Happy Thanksgiving!

I was too stuffed last night to blog, but didn't want to miss out on wishing everyone a happy Thanksgiving and remembering what we are thankful for. Andy and I are thankful for the obvious reasons of having 4 healthy, happy children and a great life. Declan said that he's thankful for his "sisters and legos" (hey, I'm just glad he said his sisters :-)). But we have one more thing to be thankful for this year... That we will never, ever, ever wash or use another bottle (at least until our grandchildren). That's right, the girls no longer get any bottles - although 2 may seem old to many of you to still get a bottle, but since we had 3 at once, the "rules" around these things don't apply to us :-) Regardless, we are bottle free in the Lawry household - unless it contains alcohol of course... Here's some pictures from the last few days...

The girls not cooperating with me per usual... (L to R: Bria, Stevie & Aven)

They are SOOOOO excited for Thanksgiving!

And a kids picture... Gotta love Declan in is underwear - that poor kid is going to grow up wondering why he was never wearing clothes...

Another kid picture :-) (L to R: Bria, Stevie & Aven)

L to R: Aven, Stevie & Bria

Sweet Stevie...

And our new bedtime routine...

Videos

I've been trying to take more videos lately and usually I forget to post them... so here some are... Declan, Aven and Bria playing ring around the rosie :-)

Back by popular demand, here's Stevie talking tonight - love her...

Stevie saying "HI" - this is her new favorite word :-)

Bria and Stevie... Although Bria is hogging the camera. I love it when she says momma - especially when she's not saying it while whining...

Stevie was a big kisser tonight and really all the kids were loving each other. I took this rare opportunity to video some of it :-)

You will not defeat us...

As the terrible 2's set in times 3, I felt it appropriate to tell you how we get through each day... By repeating over and over and over again that they will not defeat us...

You will not defeat us when you refuse to take off your PJ's and insist upon wearing your rain boots all. morning. long. (Aven)...

You will not defeat us when you scream and holler when putting clothes on for the day, to then begin to strip them off (Bria)...

You will not defeat us when you refuse to cooperate for pictures (L to R: Stevie, Aven & Bria)...

You will not defeat us when the rare moment that you actually cooperate is when only 2 of 3 are in the picture (Aven & Bria)...

You will not defeat us when you look happy and cute (Stevie) and then 5.2 seconds later take the toy that your sister has been playing with for 10 minutes which instigated a 20 minute temper tantrum...

You will defeat us when you are cooperating, quite and silently reading which erases all the temper tantrums, hitting, screaming, pushing and naughtiness throughout the day...

World Prematurity Day!

Today is a great day to learn more about prematurity, hug your own preemie and appreciate all those Doctors and nurses that bring those beautiful little babies into this world and care for them as if they are their own. What this day does for me is it allows me to pause and appreciate our children and the numerous people that have helped us along the way. I can't imagine life with out all of these people. THANK YOU!

I need to dig out some good pictures of Andy and the girls early on - but honestly unless we went to the hospital together, he never took pictures (clearly I am the shutter-bug!)

Update

As the girls passed their 2 years, we have an influx of doctors and specialists appointments... I thought I would take the time to update everyone on how they are doing...

They had their 2 years check up this past Friday and they are all doing great! We continue to love our pediatrician and she continues to be very pleased with their progress. "Technically" we can stop adjusting their age when it comes to their development, size, etc, since they turned two. So when it comes to size, none of them are on the charts for height, but both Bria and Aven are at about the 5th percentile for weight. But all are growing well and along their curve... The only thing to keep working on for them is their speech, which we knew.

A few weeks ago the girls all had their endocrinologist check ups... He's the bone doctor and is the specialist that we see for the girls growth. He also felt good about their growth that they were staying along their curve and weren't dropping off or not gaining weight. He has the same concerns as others as they haven't really shown a "catch up" with regard to growth. But overall, he's still not overly concerned and is pleased with their progress. We will go back to see him in 6 months to check on how they are doing. He feels at this point he doesn't feel they need a growth hormone, they just need more time (hence the re-check in a few months).

We also had their check up with their eye doctor a few weeks back as well and they all passed with flying colors. This doctor has actually seen them since birth and is the practicing doctor in NICU (he's also married to a woman who was Stevie's heart doctor nurse and they are expecting twins! Small world). Not concerned with any of their eyes, vision, etc. So it should be the last time that we need to visit him!

Bria and Aven started DI (development intervention) a few weeks ago as well and it seems to be going okay... It incorporates speech, motor skills and cognitive skills. A therapist comes out weekly for both of them at the same time (usually it's just for whoever is paying attention). Stevie's assessment for what she needs (either DI or speech) is later this week. We assume she will also qualify for DI, and at that point we will likely stop her Physical Therapy and just have DI for all the girls weekly.

Stevie also had a pulmonologist appointment about a month ago (not sure if I wrote about this yet). He was pleased with how she was doing and happy to see that she's been off the albuderole and steroid since June with no issues (so far). We still have the medicines and nebulizer in case she has any flair ups this winter. He wants to see her back in 6 months as well to check on how she is doing and to see if there are any issues now that she's been off the lung medicine for a long time.

That's pretty much it for the specialist visits for a while now. We are hoping for a healthier winter this year (versus last year) so we stay out of the hospital and see less doctors! Keep your fingers crossed!

Here are a few pictures from the last few days... Aven was admiring my block wall building skills...

Playing games with mommy...

Peek-a-boo!

And very upset because her sister Bria came over and knocked it all down...

Bria unfazed by her destruction...

Stevie either...

Aven so upset that she found a bin to sit in...

Super Stevie! I had all these shirts made for their birthday - LOVE Etsy!

What you talking about?

We like to think that we are a trilingual family - we talk adult, toddler and triplet... Here's a few video's of Stevie chatting up a storm - she likes to use her hands a lot :-) Love her...

Amazing...

Did you know...

• The occurrence of triplets is about 1 in 8,000 conceptions
• As many as 11.5% of all pregnancies end in early deliveries
• 6% of premature babies are born before 28 weeks gestation
• Babies born at 26 weeks have an 80% chance of survival (and babies born at 25 weeks have a 50% chance of survival)
• Triplets are nearly 15 times more likely than singletons to die within a month of birth

These are our little 26 weeker miracles...

http://youtu.be/2e6jln5m8bo

(I'm still trying to figure out how to post the video versus link the video....)

The Girls Turn 2!!!!!!!

As I thought about what I wanted to write as the girls turn 2 years old, I again experienced a flood of emotions as I think about where the girls are today compared to 2 years ago… So I got up from the toilet (my favorite spot for “me” time) and began to write…

The Past: There are still moments when I feel sad and guilty about how the girls came into this world and how Declan had to deal with having only one parent around for 3 months and then have his world turned upside down within weeks to have 3 baby sisters that needed our attention 100%. But there are moments where I’m proud – proud of the girls for how strong they are, proud of Declan for how well he’s done transiting to being a big brother of 3 sisters and proud of us for how we’ve managed these past few years.

I was traveling for work this week and most of my colleagues know, ask and are curious about the girls, especially since they are all well aware of them approaching 2 since they saw it all happen 2 years ago… We were talking about when the girls were born and those first few months. I told them something that Andy and I have talked about frequently, and now I’ll tell all of you… There wasn’t a moment in the girls life while they were in NICU that I was worried that they wouldn’t be ok. Ok in the sense of being alive and being able to be normal… It’s a hard concept to understand for others I am sure, but both Andy and I just never worried about that… Sure, we worried about the next ultrasound of their heart, or the next brain scan or the next blood transfusion or the next test they were running, but we never worried about whether they would be ok… We just knew they would be ok… Thinking about this helps us get through each day, each specialist visit and each temper tantrum – we know they are going to be ok…

The Now: There are moments that I absolutely want to walk out the front door and stay away from the house for hours, days, or even months because everyone is screaming, crying, vomiting, pooping, not sleeping or not eating. But there are moments that I want to pinch myself and re-think the vasectomy that Andy got (Andy will kill me when he reads this) because we have the most amazing, brave, strong, adorable, loving, kind and full of life kids in the world. Have you ever stopped in a house full of 4 kids who are 5 and under and just listened? It’s usually loud, insane and not easy to do, but I’ve been doing this lately and I just think – wow, these are our loud, crazy and happy kids – we are so lucky…

The Future: Andy and I are forward thinkers… We are constantly talking about the future – what our next house will look like, how we’ll afford weddings or collage, where we want to live, where the kids should go to school and what the kids will be for Halloween next year J I can’t wait to see our kids as teenagers, as young adults and as adults. At the young age of 2 the girls have such distinct personalities and I hope that they draw from their past to be brave, strong and independent in the future. I have to say that although I’m exhausted just thinking about these next few years, I’m excited to see what the future holds…

Here are some pictures from our day today… This is the best one that I could get all day (L to R: Stevie, Aven & Bria)

And the making of this picture...

Opening gifts...

Bria enjoying her gift from Grandma Mary...

Aven enjoying her gift from Auntie Amy...

Stevie just enjoying :-)

Aven hoarding...

Bria...

Aven the diva...

Declan the ham...

Diva Aven again... this time with her tiara on :-)

Since I took off work, we went down to Princeton campus to meet up with Em at her work - and then went to dinner. What's wrong with this picture? Besides the fact that I wasn't doing anything since Andy had Declan on his shoulders and pulling the wagon.... Andy had shorts and a tshirt on - I mean seriously, it was COLD!!!

Lunch with Auntie Em!

And eating mac n cheese with their cupcakes with candles tonight... Declan helped them blow them out :-) (L to R: Stevie, Aven & Bria)

Pictures...

Well today we attempted to get the kids pictures done - professionally... Since girls will be 2, I wanted to get some good ones. Now, I have to say, my expectations were very low - I remember when Declan was 2, we didn't get a single one of him and had to leave without any... We came back and got some decent ones, but he set the bar very low. We went back to the same photographer that has taken the girls pictures previously and there is a chance we might have gotten one good one - but there is also a chance we got nothing :-) Regardless, the girls did pretty good, just weren't interested in standing still or smiling... I'm certain we got some pretty good ones of Declan though :-)

So I attempted to get some decent shots at home and here's the results... The girls with Papa and Grandma Judy... Likely the best picture all day! (L to R: Stevie, Bria & Aven)

Auntie Em and the girls (L to R: Aven, Stevie & Bria)

Me and the girls - it's so rare that I'm actually in a photo :-) (L to R: Aven, Stevie & Bria)

Me and Aven & Bria...

Me and Dec and Bria...

And Declan choking two of his sisters (Aven & Stevie)... Oh, and they also loved the balloons that Grandma Judy bought to have a little early celebration for their birthday :-)