Merry Christmas (A Day Late)

but I'm sure that is going to be pretty typical for awhile. Lateness. Something which I normally hate. But, such is life with 9 kids, 3 of them being newborn triplets.

Christmas was great. The kids let us sleep until 8:30am which is crazy. The kids were all thrilled with their gifts. I ask them every year which is their favorite gift. This year, Noah, our sweet child, said that the babies were his 3rd favorite gift. But first favorite was his Tony Hawk Ride for Wii. :) Madeline loved her canvas and paints. Juliette's favorite was her Ripstick. Joseph, his longboard. The little girls loved everything but the Zhu Zhu Pets seem to be a huge hit. My mom bought Annabel triplet dolls which she carries with her everywhere.

I'm in the process now of trying to convince my lovely husband that a bigger car is necessary. Not that I really want to drive around a "Jon & Kate Plus 8" vehicle, but when your 1 up on them, it's kind of a given. As it is now, we have to load the little girls then the babies. It's all good if we are going to just one place. But, if we need to take the little girls out for any reason, without taking out the babies, we have to climb in through the back window. Fun right? No, not really. Plus, we have to take 2 cars everywhere. That in itself isn't so bad, but it is a waste of gas, plus, family bonding time in the car isn't going to happen. So, if we end up with the "VAN" I'll be sure to post pics. As much as I don't want to be the soccer mom in the van, I think, at this point, I have to. Now, what will I do to counteract the soccer mom-van look? It seems I always want to do something drastic to my hair. So. Shave it to about an inch or two? Blue hair? Dreadlocks? Definitely something to think about. Especially since I've been wanting to loc my hair for like 2 years now. The van thing may be do-able. If I can rock the locs, I can rock a van. Right?

How Is Everyone Doing?

A question we get asked alot. We are all doing good. Everyone has adjusted well to the addition of the trio. Yep, even the little girls. Thankfully. They still maul them a bit in the mornings, but for the most part they are really good with them. They love them. Alot. But even Lilah has gotten much more gentle with them.

Our busy hectic life has resumed. Although it seems even more hectic with the holidays. Soccer practices, scrimmages, tournaments and parties. Juliette has been quite the social bug this season and is attending lots of holiday related activities. Madeline is catching up with friends that are in town for the holidays. Noah and Joseph are hanging out close to home. Aaron has the entire week off (Thank God)!

And in the life of the triplets? They are staying home. Eating. Sleeping. Growing. Although, Gwendolen did venture out with me for some last minute Christmas shopping. No worries, she was well contained in a pouch away from germy people. :) She was the lucky baby that got to go because she is the most demanding, less for Aaron to worry about.

So, you've been dying for pics right? Here you go..They are so so cute, if I do say so myself.

Rosalie, Gwendolen, Emilia

They love to be swaddled.

Extended Rear Facing (ERF)

Along with other things that are oh so good for our babies, breastfeeding, babywearing, delayed/selective/non-vaxing, and co-sleeping, this is one of the most critical. It's Extended Rear Facing in carseats. In the U.S., the recommendation is that you can turn babies forward at 1 year and 20 pounds. In Sweden, they leave their kids rear facing for 4-5 years. Once again, Europe is a step ahead with knowing what's good for their babies.

I'm not going to write alot about it, just watch this video. It tells you all you need to know. And please, if your child is forward facing, and should be rear facing still, turn them around, it could save their life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8gU9zzCGA8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWKm7SenDHU

The Good. The Bad. & The Ugly.

The Good. The girls are gaining weight well. Rosalie is up to 4#10oz, Gwendolen is up to 5#1oz, and Emilia is up to 6#. We no longer have to write down every ounce they consume. It is so much nicer. Rosalie is starting to look less like a cross between a Naked Mole Rat (according to her brother) and E.T and look more like a newborn baby. Mia is still a whole pound lighter than our lightest baby, yet compared to her sisters, she looks just huge.

The Bad. I'm still not exclusively breastfeeding. I'm still pumping. ALL.THE.DAMN.TIME. As a matter of fact, this stupid pump sees more action than my poor husband. I hate this pump. I want to love it since it does help for me to provide milk for the girls but I don't. I don't want to have to use it. I want the girls to not need me to use it, yet they do. It's so very frustrating. I truly didn't think it would be this hard. To breastfeed. I mean, that's what the boobs are there for, and I can't do it.

The Ugly. The thoughts that are going on in my crazy, post partum sleep deprived head. Bottle Feeding. Only. Pumping for as long as I can, and hoping for the best. That is UGLY. I mean no offense to those that chose to bottle feed, formula feed, whatever. It's just not for me. Human milk is meant for human babies. It's just how I feel. I think it would kill me to not be able to breastfeed these girls solely from my breasts, yet how I am going to get from point A to point B is still unanswered to me.

Not Alot Of Time Anymore

Wonder why? 3 new littles have nothing to do with that. Not. Life is busy busy busy. I cant believe how the day flies by. My days are spent pumping, feeding and sleeping. The girlies are good. Eating and sleeping. They are truly starting to show little personalities. Its so fun to see who they are.

Gwendolen is demanding. Aaron says she missed the memo that she's a triplet. She is always the first to wake to eat and the last to fall asleep. And she cries. More than the other girls. Gosh forbid if you don't get her food in her fast enough, she lets you know that she is waiting. And shes been waiting. Forever. She's almost funny, if she wasn't so demanding, we would laugh. As it is now, we service her every whim. We don't want her crying too much as she will burn too much energy. I keep telling her not to get too used to it, but I have a feeling, its falling on deaf ears.

Rosalie is a follower. Of Gwendolen. If Gwendolen cries, Rosalie does too. I keep telling her that if she's going to follow someone, that following someone a bit less of a trouble maker would be a good idea. She's not listening. And her cry is a tad high pitched. Luckily, its short and sweet. She make a tiny cry and then waits to see if anyone heard her. She also is the first to respond to Aaron's voice and/or mine. They only thing we have to do to get her to wake up is to talk to her.

Emilia is our "easy" one. I hate to label kids, but she is. I was hoping for a kick-backed relaxed one, and we got it. Emilia knows that she's a triplet and has decided to go with it instead of trying to resist it. She can be awake for a long time, staring around the room, and patiently waiting her turn. Oh, how I hope she stays this way.

We got some pics done from our photographer. Yes, I say "our photographer" because I love her and plan to have her do the babies and our other kids as much as possible. I'm posting just one here, just so that you can see how awesome they are. If you are our family, please just enjoy this pic, don't call me asking for a copy or to see the others. It IS almost Christmas you know. :)

Magenta- Gwendolen. Lime-Rosalie. Violet-Emilia.

A Plea For All Who Will Be Visiting Us...

This is going to sound harsh, but it is for the sake of our babies health. The Dr. gave us some "rules" for visitors and if your reading this and you will be visiting, please don't take offense, but follow our rules. Our babies are preemies and are very susceptible to any kind of illness at this time, especially during this Flu, RSV and H1N1 season.

The girls will be home TODAY!! We are all so excited! And we can't wait for everyone to meet them, but the rules need to be followed very closely.

1) If you are sick at all, even a sniffle, please do not come to see us.
2) If you smoke, please bring a change of clothing before you come into our house, especially your shirt. The smoke particles from your clothing can get into our babies lungs and make them very very sick.
3) Please wash your hands good, the minute you come into our home. Wash long and well, as far up your arms as you can.
4) No school aged children are allowed to visit. No exceptions. School aged kids are the germiest humans alive. No joke. I would be happy to hold the babies up to a window if they want to see them, but they cannot come in. Not for a few months.
5) Please be respectful of the fact that they are preemies. Alot of stimulus can cause them stress. If you call or stop by and want to visit, we may say no. Please understand. It may mean we've had a rough day, that we have had too many visitors or that the babies are just too tired to visit.

I know that all sounds like alot of stuff, but this preemie thing is a whole new ballgame for us. We just want our babies to stay healthy.

Thank you

Hypocrisy.

Yup. That's my word for the week. See post below then read this one.

I came home. I had to. I was so exhausted, that I couldn't even remember which baby was which. The Dr. came in one morning to see the babies, took one look at me, and told me to go home. He said that I was no good to anyone in the condition I was in. I thought that leaving my other kids was hard, this was just as difficult. Knowing that they were going to sleep without me there sucked. I've been there daily every morning and every night, I just come home to sleep but I am getting sleep, which is what I needed. They have good nurses that I love. LSC has been a great hospital. They made the NICU experience the best it could possibly be. I'm getting a good 8-9 hours sleep a night, waking up only to pump. But they come home tomorrow, (Eeek!) I am well rested and all is good!

On a lighter note, I must have the best friends and sister EVER. I am so blessed to have these people in my life. I don't know what I did to ever deserve such amazing friends, but God must be looking out for me lately. I don't know how I would have gotten through these past 6 months without them. Today I came home to the cleanest house ever. They rearranged everything to make it so that we could really live here. The little girls have an awesome playroom. The babies have their place and we have a living area. The older kids have their TV area. It is really conducive to our family life.

Miranda, Amber, Tiffany, Heidi, Kayle and Cindy, I love you guys so much. Thank you for all the help, support and love. We are truly blessed. The babies have come into this world with so many people who love them and our family. I am literally in tears as I realize how lucky we have been this past few months. Lucky so many times.

I will try to post tomorrow after we get them home and settled and with more pictures. Now I am off to do some pumping, then head to the hospital to give the girls a kiss goodnight. :)