Daddy has to Travel & Mommy is just Sick about it!!

This week Joe had to travel for the 1st time since the babies were born. Typically, he has to fly somewhere about once a week since the sales territory he covers is mostly to the west of Denver. Everyone kept asking if I thought it would be OK on my own and I assumed it would be just fine. I had Anne coming over each afternoon while he was gone to help feed the babies and allow me to get JP from wherever he was at. Well, on Tuesday morning I awoke to a very tight sore throat and not feeling so well. I assumed the air conditioning got to me and thought maybe the lack of sleep was catching up. I told Joe I would be fine and at 8am he took JP over to Nonnies (his old babysitters) to play with Ally for the morning and then off to the airport.

By 12:00 of trying to nap when the babies did, I started to feel worse. I had terrible chills and my body was aching all over. It was 96 degrees in Denver and when Anne arrived I had a shawl and blanket and socks on. I think she thought I was not only sick but a little crazy! I was able to make it through getting JP at Nonnies and saying goodbye to Anne. I then started to get really hot and realized I had a temperature of 100.4. JP and I made it through the night though. (He used his doctor's kit on me to make me feel better) The babies were so understanding :) Either that or I just zoned out any fussiness that occurred!

The next day JP said of course he didn't want to go to summer camp b/c he was sick. The excuse of the day. He loves it once he is there, but usually 2 days out of 3 he has to tell me why he cannot go that day. I sent him on his way with our neighbor Lucy and her son and laid down when the babies napped. I started wearing a medical mask around them because I was afraid they would get whatever virus I got. Then, a call came at about 10:30 that JP had thrown up at school. Our neighbor Lucy to the rescue again to hang out a couple minutes at our house while I went and got JP. I said "I wouldn't touch anything around here if I were you!"

Come to find out later several kids threw up that day at school. JP did hang out on the couch most of the day, but seemed to be doing better by the end of the night. He thankfully did not seem to have what I did. Luckily, Joe came home at 9pm that night and did the 9:30 feeding for me. Boy, was I ready for him to be home. My fever broke that night and I had to change PJ's 2 time because I was so soaked! The next day the flu like symptoms seemed to be mostly gone, but my throat hurt so much I decided to go to the doctor. Diagnosis: strep throat! Don't think I've had this since I was a kid. I heard the nurse say in the hallway to the doctor: "See, sometimes you do see strep throat pop up in the summer!" At least they could give me the antibiotic and now 2 days later I am on the mend. Luckily babies rarley get this and so far- knock on wood- no one else seems to have gotten it either.

Joe has to travel this next week too and now I know I will be fine. If I can take care of 4 kids when I'm deathly ill, I should be pretty darn good when I'm healthy!

We now have the babies on a 4 hour schedule: 9:30,1:30, 5:30 and it seems to be going good. The babies usually cry it out a bit when we put them down at 8pm until the 9:30 feeding. Then they go 5 hours until 2:30am for the next feeding. Dare I say we're starting to see the light at the end of the nightly feedings??

Great news!! We got a call this week & with 98% accuracy JP does not have diabetes- Yeah!!!

Funny story of week: Stapleton has a community wide garage sale and JP was dying to go. He put all off his money from his bank in a ziploc and was waiting for me to take him around the block so he could find a treasure of his own. He was in my room waiting for me to get dressed and this is how the conversation went:
"Mom you have a lot of lines on your stomach."
"Yep, its from when the babies were in me and my tummy got stretched out."
"Oh. (silence) you know what it looks like?"
"No what does it look like? (thinking this is going to be good)"
"It looks like your stomach got run over by a car."
(thanks buddy :~) ) "I guess it does."
"Did it hurt?"
"Yes it did actually."
JP then crinkled up his stomach and said "Look I have lines in my stomach too!"
BTW: he found a brand new sing along CD player at the sale for $5 from one of our neighbors and he was in heaven!!




















The kids played "monkey in the middle" with the new rugs Aunt Erin sent.

























Caitlin looking pretty in her dress and new slippers from Aunt Erin




















We got a new little pillow that helps us feed the babies all at once. I told Joe that I think Caitlin likes it. Joe said she of course she does, she likes anything with polka dots!


















Here's an old picture of JP and one of Ryan. People ask if Ryan looks like JP did. We say- not really!

The Triplets are 2 Months Old!

Yesterday was 2 months since the babies were born. We took them to the pediatrician today and they are all doing great! They are all continuing to eat well and grow, grow, grow. Ryan now weighs 11lbs 6oz. and is in the 50th percentile of height and weight for a regular term 2 month old! The girls remain smaller- Catilin is 7lbs 13oz. and Madison is 7lbs even. They are just under the 3rd percentile for height and weight, but their growth has been very good and the doctor is very happy. After we finish our supply of preemie formula the girls can start regular. Developmentally, the kids are doing great too. All will follow me with their eyes. Things are getting trickier now because they can see when I am holding or feeding a baby that is not them. They can start to fuss at me with their eyes fixed on the bottle if they see me putting it in someone elses mouth, even if they just ate!

The only issue we seem to have is that Ryan has a flat head. It probably started when he was squished inside me and now he definitely favors one side. The good news is that he still can turn his head OK, so we are going to try and encourage him to lay on the other side to even things out. If it continues to be flat, he may have to wear a molding helmet for a few months. They each got 5 immunizations and took them like little champs.

We still have not heard a definitive answer regarding JP having type 1 diabetes, but we're thinking that he does not have it. Based on the finger pokes and glucose testing we did over 4th of July weekend, the doctor at the Diabetes Center said she does not think he has it. We'll update once we hear for sure, but right now we are not worrying about it. Today Joe and I were cracking each other up at the doctor's office while we were waiting on the shots to come. Ryan only makes one poop a day and works so hard to get it out. Well, he was grunting during our visit and Joe and I started encouraging him saying "You can do it buddy, let's leave them something to remember you by." Joe said they would walk in and say "That's not an air freshener, you know" and I said "Yeah- that one's for making us go to the diabetes center!"

On Sunday, a few of my relatives came by for a visit. My Aunt Jean, cousins Sara and Shelley, and Shelley's daughter Kate spent a few hours meeting the triplets and catching up with us and Anne & Sean. They were vacationing from Illinois and were staying in Colorado Springs where Sara now lives. We love to see family and always have fun catching up on what everyone is doing.

On Tuesday morning, we had to say goodbye to Grandmom and Pop. After 2 weeks, they had to go back home. We had a nice visit and they were so much help. The babies and JP really loved all the attention. Joe and I got a lot of help with the feedings and some extra sleep too! I especially appreciated helping keep our flowers outside alive and the plants out front from growing out of control. It's up to me to keep watering them now- wish me luck!!



















JP and I had fun taking pictures of the trio yesterday. Below are some of our shots:























Grandmom calming the masses.

























Little Boy. Big Chair



















A fun reunion.

























Kate feeding Cait

Happy 4th of July! Another Great Week (well, except for Thursday)

We've had a fun week-most of it that is. I'll get to Thursday shortly...

On Monday we had lots of visitors. In the afternoon, friends that I used to work with- Ellen and Merrillyn came to see the babies bringing lunch and gifts. Later that evening Aunt Anne & Uncle Sean came by with dinner. I think people have realized we love not having to make meals!! Then, at 9:30 pm Grandmom and Pop arrived for a 2 week stay from Massachusetts. They jumped right in and helped Joe with the 11pm feeding that night!

On Tuesday, we had 2 doctors appointments. Grandmom and Pop held down the fort as I went in for my 6 week and final perinatolgist appt and JP went for his 6 week check of his tubes. My appointment went well. I am healing up nicely and can start doing some exercise now. The scale says I have less than 5lbs to lose and its still all in my stomach. I know it will never be the same, but I have 3 beautiful babies, so I'm not complaining. It was actually a little sad saying goodbye to the staff and doctors we got to know so well. I gave Dr. Lindsay a hug and promised to send pictures. At JP's ear appt., we first met with an audiologist who tested his hearing. I just laughed because she did not say his hearing was "good", she used the words "great" and "perfect". I told him I've got his number now, because when he says "what?" when I ask him something I now know that he is just choosing not to listen to me! His tubes look good and seem to be working.

On Thursday morning, JP and I went to his 5 year well child checkup at the pediatrician's office. They asked for a urine sample when we arrived and that's when the day took a turn for the worse. Within a few minutes, a nurse came in and took a blood glucose sample from his finger. It read 274, which is very, very high. With the high amount of sugar in his urine, they thought we needed to go see someone that same day to see if JP has diabetes. Diabetes?? That is just about the last thing I expected to hear. Sometimes even I wonder how I hold it together when being told things like this. So, at 1pm we were at the Barbara Davis Center for Juvenile Diabetes here in Denver. When they took his blood sample, they were encouraged that the number had gone down and another test showed that levels of antibodies that would be fighting off the insulin did not appear to be accumulating in his blood over the past 3 months. He did still have elevated levels in his urine though. We were sent home with a blood glucose monitor to take 2x's a day over the weekend. The doctor does feel that there is a chance that JP could have elevated levels due to a virus. Kind of a fluke thing, but that morning Joe complained of a sore throat and actually did have a fever when we were at the doctor's office. We will get the official blood results back in 1-2 weeks that will tell us 96% for sure whether he has it or not. His sugar levels over the weekend tested within the normal range which is encouraging. The doctor said if he does have it, it may be at the very early non-symptomatic stages. So his body has not destroyed all the insulin yet. But she did say that there is nothing we can do to stop it if he does, so we are just praying that he doesn't have have to do shots everyday for the rest of his life. (I told you Thursday wasn't good.)

On Friday morning we went up to the Stapleton's 4th of July parade. In our neighborhood they do a parade around Central Park with kids, people and animals from the neighborhood. JP decorated his bike for the occasion. He had American flags, ribbons, signs, and some red and blue plastic frogs :) taped on. He rode with Daddy and Grandpop while Grandmom and I watched with the kids in the triple stroller. It was a nice event and all the kids got bomb pops at the end. We did cause a little stir with the triplets, but everyone was very nice and I heard several nice comments like "Way to go Mom!"

On Saturday we had a barbecue at our house. We celebrated Pop's birthday with a wonderful coconut cake Grandmom made. We had a great time and there were plenty of kids. If you wanted to hold a baby, this was the place to be with 5 under the age of 1!

We're having a great time with Joe's parents and they've already been such a big help. We joke though that the kids are going to go through withdrawls when they leave with all the attention. That's OK though, because as Grandmom says, this time goes by so fast. They are already getting so big its amazing!

Here are a few photos from the week:
























JP after the parade



















Joe's work sent us these outfits for the triplets- too cute!



























While Ryan and Caitlin sleep the day away.. Maddi will play!



















And here are plenty more... http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=11inays5.bpa0dbgt&x=0&y=d1ut2f&localeid=en_US