Happy 4th B-day, 37 Weeks, and Much More!

Lots of big news this month! Most exciting is that on 7/17 the triplets turned 4 years old!! It is so hard to believe that 4 years has already gone by, to think back to delivery day and all the days in the hospital when we weren’t sure if they’d even live thru the night. We are very blessed! They have each completely amazed us with all they’ve accomplished and we are so proud of each of them!

Here’s a brief overview of what they’re doing as well as their likes, etc.:

Annabel – she continues to love going on long walks (now takes off down our steep driveway, walking all over the grass including up and down hills w/no problem, our biggest worry now is that she’ll go off on her own to walk around the block w/out a blink of the eye!), loves swinging on the swingset, and loves her music. She continues to make developments with speech, just not as quickly as we were hoping (I have a feeling this is going to be her year for that though!). Her level of play also continues to develop but also at a slower rate than we had hoped. Annabel is a child who needs things to be shown to her over and over again sometimes and sometimes it’s hard to remember/not get frustrated with this. Her biggest area of development lately is her showing us how much more she understands cognitively, which is huge to know how much she understands!! She’s also been developing more in her fine motor eating skills and with chewing solids. She has a great laugh and can crack you up in a second. She can also have quite hard days either due to migraines or tantrums (she’s a 4 year old many times dealing with 2 year old tantrums) so those days can be very hard on all of us. We are so proud of her though and the moments when we can look back and see how far she’s come and smile (or tear up a bit) are priceless!

Madelyn – she is still working on riding her bike with training wheels, is definitely a little timid but at least she wants to work on it. She loves her scooter, playing with chalk, playing on the swingset, playing with the neighbor kids, riding her cozy coupe, playing kitchen, pretending with babies, coloring, and overall using her imagination (her stories are priceless!). She has gotten a bit better the past couple of weeks but she was in a very trying stage of challenging us with everything! Between her doing this and Annabel having some hard days a few weeks ago, I was seriously wondering how on earth baby #4 was going to fit into all this. Thankfully it was just a phase like most things are and it’s not getting better. Mady is very smart and is very sharp in remembering things, however, if things cause her a struggle she tends to want to give up and either ask for help or quite, all of this stems from her hand/eye coordination and body awareness issues which we are addressing in therapy. She is very strong but sometimes her strength isn’t enough to allow her to do the things she needs to. She has certainly come a long way from our little 1 lb 8oz baby!

Johnathan – he has mastered his bike with training wheels and now zips around the block! He will definitely be ready for real bike rides next spring! He also loves his scooter, playing with chalk, playing on the swingset, playing with the neighbor kids (he loves trying to keep up with them as they range in age from 5-7), playing with cars and trucks, reading books, riding the cozy coupe, and playing sports (especially soccer). Mady tends to be the leader with what her and John play with but his imagination gets going very well too when they’re playing! John is a typical boy and gets too rough at times, something we’re working on. He has a huge heart though and ultimately wants to please us and others. He is very good with Annabel, always considering her and looking out for her, always hugging and kissing her hello and goodbye. It’s precious!  This may not seem like a big deal to some but Johnathan appears to be over his sensory/chewing issues with food!  He is finally taking his Flintstones vitamin and he’s now taking liquid meds w/out gagging & puking!!  Huge success for us!  Johnathan is overall a very laidback dude and I hope he stays that way. It is just amazing how far he has come from that little boy holding on for dear life in the NICU.

These are pictures from their 4 year old photo shoot – they have certainly lost their baby/toddler looks!

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On their birthday we had my sisters family, my parents, and later our neighbors over for dinner and dessert to celebrate, just a low-key affair.

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On July 18^th Annabel had her AAC evaluation to assist her in communication possibilities and we decided to start her with a Go Talk 20 which is basically PECs (pictures) but with voice behind it since we want her to and she should be able to say the words. We still need to build her vocabulary a lot so this will help. So far she has responded well to it so hopefully she’ll take off with it and possibly not need any other devices, hopefully her actual speech will just take off.

July 21^st was a big day for Johnathan during swim lessons. He swam all on his own with no floaties!! The instructor took him near the wall and had him swim to the wall all on his own, he went under but held his breath well and propelled himself up to the wall to get out on his own! I was so proud of him!! Madelyn had been having a few rough weeks at swim on her own with the instructor, very tense when she’d get in the pool and not wanting to cooperate so on August 11^th the instructor had me bring her and John for lessons together and boy did the little bit of friendly competition do the trick! Before the end of the session she ended up swimming all on her own too! She is still a little more cautious in the water than he is but overall doing much better. We’re hoping to continue their swim lessons once things have settled down after the baby comes. Hopefully by next summer they’ll truly be swimming on their own!

July 22^nd B.J.’s parents, our Aunt and Uncle, and nephew Austin came to MI. We met them at Cabela’s and the kids loved looking around at the animals and exploring the store.  That night we went to Famous Dave’s to celebrate the trios and cousin Austin’s b-days as well as Daddy graduating with his Masters.  Very yummy food!

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On the 23^rd we had the trios b-day party (we also celebrated Austin’s b-day which was on the 20^th), with a great time being had by all!

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That Sunday B.J., his dad, his Aunt and Uncle, Madelyn, Johnathan, and Austin all went to the air show to see the Blue Angels. His mom, Annabel, and I stayed home since I wouldn’t have been able to handle the walk and heat. They said the show was great and that some year I definitely need to go.

Pregnancy news – I am officially 37 weeks!! Which means we’ll be having our first FULL TERM baby!! My c-section is scheduled for this coming Monday, just praying I hold out until then! I am feeling pretty good overall, enduring some of the usual 3^rd trimester aches and pains. The baby dropped a few weeks ago which has made my legs and back ache a lot and has made it feel as if she’ll drop out at any time. It doesn’t help that she’s all in front, truly like a little basketball (or as some have said now watermelon), throwing off my weight distribution and balance. I have officially gained 37 lbs which is crazy to think about because with the trio, at 26 weeks I had gained 42 lbs so not far off but 11 weeks longer and with a single! At my appointment last week (just shy of 36 weeks) I actually measured at 38 weeks! She is now guessed to be about 19 ½ inches long and over 6 lbs! I have absolutely loved this pregnancy and although I’m ready for her to be here I am so thankful for a nice, long, mostly uneventful pregnancy. I have been relishing in all her little kicks and movements the last few days, knowing I’ll be missing them soon. I will treasure this experience forever and am so thankful I was given this chance! I am getting a bit nervous as my c-section date nears. Having a planned date is very nice in many ways (especially when you have other children) but it also gives you more time to worry about the actual surgery, recooperation, baby, etc. I received both of my Betamethasone (steroids) shot this past week so the baby’s lungs should be mature, therefore hopefully not requiring any NICU time. This morning I go in for bloodwork and then it’s just rest and relax and spend a little time with friends before the big day! In speaking with the doctor, if I begin to go in labor or if my sac ruptures I need to get in immediately due to the risks I have for myself and the baby if these things happen. So please pray that all goes well and that her sac doesn’t rupture and I don’t go into labor before Monday!

July 29th my parents and I took the trio to the 4-H fair.  This year was opposite from last year, Mady was very interested in seeing/touching all of the animals and John was more timid (liked the lambs the best), literally switched roles!  The two enjoyed themselves and would have liked to stay longer but Annabel was not having a great day so we didn’t stay real long. 

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On July 30^th my friend Dani Krohn took my maternity pictures and they turned out awesome!!  I was not able to have any pics like this done with the triplets since I went on bedrest so early so I am so thankful for these!

On August 2^nd Annabel started her ESY (Extended School Year) program. It was 3 weeks long, 3 ½ days a week and it just ended today. Overall she did great at it and seemed to truly enjoy going to school so I think she’s ready to go back in a few weeks! Johnathan and Madelyn had a tough time the 1^st week understanding why they weren’t going, only sissy was going but they eventually caught on and I think they enjoyed some alone time with both myself and with Grandma and Grandpa. They are both very ready to go back to school in September too. I think it will be perfect timing with the baby coming, they will get to go do something that’s special to them and I will get some one-on-one time with the baby!

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August 5^th the triplets had their 4 year well child visit. They have certainly grown this past year (still tall(er) and skinny!) and Dr. Madison was very happy with how well they’re doing following their own curves so no dietary changes, thankfully! Stats were:

Annabel – 28 lbs (3%) and 37 ¾ inches (10%)

Madelyn – 27 ½ lbs (2%) and 38 ¾ inches (26%)

Johnathan – 27 lbs (not on chart but following his own curve very nicely) and 37 ½ inches (4%)

Based on Johnathan’s seasonal allergies starting we started him on daily Claritin thru the first frost and increased his flovent from 1 puff twice a day to 2 puffs twice a day, which is what he’s been needing for the winter months anyway. Since doing this his allergies have been very controlled and he’s running around with no problems so I’m happy we went that route, much better to have them controlled than to need oral steroids! Other than that the girls’ flovent scripts were written in case they need to be started again for the winter and we did get a script to do another swallow study for Annabel since it’s been a year and we think she’s doing better. Not sure that she’ll be able to be off ThickIt yet but hopefully getting closer!

On the 13^th we had our local multiples club summer picnic and although the weather didn’t cooperate to swim and it was fairly wet and muddy, the kids still had a ton of fun playing the games and playing on the playground.  John and Mady won medals for throwing their marshmallows the furthest and then they got to eat them, yum!

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Here’s a few other random pics from the past month.

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School will resume soon so the trio will receive their respective services (OT, PT, Speech) there as well as their outside services. Annabel is currently on break at Leaps and Bounds for PT and OT but will resume OT in October and will be re-evaluated for PT in November timeframe. The plan is for Annabel to repeat CHAMPs (constraint therapy of her right arm) in March of next year. Madelyn continues to receive OT at DMC and was released from PT last week. She will be re-evaluated next spring for PT. Johnathan is having an evaluation today for Speech and the plan is for him to resume in October – hard to believe it’s been almost a year since he’s received speech services! He will also be re-evaluated PT and OT in November.

It’s so exciting to think that by the time I post again we will have another addition to our family!!