The Making of a Christmas Card...

Christmas cards went out late this year. Some haven't even gone out yet! If you didn't receive one, I sincerely apologize. Maybe I'll have my "you know what" together next year...HA!

Just thought I'd give you a small glimpse into the making of a Christmas card when three 10 month old babies are the subjects of the photo! These photos may explain why the cards are late, and also why you may never receive one again (Jeff's words, not mine)...





















WE ARE SO GRATEFUL FOR THIS CHRISTMAS SEASON AND ALL THE GIFTS WE'VE RECEIVED! THE LOVE AND SUPPORT OF OUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS HAS MEANT SO MUCH TO US! WE ALWAYS LOOK FORWARD TO READING YOUR COMMENTS ON THIS BLOG, AND WE APPRECIATE ALL THE KIND WORDS YOU'VE SENT OUR WAY! MAY THE TRUE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS FILL YOUR HEARTS THIS YEAR! GOD BLESS!

SEE Y'ALL NEXT YEAR!

A Christmas Miracle

Jeff and I have so many things to be thankful for...especially this year. And not to get too mushy, but we also have witnessed many miracles over the past year. Just conceiving these precious babies was a miracle in itself, not to mention all the miracles that took place in their development in the womb. We witnessed the miracle of childbirth, and all the miracles that took place thereafter in the hospital. Tyler, only weighing 2 pounds, breathing on his own and even having the strength to rip the ventilator out (twice) - Haley, never even needing a central line for nourishment, only a couple IVs - Ellison, on oxygen for several weeks, then one day we looked and realized that her oxygen had been mistakenly turned off and she had been keeping her levels up on her own!

Even with all these miracles, we are still in awe of everything they do and all they've accomplished! Just a few weeks ago, they weighed in at 17 pounds for Elli, 16 pounds for Haley and 15 pounds for Tyler. Unreal.

But here's the real miracle we recently witnessed. I cannot explain this one, nor will I try. Many parents have prayed for this miracle, only to be disappointed year after year. I'm quite sure this will be the only miracle of it's kind that we will experience in their lifetime, so we are cherishing it with all our hearts.







Three babies...all smiling...sitting on Santa's lap...do ya think God had a hand in this one? I do!!!

Happy Fall, Y'all!!!

We celebrated Turkey Day on Saturday, and I got some cute pictures of the babies at mom's house! I've come to the conclusion that it is virtually impossible to get a good photo of all three of them together, so I've quit torturing them (and myself) and have resorted to individual photos! You'll see why when you see the last picture!

TYLER


















ELLISON


















HALEY

Mother bear and her cubs

You hear it all the time...how protective a mother is over her children. You see it everywhere in nature - I mean everyone knows not to approach a bear cub for fear the mother is just around the bend. She will rip your face off if she catches you. And she won't apologize afterwards...too bad for you, but you messed with my babies...now you have no eyeballs. Motherhood can take a previously calm, rational woman and turn her into a raging...well, you know.

When the kids were released from the NICU, they scheduled a developmental exam seven months out. Well, that exam was Tuesday morning. And I was secretely freaking out about it. Partly because I was really nervous that they would have some sort of developmental delay, and partly because I couldn't handle the thought that they might fail their first test. I can hear my brother right now saying "God forbid your offspring fail a test", but I can't help it - I had test anxiety for them!

I seriously considered giving them an extra serving of sweet potatoes to boost their carbs the night before, but I restrained myself. I even bought them new outfits to wear. Everyone knows if you look good you will feel better, right?!

Imagine my despair when Tyler spiked a temperature on Sunday evening that lasted well into Tuesday. We were up almost all night Monday night. He maybe got 2 hours of sleep. On the night of his first test. NOT a good start.

When the doctor started the testing on Tyler I knew immediately we weren't going to do well. You see, Tyler is by far the most tactile of the bunch. If there is something in his reach, he's grabbing it. When she held the red block in front of her, he just stared off into space. Uh oh. He eventually grabbed it half-heartedly with this right hand. His left hand never left his side. Uh oh again.

Meanwhile, I could hear Ellison in the next room having a meltdown. Yikes. We're 0 for 2 and we just started. I did, however, hear Haley yelling NANANA DADADA in the background. Check her off for verbal development!

Of course once we got back in the car we compared notes. Jeff was with the girls and I was with Tyler the whole time. In conversation, Jeff mentioned that the doctor said we might be guilty of "over-parenting" and we had delayed their development a bit. What the ???? I immediately went into mother bear mode. Grrrr...can't you hear the rant? "Who does she think she is?", "And what the heck does that mean?", "Does she even know what it takes to parent three babies at the same time?", "She'd better be glad she didn't say that to me", "What - like overparenting is worse than underparenting?", "So are we supposed to cut them off and tell them if they're hungry they'd better just get off their lazy behinds and get their own bottles 'cause mama ain't goin' overboard on this parenting thing anymore?" Deep breath, Jennifer. I'm sure her comment was innocent, but I still wanted to attack. At least I didn't rip her eyeballs out like my mother bear counterpart. I do have some restraint left.

In the end, they all did great! We haven't gotten the final results yet, but they decided we didn't have to bring them back for any further evaluations, so I guess that means we're right on track! They actually ended up testing as we thought they would. Haley scored highest on verbal, Ellison on cognitive, and Tyler on motor. Way to go kids - you passed your first test! Now go get your jammies on.

A weekend of firsts...

To say this weekend was interesting would be an understatement! Let's start with Ellison...

She sits up on her own now, and she has great balance! She can bend over and pick a toy up then sit straight up without even wobbling! Well, Saturday morning, we were playing in the nursery and she was sitting next to the changing table. For some reason she lost her balance and fell head first onto the bottom ledge of the table. She had a huge goose egg on her forehead - I was shocked at how quickly it swelled up! We put ice on it and she calmed down after a few minutes. Now it's just a little purple bruise - nothing permanent...well, at least not for her. Jeff is traumatized since he was the one who was sitting next to her. He feels responsible - I think he cried as much as Elli did! Poor guy!

OK, now for Tyler...

He woke up in a great mood on Sunday - all smiles and giggles! About an hour after they woke up we put them in their highchairs for "brunch" and he freaked out! He wouldn't eat anything and screamed the entire time. Jeff took him and rocked him to sleep - he just didn't act right. Well, he slept the entire day - he was maybe awake for 2 hours. When he got up at 6:00 for dinner he was burning up with a fever. I tried to take his temp with the cheap-piece-of-junk thermometer that came in our first aid kit (note to any new mom reading this - buy a good thermometer). Five minutes later, the temp was still climbing and we were at 102.6 - Jeff promptly ran to Walgreens to get a real themometer and I gave him Tylenol. He was so pitiful. It took a couple hours, but his fever finally broke. I knew it broke because he looked up at me and gave me a big smile!

Now Haley...

Now I know she has absolutely NO idea what she's doing, but humor me here! She said her first words this weekend!!! It started as nana and turned into dada! How cool is that?! She especially likes to say it when she's upset! She was in the exersaucer at grandma's yesterday - just minding her own business - when grandma decided it would be fun to put Elli down in front of her so they could "share". Ha! Grandma got an earful from Haley. I'm pretty sure she said some words I wouldn't approve of, but we'll let it slide this one time! She actually leaned back, looked up at my mom and yelled at the top of her lungs "NANANA NANANA DADADA DADA (4 letters) NANANANANA"!!!!! Ooooh, grandma got chewed out! Guess she won't be making Haley share her toys anymore!

So there you have it...First Boo Boo, First Fever, and First Words. Not bad for a lazy November weekend, huh?!

P.S. Tyler is doing fine now. A snotty nose, but no fever. We think he's teething. Oh joy!

Our Little Goofball...

"Got My Toes!"
















"Playing with daddy, but keeping an eye out for a photo-op!"















"I'm Too Sexy For My Highchair..."














Our funny girl - she has a hilarious laugh that is contagious! The thing that makes her giggle the most is if you lean over her crib and ask her if she's stinky! "Haley, are you stinky?" Not really sure why she finds it so funny, but it gets her cracking up every time! She went to a tennis match with me a couple weeks ago and loved it! She sat there for over an hour just taking it all in! She is still really laid back - and to say we are thankful for that would be the understatement of the year!!!!!

Funny Boy!

Tyler is quickly learning what makes us laugh and is becoming a little clown! We gave him a sippy cup a couple weeks ago and when he tasted the water he got an awful look on his face and closed his eyes. When he opened them, he saw we were cracking up, so he grabbed the sippy cup again and took another big drink...followed by the awful look, then a giggle...and over and over it went! I caught it on video, so I'll try and post it if I can figure it out! :)

He is on the move now! He hasn't figured out how to crawl, so he just rolls around until he gets to whatever he has his eye on! He's actually become quite quick at moving from one point to another, so we have to watch him pretty carefully! We think he will be the first to walk - when we stand him up he gets his legs moving as fast as he can and knows exactly what to do to get where he's going! He hasn't quite figured out how to balance himself yet, but once he does...watch out!!!

STILL LOVIN' THOSE SWEET POTATOES...





















SMILEY BOY...

Busted!

We put Ellison down for a nap this weekend and when I went in to check on her, this is what I found! Looks like the bumpers will be coming down soon!

Just a few more things going on in Elli's life: she is now able to sit up on her own and is having a ball in her exersaucer jumping up and down! She still makes sure her voice is heard and will let you know when she doesn't like something! She loves eating all her fruits and veggies - so far, sweet potatoes are still her favorite (bananas are a close second)! She kicks her legs and throws her arms around the entire time, and we really can't shovel it in fast enough! She is still a little daredevil and we're betting she will be the first to make an emergency room trip for a broken arm. You can't throw her high enough or hang her upside down long enough! We carry her around on her belly like an airplane most of the time - she likes it better that way - there is an element of danger involved! She is the most temperamental of the three, but we think she will really calm down once she is mobile - sitting and staring at a toy hanging above her head is NOT Elli's definition of a good time! We've gotta keep movin' baby!

Pumpkins

Here are a few photos of our first trip to the Pumpkin Patch! As you can imagine, we had quite a few laughs in the process of propping them up amongst the pumpkins! After the photo shoot, we picked Haley up and evidentally Elli was resting against her. Oops. Face plant into the pumpkins. She toughed it out, though!

Underwear Radius?

So we were watching one of our favorite sitcoms the other night and they were discussing the "underwear radius". The question is, how large is your underwear radius? Meaning, how far will you comfortably go in your skivies? According to the show, the more pitiful your life is, the larger your underwear radius is. So, if you're hanging out on your front porch in your tighty-whities, you might want to take a long, hard look at the state of your life.

That led to a discussion in our household. Jeff's radius extends from the closet to the laundry room. My radius extends from the closet to, well, the closet.

That got me started thinking about our kids. You see, from the day they got home, I have refused to let them leave the nursery without pants on. Okay, once when they had their Colts jerseys on - they have a cute little football printed on the butt, and a few times when Haley was broken out with a rash. But only those times. I see lots of babies out and about with only a onesie on, but for some reason I just can't do that (besides, they make the CUTEST little pants for babies). It has to go back to my small underwear radius. I have already pushed my weird aversion to semi-nakedness onto our poor children! Oh, and running around in just a diaper? Forget it. Not an option.

Now, our "barefoot radius" is another story. This radius is HUGE. As a matter of fact, it crosses state lines. Weird? Probably. Redneck? Definitely!

So...how big is your radius?





P.S. By the looks of these pictures, the Colts weren't having a good day!

Little Weeds...

We are growing!!!!

Ellison: 16 pounds, 3 ounces














Tyler: 14 pounds, 10 ounces


















Haley: 15 pounds, 5 ounces



















Everyone is eating their veggies! They all loved the sweet potatoes, so we will add some new veggies next week! The time is flying by and they are changing every day! Haley has done the biggest turn-around of them all! No more high-maintenance baby...she's calmed down SO much! We rarely hear a cry out of her unless she's starving or over-tired. She is mastering the ability to find her pacifier in the middle of the night, pick it up and get it in her mouth which means Jeff and I get to sleep through the night! Yay!

Yummy!!!!

Avocado...Yumm...





















Rice Cereal (aka wallpaper paste)...ick...
















Donuts...you better back the heck up, dad...
















This has been a hoot! They absolutely LOVE bananas, are undecided on the avocados, and hate the rice cereal. We will try sweet potatoes this weekend - I have a feeling they will love them!

Oh, and to all you nay-sayers who thought I couldn't possibly make my own baby food :)...I've been doing it, and it really is as easy as I thought it would be! I have about a month's worth in the freezer already, and will be adding to it as soon as I can get back to the Whole Foods to get organic fruits & veggies! Piece of cake! I even bought myself a Magic Bullet - now I'm armed and dangerous!!!

Translation...

We figured out the reason Elli can't keep quiet any longer. She's fed up with a few things and can't take it anymore. Here's what we've been able to translate from her so far...

AAAHHHHH..."Quit talking about my fat thighs!!!! Have you looked at your own thighs lately?"

YYYEEEEEEAAAAAHHHH..."Tell those two roomates of mine to keep their mouths shut at night! Do they seriously think they're going to starve if they don't get a snack at 3:00 am?"

OOOOHHHHHHHAAAAAHHH..."How many times do I have to tell you two that I HATE this swing? I hated it the day you brought it home and I still hate it today! Got it?"

EEEEHHHH..."I LOOOOOVE playing patty-cake! Do it again...NOW!!! OK - do it again!!! And again!!! AGAIN DADDY!!!!!!

WWEEEEAAAA..."He's touching me!!!!!!!!!"

WWEEEEAAAA..."She's touching me!!!!!!!!"

OOOYYYAAAA..."I'm the Queen of this castle!!!!" (said with arms outstretched and head back)

What happened?!

Ellison is our quiet baby. When she talks, it's usually so soft that you can barely hear her over Haley's loud mouth! She mostly just coos and smiles. And she usually waits for us to initiate a conversation with her before she says anything. Too sweet.

Well, I guess she got tired of not having her opinion heard, so last Friday, she decided things around our house needed to change. She voiced her opinion. Loudly. And she hasn't shut up since! She stands up in our laps, puts her arms out and yells at the top of her lungs...and boy does she have some lungs! Wow! It was like someone flipped a switch and our quiet little baby disappeared and this wild, opinionated creature took her place!

So now it's a battle of the lungs and I'm not sure who's winning! All is know is that Ellison will not have a problem being ignored or left out - she's making mighty sure of it! You go girl!

On the charts!!!!

Haley and Elli are on the growth charts!!!! Tyler is SO close to being on the chart - he'll be there in no time - pretty amazing growth in 6 months!!!!

We had our 6 month check-up today and they all are doing great! Elli weighs 14-8 and is 25 in tall, Haley weighs 13-5 and is 24.5 in and Tyler weighs 12-8 and is 24.5 in. We have been given the go-ahead to start solids, and the girls no longer need to have the high calorie formula. The thought of starting solids is a little daunting since we have the bottle thing mastered, but we're up for the challenge! Every new challenge brings new rewards and usually lots of laughs, so bring it on!!!

Everyone who knows us well knows that our kitchen is basically a staging area for the preparation of take-out food. That being said, we have decided to make their baby food - organic. Crazy, huh?! Really though, how hard can it be to steam carrots and mash them up? Even we can do that! It really will save us a ton of money, and it will be so much healthier for them. Who knows, maybe we'll get adventurous and actually cook for ourselves, too!

Here's some updated photos - thank God for my friend Regina - our trip to Greenville to have their photos taken was a total nightmare! Plus, her photos are so much better!

Bedtime ritual

Ever wonder how you get three babies to sleep at night? We've finally got it figured out. OK, I'll admit it - we've got it more than figured out. We've got it mastered - imagine that! We start at around 6:15. We line up three boppies in front of the TV (yeah, yeah, I know) and grab 3 bibs, 3 propping blankets, and 4 burp cloths (one for backup)!! We start warming up the bottles, then one at a time they get into their jammies. Once dressed, that baby goes to the family room to sit in the boppy and watch "Finding Nemo", then it's on down the line until all three are lined up and engrossed in the movie. Oh yeah - the movie is the critical part of this scenario. No movie = three hysterical babies. No joke.

By the time they are dressed, the bottles are usually warmed up enough (Elli can't stand it if it's anything but warm). We have to be careful not to mix the bottles up - Ellison eats more than the other two, Tyler and Ellison get rice cereal in theirs, and Haley doesn't. Tyler and Ellison get reflux meds and Haley gets probiotics, so we have to grab all that stuff, too!

From there, it's on with the bibs - and we have to be fast with this part - they know what's coming next and usually start screaming if we're too slow! Then the bottles go in and the blankets go under and we're underway! Half way through, Elli and Tyler get their medicine and Haley gets her probiotics. When they're done, they get burped and then it's time to wind down. Tyler likes to swing for a few minutes, and the girls like to be held or sometimes they are content to stay in their boppies. Once they start to get quiet and their eyes get heavy, it's off to bed! We have the Rainforest music and lights crib doo-hickeys, so they watch them, hold on to their blankies and drift off to never never land. It's that easy!!!!!! HA!!!! Oh yeah - I almost forgot! Every couple of days we throw bathtime into the mix - always an adventure!!



As long as all of this is completed by 7:15, we rarely hear a peep from them. Miss it by 10 minutes and it's a whole other ballgame. It can take hours to settle them down if we aren't on time, so we rarely mess with this ritual. Would you?!



That being said, Jeff and I are looking for a babysitter the next time we take time off work, and we're going very far away. Any takers?! :)

Six Months!!!!

Can you believe it? Haley, Ellison and Tyler are six months old today! The time has flown by so quickly, and they've changed so much!

Haley: What a sweet baby! She is the most vocal of the three, the first to roll over, and the last one to grasp the concept of sleeping through the night (still working on that one)! She was recently diagnosed with eczema, so we're in the process of trying to pinpoint if there is something in particular that is causing it. She is currently on soy formula, and that seems to be helping, so she might be allergic to milk. Oh boy, that's gonna be a fun allergy! Why can't she be allergic to lima beans or brussel sprouts? She's taking probiotics which are basically pills filled with millions of "good" bacteria - evidentally the balance of good to bad bacteria is off in babies with eczema. Anyhow, she gets to eat "bugs" with her soy milk every night. She thinks that is pretty cool. It gives us all the giggles...

Ellison: She's our big girl! She has to outweigh Haley by at least a pound, maybe even two! She's been sleeping from 7pm to 7am since the end of June! Elli is a daddy's girl - big time!!! She practically breaks her neck to keep her eyes on him if he walks away! She started rolling over about 2 weeks ago, but doesn't really find the need in doing it very often. She is SO close to crawling it's scary! She gets her chest up off the ground and her legs kick 100 mph, but she doesn't go anywhere! Believe me, I'm not encouraging the whole movement part of that deal. She can just kick away for a few more weeks...can you imagine when they start moving?! Aaaahhh!!!

Tyler: Momma's boy, period. He gets the biggest smile on his face when we hold his hands and let him stand up on our laps! His latest thing is to grunt really loudly, like he's working really hard to get his tiny body upright! He's still the smallest of the three, but we think he's going through a big growth spurt right now. I've never seen this before, but he actually sleeps on his side! It's the cutest thing! He curls up in the fetal position with his hands interlocked in front of him holding a blankie. He rolls from one side to the other all night - it's hilarious to see! That makes us giggle, too...

So that's it for now! I'll update with their official six-month pictures as soon as we get them taken (by the time I actually get around to doing it, Tyler will have facial hair)!!

Life is good!!!

Wow - could a mom and dad ask for anything more? I think not!!!!

Ellison

Ellison! What a sweet baby! She's growing so fast and is by far the biggest of the three! At the risk of jinxing her, she has been the easiest baby! She's been sleeping through the night for over a month, and if she happens to wake up (thanks Haley), she just lays quietly in her crib until she falls back asleep! She is so close to being able to crawl - she can push her chest up with her hands, and her little legs kick like crazy behind her - it's only a matter of time until she figures it out (that topic is a whole other blog in itself)! She's the quietest of the three, and usually waits until she has your undivided attention before she talks to you. She is in love with Jeff! She can't take her eyes off him and she lights up when he talks to her! She and Tyler get the giggles when daddy does his goofy laugh - it's priceless! Oh, and her smiles...they melt your heart! I've tried like crazy to capture her smile with my camera, but I can never do it justice!

Haley's tooth update: Hmmmmm...not sure. Had the nurse look at it, and she's not sure either! Could be a tooth, could be a tiny cyst...guess only time will tell!

WHAT THE HECK?!?!

Seriously. What did we do to deserve this? This must be some cruel joke, right?





Let me first start by saying this: the babies turned 5 months old yesterday! Wow, has time flown! The catch is, since they were born 10 weeks early, developmentally, they won't be 3 months old until next week. So in reality, we expect them to act and look more like 3 month olds than 5 month olds. Make sense?





OK - so here's the story. Friday, Saturday and Sunday night, all three babies slept through the night! Hooray! Well, let me qualify that...Haley woke up at 5:30, but that's close enough! So we're thinking we're on easy street, right? FINALLY! Three babies sleeping through the night for 3 nights in a row - that's gotta be a record! I'm calling it "Miracle on the Crib Sheets".





So what's the problem, you ask? Well, Haley was up ALL night last night. By 3:00am I think Jeff had been up 6 times already. He finally gave up and fed them at 6:00am because she had managed to wake everyone up by that point. They normally sleep through her tantrums, but I think they were fed up, too!





So I'm thinking - no problem. She had a bad night. We all have bad nights every once in awhile, right? WRONG. I went home for lunch today only to have the nanny inform us that Haley has a tooth! You heard me...A TOOTH! Haley was asleep when she told us this, so I have yet to see for myself...but what the heck?! THREE nights of sleep is all we get after all we've been through?! THREE nights????? AAAARGGGHHH! This is a sick, sick joke and I AM NOT LAUGHING!!!!!!





Now, many gaga parents are so excited over their child's first tooth, but I am not that parent. As far as I'm concerned, they can gum at their smashed up peas and carrots until they start Kindergarten. Then they can get some teeth so the other kids don't laugh at them.





So, I'm leaving work and going straight home to stick my finger in her mouth. I'll let you know the verdict. Maybe it's a false alarm. Maybe she has a dense callous from sucking on that dang pacifier...





Haley, can you say, uh oh?

Big Milestone!

Yeah Haley! The first to roll over! She can roll from her belly to her back! It's cute to see her do it - just tucks those feet up under her hiney, pushes off with her left foot, and bam! The first few times she did it I think it scared her because she screamed bloody murder, but I think she's got the hang of it now!

She has become a little motor mouth! If she's awake, she has something to tell us - and the louder the better! I don't think we'll have a problem with shyness!

I never really understood the whole pacifier thing. Never liked seeing kids with them in their mouths. Now I get it. This girl is OBSESSED with the pacifier! So much so, that yesterday, it fell out while she was napping and she actually grabbed it and put it back in her mouth. This really is remarkable considering she tries to suck her thumb and usually ends up poking herself in the eye since she can't control her hand movements yet! Now that is serious motivation!

Here's a photo of her hangin' out on grandma's couch! She fell asleep watching "Finding Nemo"!