Bad Day!

Here is a video from Saturday that we hope you enjoy. Dave was having a really really bad day. One thing was going wrong after another. He was putting away groceries and a jar of spaghetti sauce fell on the floor and shattered everywhere, all kinds of things went wrong when he tried to mow the grass for the first time this year, and then a couple of the hamburgers he made on the grill fell on the freshly cut grass, and that's not even close to all of it. This clip was taken after he found a leak under the kitchen sink. We used to keep our pots and pans under our stove, but we had to move them under the sink, because we could put a childproof lock on that cabinet. (After watching this video you will understand why we went to all that trouble.) But poor Dave had to move everything out to work on the leak. Then in come our kids with their state-of-the-art "new-dar." (New-dar is a special radar that our kids have that goes off when anything new is in the room. It's like a homing to device to help them find the new object immediately.) I think it's safe to say that Dave needed to let off a little steam at this point!





Bonus Alyssa-ism: This morning, I was getting ready for church and Alyssa came in our room. She was raising her eyebrows up and down and said, "Look, Mommy, I can raise my umbrellas."
God bless, Amanda

4 To A Chair

Before I give you a little snapshot of life at our house, I wanted to say thanks so much for your encouraging messages to us! I still can't believe I'm cancer-free, but telling all of you the good news made it seem real, just like telling everyone I was pregnant (way back when) made it seem real! The awesome weather only adds to the joy, too!

The kids provided me these two pieces of footage today. It's so typical of life here - 15 things going on at once. Those of you who are here often know that we are at a stage where all kitchen chairs and booster chairs are kept stowed away until mealtime. Well, today the kids took advantage of a momentary breech in security. I had to change a couple of festive diapers (they all ganged up at me and 3 of the 4 kids went at once). After washing my hands, this is the scene I came upon. Once I grabbed the camera, Alyssa had to join the action, too. (By the way, I am so excited that she will let me put her hair in pigtails for the first time in a year and a half!) I don't know if you can tell very well from the video, but while the boys were duking it out and then kissing and making up, the girls were in the background wiping down counters. And in case you were wondering, yes, they walk all over each other all the time. When they were first pulling up, I saw one triplet use the head of another to step up on the couch several times! I hope you enjoy the show! Sorry it cuts off, but our camera only does 30 second videos. I also didn't capture when the threw a clove of garlic on the floor, almost broke the coffee pot, put a plastic curly cue straw in the toaster and pushed the button down, and Jack trying to climb onto the stove and turn the knobs on (actually, you can see a bit of that in the 2nd video). Needless to say, the chair was evacuated involuntarily at that point.

Happy Friday! God bless, Amanda

Quick Update

Hey Everyone,

Hope that you are all doing well. Just wanted to pass along a couple of things to you, including some fantastic news!

AMANDA'S HEALTH

I went to the doctor last night and got the results from my thyroid cancer follow up scans and blood tests. The great news is that they think they got everything! Praise God! While they wouldn't say that I was "cured" I was given a clean bill of health, and my doctor said that it is doubtful that it will ever come back. However, I will continue to be monitored through blood tests and neck ultrasounds (I think I am approaching the Guinness Record for "Person with the Most Ultrasounds"). Another piece of good news is that the blood work checking my thyroid medicines finally showed up exactly where it should be - in preventative mode. It took almost a year to get there, but I made it! Thank you so much for all of you who prayed and supported our family through this difficult chapter in our lives. We couldn't have done it without you!

Next up is to finish up my physical therapy for my back and neck (I was in a minor car accident and messed them up). Then on June 16th, I am having a quick surgery to repair an abdominal incision from a previous surgery (they don't make them tough enough to withstand a triplet pregnancy, I guess). After that, hopefully Humpty Dumpty will be put back together again - almost as good as new.

I'm so sorry to all of those I owe emails to. I can't get much done these days as my children have turned into Tasmanian devil-like locusts with octopus arms. Please know that I have gotten your messages and read them, just replying seems to be beyond my abilities with one arm (I usually have a kid in the other). I will get back to you, though, I promise!

I hope you are enjoying beautiful weather right now like we are! God is good.

God bless,

Amanda

Bellybuttons

Here's a corny joke for you:

Fred: Did you hear about the archaeologists who discovered Adam and Eve?
Ted: No, I didn't. Hey, how did they know it was Adam and Eve?
Fred: They didn't have any bellybuttons.

[Insert canned laughter.]

We feel sorry for Adam and Eve. Bellybuttons are quite the hot topic at our house right now, and they would miss out on all the fun. When you ask Lauren, Drew or Jack where their bellybutton is, they lift up their shirt and look around for it. Usually, though, their tummies are sticking out and in the way and they can't see it. They also like to lift the shirts of each other and enjoy poking away like they found the Pillsbury Doughboy. It's pretty funny to watch them do it; like an odd version of tag or something. Since they often have onesies on during the day to cover their little treasures up, this becomes a really fun game before bathtime when we strip them down to their diapers while we get the tub ready.

They also think it's great fun to lift up the shirt of adults and do this, too. I forgot to warn my mom about this one day as she was babysitting the triplets for us, and it gave her quite a shock. Backing up a bit, I should probably tell you first that they can't say bellybutton very well yet, so they shorten it to "butt." The second problem is that they haven't figured out which side the bellybutton is on. So, imagine my mom's surprise as she had the trio in their cribs, was walking between them to give them a last sip of water for the night, and Jack comes up behind her, lifts her shirt and says, "butt" and then starts poking around on her back. I'm sure she was wondering what in the world are we teaching these kids!? But she was polite and just asked "What was he doing!?"

So, I am hoping that this phase passes, before I have surgery on mine. Maybe I'll keep it bandaged for a while and get them really confused as to where my bellybutton is! I have mentioned in the past that the triplets have what's called an umbilical hernia. This just means that the area where the umbilical cord passed through hasn't sealed up all the way. So, their bellybutton sticks out a bit, but this is expected to heal on it's own eventually. It's a really common thing that happens to preemies. But I think the squishyness of it makes the bellybutton game that much more fun. Ironically, if they didn't have their little umbilical hernias, I may not know that mine needed surgery. I just happened to notice one day that mine was starting to look like theirs. I later mentioned it when seeing my doctor about some other stuff. Unfortunately, it turns out that mine won't heal on its own, though.

Tonight, as I was reading to Alyssa at bedtime, she showed me her bellybutton. It just struck me as I was looking at it, that this was how her body was connected to mine at one point. It was a neat little reminder of the the intimate relationship that we once had, and how that little hole was her lifeline to the world. It's really amazing when you stop to think about it. I will never understand how they form in the first place after you are born. I think it's interesting how everyone's bellybutton looks different., too. Maybe someday instead of looking at fingerprints they will look at bellybuttons, since you don't leave prints of them all over glasses. Nah......... that would probably ruin the storyline of too many movies, huh?
See what I mean about all the fun Adam and Eve missed out on? They didn't even know what a bellybutton was until they had kids!

God bless,
Amanda

This was copied and edited from our previous site on Babysites.

Humpty Dumpty and The Mall

Hello Faithful Friends,

Lately I have to say that I feel a little like Humpty Dumpty. The good times with my health just keep on coming. It makes me feel like Humpty Dumpty, because I feel like they have to put me back together again!
Right now I am on my low iodine diet again (one more week to go - yeah). This is to prepare for a follow up scan that I am doing to make sure that the radioactive iodine that I took in June got all the thyroid cells/thyroid cancer cells. My doctor said that it takes about 9 months to see if it worked, so here I am. For the most part, things are going much better this time around, because I don't have to go off my thyroid medicine at the same time. Instead, I will take shots on Monday and Tuesday that produce the same hormone that my body would have made if I went off my meds. They are really expensive (over $1000 each), so I am so thankful that my insurance paid for them! The only tough part is that the triplets have turned into locust/tazmanian devils with octopus arms. That means that all the cooking from scratch that I have to do usually has to wait until after they go to bed. It makes for long days, but at least it is just for a little while.

I also found out on Monday that I am having surgery on June 16th. This is the repair an incision from a previous surgery that I had through my bellybutton, way back in 2001. The surgery itself isn't too bad, just an hour or so and it's outpatient. The tough part for me will be that I can't lift anything over 5 lbs for 6 weeks! That will be very tough to do with the kids and I guess that means Dave will be doing all the grocery shopping this summer.

I am also going to physical therapy to get my back feeling better after the accident I was in just before Thanksgiving. They told me it would take a while to heal, since I was hauling kids all the time. So I waited a while to go back to my doctor. He took some X-rays, and they came back fine. So I am off to physical therapy, which is helping tremendously. I am glad to be getting range of motion in my neck back and the pain has gone down a lot, too!

So anyway, I would appreciate your prayers for good health for me. It's been a long time coming! Please pray that my scan on April 10th comes back clean and that I can get on with my life!

On a lighter note, I wanted to tell you about my trip to the mall today. Alyssa was at preschool and then off to a playdate with her 3rd cousin (yes, we figured out they are 3rd cousins). So, I was down to "just 3 kids". We are getting stir crazy and cabin fever as March hasn't been as warm as we had hoped. So I decided after lots of whining and crying that it was time for a change of scenery. I made the decision to take them BY MYSELF to a new mall that they had never been to before.

We got there near opening time, so the parking lot wasn't too full. This is something you think about when you get out a beast of a stroller and don't feel like being watched as you unload 3 kids. The trio was very well behaved and wide-eyed and quiet. Just inside the door I stopped and took off their coats, where we attracted our first major gawker/question asker. I've come to expect this, but sometimes you just never know what people will say or how nosy they will be. This lady could actually tell that Lauren (in her pink coat) was a girl, and was very nice and encouraging. I needed that, because as she walked away, I noticed that the beast had a tire that was getting low. I figured, oh well, we are here, I doubt there is a bicycle pump anywhere, so we are going for it anyway!

For the most part we just walked around. I met a really nice older couple at the directory map (I had to look for elevators at this mall as the stroller doesn't do escalators). This couple was really sweet and told me that they never had children of their own. They couldn't have been more positive about my kids (sadly, I can't say that about everyone), and I ended up seeing them several times around the mall. They also "rescued" me from a lady yelling across the mall to me "was it a surprise to have triplets?" I just looked at her and smiled and went back to talking to our new friends. Whew. Got out of that one.

I don't mind talking about our fertility issues with people I know, and I really hope that we encourage others who are struggling with it. We also hope that we have helped to take away some of the stigma of the whole subject that people can be really close-minded about. But there are times like these when I am surrounded by total strangers that I don't like to talk about the subject. You never know if you are opening yourself up to being judged by someone who knows nothing about you or your circumstances. I like to at least know someone's name before I talk about something so personal and gutwrenching to go through. There are also those who are just plain curious for the sake of juicy gossip. For those people who are just plain nosy, let them buy a People magazine and leave me out of it!

Oops, sorry, didn't mean to get off on a tangent there. But one neat thing that happened at the mall was that we just happened to see one of the NICU doctors that took care of Lauren, Drew, and Jack. I can't remember much of anything these days, so, of course, I couldn't remember her name (until I got a bill in the mail later that day for their NICU visit - but that's another story). I noticed her looking at our stroller as she walked by, so in a moment of boldness, I said, "Excuse me, are you a NICU doctor?" She looked at me a little funny and for a second I thought I was going to be royally embarrassed. But she said yes and that she had looked at the kids and wondered if she had treated them. I think it was a fun treat for her to get to see some of her patients and find out how they turned out (at least 20 months later). She said she would also let the staff know that I had run into her. I was really glad that I had that moment of courage, otherwise I would have missed out on a neat opportunity.

Then after she walked away, I noticed a billboard for the hospital (where she worked and where the triplets were born). What a coincidence. But not only that, as I kept walking I noticed that we had been talking next to a huge billboard talking describing the story of our friends who had quad boys - also at the same hospital! What are the chances of that happening all at once!?
So after that, we stopped for a snack, and continued walking around.

A few "what was I thinking" moments struck me as we were there. First was, what do I do if I have to go to bathroom? That stroller can't make turns very well, let alone fit into a bathroom stall and it's not like I can leave the kids with someone else while I go. Luckily, I came across a family bathroom. The stroller fit in there great, I could lock the door, and it was a break from being stared at! There was a guy in there ahead of us (whom I almost walked in on since he forgot to turn the "occupied" knob!). You should have seen his face as he walked out and and said, "Triplets???" The family bathroom was also nice as it calmed my fears of "what do I do if someone has a blowout?" It had a nice place to change diapers and everything. All three kids had done their duty before we left, though, so I wasn't too worried about that. But it was nice to have a plan of attack, if the need should arise.

Another thing I worried about in retrospect is what do I do if they all start crying? This struck me as I had to take the water cup from Jack to share with the others, and he let me know it he wasn't too happy with it. I kept getting lost in that mall (Dave has a good sense of direction, so that's usually his job!), so I was picturing myself going in circles with 3 screaming kids and a flat tire. But, luckily, none of that happened. The kids were really good. I stayed strong going through the food court with all those wonderful smells of food I can't have right now. (Oh, how I miss my cheese!) We probably got our most stares, there, too. But we survived.

We also met a very nice lady while I was backing up to throw away some rice cakes Drew threw on the ground (Drew throws EVERYTHING round!). This lady had 4 daughters and was telling me all kinds of things about her and even about potty training her kids. It's amazing how total strangers open up to you when you have a stroller full of kids. We also met up with a family with 3 kids and compared birthdays with them. Kids are always attracted to other kids. Is that called "kid-dar"? What age are you when you lose it?

But anyway, all in all, we had a pretty good trip and even got back in the van before the rain hit. Unfortunately, when it was time to load up, the parking lot was much more full. I had a truck behind me with two guys in it eating their lunch. It actually worked out ok, because they backed up when I moved the strolled behind the van. That gave me more room to work and turn the beast around - which made it much easier to load up. I wasn't exactly crazy about having an audience while I went about my chores. But, after I hurried to take the stroller apart, collapse it and put it in the van, I gave a thank you wave to them. They were laughing and I saw the one guy motioning to other to explain how I collapsed the stroller and put it in. I guess next time I do a demonstration I should put my body on the other side of it. Well, I have accepted that my family was put here on the earth for the entertainment of others. In return, I guess I am amused by how the stroller seems to get as much attention as the 3 tykes in it!

May your life be full of amusement, too!

God bless,
Amanda

This was copied and edited from our previous site on Babysites.