Pics & Updates

Pete brought the girls back to the doctor today for a recheck of their ears. Hannah & Hailey still have ear infections - round 4 of antibiotics. I've made an appt with the ENT doctor for all 3 of them - the earliest they could get in was the beginning of February...we'll see how it goes until then. If I need them to get in sooner - I'll figure out a way to do it.

We went to have breakfast with Santa at Pete's work for the 2nd year in a row now. So there are a few pics there from that.

We also had a family xmas party up in MA last weekend. The girls and I went on a sleepover so that we didn't get stuck in the snow and miss the party! It was a lot of fun and we enjoyed the time we had with our family.

The girls are talking sooooo much more. They say 'pease' (please) for most things - which is nice to hear ;-) They also repeat everything. They're still not using words so much to ask for things but they're getting better the more we work on it. They're fresh - very fresh! But we're working on that too. Hannah loves to take things that belong to Hailey or Emily and say 'MINE!' as she runs away with whatever clearly is NOT hers. Hailey usually chases behind her crying and whining while looking over her shoulder for someone to help her. Emily either just takes whatever is hers back from Hannah since she's stronger - or she just finds something else to play with. FRESH!

Since they've started with the ear infections back on November 11th - they haven't all been consistently sleeping through the night so Pete and I are exhausted. With one baby...maybe we could manage. Maybe even with two babies we would be able to manage. But with the 3 of them waking up at different times and for long periods of time - it's taking its toll for sure. But this too shall pass (so they everyone keeps telling us anyway). I have no idea how people with quads, quints or more handle this.

Hair? Yeah - you have ideas...feel free to come on over and share. I have never been able to do my own hair (ummm...haven't you seen the pony tail on the top of my head since waaaay back in the day?). So the Cindy Lu Who look will have to do until I can figure out something new. Hehe.

Emily

Emily pooped on the potty today!!!!!!!!

Still sick......

11 ear infections, a few episodes of croup and some throwing up all with in the past 6 weeks. It's taking its toll on all of us. Hopefully we'll be back to bouncing and running around soon....

Are you kidding me?!?!

I get this picture at work today from Little Brother. He says Hannah isn't feeling well - and I trust his instincts. They've all been on antibiotics for 10 days now (today was their last day). But she seemed a bit off last night too. So I called the doctor to get her in today...made an appt for 4:30. Pete and I decided to bring all 3 of them since they needed a recheck of their ears anyway. We both leave work and meet at home. He had the girls ready to go so all I had to do was jump out and help put them in the car...brrrrrrr - it's cold out there! Hannah looked miserable to me. Off we go.

We get to the doctor, she takes a look in Hannah's ears and guess what? She has a double ear infection! Are you kidding me? They JUST finished their meds TODAY for their last ear infections! Immediately I say 'Please check the other two' (they didn't have appts but she was totally fine with it). Yup - Emily has an ear infection too. Oh...look at that...so does Hailey! Ok at this point I'm about to lose my mind. I want answers and the doctor doesn't want to be in the same room with me. What is causing this? Why aren't the meds working? How can we avoid this? What if this 3rd round of medication doesn't work? One of the reasons we chose this doctor is because she can handle ME. lol...not an easy task

The girls were born 2 months premature - so the common cold doesn't last days in our house...it lasts weeks. Literally weeks. Now multiply that by 3 and add the fact that kids get more than one common cold during the winter months and you have...the Lucco residence. So all these posts that are ranting about washing your hands? And all my obsessive cleaning? And all of my signs in my house about hand-washing? And my Mama Bear approach to strangers that try to touch my babies? Yeah...it's not all for nothing. I don't do it for my health...I do it for my babies health. But I'm smart enough to know that they'll get colds no matter how hard we try to avoid them. That's just a fact of life.

The colds are what's causing the ear infections. They get so stuffy and congested that their ear canals are clogging and becoming infected. They've been 'stuffy' for about 3 months now. It's been a constant battle. Once one of them gets better...another one gets a cold and then they share. Lovely...the one thing I don't want them to share and they do! LOL

The doctor asks us 3 questions...are they drinking bottles? No. Binkies? No. Smokers in the house? No. Ok - then there's not much we can do on our own. We simply can't avoid the colds - that's just how it is. I can't put them in a bubble...they've been let out and once that happens you can't get them back in! If we can get through this winter we should be ok. They'll be bigger and stronger by next winter - and their immune systems will be stronger as well.

Tubes. That's really not an option at this point. Let's not forget that 2 of our peanuts are not yet 20lbs. They would need surgery to have tubes put in. We're already facing surgery for 2 of them in the next couple of years...three more surgeries isn't something we can tackle right now. The doctor doesn't think it's beneficial at this point because we know what the problem is. Ugh...if we can just get through this winter....

We got back from the doctor and I fed the kids dinner while Pete went and filled their meds. He got home - I gave them their meds and Hannah proceeded to throw up all over the place. Bath night!!!!!! Poor kid kept saying 'uh oh' until we got her in the tub. We gave them baths, brushed teeth, read books and in their cribs they went. I don't even think we were out of the room before they we sleeping. It's gonna be a long night....put the coffee on!!!!!!

Potty Talk

BREAKING NEWS!

HAILEY POOPED ON THE TOILET!!!!!! YIPPIE!

Times 3

The girls vocabulary is still way behind schedule. But some words they seem to be saying A LOT lately are 'No No No' & 'Mine! Mine! Mine!' Yes - each word three times. All 3 of them. They are fighting over everything but they are also the best of friends and watch out for each other. Hailey claimed to be 'stuck' while sitting on top of an upside down laundry basket today. I knew better - I just watched her climb up onto the thing! But Hannah heard Hailey say she needs 'Hep' (help) and dropped what she was doing to go and help Hailey. She took her hand and helped her down. Then went back to the toy she was playing with like nothing happened. I pray the girls stay close forever and are always the best of friends.