Sleep, ah who needs that?

Well, going to try text posting again. It's easier to use my phone than the computer when a refuse to sleep-er is in my arms, so we'll try the blogpress app. At the moment it's little miss Addie. This am you could have had your pick. At one point we had all three babies and both dogs going. Good times!!

This is all a reflection of yesterday's awesomeness. We had our big travel to Fbx day for two dr appts. They did awesome on our long trek(in their car seats, hence the need to stretch/scream it out today). Hip ultrasounds were great. They were requested due to multiples birth and the fact that all were breech. The tech said sometimes the hip muscle isn't strong enough, but not our kiddos.

Our second appt was a blood check up. They are having a dip in their red blood cells so have been on iron supplements. Our pedi said this is common in all kiddos at about two months, but is again a bit worse with multiples. I'm not even going to get into worst case scenario here because I just know we won't get there. If I'm wrong then denial for now is ok too. Don't worry it's not horrible, just not great.

Our little piggies are gaining weight just fine. Addie is almost 8 lbs, Zach is just over and Kate is about 8 and a half. Our little chunk a chunk is too adorable though. Have to rat out auntie Kim though. After seeing her weight and referring to it in a not so nice way Kate frowned her whole face up and burst into tears. She did the same again when retelling the story to dad last night. So, she may be on the "softer" side but beware she's also sensitive. Our little princess she is and I love her all the more for it.

Ah! Finally! Three sleeping kiddos. Two sleeping dogs. And us. :)
















Sophers is sleeping in her crate, so no pic of her.
Next blog post: the miracle of the recline-a-bed!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Happy 2 months my littles

My littles are two months old as of Friday, Sept. 9  They are only 3 weeks adjusted.  It's hard to remember back to when they were three weeks old.  At that age they were a rooming-in stay away from coming home (rooming in was when dad and I had to stay overnight in the hospital in total charge of their care).  3 weeks 2 days is when they came home.  They have grown so much since then, literally and figuratively.

Zach has become our slightly more needy child.  He seems to have some reflux issues that are the main cause of fussiness.  That and his stubbornness that makes him think he will miss out on the greatest thing ever if he falls asleep.  Poor kid gets the heaviest eyelids at time, but boy oh boy is he strong enough to still keep them open.  He has gorgeous eyes though, so staring into them isn't really too bad of a deal; the problem comes when he is screaming his face into a nice shade of purple at the same time.  That's the Zach that gets difficult to deal with because you feel so sorry for him, but can't help him at all.  Then there is the sweetest boy in the world Zach.  When he is awake and alert he is absolutely gorgeous, funny, sweet, and an amazing baby.  He makes you laugh and cry our little Zach man.  I'm hoping as we start progressing through this next month and beyond some of his reflux issues dissipate making him happier. 

Kate is technically our oldest and she seems to know that.  Her and Zach have stayed toe to toe in regard to weight and growth.  In the past few weeks she has become more demanding at feeding time, much like Zach does as well.  If their bottles are not ready when they think it is time let the voicing of discontent begin.  Unfortunately for Miss Katie-bug every time she starts crying it makes me laugh.  She gets the biggest frowny faces and just shows you her gums and cries.  Her cry often sounds like a whine, and like I mentioned before the oy oy oy starts coming out.  She also still sings some when eating, but not as much which is a little sad.  It makes the times she does sing all the more special.  As I type this I think how much rhythm our girl has, she is melodic both when crying and singing!  Such talent at such a young age, she is sure to be a special one!

Addie is still little Miss Addie.  Her calm, cool, collected personality sets her apart from her brother and sister.  She's still the smallest of the bunch, but I love that about her.  Of course, I keep telling her I want her to grow taller than me, but if she doesn't that's ok too.  The absolute best thing about our Adders are her eyes.  All of our babes have gorgeous big eyes, but Addie's eyes seem to be filled with so much knowledge, patience, and love it is amazing.  She just looks at you, forms the precious little "oh" of a mouth and how can you resist melting?  This girl is going to be a heart breaker some day.  As much as I think Kate will be our little princess, I think Addie will be our little tomboy.  As sweet and innocent as she looks, you just know there is some trouble brewing.  I can't wait to see how she works that out. 

All of our children are gorgeous, amazing, loving, stubborn little blends of ourselves.  They are all so unique, yet so similar at the same time.  I am truly amazed at them every day.  As difficult as these weeks and months have been because of sleep deprivation, worry, change, and all of the newness that comes with being first time parents - John and I wouldn't change a thing.  We are in love more and more each day.  We are both filled with pride and joy as we say to our littles Happy 2 month birthday!

Oh to schedule

Ok, first let me say I KNOW we need to read Baby Wise.  I have it in the bag I took to the hospital, heck, I've had it all summer when I was on bed rest and still have yet to read the book.  The book is with the baby shower thank you's that I'm still working on.  ugh!

Back to the book, I'm starting it today.  We have struggled so much with a schedule it's not even funny.  Everyone and everything says to stick to the NICU schedule.  We tried so hard to do that, but somehow it just keeps getting messed up.  How you ask?  Because Zach is a fussy baby and we tend to give in and feed him early to get him to stop crying.  Not the way to deal with a fussy baby I don't think, but it's what we have done.  Well that results in him starting to think he wants a 3-hour schedule.  We can't have him on a 3 hour schedule and the girls on a totally different schedule.  Today we are headed for everyone eating at a different time which will create 24-7 feeding pretty much.  NOT A GOOD IDEA for mom's sanity!  So, instead we have chosen to get them back on a 6-10-2 schedule.  The hope is that John can help with the 10 pm feeding. 


hours later the update continues....


well, things were going ok for the 2pm feeding and we got them all down for a while before the 6pm feeding...then we encounter another story.  They were up until about 8pm after that feeding and I don't think Kate has gone to sleep yet.  Oh the joys of a full moon approaching.  ;)  We are fast approaching another feeding so I'm going to wrap this up.  Need to start reading that book!!

To ponder in the next few days... how to get to the drive in one last time????

Sad day in Slette land

Today is a sad day for the Slette littles and their momma.  Grammy left this morning.  :'(
Grandma arrived a month ago and has been more of a help then she can ever imagine.  I know the littles will never remember her being here, but without her I may not have made it this far.  Ok, well I probably would have made it this far, but I would be a LOT more insane than I am now.  Grammy has helped with countless middle of the night feeds and fusses, millions of diaper changes, including the really bad blow outs (come on, how many people will see poop leaking out of a diaper and say "let me get it for you"?), gallons of formula making, and hours of bottle washing.  In return she received the best smiles (no, it's NOT gas!), silly faces, crazy body sounds, and ador-da-ble outfits.  We will miss her greatly and canNOT wait until we see her again.  


To mark Grammy's departure all three littles decided to mourn between the 9am and 1pm feeding.  Mourning to a little generally consists of fussing, refusing to sleep, crying because they are tired, and then finally crashing 15 minutes before they should be awake.  This mourning period is accompanied by tears, stress, frustration, and a lot of trying to keep paci's in mouths by mom and dad.  Lucky for all of us Auntie Kim arrives on Monday! 

Sorry for the short post, but Addie is telling me I've spent enough time on the computer this afternoon. 

We got bigger problems than the power plant equipment breaking...

That was John's contribution to his morning meeting. The bigger problem? Breast pump failure! So after the 5am feeding I got ready to pump, turned it on, and ... nothing. Nothing. No energy; motor dead. Never even considered this possibility when we got a used pump. So adventures in breastfeeding began. At each feeding two kiddos are getting a boob apiece. The third is getting the bottle. Don't worry, I also called my favorite store in Fairbanks and purchased, over the phone, a new pump they put in the mail today. :)

The positives of adventureland: it's working. The babes are getting fed and don't seem to need much topping off with a bottle when done. I'm really hoping this will help increase my milk supply too. I'm still nowhere near what other moms can achieve. Makes me sad and stressed and no, having people tell me what a great job my little amount is doesn't help when other moms are getting WAY more.

The downside to adventureland: time. Man it takes a while to breastfeed! Frustration. Having your baby screaming as they struggle with it is tough. Bf'ing is always portrayed as this great thing that's just natural and easy. Well for me it's neither. Not natural simply because there are three of them needing to be fed. Not easy again because there are three of them needing to be fed lol.

Well Katie and I are starting to fall asleep finally, as it's time to start feeding again. She has been awake since the 9pm feeding waking up every time I tried to put her down, So her and I started early. About time to wake everyone else now too. Don't worry I'll hop on my computer and fix all typos later today. Texting a post is tough!!

Getting up to date

Boy, it's going to take a lot to get up to date. That's what happens when you stop for so long. lol

The babes are most likely 7# or over at this point. They are pretty much getting weekly weight checks and at each one they are close to breaching that next pound mark. You would never know they are gaining so much weight if you change a wet diaper, jeesh some of those things can weigh upwards of 10# it seems! And don't even get us started on the dirty dirty ones. Funny story, John walked in today as Mom (Gammy) was starting to change Addie's blowout...you hear a "wholy cow, what happened?" Our response, "she pooped" I guess he just wasn't expecting it to FILL the diaper and cover her whole bottom half, or so it seemed anyway. Mom and I are both thinking the iron supplements the kiddos started this week sure aren't binding much. Haha

Mom (a tough word to use nowadays because it now refers to both me and mom) has been here since the Thursday after they were released. She will be going back home next weekend and we will all surely miss her. The most important thing as she leaves is to do a kid count. I'm fairly certain she will try to smuggle someone out with her! Really, anyone who spends time with our love bugs can't blame her.

Personalities. Everyone asks if their personalities are starting to show yet. Of course we reply.

Zach is a fussybutts. He truly hates is diaper being changed, his clothes being changed, being put down, going to sleep, waking up, being held, not being held...are you getting the picture? However, he has the best kissy face expression when he's full. He lifts his eyebrows to scrunch his forhead, puckers his little lips, and starts shaking his little face at you as if to say "don't you just wanna snuggle me?" And of course we do.

Kate is our little chubby cheek singer girl.  You realize as you are feeding her that she is humming to you.  Kim even heard her humming the other night as I was feeding her while chatting with auntie.  Our Katers is also known for freeing that one arm or that one leg, hence making them chilly chilly, then waking up because she's cold.  Silly girl, if you would just keep your arm in your blankie you wouldn't be cold.  Another funny Katie girl trait that I'm not sure where she got it, our girl is part Jewish for sure!  Every time she sucks her paci I swear she's saying "oy oy oy oy oy".  It is sooo funny!

Addie girl is just our little round faced angel.  She has John's features it seems with the full, dark hair and eyelashes galore.  Her face is a round round little thing, so different from Zach and Kate.  She is just a content little one who will patiently wait her turn (most of the time).  Unfortunately the girl is so tiny we have to give her a little booster seat when we put her in the bouncies or the swing.  Hmmm, wonder who she gets that from?  As I sit here thinking "what is Addie known for?"  it then dawns on me - that girl LOVES herself a good stretch.  You release her from her blankie and boy oh boy, she stretches and sighs a good one.  Sometimes you have to just wait a minute or so for her to get it all out of her system. 

Those are our littles for now.  I'll post pics later this weekend.  Everyone is getting a bath tonight and putting on some special clothes so pics for sure.  Also, by everyone getting a bath I do mean everyone.  Showering (heck, even getting dressed) is pretty much over rated these days between feeding, changing, cleaning bottles, making formula, breathing for a second, sneaking a nap, etc.  I told John last night we need to make time for me to start showering at night just to guarantee I get one in more than once a week.  Ew, I know but it is what it is. 

I'll do what I can to have mom and/or John guest post with their perspective of the first few weeks.  Until then, loves from the littles!

7 weeks old

We are 7 weeks old tomorrow! Let the blog come back to life!!


Here is our birth story as first put on mom's pregnancy forum...
We're here! As we neared our 34th week our housing unit decided to start making some changes. The liver enzymes started increasing, protein started showing up in its urine, and eventually its blood sugars starting making weird changes. All indicators were that the individual apartments we were living in had done all they could do. After hearing our mom and dad discussing these blood sugar numbers - 95 after oj and 1/2 of a small cinnamon roll, not a good sign - they called the dr. and she said to go ahead and head in to hospital to get checked. Goofy dad then asked if he could take a shower as mom added the last minute things to her hospital bag; he was told to be quick. Silly guy then took time to get the dogs outside one last time before leaving...hello dad - we're waiting! Finally we were off to the hospital with mom's bag packed just in case. Good thing since when they were checking in we could hear the nurse say "they are being admitted, but we're holding them in triage for now." I could tell by mom's heart rate that she didn't know she was being admitted for sure. Good thing she remembered to bring the down pillow for comfort. Ironically we did learn that the one room we always visited when mom got worried about us (in ob/triage) is the only room we could have visited. We went there because it was big enough, but today we learned that it's also the only room with enough plugs for both monitors.

Here come the monitors, urine check, blood work up, and various other fun stuff. When the dr came in and told mom "let's have some babies today!" mom about got up and ran home. Even though she has been wanting to meet us for a while, she was really scared once the day to meet us came. We love that she loves us so much she really did want us to bake some more, but we really wanted to meet her and dad so we decided to overrule her. The dr. scheduled our c-section for 7pm, a silly time really since that is shift change and of course we didn't want to come out until closer to 8pm. We hung out in ob/triage until 6, moved into a L&D room just so mom could take some meds, talk to the guy who was going to make her "comfortable" and again, hang out.

A little after 7 she rode away to the operating room in a wheel chair. Boy oh boy did mom have a hard time with the spinal block. We agree that dads should be allowed in the room for this because mom needed some love for sure. The dr. tried to help, but it is nothing like having dad there. Once all was said and done, dad finally got to come in and hold her hand. It was tough on mom being scared, feeling like she couldn't breath (an effect of the spinal block) and just not knowing how we were going to do. So stressful in fact that mom and dad forgot to play the music they made! Good thing dad kept the playlist and will play it for us all the time later.

The first cut was made at 7:53 pm and Katherine made her debut at 7:58 pm...not to be outdone by Zachary who also made his debut during the 7:58pm minute! Adalyn just wasn't quick enough and was born at 7:59pm. We all think 7-9-11 is an AMAZING birth day! We were in such a rush to be born and the nurses were in such a rush to get us to NICU that dad only got a picture of Zachary - even though the dr. asked them to pause so dad could take pics, they didn't. Drat!

Our NICU experience: Katherine and Adalyn were pretty good for the most part. Zachary has what many refer to as "white boy syndrome" where he was a little lazy with his breathing so they put him on forced room air, just a tube in his nose, not real oxygen. The next morning we all moved into our own private room called the Annex where we were doing awesome enough that we all only needed one nurse. Woop Woop! Zach lost his air tube, but then gained it back for another day later. He eventually ended up on caffeine treatment to help regulate his breathing, but that ended this past Sunday (7-17) and now we need to wait 10 days to make sure he'll be ok. We'll blame mom for the need for caffeine, Zach was just hoping it would have been in the form of good ol' Coca Cola!

To date: We moved into another private room Sunday night, that didn't last long with the construction the hospital is doing. Dad about went through the roof when he heard them working yesterday - we are way too young for such a loud noise! So, we are moving again up into PICU I believe. We are all doing awesome. All of us lost our IV's on 7-16-11. We took our first nakie bath with no tubes/wires on 7-17-11 and started sleeping together in the same crib that day. We are now starting to practice with bottle feeding. Once we get that down we can be sprung!!

Mom's recovery has been pretty ok. She had a touch of a rough go the first night/day with the catheter not draining right, but boy once they removed it all was ok. She has a rash on her belly driving her crazy and man alive we have never seen such elephant feet! The swelling got real bad after birth, but is starting to subside now. We're hoping she can drive again maybe next week. We are all glad we are able to help her get over the loss of grandpa. Our being here and doing so great health wise is really keeping her going. We are sad we won't get to meet him, but we already know he loved us more than anything and is now watching us from above.