Sunday, November 28, 2010

June 2010

Back to catching up!  June was a busy month; lots of new adventures! 

The first time in High Chairs!

Joshua

Emma

Teddy    
My first Father's Day...

 I was first given a hearty breakfast and a (wonderful) homemade newspaper, complete with puzzles!


Then it was off to a concert in the park!  One of my favorite bands was playing; it was the babies' first rock concert!
 
Then it was off to the beach for hot dogs, ice cream and playing on the blanket!  All in all, a fabulous day!

Another "first" was swimming!
Teddy, just lazing about in the pool...

Emma's turn!

Joshua, ready to jump in!

Mommy, with our little swimmers!

All that swimming makes (most of) us tired!
 And finally, a baby dedication...
We ended off the month of June with a baby dedication at West Highland, where we committed ourselves to raising our kids to know and love Jesus. 

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Pet Peeves

The guy in front of me at the drive-thru bank machine who got out of his car to use the machine.

They call it "drive-thru" for a reason, if you have to exit your vehicle, you might as well go inside.

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Halloweeeeen

I'm trying to take you through a bit of a picture recap of the last several months, but tonight I'll take a quick break to share some of our Fall/Halloween pictures.  Enjoy!

Time for some pumpkin carving fun!

Three pumpkins for our three pumpkins!

We were not all happy....

Time for some fun in the leaves!

"It's a little chilly out, but this is interesting!"

"Okay, now I'm done!!"

Time for Trick or Treating with Daddy, Grandpa, and Uncle Kyle!

All Done!

Monday, October 18, 2010

Wings of Paradise

In May we celebrated Kristin's very first mother's day!  As I look back on these pictures, I'm amazed at how much our little babies have grown in 5 months!  Friends and family warned us that they would grow fast, but who knew it'd be this fast!?

 
For Mother's Day, the kids and I crafted a special home-made card with pictures and some finger painting.... it was supposed to be hand prints, but as soon as they got their hands in the paint...
the card was a hit nonetheless!

 Then it was off to the Butterfly Conservatory!  We drove up to Cambridge to Wings of Paradise to see some beautiful creatures!  I was hoping that we'd be able to get some pictures of butterflies landing on the kids, but, as it turns out, butterflies must not like babies.  Oh well.

 Teddy = not thrilled with butterflies.
 

 Emma looking a little sleepy - missing her afternoon nap!

Josh was very curious!
 
 
 Teddy = still not thrilled.  Turns out, butterflies aren't as exciting as football games.  Who knew?  But this is Mother's Day, Teddy, we sacrifice....


 The kids were pretty beat at the end of the day... and so were we!

 Looks like Mama's happy though, I think her day was a success!

 After a long day, Daddy gets his boys ready for bed!

Stay Tuned!  June was filled with first's too!  Swimming, high chairs, Father's Day and the Baby Dedication!

Monday, October 11, 2010

Six Month Hiatus

Monday Night Football has been delayed due to lightning in the area.  Delays, ugh.  And yet, here I am, writing a much delayed blog post.

I wish I had an awesome story - some incredible journey or cataclysmic battle (confession: we watched Iron Man 2 last night).  But the sad reality is that after a month or so passed, I just gave up on updating the blog.

I wasn't sure that I'd pick this back up - I figured that most people had stopped checking in, and that maybe it'd better just ... be.  But, to my surprise, there seems to be a few still looking in - a few hopefuls clicking away looking for cute pictures or fun anecdotes.

You've come to the right place!

So, here I am, back at the keyboard, with a rare glass of Shiraz, (yeah, weird eh?) waiting for MNF to start (wine and football?!  so odd...)

Now.  Where to start?  I haven't posted since Easter, so that leaves a lot to catch up on!  I suppose I'll spend the next little while trying to get you caught up!  Yesterday, 10.10.10, our kids arrived at 10 months!  Hard to believe that it's been 10 months already!

While we were pregnant, (Oh, MNF kickoff!  It's about time!  The delay was just over an hour, which means I'll be asleep by the end of the game.... nuts).  Where was I?  Oh yeah.... while we were pregnant, people advised us to drink it up, enjoy every moment because it goes fast.  I never would have dreamed that it would fly by like this!  So... coming soon, camping, cottaging, playing, giggling, wiggling and .... teething!

Check back in soon, I'll be updating!  Until then...

 Six Little Feet
(May 2010)
Three Cute Faces
(May 2010)

Monday, April 26, 2010

Quote

I was looking up some music to put on at work today, and looked up a friend who goes by the name Kae Sun.  Kae is an amazing musician, friend and a man of great insight and integrity; he's moved to the big city, and we miss him a lot in Hamilton.  Please click over to his site and give him a listen!  He put a quote on his twitter that I thought I'd share today - I don't know if it's his quote, or if he got it elsewhere, nevertheless, thanks Kae for the inspiration!

"you say there's weakness in an empty pocket, and I'll tell you there's weakness in an empty heart"

EASTER

I really thought we put up a picture from Easter, but ... I was wrong.  Late, but here it is....

We had a wonderful Easter weekend with the kids and didn't forget the real meaning of Easter, despite our ears and fuzzy friends!

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

More Pictures!

These were taken just after bath time on Sunday afternoon...

Emma!

Joshua!

Teddy!

All Done!

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Whoops! What happened to February?

Soooo.... do you think we've been busy?  If the time between posts is any indication, we are!  If you're still reading this, thank you! you either use an RSS reader or you're quite persistent!  Either way, thanks!

Little noises coming from two babies, 4 little arms are flailing around, 20 little toes in the air... one baby being cradled by his mother, cuddled in a blanket... We're sitting in an unusually quiet living room, sipping free coffee from McDonald's.... finally, a chance to blog... we'll see how long this lasts!

The kids are doing wonderfully - Emma weighs 10lbs, Josh weighs 10lbs 5oz, and Teddy's 10lbs 7oz!  We've come a long way from 4lbs!  We think Teddy's hitting a bit of a growth spurt because he's really thinning out - getting longer!  It's amazing to see these little children grow!  They all eat well!

They are certainly keeping us busy - eating every 4 hours - and staying awake more and more every day.  It's a lot of fun to see them smile and make faces!  They've been learning to lift their head's and look around; they can follow you with their eyes as you move back and forth, and they've started to grab on to things (like Mommy's hair, or Daddy's glasses...)!

We've also had a lot of "first's" - last week we went to church for the first time as a family (and again today - AND we were on time this week!!), today we also went to lunch at a restaurant (I think most people there thought we were crazy!)  We're starting to get a little more mobile, and that feels good!

What other first's have we had.... one of my wonderful sons pee'd on me for the first time during bath time this weekend - usually I'm pretty good at avoiding such things, but I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later!

We are still enjoying a lot of help - especially during the week when I'm at work (and overnight, for a little while longer!)

Kristin's also enjoyed several baby showers with lots of friends and family - we have been wonderfully blessed with support, and it's been so amazing to see God answer our prayers again and again!

Joshua Bean is getting a little restless on his play mat as I type - must make it short here!


Here's a few more recent pictures before Josh gets everybody all riled up!


More to come!

By the way, this post took me about 2 and a half hours because the babies started kickin' up a fuss - now they're fed, and wanting to be cuddled... More pictures soon.... hopefully...!!

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Tummy Time!

This is just a quick post to show some pictures of our babies' first "Tummy Time".  They did pretty well, only one spat up some lunch.... 2/3 ain't bad!

We had a visit with the pediatrician today which went very well - we're pleased to announce their new weight... Joshua - 6lbs 12oz!  Emma - 6lbs 14oz!  And Teddy, a hefty 7lbs!  Everything else is going beautifully!

The Doctor also suggested we start giving them some time on their bellies, so that they can work on their arm/neck strength.  Here's the latest pictures!



Friday, January 15, 2010

"So what's it like having 3 babies at home?"

Busy, but so worth it!

I finally have both hands free, (for the next 15 minutes at least), and I thought it was high time I updated the blog.  We all just cheered, Joshua ripped a good burp; that's how we roll now - waiting for good burps!  

Despite the rigorous feeding routine that we've inherited from the hospital, everyone is doing very well.  We have much appreciated the help that we've received - we wouldn't be able to manage otherwise! 

This week passed in a diaper filled blur - some days we struggled to figure out what day it actually was; and as for recalling what we did on Tuesday... well, we'd probably have to check the calendar.  We've had a fair number of doctor's appointments this week, and next.  We've been to the family doctor, a clinic at the hospital for some shots, an ultrasound clinic; next week we have at least 3 doctors appointments, all on different days.  It's very tiring trying to get to appointments with 3 babies in tow, keeping the feeding schedule on track and, of course, trying to stay awake!

But we are careful not to complain - all 3 are healthy and gaining weight wonderfully.  This week, at the doctor, Teddy weighed 6lbs 3oz, Emma weighed 6lbs 0oz, and Joshua 5lbs 13oz! 

It's been difficult going back to work - after spending nearly every minute with them for so long, it's hard to be away for 9-10 hours a day.  I think it's hard for Kristin as well; she always has help of course, but I think she misses me (or perhaps it's just wishful thinking...)

We continue to be kept afloat by your prayers - it's easy to get run down and overwhelmed - but God is good, and He has provided for all our needs, emotionally, physically and practically.  Thank you ... more pictures coming soon!

Monday, January 4, 2010

Happy (Belated) New Year!

Maybe it's the lack of sleep, but this post is very difficult to write!  There's so much to say, and I can hardly put it all together in anything that could be called coherent.  Sorry!

Here goes nothing, as they say...

Kristin and I rang in 2010 much differently this year -- we camped out at Hotel St. Joe's in the maternity ward.  It was quite a party! 

When our babies were born, we expected a long road -- we expected lots of tubes, IV's, procedures and monitors, and we were told to hope to have our babies home by their actual due date -- February 1.  After they were transferred to St. Joe's, we realized that the date would probably be moved up, but we still expected mid-January at best.  Little did we know!

We got about 24 hours notice that we would start our 48-hour 'pajama party' on New Years Eve.  Most parents of children in the NICU are asked to "room in" with their baby (or in our case, babies) to make sure that everything goes well with feeding, changing, etc.  Blood work is completed and the babies are required to pass a car seat test, where they monitor their oxygen to ensure that they will be safe traveling. If everything goes well, the baby (babies) can come home. 

Much to our surprise, we were allowed to bring our babies home about 18 hours into our "test drive" - we had many people scrambling to get things organized - but with a lot of help, we brought our babies home to start 2010 off right - as a family.

It's quite a relief to have them home with us, though hard to put things together here on the blog; I just have so many thoughts floating around, and barely enough time to figure them all out. 

Sometimes it feels like a dream... then I wake up to my alarm quacking (yes, my alarm quacks) at 2am and I'm reminded of how real this is!  We have to feed our little babes every 3 hours, day and night.  Our routine runs smoothly, but takes time.  We start half an hour before they are supposed to eat - we wake them, change them, feed them, burp them, and then it's back to bed.  Working as a team, it still takes over an hour.  It makes for rough sleep - 90 minutes here, 90 minutes there, and cat naps when we can get them. 

But, even with little sleep, it's totally worth every minute, and we're so happy to have them (almost) settled in. 

There are also a lot of adjustments we have to make, having premature babies at home this early.  We've been carefully warned to hibernate as much as possible - to limit visitors (especially other children) and be very vigilant about the health of our helpers and visitors.  Our kid's are very susceptible to illness, and could land back in the NICU in a very short period of time, so we need to be very cautious for a few months, until they grow, build some immunities and strength.  They are still pretty small, after all - barely 5 pounds!  On that note, Teddy now weighs about 5lbs 4oz, Emma weighs 5lbs 1oz, and Joshua 4lbs 14ozs. 

So, while we are thrilled to share this good news with you all, we ask that you please be patient with us - we're still working on getting some family members in to meet our kids, and we're still getting our routine's in order.  Keeping 3 kids on a schedule is a challenge - we also have to sleep, eat, shower and manage our day-to-day stuff.  We appreciate your patience and understanding as we get settled.  Every day gets a little easier as we get used to new schedules and routines.  Next week, I'll have to return to work, which will add another layer of challenge.  We are very thankful for your continued prayers for us - and all of the practical support you've shown!  We have been very blessed! 

On top of it all, after months of carefully avoiding illness, Kristin (of all people) has come down with a bad cold.  The kids have picked it up, and we've been advised to limit visitors as much as possible, and to increase our hand washing and hygiene at home.  The babies are doing alright - we're battling the sneezing and stuffiness, but we certainly don't want them to get any worse!  We'll do our best to make sure that we get everyone in to meet our new additions, but we appreciate your patience!

I'll try to update again with some new pictures - proud papa thinks the babies are getting cuter every day!  I'll try to show off some pictures again soon!  Stay Tuned!