Slimy Green Monster

Two weeks ago, the girls enjoyed a really fun day at the park. As I mentioned before, we all got sick just a couple of days after the fun. I'm not one to place blame on a specific activity and say that's where we got our cold, but these pictures speak a thousand words! 

Morgan takes after her mommy. She likes guys with some meat on their bones! She simply couldn't resist this big green caterpillar climbing monster-ish thingamajiggy. She spent a lot of time getting very personal with it's face. It didn't matter how much I tried to redirect her attention to something else. She would always run right back to this thing's face and kiss it. She's an open mouth kisser too.... Lots of licking! I thought I had a picture of her actually kissing it, but it wasn't on my camera when I uploaded the park pics. I must have deleted it by mistake.  Bummer!

So here she is getting to know her new boyfriend. She's about to go in for the kiss. Pucker up slimy!

Here she is after I told her, "no kissing." She's like........ "I already did mom and I'll do it again, get over it." GOSH!

We mostly recovered from the germs within about a week. Poor little Morgan did not. Well, she got better for about a day and then she developed a worse cough and congestion. I took her in to see her pediatrician and she is currently taking her first ever round of antibiotics. Her cold turned into a sinus infection.  Poor girl has been miserable with the sickies! Thankfully, she should be nice and healthy again within a few days!

I guess that's what happens when you go around kissing playground equipment. I hope she learned her lesson. :)

Valentines Day Surprise

Two years ago when we first brought the girls home from the hospital, we quickly realized how expensive those preemie diapers would be for three babies. Seriously. We were going through a $10 pack of preemie Pampers in one day. That translated to $70 a week. Then there was the Neosure formula at $16 a can. And you guessed it, we went through a can every 24 hours. It was insane and was totally draining our budgets.

We had to figure out a way to pay for all those diapers and cans of formula so we had to really look at our budget. We were so busy and sleep deprived and realized we almost never used our cell phones/ Bob's iphone. So we got rid of them (and sold Bob's iphone) and bought these crappy little pre-paid things for around $200 a year. We thought, why not?

I've been using this horrible phone for two years now. For the first year, I really didn't care at all. I was too busy to ever use my phone for anything other than necessity. For the past, oh I'd say about 6 months, I have loathed the crappy phone so much. It stopped ringing so I'd miss calls and I couldn't text with it. I missed texting. And there were so many times when I wished I had my camera with me when out with the girls. 

So I've spent the last 6 months dreaming about a better phone. Today, Bob surprised me with this!!!!!

It's the new HTC EVO Shift 4G. WOOO HOOOOO! Hubby did good! It feels so good to FINALLY have a real phone. I'm so excited that I had to blog about it. I'm okay with being a nerd because now I am a nerd with a cool new phone! 

I love this guy!

Finally, a therapy update!

I haven't written an update about the girls' progress in therapy for a while. Honestly, I've been pretty overwhelmed with it lately. Rachel has food therapy on Mondays. They all have "motor gym" class Tuesdays (it helps with gross and fine motor skills), occupational therapy on Wednesdays, and speech therapy on Fridays. We also work in a physical therapy session twice a month for Morgan and Rachel. And if we're not busy enough, every Thursday this month I'm attending a class about toddler/childhood behavior.

The class is a state requirement so that we can continue Rachel's food therapy sessions. Her eating therapist, Stephanie, thinks that her issues are 50% sensory/oral issues and 50% learned behavior. So we need to bring in a behaviorist so that we don't do the wrong activities to help Rach learn to eat more foods. I'm learning so much about where a lot of her behaviors may be coming from and how to handle them. I'm really looking forward to the home visit with the behaviorist so we can start moving forward with all of this. The sensory/oral side of Rachel's food issues, and all the problems she has eating and accepting texture, are all signs of autism. Because she used to frequently go to "Rachel land" and not participate in any of the therapy sessions, she is still being watched for signs of autism. It's been really confusing. She has a total of 5 therapists that see her on a weekly basis. 4 of them used to think she may be somewhere on the autism spectrum. However, she recently started to participate and engage with us and really show such improvement with her communication. So we're not thinking she's on the spectrum anymore. Stephanie still thinks that it's a possibility because of the food issues. It's been a struggle for me. I've been going back and forth on whether or not I want to have Rachel evaluated by a specialist. Bob and I haven't made that decision yet. We just don't see the immediate need for it anymore. Thankfully, we live near one of the top autism research centers in the country, so if we need to have her evaluated, we won't have to go far. We don't have to worry about whether or not she will qualify to be tested. It's already been approved by our case worker so all we have to do is make the decision. I'm so thankful that our state has this wonderful beneficial program for children who have developmental delays. I don't know what we would do without these services.

Other than the food issues, the girls have made so much progress that it is simply unbelievable. Amy, one of their OT's, said that she is seeing the girls do things and say words that she didn't expect them to be doing for at least another 3-6 months. She says she is constantly having to come up with new things for them to do because they are learning so fast. Hearing that just made my heart smile. Sophia is asking for help when she needs it and is saying phrases like, all done, shoes on, and it's a cow. She says something new every day. She's really big on... It's a dog, it's a shoe, it's a whatever! She likes to label everything she can. Rachel is even using the phrase and signing properly for all done. She lets me know she's "all done" every time I try to brush her teeth, because you know..... the toothbrush has to go in her mouth and she hates anything in her mouth. Morgan is repeating everything and has a memory like you wouldn't believe. There's an episode of Barney where they learn about fire safety. The kids on the tv all crawl on the ground so Morgan does too. It's the cutest thing. It's been such a blessing that they are able to express their needs and communicate with me more. I love watching them learn or say something new each day.

So that's it for the therapy update. I am bummed that we are all sick this week. I had to cancel 5 therapy sessions, which make our days at home a lot longer! I think the girls and I could really use an outing. Too bad I still don't have the energy. We're hoping to hit the zoo this weekend, but we shall see how we're all feeling! Next week, we'll be right back on our busy schedule!

Oh and I never mentioned it, but I caved and took one class this semester. It probably wasn't my brightest idea, but I realized that if I quit now, I'm not sure when I'll ever finish. It's just ONE class this time. Sociology. It's not that difficult. I'm in week 3 and doing just fine! I'm such a glutton for punishment, aren't I? Okay, sleepy time! Don't know why I always stay up so late.

We have the sickies

We're all sick. All 5 of us. It started with Sophia, then Rachel, me and Morgan, and now Bob has it too. I wish they had a vaccine for colds. Being sick isn't fun at all, especially when I can't call in sick. I still have to be the mommy.

My poor little sickies kept me up almost all night last night. Poor things were so miserable. So far, tonight is already better. I should be asleep myself, but I took a nice long nap today thanks to Bob for staying home from work to take care of us. So I guess I kind of got to call in sick. It was like a half day at the office, I suppose. I still had to feed them dinner, do laundry and such. Oh how I crave just a whole day in bed watching movies and eating bon bons.

So yeah, I should be sleeping. I'm finishing up with some grocery shopping (God bless Safeway online shopping and delivery). I heard one of the girls coughing so I went into their room to check on them. All of a sudden, I realized how big my "babies" are. They are so big in their cribs. They look like little people instead of the teeny babies who came home from the hospital under 5 pounds each. It feels like just yesterday I was swaddling them and burping them and enjoying their first smile or the first time they rolled over. How did two years go by already? Wow. Just wow!

We're only on day 3 of this lovely cold. I think we picked it up at the park last week. Since we were getting our new tile floor in the kitchen installed, the girls' two occupational therapists and I took the girls to the nearby park and library for one of our sessions. There was a big caterpillar play structure thing with a face. Morgan kept kissing that face. It was pretty funny to see, but I knew we'd catch something. Sure enough, they had lovely runny poopies all weekend long and now we've got this cold. Awesome-ness all around! Oh I even have a picture of Morgan kissing that stinking play structure too. I'll have to upload that off of my camera one of these days.

Okay, I'm just rambling now. Time for me to get some sleep. I have a toddler behavior class I have to attend in the morning. I'm so behind on my blogging lately. I have to attend this class so that we can get further services from the girls' program. It's for Rachel's eating issues. Lots has been going on in that department, but I'll have to save that for another update. I'm sleepy and my grocery shopping is done! Woo hoo!

Happy Birthday to our three little sweeties!

I simply cannot believe that it has been two years since we were blessed with our three precious daughters. I remember the day they were born like it was yesterday. I was 35 weeks, and 1 day pregnant. It was 6 weeks farther than my perinatology team expected me to get. Even at 35 weeks, the girls were so tiny at 3, 4, and 5 pounds. Rachel's little head fit in the palm of our hands. Sophia was a feisty little sweetheart and made it out of the NICU in just over 12 hours. Morgan, well she was Bob's mini me all the way. She still is. I got to meet her first at 10pm after delivering around 5pm. She looked like my husband, only a heck of a lot smaller. I had an instant bond with each of them. Their birthday was the day I finally new how deep a mother's love really is. There is no other feeling like it in the world. I'm so thankful I get to be called, "Mom."

We had the girls' birthday party last weekend. We had a small celebration with just family this year. (Well, and one of my friends who helps us on Mondays, but as far as I'm concerned, she is family!) The girls loved all their presents and enjoyed all the attention they got. They were so spoiled. Here's a cute picture of them opening gifts.

The girls are really starting to talk so much more. Sophia is putting two words together. Her favorite two words are, "need help." She is very into lining up blocks so she can try to sing her ABC's (just like a Barney episode.) And she loves, loves, loves books! Morgan loves to sing. Well, she tries to sing. I think she has an amazing memory. She can spout off all the lines in a lot of Barney episodes that we watch because YES, that purple dinosaur is the king of the world in our house right now. Rachel's speech is starting to take off too. The cutest thing she says right now is, "shoe" while doing the sign for "more" when she is hungry. The sign for more and shoe are very similar and she gets them confused. I love it though. It's too cute when she comes up to me and says shoe when I know she is really asking for food. 

I'm excited to see what the next year is like with the girls. I know we're right on the verge of talking more and communicating better. It's such a cute stage right now..... Difficult of course, but oh so cute which makes it fun too!

Last week.....and randoms from now.

I didn't exercise at all.

I drank a few cokes. (oopsie)

I went out to dinner with my triplet mom fearsome foursome. (That's what I call us because I am a dork.)

I somehow got talked into and committed myself to running a half marathon in July.

I know. #$*&!

What the heck was I thinking?

At least it's a girls weekend away in the city, and I get to eat pasta the night before.

I wonder if I can really do this.

I've done several 5K races and can currently run a comfortable 3 miles.

My friend D took a really bad picture of me today at her house.

I was dancing to a Big Bird song for our combined SIX toddlers.

If I don't lose 2 pounds this week, she says she will post that picture on Facebook.

I'm quite possibly screwed.

Oh well. I guess I better not eat any chocolate this week. Or cokes.

I'm still trying to make small changes, but I totally blew it last week.

I had no plan.

We had the girls' second birthday party this past Saturday.

I ate pizza. And chips with salsa. And coke. And cake. And ice cream.

I was afraid to step on the scale today, so I didn't.

My excuse is that our kitchen is in shambles because we're having the tile put in this week.

I keep my scale in the kitchen. I don't know why.

I better get my fat butt on track this week.

Otherwise, you'll see a picture of a fat girl dancing to a Big Bird song all over Facebook next week.

I have no doubt that she'll really post it.

I think she might hate me.

I'm never dancing to Big Bird at her house again!

Stitches and biopsy results

Rachel had her stitches removed last Thursday. It was certainly an adventure as usual. Poor Rach seems to know where she is as soon as we walk into any doctor's office building. She starts to kick and cry in the stroller as soon as we enter. I feel bad for her. She hasn't exactly had it easy with the biopsies and surgery and appointments lately.

Dr. D didn't make us wait long at all. He came in, Rachel cried..... and then screamed while he took the stitches out. He was really fast though so at least the screaming didn't last too long. It wasn't because it was hurting her. Rach has just had it with doctors and isn't happy when she seems them. I can't blame her. When he was done, he left the room so I could calm Rachel down and we could talk about the biopsy results. That was my first clue that I wasn't going to just hear the happy word, "benign," and be sent on our way. He said, "Let's get her calmed down so we can talk about the pathology report." Ugh! Don't worry though, we didn't get bad news.

I guess you could say the results were um, unsettling...... but good news overall. The tumor was a Spitz Nevus tumor as originally thought. According to the pathology report, the biopsy was neither benign nor malignant. Apparently, the Spitz Nevus tumors usually fall into a gray area. Almost all the time, everything is just fine and there is nothing to worry about. Dr. D thinks that is how it is in our case. If these tumors are not completely removed, they will always come back. He said he is as sure as he can be that he got every last bit of it. We still have to watch her though. She is going to be seeing him every 3 months for the next year so that he can keep a close eye on the area. Then we'll be having her examined at her regular well child check ups annualy. Having had the tumor, it can put her at a higher risk for certain skin cancers, but it's also not that likely. Gray area again.

It was hard for me to comprehend all of this. I fully expected to go in and hear the word benign and then say thank you and good bye! When Dr. D started talking about the gray area and all the statistics and follow up, I have to admit, my head started to spin a little bit. It's like I still don't have the answer I was looking for. Waiting and watching isn't fun for any parent. However, I'm not going to dwell on the gray area. I'm going to focus on the positive news in all this. The tumor has been removed. We have an excellent doctor who is following up to make sure my little girl stays healthy. And... we didn't hear the word malignant. So this is all good news!

I just feel bad for Rachel. She has her 2 year well child check up coming up in the next month. All I can say is that I'm glad they are current with their vaccines and none are scheduled at this next appointment!

And WOW, I can't believe my babies are going to be 2 next week.

Weren't they just born like a week ago?

Oh and if it weren't so late at night, I'd tell you about the two crazy ladies who almost got into a fight in the hospital parking lot over my parking space as I was backing out. One of them practically hit my van trying to beat the other person to the spot. It was a bit crazy!