Lauren's New Buddy

Lauren and I went to Kentucky last weekend after mom came home from her surgery. She is doing well. Lauren helped Granddad with his "honey-do list".

From 2009_10_25

From 2009_10_25

From 2009_10_25

From 2009_10_25

From 2009_10_25

From 2009_10_25

From 2009_10_25

From 2009_10_25

Shopping Exhaustion

We had a big day getting school supplies for Austin, school clothes, and back packs for the triplets to take to preschool. Clif captured this while I was at the grocery. Priceless!

My Fashion Princess

From 2008_9_26_Trips_3rd

She's even cute in an eye patch. Lauren has some eye muscle issues and is having to wear a patch every day for an hour for a month. We've had to make a big deal out of her "getting to wear" the patch. Of course, the boys all think that they need one too.

I found out this morning that she has an eye for fashion. Lord knows she didn't learn it from me or her father, nonetheless, she has an eye for clothes.

My sister sent the kids clothes for their birthday. Lauren shrieked with joy when she opened the box. She yelled, "Just like Reesie Mommy!" She was referring to a little girl in her preschool class who wears the cutest designer clothes. Many of the tops her little friend wears are cut just like the one Aunt Lori sent her. I told Lauren's preschool teacher and she was amazed. 

On the Mend

Thanks for all of your concerns and prayers for our Friday evening fall. I can guarantee that I won't be entering any stunt woman classes any time soon.

The ortho doctor repeated the XRays and I have an old fracture and a new sprain. No crutches or splints or anything of the sort. Now it's time to tough it out and get it strong again.

My ankle is still bruised as is my arm, shoulders, and a few spots on my back. All of those things will heal quickly, though. I still feel very lucky. It could have been much worse.

Lauren is still not showing any signs of any injuries other than a faint scratch and bruise. She's busy bossing her brothers and out-eating them at every meal.

Lauren's Guardian Angel

We didn't start the weekend off very well.

Friday afternoon Lauren woke up from her nap and was cranky. Sometimes 2 year olds are just cranky. She was so cranky that she woke up Tyler. He was cranky that she woke him up. I got both of them out of their cribs to head down stairs. John tried to pretend that they weren't up early and stayed in his crib. Three cranky 2 year olds are challenging.

Austin was downstairs watching TV. I was at the top of the stairs holding Lauren. Tyler was mad because he wanted me to carry him down the stairs. I was explaining to him that I would be back to get him after I took Lauren down.

The next moment probably took 5 years off of my life. Lauren and I started tumbling down the stairs together crashing through the gate at the bottom. My pant leg had gotten caught in my shoe and I couldn't keep my balance. We both screamed the entire way down.

Austin ran over and said, "Mommy! Do you need a doctor?" I said, "I think so." Tyler watched the whole thing from the top of the stairs. Ever since he has been saying, "Mommy...stairs....fall...careful!"

To make matters worse, I was home by myself. Clif was about 20 minutes away. My biggest concern was Lauren. The whole way down I felt like we were in a clothes dryer and I was trying to keep her above me. I just kept thinking don't fall on her. I couldn't begin to tell you what happened as we fell. It keeps playing through my mind, but I don't know if it is accurate at all.

I do know that I hit several places. I have tender spots and some pretty deep bruises on my arm, hip and both shoulders. My ankle is messed up and scratched on top where I took out one of the balusters on the stairs.

The 30 minutes after the fall were very long. Lauren was crying and I didn't know if she was hurt or hungry. She was asking for crackers, milk and her pacifier. The pacifier was upstairs and so was John. He was crying because they woke him up and he had to hear all of the commotion. I made it upstairs to get him and her pacifier. He was livid that I didn't carry him down the stairs.

After I made it back downstairs I found two little gate inspectors. Austin and Tyler had gotten their tools to inspect the broken gate. They got past mommy and Lauren falling down the stairs quickly.

I grabbed the phone and called the after hours number for the pediatrician. It was the most chaotic phone call. Lauren and John were crying and Austin and Tyler were fighting. I explained to the nurse that we had 4 kids 4 and under. She asked if I was alone. At that point she said, "Are you ok? When your husband gets home you need to go the the closest ER." I guess she figured I was in no shape to assess either one of us.

We went to the ER and got Lauren checked in. Then I went to check in. I was so worried about her I didn't realize that I was hurt. She and Clif were in the pediatric ER while I was in XRay. It turns out she is just fine and I may have a fractured foot.

I'm confused about my foot because when I talked to the doctor he said that I had an old fracture in the foot which was news to me. He said this injury was probably a tendon on top of my foot and when this type of injury occurs it moves a bone. Who knows exactly what he said? I was still waiting to hear if Lauren was ok.

My discharge papers said "fracture talus". They sent me home in an air splint with crutches for 3 or 4 days and orders to see an orthopaedic surgeon. The doctor said that I didn't need surgery, but I should follow up.

Remarkably, Lauren only has one scratch and bruise on her left wrist. She definitely has a guardian angel that kept her safe down the stairs. We thank the good Lord for that.

My Little Cooks

The kids get busier every day. All four are developing such imaginations. I got an email from a friend the other day whose son fixed her dinner. She said it was pretty good until he listed the ingredients. She said that he hadn't named it, but it had meat, egg nog, cherry coke, rice, rice vinegar, sour cream, pancake syrup, and several other ingredients. It looks like I'm in for something similar some day.

Wordless Wednesday - Lauren's Triplets

Wordless Wednesday - Haircut Please

Sick Toddlers

I think we had too much birthday! Wednesday they woke up from their naps with pretty bad colds. We went to the doctor on Thursday for their 2-year appointments and by the time we got in to see the doctor, John was wheezing. He had to start breathing treatments.

By Friday morning all three babies were congested and cranky. Now all three are on breathing treatments. Thank goodness big brother and mom and dad are ok. It takes a lot of energy to keep up with three toddlers who have noses running like leaky faucets. (Oh, and the albuterol makes John hyper.)

This doesn't leave much time to post.

Birthday Week for 3 Little Miracles

Tomorrow, our babies turn 2. Yes, half of our family celebrates birthdays on the same day. It makes for a very busy week. There are lots of challenges to having higher order multiples, but during this week of September we reflect on all of the blessings.

I suppose some day soon I'll have to stop referring to them as babies. In the feet pictured above, they were 6 months old. Today they're running, talking, singing, fighting, hugging, kissing, and the list goes on. They are hitting all of their milestones and surpassing many.

Two years ago today I was preparing for lots of possible complications. On this day two years ago I was exactly 29 weeks pregnant. I had done everything I knew (and learned during this process) to keep them 'cooking' for as long as possible.

I was uncomfortable, but not miserable. I had gained 60+ pounds, but my blood sugar was staying under control as well as my blood pressure. I was in the hospital, but not because of complications with me. Little Lauren was having trouble getting enough nourishment.

When I say little, I really mean tiny. The ultrasound the day she was born indicated that she would weigh about 2lbs., but her birth weight ended up being 1lb. 6 ounces. Yep a mere 22 ounces. It still frightens me to remember that.

They were wheeling me down to the high-risk perinatologist for daily ultrasounds to check her cord blood flow. Every day it slowed a little more and on this day they said that birth day was near. The flow had come to almost a halt.

Even with her little size our little girl was the feistiest of the 3...and sometimes still is. The boys weighed in at a 'hefty' 2lb. 3 oz. and 2lb. 13oz. As it turns out thus far, we have 3 very healthy 2-year olds and I can't tell you how thankful I am that God has blessed us in so many ways.

I've learned a great deal about motherhood and life in general during the past two years. It is one thing to enter into motherhood and it is an entirely different thing to add 3 children to your family in one day.

You'd have to ask my husband about fatherhood. For a guy that stayed a bachelor until he was 37, he's doing an excellent job. He's not afraid of anything that comes out of either end. He now changes poopy diapers with no complaint. One week of rotavirus makes daily poopies smell like a flower garden.

All four of our children are blessings and we are proud to have made it this far with most of our faculties intact. I won't blow smoke and say that every day has been easy, but the good things in life don't usually come easy. Thanks go to our extended family and many friends who have been a part of our village these past few years. We couldn't have done it without you.

My goal for this year is to document more of the cute stories on this blog. It is getting very interesting around here, but also very busy. Every stage gets better and more challenging at the same time. We have 4 very verbal kids.

They are all in preschool and I have filled my 'to do' list with projects that could take me through Christmas for their school days. Many things in our house have been ignored since finding out that we had 3 babies on the way.

But today...I'm making cupcakes!

Worldess Wednesday - Our Princess

Wordless Wednesday - Playful Siblings

Wordless Wednesday- This Food is Sticky!

Chipped Tooth

We're going to have to get to the dentist sooner than later. Lauren has somehow chipped a tooth. The picture of her without the chip was taken sometime Friday and by the evening, she had chipped a tooth.

I don't recall her falling or crying or bleeding. I have read that sometimes preemie teeth are affected because of being in the NICU instead of mommy's tummy. We'll have to see what the dentist says.

Lauren's First Haircut

My Aunt Glenda cut Lauren's hair for the first time last weekend. She let Grammy Poe hold her. So sweet.

Photo Contest - A Special Mom Moment

Karen at Write from Karen is hosting a Photo Contest. The theme is a Mother's Day theme - A Special Mom Moment. The voting is from 5pm Central time tomorrow (April 20) and goes until 8pm Central time on April 22. Please visit here to vote.

When you have 4 children in 20 months, you are bound to have lots of special Mom moments. I imagine most of the contestants will have the mom's faces in the shots, but it just doesn't get more special than this photo.

We had triplets in September '05. My daughter's placenta had been deteriorating and she wasn't getting enough cord blood to keep her growing at a healthy rate inside of me. In fact, she had stopped growing. To save her, we had to deliver all three babies. She weighed in at a not-so-hefty 1lb. 6 oz. This shot is of Lauren grabbing on to my finger from her incubator in the NICU. She was 3 days old (born at 29 weeks, 1 day).

I knew at this moment that she would be just fine. She's a fighter (as you can see in my TWF video). She never even had to go on a ventilator.

Vote for us here.

Mallness

Lauren checks out the fish @ bass pro shop.

Throwback Thursday #3

My little girl Lauren, aka princess of this domain, didn't think a nap was a good idea today. I had been looking at a photo album that my Grandma had put together for me when she asserted her princess "come hither" scream.

Rather than risk her waking her brothers, I brought her down with me. She sat with me while I looked at some of my baby pictures from the late 1960s. She giggled every time I turned the page. She actually pointed and giggled! It was so cute. It will be interesting to see if she thinks my baby pictures are her as she gets older 'cause right now...she's lookin' like her mama.

If it's not painfully obvious, the three diagonal pics are of me as an infant and toddler and the rest are my little Lauren over the last few months. Don't 'ya just love Dad's glasses and Mom's hair?

Heredity is a very scary thing...............Join me in throwin' back to your baby pictures!

Click on the CD to listen to the sweet giggle. She already thinks her mama is funny...or funny looking.

I'd love to hear about your Throwback Memories. If you'd like to participate, steal the logo above, sign the Mr. Linky below and leave a comment.

Wordless Wednesday - Swingin' Fun

Wipe Party!

Excluding sick days, we have a great deal of fun in our full house. With this many little ones, you can't turn your head for a minute. That's why I usually post after 10pm and many times it's even later than that. I try to get the housework done before I do stuff for just me. But they've learned to be quiet. I was sitting at the table next to them when this happened!