Lots happenin

Well, there is a lot going on with everyone in the Maurer household. It’s been a month since my last post. Wow… that seems like a long time.

In that month, we have been on a few outings as a family. Todd and I took the kids to the children’s museum and out to eat last month. We also took them to the St. V’s NICU picnic last weekend. The kids love to people watch. It’s quite funny how shy and quiet they get around people they don’t know.

Todd is on a boy’s trip to Kansas City. Cat fishing. Fun huh? Um, glad he has friends that endure all that adventure with him. I’m sure I will have pics to post. He and a group of guys that he went to elementary school with, and still keeps in close contact with go on some sort of an excursion each summer. Thankfully their plans were foiled to go to the Jersey Shore this year. That wouldn’t have been a very good trip thanks to Irene.

Jasmine and Hendrix also have some updates. The dogs are jumping over the back of the couch to get into the play area. They like to find left over snacks etc. Jasmine has sprained her knee. We had a heart to heart on the way back from the vet. I nicely informed her that she was 11 years old. She needed to chill. Crushed up cheerios aren’t worth a torn ACL. The pain medicine has kept her a bit subdued.

Hendrix has learned to open the back patio door. Todd and I noticed a few nights in a row after we had given the kids baths, that the door was opened about 2 foot. After arguing which one of us left it open, our neighbor called to let us know Hendrix was opening it. If only I could teach him how to change diapers and make bottles, we would be golden.

I had my CT scan to look at my abdomen. Yep, I have a hernia…. Well… 4 of them. I have an appointment with the surgeon mid September to see what we need to do. Hopefully via laproscope. That would be superb.

Owen. Owen is a tank. Almost transitioned into 24 month clothes. He is walking now. We have expanded our play area to facilitate more mobility for the kids. He loves to eat, throw his sippy cup, and eat snacks. He walks a bit like Frankenstein, but that’s pretty common for an early walker. He still thoroughly enjoys saying “ uh oh” however, it’s more like “uh,uh”. He can be heard usually saying this in anticipation to throwing something. He has had quite the temper lately with his toys. He is figuring more of them out, but will promptly throw them and scream when they don’t do what he would like. He also started stomping tonight when he was frustrated. He is still a giggle bucket. He loves to laugh.

Lillian is growing like a weed. She still is a tad on the skinny side, but slowly moving into 18month old clothes. She’s nearly there. She continues to have many tricks. She likes to say “Yuck” although she sounds like she could be German, and spits a lot when she does it, this is her intent. She is cruising around the play area, but not yet progressing to taking her own steps. We are working on that. She needs to be pushed a little to boost her confidence. She is giggling more. She is a very good eater, also proficient at throwing her sippy cup. Lilly can climb the steps with the best of them. She’s quite funny.

Grey has made so much progress this month. He is pulling himself up to a standing position, and also sitting himself down. He cruises all over, and also is working on his confidence to take steps of his own. He’s pretty much where Lillian is. He too will be getting into 18 month clothes soon. He is eating more. For the first time, I have seen him take a cracker or snack and chew it, and swallow. This is huge for him. He still has a cough at times, thought at first to be reflux. After a battery of tests, I’m pretty certain this is a behavioral cough to get attention, and show his frustration. This is pretty common in oral aversion/reflux kids, after doing some research. I’ll post more about all of his feeding stuff at a later date. It’s quite extensive. He saw the eye doctor on Monday. He has surgery scheduled on 9/23 to correct his weak eye muscles. It’s an outpatient surgery, should take an hour. Tylenol for recovery. It should be unremarkable. It’ll be nice to have that out of the way. His vision is actually improved greatly. He may not require glasses long term. He is interacting more and more with Lilly and Owen. He crawls up on all 4’s, and is very swift at it now. He can go up the stairs, and quickly if he wants… however we do it in therapy, so he’d rather not show you if he doesn’t have to. He is just getting over an ear infection. I think his favorite thing to do now is bark at the dogs when they bark. He will say “uh oh” , however he likes to bark the best. He severely dislikes his teeth being brushed, and water on his head to rinse it after washing it… but his little personality gets better daily. I couldn’t be happier with all of his progress. Soon he will be evicted from our room. Yes, he is still there after a year. He gets his feedings over night, and has numerous times had the feeding tube and cord wrapped around his neck. It’s scary to think that I may not be there to hear him with that going on… although he’s a loud little man, I’m sure he’d let us know. Of the triplets, Grey tests me the most. He knows how to test me the most. We spend the most time together between appointments and therapy etc. It makes our bond strong. Our next big step with him is eating. We’ll get him there. Soon.