6 months old.

My babies are 6 months old! How did that happen? Our lives are so consumed with soaking up every minute enjoying their precious little selves that I find little time to blog, pay bills (oops!), keep up with social networking, clean, cook, or sleep! It's been the best 6 months of my life. It's changed drastically and for the better! When people tell us we have our hands full I want to tell them they should see how full my heart is, but I don't because most of the time we are trying to get from point A to point B in a timely manner.

They each have very different personalities.

Graham is our cuddle bug. He also is the easiest of the three. He's very content wherever he is. He doesn't mind his car seat, though lately they haven't spent much time in them! He never misses a meal. He rolled over first, held his head up first, and is the only one stable enough to sit for a few seconds at a time. He can move across a room if he sees something he wants. He loves his jumparoo and will jump for hours in it! He has the most beautiful blue eyes. You could swim in them! I love his squishy skin and his infectious smile!

Emmalyn is feisty. She is full of drama. One second she will be all smiles and giggles and the next screaming for no reason! She loves to be real close to your face when you are holding her. She talks a lot and loves when you pat her mouth over and over so her voice sounds silly. She either loves wearing bows or screams as soon as I put them on. She has long legs and long arms which is adorable. She does not like being on her stomach at all, but she can't seem to figure out once she rolls onto her stomach that she can roll back onto her back. Her eyes are a little darker blue than Grahams, but the eye lashes on that girl make me jealous! And they curl!! She loves to be sung too, especially by her daddy. She is a TOTAL daddy's girl. Her whole face lights up when he walks into the room. I love that about her! She also is smitten by her big brother Eli. She thinks he is very funny when he runs through the house or dances for her.

Hudson is quiet and always seems to have something on his mind. He has a look of worry when he is unsure where we are or what we are doing. He loves to sleep and will only sleep on his belly. He too loves to snuggle and be held. He has the softest skin and the best cheeks to kiss! He smiles more than he cries and laughs at a lot of different things. He has light brown/hazelish eyes. He has the least amount of hair and the smallest ears. He gets very excited in the bath tub and usually makes a mess because of his splashing. He loves our routine, so much so that we don't leave the house often with them because otherwise he will cry the whole time we are out. He doesn't mind laying on his back to play, but doesn't seem to think rolling over is that important (though does roll over often). He thinks Elijah is silly and laughs at him a lot too. He is much more of a mommy's boy than daddy's. He is the baby of the family and definitely loves to hold that title!

Moving in.

We finally have internet at our new place. The move from San Diego to Tampa went really well. We are busy unpacking and turning our beautiful house into a home. Life sure hasn't slowed down for us. The babies are 5 months old already. Their cute little faces haven't even made it on this blog.

My friend Kelly was here for a few days and now my parents are here for a week or so.

Justin is enjoying his new job. I'm glad too! We've heard he could travel a lot, but we are just continuing to trust that God is in control and that He will be with us every step of the way.

Ive decided that instead of trying to catch up on the blog I'm just going to start from here. I may do a random post here and there (like a photo dump of our Christmas) but I probably won't go back as far as the babies births.

I guess here goes nothing.... :)

2012

My goal for 2012 is to blog more.... I'm hoping to have a post up soon of the babies and all the recent happenings in our neck of the woods... Till then it's off to changing diapers and feeding babies!!!

27-35 weeks.

I knew I was going to kick myself for not posting for a few months! The tale end of my pregnancy was spent in the hospital where I had very limited internet access.

The last picture is actually from the day I delivered the babies.

At 31 weeks I was hospitalized. I went in for my routine visit and was 2 cm dilated (where as the week before I wasnt at all). My doctor sent me over to labor and delivery to get my steriod shot as well as to be monitored for an hour or so to see if I was contracting. I actually ended up going into labor and was admitted for the duration of my pregnancy.

The 5 weeks before the babies came wasn't so bad. I had great nurses and doctors who took great care of me as well as plenty of visitors!

My mom had come to visit me a few weeks before I was admitted and we decided that it would be best that she take Elijah back to her house with her until I delivered since we weren't sure how my pregnancy would end. I'm so thankful we made that decision. Though it was the longest and toughest 6 weeks without Eli, we got to skype often and talk on the phone every night. Plus, he had a great summer with his Mimi, Papa, cousins, and aunts.

I gained a total of 41 lbs during my pregnancy which was about 10-20lbs less than what they wanted, but my body just wouldn't gain more. They even had dietary bringing me three snacks on top of the three large meals a day!

Justin came down at least once during the week and then spent all weekend with me. He was pretty bored during those weekend visits, but I really enjoyed his company.

I spent most of my days sleeping and being monitored. It was great to hear my babies heart beats twice a day, but after a while it became a chore because I had VERY active babies!

I'll end with the few pictures I do have of while I was in the hospital before delivery!

26 weeks.

Can you believe I have 8 more weeks till I hit my goal week of 34 weeks? I'm feeling good.... most of the time. Back pain started really kicking in this last week so I've been taking lots of warm baths and resting a lot more. We had a dr appt on Thursday. It was our second growth scan too. The babies are looking great and pretty big for their age! Emmalyn is weighing 1lb 11 oz, Graham is weighing 1lb 9 oz, and Hudson is weighing 1lb 12 oz. I can't believe I have over 5lbs of just baby in there! All my doctors are really impressed with how well everything is going and are sure I will be able to carry them to 34 weeks without much problem. They are keeping a close eye on me though just in case I do start to develop pre-eclampsia or any other common thing that goes along side carrying multiples.

We finally ordered the kiddo's car seats this past weekend. Actually, we bought the boys theirs and Justin's parents bought Emmalyn's. They should all be here in the next week! Our next big thing to knock off the to-do list is buying a bigger vehicle. We've been on the hunt for about a month now, but everything is either out of our price range or has to many miles on it. It's pretty hard not to be picky about what you are buying when you are spending so much money on it. Hopefully in the next couple weeks something will work out and we will fine one. Until then I'm slowly going through all the baby items we do have and kinda organizing them. I can only do things in spurts because sitting to long hurts my back. Thankfully my mom will be here soon and she can help with all of that!

I hope everyone had a great weekend and enjoyed the extra day off. I'm so thankful to live in a country that is free and takes such great pride in our military.

25 weeks.

To say this last week was uneventful would be the understatement of the century. Last Friday I woke up from my nap and had an awful pain in my chest. I thought it was heartburn so I took some maalox and drank a big glass of milk hoping to relieve the pain. It didn't work. We had plans with good friends of ours to go to the movies on a double date and I was not about to let some 'heart burn' ruin the fun. By the time we got to the theater the pain had worsened. We got our seats and I was able to sit through the movie with a little bit of discomfort, but I was bound and determined to enjoy my time out. When we were leaving the theater I realized my hands and feet were really swollen and I was getting really dizzy. All the symptoms put together raised a ton of red flags because I had severe pre-eclampsia with my first pregnancy and I've been warned that if I get it again it will come on really quickly. On the drive home the pain in my chest started to go away, but I was still swollen, dizzy, now with a headache. My friends mother in law happened to be in town and she is a post-pardum nurse. She advised me to lay on my left side for 30-60 minutes and see if it helped with anything. It did help and I went right to sleep without any problems. Unfortunately, the next morning I woke up not feeling great so I called the triage nurse on call to ask if I should come in to get checked out or if she thought I was okay enough to just rest... of course they said come in. We packed some snacks and toys for Elijah just in case we were there a while. I was seen pretty quickly and they took some blood and urine to be tested. Before the results came back they and said that as far as they were concerned I looked great and just needed to go home and rest, but we did need to wait to see what the lab work said before making any final decisions. When they came back just about 20 minutes later their moods had changed. I knew I was going to have to stay... Protein had showed up in my urine which is a good indication that pre-eclampsia is setting in. They wanted me to stay over night to get a 24 hour urine collection so they would be able to have a better idea if I really was pre-eclamptic or not. Let me just say, it is VERY VERY boring sitting in a hospital bed for over 24 hours! I actually wasn't on any type of restriction. I could come and go as I pleased... I just couldn't leave the hospital. Justin and Elijah hung out with me until a little after dinner time. They headed home and I watched a few movies and went to bed. I didn't sleep well at all that night. Between uncomfortably flat pillows, a fan that only had one speed--high, and lights from the nurses stations blinding me it was a useless effort. I was able to spend quite a bit of time reading my Bible and praying. As much as I hated being alone it was a sweet time with Jesus.

Thankfully the next late afternoon I was discharged on a clean bill of health. Justin was very happy to bring me home (he didn't handle me being there as well as I thought he would and when he was there with me he was pretty much bored out of his mind!) My protein levels are at 264 and in order to be diagnosed pre-eclamptic they need to be at 300 or above. We are praying that my levels don't rise and that I can stay out of the hospital for the rest of the time. We still have so much to do before these guys come. Their nursery isn't even started. Thankfully my mom is coming next week and she will be able to help me organize and prioritize everything.

24 weeks.

We've made it to a viable stage!! From here on out our babies will make it if they are born early. This week I haven't felt great. My body gets pretty sore, especially at night. Heart burn is in full force too. I can't even think about eating anything with spice in it without feeling like I'm going to get it. Other than that I'm feeling good. I have energy first thing in the morning so I try to accomplish a little during the day. Unfortunately I still have to rely on Justin for most everything. He's been a great sport about doing all the cooking and cleaning, but I can definitely tell he is so ready for me to take over again!

We go next week for our second growth scan. I'm anxious to see how much each baby weighs and how long they are. At 19.5 weeks they were all measuring bigger than singletons! We all know they aren't shy.

Elijah is in his last month of preschool. Where did the year go? He has had a great time making new friends and learning new things. He unfortunately won't be returning next year. Between the trio, how far away it is, and that it's a learning through play instead of an actual pre-k curriculum Justin and I both feel like he will be fine staying home. We've actually been going through a workbook with him. He is getting better and better at writing. I'm so proud of him!

Thats about all that has been going on here this week. I will hopefully have pictures up of our new place soon. I want to hang things back up on the walls and get the curtains hung too! Have a great weekend ya'll!