July 5th

July 5th. As I lay in (Nolan's) bed in the wee hours of the morning, I can't help but wonder if it will always be like this. Over the years to come, will there one day be a day where I don't wake up in the middle of the night on this day and remember all the little details of their birth? That feeling of fear I had as I sat on the edge of the table in that OR getting my spinal block, not knowing if James would make it on time. Or the fear of not knowing if my babies would be okay. The relief I felt when they all three came out crying. The mixed emotions that flooded through me while I lay in recovery, eagerly waiting to be wheeled up to the NICU so I could finally meet my babies. Excitement. Anticipation. Frustration. Longing. The joy I felt when I saw each of them and all their tiny little features. The deep desire to hold them but not being able to. The adrenaline of that whole day and how I refused to rest because I just wanted to be with my babies. Will I always remember it all so vividly? Or will these feelings and memories one day fade? I truly can't believe they're three. They're little boys. No longer can I get away with calling them babies, even though these sweet little boys will always be my babies. Happy Birthday, Oliver. Happy Birthday, Nolan. Happy Birthday, Lucas. Thank you for letting me be your Mommy. I love you all more than anything!

Cute/Funny Things Our Boys Do/Say

I feel like the boys are constantly doing and saying the funniest things.  I figured I should keep a record of all these things so I can look back on them down the road.

• The other day I wore a black and white striped shirt.  All the long the boys kept pointing at me and yelling "Zee-bah!  Zee-bah!"
• Lately, Nolan has become a bit bossy.  A while back, he was sitting next to Lucas and realized that Lucas was picking his nose.  He batted his hand away from his nose while yelling "No no, Uckas!  Yucky gross, Uckas!"
• The boys love to draw on our easel with sidewalk chalk.  The other day Lucas was erasing everything and just kept saying "Bye bye" to the disappearing chalk.  It was cute.

I'm sure there will be many more to add to this, but just thought I should write these down.

Christmas Over the Years

If you know me at all, you know that I LOVE Christmas.  It's just simply my favorite time of year. I've really been enjoying the holiday season this year and it's caused me to look back at years past.

Christmas four years ago was kind of a sad one.  That was during our battle with infertility and we didn't know if we'd ever have more than just our own stockings hung above the fireplace.  I had the stomach flu that Christmas and remember thinking maybe I was pregnant.  I took so many pregnancy tests and was so devastated when I realized I was just sick.

Then Christmas three years ago we were newly pregnant.  That was a good Christmas.  Despite being miserable from having Ovarian Hyper-stimulation Syndrome, I just couldn't stop smiling at the thought of the life growing inside me.  We had presents under our tree for our future "baby".  At the time we, of course, thought we were having just one baby but knew there was the possibility of two. Little did we know what was in store for us.

Christmas two years ago, we were a new family of five.  Life was crazy with three 5-month-olds but I loved every sleep-deprived moment.  I remember that was the Christmas that Ollie had his helmet and he just looked so darn cute with his squishy cheeks.  And I took so many pictures of my sweet boys.

Then last year the boys were mobile.  We had our Christmas tree gated off to keep them from pulling it down.  All three of the boys had the stomach bug that Christmas and poor Lucas ended up in the ER just two days before Christmas.  Having three puking toddlers is no picnic but I feel like we still managed to create some wonderful Christmas memories.

This year by far has been my favorite.  I've gotten to experience the magic of Christmas through the sparkling eyes of three 2-year-olds and it's just been so much fun.  They're so fascinated with anything related to Christmas.  They love Santa and will run around shouting "Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas!"  They love Christmas trees and all the lights.  It's just so fun seeing how excited they are about everything. And it just reminds me of how amazingly blessed we are.  I love these boys so much and am so grateful to be their Mama!

Ollie's Surgery

One of my favorite features of our (not so) little Ollie has always been his cheeks.  When he was a baby he had the chubbiest little cheeks.  You couldn't help but kiss them!  

About a year ago, we noticed a tiny little dot on his left cheek.  It almost looked like a blackhead.  We mentioned it to our doctor at their 18 month appointment and she wasn't concerned.  After several months, it was still there.  Then right around their 2nd birthday it got big and red/purplish...almost like a giant zit.  We asked his doctor about it and she referred us to a dermatologist.  

At it's worst

It took us over a month to be seen but when we finally got in, she told us it was cyst.  She drained it and injected it several times with a steroid to shrink it down.  It was a pretty uncomfortable experience for him and kind of broke my heart watching it.  We had a follow up appointment 6 weeks later.  And while it did shrink quite a bit, she still said it was never going to completely go away on its own and that he was going to need surgery to remove it.

We were pretty disappointed to hear this but agreed, knowing that leaving it there could possibly lead to infection.

He went in for surgery the Monday after Thanksgiving.  My parents stayed in town through the weekend so they could be here on the day of the surgery.  James and I were both really grateful to have them there to watch Nolan and Lucas so we could both be there with Ollie.

Our morning started bright and early as we had a 7 AM arrival time.  We got Ollie up, quickly changed him then hopped in the car to head to Children's Mercy South.  

After getting checked in, we had a short wait in the waiting room, then went back into pre-op.  We talked with a nurse, got him changed into his hospital gown (which he was not a fan of), then got his vitals.  I almost lost it when they put the oxygen saturation monitor on his finger.  The sounds of the beeping totally took me back to the NICU days.

Being a children's hospital, they had all kinds of fun toys to play with.  We ended up spending about an hour or so in pre-op.  He did really well aside from peaking in the backpack several times and asking for a snack.  Poor kiddo was pretty hungry!  After everything had been explained to us by both the anesthesiologist and his doctor, we walked with him partway down the hall. I was a little nervous about leaving him before he was put under.  I knew if he cried, I would fall apart.  But when the time came, we gave him hugs and kisses and then the nurse picked him up and was asking him about his Lovey (which he had with him) and she walked back with him.  He was as happy as could be, which definitely helped me relax a bit.  

The surgery itself only lasted about 40 minutes.  James and I waited in the waiting room.  We were sitting near Darren Sproles' aunt, which I thought was really fascinating.  Soon, Dr. Swanson came out and told us he was out of surgery and that everything went great.  They told us we'd be able to go back and see him in recovery once he woke up.  Just a few minutes later, we went back there.  He still had his IV in and was snacking away on some goldfish.  He was a little dazed and was very fixated on eating his fish.  The nurse helped him into my lap on a chair where we got some good snuggling in.  We probably spent about an hour in recovery.  He was great the entire time.  Never cried at all except a little whine when his goldfish were gone!  We were told that he was the best behaved patient of the morning, which I believed.

The ride home was pretty uneventful.  We stopped by the pharmacy to drop off his prescription for pain medicine that we ended up filling but never really using.  We spent the rest of the day just taking it easy.

By the next morning, he was completely back to his old self.

All in all, it wasn't a bad experience...though I'm definitely glad to have it behind us.  He's going to have a bit of a scar, which made me sad at first because I just love those cheeks so much.  But honestly, it'll make him look tough...which he most certainly is.

When Did They Get So Big?

I don't know when it happened, but lately when I look at the boys, they just seem so big and grown up.  It's like it just happened over night.  They're starting to look more and more like boys and not babies.  It's just so hard to believe how fast it's all gone.

3 years ago we were in the heart of our IVF cycle...pumping multiple shots of hormones into my belly daily...knowing that this year we would either experience a very happy Christmas or a very sorrowful Christmas.  Fortunately it was a happy one.

2 years ago we had tiny little (almost) 5 month old babies.  We spent every waking moment taking care of their basic needs...feeding them, changing them...then doing it all over again.

A year ago we had new walkers and we were learning how to survive life with three mobile toddlers. And the challenge of no sleep.  This age was far worse for us than the newborn stage.  Night terrors. Sleep-deprived kiddos, sleep-deprived parents.

And now...we have little boys.  They've grown up a lot and wow, they've learned so much!  They know all their ABCs and they can count and recognize numbers up to 10.  They all know a number of shapes including an octagon and Nolan knows all his colors.  It blows me away what they're able to store away in their little 2-year-old brains.  They're starting really love interacting with one another and even will cry for each other if they wake up before the "bruers" (brothers).  They've gained some independence and don't need Mommy to be by their side every second of the day, yet they still all three love to snuggle and give hugs and kisses.

This age most definitely has its share of challenges which I'm likely to mention in my next blog post, but today...I'm enjoying my BIG BOYS!

The Cutest Thing - Pt. 6

It's been a while since I've done one of these!

The cutest thing...

...about Ollie is he now likes to say "Bye bye ______."  It might be "Bye bye, Kahlua." or "Bye bye, Einsteins."  Though usually it's "Bye bye, Don."  Don is my friend Lisa's step dad.  He came by the house several weeks ago and Ollie stood at the door and said "Bye bye, Don" for about 30 minutes after he left. He woke up the next day saying "Bye bye, Don" and has continued to say it randomly.  It's pretty hilarious...and super cute.

The cutest thing...

...about Nolan is his bedtime routine.  Simply put, he's kind of become a hoarder when it comes to going to bed.  He has to take up his lovey, blankey, a couple trains, several books (and sometimes a catalog or DVD case).  He has to have all these things in the crib with him before he'll go to bed. Once he gets all situated with his collection of things, he'll say "Night night" and "Love you" and blow kisses.  It's the sweetest thing and it melts my heart every time.

The cutest thing...

...about Lucas is his (over) enthusiasm for music, particularly if it's a song he really likes.  He's started to sing along and do the actions to "If You're Happy and You Know It".  It's seriously the most adorable thing to watch him do the "Clap clap, stomp stomp, HURRAY!" part at the end.  And then of course, afterwards he shouts "Yay!!!" as loud as possible and claps his hands.  It's like it's the best moment of his life...every time.

Johnson County Parks

Fall is approaching and therefore so is one of my favorite outdoor activities with the kids.  Parks! You can visit the park any time of year, but the fall is my favorite.  The weather is comfortable and older kids are back in school so it's usually not as busy.

We've visited a lot parks with the boys.  Some are certainly better than others.  My biggest criteria in a park is safety.  How easily can I keep my eyes on all three boys at once?  How close is the playground to the street/parking lot?  Is there water nearby?  Things like shade and age-appropriate equipment are also high up on my list.

The other day I stumbled upon this post:

https://pugsnotdrugs.wordpress.com/2015/08/08/joco-park-tour-summary-and-best-of/

This blogger tried out a handful of Johnson County's parks and wrote reviews on them.  Of the parks mentioned, we've been to Antioch, Black Bob, Brougham, Frontier, Franklin, Leawood, Sar Ko Par.

A quick word about each one we've been to:

Antioch - I really like the Dodge City set up they have there.  It just makes it different.  It's also a great park for walking around.  It's got nice paths and a little pond.  Probably my favorite part is that they have several infant/toddler swings, which is great for our boys!  My biggest complaint is that it just seems to get really busy.  We've only gone during the summer time, so it's possible it would be different during the school year.  It's also a bit of a drive for us.

Black Bob - This is walking distance for us which is great.  The playground is made to look like a castle which is fun.  This park also has a big trail that goes around the whole park.  The trail has fitness stops along the way if you're into that.  Black Bob Bay is a water park that is located within this park.  We haven't been yet with the boys because they're not big fans of the water, but it looks fun.  This park also tends to get kind of busy and I wish the swings were a little closer to the main play area.

Brougham - We walk to this park a lot.  It's an easy one to take the boys to when I'm alone.  It's got swings right by the equipment which is nice.  It's set away from the street quite a bit so I don't have to worry about the boys running out into oncoming traffic.  While the play area isn't real big or fancy, the boys seem to like it just fine.  The biggest downside is that there's no shade at all in the play area.

Frontier - We've only been to this park once and didn't stay long.  The play area looks like a pirate ship which is cool but it's located RIGHT next to the parking lot.  Anyone with triplets could have told the park designers that that was a bad idea.  Even with James and I both there with the boys, we were still chasing after them the whole time to make sure they didn't run into the parking lot.  No fun.

Franklin - This park is really cool.  They have a little creek the kids can dip their feet in.  There's lots to play on and they have a sandbox with trucks and stuff.  The boys seemed to really like.  The best park is that it's in Prairie Village and has tons of big tall trees that provide lots of shade.  Great for a hot day!  The biggest downside is that this park also gets very busy.  And it's kind of hard to keep my eye on all three boys at the same time.  Not the best park to go to by myself.  It's also a bit of a drive.

Leawood - I've been to this park a handful of times.  It's right off 435.  It's set away from the street/parking lot which again is a perk with three toddlers.  There is a smaller toddler size play set right next to a bigger one.  The boys often go back and forth between the two but if I stand in the middle, I can see them all at the same time.  It doesn't ever seem to be too busy which I like.  The biggest drawback to this park is that it's over 20 minutes away.

Sar Ko Par - This park in Lenexa has a bunch of different play areas, from what I've read.  I once drove through and the one I saw was right next to the parking lot, so I vowed never to take the boys there.  However, one morning I took the boys to Cedar Ridge Church for their open gym and we ended up walking down the path to a different play area in this park.  The play area closest to the church is nowhere near a street, so I like that.  It also has a triple slide, which is pretty cool when you're a triplet.  One of the drawbacks, like most other parks, is that there are only 2 toddler swings.

I'm making it my mission this fall to try out all the others that were mentioned.  It should be fun!

And now, some of my favorite park pictures of the boys:

Triplet slide at Sar Ko Par Park

Entering the pirate ship at Frontier Park

Exploring Dodge City at Antioch Park

Exploring the anatomy of a hippo at Brougham Park

Running around the castle at Black Bob Park