Baby Bunnies

We have Baby Bunnies!! One of Railey's rabbits had babies. There are seven of them. She is so excited. We had one litter before these ones that didn't survive at birth, so she is in heaven watching these. They seem to grow bigger everyday. These pictures were when they were 7 days. They are now 9 days. When they were born they look like little bald rats. They are not cute. But after just one week, they are already covered in fur, and have doubled in size. They climb all over each other and make little squeeky noises. They are pretty cute now. They should open their eyes in the next day and should be hopping out of their nest in the next week. We already have people offering to buy them. IFA said they would buy whatever we didn't want so they could sell them for Easter. Railey is excited to earn money from her rabbits. She just can't wait until they are big enough to get them out and hold them. She is such an animal lover. We will post more pictures as they grow.

January Trips

In January, my kids got to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house for a few days while I went to California. Rob had a tradeshow to do in Sacramento. He wanted me to go with him and help. And it was also my birthday that weekend so he wanted me to come and spend the weekend. My parents offered to take the kids so I could go. My dad came and picked them up. Rob had left earlier in the week to drive down and get everything set up, so I caught a flight out of Salt Lake on Thursday and met up with him there. We had a good weekend, even though we were pretty much just working. We went out to dinner for my birthday. That was nice. It's great to be able to visit with each other without having to talk over the noise of kids. We don't get to do that very often. When the weekend was over my dad brought the kids back on Monday. My kids had a great time. They were so excited to play in all the snow. Blanding has had a LOT of snow this year. The kids love going to Grandma and Grandpa's. They are still talking about it. I have the best parents ever. They are too good to us. Thanks mom and dad for the nice break. These are a few of the pictures they took while the kids were in Blanding.

Ryder eating an icicle

Sleigh riding down the hill from grandma's carport
Grandpa and boys

Robby

Check out all that snow

Railey

You can barely see the top of the fence

What you see when you walk out the door

Shooting

Rob got me a handgun for Christmas. It is a Smith & Wesson .38 special, model 64. It is a nice gun. I am excited to have it. I wanted one that was just mine that I could shoot and get used to. We went shooting the other day to try it out. It was really fun to shoot. Railey has her own little 22 that she got for christmas 3 years ago just after she turned 4. Rob painted it a really pretty pink and put her name on the stock. She has loved having it. She loves to go shooting with dad. So we took her gun with us too so she could shoot some and we let the boys shoot a real gun for the first time. They thought it was pretty neat that they got to shoot Railey's gun. They all got safety glasses and earmuffs for christmas so they wanted to try them. They were always taking Robs earmuffs so we decided to get them all their own pair.

Rob teaching Ryder and helping him shoot for the very first time

Teaching Robby and helping him shoot for the first time
Teaching Ranger and helping him shoot for the first time

Railey loading and getting ready to shoot

Me shooting my new gun

Rob shooting my new gun

Sledding

We took the kids sledding last week. We didn't have to go very far to find good hills. There are a lot of sand dunes around where we live. These ones were only about a mile or so from our house. The had a really fun time. The boys haven't really spent a whole lot of time out in the snow. They all got new boots for their birthday and they were so happy and excited to have snow boots. It's kind of funny to see what they get excited about. I wasn't sure if they would be scared to go down the hills or not but they loved it. We took our dog Deke with us and he had a lot of fun too. Our other dog Savvy stayed at home. She is still trying to recover from her broken leg. Deke would chase the sled down the hill after them. He ran around and sniffed the snow and ate it. After we were done we headed home and had hot chocolate. It was a fun time.

The Gang

At the bottom of the hill

Catching a ride from Dad

The were so bundled up they could hardly walk. They could barely get up the hills. Most the time they had to get on their hands and knees and crawl up. It reminds me of the little boy "Randy" in the "Christmas Story" movie.

Look how far we've come...Taking a look back.

Our boys just celebrated their 4th Birthday on December 16th. Every year as they turn another year older I remember back and think of all we have gone through to get to the point we are at now. This year I had a lot to think about as they have changed and grown up so much. The past 4 years have been incredible. I would never have dreamed that this is what my life would be like, but now I couldn't imagine it any other way. It has been an amazing, crazy, busy, stressful, fun, challenging, exhausting, wonderful 4 years. There are many, many great memories, and there are some not so great ones, but none the less they are what got us to where we are. We have been blessed with some great kids, even if they do drive us absolutely crazy. There have been many days I seriously thought I would not survive the day, but somehow at the end of each day we are all still alive.
I found out that I was pregnant with triplets on July 13, 2005. I already knew I was pregnant but not with triplets. I had gone to my first doctors appointment the day before and they could not find a heartbeat which wouldn't have been too concerning normally but I was measuring very large for how far along I was. So to find out what was going on, they wanted me to have an ultrasound. They were concerned that maybe something was wrong with the baby and maybe I had lost it. I was working the night shift, so the next morning I went to the ultrasound after I got off work. Rob was at home with Railey and it was early in the morning so I told him I would just go on my way home. So he told me to call him as soon as I knew what was going on. I went into the ultrasound and the lady had turned the screen so I wasn't really able to see. She was very quiet for a long time and I just knew she was going to tell me I had lost the baby. When she finally spoke she said.."I'm seeing triplets" My response was "HUH?" Then she turned the screen and showed me each baby and all their heartbeats. I was speechless. After finishing I headed out to my car and I got in and just sat there. And then it hit me and I just started to cry. So I called Rob and as soon as he answered he said.."What did they say? Is the baby alright?" I said "Well, so far the babies are fine." He said.."What? We're having twins?" I said, "No, they said we're having triplets." He said.."You're such a liar." And then I started to cry again. He then realized I was not joking and told me to get home. I headed home. I called my parents as I drove home. As soon as I got home and showed the picture to Rob he started making phone calls. I had to work again that night so I should have slept during the day but that just didn't happen. The next couple of weeks until it really became reality are pretty much a blur. I was pretty sick throughout the pregnancy and very tired, but I did pretty good. I worked until I was 18 weeks along. At that point the doctors told me I needed to start taking it easy. I did very well other than getting big and uncomfortable until about 27 weeks. At the point I went into labor and they admitted me to the hospital. They were able to stop labor and give me the steroid shot for the babies, and I was released after two days and able to go home for the next month. But from that point on, I was on strict bed rest. My entire family came to St. George for Thanksgiving and my parents took Railey home with them. We figured it wouldn't be long until I would be having them. They left on Saturday, and by Monday when I went in to see the perinatologist they readmitted me and told be that was where I was going to be until I delivered. They were able to stop labor a few more times with the use of magnesium sulfate. Not a pleasant experience for me but worth it because we were able to buy some more time. I felt awful while I was on it. After 3 weeks in the hospital, the boys were taken at 33 1/2 weeks by C-section. What a crazy experience... multiple doctors, tons of nurses. Robby was born at 3:38 p.m. He was 4 lbs 4 oz and 17 1/4 inches. Ryder at 3:39 p.m. He was 3 lbs even and was 15 1/4 inches, and Ranger at 3:40 and he was 3 lbs 12 oz and 16 1/2 inches. Each one of them gave a cry as soon as they were born. It was so amazing. I could not believe how tiny they were. They showed them to us and immediately handed them off to the neonatologists, and then they were taken to the NICU.

The boys very first picture

25 weeks pregnant (already bigger than I was at 40 weeks with my first pregnancy)

28 weeks pregnant and getting bigger
31 weeks pregnant and living in the hospital

32 weeks pregnant (barely able to stand without falling on my face)

Robby 4 hours oldRyder 4 hours old

Ranger 4 hours old

This was Christmas Day 2005

They were 9 days old.

Ryder and Ranger (almost ready to be out of the isolette)

Robby (just out of the isolette)

Life was very crazy for a long time. It still is, its just in different ways now. This was how I used to feed them when I fed them by myself.

Crazy became our normal. This is the first time they got to see Santa.

This is their first Birthday. And not only is it their Birthday but a celebration for me because I survived the first year. I still don't know how we did.

When one found trouble they would teach it to the others.

Their 2nd Birthday. They grew so much that year.

I think back to how I used to not even be able to bathe them together because it was dangerous. I seriously couldn't put them all in together because I couldn't hold on to all of them. But now they can play in the swimming pool all together and they have a blast.

Their 3rd Birthday

They love to read books.

The love to cause trouble and get into trouble which leads to lots of timeouts.

They love to play outside and ride their trikes and bikes.

They love to help in the garden and they drive their Tonka trucks out to help haul in the vegies.

I used to think we would never be able to go anywhere again, but slowly we are venturing out. We took them all to Lagoon this last summer and they had tons of fun. And we did too.

We had our pictures taken at Lagoon.

I love this picture because they are all playing nice together. And that is very typical of Railey to try to get them to do something that she wants. Its moments like these when I find them doing things that make me smile.

Their 4th Birthday Cake

We have to give them a cupcake to blow candles out on because we don't think anyone wants to eat cake that 3 little kids have blown (spit) on.

Birthday Presents

We have come a long way in the last four years. I think about all the visits to the Emergency room and the few hospital stays and hope that those are in the past. We spent their first 2 Christmases in the hospital, and when they were really little they would pick up every little bug that went around. Just 2 weeks after we got them home from the hospital they were all 3 readmitted for RSV. The next Christmas we ended up taking them in on Christmas Eve. They had the flu and RSV and we ended up staying. We have had other ER runs with Robby. Mostly because of his asthma. He can't breathe when he gets sick, even if it was just a cold. But this last year has been so much better. He seems to have grown out of the worst of it. We haven't had to give him a breathing treatment or any of his medicine in almost a year. I am so glad. We finally finished potty training this year. I am so excited not to have to buy diapers or pullups anymore. For a while there I thought it was never going to happen. I began to wonder if I would be sending one to kindergarten in diapers. But we are now completely done. I would say that potty training was one of the most challenging things we have gone through, along with the lack of sleep. That first year was so exhausting but even after that it seems like someone was always waking up. I went a long time without sleeping through the night. Now that I can I am so grateful. Sleep is wonderful. It kind of makes me sad to think about how all the baby in them is gone, but I am grateful they are growing and healthy and happy. It's just hard to believe they are four years old already.

Savvy Dog

About a month ago our dog got hurt, but we really didn't know what happened. We were in the house and heard her just start yelping and crying. We could tell by the sound that something was wrong so we rushed outside to find her lying on the grass. She had hurt her leg somehow and couldn't really walk on it. So we watched her for the next week or so, and she started to bear weight and eventually started walking and then running again. We figured she was back to normal. But then last Saturday afternoon, Railey came running in the house and said that she had just tripped and fell on the bricks in my flower bed and she was hurt again and wouldn't move. She was really hurt this time. We could tell she was in a lot of pain. She was crying and couldn't hardly even move. Of course there is not vet around on the weekend so we decided to wait until Monday and see how she was and then take her to the vet. It was a long weekend. She was very miserable and bawled for two days. So finally on Monday we took her to the vet. The x-ray showed that she had a crack in her hip, some damaged ligaments around the knee, and a fresh break in her leg. He figured the crack in her hip was older, as well as the ligament damage. We are guessing that was from the first accident (we don't really know what happened on that one, we were thinking maybe she fell off our deck, but we're not sure). It had started to heal and was doing pretty well when she took a tumble onto the brick. He figured that just snapped the bone in her leg in half. So anyway, she is now sporting a new look. She looks pretty ridiculous, but hopefully it will allow her to completely heal. She is supposed keep it on for 6 weeks. The first day or so was a little hard for her to get around but now she seems happy just to be able to move. She has started to use it like a peg leg, and it doesn't really slow her down anymore. She goes up and down the stairs just as fast. She isn't able to bend her leg at all, and it is helping to keep the hip immobilized so it can completely heal as well. The vet said he figured because she is so young she should do pretty well. We feel so bad for her. She really is such a sweet dog.

Halloween

For Halloween this year, Railey wanted to be a witch and the boys were a bunch of monkeys. (I thought that was very fitting) They love to sing the monkeys jumping on the bed song (as they are jumping on the bed) This was the first year we actually let the boys walk up to doors and trick or treat. The last couple of years I pushed them around in the stroller. They were so excited to go, but we only made it around the block with them. About half way around they starting saying they wanted to go home and didn't want to go to anymore houses. I think they were tired of walking and carrying their buckets. So we finished the block and went home. Railey got to go with a friend after we took the boys home so she was pretty happy. The kids had fun carving their pumpkins (or watching us carve them) and thought it was really neat to light them up. I let them each pick out their own pumpkin at the store a few weeks ago. They thought it was cool to have their very own pumpkin and each time we went outside they had to tell everyone which one was theirs.

L to R Railey's Robby's Ryder's Ranger's