yes, we are still alive. we have hunkered down for the winter trying to keep the girls from getting RSV. so far so good; however, everyone has been under the weather at some point over the past couple of weeks. michelle and i both had stints in bed while the girls have had such symptoms as runny noses, low grade fevers, and wheezy breathing. we are already looking forward to spring evenings when we can take walks and more easily get out and about.

of late, the girls have decided that it would be fun to be fussy at night when i get home from work. one of the only ways i have found to entertain them and reduce some of the fussiness is to dance for them. i have found that a good hour dance session works wonders. below you will find the reactions of Keegan, Samantha, and Maggie to me rocking out to the the Ramones.

beyond being a little shell shocked at first they have come to love the Ramones.

HEY HO LET'S GO!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

since early October, we haven't been scheduling help for feedings anymore. the girls have moved beyond the need for feedings every 3 hours (Praise the Lord!). they are now feeding about every 4 hours from whenever they wake up in the morning, which is typically 6am or later (for Keegan it has been around 9am since the monitor has been off ~ what a wonderful thing). in fact because of the feedings changing to every 4 hours, i have actually been able to handle things by myself and send my mom home. she still comes every week for a couple days to help out because i cannot keep up on the laundry (a load a day just of the girls' things), cooking, and cleaning. her help is greatly appreciated, but i have to say it has been really great being able to do it on my own and feel somewhat like a normal mom. it has been fun having days just with me and the girls.

our needs are different than before when we did need feeders to help us with the 24 feedings a day. the girls have become more finicky eaters so it is pretty difficult now to have outsiders come help with feedings. rather than put our friends and family through a fussy feeding, it has become much easier just to feed them ourselves. we really appreciate those who have offered to continue to bring us meals. (you can email Thad directly now for visits and if you want to drop off a meal rather than through my sis).

and in honor of today being thanksgiving and all, i wanted to list some things that I am especially thankful for this year:

• Dr. VandenBosch and staff for taking great care of me during the pregnancy/delivery

• the NICU physicians and nurses for the safe delivery of the girls and taking wonderful care of the girls while in the hospital

• the helpers that came at all hours of the day and night to help us feed the babies ~ you were wonderful and didn't judge us for things like our house being a mess or me not having showered for awhile

• i am thankful the helpers aren't needed anymore and that i can actually handle the girls on my own ~ i never thought i would see the day!!!

• Lynnette for scheduling helpers and meal drop offs when we were already overwhelmed and didn't need one more thing to worry about

• all of the wonderful meals that were made for us and continue to be made for us

• Gilmore Girls Season 7 coming out on dvd (we are in the process of watching the last season and it better end with Lorelai and Luke getting together otherwise this will have to come off my thankful list!)

• babysitters

• all the diapers that were collected for the girls AND all of the baby equipment that friends and family have loaned us or given to us (car seats, strollers, swings, clothes, cribs, and bouncy seats) ~ you have shown us such Christlike love in your generosity!

• those of you who are praying for us ~ we feel your prayers and support

• healthy babies

• Moby ~ he's adjusted really well to the new changes in our family

• our friend John from church who donated lawn care services from his business and took such great care of our lawn this year. he even spent time throwing the stick for Moby ~ it may seem like a simple thing but we appreciated him taking the time with Moby who desperately needed some attention

• a warm home

• Thad's job (in fact, this week he got a promotion ~ i am so proud of him)

here are some pictures from our thanksgiving day together:

what a great birthday

i was very surprised last week to open up the blog and find a picure of me as a cheerleader. what a great hubby i have! thanks for all the great comments and birthday wishes last week. i am truly thankful for all the wonderful family and friends we have in our lives and loved hearing from you. it was a great birthday. who knew i would be celebrating my thirtieth birthday with three daughters??? crazy!

anyway, here are some recent pictures for you to enjoy!

keegan was trying to convince us she can watch her little sisters on her own...

...but they are exhausting!!!

HAPPY

BIRTHDAY

MICHELLE

FREEDOM

As many of you know, Keegan has been on an apnea monitor since leaving the hospital three and a half months ago that alerted us if she stopped breathing or if her heart rate went too high/low. The monitor has been a blessing as it has given us peace of mind that if she has an episode we can make sure to help her correct it. HOWEVER, it has also grown tiresome dragging the monitor around and having it false alarm multiple times in the middle of night (which wakes up ALL the girls). Well, today we received the wonderful news that Keegan has outgrown the monitor (Praise the Lord). If we weren't renting the monitor, Michelle and I would find an empty field and go "Office Space" on it:

Keegan enjoying her new freedom in her purple world:

RSV Season

November is officially RSV season, which means a few changes in our household. Our doctor told us last week that we will need to keep the girls away from other children until May. As the triplets were born premature, they are at a high risk of getting RSV, which would most likely result in a hospital stay. Please pray for us as we mourn the loss of some our freedom as well as not being able to see some of the precious little people in our lives for awhile.

Happy Halloween from our 3 Peas In A Pod

Thank You Stacey for loaning us the costumes!

(we are excited to see pictures of your little strawberries)

aaahhhhhh.....

"Thank you Tim & Ivan for all the furnace help, now we can roam around the house in normal outfits instead of always having our parents bundle us up like below."

Three Pictures From Today

Keegan, Maggie & Samantha

Smiles

!

"Keegan, I do not stink!"

"Enough DAD!!!"

our night away

we feel so completely blessed and rested after our good friends liz, amanda & tim, brad & jill, dave & catrina, and laura gave us the gift of a night away. they bought us an amazing hotel room here in the city for friday night while liz, amanda, brad and jill watched the girls for us. they thought of everything down to giving us a gift bag of goodies for the hotel room. we felt like newlyweds again. we began our night away with dinner at Don Pablos (thanks to a gift certificate from Dawn). then we went to the hotel for a swim and slept for 13 hours. it was heavenly!!! the hotel had an awesome breakfast in the morning and then we went back to bed to sleep some more. on our way back home we stopped at Robinettes as it was a beautiful fall day perfect for apples and cider. we were so excited to see the girls after 24 hours away from them. they were full of smiles and told us all about the great care they received. we really cannot say enough about how special it was and comforting to know the girls were in such good hands while we got some much needed rest.

brrrrrrrrrrr...............

today we found out that both of our furnaces have to be replaced because of cracking in the heat exchangers (i.e. the potential for carbon monoxide leaking into the house). we have two furnaces because the house used to be a two unit and we have been told it is virtually impossible to convert to a single furnace setup. we have received multiple quotes for new furnaces that are a lot more than we can afford. SO, we thought we would see if anyone out there has some connection to help us get our furnaces replaced inexpensively. does anyone know of someone who is able to purchase furnaces at cost and then we could find some help to get them installed??? or is there someone out there that owns their own business or knows of a business that would be willing to do the work for their cost of the furnaces or do the work after hours we would love to put an ad on our blog to promote the business. with three little mouths to feed, money is extremely tight and the cold weather is quickly approaching. we just thought we would check. if you have any connections or ideas on how we could save money, please feel free to email us at thadvh@gmail.com.

a month already?

the van van household is never boring now that there are three bundles of joy around. we can't believe it has been about a month since the last post, sorry! well here are a few words to explain the lack of blogging the past month as well as give a little insight in to our daily world: new schedule, adjust, adjust again, adjust once more, hmmm seems about right, fingers crossed; flu, cold, flu, cold, doctor's appointment, more sleep <--- yeah right; spitting pacifiers, new pacifiers, still spitting pacifiers; won't eat, doctor's appointment, hour later, new bottle, trip to the store, still not working, another trip to the store, all good; cold, hot, cold, broken furnace, still cold = warm clothing; t.u.v. rides; walks; laundry, dishes, laundry, bottles, bottles, eat/sleep?; smiles, smiles, smiles, smiles, melting hearts, smiling, smiling, cooing, more smiling, cooing; doubt, heartache, stress, love, thankful, amazed, dumbfounded, laugh, cry; and probably a thousand other things that i'm forgetting but above all we are having fun.

Growing Like Weeds

The girls had their doctor's appointment on Wednesday morning. We knew they had grown but we were surprised to find out how much:

Keegan: 10 lb. 14 oz. & 22 inches

Samantha: 9 lb. 13 oz. & 20 3/4 inches

Maggie: 8 lb. 15 oz. & 20 1/2 inches

The doctor was extremely impressed with how wonderful the girls are doing and gave us the okay to adjust their feeding schedules. Well in theory this is a wonderful thing but actually figuring out a new rhythm has so far been all but elusive. Hopefully all will settle down tomorrow as I will be going out of town starting tomorrow night through Tuesday evening on a business trip. Please keep us in your prayers as I will be missing my four girls immensely and Michelle will be managing the household.

Earlier this week we officially took the leap and became the proud owners of a van that is mini. Yes, Michelle finally cooked up a special potion and got me to agree to buy one of those vehicles that have three rows and will allow our family to travel more than five miles from home. The said vehicle will be delivered tomorrow and will promptly acquire "Love Wins." and Detroit Tigers stickers (necessities for any VanVan vehicle). Here is a picture of Michelle's new hot rod:

Other things that have happened over the past week or so include the following:

-the girls are expert garage salers as they know how to turn on the charm and get free stuff (i.e. a whole crate of wooden blocks) and find good deals (e.x. a small radio flyer push scooter).
-signs of cooing and smiling have begun
-keegan is a big fan of the hippo baby gym
-if the girls would have been born a couple of months later their names would have been: Lorelai, Rory & Sookie
-Reeds Lake has been a wonderful place to bring the girls for a relaxin' Saturday afternoon
-thank you to Elizabeth for pointing us in the direction of a super cheap and amazing triplet stroller that will be perfect for next summer
-the girls love the cooler weather and look adorable in fuzzy sleepers
-sleep is overrated
-i finished my first book since the girls arrived (and yes it was a graphic novel)
-next week Sunday Michelle and I will have been married for SEVEN YEARS (and I can't wait for the next 50+)