This is us now

My nausea is finally subsiding, hallelujah, but I still need a daily nap. I am going to have to cut my few working hours down because even after 4 hours I am exhausted. We had an OB appointment last Thursday and all the babies are healthy. They were stacked all nice feet to feet and then that night they flipped and all of the massive kicking I was feeling all but disappeared. I fear they are kicking my kidneys, spine, colon and other organs as I am still drinking a ton of orange juice. They like orange juice! We are at 14 weeks tommorrow and this is what it looks like:



Evie is feisty. She got to see the babies and hear their heartbeats. I think it made it a little more "real" to her although she still lifts her shirt to tell me she has babies in her belly and has even told Shawn twice that he has babies in his belly too. We watch baby stories every day I'm at home, so I am hoping she gets that the babies come out of mommy's belly. Time will tell, everyday she will get closer and closer to understanding. I'm sure the babies arrivals will also help! In the meantime her love of babies continues and she picked out a new one with the money she received at Christmas from her great-grandma V.

She loves to be a girlie-girl, which includes purses, dressing up, hair accessories, and painted nails. Here is her all dressed up:

Our favorite picture though is the following which many of you have already seen. We call it "Evie in training" or "Showing Mommy the way". I asked her as she carried three of her babies around, "Is mommy going to be as good at taking care of her babies as you are of yours?" Her answer, "YES!" Then she picked up her "purse" and a bottle or other baby accessory fell out and she freaked throwing it and herself on the floor. And I said, "Yep, that's probably how I will be handling three as well!" We'll see...

Tah-Dah

12 weeks

I've finally reached 12 weeks!! For most pregnancies, this is when your miscarriage risk goes way down. I haven't been as worried about this because if you hear the heartbeats early then the risk of miscarriage is less then 5%. Our ultrasound at 7 weeks not only showed three babies but 3 perfect heartbeats and common miscarriage signs were absent. However, it is still really great to reach this milestone. For those of you who are curious, this is what being 12 weeks pregnant looks like from month 1 to month 3...

Month 1
Month 2
Month 3

I'm Back

As all of you know...we're pregnant...with triplets. Sorry that the exhaustion and nausea has kept me away from this blog. I'm feeling a little better and now I'm hoping to get back on track with my normal activities. In the meantime, I'm trying to catch up.

Anma and Anpa V. were over this weekend, which Evie LOVED!! She was able to be read to almost constantly. Meanwhile, my mom and I are working to rearrange items in our back bedroom so we can paint in a few days. We are trying to get it ready for the triplets BEFORE bedrest, which could happen anytime after 20 weeks. We will be 12 weeks on Thursday. If we weren't receiving 6-12 inches of snow, I would be in town picking out paint colors, but for now we are snowed in. The weather this winter has been snowy, blustery, and blowing. It has caused us to shut the office down more then we have in the past 5 years. It's a little crazy!!

Evie doesn't seem to notice the weather, but she would I'm sure love to be out rolling around in it. The temperature hasn't cooperated however, or I've felt to pregnant to take her. She is needing to be inside a lot, in any case, as we are working on potty training. She's doing a great job and just needs to work on remembering to go before it's too late. Sometimes she demands "m's" She loves being read to and it's a constant demand we get "bead." Babies are still #1 in her life. She adores babies. She rocks them, feeds them, tucks them into bed etc. I am a little afraid she will smother these three babies when they arrive. She will demand to hold them a lot, I have that feeling already. She might wear me out as much as having 3 newborns at once. She hasn't quite grasped the babies in mommy's belly yet. She counts them but usually counts 4. That's her number, 4. She has 4 eyes, 4 ears, etc. As you can see by my constant use of the word "demand" Evelyn has indeed a terrible 2 streak. She does say "peas" and "than you" but most of the time demands her needs and wants. The politeness comes usually when we ask and you can almost catch the fluttering eyes, since she knows her "peas" are much too adorable to resist.

More to follow...including pictures. Keep checking back with us.

Sickness

This the second time in less then a month that Evie has woken us because of a stomach virus. YUCK!! She was up from pretty much midnight through 9am with it yesterday. Though she did recoup around 3, she wasn't doing well enough to eat or drink much. This morning she woke us up at 6am so thirsty it took two sippy cups to satisfy her. Then she polished off some pretzels, finally got some Tylenol and fell asleep on the couch!! So tired, the poor thing!! Shawn snapped this picture of Evie, what a darling! If you know Evie, she has to be really tired to fall asleep on the couch, in the middle of the day, without sound machine or bed!! Shawn moved her to her bed and she slept over 3 more hours! She's on the mend!

I haven't been able to scrapbook much lately due to being...busy, but I did create this for both my parents and Jessie with photos Keesha and I had taken during our trip to TX in October. They turned out pretty cute, the pictures too! Sorry the 2nd one is a little blurry but hard to take photos of pictures/papers.

Christmas 2009

This Christmas has been so busy! I'm really loving the time with both families, but find myself looking forward to taking down the tree, and resuming "normal" activities. Next year we will stay home for Christmas and I'm really looking forward to this as traveling can be very wearisome. Evelyn enjoyed the visit from Santa, who brought her 3 presents, as the Wise Men once brought Baby Jesus, plus a full stocking.






Our Christmas was low-key. We spent the day in our pajamas, watching Evie play with her Santa gifts (her favorite the table and chairs with tea set--which she is playing with above with "Santa"), watching Christmas movies and eating chili. It was great!! This is how we plan to spend Christmas from now on. No more slaving over the stove making turkey or rushing to relatives houses. Just being with family, relaxing and celebrating our Saviors birth.

On the day after Christmas we headed to my sister and brother-in-law's home to have our V family Christmas. Jessie and Goober made a delicious spread. I get hungry just thinking about it! We has a lot of fun opening gifts, though this occurred so quickly I missed Evie opening about half of hers. My favorite gifts Evie received, which she is going to love is the art easel made by her anpa V and decorated by anma V, and the pretty apron made by auntie (with help from anma). I received a matching one, which I love. Now we've just got to do a little cooking or baking! Evie opened the gift from her auntie Keesha, uncle Chris and Xander about midway through and getting her to continue was a little difficult. They got her a diaper bag with all the baby accessories. She loves them. I enjoy her joy but have to repack the bag every night. After she's gone to bed, because if you do it with her in the room she goes into full meltdown. Shawn loves her John Deere riding tractor.



The morning following our fun at Jessie's wasn't as fun. Evelyn woke up at 8a with a stomach virus and was sick until noon. Since she wasn't feeling so well, she and I stayed at anpa and anma's until Tuesday when my dad and father-in-law were kind enough to get us home. Shawn manned the office and the house without us. We missed him!

Over the New Year weekend, in IA with the A's, we did a first for Evie, even if it was below 0...we went sledding! It was a blast, even for the short period we were out there all bundled up. I had to literally drag/carry Evie in, because of all the fun!



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We had opened presents before this and Evie especially loves her new "doctor" (chiropractor kit) kit. Beware of the reflex hammer though--Evelyn can be a little rough checking yours. She has made sure to check all of us, including the dogs, with her new kit. Anpa and anma A gifted Evelyn with slippers which she has adored wearing. I think her favorite gift of theirs has yet to be tried, it's a whale for the tub that squirts water. Maybe we'll check it out tonight!


Despite all the traveling, Evie getting sick and the FRIGID winter...Christmas was beautiful! We are blessed by all that the Lord has given us but especially each other and our friends and families. We wish you a HAPPY New Year!