18 Weeks

Gosh, its already been a month! Sorry that we have not updated in so long. It's always on my 'to-do' list, but for some reason, by the time I get other things done and Allison in bed, I just feel like catching up on my TV shows. I get really far behind and things start falling off my DVR since I watch so much Sesame Street everyday, day and night and don't get to watch the shows I tape. Okay, after re-reading that, it sounds like I have a TV addiction and I don't do anything else---I really do :) I promise I will try to do better---I have a lot of people nagging me ;)

Here are the lovely pictures of my belly. These are from last night, so close enough to 18 weeks. I'd say I'm getting a little pudgy ;) I think I've gained about 17lbs so far. I feel good though!

So, we went for an ultrasound last Thursday (17 weeks). Everything looked good with the babies with estimated weights for Baby A (6 oz), Baby B (7oz) and Baby C (8oz). The weights are just estimates, but she did say that Baby C does look a little chunkier than other 2. Heartbeats were good too - 143 bpm, 147 bpm, and 133 bpm, respectively. September 20 is still my last day of work....after last week, it can't come too soon. Only 12 more days!! Yippee! It will be a much needed break, although, I'm sure I'll still be busy preparing for the new babies, giving Alli tons of attention, then taking care of the new babies (and Alli). I'll be ready to go back to work part-time hopefully about April.

For those of you who can't read ultrasounds :0) Baby A is face down in the first one--nice spine shot! The second picture is of a leg, and the third, the baby finally turned around to look at us.

Next is Baby B-obviously not like his/her mother, who loves the camera. We always have a hard time getting pictures of this one. The first one is the baby's face and then you can see both legs together. The second picture is just an arm. Baby C - first pic is baby looking at us, second pic is a head profile, and third pic is the back of head showing us the ears.

I apologize for the crappy scan job---this was my first time and I need some more practice! Jim is going to try to fix it for me.

Other stuff going on....

Jim started painting the kitchen this weekend and cut the grass, put some mulch down. Things are starting to come together (a little). We have been collecting lots of hand me downs and the garage is getting so full! Not sure how we are all going to fit in this house!

Jim's parents (Lynn & Jim) celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary on 8/5/07. The whole family went out to dinner in Springfield. It was a lot of fun. Happy Anniversary!

Cody, Kelly, Kenzie, Jim, and Alli
We had two showers in August....Gina was surprised and Katie was too, although I don't have any pics from Katie's to post. Here is Gina looking pretty surprised! Gina is due 10/14 and Katie is due 10/8. Can't wait for the new additions to our family to arrive.

Jim went to Michigan for a wedding and to visit his buddy Guido. Alli and I didn't have too much fun when he was gone...we really missed him!

Alli practiced being a big sister with her baby doll. She was being so cute!

She even took baby for a ride on the Elmo car!

One more milestone...she learned how to use a bar of soap on her own. We can't get her out of the bathtub now. At least she is clean, right??

Week 14

Wow is time flying! It's hard to believe that we are more than a third of the way through the pregnancy. I really have to get my butt in gear! There is still so much to do before the trips arrive!

We haven't put a picture of Chrissy's belly up in awhile so we thought it was time. She really doesn't like that part too much so I'm afraid the picture isn't going to tell the story very well. She is starting to show now though.


Today we had another ultrasound. Thank the good Lord, all of the babies are healthy and growing. They each weighed about 1/4 0f a pound! We got lots of new pictures of each of them. The amazing part is that they are starting to actually look like little babies now! It's so awesome. Here are some of the pics:


Here's baby A. The top picture is of the baby looking right at the "camera". The next one is the head, body, and arm. Is it sucking it's thumb?! The bottom one is of the babies legs. So cute!




















Next is baby B. The picture layout here is the same. The first picture is his/her face. The second is the body and head. In the last one, you can see a little arm in the top of the sack. Another very cute child I must say!




















Last but not least, we have baby C. This is obviously going to be the king (or queen) of the group. Notice how scrunched up the first two babies look. They are squeezed together, it's hard to see their limbs (except for glimpses), and we never did get a full view of them. Now look at this one! The first picture is the face but look at the second picture. Look how stretched out this little one is! It's like it has it's own little condo! Tons of room, kicking and moving everywhere. I love it! The third picture is a close up of it's little leg and foot.















These new ultrasounds have us even more excited than we already were about the arrival of our triplets. Allison is even starting to get more enthusiastic. Here is a picture of her reading to her new brothers/sisters. She really likes to show them the pictures too :)

When she's done with story time, she gives them all kisses and tell's them "bye bye".

She's going to be an awesome big sister!

First Trimester Completed (and other updates)

Sorry we haven't got around to updating the blog lately. I keep saying I'm going to do it almost every night and then I start doing something else.

We did see Dr. Moore again about two weeks ago. We went through the whole 1st visit prenatal stuff (blood tests, etc). She even threw in an ultrasound for us, but she forgot to give us the pictures , otherwise I would post. The 3 babies looked healthy and she said so far everything is looking good. I'll probably still stop working around 9/20/07 and she said the average for triplets is 32 weeks, so that would be 12/12/07. But, since I'm so healthy (pat myself on the back for that), I can possibly make it to Christmas or longer! So, I'm out of the first trimester now--maybe I'll get some energy back. We'll see...it might be different with 3 babies. No more progesterone supplements---I always had trouble getting that pill down! Oh, and I'm getting really big all of a sudden too-I need to get some new pics up. So, on that front, just keep praying for us that we have 3 healthy babies and they keep growing good!

Oh, and one more thing relating to the new babies...

Our friends Dave and Sheila had their yearly bbq last weekend and all of our friends brought us a package of diapers. It was such a fun surprise. We really do have a great group of friends that we hang out with. They are all so sweet and thoughtful. So, now we have a good start on our diaper collection--we ended up with 14 packages.

Thanks to all of you!!!

So.... we've been keeping busy. Two weeks ago, we took a trip up to Lake Michigan with Jane/Ken and their 3 youngest girls to visit some friends (Liz and Dan). We pretty much just hung out on the beach everyday and then grilled or ate pizza at night. Very relaxing and it was beautiful. We've never been up there and would love to go back. Seemed almost like the ocean, but a lot closer!

Allison and her cousin Jackie playing in the sand

Family photo at Weko Beach

Alli eating her popsicle and getting it all over daddy (and herself)

Playing in the sand some more with Jackie and JennyWho would have thought? Chrissy's daughter eating Bread Co???

Now, for some various pictures and none of them are really in order.

Alli playing with bubbles

This is Father's Day 2007

July 4th Fireworks at White Birch Park--Poor Allison didn't like them so much. She cried the whole time with her arm over her eyes and then she fell asleep at the very end

She may look like her daddy, but she loves summer just as much as her mommy!

Okay, I'm done for the night.....

Friday the 13th

We are doing okay today. Thanks to everyone for your kind words and support. Your thoughts and prayers really mean a lot to us. We love hearing from each of you, both through email and the comments left on the site.

There's not a whole lot to talk about today. We're just getting ready for the weekend. Alli's going to grandma's tonight, Chrissy's going to scrapbook with some of her friends, and I have a couple of buddies coming over to help me work on the kitchen. We're currently in the process of remodeling it. I can't wait to get it done. I'll upload some pictures when we get it finished. I'm not sure how much we will actually accomplish tonight though. I'm providing beer for everyone to show my appriciation for the help. I would bet that more beer gets consumed than work gets accomplished. That's usually how it works. :)

Sad News

Unfortunately things didn't go the way we had hoped this morning when we went for our ultrasound. One of the babies stopped growing sometime shortly after our last appointment and has passed away. There's really no way to tell why this happened. All we know is that God has his reasons and we have comfort in that.

Chrissy and I are okay. We are having some really mixed emotions right now though. It's kind of bitter sweet. I feel bad saying that but it's how we are both feeling. On one hand, we are upset because we had started planning our future with the quads. It's really hard to think that we had a little baby that we will never get to meet. On the other hand, God knows what he's doing. Maybe this child was going to have some serious illness or disability. Also, this will give the other three ( and Chrissy) a better chance of coming through the pregnancy healthy. It's been a hard day, but we can't dwell on it too long. We still have triplets to get ready for. Please say a prayer for the one we lost as well as the three who remain. They still have a long road ahead of them as well.

Here are the 10 week ultrasounds.

10 Week Pics

Pregnancy Progress - 10 Weeks

Today is the beginning of the tenth week. It's hard to believe that we are about a third of the way through this pregnancy already! It doesn't seem possible. Everything is going really good so far. Chrissy hasn't had any morning sickness at all. That's a blessing in itself! She's just been really tired lately. That's normal though. I remember she was pretty tired her first trimester with Allison too. It will probably get better in the next couple of weeks. Then again, I have no idea with quads. She may end up being tired the entire time. Who knows?! I wanted to get a picture of her belly tonight so I could add it to this post but she was already sleeping. We'll do that tomorrow I guess.

We have an appointment in the morning for our next ultrasound. It's at 8:30 am. Man, that makes me nervous! We keep getting surprised each time we go. The first time they told us we were having triplets. That was shocking enough. Then the last time we went, it turned into quads. If we walk in there tomorrow and they tell us that we're having quints, I'm probably going to have a nervous breakdown! We don't really want anymore surprises. :)

Ann & Tim's Wedding

Ann (Chrissy's sister) & Tim got married on 07/07/07.



Chrissy, Alli, & I were all in the wedding.





Allison was such a beautiful flower girl! She loved her new dress!



When we left the church, we all went to a little park nearby. Although it was close to our house, I had never been there before. It was a great place to take pictures.







The reception was a blast too! We danced and partied until the wee hours of the morning.













Even the quads were having fun!!!!



It was a beautiful wedding and a wonderful day! A great time was had by all. Congratulations Ann & Tim! We love you guys.

More to Come

Hi All! Chrissy and I were in a wedding over the weekend and the preparations last week kept us very busy. That's why we haven't updated the site in a week or so. Mom and babies are all fine. We'll be working on the site tonight and adding lots of pictures, etc. Anyway, I just wanted to add a quick note so that people didn't think there was something wrong. :)