Labor Day Weekend

Grandma Nebelsick's pictures of all three smiling!



David

Levi

Aria

It was a nice week at the Nebelsick house. We had lots of help and so we are not as overwhelmed as we were at the end of last week. I had learned that I can probably do this myself, but I can do such a better job with some help. Lori Poppinga came on Tuesday morning. Dan's mom, Deb, came to help us on Tuesday and Wednesday. That was awesome. Donna came out Wednesday evening. Then Laurel and her daughter Susanna from church took the night shift. Thursday, Kara stayed all day and that night to help out. Our getaway this weekend was possible thanks to her and her help through Thursday night! Now, we are in Sioux Falls for a long weekend at Aunt Donnas! Dan said tonight that this was the best decision - to come here. It takes a lot to pack up, but it's worth it. People have been able to come see the kids, I have gotten lots of help and we can get out of the house a little bit! We had to come to Sioux Falls for an appointment anyway on Friday, so we made a weekend out of it!

We had a doctors appointment on Friday and we got our first vaccinations. Everyone did sooo well. My mom asked me who cried more... the babies or Mommy? I actually didn't cry at all and they barely did! They just needed a little cuddle from Momma and fell asleep in their carseats on the way out. I just put it in my head that this was nothing compared to what they had to go through in the NICU so we were fine.

Here are the official doctors weights. This is without outfits on.

David Andrew: 13 lbs. 10 oz. 24 inches
Aria Louise: 12 lbs. 1 oz. 23 inches
Levi Timothy: 12 lbs. 15 oz. 24 inches

The lengths are always are to be exact because the babies have to cooperate and stretch out. Their head has to stay in a certain spot. It's not an exact science at all. The doctor seemed very impressed with their sizes and said we can switch away from the "preemie" formula anytime. We'll use up what we have and switch to something slightly cheaper. :) Levi is going to have his monitor downloaded sometime this week. We will see if they want him to stay on it or if we get to lose the "tail".

Friday night Dan got to go out to the big LifeLight concerts and see Switchfoot. I decided not to go cause there isn't much that outweighs the opportunity to sleep anymore. Aunt Kristi and Aunt Donna were here with the babies too. Donna got up with them in the night and I got tons of sleep. Yay!! We are so blessed. Tonight I am actually going to go out and catch a concert at LifeLight. Casting Crowns is playing tonight and I am hoping to make it in time for Natalie Grant too.

The kids are getting to be soooo much fun. They are all very interactive. The smile and coo. They babble and are starting to get a giggle here and there. Just yesterday, we noticed them noticing each other for the first time!!! They are three months old as of last Thursday. They are losing their newborn looks and getting bigger. Yikes! They are all putting their weight on their legs and "standing" if you hold them up. So cute.

I am going to add some pictures from our Mt Vernon shower on August 2nd.. My friend Melissa and Dan's sister, Amber, hosted it for us. It was lots of fun and many people came. There were also two other babies there and other kids. So much joy to share!

Levi being held and Grandma nearby.

Mommy opening presents.

Aria being held by Uncle Ben's girlfriend Maggie. Great-aunt Barb from Wisconsin is there too.

Here is Melissa holding David.

Here are Melissa's real feelings about holding David! She wasn't so sure about handling the babies... but she needs the experience! ;) But, I think I may have accidentally scared her out of ever being pregnant after showing her my nasty stretch marks. I'll have to apologize to her mother. Ha ha.



The baby in the background isn't one of mine. :)




If you haven't already, please proceed to the next post and "sign" of Guestbook! Thanks!! As of this posting, I only know of 18 people who read the baby's blog... and one of them is their Daddy!

Baby Guestbook

I always hear of people who read this blog. Often I am surprised by who has heard about it and keeps up with it. This journal is going to be part of my children's baby book someday. I would LOVE to know all of you who read this or have ever visited, even just once. I need a blog "Guest Book"! You don't have to say much, or write anything. It will be really easy to sign. All you have to do is leave a blog "comment"!

To comment:
-Click on the comment link at the bottom of this blog. It has a number beside it.
-Type your name and any comments in the box on the right-hand side of the page. If you don't want your name out there on the internet for some reason, just put "Anonymous" or your initials and your location.
-Select "Anonymous" directly above the orange box
-Click the orange box that says "Publish Your Comment"

It's that easy!! Please, please, please take a moment and don't be bashful! It will be inspiring for me to post more if I know it's being seen. Thanks and we love you all!!

Love, Elizabeth

P.S.- Your comments won't show up until I have seen them. If they don't show up after a day, I didn't get them for some reason.... my mom's didn't come through yet. :(

The Best Day

I just had to write today because we just had a great day together, my babies and I. It started out with a long, sleep-lacking night... but after I got going this morning I was fine. This morning I was able to send a half-way rested Dan off to work. The babies were good enough that I was able to get a shower in before 9 am! Then, I got them ready and packed a diaper bag because we went in to Daddy's office!

It was a bit of a production to load everyone in carseats and load all three carseats in the van by myself. They are getting heavy but I can still get Aria lifted over to the back seat. Dan met us in the parking lot and proudly carried his children in to his workplace. We didn't make it much past the front door before a small crowd had gathered. It was so much fun taking the kids to see a bunch of people who love them so much! I am always glad when everyone finally gets to meet them. I tried to be smart and make all the efforts worthwhile, so David and Levi got their mid-morning feeding at DGR. Yay!

When we got home, unfortunately, no one stayed asleep in their carseats. But, we still had a quick and easy afternoon together. I am getting pretty good at feeding two babies at once if I need to. Levi and Aria fell asleep while David was finishing his SIX ounces (I guess he was hungry this afternoon) but he was still wide awake. So, we got his bath in early today. I always feel like a good mom when I get a bath done for some reason. It's hard for me to remember sometimes because there is nothing routine about baths for us. They are laborious and tiring but if I spread them out, I don't get overwhelmed at the end of the day.

I decided everything was going so well that we would try to go visit the teachers at school also today! I had to take to opportunity since it was almost 3 pm and I was actually showered and had brushed my teeth. ;) This was a slightly more difficult trip than DGR because no one was going to be there to help carry in carseats. I was taking the triplet stoller! First, I had to figure out if I knew how to unfold and refold it. Check. Then it had to fit in the van. Check. I loaded it up. Then I started the 10 minute baby load-up project and we were off!

Thinking ahead just a bit, I decided the school parking lot could be an interesting place to be with my gigantic stroller and three babies as school was letting out. I parked in our church parking lot up the street and we had a nice stroll down to the school. Most kids were cleared out by then. It was kind of hard navigating the stroller through the doors, but I didn't mind doing a 4-point turn cause I have an awesome steering wheel on my stroller!! We didn't get very far down the hallway before a crowd had gathered!! It was so much fun introducing them to everyone and taking them "to school" for the first time.

Our pastor and his family saw us heading to the school so when we got back to the van they waved us over to their house for a visit. Pastor Jeff and Lori were kind enough to help me feed David and Levi again so I had more help for the day! Yay! Many hands make light work for Momma. It was fun to have our first of probably many visits to the Poppinga house. That was our second social call in town. In July we spent an evening with the triplets at our friends, the Struckmans. Every time we get out of the house with everyone it builds my confidence that I can do this and life will continue outside our four walls. It just energized me to have two successful outings on my own today. I came away feeling more and more like I can do this. I can be a good mom to this kids. I know I can be their mom - but I want to be a really great mom.

We weren't home before long and Daddy got home from work. Then my aunt Kristi and cousins Ryan and Alecia came to visit/help. It had been weeks since Kristi had seen the kids and she had missed them. I am so blessed to have such wonderful family that helps us so much. The wonderful part about their visit was I sent Dan to bed right after supper. He needs a little time to catch up on sleep or I'm going to lose my biggest night-time help. Yikes... scary thought. He doesn't do as well with sleeplessness... and I don't have to use my brain for much besides loving my children. I don't even use it to remember when they need to eat or have a messy diaper. I have a chart for that! :)

Okay, enough ramblings. I'm done with my "free time"... babies are sleeping so I must be sleeping. Good night all!

Never mind. I'm feeding Aria so I have time to load some pictures!

Here are some candid shots by my aunt Tina:

Great-grandma Rigsby & Aria

Grandma & Aria

4 generations

Levi

David




Tina holding David, Justin reading to him!

Photo Shoot

Here are some shots of our family photo shoot while we were out in Gillette. My aunt Tina is a skilled photographer and she took these shots. She had also done the pregnancy pictures I had this winter. These are some of the good ones, but not my two favorites. I think my mom wants to use the one of everyone all together for her Christmas card, so I don't want to spoil it with an early reveal. I also didn't put the one on here that we could use for our Christmas letter. Enjoy!








The boys holding the babies while we took the "Rigsbys" picture. Aren't they cute? James did so well with his nephews and niece for not being around babies much before!!

Random Pictures from our trip

Hello everyone! I can't believe it is three weeks into August and I have yet to post. I mean to everyday and think of things to post, but it never gets done. I can't imagine why! I started a big long post about the trip and it was never caught up, so it didn't get posted. I do have a few pictures to start out with and I'll see what I can do in the coming days.

Since being home, Dan and I have been mostly on our own. Talk about sleep deprivation. I am dog tired and so is Dan. The worst night was 3 nights ago when I fed David at 1am then I had to pump. Aria wanted to eat at 2:30, Levi at 3:30. Then at 4:30, David was hungry again! Levi's turn came around at 6:00. By 7:30 when Aria was hungry, I was passed out on the couch. Dan got up for his first day back at work in over a week but stayed and rescued me for an hour or so. And unfortunately, there is never time for catch-up sleep around here.

We had two very nice showers while we were traveling. I don't have any pictures from the one in Mount Vernon, SD... we forgot our camera and will have to get some copies later. The following are from the Gillette shower:

Levi being held by his great-great-aunt Arlene.

The Mommy with a big basket of baby goodies from my best friend McKenzie, her mom and sisters.

McKenzie is standing and her mom is holding McKenzie's 5 month old daughter, Rylan. My aunt Susanne is holding Levi. I can't believe David is about as bis as Rylan is! I have big babies!

Levi being held... about to be passed along on the big circle of

Amber and Aria

At home pictures:

Aria's big smile

Levi and Aunt Mimi

Aria with hands folded during a nap

All three in the crib at Grandma and Grandpa's. They won't fit this way forever. :(

Grandma and David after his bath.


Mommy crashed out on the boppy at Aunt Mimi's. Luckily Aria and Levi agreed to sleep also. Mimi laid David in there for the picture and he instantly was sound asleep. I think he felt like he was home since that's where he lived for 9 months. Levi, Aria and I stayed that way for a two hour nap!




The babies were weighed on Thursday. Here are their measurments:

David- 13 lbs. 4 oz, 24 and 3/4 inches
Aria- 11 lbs. 14 oz., 25 inches
Levi-12 lbs. 12.5 oz., 24 and 3/4 inches

My babies are getting so big! That was everyone's comment who first met them in our travels.