Olivia and I are waiting to see the Dr.. She is dialated and just sleeping. It is very busy here today. Will have update later.

Bath time.............

Olivia

Ethan

Evan

Waiting for our bath time.

Olivia with her new stuffed lamb.....

Olivia with her new stuffed animal. She got this for her surgery on her eyes. Mom thought dad bought too big.

Our 1st Christmas............

Our 1st Christmas with Dad and Mom.

New updated look....................

The old look was getting a little old, so we have upgraded to a new look for the new year. Everyone is doing quite well here. Olivia has her follow up appointment tomorrow for her eyes. Hopefully she will get a good report and not need any further laser treatments.

I will be uploading new photos later tonight. Check back soon!!!!!

Unhappy babies....................

Today has been a challenging day with the trio. Evan and Olivia have been very unhappy babies today. We suspect they may be catching a little something. They have really kept the two of us moving today. Hopefully they are just having off days and will be better tomorrow.

Ethan is due at the pulmonoligist at 3 pm tomorrow. I am not sure he will make the appointment with all the snow we are getting. I have to work tomorrow and Nicole is suppose to take him. She is not happy about going to Toledo in the first place, let alone compound it with snow. She just now got a message that the sitter who was going to watch the other two has been quite ill all day today. So now it really looks like the appointment is getting moved. The office we have to go to has a strict policy about cancellations. If you do not show up to your appointment the only way back in is with a personal call from your physician. I guess I am going to have to use some of that Harold fast talk on them.

I know I said I would have more pictures today but it has been a long day and I haven't uploaded them into the computer.

Olivia's surgery................

Olivia had her eye surgery this morning. We arrived back at the NICU at 9am this morning and waited for the Dr to arrive. The Dr. arrived around 10:30 am and completed the laser treatment on the retina's of both eyes. We had to stay an additional four hours for observation. It was a good time for Nicole and I to take naps. At least I took a nap. Every time Nicole would be about asleep, either the nurse would come back or Olivia would let out a little cry. She did fine with the surgery and didn't hardly cry at all. They were surprised how well she did. We were sort of disappointed that the usual nurses we had while there were not on duty. We wanted to show how far she had come in the five weeks since leaving. She left at 3 lbs something and came back at over 7 lbs.

Will have some more Christmas photos up tomorrow probably. Keep checking back.

Christmas Eve 2009.....................

These little reindeer crash landed in our living room.
Olivia dreaming of dancing sugar plums.

Ethan is looking for Christmas cookies under the tree.

When can I open these presents?

We sure are glad it is Christmas. We are looking forward to Santa Claus coming to visit us.

Update...............

Ethan does in fact have an inguinal hernia and will require surgery in the future. At this time we are watching it because it is relatively asymptomatic. Olivia will get surgery on her eyes on Saturday. She has blood vessels growing inward instead of along the wall of the eye. They look for her to have a full recovery and could possibly need glasses in the future, but she is already predisposed for that.

A time for prayer.............

The babies were dedicated on Sunday. The service was very nice and they received personalized bibles from our church. The Pastor that married Nicole and I performed part of the service. It was nice to have him join us again for such a special occasion.

The babies went to Toledo today for their retina checks. The appointment didn't go as well as hoped. The boys are fine, but Olivia has some blood vessels growing inward off her retina. The Dr wants us to go back tomorrow to see another Dr. It may require surgery, but we are not sure at this point. Be praying for little Olivia. Retinopathy of the retina can be quite debilitating if not treated correctly and quick enough.

The trio goes to the family doc in the morning for a check up. Ethan is top priority for the morning appointment. It appears the lad is suffering from a hernia. We have to confirm it with the Dr, but all signs are pointing to that in my opinion. The poor little guy is suffering.

Nicole went to see Dr. Schroeder today, good report. He was happy to see that everything turned out with the delivery and all. He set a goal to get Nicole to 32 weeks and helped achieve that.

We thought things were going really well and then all of a sudden it seems like the walls came tumbling down. So please be praying for us at this time. It is late and has been an exhausting week already. Will have update tomorrow on every one's status.

Photo after the dedication................

Home Alone Part 2..............

I was home alone with the kids today. Nicole went shopping and got everything completed. We didn't do much, just eat and sleep. The nurse was here the other day and gave another dose of synagis. This is the medication that protects against RSV. They were weighed and are at, Ethan 7 lbs 11 oz, Evan 8 lbs 3 oz, and Olivia is 6 lbs 6oz.

Tomorrow is the our big debut in Church. The babies are being dedicated tomorrow. The Pastor that married Nicole and I is going to help with the dedication. Pastor Robinson had been part of a revival at our church in the spring and had prophesied that we would be blessed with children. Not long after that we found out we were having triplets. God works in mysterious ways.

It is getting late and we have a big day tomorrow, will update soon.

Alone with babies................

I am home alone with the babies tonight. Nicole is out getting the Christmas shopping done. I just finished feedings. Ethan got a bath tonight. Olivia still needs one, but I have not decided to do it yet. Evan got his bath a day early due to a "blowout". We are having a good time hanging out watching The Sing Off on NBC.

I had forgot to mention a BIG THANKS to Uncle Tony and Aunt Linda for watching the trips last Friday. They had a really good time spending time with them. Nicole and I are grateful for the generosity that Linda and Tony have exhibited to us. We really appreciate it.

The Triplets will be dedicated this Sunday at Church. We wanted to get it done before the end of the year. God has given us three babies and we feel we should give them back to God.

Ethan is laying on my chest as I am typing this and is lifting his head extremely well. Evan is starting to wake up. I better go and see what is up.

Shopping results...............

The trip went really, really well. The babies slept nearly the enitre time. They woke up once for a feeding and then back to sleep. We went to four stores, but the babies only went into three. The mall was the most interesting of our visits. We were gawked and stared at. I had the double stroller with the boys and Nicole had the single with Olivia. Nicole couldn't help but laugh every time someone would make comments about the Triplets. It was quite amusing. We would be walking down through the mall and you would hear people in the stores say, "Oh those are triplets." The funny part is they really couldn't even see the babies. I was shocked that no one even attempted to get close and touch them. I know some people are probably saying, what are Harold and Nicole thinking. We felt it was OK to take them out this one time. We had decided that we would be firm if people attempted to get closer to them than we felt comfortable with. I know it seems selfish, but we needed an affirmation that, YES we can go somewhere with the kids and be just fine. Are we going to do this often, no. We had faith that they would remain protected.

The babies will get another dose of synagis this week from our visiting nurse. They are continuing to do quite well. Nicole is planning on returning to work on January 11th, 2010. We are continuing to discuss the babysitter issue.

We are planning to get the Christmas photos of the babies this week or early next week. It will be interesting to see how they will do with a photo session. I hope they will do really good. They did really well with the photos in the hospital. They were alert and took excellent photos.

Our 1st trip out with the Trio...............

Today will be out first trip out with them going to a place other than the Dr. We are going to go to the mall and finish up our shopping. There will probably be a lot of staring and glances from people thinking, "Oh my goodness, they have three babies." It will be a challenge taking them out, but we have to do it sometime. Will definitely be giving an update later on how this day was.

The triplets had a lot of fun spending time with Uncle Tony and Aunt Linda Friday night. Nicole and I went to her Work Christmas party. We really appreciate everything they have done for us. They were the 1st sitters that were not immediate family. I think Aunt Linda would have stayed all night if she could have, she enjoyed the little ones so much.

The babies are doing good. Ethan is taking zantac for his reflux issues and it is helping quite a bit. Evan is probably going to have to go on the medicine too. He doesn't reflux as much as Ethan, but when he does it is bad. Poor little guy has it coming out his nose and then wants to hold his breath. Your heart just breaks when it happens. Olivia is a champion at reflux, when it happens you just hear her swallowing it back down and she doesn't really even make a fuss about it.

The boys are right at the threshold of switching to 0/3 months clothes. They are really filling out some of the clothes they have quite nicely right now. Olivia is into newborn, but will probably stay there for a little longer.

We cannot wait for Christmas to be over. The tree takes up a lot of prime real estate in the living room that is desperately needed. The babies need their space. Really the babies need space for all their things.

Whenever we get a visitor in, they always comment on how calm and relaxed it seems at our house. We just laugh and think to ourselve, "Oh if you only knew." Everyone just plans on coming at the most appropriate time. Right after grazing time. They are usually asleep after that. However, it seems like in the past couple of days they will eat and then stay awake for quite awhile afterwards. It is strange how fast they are growing up. We received our hospital pictures in the mail and they have changed in looks a lot. Especially Olivia. She kind of looks like a different baby.

It is nearly 9:30 now and we should probably feed them and hit the road. Will let everyone know how it goes later.

The babies with their animals.....

Here are some darling photos of the babies with their animals. Absolutely adorable.

The babies had a Dr appointment yesterday. Olivia is 5 lb 9 oz, Evan is 7 lb 2 oz, and Ethan is 7 lb. Dr. Freshwater is quite happy with their progress. We go back in two weeks for another check. In two weeks we also go the retina specialist for a check up. All preemies are required to have their eyes checked.

Nicole and I are really tired tonight and we are going to try to get some rest. Yeah right........who are we kidding. We wouldn't trade any of this for anything.

My lateness.................

It has been awhile since my last update. Nicole has been getting a lot of flack for my tardiness. So I returned to work last Monday and the week went slow it seemed like. Returning to work wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. I thought I would be totally exhausted during the day, but to my surprise I felt somewhat chipper.

As you can see from our new picture above, the babies are growing like crazy. They don't look like the little babies that came home from the NICU 3 short weeks ago. They are turning in to eating machines. At last weigh in Ethan weighed 6 lb 6 oz, Evan was 6 lb 8 oz, and Olivia was 4 lb 14 oz. With it being a week later I am sure Olivia is well over 5 lb and the boys are hovering around 7 lb.

Nicole had her baby shower yesterday. We received a lot of nice gifts and the turn out was good. There was a scare with the cake, because the gal was half an hour late. I stayed home with the trio. We had a really good morning and afternoon. We ate, slept, and did some chores. Well, we all did the first two and I did the latter alone. After the baby shower and we put most of the stuff away, Nicole's parents came and watched the kids for a couple of hours while we attempted to get some Christmas shopping completed. We bought one person one thing. I wouldn't call this an accomplishment on our part. Now we are trying to figure out the best time for us to get some more shopping complete.

This Friday Nicole's company is having a dinner for the employees and spouses. My Linda is going to watch the babes for us. She is a good friend of Nicole's and mine. We will see how good the party is going to be. The last couple of years we spent the parties in locations such as Las Vegas and Chicago. Bad economy left us in Findlay this year. Hopefully it will still be as fun as it was those times.

As I close my blog for this evening, it is with much sadness and heartache that I tell you Nicole has lost a very close and dear friend to her. Her Linda died this past week quite unexpectedly. Nicole and Linda thought a lot of one another and both started at the Right Thing at the same time. Please pray and be thinking of the Bunda family as they have lost an important part of their family.