Aleah

Here are some picture and videos of Aleah. She has been quite the character lately!

Aleah's Teeth:
(Cayley also has teeth, but she kept putting her tongue over her teeth when I tried to get pictures. Only Aleah would cooperate).


Aleah in the jumpy seat
Aleah was having so much fun in this seat, hard to believe, huh. One of her siblings (can't remember if it was Cayley or Bryce) started fussing so I had to tend to them quickly. When I was done tending to the sibling, I turned and looked at Aleah and she was sound asleep. We (Cayden and I) took a few pictures of her enjoying her new jumpy seat. Cayden took the second picture all by himself!





Aleah Talking (video clip)
This clip will give you just a hint of what we experience in our household. This is how Aleah "talks." When she really gets going, it is very noisy (and high pitched!). Occassionally, Cayley will join in with her and that makes for a very noisey time!

Christmas Day Pictures (just a little late)

Here is Cayden getting one of his big gifts from Santa. We don't have any room for this game at home, so it is currently being stored at Grandma and Grandpa Johnson's house. We set it up Christmas day, and it was a huge hit among the three older grandchildren.



The three munchkins dressed in their Christmas best. It is so cute for me to see them in clothes as they very seldom really get dressed. They spend most of their time in sleepers because it is just so much easier for us to change them. I also think that the sleepers have to be much more comfortable for them. By the end of the day, Cayley was really fussy and I couldn't figure out why. Got her in a sleeper and she was just as happy as can be. (L to R: Aleah, Bryce, Cayley)


Bryce is going to be so mad about this picture some day. Bryce was feeling pretty warm in his outfit (it had a sweater too), so I opened up his shirt to cool him down some. Then I couldn't resist taking this picture.



4 Generation picture (my side of the family)

What are you looking at?

I'm at work and I receive this message from my mother who is helping out today watching the triplets (sorry the picture is a little blurry as she took it with her cell phone). All three babies are finally strong enough to sit in their Bumbo seats! Yipee! Their little necks are getting stronger and can hold up their heads (but they are still pretty wobbly).


(Bryce is in the blue seat, Cayley is in the purple seat and Aleah is in the pink seat).

Bryce is home!

Just a quick note to let you know Bryce is home! The Gibbons clan is all under one roof again! It is so nice to have everyone back together. I don't have any pictures for this post. Now that I am back home, I have more things to tend to. I just wanted to let everyone know that he is back home. We received a nebulizer to do treatments on him and he is on antibiotics. He seems to be doing much better. Still not 100%, but better, back to his smiling and talking self. I called home Friday morning to tell Scott and Cayden that Bryce was going to be coming home. I talked to Cayden first and told him. His response was, "I'm so excited!" and he really was very excited. He came to the hospital with Scott to bring Bryce (I didn't have a car seat in the car that was there-long story).

While I was in the hospital with Bryce, Scott called me Thursday afternoon to tell me that Aleah has the start of her bottom two front teeth. Then I got another call about 45 minutes later that says Cayley was getting hers as well. I can't believe it! Teeth already! No teeth for Bryce, but I think he is working on it. He is really chewing on his fingers.

I will try to post some more pictures when I can get my life back in order. Not sure when that will be.... :)

Christmas Eve Pictures

Here are some pictures of Christmas Eve at Grandma and Grandpa Johnson's. All 6 grandchildren came to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Most of the pictures are of the triplets as the other 3 are quite a bit more mobile and would rather play than have their picture taken. I did catch them a few times though.

Here are the girls, in matching sleepers. Who is who???


(Cayley is in the first picture, Aleah is in the second picture - Jill, Thanks for the outfits!)

Here is a picture of the girls together.(L to R: Cayley, Aleah)


Here is what I call "The Three Stooges"
A lady that I work with gave her mother a project of knitting hats for the little munchkins. They were a bit snug, but cute none-the-less. I think people think that since they are multiples and premies, that they are much smaller than what they are. (L to R: Aleah, Bryce, Cayley)

A Christmas Eve Tradition
Every Christmas Eve we have rice pudding. There is an almond hidden in "one" bowl of rice pudding, and whoever gets the almond wins a surprise. Somehow, the children in the families always seem to ALL get almonds. Here are the three older kids eating their rice pudding (although some are like Scott-they just look for the almond and then give me their rice pudding. I can't get enough!)


Here's the babies with their almonds. No that isn't rabbit do-do left on their blankets, it's almonds.(L to R: Bryce, Cayley, Aleah)


The big kids took a break from playing long enough for me to snap a picture.
Addy
Cayden and Ash


Santa Came to Visit
Santa knew exactly what to bring Cayden. A Disney Pixar's "Cars" Racetrack. That Santa got it perfect!



Aleah with Santa



Cayley with Santa (this was the best picture I got of her. The other picture she was pulling on Santa's beard-naughty Cayley)

Bryce with Santa

Doctor's Appointment (from December)

So now that I am in the hospital with Brycey, I have more time to catch up on my blogging. Here are some pictures of the triplets getting ready to go for their 4 month checkup back in mid-December.

Here is Cayley. She was the first one to get ready to go. Is she laughing or crying????

She was crying. She doesn't like things on her face, and I think we had just saved her from that. She was still a little mad.


Next to get ready was Aleah. I think she liked her snowsuit as she slept most of the time in it. So snuggly warm.



No pictures of Bryce by himself in his. By the time I got him in his snowsuit and carseat, we had to go. But first Scott snapped a couple of group pictures while I rounded up the diaper bag.

Notice the babies's arms in this next pic. They are all reaching for the sky! Those little snowsuits don't allow for much bending. But yes, they could have put their arms down if they wanted to.

It snowed again!

Well it snowed and snowed and snowed some more! We had a snow day on Friday, January 9th due to one storm. Then another snow storm rolled through and we had another snow day Monday, January 12th. Here is a video clip of Cayden and I getting ready to go outside.


Scott went to take the trash out Friday morning. He got distracted coming back into the house and made a snow angel while Cayden and I watched. Cayden and I ready to go play in the snow. Me pulling Cayden on the sled. My turn. Cayden insisted! He had to try pulling me on the sled. And finally, Cayden decided to make that snow angel that he wanted to make. Here is what it looked like (this was the best picture that I could get)

Here's a little video clip of Cayden making his snow angel.

Update on Bryce

I'm taking my shift at the hospital with Bryce. They ran another RSV test on him today and it came back negative again. They also drew some blood to do some lab work. I wasn't here for that, but I am told that he didn't enjoy that one bit! They also did another chest X-ray of Bryce. The doctor finally made it to our room early this afternoon for his daily check on Bryce. He told me that the X-ray shows some definite line of ??????? I didn't understand. Anyway, it turns out that Bryce does have pneumonia. He will be spending another night in the hospital. They have him on oxygen 24 hours a day. Once he can get off of the oxygen and maintain the oxygen levels in his blood, then he can come home. Right now that isn't happening. Apparently, his oxygen level dips down when he is sleeping. So, it's day by day until he can come home.

Scott has been spending most of the time at the hospital with Bryce, and I have been home with the other kiddos. All seem to be doing well. Cayden is ready for his daddy and Bryce to come home. First thing Cayden did this morning was ask if they were home yet. He wasn't real happy when I said not yet.

Here are a couple of pictures of Bryce with his monkey. This monkey seems to have a calming effect on Bryce. We lay the monkey across Bryce's chest and it usually calms Bryce down quickly.

Illnesses have hit our family...

So in a previous post, I said something about us being relatively healthy aside from a few colds here and there. Well, it has all changed in the last week, especially the last few days. Before the New Year, Cayden had a cold and Bryce had a dry cough. After the new year, Scott caught some sort of flu bug. Then Cayley caught what sounded like Cayden's cold. Then Bryce seemed to have caught it as well. Now Aleah seems to be catching it as well. However, Bryce (and Aleah) are more severe than "just a cold".

On Friday, I got home from work, and one of the babysitters for the day told me that Bryce did not have a good day. He was fussy and not happy. I thought, "Oh, he must be catching the cold that is going around our house." Saturday it seemed to have gotten worse, and he was drinking less than half of what he normally does. Sunday he got a little worse and his chest was rattling as he breathed. I called a nurse friend of mine and asked her what she thought I should do. She had me count his breaths per minute, which in my rough calculations were close to 100 breaths per minute. I called the on-call pediatrician at the hospital and explained Bryce's symptoms to him, and he said to bring him to the Emergency Room. We were brought right into the ER, but stayed there for about 4 hours while they ran some tests and did some X-rays. 11:00 pm Sunday, Bryce was admitted to the hospital

Bryce was tested for RSV and influenza A and B, all came back negative. From his chest X-rays, his lungs were wet, but it is not pneumonia. So Scott spent Sunday night in the hospital with Bryce, and I came back to the house to be with the other three children (my parents also stayed with me to help with everything). Today (Monday), I told Scott when he saw the doctor to tell him that Aleah sounded a lot like Bryce, but not as severe. So the doctor squeezed Aleah into his schedule (he really didn't have any openings until February). She had all of the same tests and x-rays done as Bryce. Same results as Bryce as well, just not quite as severe. He gave us some antibiotics for her and sent us home.

I got to spend some time with Bryce this afternoon, while Scott came back to the house to shower and spend some time with Cayden. Here is Bryce resting peacefully. (he is receiving continuous oxygen, antibiotics, nebulizer treatments, and I don't know what else for sure.)



Scott is again spending tonight with Bryce, and I am home with our other 3 kids (and my parents are spending the night with us again to help out). Through this mess, Bryce is getting better, but they wanted to keep him again tonight to continue monitoring him. When they take him off the oxygen, the level of the oxygen in his blood drops to a level that they are not happy with. (At least that is how I understand things and know how to explain it). We hope he can come home tomorrow. But I was told it all depends on how he reacts when they take him off of the oxygen.

I was worried how Cayden would deal with this as I was gone in the hospital for 8 weeks this past summer. Cayden is handling it pretty well. However, tonight he has asked me a couple of times when does Brycey get to come home? He is ready for everyone to be back in his house again.

Let it snow, Let it snow, let it ahhhhhhhhh!

Enough already! This post is dedicated to our friends and family "down south." Some of you think you know snow, but let me tell you... We definitely know snow here! There isn't a more appropriate time to put this post on our blog than today, as we are expecting another 5-8 inches of snow by tomorrow night (according to weather.com) More snow to add to the mountains of snow we have already!

These pictures are from December 14th.


Yes, that is me outside with the snowblower. Scott stayed in and took care of the family. Now, we have had at least 3 more snow storms since then. And more tonight, with more next week! We had a record setting amount of snowfall for December. January started off with more snow! We haven't had this much snow since we've been back in ND (since 2005). Snow is one thing, but when you add in the good ol' ND wind, it makes for a huge mess outside!

I think Cayden might be a "southerner" at heart. He loves to look at snow and watch the snow fall. HOWEVER, when it is time to walk outside in the snow, he refuses. We must carry him over the snow, or else he'll try to "jump" over the snow. We/he has to be careful when jumping over the snow, as he has been known to slip-no falls as of yet. But he will walk on the snow if he has his snow boots on. I do give him credit, he has never complained about the cold, even when it is 20 below zero. Yes, I said 20 BELOW zero. That doesn't even take into account the wind chill factor.

I hope this gives you southerners a little look into the wonderful ND winters. Any one up for visiting us this winter????? We could go sledding!!!!!!!!!!

Bryce Our Talker, Take 2

I know it probably seems like I favor Bryce a bit, as this is the second video of him talking on our blog. However, it's just that he talks more than the other two. The girls are just starting to babble a little. It seems the order of development for these three is Bryce, then Aleah, followed by Cayley. Bryce was the first to smile, then Aleah, and then Cayley. (Now the three of them almost always have smiles on their faces!) Bryce was the first to talk. Aleah was second (but she is still working on it), and Cayley was not far behind Aleah.

Here's our Brycey Christmas Day talking to his Grandma Connie. (Grandpa is feeding Aleah in the background. And you can hear Cayden and cousins Addy and Ash playing somewhere in the background).

Tummy time

About a month ago, we had a physical therapist come to our house. One of the "perks" of having premature babies and multiples. The girls have very flat flat spots on the backs of their heads. Bryce used to, but his has round back out for the most part. The result of the therapy session was lots of exercises to strengthen the girls necks, and orders to do lots of tummy time. Now the idea of tummy time is to have the girls hold their heads up and even push up on their arms. Let's just say, we have some work to do on this. They fell asleep instead!

(I have more pictures to add of these two on tummy time, but having troubles at the moment-will try to get them added later)


Aleah


Cayley


And here's a picture of our Brycey, as I like to call him. Yes, I realize he is not doing tummy time as suggested by the heading of the blog, I didn't want him to feel left out.


Which means I should also throw in a picture of my favorite "Big boy". Scott and I always check on all of the kids before we go to sleep. We found Cayden sleeping with his GIANT duck. He received this for Easter one year. Played with it a couple days about a year after that Easter (I remember chasing him around the house with it). Then out of the blue, he finds it in his basket of stuff animals, and that duck went everywhere with him (in our house) for about a week. Now, it is resting in its basket, back with all of its other stuffed animal friends.

Go Gamecocks!

Cayden is a huge South Carolina Gamecocks fan. Okay, so maybe he is influenced some by his daddy. Someone, (eh-hem:daddy) I'm not sure who, (eh-hem:daddy), taught Cayden to say "Booooooo" (eh-hem:daddy) to Clemson (eh-hem:daddy). I just can't figure out who would have taught Cayden such a thing. Boy, am I sure glad that I was able to clear that frog out of my throat!

Here is Cayden sporting his new Gamecocks jersey and "silver" sweatshirt. (ok, so you can't see the jersey, but I promise he is wearing it under his "silver" sweatshirt)


Gamecocks are #1!!!!



Gosh, what a handsome kiddo! Go USC Gamecocks!

The Triplets are 5 months old today!

I can't believe it, 5 months old already! Where has the time gone? And to think that in reality, they should only be 3 1/2 months old.

So here is the latest on their weights (as of their 4 month checkup mid-December):
Aleah is now the baby of the bunch. She weighed in at 13 lbs 11 oz.


Bryce, well, he is our little "chunky monkey". He weighed in at a whopping 16 lbs 1 oz. (however, he does weigh less than Cayden did at 4 months by about 3 lbs).


Cayley outweighs her sister by 2 whole ounces. She weighed in at 13 lbs, 13 oz.


All are healthy for the most part. Bryce has a dry cough. Cayley has a not so pleasant cold (stopped up nose, nasty cough), but the doctor said he doesn't need to see her yet (he gave us some guidelines to the cold as to when we would want to see her). Cayden has the same crud as Cayley, and I think Scott had a turn with it too. Hopefully Aleah and I will miss out on it. Other than that, no major illnesses. We are still monitoring Bryce and his heart murmurs. The doctor said, "Yep, it's still there" at their checkup (regarding the heart murmurs). Bryce has a follow up appointment when the pediatric cardiologist from MN the end of February. No RSV! (I was going to write no RSV YET, but I really pray it doesn't hit our family - I am going to worry about Cayley though if she doesn't start getting better soon)

The art of taking pictures of 4 children

Here is our experience of trying to get "nice" pictures of our four precious children.

1st picture: Turned out pretty good!


2nd picture: Cayley was angry, can you tell? Bryce and Aleah, oblivious to Cayley's anger.


3rd picture: Cayley calming down a bit. Aleah, pull your shirt back down! Bryce, what are you doing?


4th picture: Bryce says, "I'm going to eat you!"