Papa says...

Kim was nice enough to bake some cookies for our new neighbors (the house across the street finally sold)! So they moved in and we’ve seen them out and about the few times. Kim said the plan was to take the basket of cookies over, ring the doorbell, and present them to our new neighbors. Funny thing happened, the cookies are now gone because we ate them instead and have yet to meet our new neighbors. Speaking of cookies, we just got a “Hello from New Jersey” bag of fresh chocolate chip cookies from Aunt Mary. Now there is someone with the right idea! Thanks Aunt Mary.
I had the opportunity to do some solo grocery shopping late last week and I had the time of my life. I guess time of my life is an exaggeration but I must say it was rather fun. Kim was smart enough to give me a detailed list, isle by isle, of the necessary items. Kim found a couple surprise items that seemed to have made their way home including rack of lamb, and Cocoa Puffs (for me not her of course). A couple days later she sent me this email at work later asking if I could pick up some Cheerios on the way home. There is nothing worse trying to go to Safeway at 5pm so I opted for the super-close-by Trader Joes, which I knew wouldn’t carry brand name Cheerios. I went ahead with my plan anyway and you should have seen Kim’s face when I brought her home a box of Joe’s O’s. I thought she was going to cry as I kept telling her “It’s the same darn thing.” Anyway, I just checked the box and they are almost gone.
You guys probably want baby new so what can I say? Hmmmmmm. Since there is so much activity going in the belly it’s a little hard to tell what is what. However, one of the things we could tell in our 20 week ultrasound last week was that one of the babies was upside down with his rear facing us. So this cardiologist guy comes in to make sure the hearts of each baby were in tact and he kept referring to this one baby as “buttface.” It was funny the FIRST TIME, but then he kept saying it and it honestly started to annoy me. I got all defensive. Nobody calls a kid of mine buttface.
We picked up some baby furniture from some friends of ours from OLA, which was very nice. We put it in the dining room, which is now called baby room. Oh by the way, we still have not sold our dining room set on Craig’s List. In fact, we didn’t even get ONE SINGLE BITE off the ad. Seattle Mike even formatted the ad to what he thought was more of the Craig’s List vernacular but it still didn’t work. We’ll cut the price in half, repost, and see what happens.
Kim is noticeably bigger each week it seems and she is such a trooper for doing what she is doing. I am more inspired by her each day and she is as beautiful today as she was in ’97 when she first went jogging by my house in Villanova and I turned to Brian McDonald and said “Who the heck is that?” Words cannot explain the experience we are having together and we are honored to share it all with you.
24 is on in a few… I guess I’m still watching it. Thanks for checking in. Oh, and Lucy says HI!

20 weeks---belly shots

We're reached the 20 week mark! For me, that's more then halfway there! My goal is 34 weeks which would be first week in May, but we'll see what the boys have to say about that. I think I look a little bigger then last week. We go to the doctors this coming Thursday so I'll know my exact weight then.

20 week ultrasound

Our 20-week "Level II" ultrasound and cardiac ultrasound was today at 3:30 in Mountain View. When they called us back into the room, I was so happy that the first person I saw was Braum, the very same ultrasound technician we saw on my birthday who told us it was definitely triplets. He is so nice and funny, so I was instantly at ease. He took one look at the babies on the screen and starts shouting out, "Wonderful!" and "Amazing!" and "These are such healthy, great looking babies!" that you just had to laugh. Ryan followed along with everything that he was looking at. He took lots of measurments of the femer, body, and head of each one, and then compared it to a chart on his wall. Each baby seemed to be right on schedule for 20 weeks. He said their brains looked good too! The one question Ryan had right away was to please confirm that they were all boys--and they definitely were. Ryan got to see some good close ups :) Then the cardiologist came in and zoomed in on their hearts. He could see all the chambers and ventricles and thought they looked strong and healthy. The babies were moving all around and it's amazing to see in just a few weeks how big they have gotten. Ryan brought a video tape and we were able to put it into the machine and now we have about 10 minutes of video watching the babies move around!
Next Thursday we have an appointment with our regular doctor where we'll get blood pressure checked, weight checked, etc.

a note from daddy

Hey there friends and family. I think it's about time you heard from the other half considering I had just a little bit to do with all this madness! Things are great over here at 902 Sunnybrae... except for that I need a new front porch light. How else is Kim going to see the Pizza Hut delivery man? We spent the weekend getting even more organized, by cleaning out the garage so we can fill it back up with all the stuff in the guest bedroom. Making room for these babies is quite fun! But when I say "we" got more organized that's really just means Kim sitting in her stool pointing out where I need to put things. I'm not complaining one bit trust me. It's best that she relax and dictate while I go from room to room, room to garage, garage to garbage and back again. With the help of mom and dad we moved our old dining room furniture out to the driveway and took a bunch of pictures of it to sell on Craig's List. We posted the ad on Saturday and have not had ONE SINGLE BITE. I told Kim we have until this weekend to sell it or else we'll just call Salvation Army to take it.
Homespun Rowdy had some great gigs last week including a private party at this fancy restaurant in downtown Oakland/Berkeley. It was actually the 40th birthday of the brother of one of the guys in my band. This place was top notch and I was lucky to be a part of it. Dinner included a 5 course fixed menu, open bar etc. Most importantly the crowd loved the bluegrass. Things will be quiet on the bluegrass front until Super Bowl weekend when we'll have a couple high profile shows in the Bay Area.
Speaking of Super Bowl, Kim and I did get a chance to watch both games yesterday. Colts and the Bears should be rather entertaining. I think you got to go with the COLTS. Kim and I will actually be attending a swank Super Bowl party in the Clift Hotel in San Francisco. Turns out EBay's sales kick-off begins that Monday in SF and we all have hotel rooms for the night before. Our sales director went ahead and booked the "apartment" suite at the hotel which features 3 plasma TV's so he can host a nice party. Kim already has her seat reserved for her on the couch.
Not much else going on here... as you know we have our big 20 week ultra-sound tomorrow so we should get to see some nice pics of the kids. 24 is on tonight, and it's about that time during the series (hour 5,6,7) when things get really stupid. We'll let Kiefer do his thing, and then I'll resume watching for the last three episodes. American Idol though, that is a different story.
Kim is looking fantastic. Every day she is more beautiful than the next, as her belly continues to grow. She's yelling at me right now because she wants me to come in and feel her belly as the babies are going crazy!!!

First kicks???

Late this afternoon I was laying on the couch reading a magazine when all of a sudden I felt something that I haven't felt before. For the last couple of weeks I've been feeling what I think are the babies moving around---a fluttery, sort of "take your breath away" kind of feeling. But today I think I felt some actual kicks!!! They weren't too hard and I could hardly feel them from the outside when I put my hand on my stomach. They were coming from the Baby A & Baby B (the twins) at the bottom. It went on/off again for about 10 minutes! Thankfully our little lone ranger at the top (Baby C) decided not to join in. Much more of this kicking business to come over the next weeks/months, that's for sure! What an exciting day!

19 weeks--belly shots

Here I am at 19 weeks! Not too much bigger then last week??? I am eating ALL the time--lots of little, healthy (ok, mostly healthy) snacks throughout the entire day. But what I think is really helping me gain the good weight for the boys is my daily "Ensure" drink. I drink one chocolate "Ensure Plus" shake every day--the one for "Healthy Weight Gain". I can honestly say I NEVER thought that I'd EVER be drinking weight gain drinks in my lifetime, but the amount of calories, protein, calcium and other nutrients makes it almost a necessity for a healthy multiple pregnancy! Cheers!

Registering for 3x the fun!

Today Ryan & I started our babies! registry. As with the wedding registry, I let Ryan handle the scanner gun and he did great :) We were both a little intimidated at first when we got to Babies R Us, our first stop of the day. Somehow we started off in the bib section and Ryan went crazy with the gun. I think he is anticipating some messy boys! I think he scanned more bibs then any other item! Once we got through that section, he calmed down a bit and we had a great time walking through the store. I think people were laughing at us when they saw the amount of diapers, wipes, and bottles that we were scanning, but with three on the way, I know they will all get put to good use!! (And probably very quickly too!)
After that, we went to Pottery Barn Kids and registered for a few more items.

I think that for both Ryan and I, each day that passes makes all this seem more real. And today, picking out car seats to sheets, continued to make us realize how truly blessed we are. We are so excited for the arrival of our boys (but not too excited that we want them to come too early!). Thank you again to all our family and friends for making this time in our lives so special. We appreciate all your prayers!

Next up--Level II ultrasound next week.

18 weeks--belly shots

I am feeling really big these days--but know I'm only going to continue to grow!

16 weeks--belly shots

The first of many more belly shots!

Finding out the babies' sexes.....

Ryan & I went to the doctor's today and all was well! I gained another 6 pounds since last month's appointment and that seemed to be on track. Next up is a Level II ultrasound in 3 weeks (my 20th week) and another doctor's appointment February 1st.

The doctor was able to determine what he thinks is the sexes of the babies. I was really thinking 2 twin girls and a boy. Ryan thought 2 twin boys and a girl. We were both wrong.....3 boys!!!! We both feel so blessed. Now to continue keeping them healthy and growing.....