Sunday, January 25, 2009

14 Weeks Old

Hola!

Well another week has passed and we have had a great one. I took (Nick's brother)Uncle Teddy and Aunt Jackie to the airport on Tuesday and picked (Nick's sister)Aunt Tara up on the same day! Everyone has been a great help. We also had visitors on Sunday. Jenny and Sarah came over to visit and take over a feed so the rest of us could take a break. Just so everyone knows...if you want to visit... just give a call...make sure you are not sick...and no kids are allowed right now.

They are all doing very well. They have been a little fussy, spitting up still, and not sleeping very well. So, I asked the doctor if we could change their formula to Enfamil Lipil AR (added rice), which is what Ava is on. So far..it seems to be working. They have all seemed to find their hands and fingers which is a great thing for me. They suck on them when their binkies fall out. So, I don't have to run and put them back in when they fall out. Yeah!!!!!

They all love to play in their gyms. Luke and Sarah love to grab at the hanging toys and Lily loves to stare at herself in the mirror. Luke can almost stay in a sitting postion on his own. He can really hold his head up. His colic seems to be getting bertter. He loves to eat though. He gets very mad if you are even a minute late. Sarah is very demanding. She wants you to talk to her and play with her when she is awake. If you don't, she will yell at you. Lily hates to go to sleep. She thinks she is gojgn to miss something. She is the cuddle bug. She loves to hug. She is working on holding up her head. She is so big and her head is so heavy, she is having a hard time. She's like a big sack of potatoes.

Ava is doing very well. Tara and I went to visit her on Saturday and I had the honor of taking her oxygen mask off. She has been doing great without it. She has had it on a total of 4 hours since. She seems to fall into deep sleeps and starts breathing shallow. They said this will improve. She seems to be taking the new formula well and has had very few spits. We are hopeful that she will be home soon. They said hopefully early next week pending her oxygen! Please pray for her to be strong so that she does not need it anymore.

They all had thier final eye test today and they are great! They will have to go again when they are a year old!

Aunt Tara leaves tomorrow and she is sad to go. We will all miss her, but hopefully we will see her again real soon! We have no other visitors coming until the end of February.. Great Aunt Susanne is coming for a visit. I guess our next group of visitors will be coming when we have the Christening. We're not sure of that date just yet until Ava comes home. Stay tuned!

Enjoy the pictures! We love to read posts!!!!!

Kelly
Don't forget to click on the slideshow if you would like to get see the pictures individually and bigger.

Monday, January 19, 2009

13 Weeks

Hello!

First, I want to apologize for not having the post up yesterday, but we have visitors and I was so tired that by the time I thought about it at 1 am, I said forget it...I'll do it tomorrow.

So here we are. Uncle Teddy (Nick's brother) and Aunt Jackie (Teddy's wife) came down for a visit and the kids were so happt to see them as were we. We had a great visit and they helped out a lot. We also got to see the NFC Championship game where are beloved Eagles screwed up again!!! Maybe next year. Luke seemed very upset about the loss. He is already a true Eagles fan as you'll see in the pictures. We also took a visit to see Ava. Aunt Kris and Uncle Robert also came for another visit and My Grandmom is still here helping out where she can! Teddy and Jackie leave tomorrow and I pick up Aunt Tara (Nick's sister) at the airport a few hours later. Grandmom leaves on Wednesday.

We've had a great week this week. I took Luke Lily & Sarah to the pediatrician and they got another round of RSV and Hep B shots. I also told the doctor about the excessive spits and projectile vomiting. She put all three of them on Zantac and since Lily and Sarah had a severe case of projectile vomiting, I had to take them to the hospital for an ultrasound to make sure everything was working through the stomach properly. Everything looks good! There are no problems.

Sarah now weighs 7lbs. 2oz.
Luke now weighs 8lbs. 12oz.
Lily now weighs 9lbs. 4oz.
Ava now weighs 8lbs.

We went up to visit Ava today and she is doing great as you see by the pictures of her in her green outfit. They have switched her formula again and it seems to be working great! She is now on Enfamil AR and loves it and is drinking it down with no problems. They tried to take her nasal canula (oxygen) off today when I was there (I got some good pictures of her and you can finally see how beautiful she is), but had to put it back on because her oxygen level dropped a little bit below what they wanted it at. They are going to try everyday until she can do it! I asked when she may be coming home and they said maybe by the end of next week. At least it's something! We're excited.

Well, gotta go! We want to spend the last few hours with Teddy, Jackie, and the kids before they leave!

Till next week,
Kelly

If you would like to see the pictures individually and close up, just click on the pictures on the slide show and it will take you to the regular website just like in past weeks.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

3 Months Old

Well today they are officially 3 months old. This week has been an exciting week filled with visitors. My grandmom is still here visiting and is helping out where she can. My friend Shalena, whom I haven't seen in about 10 years, came down from Orlando to visit. I went to school with her in St. Croix, U.S.V.I. We had a great visit catching up and she was excited to see the babies. Now I have to go and visit hers. My friend Jenny (I work with) and her husband Mike came to visit and brought dinner and dessert for us. It was delicious and needed. She wanted us all to take a break and enjoy....so we did. She couldn't wait to get her hands on those babies! She is truly a natural. She stopped Luke from crying with no problems and put him right to sleep. The only other person that can do that is my Aunt Jeri! We also got lots of gifts this week. Some beautiful clothes from our visitors and Nick's Aunt Lisa sent down some Disney hand rattles for the kids. They are very cute.

They are all doing well, but are learning very quickly how to get picked up......CRY! Lily seems to do it best with her heart wrenching cry. Luke is still colicky, but seems to be improving a little. Sarah is still yelling when she has poop in her diaper. She hates to be dirty. All three of them are now eating 4oz. every four hours. They all seem to have a bit of reflux. I will have to talk to the doctor about it!I'm not sure how much they weigh. I'll find out how much when they go to the doctor next Monday. When I step on the scale and then hold them on the scale.....it's not accurate, but it seems Lily is 9lbs. or more!!!!.....Luke is about 7lbs. or so and Sarah is probably about 6 1/2lbs. They are getting big. My mom has nicknames for the girls already....Lily LaRue (becuase she is so dramatic) and Sarah is Mimi (as in a screaming mimi). Luke is....well I don't want to tell you what we call him. We never have just one name. Let's just say that we need to come up with something nicer. His screaming and colickyness is driving us crazy!

Miss Ava......She is doing well although she is still in the hospital. They have changed her formula to see if that will help with her reflux. She is now on full feeds and as of 5 minutes ago seems to be tolerating them. She is eationg 2oz. every three hours. She does get tired and doesn't want to finish, so they have been putting whatever is left through the tube. They have changed her formula from Similac to Alimintum and it seems to be working so far.....fingers crossed. She had 2 spits during the day shift today and no spits tonight. She now weighs........drumroll please........7lbs. 8oz. So, she is definitey keeping some of her food down! They said they will send her home with the little bit of oxygen that she is getting, but they have to get the severe (as they call it) acid reflux under ontrol. By that time, she may be off of the oxygen....which may be caused from the reflux!

Well that's all the time for today folks! I have some reading to do. Nick is sleeping and awaiting the 1 am feed and I am going to relax until then!

Enjoy the little hams! It's a slide show. If you would like to see the pictures individually and close up, just click on the pictures on the slide show and it will take you to the regular website just like in past weeks.


Adios!
Kelly

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

A Tribute to Ava

We found out today that Ava is in fact swallowing her food down her windpipe. They say it is a developmental thing and she will stop in time. They have began thickening her food for now. We'll see how it works. The faster she gets that food down and keeps it down, the sooner she will come home!

Before you watch the video below, turn off the music on the blog. It's the green box on the left side of the page.


Sunday, January 4, 2009

12 Week Old

Greetings from the tired ones!
I can't believe another week has passed already. Where does the time go? Oh yeah.....feed, burp, play, sleep, feed, burp, play, sleep...and when we have time, maybe watch some TV or hurry up and do an errand before they wake up for the next feeding. It is hard, I'm not going to lie...we have no time for ourselves or each other....and there is bickering because of the lack of sleep, but when Nick and I do sit down together to feed them, we look at them and can't believe that we created these beautiful....so beautiful, little babies all at once. Times are trying, but when we look at them, it all goes away and they are so peaceful....except for when Luke is crying, but even still....he is so handsome, I just want to eat him up!

My Grandmom is still here visiting and seems to be enjoying herself with the kids. She helps to feed them too. She seems to like the color white and loves formula perfume, because everytime she burps the babies, she seems to wear formula. They love to spit up on Granny! She thinks she's doing something wrong, but I told her she's not, they just love her that much!

We feel horrible that we haven't been up to see Ava as much, but since the others have been home, it's hard. We miss her so much! She is getting better and bigger (6lbs. 6oz.) and still looks great. They doctor said that it isn't the oxygen that is keeping her in the hospital, it's getting her to eat from a bottle and keeping it down. She spits up a lot and she can't seem to keep her food down. They know that she has acid reflux and sometimes the formula comes back up and goes down the wrong pipe, but she could be swallowing it all down the wrong pipe. They did a test on Friday afternoon to see if she is asperating her food. They put dye in her food and took x-rays to see if her food is going down her windpipe when she eats. If so, it is a developmental thing, they said and the only thing that can help right now is to thicken up her formula so that it doesn't go down the wrong pipe. I find out the results on Monday and I'll find out a little more then...stay tuned.

I would also like to take the opportunity to thank my Mom and Dad for changing their lifestyle and giving up a lot to help us out. I don't know what we would have done, had they not been here. They get up at 4:45 am every morning to feed them so that Nick and I can get some sleep, not to mention all of the other feeds that they offer to do in between so that Nick and I can go out to eat once in a while or go run errands. My Mom helps with the laundry (and boy is it a lot when there are 4 babies) and makes a wonderful, delicious dinner just about every night. My Dad always offers to feed one. He is very good with them and you can tell how excited he is about them, but is very upset that Ava is not home yet. Soon! Very soon! I pray every night!

I guess I will talk to you all again soon! Have a great week. Enjoy the pictures....they are getting so big aren't they? I'll find out their weights and heights on the 19th. They have an appointment.
http://picasaweb.google.com/kelly.trullinger/12WeeksOld?authkey=Yr2YzUnm4Jo
Kelly