How Time Flies

Mia

Molly

Well, I've clearly been busy!  I so regret that I haven't been keeping up on this, it's such a great way for me to document that happenings at the Lucas house.  So my New Year's Resolution(among others), a month late is to start up again.

The babies are just over 14 months old and busier than ever and their little personalities are really coming through too.  No walkers yet.  They are all standing for long periods of time and taking steps here and there, but that's it for now and I'm just fine with that.  Their mobility is something that I was never quite ready for.

So proud of himself

 Max is a wild child! We are still living with my parents (I'll get to that in a minute) and their house is not really easy to babyproof.  So I basically have the poor things caged in the living room.  I do let them out to roam throughout the day, so don't feel too bad for them, but I need organized chaos, so I can't just let them free all day.  Anyway...Max is an escape artist and tries to (most of the time successfully) get out of the living room ALL DAY LONG.  He can climb on anything and is very coordinated, yet will not walk.  He also enlisted his sister's help to team up on mommy and remove the gate from the fireplace.  So when I'm not taking him off of the top of the couch or end-tables, I spend my time at the fireplace.  They have a large stone fireplace that all 3 have come close to cracking their heads open on. Oh, and they love to dig rocks out of it and try to eat them!

Just playin' and sucking my thumb through my blankie

Molly is my independent one.  While they really all entertain each  other and play now, she could spend all day long playing by herself.  She is super sweet too.  She does have a funny quirk....She will not go to sleep without sucking her thumb.  The thing is that she has to stick her thumb through the hole in her blankie. It's a green alfghan.  It's like she hasn't figured out that she could suck her thumb without the thing.  Not only does she have to have it to sleep, but if she sees it (or any other similar blanket)  she CAN NOT resist sticking her thumb through it and carrying it around with her.  It may not sound funny, but it is pretty funny.

Giving me some attitude!

Mia, Mia, Mia.  I don't know where to begin with her.  She is my, fiesty one!  She can also be very sweet and she is my cuddler, but if she doesn't get what she wants....WATCH OUT!  I think the other 2 have figured out not to take toys from her anymore.  If they do she will smack them, and hard, right across the face!  Pretty sure she is going to be the one my mom wished on me when I was 16!


I think it's so funny how they really follow suit to birth order in their personalities even though they're each just 1 minute apart.  Molly is the boss of them and very independent.  Mia is the typical middle child dying for attention, you know she barely gets any! And Max is such a baby!

They are all 3 the best eaters! I got very lucky there.  They are 3 little piggies, that's for sure!  And while I'm making dinner they yell at me!  Even when they're in their seats and have something on their tray, if they see something new coming they'll yell the entire time.  They are going to eat us out of house and home.

So, about living with my parents.  We had moved here when they were 4 months old because we were trying to sell our house and it was too stressful for me to pack them up and get the house presentable when it was time to show.  We did sell our house in September and just bought something!  We actually move this weekend.  I'm super excited to have our own space, but also sad about leaving my parents. It has been so great to have my mom's help during this time.  I also feel sad for the babies because they are so obsessed with my parents.  It's so cute how excited they get when they see them in the mornings and scream nanannana and papapapapa.  I know they won't know any different, but for some reason it makes me sad.  Wish us luck on our move!

I feel so lucky to have been able to stay home with them.  I can't imagine missing out on all of the little things they do all day.  It's just amazing watch them discover the world around them.

In my attempt to keep this up to date, I will write after the big move!

It's been awhile...

I know you've seen this on facebook, but I love this pic!

I was holding Molly
because these 2 were rolling all over the table

As you can imagine 3 six month olds are taking up every bit of my time, which is why I haven't had time to post!  They are busy, busy, busy!  We just had our 6 month check-up and they're HUGE!
Molly 17 lbs, 2 oz. 75th percentile for weight and 50th for height
Mia 16 lbs, 12 oz.  75th percentile for weight and 50th for height
Max 16 lbs, 14 oz.  50th percentile for weight and 25th for height (poor guy, I hoped he might get my Dad's height, but it looks like he's getting his parents!)

They're getting to be so much fun!  I finally feel like I can take a breath, but they are still a ton of work,  just in a different way now.  When we first came home it was sleep deprivation and feeding around the clock.  Now, I barely have a spare chance to sit down because I'm having to entertain them.

Such a big boy!

They're doing so much more now too.  They're all rolling everywhere, Max is sitting up and the girls are close.  And  Their little personalities are really developing.  Mia is the outgoing one.  She will smile and talk to anyone.  Max is super happy, and Molly is all business.  She's going to be the boss!  Mia is going to be my whiner.  She can already throw a pretty good fit at 6 months!

I quit nursing at 6 months.  I cried for the first 2 weeks.  I felt so bad every time I gave them a bottle.  I'm sure I was just hormonal because I'm enjoying the free time now, but for some reason I had a really hard time with it.  My goal was to make it 6 months and I made it 5 1/2 (I'm still calling it 6 because I was 2 weeks shy and it makes me feel better).  They're just taking up even more of my time and someone is always needing something, so I wasn't able to pump every 3 hours anymore, so I started naturally drying up and they were getting less and less, so it was no longer worth my time.  I will say this.... had I known what I was going to be left with (if you catch my drift) when I quit, I would never have quit...EVER!!!

We've started solids now and this is BY FAR been the most stressful time of this 6 months.  There's no good way to do it.  If I feed them all at the same time it's a huge mess, they're getting mad because I'm not shoveling it in their mouths fast enough, they're rubbing it all over their face and hair.  And if I feed them separately (which I'm doing) I have to find ways to keep the other 2 happy because they see the other one eating and get mad, and I feel like I'm feeding babies all day long.  So, all tips are welcome!  I feel like my mom too, I have no idea how I'm going to keep straight who likes what! The girls aren't too sure about anything and Max can't get enough of everything!

Molly

Max

Mia

We've started taking them out in public a lot more too.  This is difficult, as we are already outnumbered, but we're getting the hang of it!  If only I could have a dollar for every "you've got your hands full!" or "Triplets?"  we get!  Sometiems  I wonder why we do take them out.  We are a complete freak show.  Last Friday my mom was supposed to watch them while I went to my yearly neurosurgeon follow-up (SIDENOTE:  I am 4 years brain tumor free!!!!! My dr. even said it looked better than my last scan, so we're super excited about this great news!!!)  and she called to tell me she had the flu.  No idea how I got them all dressed, fed (bottles and oatmeal), myself ready, out the door-to rain, and to my appointment, almost on time!  The second we walked into KUMed we were literally in a circle of people staring and asking questions!  We had to wait 2 hours to see my dr.  THANK GOD for my friend, Jessica that came to help!  Then, we had their 6 month appointment following that.  It was quite the day!

Hope you're all doing great.  I'll try not to go another 2 months this time!

XOXOXO

We are already 4 months!

We are 4 months old today

You always hear people talk about how fast time goes once you have kids.  I never really understood this until now.  I'm really trying to enjoy every second, but I'm super sad about how fast this is going.

They are doing great!

Mia, Max, and Molly at their 4 month check-up

Stats at our 4 month check-up are as follows..
Molly:14 lbs 4 oz 24 3/4 inches 75th percentile for both weight and height (chunky monkey)
Mia:14 lbs 2 oz 24 1/4 inches 50th percentile for both weight and height
Max: 14 lbs 9 oz 24 1/4 inches 50th percentile for weight and 25th for height
I'm just so amazed at how blessed we are.  Our pediatrician isn't adjusting anything for growth or development, which usually happens for premature babies because they weren't supposed to be meeting their milestones until after their due-date.  Had she adjusted they would all be over 95th percentile!
They're all now smiling and laughing, and grabbing at everything.  Mia and Max have rolled over and Molly is working hard at this.  Well, I guess Mia did.  She was on her back when I left the room and on her stomach when I came back, which leads me to believe that she did!  I haven't seen it since.
They're doing pretty well at night still.  Max is still going 8-8 and the girls are going 8- around 4, then back down until 8 for the most part.  We still have rough nights here and there, but on a whole it's sooooo much better!

In other news we moved into the Porrello house!  We have listed our house (so if you know anyone please send them our way).  As you can tell from the following picture 3 of everything everywhere made for a tight squeeze. Besides the fact that it was getting unbearable to move and only a matter of time before I tripped and fell on a baby, the thought of having to pick up the house, and pack them up when someone wanted to see the house stressed me out.  
It's nice to have the help of my mom and space now.  Hopefully we can sell and move quickly, so pleeeaaaassseeeee keep your fingers crossed for us!
Another perk is being able to work out again considering the fact that I have to get in a bridesmaids dress in less than a month and can barely zip the thing...so keep your fingers crossed on that too!
Lastly, I will officially be resigning from teaching this week!  Typing that brings actually brings tears to my eyes.  While I feel sooooo blessed to be able to stay home with my babies and can't even stand the thought of having to leave them, I'm also very sad to be leaving my Winnwood family.  It has been an amazing 7 years and I will miss it tons!

Hope you are all doing well!
xoxoxo

Lately at the Lucas Household...

Chunky Monkey Molly

Max

Mia

We've had one busy month! The babies are now over 3 1/2 months.  It's crazy how fast this is flying by.  Chris is happy that I got my tubes tied because I would have another in a heartbeat!  I know how crazy that sounds!  I think it's because we tried for so long to get pregnant and each stage is going by so fast and is so final for me.  I know how blessed we are to have 3 healthy babies.  So many things could have gone wrong with the high risk pregnancy I had and I thank God every day. So,we will not be having any more :)
They are so much more active now.  They're all laughing and constantly cooing!  It's too cute! They all have their own little personalities too. Previously referred to as Mad Max is no longer Mad anymore.  His reflux is getting better.  Not quite gone, but definitely better.  He still spits up some and seems to hoard milk under his neck, so he is already a stinky boy!  He is also definitely his father's son.  Anyone that knows Chris knows that he is a ball of nerves and constantly moving. Max is our little wiggle worm.  I swear he's going to be running before crawling.  You can just tell he's ready to take off.  When he's on his back he's kicking his feet like crazy.  Also, I need to start taking pictures of this, but we put him in his crib, looking at his crib, with his head on the right.  When we go get him he is on the other end of the crib with his head on the left.  No idea how he does this. It's too funny though.
While Molly is so fat I can rarely get a good picture of her smiling, she is super happy.  Constantly smiling and laughing.  She's very content.  Always reaching for her toys and playing with her hands now too.
And last, but not least Ms. Mia.  She's our high maintenance one.  She likes to wake us up in the middle of the night to put her binky back in.  I think she'll be the first to talk.  She just looks like she has something to say.  She's super happy too.  I oftentimes have a hard time feeding her because she just wants to smile! Her and Molly have both already proven to be little divas too.  They won't drink their milk if the temperature is not to their liking.  They've already gotten Daddy wrapped around his finger.  He started re-heating their milk, mid bottle .  Such a pain!
Speaking of being sick...we had our first trip to urgent care last week.  After the cold Mia got the croup cough, which is different in babies.  With older kids it's more of that barking cough and in babies they actually lose their voices.  I got a little nervous thinking it may be RSV because she was  so wheezy. Luckily, it was not.  They gave her a steroid and she was better the next day.

They're all pretty close to sleeping all the way through the night.  They go down around 8:00 and wake up between 4 or 5, eat, and go back down until 8. Last week we were all sick with colds.  Since then, Ms. Mia has decided to wake up around 1 and scream for about an hour every time her binky falls out of her mouth.  So, needless to say, every night is not perfect, but we're definitely getting there.  I am using this book 12 Hours by 12 Weeks Old, which was referred to me by another triplet mom. You basically train them to sleep through the night by weaning off of their night time feedings.  It really seems to be working!  

Now that we're getting longer stretches of sleep, it's soooooo much easier to take care of them during the day.  People think I'm crazy, but I'd say it's pretty easy!  I think I was just meant to do this.  I rarely feel stressed, it just comes very naturally to me! It may be easy since my mom comes to clean my house and do laundry every other day!  No clue what I would do without her.
In other news...we got a new cousin.

Jonathan Joseph Taylor
9 lbs 8 oz

On March 11 my sister, Christina had a little boy.  Jonny Taylor.  Christina let me be in the delivery room again.  And again, she amazed me.  No idea how someone pushes out a close to 10 pound baby.  It was truly amazing to see him come into the world! The babies are super excited about growing up so close to Mr. Jonny!
The rest of this month will be flying by.  In the next 2 weeks we have Nonna's Birthday, Luci's 2nd Birthday, a wedding shower, a TRIPLET baby shower, our friend Addison's 1st birthday, family pictures, and Auntie A's visit!!!!!!!!! I'm so excitied about he weather being nice too so we can get outside.  Happy Spring!
Our 4 month appointment is in April and I will update then!
xoxoxo

We are 2 months old!

February 2, 2010...2 months old today!

Can not believe how fast it is already going.  My babies were 2 months old yesterday!  They are doing beyond wonderful!  I am still in awe of how great they have done...we are soooooooo blessed!
We had a NICU follow up appointment a couple of weeks ago and they were all over 9 pounds. Molly got to get off of her heart monitor because she hadn't had any apnea's since we got home.  Poor Max still has his though.  He has had 1 and has to have zero in a month to get rid of his.   We have our 2 month check-up on Friday and I'm sure they are over 10 now.  They're getting huge!  Chris thinks I'm a total nut, but I'd be ready for a 4th soon if I hadn't had my tubes tied.  Crazy, huh?  I think because it's all so final for me and I get sad that they're getting so big so fast(they're already in 3 month clothes!).  I know it'll all be such a blur.

Propping bottles with blankets

Our days fly by.  They are still eating every 3, sometimes 4 hours.  We've had a couple of 5 and 6 hour stretches at night!!!  We can NOT WAIT until that gets longer!  We are starting to let them go more on demand, which is hard because we'd like them to go longer stretches, but we usually have to wake someone up so that they don't get too off of the other two otherwise we'd be feeding babies constantly. Feeding time gets CCCRRRAAAZZZYYYY when they all want to eat at once.  While I hate bottle propping, it has to be done at times.  Thank goodness for these contraptions...I was propping blankets and  that was a mess!

Molly...new bottle prop!

Everyone always asks if I'm getting cabin fever.  I really don't have time to think about getting out.  My days are spent feeding babies, changing diapers, cleaning bottles, pumping, and filling bottles.  I have about an hour and a half to 2 hours between feedings which are spent doing laundry, playing with them, and taking the occasional nap.  I am lucky to get a shower in!  My mom comes over most days for a few hours.  If she didn't I have no idea what I would do.  I'm ready for the snow to stop so that she can come back!
I'm getting better at managing my time between feedings.  I was even able to cook and make dessert yesterday somehow!  As a teacher managing time was never an issue for me and that was with 25+ kids.  With 3 babies I can't quite wrap my mind around it and it drives me crazy because I am so structured in the classroom.
Now that they are awake more during the day this next month will be spent trying to get them all on the same schedule for napping.  WISH ME LUCK!!!

XOXOXO

One Crazy Month

Well, to say the least it has been one crazy (yet the best) month!

The first couple of weeks in the NICU were crazy going back and forth.  I felt like I was about 12 years old.  My mom would drop me off and pick me up each day, as well as pack my lunch! All of the nurses there were amazing and soooooo helpful! I hated leaving them 

each night and would cry most times when I left, so thank goodness it was such a short stay.  I feel so bad for the families that have such long stays there. We are soooooo lucky that they were so healthy!

Max came home at 13 days and the girls not even 24 hours later.  In order to come home they had to be maintaining body temperature, which they had been for awhile, gaining weight, which they had been, and taking their entire feeding by mouth for 48 hours.  Max did that the day before the girls.  Mia needed some serious force feeding, but finally did it!
They would take about half of their bottles then need to be hooked up to the feeding tube for the rest.
I became a total psycho and would call after each shift change to beg the nurse not to hook her up because I couldn't bare the thought of leaving one behind!

We are 4 weeks old (technically 38 weeks gestation today).  The couple of weeks, all they did was sleep.  Now that they are nearing their due date they are starting to be awake more.
Poor Max has reflux, so last night was not good. He gets super cranky, basically screaming bloody murder after he eats, then spits up a good ounce or so, so then he's fussy because he's still hungry, but if you give him more the cycle just starts again.  It breaks my heart because I can tell he's in pain and I can't do anything to help him;( He did start his medicine yesterday and we're already noticing a difference though.  So hopefully nights to come will get easier. Thank God for Andrea and Greg who came to babysit today so we could sleep!  As well as Christina, my mom, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law who all did the same last week.  My best friend from college, Callie stayed for 3 days last week to help, which was amazing as well.  She got up with a baby through out the night, cooked, cleaned, did laundry! I actually considered holding her hostage!
They were put on a great schedule in the NICU, which we've pretty much stuck to.

One of my favorite pics, from our first night home all together!

They eat every 3 hours.  It took us a couple of nights to figure out that we both don't need to get up with each feeding, so we are now taking shifts, which helps a ton because the other one will get a longer stretch if we each just do all 3 and they are each about 30 minutes apart, so it's pretty manageable.  We do have a night nurse, Megan who is a gift from God!!!  She works in the NICU at St. Luke's, so she had them each time she worked and she is a friend of one of my best friends, so I had met her before and feel beyond comfortable with her here.  The plan is for her to stay about once a week. When she is here she has all of them all night, so we can get caught up on our sleep.
Our schedule is pretty crazy.  If it goes as planned it takes around an hour and a half to feed them, so we have about an hour and a half  in between feedings, which is spent, cleaning bottles, changing diapers, doing laundry, pumping, and filling bottles...I am miraculously keeping up with them for the most part.  I did develop mastitis on their second night home...great timing, which slowed me down for a few days, but we're back in business!  I'm not sure how it will work as their volume increases because I'm producing the same amount each time, but I just eat like a cow to keep up right now and pray that it continues.
I'm recovered from my C-Section for the most part.  I'm still a little sore, but feeling better each day.  That was the most excruciating pain I've ever felt!

We had the best Christmas imaginable!  These were the three best gifts I could ever have asked for and to have them all home for Christmas was truly a miracle!  We are beyond blessed!
A home health nurse from Children's Mercy was coming twice a week to weigh them. She is only coming once this week for the last time.  This is so that we didn't have to get out with them to take them to St. Luke's twice a week.  Last Thursday Max weighed 6 lbs 11 1/2 oz., Molly 6 lbs, 3 oz. and Mia 6 lbs, 4 oz. They were averaging 1 1/2-2 oz per day, so they should all be close to or over 7 lbs now.  They are just doing amazing!
I hope you all had a great Christmas and have a Happy New Year!  I will post again when I have a free chance, which doesn't happen too often!

XOXOXO

Well, that didn't go as planned!

Contraction!!!

VERY soon-to-be Mommy and Daddy

 Sooooooo, I woke up to go to the bathroom Wednesday morning and MY WATER BROKE!!The scheduler that I am, of course had not planned for such an event!  I started freaking out, Chris started running up and down the hall, after he informed me that my water had broken because he had dreamed about it that night (weird!).  I started throwing stuff in my hospital bag that was mostly packed, and we were off!
 The car ride there was the worst 45 minutes of my life at the time.  Looking back it is pretty entertaining and if we had it on film people would die laughing! We left the house around 7:45 so it was rush hour.  Chris did everything I asked him not to. The first thing he did was turned the flashers on, after I asked him not to because I knew that sound would make me nervous.  The entire ride there he kept trying to get on the shoulder, he honked and cussed out every single car we passed, screaming at them to get out of the way.  He acted like every car knew we were in labor and were purposely sitting there and not moving!  Needless to say, this was not the finest moment of our marriage!  We were yelling at eachother, when my sister called and came over the bluetooth in the car (you know our Oddyssey is pretty jazzy!) so she got to hear this.  I put her on my phone because she informed me that she was going to calm me down.  She had me close my eyes and took me to a Christmas village!!!  If you know Andrea, you know she LOVES anything Christmas!  It did take my mind off of my husband's insane driving, but didn't quite calm me down!

Once we got the hospital and got checked in it was around 8:30.  The prepped me and finished a scheduled C-section prior to mine and started mine at 11:00.  The babies were out as follows:

Molly Jo Lucas 11:18 am
4 lbs,13 oz. 17 3/4 in.

Mia (poor baby still has no middle name) Lucas
4 lbs, 13 oz.  17 3/4 in.

Max Christopher Lucas
5 lbs. 3 oz. 17 1/4 in.

Molly

So far the babies are doing AMAZING!  I have no words for what God continues to do in our lives.  The fact that I made it 34 weeks is amazing in itself. To have one healthy baby is a miracle and I have 3 healthy babies. I am overwhelmed with how blessed we are.

Mia

T

Max

 They have each lost a little bit of weight ,which is normal.  They also have a little biliruben, but not enough to be put under the lamp.  They also each have episodes of apnea and bradycardia. What happens is that they forget to breathe for 15-20 seconds (apnea) and their heart rate might slow down below 90 beats per minute, which is the bradycardia. I initially panic when this happens, but they self correct each time.  The doctors say it's completely normal for premature babies.  They are used to sucking in amniotic fluid and at 34 weeks are not quite ready to breathe the air, so sometimes they forget.  But, they all self correct and he would imagine that it will continue until they're term. Not one of them had to be intubated though, which again, is a miracle.
There is still no way to predict when they'll come home, but it should be around the 15th.  They must be maintaining their own temperatures, gaining weight, and not having any of the apnea or bradycardia episodes for a week.

I am feeling better and better each day.  I walked quite a bit today and the more I'm up and moving the easier it gets.  I had a rough start though.  The doctors explained that a c-section recovery for a singleton mom and a  multiple mom two very different things.  I was in the most excruciating pain that first couple of days and for some reason the pain meds were not working on me. So, they had to play around with those to figure out what worked for me.  Once we figured out the meds I've done much better.  I had also lost too much blood during the surgery, which is very common for multiples, so they've done 2 iron transfusions (a common replacement for a blood transfusion) because my hemoglobin was so low.  This, in addtion to the fact that I had 3 babies cut out of me is why I've had zero energy.
I am on the mend though. I've been moving around a lot today and was able to walk almost all the way to the NICU and back!!!
I should be discharged sometime tomorrow.  While I'm ready to get out of here, I cry every time I think about leaving without them.  I'm pretty sure I will need a sedative in order to leave.  I just have to keep things in perspective and remember that they are in the best place for them right now and they are soooooo very healthy, and I'm going to get to take them home so soon!

Our new family!!!

THANK YOU ALL for all of your well wishes.  We have such an amazing support system.  The power of prayer is an amazing thing. I know that we would not be as well off as we are without it.  THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

We love you all
XOXOXO