Flashback Friday

Thought I would post some pics of the kids but found this pic and figure this is REALLY a flashback. Yep, that is me when the traveling zoo came to town. The rabbit was really cute. I do, however, have a recollection of being made to hold a gigantic snake on the same day and have yet to recover from the experience. I seriously am still terrified of snakes. Cannot even look at them through glass without freaking out. I
My mom thinks I look just like Colin in this picture.



This was Calleigh. Not like I how to remember her but it was our reality. I never had the picture taken of me and a baby with the little pink and blue hats with Mom and Dad all cuddled around. All four kids were shown to me for a VERY brief time and wisked away to the NICU. GOtta say when I see others pics I get a little bit jealous


A long 31 days later on her first day home. I cannot rotate this picture for some reason.



But only a few months later.....



This is the first picture of the triplets together. Cormac was home for a week by himself before Ciaran and Colin came home together. I took this that day. I also used it as our birth announcement. Can anyone guess who is who? (Mom--you are not allowed to guess) One is pretty obvious...and he still is! LOL

Kids say the darndest things....

Ciaran went food shopping with me all by himself. I don't really get much alone time with any of the boys but I really do enjoy it now and then. We are driving in the truck and he says to me. "Mom, when we grow up, there will be 4 daddies and 2 mommys Me and my brothers and Dad will be four dads and you and Calleigh will be 2 moms". He then tells me he wants to have six babies. He said " I love our big family and want to have a big family" "Is it good to love a big family?" "Cause I really think it's great to have a big family. I want to name my kids Susie, Sam, Tree Tree, Duke and I have to think of 2 more names." He then asked me if birds, dogs, fish and all animals have families.

Colin asked me to come downstairs and sit on the couch with him. I go and sit with him and he says "Mom, if we were to go on a date I would take you on a picnic in the park. I would bring apples, lollipops, meat, chicken and more lollipops for dessert. When we were done eating we could go and sit and just look at the lake together. Or if it was night we could look up at the stars" I think he might make a good boyfriend/husband! I decided to ask Cormac what he would do on a date..."I would get married" Told him he might want to wait at least until the second date to get married! Ciaran says he would go to a restaurant to eat and then come home and snuggle on the couch.

Where they get all these ideas is really a mystery. The things they come up with on a daily basis continues to make me laugh and smile. Sure they can drive you totally nuts. All this snow has not been fun with school closings but then they come out with one of these stories and you tend to forget the craziness.

Tonight they are all sound asleep in a fort snuggled together. It's priceless. Calleigh so wanted to sleep in the fort but she isn't quite big enough! She was climbing in with them and cracking up. Her personality is adorable. She is really coming out of her shell. She loves to be wild (hmmmm wonder where she got that from!). She loves to be silly and laugh and she has three built in jokers in front of her face at all times. Calliegh wants to walk sooooo bad. I have said I would be thrilled if she walked by her second birthday. I think she will be ahead of schedule. She is constantly doing squats. Up and down, up and down. SHe is getting stronger every day. Just like her arms got stronger and stronger and she started crawling like a champ. She is progessing the same with her legs. I love walking into her room and finding her standing in her crib. Today, Cormac asked if he could check to see if she was awake from her nap. He opens her door and yells, "hey, guys, guess who's awake? And I mean REALLY awake...she is standing!" They all love to see her standing and trying to walk.

Sorry about the horrible dresser in the pics below
. I am in the process of refinishing both dressers but all the snow has slowed me down! I probably should have cleaned Calleigh face...but if you know her she is always messy!

That's Cormac cuddling under "fuzzy" his favorite blanket. He never sleeps without it.


Ciaran


Colin








They can't sleep without their ladybug light either. So it's in the fort with them.

Little Broken Heart....

We went for our usual four month check up with the cardiologist yesterday. Calleigh was born with two holes in her heart. A VSD (Ventricular Septal Defect) and an ASD a(Arterial Septal Defect). The VSD closed on it's own. The ASD is another story. It has not even started to close. It is considered a moderate size hole.

When I first was told all this information when she was born it was really not much to worry about. Seems, things are a changing. The ASD will more than likely require surgery to repair it. Seriously, can't this poor girl catch a break? Well, I guess if I want to look on the positive, the VSD closed and that is harder to repair than an ASD. Not much but I really do try to look for the good.

It is not anytime soon. It probably won't be for another year. Just gives me a year to worry about upcoming surgery. The surgeon wants her bigger. It is not affecting her right now so it's not an emergency. He likes them to be 30-40 pounds. I joked she might not be that big until Kindergarten. She is barely 20 pounds.

Then he told me WE, as in me and Frank, can decide which type of surgery we want her to have. Really? Let me consult me medical degree hanging on the wall. Right....I DON"T HAVE A MEDICAL DEGREE. The choices are open heart surgery. The big shabang. Cutting her chest, stopping her heart while they sew it up. Weeks of recovery. BUT that's it. We know it's fixed forever. Or we can do non invasive where they go through her groin and put a umbrella like device inside her and open it up to seal off the hole. It's much easier on her and she could come home the same day or next day. Not much recovery. I guess the downside to this second option is there is no real long term information on how long this procedure will last. There is no reason to think it WONT last but all the same they haven't been doing it long enough to know all the details.

So that is where we stand. Calleigh's little heart is still broken. My heart well, it breaks a little more each time she has to endure something else. I honestly, thought we were DONE. That said, we are so lucky she is progressing and has really gotten over all the issues she had. It can always be worse.

Friends

I was looking at my friend list on facebook today. Lots of them are old friends from school. It's awesome to be able to stay connected or be reconnected with long lost friends. But what I was really amazed by was the amount of people on my friend list I would NEVER have known had I not had triplets and had Cormac not been deaf.

My fellow triplet moms have been an amazing support system. They can truly understand what a day in my life is like. We have known each other since all our babies are small and I cannot believe in 2011 all of the kids are turning five. It is such a joy to watch all of these amazing kids grow up. It is so fun to share in all of their accomplishments. So, a BIG thank you to all of you. You know who you are....

The people I have met because of Cormac, well, it's hard to put into words how nice it is to know them. My life is richer for knowing them. Some of them are moms to other CI kids and it's awesome to be able to talk to others who get it. Some are adult users of CI's and what a great way to get to see what Cormac can do. I feel so blessed to have become part of this wonderful family. I have Cormac to thank for making my life that much better. I often think I can't imagine not knowing these friends and know we were given an amazing opportunity in life. I learn from the evey day. I hope I have been able to give some support or help to them at some point.

Life doens't seem to follow a plan. It turns out differently than one might expect (for some people anyway) but all the things that "don't go as planned" have somehow turned out to be great blessings.

Hug your kids tighter.

I know a family who had triplet girls who are almost 2 years old. All was well with them until one of their daughters starting regressing. She was diagnosed with rare disease called Leigh's Syndrome one year ago. It is a terrible, horrible disease. Piper lost her battle today just a little less than a month from her 2nd birthday. My heart breaks for this family. Please pray for tmhis family. I cannot even begin to imagine the pain they are experiencing.

God Bless you, Piper.

Games

Cormac found this game on Nickjr.com called Ladybug Festival. It is cute and is a listening game. It describes objects and the player has to find what they are looking for in the game. I wanted to pass it along to practice their listening skills.

Other things keeping us busy this winter are a few toys we got from Santa who shops at Discovery Toys. You can only buy them online or through a consultant. All the toys are educational but fun at the same time. Our favorites right now are Motorworks, Busy Bugs, Playful Patterns and Whiz Kids. Whiz kids says it's for children 7 and older but I can't imagine 7 year olds being challenged by the game.

This game can be played anywhere and is great in the car. It gives categories and the child has to name things you ask. It really makes them use their brains and it's great for vocabulary. There were a few words the boys didn't know but that what it's all about. For example, one of the cards said "Name a beverage". The boys didn't know that word. "Name something electronic" was another we didn't know. But every time we do the cards they come up with different ideas. One of the cards said "Name something adults do" and Cormac said "Adults go to work". Thought that was a great answer. Ciaran said "Adults drink soda".

Play Doh has been an amazing indoor activity. When I tell you they play with it for hours at a time I am not exaggerating. As I type this the three of them are at the table playing Play Doh and making up the most amazing games. I am in awe of the active imaginations these children possess. The detail of the games the come up with and the amount of energy the use playing them is amazing. So many people comment on how well the boys play together. Sure, they fight, but for the most part they just entertain each other.

I brought them to the gym to babysitting three times since the new year (Calleigh can finally go to babysitting so i am back at the gym!) and two different babysitters said they can't believe how well they play, share and how their little minds are always working.

It gets me thinking about the relationship they share. I know their "tripletness" play a part in their bond. But on the other hand they don't HAVE to play together all day long. They choose to be together. They can be apart and do great with other kids but they enjoy their time together. I hope it remains this way for their entire lives. I will say, Colin is the most attached to the other two. Once in a while if they are having a day when they are all not playing nice I will tell them to all go to different rooms to play alone for a while. Colin hates this. He says "No, I want to play with my brothers and starts to cry if I say I am going to split them up. That said, at school he is fine. They don't always sit next to each other. They have their own friends. They have their own likes and dislikes. They are each their own person but are happy to be part of Team Lawrence!