Happy October!

Hello All!

You probably don't check this anymore and rightfully so...but just in case you do here are a few pics to make you smile!

What a Special Day!

I feel SO special! Did Dot really make this basket just for me?

April 8th, 2009

Thanks to everyone for the fabulous birthday wishes! Thank you for the cards, e-mails, comments, text messages, singing, cookie arrangements, balloons, etc...We had an exciting day and we can't believe we have two more parties to celebrate.

This morning I videotaped each baby waking up and took pictures and video throughout the day. We had a fun morning wearing party hats and sneaking a little cupcake before dinner. We read two new books "Hand, Hand, Finger, Thumb" and "Are You My Mother?". We played, listened to music, danced and partied all day long.

Grandma came to spend the day with us and she brought over some presents (cute, cute, cute outfits). Then Auntie K and Britta (HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!) showed up with balloons, a card and a new book. A little bit later Dot, Sue and Kathy came by with the most amazing Easter baskets ever. Dot actually made the baskets and they are BEAUTIFUL (as you can see from the pictures). Inside the baskets Sue had bought the babies each a GAP sweatsuit and an Easter book. Boy oh boy...that family sure does know how to spoil us. Of course along with those baskets and gifts came a container of Dot's famous lemon blossoms (a favorite for Paul and I...we actually hide them from each other).

Then the doorbell rang...on the other side of the door was the biggest cookie bouquet you have ever seen (check out the picture). That bouquet was from our triplet friends, the Cunninghams: John, Debbie, Hayden, Morgan and Landon. Yum! Yum! They will be turning one on the 22nd of this month. We sure hope to have a play date with them someday.

Daddy and Grandpa came home from work and we had some pancakes for dinner. Aidan was so funny. He would eat them, but wasn't crazy about picking them up himself. Then we stripped the babies and gave them each a birthday cupcake. Oh, what fun!! Aidan was rather neat about the whole thing. Sissy dug right in and didn't stop eating until we started cleaning them up. Calahan preferred to play with the cupcake and smear it all around. We get to relive this excitement on the 19th at our family party and again on June 13th for our big birthday bash!!

Tomorrow we are having our pictures taken by Greta Myers, a fabulous photographer with two year old triplets. Friday we have an all day brachial plexus palsy clinic for Calahan and Sunday is Easter. What a busy week! I am tired just thinking about it, or maybe I am just plain tired.

Thanks again for all of your love and support this past year. We are very fortunate to have so many wonderful people in our lives.

And once again, Happy Birthday Aidan, Brooklyn and Calahan! You are my world! I love you!

Happy Birthday Babies!!

April 7th, 2009

As Paul and I sit here and reminisce about where we were and what we were doing exactly one year ago today I am overwhelmed with emotion. Our sweet babies are turning one in only a few short hours. Thank you GOD!!

As we look back on the birth of the babies it was a day of joy, but also a day of uncertainty and wonder. The first two months of their lives were among the most difficult for us; the beeping machines, brain bleeds, open vessels near the heart, bilirubin levels, medications, possible infections, spinal taps, blood transfusions, all more than I thought I could handle. But God walked Paul and I through it, holding our hand all the while. Looking back, it is only through the grace of God that we survived that time. Seeing those poor helpless babies and knowing there was nothing we could do, but trust the doctors and nurses and give them our love and affection through a glass window. How horrible it was not to be able to touch them and love them. How awful it felt to leave the NICU every night without our babies; frightened every time the phone rang worrying that something might be wrong with one of our three fragile babies. The first few months home were scary as well. With a return trip to the ER for Aidan and constantly worrying if someone was going to stop breathing.

A rocky start...yes, to say the very least! But no doubt the most wonderful miracle of our lives! We have loved watching these three little ones grow and change before our very eyes. Simply put...they are amazing! Completely amazing! Words cannot begin to express our love for these little ones. They are everything to us. I consider myself the luckiest woman in the world.

Thank you God! Thank you for choosing me to be the mother of these three angels. I love every day, every minute that I spend with them. My heart is overflowing with love and I couldn't be happier...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AIDAN, BROOKLYN and CALAHAN!!

You are loved more than you will ever know.

GO GREEN!

April 4, 2009

Mommy is a Spartan and she said when we grow up we all need to be Spartans too!

GO GREEN! GO WHITE!

Hoppy Easter!

April 2, 2009

Happy Birthday to our COUSIN CAMERON (a day late)! Our April Fool's cousin just turned FOUR! He is such a big boy and we all look up to him. Cameron is our good buddy and we can't wait to get into some trouble with him.

We also went to visit the Easter Bunny yesterday. We had a great time and then we went to lunch at Max and Erma's. Of course Mommy and Daddy needed back up so Grandma and Grandpa came too. What an exciting day!

Today it was so nice outside. Nana and cousin Madison came over and we played at the park and took a nice long walk. We sure did need this nice weather! We hope it is here to stay.

Happy Easter to Everyone!

XO~OX~XO

A few pics and a helmet

March 25, 2009

Hello to All!

We are still just waiting for some warm weather! Calahan is getting a helmet on April 3rd. He has scaphocephaly (a boat shaped head). My sweet little boy will have to wear the helmet for 23 hours a day for four to six months. Bummer for me because I love to kiss his sweet little head, but we want to give it a try (it may or may not work). Other than that, all is well!

Have a great day!

50!

March 16, 2009

Dear Aunt Debbie-

HAPPY 50th BIRTHDAY!

We think you are amazing! Thank you for loving us like you do. We love you right back!

Here are 50 reasons why:

1. Your fun to cuddle with

2. You give us lots of hugs

3. You rock us

4. You like to spend time with us

5. You come to the doctor with us

6. You let our mom take showers (thank you!)

7. You feel bad when we are sick

8. You are kind and caring

9. You are generous and loving

10. You play with us

11. You call to check on us

12. You miss us when you are not here

13. You think we're cute

14. You feed us breakfast

15. You feed us lunch

16. You feed us yogurt for snack

17. You are proud of us when we do new things

18. You are always amazed at how we have grown

19. You comfort us when we are sad

20. You brag about us

21. You watch the "Monkeydoos" with us

22. You change our diapers

23. You show our pictures off to others

24. You get us dressed

25. You are very prompt

26. You talk in such a loving voice to us

27. You teach us new things

28. You like to think about us

29. You always know what to do to make us smile

30. You give us our pacis

31. You give love and cuddles to Daisy too

32. You give mommy time to get stuff done

33. You always use hand sanitizer to keep us healthy

34. You hold us

35. You feed us our bottles

36. You give us toys to play with

37. You put bibs on us so we don't get messy

38. You burp us

39. You look forward to watching us grow and change

40. You take us for walks in our stroller

41. You go to the park with us

42. You push us on the swings

43. You clean up after us when we spit up

44. You give so much of your time to us

45. You're always so happy

46. You are a beautiful person inside and out

47. You love us (and we love you!)

48. You are SO helpful to our mommy (she REALLY loves you!)

49. You think the world of us (and we think the world of you!)

50. You would do anything for us (and we would do anything for you!)

P.S. For those of you that don't know our Aunt Debbie; that's a bummer because she is great! She is our neighbor that lives across the street from us and she dedicates three days a week to loving us. Now THAT is awesome and we are so blessed to have her in our lives. Thank you, Aunt Debbie! We love you!

Have a wonderful birthday!

Hugs and Kisses,

Aidan, Brooklyn and Calahan

(Dada, Momma and Daisy Girl too)

Sorry!

Hello Everyone!

I just decided this morning to go private. I was a little bit worried about the people that were accessing our blog in other countries and such. There seemed to be some funny business going on in Mexico and Sao Paulo.

I have a whole lot of personal information on here and I got nervous. So, sorry for the inconvenience, but you will have to sign in to read about us from now on. If I have forgotten anyone, have them e-mail me and I will add them to the list (unfortunately I have to be choosie because I can only invite 100 people--we have WAY more friends than that).

Have a great day!! Again, sorry for the inconvenience.

PUFFS

So BIG!

No...Seriously...Where is my puff?

I can't find it anywhere???

Oh well!

Almost Eleven Months

March 6, 2009

So I know most people have given up on me. FINALLY we are all healthy! Since my last post we had to take Aidan and Calahan back to the doctor. Both of the boys had ear infections. More pink amoxicillin. We have also taken Calahan to an occupational therapist twice. He has brachial plexus palsy in his left arm. Brachial plexus palsy occurs when there is a stretch to the nerves in the neck that originate from the spinal cord and run down the arm. These nerves supply information to the arm to move and to feel. So his arm is a bit limp or weak. Calahan's case is mild and will most likely be corrected with exercises at home, a few visits to the OT and to the brachial plexus clinic. We have also taken Calahan to the pulmonologist where he was diagnosed with mild bronchopulmonary dysplasia. This basically means that he has inflammation in his airways and we will use an inhaler with a chamber twice a day to help keep the airways open. He will also have a lung function test in three months.

Other than that...

Aidan is crawling all over the place. He has a rug burn on his chin from dragging it along. He says "mama, dada and baba". Mr. A. loves to stand up in the pack-n-play (holding onto the side, of course). He still loves to make his monster noises and he is ALL BOY! Aidan is exhausted by 6 o'clock and he is ready for bed. He can barely drink his bottle. He sleeps o.k. through the night, but come 5 am he is ready to start his day and usually wakes up crying.

Brooklyn has been busy. She claps most of the day. She raises her arms to "So Big" and she just started waving a few days ago. Sometimes she likes to try and do all three of these things at once. She also loves to dance and is a big fan of Anoop. She jammed to "his prerogative" and was relieved when they kept in him in the top thirteen. Brooklyn is a night owl and likes to stay up till 9 or 10 (later than her mommy). She loves to sleep in until 8 or 9; one day this week she slept until 9:30. It takes her awhile to wake up in the morning and she just plays with the pacifiers in her bed and talks until she is ready to get up. She is always smiling when she wakes up.

Calahan is so laid back. He can play for hours by himself. He has mastered sitting up and he just popped his first tooth. Calahan does not like the crunchy paper on the exam tables at the doctor's office. He has made this quite clear. He is so sweet and wherever we go people comment on his cuteness. Of course, Calahan is a wonderful sleeper. He goes to bed whenever you lay him down at night and he usually wakes up between 6 and 7 am with a smile on his face.

The babies also celebrated their Daddy's 32nd birthday!! What a change one year has made.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY! We love you!

Breathing treatments, steroids and amoxicillin...OH MY!

Poor sick Sissy

Our Tiger Gear - Thanks Britta!

February 17th, 2009

Steroids, breathing treatments, amoxicillin, baby tylenol, kleenex, oragel, baby motrin, nasal aspirator...these are a few of our favorite things.

There are six of us in the house and five of us are or have been sick. The only one that has managed to stay healthy is Daisy (the dog). Brooklyn got sick while we were in Florida and kept us awake for two nights in a row. The flight home was horrible. She was screaming and thrashing around. So much so that the flight attendant told me to take her into the bathroom while we were landing. I had a doctor's appointment scheduled for her the following day to find out that she had a double ear infection. Poor baby!

The boys decided the following night that they missed U of M and wanted to make an emergency trip to the ER. Both of them were having great difficulty breathing around midnight. Aidan also had a terrible cough. We spent five hours in emergency. Aidan was sent to triage first, but Calahan was given the green light to skip right to the room. They immediately gave him three back to back breathing treatments. The doctor said it was the equivalent of us drinking 12 cups of coffee. That poor boy was as high as a kite. His eyes were popping out of his head and his arms and legs were going 100 mph. Aidan received one breathing treatment and both boys started on steroids. They were able to keep their stats up for four hours so we were sent home with more breathing treatments and steroids. Diagnosis: Aidan-croup, Calahan-bronchiolitis (possibly from RSV).

All three babies got bad colds within a day or two of each other. It started with watery eyes, then a runny nose, a rattle in their breathing and a cough. Along with this...NO SLEEP! Paul and I also got colds.

I believe that we are on the upswing now. The babies are on the mend. Paul and I are feeling better too. It was a ROUGH GO for awhile and there were days I was sure that I was losing my mind.

In other news, Brooklyn popped her first tooth while we were on vacation and another one has sprouted since then. This past Sunday Aidan got his third tooth. I believe that Calahan is also working on his first tooth. Aidan said "dada" and "mama" in the same day! These babies are incredible!

We hope this post finds you happy and healthy!

We Made It!

The triplets with their cousins at the airport in Detroit.

The babies first time in "real" highchairs.

This is fun Grandpa!

Sissy loved spending time with Daddy in the pool.

Swimming with Uncle J

Thanks to Rebecca and Aunt Karen for letting us borrow your strollers.

That Minnie is so cute!

Mickey can't believe we have triplets! He visited our table more than once.

Pluto was amazed by the triplets too.

Let's have some fun!

February 3rd, 2009

We are in Florida. Getting through the airport was an experience. Lugging around three babies, baggage for three babies and for mom and dad is no easy task. Going through security was a little bit difficult but overall...doable (as long as you bring along Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt, Uncle and cousins). The plane ride went pretty well. Brooke slept for the majority of the trip. Aidan and Cal catnapped, played and fussed some.

The weather isn't as nice as we hoped it would be, but we are having a blast. We are very busy. Yesterday the babies got to go swimming for the first time and they loved it. They also had their first showers later on and they loved those as well. Little fishies!

This morning Auntie K and Uncle J treated us to breakfast with Mickey. It was a whirlwind of a morning because just as Mickey and some of the other characters came to visit us the babies were hungry. It was crazy, but so much fun! Grandma bought the babies cute Mickey and Minnie bibs. Then we headed over to Legoland and downtown Disney but it was a bit too cold for the babies so we brought them back to our villa. Thanks to the Wellers, Grandma and Grandpa for a fun filled morning.

One thing is for certain...three babies sure do attract a lot of attention.