Some Jan Pics

Here are the 2 spiky haired people in my life. It's hilarious how much they look alike in this picture. They are both making the same face and have the same haircut. Marie's hair is coming in like crazy. It's starting to get weighed down now so she may not be "spike" for much longer.

Marmie got Marie some new sneakers for all the running around she's doing. Here she is showing them off.

They are now starting to get the hang of their excersaucers. Abby likes being in one the best because she grabs hold of the toys around it and chews on them frantically. She still has no teeth. Marie and Will are holding steady with 2 each.

Will got a sweet new riding cap from Marmie. She got him all dressed up and took him out to the Marriott Marquis for a fancy dinner with friends. Will charmed everyone. What you can't see in this picture is that he also has on a pair of navy blue high top sneakers...yes, Chuck Taylors. They are awesome. I also have a pair of pink ones for the girls.

Here is Miss Marie in a new outfit that Pat Clarke gave her for Christmas. Thanks, Pat! Look at those blue eyes!

Yes, it's actually cold in Georgia some days. Here is Abby in her Eskimo suit on a cold day. She had to go to physical therapy this particular chilly day, and Michele got her all nicely bundled up.

Here is Will doing his best "Frankenstein" imitation. He does this stiff arms thing all the time, and then he shrieks at the top of his lungs. I don't get it, but it's hilarious. Abby is constantly rolling around on the floor. She's looking at Will likes he's crazy in this picture.

Who are you? No, who are YOU? They are starting to notice each other more and more. Sometimes, though, they abuse eachother-scratching, hair pulling, biting, etc. It's just a sign of what's to come.

Doctor's Office Visits

Last week, I spent WAY more time than I would like at the pediatrician's office. Abby had a rough week. She had 2 projectile vomiting episodes on Tuesday morning. I called the md, and they wanted to see her. Really? What did they want to see? She looked exactly the same; she just barfed 2 times. Whatever.

Okay, they looked at her and determined it was probably just a little bug. I just needed to keep her well-hydrated. They could have told me that on the phone.

The LPN that we saw said that I could try to keep the others from getting sick, but that it was probably a lost cause. She told me that she has twins, and when they were little she tried to keep one from getting sick when the other caught something, but it never worked. She said she must have looked crazy to them because she would wear a mask and gloves to keep from passing germs.

She did not throw up again all day Tuesday. She took a long nap and woke up acting like her usual self-smiley, hungry, etc. No big deal. I thought we were good to go. Not so much.

Tuesday night she was fussy through the night, and then on Wednesday morning, she barfed her guts out again. I called the doctor's office because she also started feeling a little warm to me, and when I took her temp, it was 101. Her little feet and hands were also turning purple. They wanted to see her again, of course. So, we headed on back.

The doctor examined her, took some blood, took her temp again (102.4 there) and again gave us a lame diagnosis...some kind of bug, maybe the flu, could get worse before it gets better, keep her hydrated, give her Tylenol every 6 hours to keep down the fever, blah, blah, blah. The purple feet and hands happened to babies with drastic temperature fluctuations sometimes, as the body directs blood flow to the core and away from the extremities. It is only problematic when their lips and/or tongues turn purple. That means oxygen deprivation.

Back at home, she was miserable the rest of the day, and that night was awful. I was up almost all night with her. She just was terribly uncomfortable and generally pitiful. I hated seeing her like that. Thursday was more of the same, and my dad took over on Thursday night. They spent all night together-pacing, cuddling, sleeping (very little), etc. He said they were inseparable all night. She wanted constant contact.

On Friday, Michele came to help with the kids. She was sick earlier in the week but had made a recovery by the end of the week. I was going to go into the office on Friday, but I woke up feeling miserable that morning. We had Michele come anyway because the kids had their 6 month appointment to get shots, and we needed an extra set of arms to comfort them.

That morning, Michele noticed that Abby was looking blotchy, and when we went to change her clothes, we saw some little bumps on her belly. By later in the day, she had an all-out rash all over her little body. It turned out she had Roseola, which is a virus. It causes a baby to be sick and run a fever for 2 or 3 days, and then, it causes a rash once the fever breaks. We have no idea where she got it. It must have been from someone at the baptism on Sunday.

We had to start her on Benadryl to relieve her itchiness. Can you imagine feeling itchy all over, but not knowing what to do about it? She doesn't know how to scratch. How awful!

While we were there, the kids were all measured and weighed. Here are the latest figures on their growth:
Abby-26.5 inches, 15 lbs 9 ounces, 17 1/2 inch head circumference
Marie-26.5 inches, 15 lbs 4 ounces, 17 inches
Will-26.5 inches, 15 lbs 8 ounces, 17.5 inches

I really can't believe that they are all the same length. Marie looks so much shorter and stockier than Mr. Willers and Abers. It's so weird, but Billy and I measure her a second time at the doctor's office to make sure they hadn't been careless.

Unfortunately, mommy is now sick too with the same terrible cough that I had at the same time last year. I was looking at my posts from last year at this time, and I had the exact same thing now that I did then...scratchy throat, cough, post-nasal drip at night, etc. It sucks. Since I'm breastfeeding, I'm limited to only taking Robitussin again. Yet another reason to wean-I want real drugs!

Baptism

The babies were all baptized last Sunday. It was such a crazy week trying to get ready for the Christening and the after-party. Anyway, they did great, and they are now good with God. We kind of felt sorry for the 2 other families that were there to get their kids baptized the same day.

First of all, my Cuban family pretty much took the place over. The other families had maybe the Godparents and grandparents there. For us, it was aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, etc. That place was crawling with crazy Cubans.

Second, we have triplets, and they always get more attention than singletons. The priest made a huge deal out of it, and kept talking about what an "honor" it was to be baptizing triplets. He took pictures with us after the ceremony and just brushed by the other families.

Speaking of pictures, some of the people who were there for other baptisms were taking pictures of OUR babies! I guess they were going to tell everyone about the triplets that were being baptized at the same time as the baby in their family. We continue to be a freak show.

Here are some pictures of the big day (Thanks to our photographer-Shawnna).....

Here we are with the newest member of the triplet fan club-the priest.

All of the proud grandparents with us and the babies.

Here are the babies with their Godparents. It was really hard to come up with Godparents for them all. We decided each baby would have one representative from my side of the family and one from Billy's. He already knew he wanted Teri to be Abby's Godmother because her middle name is Eileen, which is their mom's name. She passed away when they were younger, and Mems stepped into the picture a few years later and raised them. I knew I wanted Liane to be Marie's Godmother because Liane is Marie's middle name. From there, we had to start coming up with options. Since I wanted all of my sister's families represented, and I only had 1 more spot for a female, I asked Alice to be Will's Godmother and Paul to be Abby's Godfather. Billy asked his friend Joe to be Will's Godfather, and longtime family friend, Gary, to be Marie's Godfather. It all worked out perfectly.

It used to be that whoever you choose as Godparents would be responsible for raising your child if anything were to happen to you. This is not the case in our situation, since we would want the kids to stay together. Alice and Kibby will takeover for us, if the need arises. When I told Alice this, she told me to watch my back. She's already plotting to kill us for these babies!

I thought this picture was funny because when Billy and I looked at it, he commented on how sweet and cute Rose looks, but that Carley looks like she is planning something evil to do in her head. She just has that look on her face. That bow in her hair was too cute! She wants to do everything like Rose, or "Rosesh," as she calls her.

Prunes in, poops out

Abby is severely constipated. She's been pooping out these tiny little rock-hard pebbles lately, and she cries when she passes them. Her tiny little hiney hole can handle that kind of strain. My poor baby!

We tried nutritional remedies at first. She's had baby pears, prune juice, baby prunes, oatmeal, lots of fluid, etc. I thought that combination would certainly lead to an explosion but no such luck.
We ended up having to take her to the doctor on Friday, and they want her to take a stool softener-Miralax. If that doesn't work after a couple of days, she'll need a baby suppo. Suppositories are no fun for the giver or the receiver so let's just hope she makes a big poop really soon!

To try and keep them all "regular," we've been pounding baby prunes. Here are all my little "prune faces:"

Mommy Guilt

I guess the typical type of "mommy guilt" for working moms is that they feel like they should be at home taking care of their kids, instead of working. However, my mommy guilt is that I enjoy my job and look forward to the days I go to the office. It's not that I don't love the babies; it's just that I yearn to stimulate my brain in different ways.

I have always loved learning. If that makes me a big dork, then so be it. That's the only reason I made it through as many years of school as I did. I am always looking for ways to soak up new knowledge and sharpen my professional skills. Billy said I was probably the annoying student in the front row who always raised her hand whenever the teacher asked anything. I wasn't that bad. Okay, maybe a little.

The three months that I spent at home were amazing and wonderful but incredibly difficult. On one hand, I had what I had been wanting for so many years: a family. However, on the other hand, my life was completely different. Instead of juggling work responsibilities, assignments for school, conducting research, and keeping the household in order (i.e., cooking, cleaning, paying bills, doing laundry, etc.), I was focused solely on the babies. Every day was just like the one before for those 3 months. I now feel like it was all a blur, but all I can remember is changing diapers, feeding babies, pumping milk, feeding babies, hearing babies cry, changing diapers, etc. When I look back at some of my blog entries from that time, it's almost like someone else wrote those posts because I just don't remember them.

People kept telling me that I wouldn't want to go back to work when the babies arrived, and I started to believe that might be true. However, I came to my senses after a few weeks and knew that I would be a working mom. It's not because I don't love the babies. I simply also enjoy my profession. Should I feel guilty about that? I don't think so.

I want my kids to grow up knowing that they can do whatever they want to do. If Abby, Marie, and/or even Will want to be stay at home parents as adults, I would be just as proud as if they were brain surgeons. I just don't ever want them to not consider the possibilities.

Pictures from Mems

These are all pictures that Mems took. Some are taken at her house, others at our house, and others while she was on the go with babies last month.

Marie is fresh out of the tub at Marmie's in this picture. We gave Mems bath-time supplies as part of her Christmas presents so that she could have more fun time bathing little ones at her house. It's also nice to get a clean baby returned to us so we don't have to worry about baths! We usually give them baths every other night, but when a baby is loaned out, he/she may miss a bath and then, he/she will be dirty for another 2 days. We love our babies squeaky clean!

On a side note to that, Michele babysat for Liane a couple of weeks ago and had to spend some quality time cleaning out Chloe's fat neck. She said it was seriously crusty in there. She's got rolls of fat, and it's tough to get the old milk out of there. YUCK!


Will and Marie were all dressed up for Christmas in this picture. My Aunt sent these outfits for them. They were very fancy.

Will looks like a gap model in this picture with his collar coming through his sweater like that. He just has that precious little smirk on his face. It's too much!

This is what Marmie referred to as his "midget" pose. He looks like a tiny little midget boy. Can you believe how strong he is? He's just standing there like it's nothing.

Abby is lounging on Marmie's couch in her little outfit and matching beret. Doesn't she look like a little French girl?

More December Pics

Abby and Marie were NOT fond of green beans. Their little faces are saying, "How could you do this to me?" We've tried them a couple of times since, and we still are not getting a good reaction. Perhaps we'll try squash next and go back to the green beans later. Will seemed to be okay with about the first 3 bites of the green beans. Then, he realized they were gross and shut his mouth tight.

When Abby can't chomp on someone's hand, she now turns to her own feet. She is so flexible!

This is another one of their Christmas outfits/pajamas. My dad and Maureen gave them each a pair of these. They are adorable with the little hats!

Here are the quads! That's Chloe on the far right. She's a chunk! Billy likes to refer to her as Lex Luther.

December Pictures

Here is Will in one set of his Christmas pajamas. Yes, they had multiple Christmas pajamas. Mems bought them some, Maureen and my dad did also (pics of those in the next post), and we had some in the many hand-me-downs that we received.

Here are Abby and Marie in their Christmas pajamas. It looks like they were having a conversation and just stopped to look at the camera.

You can see how Marie is standing (with support). They are all getting really strong, and want to push up with their legs when they are held.

Here are Abby and Will having some together time on the floor. Abby looks so happy to be hangin' with her brother, but Will does not appear to be thrilled about the situation.

Here is Winnie going to town on a baby bib. As soon as meal time ends, I hand the bibs over to Winnie because she pulls them out of the hamper if I don't. She then proceeds to lick off every scrap of food on them. She's very fond of baby oatmeal cereal.

Here are the kids in their BebePod chairs. Marie quickly figured out how to spin the toy in front of her, and Will was watching her do it to see if he could copy her. They aren't quite strong enough to hold themselves up in the chairs. You can see that Marie is tipping to her side, and Abby is leaning forward. I think they'll have it down in a couple of weeks. They are getting better and better in the seated position.