a few reasons for this post.....

Reason #1: To share this video with you all....sorry about taking it sideways...but it's worth the strain in your neck to see it!

Reason #2: I need a fully functioning partner...and haven't had one for a week!

Josh hurt his back. Not doing anything specific. He's had a bulging disk, and it just decided to flare up this week. But this time, by "flare up" i mean, laying on the floor or the couch-all day, writhing in pain, not sleeping well, and trying to fight being treated as a 'patient' instead of a 'big-boy'. All you women out there know that men are not good patients to start out with, but i think this back issue is even worse than being sick. He feels like he should be fine...until he tries to do something....but he's so stubborn that he tries to do those 'somethings' way too often! He's been to the dr, had an mri, but at this point his next scheduled visit is thursday with the chiropractor (who just stretches him out....not solving the problem), and SEPTEMBER 8TH (that's a long time a way!) with the potential surgeon to get a steroid shot. I have finally accepted that i will get less sleep than i like, and have to do all the chores by myself, but i need him back before sept. 8th!!! even when he works, i can count on him helping with dishes, making formula, laundry, trash, picking up around the house etc. etc.....but all he's good for this week (which is better than nothing!) is getting a baby placed on his belly and handed a bottle, all while he lays on the floor to feed them. He's a great cuddler too, so the babies are happy to cuddle up on his chest if they are fussy so i can get some things done, but i can only take so much of this routine!!! (sorry had to vent!)

Still able to do a few "daddy" things from the floor....

Or the couch...

Reason #3: It's ok to be a stalker. (at least the secret blog follower type!) (but not in a creepy sort of way...so if you are a creeper and follow our blog, STOP!)

What i mean is that when Josh and I write these blog updates, we really don't know who reads them. It goes out into cyberspace, and is fair game to whomever finds it! We have 35 "followers" (which means you have signed up on our blog to follow us), but everywhere we go, we find more people who read them religiously! Which is fun! I'm glad people think we are at least semi-interesting and take the time to check and see if we've updated. I actually follow a handfull of blogs too....some of people i know, and some of people i don't know. My absolute favorite blog is one i stumbled upon of a lady who lives in California who has triplet 4 year olds and a 2 year old.....who i refer to as "my friend jen". The catch is, she's not really my friend....b/c she doesn't know me, and i just know her through her blog. But she is such a good writer and never has a dull moment! I check at least once a day for an update, and was really upset when she went on vacation for over a week with no updates!!! So i do feel sorry for you if you look forward to an update from us daily, and don't get one nearly as often as you'd like! Sometimes it's because we're too busy (duh!), but othertimes it's just because we dont' really know what to write. The kids are great, they're eating, sleeping, pooping, smiling, and sometimes crying....but that's all typical baby stuff, and unless we go on an outing, or something major happens, we don't feel like we have too much excitement to write about! I know there are more than 35 of you out there that read this....but we don't know who you are! BUT, there is a place to comment on our blog. After you read it, you can add a comment...so if there's ever any questions you would like us to answer in a blog, or comments you have to make, PLEASE DO! Don't be a secret stalker like i am!

Here i am with the bottle propped under my chin so i can scroll through 'my friend jen's' blog with the other hand!

a few comparisons

Little Zach 3 months ago on 5/6/09.....Zach today, 8/9/o9

Little Avery on 5/6/09...................and today

Colby and daddy 5/6/09...........and today

(that was 2 updates in 1 day! hope it holds you over for a while! =)

4 month old babies!!!

My arms are full of love!!

updates from the dr on 8/7/09...

Avery (aka "S.F.P." (sissy fussy pants), "beautiful girl")-11lbs 4oz....10th %ile in height and weight for a 4 month old!


Colby (aka "monster", "big un", "happy boy")-13lbs 9.5oz...25th %ile for height and weight for a 4 month old!

Zachary (aka "Zach-man", "Zacher")-12lbs .5oz...10th %ile in weight and 25th %ile for height for a 4 month old!

All 3 are VERY healthy babies! We got the 'ok' to stop the high calorie formula, no more vitamins, will be starting rice cereal in about a month, and fruits and veggies shortly after that! They are sleeping at least 7 hours through the night....so that makes it nice for us! I just can't believe how fast time is flying by!


The babies are growing more into their own personalities by the day...and the boys have done a switch-er-oo since they were born. Initially, we called Zach "mr. laid back" and Colby was a little more high maintenance....but now Zach is a little more whiney and as long as Colby has a full belly, he's the happiest little smiley guy! Colby talks a lot too...even more than his sister! (i don't expect that to last long!!) and Avery has maintained her princess status....still needy, drama and high maintenance....but too cute for words! When she's in a good mood...she's in a GREAT mood. She has a little laugh that sounds like a cough, but is definitely a laugh. Zach has been smiling more and more too. He was the last to smile, but now does it a lot and loves to have his cheeks played with! He's still the most active and will probably be the first to crawl and tear around the house!

We have continued with our outings....have gone to dinner a few more times, went on some walks, went to the park, and went shopping...without daddy this time =) (but we had lots of hands to help!!) Last week, my Aunt Lisa, Uncle Tom and their family from Florida (aka the extra hands while we were shopping!) came to visit. They were over just about every night to hang out with me and the babies! It was so nice to have the extra hands around...but even nicer to have people to talk to! It gets a little lonely talking to the babies with no response all the time!

We also had a great visit with my mom's side of the family...and all the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th (and probably more) cousins! It was a beautiful day, the babies were in great moods and loved all the attention, and it was nice to be out of the house!!

Fun at the park...

Our Happy Family!

The reason we are so happy...

I HATE THE MALL!!!

From the title, you can probably guess this is Josh writing. I know I haven't posted an update for a while but Kara has been doing a heck of a job keeping everyone updated. I apologize for not updating but life has kind of returned to normal (if there is such a thing). As you saw from the last post we are now able to go out to a nice dinner and take the kids along. We have taken the kids to a couple parks for outdoor concerts and they have even been to the mall. So we havent' had as much time to sit at the computer and update the blog as we did before.

I know some of you that read this are parents of triplets or quads so this doesn't apply to you. For all of you that don't have multiples let me give you a piece of advise. If you find yourself walking through the mall, grocery store, or even Bass Pro shop and see someone walking with a triplet stroller, DON'T...I repeat DO NOT go running after it like a luney toon screaming STOP STOP...TRIPLETS?!?! IS THAT TRIPLETS?!?!

Yes that actually happened today at the Tri County mall. The trip started off innocently enough. We got a few comments, a lot of looks and even the regular questions (did you plan for trips, do triplets run in your family, did you try for triplets etc.) Then the lady of the day. Kara was in the changing room at Macy's and Avery was fussy because the stroller sat idle for all of about 4 seconds. As long as the wheels on the stroller are moving the babies stay content. So because Avery was fussy I was trying to keep the stroller moving. As I am walking down an isle I hear a lady start yelling "STOP", not knowing she was yelling at me but I knew she was yelling in my direction. Naturally I ignore her and keep walking. All of a sudden I see an older lady (who with her screaming blue shirt and shoes looked like an overstuffed blueberry) run towards me and stop directly in the path of the stroller cutting me of. She then exclaims (TRIPLETS!! Really TRIPLETS!?!?! I have never seen triplets before! UGH, had we been standing at the top of an escalator bank, I may have just shoved her down them. Not only for making a scene but as soon as the wheels stopped, Avery and Zach both melted and started crying. I started to imagine squashing blueberry's between my thumb and finger. I bit my tongue though and was trying to be outwardly pleasant with a hint of subtle disgust. After she oogled and slobbered for a few moments she returned to her own little world of shopping not even realizing what trauma she had just put my little ones though by making the wheels stop turning.

The moral of the story.....Look from a distance but never get in the path of the stroller, you might get squashed.

no fair =(

My babies are growing up too fast!!! =( tonight i put them to bed in their own room. in thier big kid cribs. to sleep without me right next to them. and them not next to me. i don't like it. they are getting so big and doing so well....which should make me happy, and it does, but the days are just FLYING by!

(and no, this isn't how they slept....just how they snuggled up before moving to their sleep positioners)

just in the past week or so, we have started to get some smiles....which i have been waiting for for a long time! they are still pretty few and far between...so the coordination of having the camera in hand and getting the picture taken at just the right time is hard, but i have gotten a few...here's avery and colby

And last week, July 9th, Josh and I celebrated 4 years of marriage. Last year...we celebrated with a fancy dinner at the Precinct...

and who would have known that just one year later, this is what our celebration would have looked like...

we had a great dinner out with the babies at Carrabba's, and really had a great reason to celebrate this year!

and now, that i am gonna actually have to get out of bed to take care of the little ones, i'm going to bed....hopefully will post more soon!!

zach is still tagged!

So after getting 3 hours of sleep last night (in 3 separate 'stretches'), making sure to wake zach up when he was allowed to eat and forcing food down his throat, changing his clothes so he was ready to go, waking up an equally as sleepy daddy, and packing up all our bags, we made it to Children's hospital by 10:15 this morning. (keep in mind i'm not usually out of bet until 11:30 or so!)
Everything seemed to be on time, we had nurses in and out getting his vitals and getting us set up in the room and taking down all our information...then the nurse anesthesis came in and went through her routine. about 1/2 way through, she said "you're here for an outpatient procedure right?", and i replied "yes". She did some calculations, and said that anestheology's policy is that if a baby's real age (adding gestational weeks to age...32+12 in our case) is less than 60 weeks, they have to stay over night to be monitored and observed due to the higher risk of complications with being put to sleep. WAIT A SECOND HERE!! Josh and i were under the impression that it was a quick, harmless procedure, we would be home this afternoon, and we weren't imposing any unnecessary risks to our baby. But then we had to make a decision...do we go on with the procedure and make arrangements for one of us to spend the night with him at the hospital, or wait until he's past the 60 week mark and do it then. Our surgeon came in and said either way would be fine-he hadn't ever seen any complications come out of the cases he'd done for babies under 60 weeks, but it wouldn't hurt him to wait either-since there were no signs of the skin tag bothering him or causing any problems. I hate making these kind of decisions! Josh hates making these kind of decisions and left it at "i'm fine with either option". I felt the pressure of being mom! but i also felt the role of being mom-keeping your babies safe, and was not willing to risk complications-even if the chance was slim-for something that wasn't urgent to get off.
So we're home, tired, and Zach still has his skin tag....but doesn't know any difference-just got some extra Q.T. with mom and dad.

i've got big babies!!

Zach

Colby

Avery

So just to refresh...12 weeks ago at birth, Zach was the smallest at 3lbs.4oz, then Avery at 3lbs.6oz, and Colby at 3lbs.11oz. Today we went for their 3 month check up. Now, Avery is the smallest at NINE POUNDS TWO OUNCES, then Zach at NINE POUNDS FIFTEEN AND A HALF OUNCES and Colby at TEN POUNDS TWO OUNCES!!!! They even made the growth chart for their age in both height and weight!!! (at 2nd and 3rd%ile!) So i guess it makes sense that we no longer wear newborn size diapers or clothes!!

They really enjoy tummy time and are getting really strong! Here are a few examples! I haven't caught Zach in action, but the nurse warned us yesterday that he is very strong and wiggly and we shouldn't leave him unattended b/c who knows where he'll end up!

We've also been getting out of the house a little more...sometimes with all 3 babies, sometimes 2 and sometimes one!All of us at the park for Mamaw's band concert

Avery at Target

Zach at Kroger

We even took our first trip to Tipp City to see grandma and grandpa! Here's a pic of Colby watching the race with his grandpa!

One of their new favorites is being "fan dorks". They are so intrigued-moving or not-and stare...and stare....and stare. Good thing we have fans in just about every room of the house!

Also, this week we got to meet a new friend and another new friend was born! Michelle finally had baby Isabella Marie on sunday the 28th. I went and spent the day at the hospital with her on Monday, so josh and the babies were home alone! Mid afternoon i got a text message of my adorable babies that daddy had gotten dressed and ready for the day. He's such a great daddy! (He even put Avery's headband on!!!)

And here's Jackie and her baby Zach (Sitting next to my baby Zach!!) when they came to visit. He was born 2 weeks after my babies, and we're working on catching up to him size-wise...but not too far behind!

Someday, i'm going to have to print an organize the thousands of pictures i take...but for now, i'll just post them on here for everyone to oogle!!

Can you read her shirt?

What about theirs?

Also, just incase we don't post between now and then...this Wednesday the 8th, Zach is getting his skin tag removed off of his neck. (you can see it right above the edge of the blanket). A plastic surgeon is going to perform the minor surgery, and doesn't anticipate any complications. They recommend getting it off just to make sure there's nothing below the skin that we can't see that could cause problems down the road. 95% of the cases do not have anything below the skin, so we're hoping to be in that category! And even if there is, they will be able to take care of it during this procedure! Say prayers for a quick procedure with no complications and quick recovery!