Cold/Flu/RSV Season

Ok, so I was officially wigged out yesterday!  There's been a slight cold/runny nose going through the house since the beginning of the month.  I was sick with a cold and fever and getting sick the beginning of the month and the kids have all had runny noses for the last week or so.  Yesterday, Eva Rose started coughing and sounding weezy and raspy when she was breathing, but seemed pretty much herself otherwise.  I finally had Tom look at her to see if I was imagining things, and he heard the same thing.  I called the MD, and given that she didn't seem in any distress, we decided to hold off til this morning for an appt.  Also the MD felt that since we had been through RSV last February, we knew what to look for with regards to respiratory distress.  Well, after the doctors office closed, she started retracting when breathing.  I was having flashbacks to the whole RSV situation.  My sister (nursing student) looked at her and confirmed what we knew needed to happen.  Off to children's hospital ER!  It's amazing how traumatized I was by their RSV history.  I was tearing up on the way to the hospital, telling the current symptoms, and just walking into the bak of the ER.  Ultimately, she was evaluated and given a nebulizer, x-ray, and inhaler.  Thankfully nothing serious, like RSV, but we still need to watch her (and Thomas also).  We now have an inhaler for Eva Rose if she weezes and can give it to Thomas if he needs it.  Unfortunately, given RSV history, the chances that the twins will have asthma type symptoms with colds are increased.  g\Given their history of RSV, we are also being strongly encouraged to give the kids especially the twins H1N1 vaccine as well as the seasonal flu vaccine.  Not thrilled about the vaccine (H1N1), but I don't want them to have superimposed issues on top of the flu.

I love being a parent, but hate these issues that go along with it!

Amy

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Knowing Your Limits and Trusting Yourself!

Having 3 kids 19 1/2 months and under changes your life.  It changes your life for the better, but there are many things as a parent you must learn.  As a parent in general, you must learn to listen to your instincts, you must learn to trust yourself, and you must learn to know your individual limits.  There are many more things that you learn once you are a parent, but these are the biggies that I deal with on a daily basis.  I am always seeking advice because I don't trust my own instincts with regards to being a mom.  It's great to have people give you advice, but what I am slowly learning is that you must take people's advice and use it so that it benefits you and your family.  There is lots of great advice out there from people who have been there that worked for them, but it may not work for your family.  For me, it takes time to remember that most of us as parents have a natural instinct to do what's right for their family, but it's even harder to actually use my instincts.

I also tend to want to do everything.  There is not enough time for me to do everything that I want to do.  This weekend was a perfect example.  I, like usual, procrastinated and didn't start the baby's Halloween costume til late.  I had 2 costumes to make and I only gave myself a couple of days to complete this.  Not smart on my part.  I really wanted to make the costumes and with taking care of 3 kids, I really should have started much earlier.  I also promised to help at a Halloween party and ended up not helping out because I was running late and then had 3 kids to watch with only 2 adults.  Not a smart move to leave  adult to watch 3 kids.  Then the worst part is I ended up fighting with my husband because I over extended myself, didn't plan and expected that he help me get out of the situation.  Not fair to him!  Hopefully I learned from this weekend!  Hopefully I will stop the procrastinating and start planning better.  I still have to finish my sister's guest book, another thing that I should have started on earlier.  After this, I think that I will plan better.  I still want to make things, but I will hopefully take more time and not wait til the last minute.

Procrastination is one of the areas in my life that I really need to work on.  With a family that needs a lot of my attention (because the kids are so small and my husband works so hard), I really need to plan my time better.

Babysitting

I am going for more allergy testing tomorrow and my mom is babysitting.  This will be the first time that she has all 3 up and for a number of hours, and the first person other than Tom and I to have the kids for more than just and hour or 2 during the day.  It's not that I don't think she can handle it, in fact I am more than confident that she can handle it, but I feel bad that she has all 3 kids all morning (at least if not longer).  It will be a good test for December since she will have them all day.  I am really looking forward to that day.  It will be the first social work conference that I have been to since I can't even remember.  It's been over a year, I know that!  I am taking a class in journaling and am so looking forward to this conference.  It's been so long since I have attended a conference that I wanted to go to instead of going to one just to get the credits.  I know that I will feel less guilty in December if things go good tomorrow (it's really tough do things that you need to do with out kids, especially when there are three, 19 months and under).  Thankfully, thanks to Sotorrific Twins, I have a pretty detailed schedule for her to follow.  Personally, I don't use the actual written schedule so much since I now pretty much know it by heart, but it is so good to have a schedule for someone who is babysitting.

This schedule has been a life saver getting the kids to sleep through the night.  Unfortunately, the last week or so hasn't gone as well as it did in the beginning.  I know that the twins are getting their top teeth and that they may even be growing through a growth spurt since they seem to need  a little more formula to get them through the night.  I have tried letting them cry it out and end up with 3 kids up.  I usually have a humidifier on so that their is some white noise, but that doesn't always help.  Hopefully they will sleep throught the night so that my mom can have a good day tomorrow and maybe they can get back on schedule!

Way back When-esday

Given that it is cold/flu/RSV season, I thought it only appropriate to post pictures of when the twins were in the NICU with RSV and what they look like now.  RSV is probably the scariest thing that I have ever been through, whether it was about me, my husband, or my kids.  They were so small and fragile when they were born, to see them decline so fast before they were put on machines that helped them get better, was so heartbreaking.  Once they came home, they truly blossomed into 2 beautiful and strong babies.  Now with RSV season here, I do get somewhat concerned that they will get it again, but I know that they are so much stronger and as my husband reminded me, their lungs are so much larger and stronger that when they get congested they are able to deal with it unlike when they were so small.  I know that they can get RSV again, and I hope they don't, but I do know that it more than likely will not affect them as seriously as it did when they were 2 and 3 weeks old.

Thomas Feb 2009

Eva Rose Feb 2009

All 3 kids Oct 2009

How big they have gotten

Amy

19 months and 8 1/2 months

I can't believe that the kids are 19 months and 8 1/2 months old.  I feel like it was just yesterday that I got married never mind having 3 kids.  Tom and I went from being single (though together forever) to married with 3 kids all before we were married for 2 years.  Who would have thought that after 14 years of dating, we would be lucky enough to have an instant family?  I certainly never did.  Now we have 1 kid who is walking all over the place getting into everything and 2 little ones that are not really crawling, but they are able to scoot themselves around the room.  It's amazing how you put them one place then before you know it they are in another place across the room.  Alright, maybe not across the room, but they have definitely moved quite a bit.  It's amazing to watch these kids grow and change.

It seems like not long ago we were feeding Michael every 2 hours trying to get him to put on weight.  Now, even tough he still doesn't eat a ton, he has gained enough weight were both Tom and I are amazed at how short of a time we can comfortably carry him.  The twins are now eating 3 meals a day and having 4 bottles.  They go for their 9 month appointment November 11th.  I can't wait to see how they have grown in actual numbers.  Unfortunately, all 3 kids will be getting shots (immunizations and flu shots) and blood work (Michael).  Should be a fun night!

All 3 kids are sleeping through the night.  The twins are in bed no later than 7 pm and Michael is usually in bed around 8 pm.  The only problem is that we have gone from sleeping til 6:30 am to more like 5:15 am.  Michael is great with going to bed now.  We change him into jammies and he gets milk.  Once he decides he has had enough milk (may b 2 sips or may be the whole cup and sometimes he needs to sit with both me and Tom) he walks to his room, waves buy and waits for the stars to come out.  He goes right into his crib and is out for the night (The turtle constellation light is awesome).  The twins just get changed, bottle, and go into their crib (sometimes they fight it, but mostly they are out relatively quick).

Off to check on no napping kids!

Amy

Christening

All 3 babies were Christened today.  We were lucky and only had our babies Christened today instead of a large group of babies that we didn't know.  We were also lucky since Tom's cousin celebrated the Baptism for us.  He had a great sermon about what to teach your children.  The main focus was to teach them love and respect: love between parents, love for the children, and respect for children.  Thankfully all the Christening Outfits fit all 3 kids.  It was really nice to have people make comments about the outfits since these are really the 1st clothing items that I have made.  I was even able to knit Eva Rose's sweater.  I was afraid that people wouldn't like them since they were simple cotton outfits, but once I saw all three of them in their outfits and how cute they looked, I new that I made the right decision.  I really liked the simple cotton outfits.  I was a great day and I have some great memories of the day that all three of our kids were Baptized.

Michael with Auntie Connie and Cousin Walter

Eva Rose with Auntie Colleen and Uncle Paul

Thomas with Auntie Rebecca and Cousin Teddy

Amy

Sitting Pretty

The twins are now sitting up on their own and playing.  Of course, I couldn't get a good picture of them playing together, but it was so cute.  Michael was even starting to play with them.  They still have some balance issues, but it was totally unreal how long they remained sitting on their own.  I have gotten a couple of pictures of them sitting, but it only lasted for a few seconds.  Today it lasted for many minutes with them playing with each other.

Thomas and Eva Rose playing together

Trying to get a picture of all 3 of the kids playing together, but Michael didn't want to cooperate.

I have a picture of the 3 kids for the start of each season except for the Celtics