Three New Heartbeats

One year and 4 months ago:


Today:


Look closely. Do you see those THREE precious babies in that ultrasound taken today? They are my............... nephews and/or nieces!! My SISTER is having TRIPLETS!! What kind of chance is there that two sisters would both have triplets 15 months apart?!? The first thing I thought was, "Did they not learn anything?" Ha. No one could have seen this coming but the Almighty Giver of Blessings.

The kicker is that two of them are identical! She had one egg split. There is no fertility treatment on earth that can make an egg split. That is God's blessing of life. All I can say now is, "WOO HOO and here we go!"

What a delight to know that everything we have been given as far as supplies gets to be passed on and used again. How wonderful that I could experience this overwhelming life-change in time to help my little sister along in the journey. Oh my land, what if we'd done it together? My parents would have probably keeled over! This might add a few gray hairs... sorry Mom and Dad. But, what better family for these babies to join? Now I am just wishing that James' job could bring them closer. It is all in God's hands and I know the new family of five will be cared for.

If you would like to follow Jessica and James' journey into triplet parenthood, you can link to her blog here.

Now, on to the mound of stories about the Nebelsick triplets:

Last week, Levi started clapping! I can't catch it on video because it is random. I usually notice it right as I am strapping up a new diaper as he is laying on the changing table. I don't know if he is applauding the lowliest of Mommying jobs and grateful for the dry butt or not, but it sure does make it worth while. He's a smart cookie, that Levi.

David. David. David. What are we going to do with a little boy who just climbed an entire flight of stairs last night? No kidding. From bottom to top. Granted, there were three observers with Mommy behind him and Daddy encouraging him from the top. Aria was the third one on my hip. I want her to see how fun the mobile side of life is. We have the side of the house with stairs entirely gated off but it was an adventure to let him have a go at the stairs as a treat. I feel bad with them couped up in half of the main floor while it's so yucky outside. I can't wait until we can get out more this spring.

This is David trying to make a break for freedom. Instead of messing with a baby gate 1000 times a day, for now we step over this little chair. It does the job, for now.






Speaking of getting out, we have been on a few walks in the warm, I mean not cold, weather. We bundled them up and took 'em for a ride in the stroller as it was meant to be, with out carseats. The big kid seats made their appearance and everyone seemed to like them. Here are some pictures:




The second day, our walk was a little later and Aria fell asleep on the way home. Notice the cute little buntings to put their legs in? They seemed so warm and cozy. Obviously, Aria had no problem getting comfortable. She zonked out. First she leaned over to sleep. Then, Dan brought the whole seat in the house so she didn't have to wake up. It reclines (can I say enough about how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE my Peg Perego stroller?) so she laid there while we got everyone unloaded and groceries put away. How precious is this?




Last week, Dan was gone for a couple nights for work. No one from the office sent over a replacement (ha) so I packed up the kiddos and headed to Grandpa and Grandma Nebelsick's house. After going solo all day, I just do not want to attempt a couple solo nights in a row if I don't have to. And I didn't. Thanks Dave and Deb!

While we were there, Little David started waving. He had waved his hand up in the air a little bit before, but he waved "bye bye" in response to Grandpa for the first time last week. It was adorable. Then, the man who was there taping/texturing their sheetrock also got a wave from David. Sure was funny to see a rough old guy melt at David's cuteness like that. Ah, my babies. Stealing hearts all over the place!

Both of Dan's grandmas, the baby's great-grandmas, were able to come visit when we were visiting Mount Vernon. Here is a picture of them helping me feed lunch. What a blessing that extra hands can be! Great Grandma Nebelsick is feeding Levi and Great Grandma Titze is feeding David.


On the way home, I was driving the kids by myself for the two hour trip. We drove through Sioux Falls and I was wishing I had someone along to help me so I could shop for a few necessities. Figuring I could get what I needed at Sam's Club, I bravely decided to try a stop there. The only reason I even considered it (since I didn't have a stroller) was because Sams has room for two kids in the cart seat. I was able to put Levi's carseat in the basket and seat Aria and David in the actual cart. I have to say, they were awesome! I knew they would behave. What a blessing to have such well-behaved babies! They enjoyed looking at all the new sights.

I think it is so funny when strangers spot us out in public and I notice them counting. There seems to be a shock when they mentally hit the number three. I am surprise at how often the word spurts out of their mouth when it hits their brains. "Three?" they say with a stunned look of: oh, did I say that out loud? I wonder why God left the brain-to-mouth filter out of some people?

I got asked four times how old the kids were. I think that was the "safe" way for people to ask if they were all the same age... triplets. The Sam's run was a very successful outting. Those experiences are so empowering and freeing for me. Somehow I feel normal. Although, I hardly ever feel abnormal. Having three babies is just normal life to me now and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Miss Ari-Loo is finally getting the rolling thing down. She is starting to roll back and forth and scoot until she gets where she wants to go. There are plenty of times she'll just sit and yell until I get her too, but we are making progress. I think I have made it a little too easy on her to not be mobile yet. We are getting there. She is awesome at picking anything up or reaching anything she wants. She can drop things out of sight and remembers exactly where they are. This is a skill perfected by many pacifers being spit out and found again. She eats crackers, bananas and cheerios off of her highchair really well. This is a blessing since this will now hold her off from needing to be spoon-fed while I am feeding the boys. Levi is pretty good at that too. David is not a big fan off textured food yet. He has to be in the right mood.

Speaking of David and his textures... last night Dan and I sat down to feed the kids their supper. We were trying a "3rd Foods" chunky baby food, Chicken Vegetable, for the first time. I noticed Dan had not grabbed bibs for us and for some reason that woke the sass-a-fras (a.k.a. obstinant Elizabeth) in me. So, I treked back to the livingroom (why in the world we don't keep them in the kitchen, I'll never know. Gotta move those things!) and grabbed two PINK bibs and one blue one. This meant that one of Dan's sons was going to be in a PINK bib. Not that David noticed, right? How in the world would David know that pink is a "girl" color, right? I turned around after being satisfied from the grimace on Dan's face and went to feeding Levi. No sooner had I sat down then we got our first experience with our children, how shall I say... up-chucking? David puked all over the pink bib. Dan practically cheered, until we got a wiff of what it smelled like! There is a definite difference from spit-up, that's for sure. Needless to say, it was probably that David did NOT care for the texture of the lumpy chicken vegetable meal, but Dan will never admit it wasn't the pink bib.

Here are some pictures of the siblings. I am so glad my kids have each other:



Finally, we are still working on this bottle holding concept. David has preferred his tummy so long that he can hardly stand to lay down to eat his bottle. We have yet to get the concept of gravity across:


Aria knows that when she shakes the bottle upside down, pretty white dots spatter everywhere! Fun for her. Not productive in the way of eating:

Little Levi, our expert:



I look back over this post and realize that I say the word "blessing" so many times! It is writing taboo to overuse any word, and I usually edit them out. But, not "blessing". I am amazed at the constant extension of God's grace and mercy to me and my family and I won't edit it out. Count your many blessings! Name them one by one! Thankfully for you, I have to go to bed now or you'd be here all day reading!