Just Pictures...

As you all know by now, I take a million pictures... I can't help it. I like to document the kids lives and I know they will appreciate it one day. Well at least the girls will, Declan will likely wonder where he was to which I will let him know that I got sick of bribing him to get in front of the camera :-)

In preparation for them turning 18 months in a few weeks, I thought I would try to capture their "18 month" photo. You might think that's nuts, but honestly, I gotta take what I can get. Since they were in a good mood and were willing to let me dress them up a bit, I took advantage of it... Here are some pictures from our photo session. If by chance I can get them corralled again in a week and a half, I'll do it, but if not, these will be their official 18 monther pictures :-)

Miss Bria... Looking like she is up to something.

L to R: Bria, Stevie & Aven...

One of my favorites :-)

Miss Stevie...

Love Bria's smile...

Paparazzi...

Well, sometimes there are firsts... Today, during our 3 hour nap happy time, my sister and I ran a bunch of errands. When we came back, it was Andy's turn and he went to the gym. So my sis and I packed up the kiddos and headed to the park. Now that the girls are bigger, it's great because they fit into the choo choo - which we love! When we got there, there were 2 elderly women that were walking by and they noticed the rediculously long wagon and the cute babies (and the kid, with the helmet, on the scooter of course). The kids ran for the swings (exept Bria, per usual, who is terrified of the park and won't leave my arms). My sister turned around and noticed the women taking pictures of us and the girls. Perhaps they have never seen triplets before, but weird - right?

We proceed to play, swing and go down slides (exept of course Bria). Then after a few minutes we were joined by anther family - with twins! How fun - they were identical twin boys and oh so cute! It was fun to talk to another multiples parents... Then all of a sudden the women were back! And they brought another lady! So, three grandmas come trotting up (no offense to the grandma's out there) and just stare at the kids. I think they thought they hit the jackpot because there were a set of triplet girls and twin boys! They just stood there in amazement. It was seriously weird. I almost asked them to leave, but then just ignored them and we went on our way. They seemed nice enough, but seriously... We aren't that strange...

Here are some pictures from the park... On our way (Stevie in front, Bria, then Aven)

Silly lil' man...

Stevie livin the dream...

Always surprises...

As some of you know, Stevie was in the hospital the last few days. Here's what happened... On Monday night around 11 pm, Andy was just coming to bed (I had fallen asleep hours earlier in Declan's bed telling him a story, and had made my way to our bed with Andy's assistance). He heard one of the girls on the monitor, but it wasn't a cry, it was more like a moan. He went into the girls bedroom and he saw Stevie laying on her side, just moaning. When he picked her up he could tell something was off, her body was stiff and her head was floppy. When he brought her into the light, he got really alarmed because her eyes were wide open, but they were rolled back, so she wasn't actually looking at anything. He woke me up and we tried to snap her out of it. Nothing was working, we went downstairs thinking we could get a better look at her. We called the pediatricians office right away thinking that we could get the Doctor on call. We waited for her to call back, and it seemed like it was 10 minutes, when it likely was only about 30 seconds. We kept trying to get Stevie to snap out  of it, but nothing was working. Her body was stiff, her hands at her sides and you couldn't even move them. It was like her body was there, but she wasn't. I had two thoughts, that either she was having a seizure or something had happend and she all of a sudden became a parapelegic (and I'm not even kidding, I've never seen anyone have a seizure). We decided to call 911 because it had felt like it lasted forever, part of me felt 'do we call 911 for this type of thing,' but we just didn't know what to do. Hands down, it was the scariest, most helpless and terrifying experience that we've had to date. Nothing that happend in the NICU or anything else stands close to this experience. And I hope, god willing, that we never have to experience it again.

When the paramedics got there, Stevie had vomitted and had started to come out of it. You could tell that she had a fever and the paramedic had thought that what we described was a seizure. Once we got to the hospital, they did a million tests. Chest xray, urine sample and then they had to do a spinal tap to draw some spinal fluid to check if she had meningitis. Her fever was also at 103 when we got there. Inital results showed that she didn't have meningitis, which was good. I think with the inital results and the fact that the motrin had kicked her fever, they would have let us go home. But when the Doctor came back she said that Stevie's white blood cell count was through the roof. Normal is between 5,000 - 10,000, and Stevie's was at 46,000. She was shocked and said that she should look much sicker than she did. She said that we were going to be there a few days becasue they needed to test the blood, urine and spinal fluid for the next 48 hours to determine if it was any kind of infection, or if it was something serious. By this point, they did also determine that she had a febrile seizure, which is basically a seizure that happens due to a rapid fever spike. The strange thing is that Stevie was fine all day and didn't have any fever when we put her to bed. Oh, and don't worry, both of us could be at the hospital because Aunt Em was able to come over in the middle of the night to keep an eye on the other sleeping kids.

So we hunkered down for 3 nights and a few days at the Princeton Hospital. Andy spent the time back home with the other kids. As a summary, here's what we found out. Stevie had a febrile seizure, which caused the increase in white blood cell count (when we left today it was down to 13,000). They think it was also dramatically high because of some virus that she had - those two things combined, seemed to cause a really abnormal spike. All the testing proved that there was not a bacterial infection and it was indeed just some crazy virus.

Stevie is doing great now, pretty much back to normal and very happy to see her sisters, big brother and Daddy. But I do think that she enjoyed the 1:1 time with her mommy. Let's just hope we don't have to go to such extreme's next time. Here are a few pictures from her stay...

Sweet baby girl...

After she ripped out her first IV, they basically had so duct tape the second one on. But nothing is a match for Stevie, because she got this one out as well :-) She looks like she's flipping us off in this picture - which she probably was...

Checking out the cool view from our room...

This adorable picture that Declan drew - he missed his sister so much (and if you are wondering, that's a heart in the middle).

It's time...

Well, I must have jinxed us... Just when I said that we would let them take 2 naps a day forever, they have decided that they only need one... They've been taking such a good nap in the morning, but it keeps getting longer and longer - and then they don't really take a late nap. So Andy tried it a few days this week to have them just go down early afternoon and it seemed to work. So we'll keep on it and cross our fingers that they keep taking at least the 3 hour of a nap at once :-) I think it's tougher to adjust as parents than it is for them to adjust. When you get used to 2 naps a day, it's hard to change it up.

Last week the girls had their Neonatal developmental check up. We were suppose to do it around when they were a year adjusted, but between them being sick or something coming up, we've had to re-schedule a bunch of times. Anyway, we weren't sure what to expect and we certainly weren't sure about who would be doing it. To our pleasant surprise, a few of their old nurses, therapists and Doctors were there to do the evaluation. Even Dr. Hiatt (the Director of the NICU) was there and was trilled to see the girls. It was really comforting to see a lot of familiar faces. So basically, Andy, me and the girls were cramped in to a small room, with about 6 nurses / therapists. What they do is test them to see how they are doing developmentally and if there are any concerns. They basically test their cognitive, gross motor, fine motor and receptive / expressive communication. There's only so much they can test in a few hours, so some of it is based on our witness of what they do. Overall, the girls did great. But the therapists did even better - it was amazing watching them and how they handled 3 at once - they were passing charts, getting girls involved when they could and when they would open up to them. And I think the girls really had a fun time with them. All of them were tested as having an age of 14 months (which was their adjusted age at the time of the appointment). Here's the run down of their evaluation:

• Aven: Tested out with a cognitive age of 14 months, gross motor age of 14 months, fine motor skills at an age of 16 months, receptive communication at 11 months and expressive language at 13 months. So all and all for the physical aspects she's at or "better" than her adjusted age and for the other stuff she is at or below by a few months. Overall nothing to be concerned with and they did not recommend any further intervention for Aven. Just to come back at her corrected age of 18 months, which is the normal.
• Bria: Tested out as the exact same as Aven, on every measure. And they said the same about her that they don't recommend any additional intervention.
• Stevie: Tested out with a cognitive age of 13 months, gross motor at 10 months, fine motor skills  at an age of 11 months, receptive communication at 11 months and expressive communication at 11 months. They basically recommended that she continue with her current early intervention that she is receiving. Overall they are pleased with her, just need to keep doing what we are doing with her. It was good timing because last week we also had a 6 month check on her current EI therapies. She did meet all of her milestones that we set out the previous 6 months, which was great. We did choose to change her therapy up a bit though. Instead of doing DI once a week and PT once a week, we are doing PT twice a week. We think that once Stevie learns to walk that she will then work on her communication, so we wanted to ramp up her PT and then once she is walking we will re-evaluate any speech therapy at that time. We've got a great EI coordinator that helps us through this process.

So all and all the girls are doing really great. Everyone was very pleased to see how well they were doing and very pleased to see them all again! We are looking forward to going back next October.

And here's a photo and video of what the girls are up too. They are climbing everywhere now - even Stevie... And of course, we had a few dance parties recently :-)

Aven and Bria dancing...



Aven dancing the other night... She definatly likes dancing and has got some good moves :-)

Aunt Amy!

Auntie Amy came for a visit and we had a wonderful time! It was nice to have her spend some time with the us and the kids because usually when she sees them she has to compete with all the rest of the family - this time she got them all to her self!

Amy, Emily and I did some wedding shopping and got some fabulous bridesmaid dresses for Em and Jeff's wedding in August. We had a fun girls day together. The next day Em, Amy and Jeff went to NYC. Andy and I spent the day with three very crabby girls, which we found out why today... Stevie is getting one of her back teeth - I always thought it was 2 year molars - why is she getting them now? Regardless, she is and that means the other 2 girls are too. So that explains the whining and crying all day yesterday :-)

The girls last day of daycare was this past Friday as well. Andy's back to doing it solo during the week days... It's bittersweet - the girls loved the daycare the few days they went and they loved them. We will love the extra money in our pockets though :-) In exchange for giving up daycare, Andy joined a great gym near us. And they have a daycare! So this will be great for Andy and it will get the kids out of the house and still playing with other kids. We'll keep you posted on everyone's progress :-)

Here are some pictures from Amy's visit... Amy and Aven...

Amy and Bria...

The Uncle and Aunts with all the kids (L to R: Stevie, Bria & Aven)

Em with Bria & Aven...

Amy with the girls... (L to R: Stevie, Bria & Aven)

Amy with all the kids - Declan being his usual goofy self...

Avie...

Stevie.. .

Bri-Bri...

Family photo :-)

Girlies (L to R: Aven, Bria & Stevie)

17 Months! (one day early)

We again took advantage of the warm weather and played outside today. I love playing outside - both for something to do and it's great for naps! The kids get worn out which means better napping and better sleeping for all :-) Here's some pictures from the day...

The girls weren't too sure about the grass... L to R: Stevie, Aven & Bria

Fun with bubbles...

The girls first experience with sand...

It's hard to believe the girls will be 17 months. Where has the time gone? And next month a year and a half? That's just completely nuts... I think they are all going through a growth spurt right now because they seem heavier and they are eating pretty much everything in sight. Let's hope for some good solid weight gain by their next Doctors appt next month. It would be nice to be able to turn them around to face forward in the car before the age of 5 :-)

My attempt to get some 17 month pictures of the girls... Take 1...

Take 2... (L to R: Stevie, Aven & Bria)

  

Take 45...

Couldn't resist putting an adorable picture of Stevie in there...

It's the small things...

These are the things that make all the difference... So when Aven started to stand in her bath seat and then wouldn't sit down, we took it away and now all 4 kids can take a bath at the same time. Before we would bathe the girls and then take one out, plus the seat, and get Declan in. Now, all at once. If I calculated how much time this saves us, I'd be proud of this. But I don't anymore, I just know it's the small things that make all the difference... I hate to think about how dirty that water is, but hey - at least they are cleaner when they get out than when they go in :-) Recently there was a article where Tori Spelling was talking about how her family showers together and how it was normal for them. She said, when you have 4 kids, you have to get creative and it takes too long to bathe them all individually. I couldn't agree more, however the family shower thing seems a bit too slippery for us, especially with 3 the same age. Perhaps in the future - although we'd need to get a bigger shower, I won't count anything out :-)

L to R: Bria, Aven, Declan & Stevie

We also are now at two bottles a day for the girls, one when they wake up and one when they go to bed. We've taken out the late afternoon bottle and replaced it with a sippy cup (along with the other meals). They are all doing pretty good with their cups, but because we still need to make sure they get their fatty milk, I anticipate leaving these bottles in their day for a while longer. But one less bottle feeding is 3 less bottles we need to clean and store. Again, it's the small things.... A few months ago, I had a rare one on one with one of the girls (I think it was Bria, but can't exactly remember). We went to one of the local malls to get a few things. As we were walking through Barnes and Noble on our way out, I saw a couple who had a young baby, she was reading a book and rocking the baby to sleep in his/her stroller with her foot. She stopped, peered under the blanket to find a sleeping baby. She looked at her partner and they did a fist pound and kept on their reading. I loved this. Because it reminded me of Andy and I giving each other high fives when we do something like eliminate a bottle in a day, or when we were first able to get them all to nap at the same time. You've gotta celebrate these things, because no one else will :-)

Today was the first day that we could actually take the kids out to the park and let them play (without being so bundled up that they couldn't walk). It's the first time that the girls actually explore the park. After we scared off another family, we had the park to ourselves. The girls held true to their personalities. Aven was off, the minute we put her down. Climbing the stairs, walking all around, taking a face-plant by walking down a hill and going down the slide on her own (twice). She's fearless (most of the time). Stevie took a bit of time, but then she was off, crawling up the stairs and having a ball with her brother. Bria hung out in the swing or my arms :-) She was a little unusually crabby today, but she wasn't as exploratory as her other sisters. Declan of course had a blast and told us when we were leaving that "he had a really good day" - and it was only 1 pm :-)

Pictures from the park... Declan helping his sister Aven..

Fearless Aven going down the slide with big bro...

Best big bro ever... He loves his little sisters so much!

I'm sure we'll have another fun filled day outside again tomorrow as the weather is warming up!

The homeland...

Although it's only been half a month, it feels like it's been half a year since I've written a blog. After Stevie's hospitalization and the other two girls stomach flu, they finally got on the mend. While on the mend, we made the trip back to Wisconsin during Declan's spring break. It was a great vacation where we got to spend time with family and friends. The kids loved being in a new environment and it reminded me how much has changed since we were all last there this past August.  My folks definitely had to do some baby-proofing this time. Saturday night we made the long drive home and were happy to be in our own beds by Easter.

Here are some pictures from the week. The girls liked to eat on the floor - or maybe it was just us that thought it was easier when they ate their snack on the floor :-) L to R: Bria, Aven & Stevie

Sporting our Badger gear, but unfortunately it didn't help them in the tournament this year... L to R: Aven, Stevie & Bria...

Matchy matchy... L to R: Stevie, Bria & Aven...

All our kids with their cousin Landon (Chicken and Vicki's 5 month old). I finally got to meet him and boy was he worth the wait! He is absolutely adorable!!! L to R: Bria, Aven, Stevie

Declan loved his cousin Landon...

Almost as much as he loves his sisters... This is him and his Aven.

A few of my favorites from the week... Aven...

Bria...

Stevie...

Dec and Landon again.. He loves him so much!

Avie being funny with her bruised forehead :-)

Bria acting innocent. If this doesn't make you want to squeeze her, I don't know what does.

After each of them got out of their highchairs, they liked to go over and eat off eachother's trays - it was so cute... L to R: Aven, Bria & Stevie.

And Dec with his cousins Simon and Max...