March in Review

I've been a horrible blogger lately and I've got to be better because this is my "journal" - sort of :) and we have been doing tons of fun things. Our great friends, the Maughans went through a whirlwind of a journey this last year and we have been privileged to be a small part of their experience. They had a fabulous "Run for Love" for their sweet baby Evan who was welcomed to their family this month (after a long and crazy few weeks I might add ) and we all strolled along in the walk/run with our family. Spence's family was so great to support them too and they all came out to enjoy the great day with us. What a great day it was and we love them so much and are so grateful for their new addition to their family!

For those of you that live around here, you know the weather has been hit and miss with it being wonderful and sunny and then a few days later it is cold and snowy again. BUT... we have gotten out of every single good day and enjoyed the sun and playing with our friends. Our sweet neighbors, the Jenkins gave this "chopper" blow up to kids and they absolutely love it. I think one big thing I'm learning as a mom is that kids will enjoy anything with balls, sound and somewhere to dive into. Rio now jumps through the windows of this helicopter and thinks she is the coolest thing ever :) What a cutie! This day we got to enjoy it with our next door neighbor friends, Adyson, Isaac and Liza.

We also got a great birthday present that has been hidden away for a rainy/snowy day and our my sweet dad came over to visit one day and we set up their way cool tent and tube. Here's Jax playing peek-a-boo and Austin and Rio cruisin' through the tube. So much fun for them.

Another fun rainy/snowy day activity we attempted was playing with our Elmo chair and a box Austin found. Grandma & Uncle Marc taught the kids how to put Elmo in the box and get pushed around - it's so cute but on this attempt, they ALL wanted in the box - didn't quite pan out as you can see from Austin's face :)

Another day when it was warm and sunny, we went out in our backyard and went up and down and up and down the stairs of our deck until we had mastered steps and then my sweet Rio sat on the grass and just picked through it for seriously 20 minutes. And the whole time she had her little feet crossed like this. She is seriously so dang cute! I generally hate feet but I can't get enough of hers.

Another great thing that happened this month is that Spence started a new job. It's been very different for all of us with this change but one of the best things about it for me is getting to see the kids faces as he walks through the door when he gets home. They literally RUN for the door and all want to be picked up! And being the great dad that he is, he does! Can't get any better than this can it?

*And speaking of fun changes... we changed our infant car seats into "big kid" seats this month - they absolutely LoVe them! So cute and fun to be able to turn around and see their cute faces in the car. I'm so lucky!

Triple the Fun at the ZOO!

Triplet Zoo Day 4/1/11

At our last TMNO, we all decided we wanted to get together with our kids. One of my triplet mom friends, Diana (who I also got this cute choo-choo wagon and umbrellas from - thanks Diana), well her husband works with KSL and when he found out we were all headed up to the zoo, he wanted to do a story about it. It was featured on the news last night and I thought the story was so cute that I had to post it here too. I had a work thing right at the same time that KSL was meeting us up there so I asked my sweet dad to help me out and take them up for me and I'd meet him there later. He, of course, being a fabulously loving father and grandpa, said he would. So you'll see him pulling my 3 on the news feature. So cute! We got so many great pics but I'll just post a few here. What a fun day and honestly couldn't have blindly picked a better weather day - 70 degrees :)

Cute baby elephant - my kids were more interested in their wagon and fruit snacks at the time

Here's the news link with video:

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ksl.com%2F%3Fnid%3D148%26sid%3D14975355&h=ec554

The Sick Days of Winter

Will this ever end? This is the question that has been burned into my brain these last few months. And don't say it... I know there are a few more months to go before we stay warm and sunny :)

Since the babies birthday, they have either had an ear infection or a cold or a cold and cough or in all honesty, I don't think that their initial ear infection ever went away and this is why we have been struggling so badly these last 6 weeks.

Anyway, so long story short because I'm sure most of you don't really care about their sick stories but... Long story short, after taking antibiotics the second time around, both Austin and Rio broke out in this massive rash. (Which now we are pretty positive was the cause of Austin's rash at the beginning of January and not the MMR but who really knows that answer!!) ...Massive rash and so they had to go off the medicine and then were of course in pain and sleeping horrible and were sad and ornery most days. I seriously was beginning to think I just was doing something wrong because they were kinda grumpy most days. However, our little Atlas man (Jax) has been such a trooper and doing so well. He got over the ear infection and whether he has a cold or not, he's fine and happy. What a strong little boy!

However... Austin broke out first and we ended up taking him back in and the doctor said, "oh yeah, that is definitely a reaction to the medicine. He's allergic to penicillin." You think??? Crazy!!! Both my dad and my grandpa are as well so I guess if allergies can be genetic, then there you go but it is just so scary to see your little child totally red and covered in little hivey welts all over. But, as per Austin, he acted just fine and happy other than when I'm sure his ear was hurting. We took him off, they gave him something else and we waited to give it to him so his body could relax a bit first. Then... we ended up a few days later getting the antibiotic shot for he and Rio because things just were not changing for either of them. Hopefully, we are on the tail end of all this yucky stuff! This pic below is Day 3 of his reaction. He ended up kind of looking like a little map. Outlined red spots all over. But.. still smiling :)

Rio on the other hand, just kept getting worse. She woke up with the goopiest eyes I've ever seen! This pic was taken with Spence's phone so it isn't the best but if it gets close up, you'd see her gooped eyes, snot and anything and everything running out of her body. She'll hate me for this pic later but it just shows how bad she felt and looked. Poor little girl!

This pic below is Rio's rash - she was not nearly as bad as Austin but she acted like it bothered her a lot! She would rub her legs and feet together so hard that she broke blood vessels. While she "tried" to sleep, she rubbed her ears so badly, they were bruised the next morning! I felt so horrible! So obviously there is a little reaction for her as well. So, so sad. Her rash went away quickly and she stopped itching and now after her antibiotic shot, she is SO HAPPY! It's like she finally feels better. I am so glad for her.

But honestly, the best little kids in the world! They have hung in there for weeks now. We love you! Thanks to those that have still been willing to be around us even though we are honestly, the germiest family ever right now :)

PS. I posted their new 1 year old pics - so cute if I do say so myself :)

Triplet Mom's Night Out!

A few weekends ago, I was able to go to another TMNO with my new friends. I'm so grateful for such great friends. I've gotten to know these women over the last few months and it's amazing to me how incredible they are. There are some moms that have only the trips like me and there are some that have other singleton kids as well and then there are two that have trips and twins and other singletons! The amazing thing is that out of our group of 40 (so far) at least 5 that I know of were spontaneous (meaning no fertility meds)!!! And the other majority are from doing an IUI (artificial). That is so crazy to me!

Anyway, I'm so very blessed to have my little 3 in my life and I'm so grateful to have friends that share this one small piece of "this kind of parenting" with me. I have so many friends that are such great examples of moms and women to me and I'm so grateful for you!

Mishaps :)

We have some really funny miscellaneous pics that I think are so cute and funny and some kinda sad (you'll see why) but I just have to share them.

So we went to their doctor appointment last month and they got their shots, one being the MMR. All was fine for 5 days after and then suddenly, Austin started to get a low grade fever. He wasn't miserable or anything but a little lethargic. He was still eating and sleeping okay too so we didn't think much of it. I figured it was just one more cold to join our family this winter. Then two days of having the fever and I started to notice small red dots on the back of Austin's neck and behind his ears. It was late right before bed and so I just thought maybe it was a small rash and would go away and we'll see how things are in the morning.

I was floored the next morning (he had slept fine the night before) and this is what we saw! Covered from head to toe! It seriously looked like the measles and I was freaking out!

I called his doctor and talked to the nurse who said that we should bring him in just in case... what did that mean I wondered. I was mainly worried that it was a food allergy and was searching my brain for any new food I had introduced OR.. was it a reaction to his antibiotic that he had been taking for his ear infection? I had no idea! Anyway, I took him in and his doctor said that in fact it was a reaction to his MMR vaccine! About 5% of children react this way to it and it does look like the measles - poor little guy. It didn't itch though or hurt him in any way - he just acted very tired and lethargic and didn't want to do anything but be held for the next 5 days or so. What a pain! Something to look forward to in 4 more years when he'll need it again :) But as per Austin, he remained in pretty good spirits.

We love our walkers! This pic was taken over a month ago and since then, the boys have started walking (woo-hoo!) and Rio is awfully close now. But since we got these, Rio hasn't wanted anything to do with them and she only wanted to be pushed on this little pink one and of course, they boys would push her. What a little lady! Just this week though, she is started to stand on her own and use the walkers to actually walk with rather than ride on. Good job sweetie - you're so close!!
Awhile back, Spence was changing Austin and SoMeOnE.. (me) didn't put the lid on the ointment on all the way so our little adventurer Austin, decided he'd find it on top of the dresser close by and well... Who me? Get into what?

The kids no longer are playing with their exersaucer since they are now mobile and they do not want to be contained any longer. But this pic was taken months ago one day when the kids and I were playing in our front room. I got up for some reason I can't remember now and suddenly heard Jax crying. It wasn't a pain cry but sounded more worried and when I walked around the corner, I knew why:

Poor Jax - he crawled under the saucer and tried to stick his head out of the seat - didn't quite work :) When I walked over, the other two were standing over him and Austin was patting his head - which Jax did not appreciate but was a sweet gesture. We quickly helped him out and he was happy and back to playing in no time.

What a joy you 3 are! We love you so much! You're always keeping us on our toes and making us laugh!

Support for Great Friends

Our great friends, the Maughans have endured the journey that is infertility. In fact, they were both such a great support for us during our many years as well and we became very close through this process. We've known them forever (since elem school in fact) and love them very much. Last February, they attempted IVF (again) and it didn't work. They were heart-broken and so disappointed. I'm not sure anyone can understand that heartbreak unless you've gone through it. They are incredible people and amazing examples to us - we love you Colin & Ranie!
However, at the end of March came some amazing news.... I'll let you read about it and hear the miracle yourself.
I'm posting this here to ask you to look at their blog/website and join all of us in their "continued" journey.

http://www.irunforlove.com/

We love Uncle Jon!

I've had this cute video for awhile now but I've forgotten to put it up. Spence's sister Erin and her husband Jon would come over and help feed the babies and so they've gotten to know them very well and they love them. Austin loves Jon. One night when they hadn't been there for awhile, Jon noticed that Austin was getting a lot of teeth and because his front teeth are a little separated at the moment, he called him "buck-tooth" and Austin thought that was SO FUNNY! This is a little video of him laughing with Uncle Jon :) What a cutie!!!