Our May

So long time no talk, huh? Here is a photo recap of our May. Starting with the above picture. Despite several tries, Evelyn would not look at the camera for a family photo. But still-look at that gorgeous smile. Shawn and I look pretty cute too! Evelyn and I were in GR for about 10 days visiting family, which included my sister Keesha and nephew Xander. Shawn joined us for the weekend and was able to go with my dad and Evie on Evie's first 4-wheeler ride. Shawn's dream is to one day own one. He had a blast. Unfortunately it will have to wait until we buy a few other things, like a house. He will probably have to wait like my dad did until he's over 50, we'll hope not.

Evie and daddy.

Xander on his first ride on the 4-wheeler. He enjoyed it but didn't ask to go on it as much as Evelyn. She asked for many rides, she especially liked going with Gampa. He bought this special toddler sized helmet just so he could take them out.

My new favorite picture. The lighting isn't great, but isn't it such a neat picture of father and daughter. She definitely has him wrapped around her fingers. This picture represents so many things to me. His love for her and vica versa. The huge responsibility dads have in raising their daughters. How important they are in woman determining their self worth and view of men. How much little girls look up to their daddies. How much they imitate them.

Evelyn's first ride. Technically the last time Xander was in MN they also had a ride but that was over a year ago. I'm sure it's like going for the first time again, a year later. I think the joy Evie found in these rides helped her to enjoy the swings when we got back to MK. Shawn took her to the park and he said she squealed and laughed.

Still a little big for her but she can grow into. This will probably be our last trip to GR until after the triplets come, and then that might take us awhile too.

Get a glimpse at my huge shadow!!! I couldn't resist the picture. You are lucky I'm willing to share. The triplets sure are changing my "slender" physique. Glad to sacrifice my bikini body to them. Not that I was ever wearing a bikini before this pregnancy, but...

My adorable cake at the shower in GR. The shower was a HUGE blessing!! It took me nearly 10 days to organize everything we received from it and the one my church threw for me. It's amazing what gifts the kids received and again I have to say how overwhelming the love we have been shown by friends and family is. We appreciate it immensely. We are having our 3rd shower in IA in a few weeks. With all that we've received and probably will be receiving there is going to be very little necessities we will actually need to purchase ourselves. Outside of a stroller (which we've also had help with) and many, many diapers. THANK YOU!!!

Gampa Verlynn and Gamma Lyn as well as Auntie Laura were able to make it to GR for the shower and the weekend. We had a pool party following the baby shower and had a blast. The kids played with these water shooters forever. Jessie, the bargain hunter, got them at the dollar store. Cheap but full of fun!!

Xander's favorite part of swimming was jumping by himself (with some catching by mommy) into the pool! He was a jumping bean!!!

We had a small celebration for Xander's 3rd birthday. Unfortunately, we will be unable to travel to TX for the actual Cars themed celebration. We therefore had a few people over, opened gifts and had ice cream cake-which he requested.

He got his first fishing pole from Grandpa Jeff and Grandma Peggy, which he tried out that morning. I wasn't allowed to go along because of...well we all know that. So Grandpa took Evie, Xander and Keesha out. They both had a good time reeling. No actual fish were caught despite the water being filled with them. Not a good day for it. Evie and Xander wouldn't have caught anything anyhow as their bait only stayed in the water for the few seconds it took for them to be handed the pole. They LOVED it! Evie experienced another first by peeing in the boat-in a rigged up potty. FUN! There is a boat on display at our mall next to the Target. Every time Evie sees it she says "Gampa boat?" She would love to go again. My parents bought a 31 foot camper which sleeps 8 with great plans to take the grand-kids camping. I have very fond memories of doing this with my grandparents and I can't wait for them to experience the same. I am hoping to bum a ride as well, another thing Shawn and I would like to do more of. We have a tent but haven't used it since I was pregnant with Evie.

Enjoying the warm weather-Finally! It seemed like it warmed up for a bit and then the cold came again. It finally warmed up while we were in GR, I was so ready for it. Notice the water on the back of Evie's capris. She stepped in the bubbles and flipped the tray over. Gampa showed her how to use the big wands but she couldn't quite get the hang of it. Xander mostly sat and blew bubbles from the wand. Evie, imitating gampa, twirled in a circle (not quite what gampa Jeff did) and promptly fell down. It didn't deter her from twirling around and around. She didn't get a lot of bubbles but had A LOT of fun!!

Xander's last minutes here. Can you tell I wanted to cry already? 10 days seems long but it was SHORT. Wish they could spend forever here, but that would call living here and well that isn't going to happen. Luckily, they will back after the triplets are born. 7 short days then. I can't wait, I'm sure I will be busy so it will go even faster. I miss you guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We were able to sell our Impala (sniff) and get our minivan. You can see it behind Evie. Isn't it hot?!?! I'm a pretty cool mama in it. We already LOVE many of its conveniences, including the side and rear doors that are automatic. The stow and go seating and the extra space. I've only experienced a few downsides: 1. No extender on the shade 2. the cruise doesn't set exactly right and 3. lots of people pull out in front of me thinking that minivan drivers are slow drivers. I'm not. They are! So annoying. Still thinking about painting flames on the side just to make it seem a little cooler but priorities being what they are this probably won't happen. We were so excited that with a larger vehicle we could pick up a pool for Evie that had a built-in slide. From far away it looked fairly small but once we were standing in front of it we realized that not only would it not fit in our van, it wouldn't fit in our friends SUV. So we bought the smaller substitute, which Evie enjoys. Then we rigged it with the slide we bought. She's having a blast despite the pools small size. She had her BFF over Memorial Day and they splashed and slide til it was nearly empty of water and Evie was shivering with cold.

Totally random belly picture. Doesn't it look huge from this angle?? I was resting in bed, so ignore the sheets. But Baby C (the top boy) likes to stick out his butt (and sometimes his head). This is what was happening here. Can you see how lopsided my belly is? It feels like I'm contracting and then I realize-nope-it's just him stretching. We haven't taken any videos yet. Mostly because it would primarily be of Baby C. His and his brother's movements are the ones you primarily see. Their little sister would be left out and I'm not sure how to correct this. Most of her movements (besides the hard whacks) are felt inside my pelvis, since this is where she is sitting. We'll see...

Evie got this dress from Auntie Keesha. Totally on her own she stripped down buck-naked and put it on. I got several other pictures but they are to risque to post. She is twirling here. We had a few good fights this day because she refused to wear underwear. I don't mind the naked thing with the exception that she wear at least underwear.

Evie and daddy after they paused in their dancing. A favorite new activity for her, though she still loves a good ring around the rosie. Daddy does too!

Baby/Pregnancy Update: I am sorry I have no US pics to share. They only give me a hard copy, which I'd have to scan to disc to get on here. I will try to do this asap. We had our appointment over a week ago. They are all growing perfectly within their designated weeks and all closely together. Baby Girl A is 1lb 12oz, Baby Boy B is 1lb 14oz and Baby Boy C is 1lb 11oz. The doctors are thrilled with this. By now they should be over 2 lbs, maybe 2 lbs 8 oz. So far their weight is not unbearable. I am starting to have a few more late pregnancy problems like increased allergies and restless leg syndrome. Luckily I have a good chiropractor who has helped with the later. We asked the doctors about if we'd be able to go longer into the pregnancy as I am at almost 28 weeks without complications or bedrest. It is possible that I may make it past 36 weeks, IF the babies continue to grow well, have enough fluid and I am doing well. So far my blood pressure is awesome (last doctor measurement last week was 96/68), I have no signs of gestational diabetes (it was also negative last week), I am above the cervix measurement requiring bed rest, contractions are still few and far between. We will just have to wait and see. We will be talking to them about a c-section birth plan at our next specialty appointment in less then 2 weeks. We will be scheduling our 36 week, just in case, c-section in 4 weeks. Crazy that they could be here in about 8 weeks. I have been working like crazy to organize our house. I had to find room for all their food, 30 baby bottles, toys, new clothes etc. We're getting there but I have an endless list of to-do's. My first priority is just keeping the house clean and free of clutter. I was expecting to go past the due date with Evelyn so our house was pretty unorganized and messy when she came right on time. I am planning to not have to go through that again. My mom ended up doing a lot of cleaning while she was here the week after her birth. It's a well known fact, and has been medically documented, that a woman's brain shrinks during pregnancy. This is called pregnancy brain. With Evie this showed up as missing vocabulary. While I knew the word I was searching for I could not recall it to my tongue. This made conversations hard because the words were not especially difficult ones, and they were ones I used often in every day conversations. I didn't regain this ability until about 6 months before this pregnancy. Needless to say I was nervous about the current brain shrinkage. However, with this pregnancy my usually great spelling skills have disappeared. I have not been able to spell the following: equivalent, privilege, and vica versa. Normally these are not difficult words for me. Also new for me is this big belly that knocks stuff over. That just happened to me yesterday. I've bumped into counters and the like but never unintentionally hit something with it. I feel like if I ever get to the point where I am so big I knock Evie over then I will probably force myself to go on bed rest. Then again probably not.

Hope you feel caught up!