Looking Back

Google recently updated my YouTube channel, prompting me to take a look back at some of the great videos I've posted over the last couple of years. My "Top Videos" playlist has my five favorite videos in it, so be sure to check that out.

Here's my favorite video of the trips from the past four years (don't worry, you're not going crazy, there is no sound in the video):

Looking Back

The triplets were about six months old when I took these. I just love their expressions. Can you guess who is who?

Looking Back

I love this picture of the girls. I'm not sure why they decided they had  to hold hands, but it made for a really cute picture.

Remember When

I was backing up some pictures from my iPhone and found this picture of Juli with Elisha in the background. It might be the first picture I took with my first iPhone. I think the triplets were around 18 months old in this one.

Remembering When: First Video

The fact that the triplets' third birthday is fast approaching has me looking back and trying to remember all of the little details from when they first came home, when they first started rolling over, sitting up, crawling, walking, I could go on and on. Thankfully I took lots of pictures and video along the way.

This is probably the first video I took of the triplets. I don't know the exact date I took the video, but by the looks of it, they weren't more than 3 months old. They didn't do much but eat and sleep at that point, so I wasn't taking many videos. Sometimes I forget that they slept in a pack & play in our living room for the first few months. Now they're sleeping in separate rooms. It will probably never cease to amaze me how quickly things change.

The Gopher

At some point last week I remembered something that KJ used to do when the triplets were about one and a half or two years old, a little while after they were able to walk reliably on their own. I remember at times they would each pick out some toys to play with and sit by themselves and play for short periods of time. During this time, I noticed several times, that KJ would abruptly stop what he was doing, his head would shoot up as if out of a gopher hole, and he would scan his surroundings. Once he spotted his sisters, it appeared as if he was evaluating what they were playing with and deciding if he wanted those toys or not. Once he made his decision he would either go back to playing with what he had, or rush over to either Juli or Elisha and take whatever they had. Of course, the screaming and crying would ensue shortly after he stole the toys from them. But it was a fun process to watch up until that point.

Looking Back: Triplets Require A Lot of Bottles

Gretchen and I were reminiscing the other night about how many bottles we had to use for the kids. When we first brought them home they were eating every three hours or so. That's eight bottles each in a twenty-four hour period. Twenty four bottles each day! I really don't know how we did it. We must have been zombies for weeks.

Another Looking Back Post

Found another picture that reminded me of something the kids did that I had forgotten already. This is how KJ would position his hands for every bottle for several months. Not sure why he did it, maybe it made him more comfortable. Whatever it was, we found it pretty darn cute.

Looking Back

Once again, I was looking through some old photos of the kids and found this one. It makes me giggle every time I see it. He really looks like he's watching TV here, but if I remember right, the TV was off.

Remembering When: First To Crawl

The other day I was frantically looking through all of our archived videos to find the ones from our 2009 vacation to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina - the triplets first real vacation - and I found some other videos that I thought might be fun to share. The first of which is a poor quality cell phone video (which I started recording with the phone in the vertical orientation, then fixed) of Elisha crawling on her own for the first time. Of all things, we used a bottle of water to entice her to make those first moves. Who needs flashy, expensive toys, right?

Looking Back

About a year ago I posted a video of our triplets eating breakfast. After viewing the video again this morning, it occurred to me just how much has changed in a year. The first thing I noticed, besides how much the kids have grown, is that we had to move Elisha's crib away from the window because she kept playing with the curtains. Next, we no longer have baby gates all over the house. Most days we only have one gate up to keep the dog in or out of the kitchen. Next high chairs, those are gone. Then I realized how much their diet has changed in a year and how well they feed themselves. It's wonderful to be able to look back and see how far we've come.

I'll be posting a new version of the 'Breakfast with the Trips" video in a few days. For now, take a look back at last year's video.

Smile!

I needed something to cheer me up today, so I went and looked for this image of KJ. This picture always makes me giggle.

Two Years Old

It's hard to believe that our little babies are going to be turning two years old this coming Friday. I've decided to take this chance to share a few pictures from their first birthday party. The little buggers did not know what to make of the cupcakes that Gretchen had made for them, and they really didn't want the little crowns that we tried to put on them.

In The Beginning: Part Three

It's been a while since I've done one of these. If you missed the first two, I'm just looking back at how things went through Gretchen's Pregnancy with the kids and what life was like for us when the triplets first arrived. You can see Part 1 by clicking here, and part 2 by clicking here.

Looking back on part two, I realized that I forgot some details. J was born first, weighing in at 3lbs. 2oz. and 15 inches long. E was second, weighing 3lbs. 15oz. and measuring 16 and 3/4inches long. K was last, weighing 2lbs. 14oz. and measuring 15 and 3/4 inches long.

The first few days (months) were (still are) a blur. I remember sleeping for a few hours on a chair/bed/torture device thingie that was in Gretch's room the first night. The second night I opted to go home and sleep in my own bed, with Gretchen's permission, of course. We had many visitors in the first few days. My family, Gretchen's family, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Great Aunts and Uncles, friends. Lots of visitors.

Gretch was in the hospital for a few days. A lot of firsts were experienced in those few days. Gretch and I both got to hold J for the first time since she didn't need any help breathing. We also got to see J eat for the first time and hear her burp (loud for such a little thing).

After Gretch was released from the hospital we went back and forth from our house to the hospital almost daily, sometimes two or three times a day. Luckily we live close to the hospital. Unfortunately, there was a major construction project going on to widen the main road between our house and the hospital. Some days it took forever to get there and back. But it was all worth it.

We also experienced a lot of firsts during that month in the Special Care Nursery. I got to change a diaper for the first time ever - that was E, and she decided to initiate me by pooping in the middle of the diaper change! We finally got to hold E and K, and feed them, and change them, too. Little milestones that seemed to mean so much at that point. Every little thing they did was a major accomplishment. And each day I felt more and more confident that Gretch and I would be able to care for these three beautiful children we were given.

Remember When...

I was talking with my mom, my sister, and Gretch last night, and the subject of the differences between this summer and last summer came up. Then someone reminded me of a very blogable story, so here goes:

We signed up for our city's "parent and tot" swimming classes last summer. It was less of a class and more of a time set aside for parents to spend time with their toddlers in the city pool without hordes of other people around. It was a very enjoyable time. So enjoyable in fact, that K fell asleep on someone on two different occasions. The first time I was the one holding him and he just laid his head down on my chest and fell asleep while we were in the pool. He was so relaxed and calm, it was really cute and we all got a good, quiet, giggle out of it. Then a few weeks later he did it again, this time I think it was my sister who was holding him. Again, very cute. To top that off, we went to visit my parents later on in the summer and were in their pool, and he did it again, this time while Grandma was holding him. What can I say, the water relaxes the little guy! I'm just sorry I never got any pictures of the little guy sleeping, but I did get some video of the trips in the pool with daddy, grandma, and grandpa!!

In The Beginning: Part 2

We started the day like any other. I had taken the day off of work because we had an appointment with the specialist. G was probably doing some work from the laptop (she was allowed to work from home given her condition - we were very appreciative). We had lunch, and made our way to the doctor's office. It was unusually crowded that day and we ended up waiting longer than usual. The ultrasound went fine. K had his feet above his head and was looking pretty cramped. One of the girls (we think it was E) was very active and kept kicking K in the back. We laughed a bit and felt sorry for the little guy.

We left the office feeling pretty good. The doc said we should have at least another week if not more til she delivers. Great news considering she was almost at 32 weeks already. We went home, had dinner and turned on the Indians game. I was relaxing (probably with a beer) watching the game when G mentioned that something felt different and went into the bathroom. I'll spare you the details and suffice to say that a couple of calls to the doctor and about an hour later, we were on our way to the hospital.

Since we were going in "after hours" I had to park on the other side of the hospital from labor and delivery. We made it to L&D and they hooked her up to the monitors and a short time later it was decided that she was going to have a c-section, that night! Of course I left her bag in the car, on the other side of the hospital. As I run down to the car, I come upon several workers who are tearing up the carpet in the hallway. I make it through the adhesive apologising all the way and explaining that my wife is having triplets. They let me go. I get to the car and realize that I left the keys in the room. So I run back. Apologise again to the workers, get my keys, and run back through the adhesive again. By the time I get to the car I'm really aware of the fact that I have asthma and am very glad I brought my inhaler (which I left in the car with G's bag)!!

Since the guys putting the carpet down are working near the door for labor and delivery, I bring the car to that lot and knock on the windows for one of them to let me in so that I don't have to run through the adhesive again. I'm sure it annoyed them, though they understood.

By the time I get back upstairs, they've taken her in for the epidural, which I couldn't be there for anyways, so it was okay. They threw some scrubs at me, I threw them on and was led away to an operating room where they were already making the incision. Oh, and there were about 25 - 30 other people in the room. It was a little crowded. I sat next to my wife and watched as the doc pulled out baby after baby after baby and handed them off to each team. It was pretty surreal to say the least. In a matter of three minutes we went from being pregnant to having three kids.

Somewhere in there (I can't remember exactly when) I called our parents. G's mom made the hour drive up, as did my parents. Being that it was 11:30 at night, they weren't really supposed to be there, but the staff made an exception. After G was moved to recovery I went out to greet the family. My Dad did not recognize me until I started talking to him, I was still wearing the scrubs and he thought I was a doctor. After a while, I convinced my family to go to my house and get some sleep, since they wouldn't be able to see G or the kids until morning. I'm not sure what my mother-in-law did, she probably stayed at the hospital.

On the way to G's room, they let us stop by the Special care nursery to see the kids. It was here that we decided that "Baby A" was J and "Baby B" was E. And we also got to see K. The girls were on ventilators when we went in. K was breathing fine on his own so they were just watching him closely. We were then taken to G's room, which was rather comfortable. She got her meds and fell asleep. I curled up on the little chair/bed thingie and tried to sleep. I may have gotten an hour or two. Maybe.

In The Beginning

I'd like to go back and start posting about how it was for us in the beginning.  These are stories that I would love to have for the kids to read once they are older.  I think you'll also enjoy them.  

Let's start at the very beginning.  The wife and I were in the middle of remodeling our bedroom - new laminate flooring and everything - and getting ready to go to a photography conference/vacation in Las Vegas when she got the first positive on the pregnancy test.   She immediately stopped all painting (which meant that I had to do it myself - not that I mind).  She made appointments with her doctor to confirm, did the blood tests and whatnot.  When she explained the values to me from the two blood tests something didn't sound right to me.  The number was supposed to double in a certain amount of time and when I did the quick math in my head it was a little more than it should have been.  But I kept these thoughts to myself.  

Then we left for Vegas.  I had seminars to attend, and she had naps to take.  Lots of them.  She was sooo tired.  She did go out on her own during the day to explore a little, but not much.  I remember a couple of nights waking her up to go out.  And we had to avoid the smell of coffee like the plague.  That was a tough one being that there was a Starbucks in the lobby of our hotel!  But we managed, and had a good time.  Gambled a bit, shopped a bit, went to see the Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon.  It was a good trip.

After we got back I had a day or two before I had to get back to work and was working on re-acclimating myself after the time change.  It was my turn to take naps!  During one of the naps I had a strange dream that we needed a bigger house because we had three kids.  I didn't see the kids, there was no reference to how old the kids were, just that we were looking for a bigger house because we had three kids.  I shook it off as nothing and went on with my life.  

Then we had the appointment for our first ultrasound.  When we got into the room the tech asked me if I wanted to sit down and offered me a stool.  I opted to stand next to my wife.  She started the ultrasound and asked G if she was experiencing any morning sickness or any other symptoms.  G explained that she was a little nauseous at times and was very tired.  The tech then said "well that explains the nausea" as she was looking at the screen.  I vaguely remember her counting, and when she got to three I think I said, "three what?" and then turned around to look for that stool.  The shock had set in.  

The details are a bit fuzzy now, but she finished the ultrasound, asked if we needed anything and then took us out to wait for the doctor.  That day the doc was pretty backed up, so they didn't have a room for us to wait in.  We waited on a bench in the hallway.  People kept walking by asking us if we were okay.  We must have had some pretty stunned looks on our faces.  I remember giggling in an awkward kind of way thinking, how are we ever going to do this.  We can't care for three babies.  Triplets!  It seemed like we were sitting there forever, but in a way it was a good thing.  By the time the doc was ready for us reality had started to set in.  Or at least acceptance.  We were going to have triplets!