean-up. But then I thought of brunch and what's better than a spread of breakfast, lunch, and in-between fare such as pastries, fruit, and pasta? And better yet, you can go back again and again! Now that's my kind of A meal!

Anyway, just a tidbit from my strange, late-night, pass-the-time thinking! It's true that you learn something new everyday! Even about yourself :-)