Potential Buyer????? We'll see!

Well, we put our house on the market a couple of weeks ago and have had nothing but great responses since then.  Well maybe one bad one.  You'll always have those.  We have a possible interest in our house and will hopefully find out beginning of next week if an offer will be made. We have mixed feelings.  We need a bigger home for our rapidly growing family but we will miss our little home.  Jason & I were talking about what we would miss about our house.  One thing would be that the babies will never remember the house we brought them home to after their 5 week stay in the NICU.  Their are so many memories we have made since then let alone since we got married 5 years ago and even 10 years ago when Jason purchased it as his first home.  What wonderful memories.  It is a great home and we will miss it so much.  I am sure  a lot of you can relate as you have started your own families and found that the house that was big enough for the two of you was no longer big enough for your growing family.  Please pray for us especially this weekend as a very important decision will be made.  We pray that our house will sell at the right time and that we will find the best home for us to raise our family in for many years to come.  We have one in mind but some details need to be worked out.  Please pray that this will go smoothly.  

The babies are doing great, by the way.  They are growing well.  Collin especially.  He is now in the 50th percentile for his weight and it isn't on a preemie scale.  He is rapidly catching up.  He weighs 16lbs 3oz. He is eating like a champ.  We started him on fruits and vegetables.  He eats anything you put in front of him.  No problem.  Anniston & Bailey are weighing in at 121/2 & 12 lbs.  They are in the 6th & 2nd percentiles. Anniston is now eating from a spoon.  She is having a slow start but is progressing very well.  She has also been eating her fruits and vegetables.  Bailey is getting started on eating some cereal with a spoon also.  She is progressing well.  We will be starting her on fruits and vegetables soon.

The babies are still sleeping very well.  We have never been able to complain in this area.  They are still sleeping from about 9-9:30ish until 6 in the morning.  I feed them and put them back down and am able to go back to bed until 9-930ish.  

We think they are starting the teething process.  We have heard that they can teeth for a while before they actually get teeth and we think that is what they are experiencing now.  They have some fussy times.  The evenings are becoming a little quieter.  They haven't been getting really fussy until about 8pm.  We are able to enjoy them a little more and they are as well.  

All of the babies are attempting to talk.  It is hilarious.  Anniston starts jibber jabbing and then laughs and continues to jibber jabb so it sounds like she is trying to tell us a story.  Maybe some day we will know what that story is but for now we can only wonder.  Collin & Bailey try to talk also.  They are too cute.  They are always smiling.  We are having tons of fun with them.  Don't get me wrong.  It is hard sometimes but the good times are priceless and those are the ones we will remember forever.  

The family is leaving next Friday on vacation.  Jason & I, the babies, Grandma & Grandpa Bum, & Aunt Tracy are heading to Myrtle Beach.  Please pray for us for we are driving and we don't know how the babies will do.  We are trying to arrange it so that we can console them a little better while they are in the car seats.  I guess you can only do so much but we can at least try.  Usually their car seats are all in a row in the middle seat.  We will free up the middle of that seat so that I can sit between two of them if they get fussy and try to play with them, etc.... We may have one ride with Grandma & Grandpa Bum so someone can take care of the other one as well.  Jason & I are looking forward to the trip.  It will be fun.  

Thanks so much for your continued support and encouragement!

JKABC

Short Update

Hey all, a short update about the triplets. The kiddos are doing well. They are all healthy again after a brief time of sickness. We've been holding up pretty well with grandma and grandpa Bum out of the country on their European cruise. They arrive back tonight! Collin has moved on to the size 3 diapers since he seems to pee through all the size 2 ones. Anniston has started taking her evening rice cereal with a spoon! Collin continues to do well with the spoon fed rice as well. We will see when Bailey is ready to get in on the action. The kids continue to sleep well at night (from after their 9 pm feed until 6 am).

Our house is on the market! We had a showing yesterday evening. Couldn't have done it without a heroic effort by Kristy. Got the call around 2 pm that they wanted to come at 5 pm. She cleaned the house up, mowed the yard and loaded a good deal of the baby stuff in the van in time to vacate the house. Did I mention she took care of the three babies as well (with some help from Aunt Sharon)?!

JKABC

House On Hold

It has been a busy week. We worked some more around the house to get everything ready to put the house on the market. Unfortunately there are a few things that have been put on hold due to unexpected circumstances. I took the babies in for a doctor's appointment on Tuesday and found that Anniston had an ear infection while the other two just had some congestion. No big deal. Anniston was put on an antibiotic and, as for the other two, nothing we could do but to let it run its course. Just a lot of runny noses, including me. Jason somehow avoided it all. However, on Wednesday night, I noticed Collin was breathing very hard and fast (you could see his chest retracting). I called the doctor emergency line and they suggested I take him to the emergency room. They gave him a breathing treatment and took a chest x-ray that showed Collin just had a viral infection. No pneumonia which was great news. Due to Collin's labored breathing, they admitted him overnight. They would give him breathing treatments through the night starting out every 2 hours. They were expecting to have them spread out to every 4 hours by the next day. That didn't happen until Friday night so Collin had a 3 night stay at the hospital. It was rather strange for me to be taking care of only one baby. Collin & I (Mom) got to spend some quality time together. The doctors loved him. He was a very happy, cooperative patient. I would have to say that Collin got rather spoiled in those 3 days. He is having to get use to sharing the attention with his sisters now that he is finally home. Grandma Bum bought Collin a bear and a balloon. He loved to stare at the balloon. It was the only thing that I could get him content with so that I could get something to eat. His Gigi and Aunt Stephanie got to come and love on him a ton. He enjoyed them very much. He smiled a ton.
The pediatrician thinks a couple of the babies may be teething. Their gums were a little swollen. Collin has tried on several occasions to put his whole fist in his mouth (so sad:-(). The babies are still doing the same kinds of things they have been. They are still cooing, rolling over from tummy to back, lifting their heads up at 90 degrees. Their little personalities continue to form.
Grandma and Grandpa Bum were over this evening and we had to say goodbye to them for 16 days. They are going on a cruise. This trip is well deserved. They have been a tremendous help. We will miss them a ton.
I believe that is all for now.
Thanks again for your support and encouragement. 

Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.
JKABC

House Cleaning & House Hunting

Just wanted to update you all on what has been happening at the Bumgardner house over the past few weeks. The babies have been appointment-free. They had their 4 month checkup which I updated you on in the last blog. I still need to schedule an appointment for them to get one of the shots that wasn't in at the time of their appointment. The babies have been very healthy lately. That is always good. We have been attending church the past few weeks. We have been sitting in the balcony and last week for baby day we sat in the back with them. We haven't taken them to the nursery yet. We want to make sure that RSV season is definitely over.
It has been so fun to see the babies' personalities come out. They all have been doing a lot of cooing. They all have turned over several times. Anniston can bear weight on her legs. Sometimes when we are trying to burp her she wants to stand up to burp or so it seems. They smile a ton and are becoming very playful. It is too cute. Daddy and I got a little sad a few nights ago as we reflected on a picture book that Jason's mom put together for us while I was in the hospital. We talked about how big they were getting and how fast. I cried and let's just say that I ended up sleeping with the picture book. It is a bitter sweet thing to see your babies grow up.
Jason & I have also decided to put our house on the market. We feel it is time to make the move so I have been busy getting the house ready to show. The plan is to have it on the market by some time next week. Please pray for us as we look for the right house and for our house to sell at the right time also so that we don't have to move twice.
We have also been dreading Grandma & Grandpa Bum leaving on a well deserved vacation. They will be gone for 16 days starting on May 25th and it has been nice to have them around to help. They have been wonderful.
I also got to celebrate my first mother's day with my babies actually outside of the womb. I consider this to be my 2nd mother's day. Jason helped the babies make their fingerprints and footprints in clay. Too sweet.
I think that is about all for now. I will update with some new pictures hopefully tomorrow. You will have to check them out.
Thanks so much for all of your prayers and encouragement.

JKABC

Little Swimmers

We went to a doctor's appointment last week and Collin is now almost 13 1/2 lbs.  The girls pretty much stayed the same.  They also got their 4 month shots which is always sad. They cried. We will have to go back soon to get another shot because they didn't have one of them in.

Our nights are becoming even more peaceful.  The babies are sleeping well into the night after their rice cereal in their bottles at the 9pm feed.  They have slept as late as 6am.  Woohoo!:-)  They are also good nappers so I am able to do some relaxing myself or get things done around the house.  How did we luck out with 3 great sleepers.  

Good news also!   This is a first.  Collin is now taking his rice cereal with a spoon.  I decided on Friday night that I would try him out because we would try them with a spoon of cereal before we put it in their bottles and Collin seemed like he was ready.  He ate it like a pro.  I may try Anniston tonight.  Bailey doesn't seem ready yet.  We'll keep trying but not in a hurry.  She doesn't even seem to know their is anything in her mouth.  She just isn't use to not getting food through a nipple I guess.  She will do it when she is ready and we are just fine with that.  

We continue to take them on walks.  They love the outdoors.  We did take them swimming like I mentioned in the earlier blog.  They loved it.  Anniston could probably float if you would let her.  She is so relaxed in the water.  Bailey is okay with the water.  She just likes to be held close although she isn't scared.  Bailey is always that way.  Collin seemed to do fine.  He just had to figure out what was going on but it didn't seem to bother him at all.  They love their baths so I wasn't shocked when they enjoyed the pool.  It was a heated pool so that was a plus also.  We will probably make it to the pool a little more often as people are available to help us out.  

The babies are continuing to make cooing sounds.  Collin is more than the girls but they have their times too.  They are smiling a ton still and just showing those little personalities.  Collin has now rolled from tummy to back several times.  We put him in his crib for his nap and he sometimes immediately rolls over.  He pulls himself up with his arms and flops to his side and rolls to his back.  It is pretty funny.  I will have to videotape it.  It almost seems when you are watching them, they don't seem to perform. I'll see what I can do. Anniston continues to rollover sometimes also. She performed for the doctor the other day. The doctor put her on her tummy and Anniston followed the doctors hand motions and she rolled over on her back (the doctor was expecting her to do that).  They are also noticing each other more and more.  They just lay or sit and stare at each other.  That is great to see.  They know who their mommy and daddy is.  You can tell.  They will let anyone hold them though.  They love to be held and talked to.

I plan to update the pictures so you will have to check them out.  We plan to get their pictures taken again here soon.  We can't wait because we know they will know a little more of what is going on.  They all seem to be looking at the camera more.  

Thanks so much for the prayers and encouragement.   We definitely feel them through it all.  It can be trying sometimes but overall we cannot complain at all.  God gave them to Jason & I for a reason and we thank him for our precious little ones every day.  We love them so much and we know that they also are comforted in knowing that we do.  

JKABC

They Just Keep Growing

We took the babies to their pediatrician appointment.  They had to get their ears looked at to make sure their ear infections were gone.  They are which I wasn't surprised.  They seem to be much better.  Collin is now weighing a little over 13lbs, Anniston is almost 10 1/2 lbs & Bailey is pretty much 10lbs.  They're getting big.  I reviewed some videos of when they were first born and even before then when I was admitted for my final hospital stay and had to cry a little.  I noticed how big the preemie diapers were on them and now Collin has grown out of the size 1 diapers:-(  It is definitely bitter sweet.  

We have been on a lot of walks in the past week.  The weather has  been great.  Grandma Bum, of course, has helped out a lot with that.  She lives pretty close by so whenever we get a chance to take them for a walk, she is usually able to come along.  We walked them to the park and also got to walk to Great Grandma Thompson's house.  She was excited to see them.  She says that Collin has changed a lot.  She couldn't believe it was him.  We also went to a park in Plainfield with their Aunt Tracy.  Jason roller bladed with Anniston and the other two hung out with Mom & Aunt Tracy.  It was a beautiful day.  We visited our friends, the Carrs, yesterday.  The babies, mom, Kelly & Owen went for a walk while the dads got to go and play some frisbee golf.  They were pretty happy to get away to do something physical.  We also visited their Great Grandma Foster and they showed off their easter outfits she bought them.  We plan to take them swimming for the first time late this afternoon.  I can't wait.  It is a heated pool so I am expecting them to like it but we will soon find out. 

Some great news is that we gave the babies a little rice cereal in their bottles last night before bed.  We decided to let them sleep through the 1am feed.  They haven't been eating much during that feed and haven't really been awake too much either during that feed so we knew they could sleep a little longer so when one of them woke up we would feed all of them.  My big fear was that all of them would wake up screaming because they weren't use to waiting that long for food and when they would wake up they would all realize how hungry they were.  It wasn't that way at all.  Collin woke up and then I had to wake the other two up.  I think the girls could have slept a little longer but we will wait a little longer before we let them do that.  Our babies are just great babies.  We really can't complain at all.  Even if they are fussy some in the evening, we are grateful that they sleep during the night and they sleep well at that.  Praise the Lord for that for I know their are families out their who deal with kiddos who can't sleep well at night.  The babies amazed us last night with their sleeping skills.  They slept through the 1am feed and all the way to the 5am feed (a straight 8 hours, Woohooo!)  Daddy was especially blessed because I got up to feed them all and he got to sleep till sometime after 8am.  It was a great thing for me too.  The 1am feed is sometimes rough.  

Well, I think that is all of the updating for now.  I will try to update the pictures.  The babies are napping right now but if they wake up I will have to upload them later.  We'll see how it goes.  

Thanks for all the prayers and support!

JKABC

Appointment Update

We went to the appointment today where the babies were evaluated developmentally.  They evaluated them on motor skills (fine & gross) and also cognitively.   All babies are doing well given they are preemies.  There are some areas where they are right on track and some they will need some time (should catch up before or up to 3 years old) to naturally get on track or in other areas, will need some encouragement to get on track.  

The way the babies performed was very fitting to each one of their personalities.  Anniston was very strong in gross motor skills.  She is our curious one so it makes sense that she would do anything it takes to see everything.  She has rolled from her tummy to her back three times now.  The first time being when she was about 2 1/2 months (not even a month old adjusted age, I'm impressed).  Anniston also raises her head 90 degrees for an extended period of time.  I have posted some pictures for you to see with her Aunt Tracy and there is also one with Grandma Bum.  She will also use her little arms & hands to raise herself up to see things higher than she is.  It is very cute to watch.  She also lifts and turns her head very well and very often.

Collin shows very strong cognitive skills.  This makes sense because he is very laid back so he is able to focus on something for a longer period of time than Anniston.  We are very proud of him.

Bailey was good in both areas but wasn't the highest in either.  This makes great sense because Bailey isn't out to impress anyone.  She will do things on her own time and that is fine with her. I love that about her.  

This was neat to see because it just confirms our view of each one of them.   They each have their own special looks & personalities and we are loving it.  I don't think we would want it any other way.

I am including some new pictures so check them out.

Thanks for your prayers!

JKABC