Almost 8 months!

Here are some updated pictures. I can't believe that JD & Cole are almost 8 months old. I'll post an update on what they are up to now with their official 8 month birthday post. In the meantime, here are the little rascals as of this week. I have some GREAT video's to share too but sadly, the software I was using is hiccuping on me so I can't seem to get them posted. I'll give it a concerted effort this weekend and try to get them working again.

We finally got some photos with Gramma Licameli Wells - the camera always seemed to be missing when we were together.

And here's Cole in the Jumperoo - this is our latest toy and both kids love it! Particularly JD, he's an absolute maniac in it.

A lame attempt at a photo shoot the other morning - it's impossible to get two smiles at the same time...And Cole had enough & wanted to get down...

Our Baby Lily

It's that time of the year again...at the top of the to-do list last weekend was yardwork. I have the same attitude about yard work that I do about cooking - I don't do it often, or well. But sometimes when times get desperate, I'm forced into the yard to do what I can to help. I also hired a landscaper to come clean up the beds etc. so C. doesn't have to do all of that. Luckily last weekend my husband did cut the grass and trim - I just puttered around a bit and checked out the flower beds and pretty flowers that have recently sprung from the ground. I was happy to see that our "Baby Lily" has come up and is starting to blossom.

We planted this lily after our third baby loss due to my 2nd ectopic pregnancy. It was our 2nd IVF attempt and my 3rd pregnancy. In an effort to plant something permanent to remind us of our little angel, we went out to Homestead Gardens (a beautiful nursery near us) to find a tree or bush that would be appropriate. Nothing caught our eye that day ~ so we settled on this lily since we couldn't find anything else. I just don't think that either of us were ready for picking something out that day and we just walked around the nursery silent and aimless a few times before deciding that we were undecided. We have since planted a crepe myrtle in our yard...

Anyway, in retrospect, I'm so glad we got the lily. I subconciously look forward to it's blooming every year. I can see it from our kitchen window; and it's visible from our patio which is our favorite place to be. The thing I like most about it is if we ever move, I can take it with us...the tree will have to stay.

Spring is such a great time of the year when things start to bloom again and the air is so fresh. It just fits that the new little life that we once lost can be remembered around this time when the lily comes up and starts to bloom again. What a sweet reminder!

Our house is shrinking!

I swear, it gets smaller every day. This weekend has been declared my get organized weekend. There just seems to be random stuff EVERYWHERE - and the reason is, there isn't space for everything. And it's not necessarily baby stuff either - it's our stuff too. Time to "purge". I guess it's a good time to do it too since it's spring cleaning. That said, I really should have a yard sale but that's too much work so I think I'll just make lots of trips to Goodwill.

The spring weather might finally actually be here to stay so the closet switch is looming. Our guest room is tattered with spring clothes from our trip which I refused to box back up so just left them until it's time to switch the closets out. And the boys summer clothes are everywhere too. Boy, if this winter weather sticks around much longer, I'll be stunting my childrens growth by continuing to put them into winter clothes that are much too small for them. Both boys have been wearing "capri's" (they have grown out of their 6 month clothes so the pants look like floods) for the last week since it's been so darn cold out. I can't go out and buy more winter clothes for this cold snap so mother nature better start cooperating!

Hopefully by my next blog entry, I'll feel much more organized. I knew I was in trouble this morning as I was straightening up for the cleaning lady and I had no place to move the stuff that was in her way. She cleaned around the piles. Those of you who know me know that this is not characteristic of me at all - so off I go to organize...

P.S. - In re-reading my entry, I realize how old I sound by calling too short pants "floods". An 80's chick at heart eh?

What a difference a YEAR makes...

Since it’s been a year ago today since I posted my first blog entry, I thought it appropriate to reflect on that year and remind myself of all that I am thankful for.

My first entry last year was kind of my admission to myself that I was really pregnant again and eventually, I was going to be able to tell some people the news. The blog was not public; nobody knew about it but me. The previous pregnancies had ended by this time (9 weeks into the pregnancy) so it took a while to actually believe it might last. I wanted to covet it a little longer but slowly it was getting more and more exciting and less and less scary. As that happened, I got more excited to let our secret out. And boy, was it a BIG secret since it was TRIPLETS! I had just been discharged from our fertility doctor and was released out into the world of “normal pregnant people”. Well, if you call a triplet pregnancy normal. It was as close to normal as I was going to get and as close to normal as I felt since my journey to have a baby had started.

I went back and re-read my journal entries over the last year. WOW.

Here are all of things I’m thankful for:

-My husband of almost 12 years; we went through all of this as a team and thank goodness he kept me grounded so often; his sons love him so much, you can see it in their eyes every day.
-My beautiful, healthy, handsome boys (I’m a bit biased)
-My little miracle, Calvin, who is in heaven with our other three angel babies, and the one that will always watch over us;
-My Mom – my rock, best friend and supporter;
-Our parents and wonderful Grandparents to the kids who have been nothing but supportive, dedicated, helpful and spoiling us and the kids for months;
-Our siblings who have supported us along the way and showered us with phone calls, helpful hints and unending support;
-Our extended family of aunts, uncles, cousins and other family that have reminded us how important family really is!
-Our amazing nanny, Jessica – she’s awesome and the boys adore her!
-The L&D nurses who doted over me while I was on bedrest in the hospital for so many weeks.
-My wonderful doctors who visited me daily and kept watch over our very delicate situation;
-Our friends who have kept up with us, prayed for us, brought us meals, checked in weekly, sent cards and all of the other thoughtful gestures that made our lives easier and reminded us that we were not alone; including the meals, books, letters, cards & visits while I was sidelined for so long.
-My IF friends who were there for me in the early days of fertility struggles and when I was so freaked out and scared about being pregnant AGAIN. You guys were amazing and continue to be! I will continue to be there for you too.
-Those people that I work with who have pitched in for many months to make sure that everything was covered for me while I was away; and currently, as I work part time at the office and part time at home, the patience and understanding with my flexible schedule is so appreciated!
-The NICU nurses who took such special care of my babies for 12 weeks while they learned how to make their way in the world;
-My digital & video cameras that have enabled us to document all of the special moments that our family has experienced along this incredible journey;
-My kitties for keeping me company while I was on bedrest; and for being such good watch dogs over our babies;
-The steroid shots that I received at 24 weeks that enabled the babies to have better lung development before they were born, so they could live;
-The roof over our head so we are protected, warm and happy as a family;

And most importantly:
Our strong faith in God, and his continuous blessings that he has bestowed upon our family.

Things I’m happy to leave behind:
-The upside down (Trindillenburg) bed
-Magnesium sulfate
-The beeps of the NICU monitors
-Coles oxygen machine and heart/lung monitor
-Hospital food
-RSV Season - it officially ends May 1, yay!

I don’t intend to stop blogging. Although, I will admit, as time goes on, it gets harder and harder to find the time to blog as much as I would like. It’s a true hobby for me so I will never stop completely. It is my hope and my intention that I can continue to chronicle the boys lives so that they have something to look back on someday. Although, they might not really care to read about their childhood, rest assured, someday their spouses will get a big kick out of it!

Here ends the first year of our blog; and what a year it has been!
Blessings to all and a huge thanks for being part of our lives.

Tragedy for the Hokies

Little did I know, I made it home today just in time for the VA Tech Convocation on campus. As many students that could fit jammed in their arena for a service to remember those lost yesterday. President Bush is in Blacksburg today and spoke to the VA Tech community, among a few other prestigious leaders in that community. Normally, I would not come home and turn on the tv. It was feeding time for the boys so as I sat on the couch feeding JD, I listened and watched the camera pan around to all of the students, faculty and families there who are mourning the loss of so many innocent college kids. What an incredible tragedy. It’s almost unspeakable. As I sat teary eyed trying to take it all in, I could not help but think about how hard it’s going to be to let JD & Cole out into the scary world on their own.

I went to college not far from VA Tech. It’s down in the mountains of Southwest Virginia – such a beautiful place. In college, we spent a few wild weekends down in Blacksburg, a quiet little university town where you could never imagine such horror happening. Our visits to VT were always fun. It as a beautiful campus; ready for spring. And all hell broke loose yesterday. Hard to believe and imagine really. As the President said, all of those innocent people were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Call me old now, and I probably said something like “I’ll NEVER say that” but here I am saying it. Times have changed so much…these types of scary tragedies were not even on our radar growing up. We never worried about guns in schools. Our kids now are faced with so many things that can endanger their lives. Many of which were not a concern for us when we were in school. Our worst concern was a fist fight in the hallway. Now they have metal detectors in schools and worry about guns, gangs, knives, drugs and more. How on earth will I ever prepare our kids for this? Yikes.

My heart hurts for the families of the kids killed yesterday. I saw an interview this morning on the today show with a brother of a freshman girl who was killed. He was still in shock and spoke of her like she wasn’t really gone. But today, as the events unfolded on campus and the real morning began for those lost, he must be absolutely devastated. He spoke of how proud he was of her that she had chosen to follow in his footsteps and go to Va Tech like he did. And now he has to leave without her.

The country is mourning for these kids and their families. How hard it must be to be a student there who survived the shootings but witnessed the massacre. Horrible.

There were several clergy that spoke today at the convocation and one was better than the next. There was a Hindu, Buddhist, Lutheran and Catholic clergy to speak to the masses. They all had the same message. Take what good we can out of something so bad. Good things come out of tragedy, it just takes patience and healing to see through it.

Although my boys won’t remember this day; or the fact that I sat crying at the tv as I fed them their afternoon bottle, this mass murder made national history. And someday, in school, they will read about it. Lets just hope and pray that nothing of this magnitude happens again in our history. Let this be the last time and let our country continue to be strong and protective of our young people who are subjected to such scary circumstances. These things tend to happen when we least expect them – as always, it’s a reality check to keep in mind what is really important. The families that lost their loved ones will never recover. The loss of a child is something different than any other loss. And I pray for the family of the young man that killed all of those people & took his own life - as angry as you can be about one single person taking so many innocent lives, imagine what his family now has to live with. Life will go on and those of us who didn't lose someone will soon forget - but those families affected will be forever changed.

Back to Reality

WOW…not sure if it’s the loomingTO DO list, the mass loads of laundry or the cold weather that has me with an increasing case of the post-vacation blues. Probably a little of both.

As I sit here typing thinking about the old grind starting again tomorrow, I can’t help but reflect on an amazing vacation! We had such a great time. Just to have the boys out of the house for an extended period of time, in a new environment was amazing. Top it off with the warm sunshine, pool, beach and loving family around at all times and it was perfect. We all had a ball. Now, I will say, I’m battling the boys who were overly “spoiled” all week. I’ve been told that family vacations can be hard on kids for the simple fact that there is always someone there to meet their every need. One little peep and someone is coming to their rescue. It’s been a bit of a reality check for them too!

The kids did great on the trip. They adapted very well to change and didn’t miss a beat. Lots of firsts for them this trip: first airplane ride, first beach trip, first swim in a pool, first Easter, first time spending much time with big cousin Emily, first time sleeping in a pack-n-play, and best of all, first time leaving home for more than 3 hours! They loved it. The plane rides both ways were great (I think we just got extremely lucky). On the way down, they were awake about half of the flight and smiled and played with everyone around us. On the way home, they slept from the minute we boarded until the minute we landed. And I didn’t even drug them for the flight!

Easter was a bit tougher than I imagined. Actually, I didn’t think too much about it until it arrived and that morning I found myself a bit sad; finally I realized that I was really missing baby Cal. It seems to hit me at the strangest times; when I least expect it. I guess it was a culmination of things – when you let your guard down and relax a bit, those things tend to creep up on you. Top that off with being with our family, on a special holiday, with Easter baskets etc. and it was very evident to me that day that he was missing. Probably better to “feel” those emotions than not…just took me a bit by surprise.

So, back to the grind this week. Vacations like that make me appreciate all that we have and all that we are able to do. It’s hard to complain about being back because there are lots of people who don’t even have the opportunity to go on vacation. Vacations are certainly a luxury that I have grown to appreciate…

Lets just hope that the sunshine followed us home and this cold rain is on it’s way out!

Our big cousin Emily Anne

We love our big cousin - we can't wait until we can play together in the lagoon...

It's a rough life...

JD relaxin'...

And Cole enjoying his beach cabana...

We made it!

We had a great trip down and the boys did fantastic on the plane ride. In fact, so well that I'm a bit nervous for the return flight because I'm afraid they might not do as well on the way home. I don't know yet if it was luck or just good babies - I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the latter.

We arrived on Saturday afternoon, all in one piece, with all luggage and smiles on everyone's faces. The weather has been awesome since we've been here; and we've enjoyed the pools and beaches so much each day. It made it that much better when we left that it was snowing. Hopefully by the time we return home, that last blast of winter will be behind us.

Here are a couple snaps of the boys in their glory - the fresh air has been great for us all. We're all sleeping so well at night! SURFS UP!

Our first Easter with the boys was an emotional day but lots of fun. Complete with the Easter bunny, we spend the morning at the pool/easter egg hunt, while the kids slept in their stroller.


The resort we are on is quite amazing ~ they haven't missed a thing for accommodating guests. The golf cart is the transportation of choice so we've used that whenever we are without babies. Otherwise, the Leach family truckster totes us all around. As I mentioned before I left, the Griswalds have made their mark on Ocean Reef already.

More to come...hope everyone had a wonderful Easter Sunday!

It's a packing frenzy!

We're about 12 hours from departure to Florida - and I think we have it all together. Famous last words right? It will never cease to amaze me how much stuff two little people need on a daily basis! It's really amazing. I absolutely cannot wait to get there - in the warm sunshine and enjoy some good family time. I've been packing slowly for a week or so; and although I cannot imagine that I forgot anything, I'm sure I did. We sent three large boxes ahead full of diapers, pack-n-play(S), formula, bottles, more diapers, and a few other odds and ends. Wouldn't you know, I get a call from UPS yesterday and they told me that one of the boxes was "damaged". Apparently the formula (2 XL containers) exploded in the box and was leaking out of the corners. Surely they thought it was cocaine or something on it's way to the Florida keys. Anyway, I guess we'll buy more when we get there. Hopefully that is the extent of the casualties...

Any of you who know my family know that we're very much like the Griswalds, as a group. Really, it's absolutely gut busting hysterical watching our family unit operate. Our last trip was to Colorado a few summers ago and we literally had luggage strapped to the top of our jam packed mini van as we chugged up the mountains to Breckenridge. The only thing missing was Aunt Edna and the dog dragging behind. And that was before kids. Now there are three small children (our 2 and my brothers 1) so it will be that much more interesting, and funny. Lets just say that we all have our quirks and funny characteristics so throw us all together and it's nothing but laughs. We've got the video camera all charged up so it will be a toss up whether we video the kids or the hysterical adult antics. I'm sure many of you are shaking your head laughing while you're reading this, since you know exactly what I mean about family vacations. What a hoot.

A few things I've wanted to blog about this week and just couldn't seem to find the time;

First, one of my IF friends got some MORE bad news this week. She worked so hard to get "up" for another IVF cycle and bam, sidelined again. I just can't understand sometimes why this continues to happen to such good people. I'm out of words - and I don't even know what to say to her. When you've been going down that road for so long and it just never works out, the last thing you want to hear is "I'm sorry". Frankly, it sucks when you hear that. Duh, of course you're sorry. And from experience, I do know that sometimes saying nothing and just listening is what is best. Seeing someone continue to experience the pain of infertility just makes my heart hurt...I wish I could take some of that pain for them. It's amazing how quickly it comes back when you hear another bad story and talk to someone going through it. It truly does change a person. I've wanted to call so many times and I just don't know what to say...it's horrible. C, please know that I think about you so much and I just wish that it wasn't this way for you. I cannot imagine how hard it is seeing everyone around you having babies, and their 2nd and 3rd babies, and you're still struggling for your first. I love you to pieces and if there is anything at all that I can do, I will. Please keep reaching out and letting us know what you need.

I recently took on a new position with the Mom's of Multiples group. It's the Helping Hands committee and we're in charge of getting meals out to all of the new baby families. One day this week I talked to a woman who had her babies (twins) in July 2006. About a month before my little guys were born. She has not been taken a meal yet due to the circumstances surrounding one of her kids. LITTLE ZACHARY JUST CAME HOME FROM NICU. Yes, 7 months in NICU and he finally came home. I just can't imagine what they have been going through. Well, yes, I sort of can but holy heck, I feel so lucky that Cole & JD came home after only 8/12 weeks and are doing so well. This little guy had NEC, a common problem with preemies, only it didn't get better like most; it got worse. There is still a chance that he has to have a portion of his GI tract replaced. A 7 month old is on the donor list for an intestinal transplant. WOW. We have followed her story for many months and it's heartwarming to know that they are all now home together - as a family. The dynamics of the last 7 months must have been incredible - having one healthy baby at home and another up at Johns Hopkins for so long. Please pray for Zach.

Cole & JD had their final hearing tests this week; this was the last piece of the puzzle for them. They failed all of their early hearing tests and as we presumed, it was due to their premature ear canals as well as their reflux affecting the hearing test. In any case, both did very well. JD passed with flying colors and Cole passed the left ear but his right ear was blocked by some ear wax. We'll go back in 6 weeks to get re-checked and the audiologist thinks he will be fine. Phew; mark that off of the list!

Cole rolled over this week! He's only done it a few times so far though so he's still working on perfecting. JD is connecting his rolls now and can move across the room. Gates and guards are on the agenda when we get home. Time to really start babyproofing!

OK, better get to bed. Chuck came home tonight telling me that today was one of his most hectic days that he can remember, ever. I assured him that tomorrow will definitely beat that on the hectic scale. Traveling with two infants, in a stroller, multiple diaper bags, medicine & formula going through security, a laptop going through security, Easter holiday weekend, packed flight etc. He hasn't seen hectic yet!

Have a good week all. I'll try to update while on vacation. If not, there will be lots to report upon return. Have a wonderful Easter - and do yourself a favor, stop and remember what Easter is all about. It's worth contemplating. Sleep tight.