Scary weekend

It has been such a scary weekend with the kids so sick.

Today they have finally been without fevers. Although, Madi did have scarlet fever and still has the bumps all over her body. Brody and Gracie are doing breathing treatments with Albuterol and steroids several times per day. They are all three on antibiotics and Singulair.

They have no immune system and with chronic lung disease this turns everything upside down. Luckily we are not in Flu or RSV season. This is why we are so crazy about people getting a Flu shot during season because of their fragile systems.

We still are not totally well so please keep them in your prayers. The doctor is really concerned with the way Brody and Gracie's lungs sounds so extra prayer will be appreciated.

Krista

It hit us good this time....

What a week! We ended VBS and my little first grade class learned how to walk in a straight line! WHOO HOO!
My little loves are sick. All three of them. We started them on antibiotics yesterday but last night took a turn for the worse. Up and ad em this morning we took them to the pedi. Breathing treatments, steroids, antibiotics, and singular later, I think we may be set. Oh and Tylenol for fevers. D.a.r.n i.t !
We have a crazy busy week ahead:
Monday- Gracie & Madi have eye appointments
Tuesday- therapy
Wednesday- therapy & speech evaluations
Thursday- I have a dr. appointment & Brody & Gracie will get their leg braces.
Friday- NOTHING!! WHOO HOOO!!!!!!!!!

Please say prayers for my trio. They are really pretty sick :(

Thanks!

Krista

our VBS day...

So COOL! And so much FUN!!!

We are one PROUD Momma and Daddy! The kiddos made us our first art work for our house and  as soon as we got home, up they went! 

Hanging out eating Cheerios before lunch! 

Tomorrow is the last day of VBS. The 4 of us have had a great week and enjoyed ourselves. It has been so refreshing to get out of the house and have a little break from my little loves. I'm looking forward to the fall- I've signed up for two Bible studies during the week day mornings :) And next week Ricky and I will start going to the gym there!! WHOO HOO!!!
Have a great weekend!

Krista

World meet my new little boy- Brody SEE the WORLD!!!

Was not to happy about his glasses the first time but....

He was very curious of everything he could finally SEE

He has played with this little toy forEVER

He looks like what he is... a GENIUS!

And he loves to play with everything now!!! 

He SEES and UNDERSTANDS his environment. He is so HAPPY and actually cried when we took the glasses off for his bath! SO AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In other WONDERFUL news: 

This is GRACIE!!! Jumping and look at her FEET!!! BOTH FEET JUMPING!!! And look at that smile!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


And because I have even more WONDERFUL news!!!! This morning I walked into Brody's room and he was SITTING UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He has never been able to do that!

And so Madi is not left out,  she was so good today :)

OH! and VBS is going AMAZING! Here are some pictures:

Things I've learned about 1st graders.... so far....

I think I mentioned but if not, I'm teaching 22 1st graders at VBS this week along with two other adults. We are having so much fun! The program at our church is incredible!
So far I've learned this:
They want to sit in your lap
They want to hold your hand but ask first
They are not so great at walking in a straight line but I really think we can have it down by the end of the week
Some refuse snack but change their mind when their friends are snacking away
They may have the tiniest bladders- ever
They still act like kids. The world has not gotten to them yet.

I think this will be a yearly thing for me for a while. I love it! And the babies are doing great in the nursery while I'm away!

Krista

Healer by Kari Jobe

This song is BEAUTIFUL and had me crying my eyes out at church today. Healer by Kari Jobe

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvIEJ_PmqJ8

(copy &paste this link- you HAVE to listen to this)

You hold my very moment
You calm my raging seas
You walk with me through fire
And heal all my disease
I trust in You, I trust in You
I believe You're my healer
I believer You are all I need
I believe
And I believe You're my portion
I believe You're more than enough for me
Jesus You're all I need
Nothing is impossible for You
Nothing is impossible
Nothing is impossible for You
You hold my world in Your hands

God, please be with our Gracie. We stand on truth and know You are in control of her and all of our destiny. You are my HEALER and You are our beautiful children's Healer! Please guide my life, our lives. Nothing is impossible with You. Thank you for these precious lives, each other, and all our struggles and blessings and may we never forget to praise You. AMEN!

This song speaks TRUTH to me. I hear it everyday on the radio and have always liked it but has never touched my heart like it did today. May everyone that reads this know He is healer- rather it be a struggle or medical condition. I hope you enjoy the song as much as I do.
If ever there is a time you would like to come to church, contact me. If every there is a time you need help asking God into your heart- I will be here.
There are no words to explain what He has done in my life- our lives. And I'm so excited to see the future. There is a reason we've gone through what we have and I'm patiently waiting to see how God will lead me with our experiences to help others. Powerful.

Krista

ok so....

So all day I've been asking myself if I should have really went off. I think I should have. My therapist told me to write those types of things down and I told her that I do but usually not that far. Well, it is my true feelings about things. I have a very hard time understanding it. I have an even more hard understanding how those that have never been here for us feel like they have a right to see the kids- like we owe it to them. It just confuses me.
Our supporters know who you are. You've been great and not for one second do we not appreciate it. Yesterday I had therapy and the remainder of the night that was just stewing so I went there.

Now back to our everyday life...
I spoke to Gracie's Orthopedic today. Since there are not a lot of cases like Gracie's, she will have to do a lot of research and get back to me next week. One concern is Gracie not being big enough to do a skin graft. I asked her if they could take my skin but she said it usually isn't successful. I would much rather me have a missing chunk of skin because she has MSRA which she contracted in the NICU so there is always a worry of infection.
We had therapy today. We left there and went to the doctor for their one year vaccinations. It never gets any easier for them to get shots. It actually is worse!

Anyway, we are good. I wanted to say that because I'm sure some think I've lost my mind. You can only understand how we feel and felt if you ever go through what we did. Since having triplets is rare, I doubt you ever will. I think there are lessons to be learned from this and I don't believe it is just for Ricky and I.  The amount of stress that we both have on our plates right now is enormous and has been since before the babies were born. I just feel like instead of lifting us up, we were either kicked while we were down or just left to deal with things alone. I will never be able to explain those dark hours in a way for anyone to understand. It is one thing that Ricky and I have carved in our being. So now it is time to heal from it, never forget but move on.

I will continue therapy and working through these things and taking care of my babies and family.

Krista

I'm about to go O.F.F

Sometimes I'm fightin mad. Sometimes the though of certain things makes me enraged and I just want to be a boxer or MMA fighter or something and knock the heck out of something. Destroy something. Sometimes I just want to pick up the phone or go face to face with certain people and tell them exactly what I think word for word and even spell it out if need be.

I'm still in therapy- I go weekly. When I talk about my children's birth and their stay in the NICU I can't help but get so MAD at those around us. WHY were we alone in our darkest hours? Double chest tubes = alone, PDA surgery (heart surgery) = alone, gut surgery = alone, NEC= alone, ROP surgery= alone, scared to death our son would be blind = alone, the darkest times in our lives ALONE.

WHERE THE HELL WAS EVERYONE? That is what I want to know. Why did we especially I find such comfort in Brody's primary nurse? Probably because we had no freakin one! So let me spell it out to every single family member that just so happens to read this blog just to be nosy. If you see our kids YOU are the lucky ones. If you don't, there is a good reason. I will never forget the comments "I don't even want to look at pictures because they don't look like babies" "you need to email us updates" ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Our babies don't look like babies? What because they were a little small and NOT FATTIES like your family member are? They were perfect and still are! I need to email updates to the entire family? What? You should have been beside us and I'm sorry between being an emotional wreck and not getting any sleep we just weren't up to it.

So 1 year later I'm still MAD. And I'm not crazy because my therapist is shocked, dumbfounded at the actions of those we are related to. And you know what else????? She said some people are so toxic that we  are better off without them and I couldn't agree more! And I am very confident in who I am, my life, my relationship with my husband, kids, and my GOD and I know that it is because of HIM that we are where we are today. OBVIOUSLY I still need therapy so one day I might not be so dang mad!

And I'll tell you one more thing: When these little sick people sued us. That was so final for my husband.  He honestly could care less if he talked to any of you or ever sees you again. That is the truth there and if you have seen him, trust me when I say that was not him by any means and he could have went without it! You should be ashamed of yourselves!

Maybe I expect too much from people but I guess that if someone I loved was fighting for their lives I would be right beside that person every second of the day until they were better.

So there it is. That is therapy for you. It just brings up all those horrible things I've masked for over a year now.

Every single one of you know who you are. Your guilt will get the better of you. It is up to you to make that right or not but FYI WE ARE JUST FINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HAPPY THOUGHTS, HAPPY THOUGHTS....... and I'm good :)

That felt great!! WHEW! I'm tired now. Good night our FANS!!!! WE LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!!!

God never says

God never says oops, my bad I didn't mean for you to go through that I meant for so in so to.

I heard this on the radio this morning on our way home from therapy. It makes so much sense. It means God knows what is going to happen to you before you are born. He knows every hardship and success you will have in your life and He has a reason for each. Sometimes it is hard to see the positive in hardships but it is so easy to be thankful for the successes.
In our study this Sunday we were studying the book of Jeremiah chapters 25- 27. We were faced with a God we were not comfortable with. A God that put His own people in captivity for 70 years. His own people! I think as Christians we see a God that is loving and performs miracles, and is kind of like a soft teddy bear, He makes us feel good inside. The thing is he will only take so much before He gives us what we deserve. Meaning we can only keep sinning so many times before BAM He gives us what we should have gotten all along. Personally for me if a dog bit me once I would be done but God allows the dog to bite so many times before he finally has enough.
I think that when we face hardships it is so easy to be uncomfortable with God but really if we only open our eyes and hearts we will see that He has so many great things in store for us.
Our paths are paved before we are born. All we have to do is follow His path for us. This does not mean that we can be on cruise control our whole lives and have no bumps in the path. For one, how boring would that be?  2, we would learn nothing.

If anyone could say, "dang, we've been dealt a hard hand" I think we could. We certainly do not have it harder than everyone since there is always someone with a bigger struggle than you but we by no means have had it easy. BUT, the BEAUTY is God didn't say "My bad, Oops!" He is in control and knows every single thing He is doing and it is for a reason. That my friends is AWESOME!

Don't get me wrong I've been mad. There have been times more than once when I wanted to know why me, us, my kids but thankfully I've quickly always have seen the miracle and the beauty of just how AMAZING He is! And I hope that I will always be able to see the good in our trials.

Krista

PM&R

Starting with the easiest....
Madi is doing great and is on track like an 11 month old. This is amazing because she is really only 9 months old size and developmentally. The doctor feels like we should continue with OT for feeding therapy but she agrees that we, at this time, do not need PT.
Brody needs braces for his legs to stabilize his legs and ankles. He is very unorganized while standing and has very low muscle tone. She did say that he could very well out grow the low muscle tone and actually go to very high muscle tone which would be an issue. This is different from what we've been told because therapists have told us he would probably always be low toned. She believes that he should be receiving therapy twice a week instead of just once and also should be in Speech ASAP. We are currently on a waiting list with Texas Children's for speech. She also thinks once his vision issues are corrected a lot of things will be easier for him.
Gracie has several things going on. One is she does not qualify for Botox treatments. The issue in the one leg has nothing to do with the muscles in her leg but everything to do with the fact that the nerves, ligaments, and skin is not long enough. The Orthopedic was fairly certain that we would have to do surgery to fix this and a skin graft but thought that was not the main issue. The PM&R doc also believes that a lot of the issues Gracie has is from her stay in the womb- not being able to move around and stretch like the other two could. The doctor will be contacting our Orthopedic to discuss her findings and told me she does not want to increase therapies until her surgery is complete and she has recovered. This means we are looking at a major surgery in our very near future. There are some other things she said but I really can't remember it all right now.
The surgery Gracie will face is very detailed. They will not know how much they need to release until they are in there and a Plastic Surgeon will also be working beside the Orthopedic for the skin graft. I've been told the recovery is long and hard. The band they will be cutting contacts from the bottom of your butt to the heal of your foot.

That's all for now.

Krista

Sunday

Church was amazing! We went to class at 9:30 and I liked it so much better today. Ricky was baptized and after church I got my shirt for VBS and bought the last ticket for a women's event in August! I got so lucky!!!
We are so happy at this church and I look forward to every Sunday. The crazy part is I miss the babies the 2 hours I'm away from them and rush to be the first one to the door to pick them up.
Tomorrow we have an appointment- finally with PM&R which is Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation. It is for all 3 but I'm most excited for Gracie because we will find out if we will be doing Botox treatments in her leg. Tuesday & Wednesday we have therapy and at some point this week we have to go in for vaccinations. It is getting to be so hard with all the appointments. Feeding and nap schedules get thrown out the window and they want to crawl around and be babies!

I'll update soon.

Krista

Reminder

Ricky will be Baptized tomorrow morning at 11am. Everyone is welcome to come. I'm really excited for him!!

Second Baptist Church
Kingwood, Texas 77339

Shame on you but really shame on me

Shame on you Dr. Coats. Our son has needed glasses all this time. Shame on you!
Shame on you for telling me he sees fine and basically I'm crazy- worried for nothing. Shame on you!

Shame on me for not getting a second opinion sooner.

I took Brody to the new eye doctor yesterday and told him all mine and Ricky's concerns; the cross eyes, eyes shaking, staring into bright lights including the sun, having trouble focusing. He actually LISTENED to what I had to say and did a lot of looking into his eyes. We were there for 2 hours instead of 10 minutes.
He asked me if Brody always tilts his head to one side. I told him yes and we always correct him. He asked me a couple of other questions about his grade III brain bleed and laser eye surgery for ROP when he was in the NICU.
Brody currently sees outlines and shadows. He tilts his head to one side because on that side his eyes don't shake as much and he can focus better. Brody will most likely need eye surgery. He was fitted for glasses. He stares at bright lights because it is stimulating to him and it isn't hurting his eyes due to what he sees.
I asked if he could see what I looked like and the doctor thinks that he can probably tell me from another person but as far as details he can't see them. It all makes sense. I should have trusted myself and got a second opinion sooner. The other doctor didn't even want to see him back until October. Just crazy. How did he get it so wrong? He was so great to Brody when he was in the hospital and had to have surgery. Texas Children's Hospital is great but sometime they get it wrong. I asked the doctor if Brody will be able to read and he said he thinks he will but is not sure on the type of print Brody will need.
Everything makes sense - everything. The way he stares at you confused while holding him and he is feeling your face- It all makes sense.

Moms- please if you never listen to a word I say every again listen to this: Trust yourself- always. You are your child's advocate and while you may not be a doctor you are MOM and you know your child best.

Krista

Thank you Tuesday for being better than Monday was to us....

Tuesday you are so sweet!!!
Great news.... Gracie no longer is in her cranial helmet!!! Because she is PERFECT! The company is emailing me the original scan and the one from Tuesday during her exit appointment. She went from over a 15mm to a 4mm. Usually they only hope for a half mm change, of course our little sweetie beat that and made an A+!  We are so happy for her because the thing is so hot and she is already very hot natured as is, and it stinks so bad even with us cleaning it daily.

they put this on while they are doing the head scans

Look at the sweaty head. She is so happy to have the hot stinky thing off!

We had her fitted for her new leg braces. She will be in the same shoes she was the first brace go round and we are hoping and praying that she won't get her heel infected this time. The new braces should be ready in a couple of weeks. In the mean time we are doing therapy weekly and will meet with PM&R (Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation) on Monday. I will update about that as soon as we find out. 

So Monday I was so bummed to find out the extreme cost of Mother's Day Out. Well, when given lemons one shall make lemonade! I've really wanted to volunteer at VBS (Vacation Bible School) this year but wasn't sure how I could do that with our appointments and needing a sitter, I was pleased to find out that I can help and they have the nursery open for my kiddos! Tonight I was on the church website and found what seems to be a wonderful parenting class during Sunday Bible study that starts at the end of the month as well as a women's Bible study starting in September on Tuesday mornings that offer childcare free of charge! I have my fingers and toes crossed that we can move our therapy for Tuesday to a later time so I can go. A little more digging around on the website I found that they have a huge gym that is free to members and they offer daily workout classes (for a very small monthly fee) and during those classes Monday- Friday they have child care! So 8:45-10:45 Monday- Friday the kiddos can go to the nursery and the cost is only $35 per month!! This is all I needed just a couple of hours and I can work out :) WHOO HOO! Bottom line is this, God will take care of you and when a door closes a window opens! 

Madi is feeling better and Brody and Gracie seem to be on the mend as well. Please keep all of us in your prayers. God is working on something big behind the scenes and I am very intrigued to see how it turns out. 

Krista

SERIOUSLY?

My motto 

It has for sure been a Monday. Like the kind that have a job and hate it and dread Mondays- that kind.
For starters all 3 of my little babies are sick :( They've been fighting a little cold for a couple of days but it isn't going away so off to the doctor we went. Madi is the worse at this point. She was just a limp noodle. The doctor started her on antibiotics twice a day. The other two do not need medication at this time. There goes our never been sick status. Looking back I'm so happy we waited until they were officially 1 before we took them around other people and this is why.
Everyone sit down for this next part and I will warn you it is unbelievable. I talked to the director that is over Mother's Day Out and Preschool at our church to get all the information on the programs. 1 the kiddos can't start preschool until next September (2012) because they have to be 18 months as of September to start. 2 any guesses on the cost for all three to attend MDO 3 days per week for a couple of hours?????? WITH discount $720 per month not including a $90 per child registration fee! Can we all say INSANE..... all together now  INSANE!
Lastly, if you ever come to our house and notice we don't have a TV on it is because as of tomorrow I am canceling TV. OVER IT and I'm not even going to say why but those who really know me already know why. Anyone that wants a 65 inch TV- I'm your gal because I have one FOR SALE!!!! No joke!
So goodbye Monday. Tuesday, I sure hope you are better to us.
Another crazy busy week....therapy tomorrow and Wednesday, Thursday Brody has an Opthamology appointment, and Friday appointment with the Nutritionist.

Krista

Official HOME

You are cordially invited to attend the Baptism of Ricky Patton
July 17, 2011 at 11:00 am


This has been a great Sunday and I look forward to many more!

We officially joined Second Baptist Church today. We've gone there for a couple of years before the pregnancy and started back last weekend (we purposely waited until the kids were 1 before exposing them to large groups of people). We love it there. It is a very large church with so much to offer with kids to adults. Also, they have Mother's Day Out and Preschool! We dropped the kiddos off in their lady bug class and went to a new Sunday school class this morning. We had church and then became members! And the best part is Ricky will be Baptized next Sunday!!! Ricky has been a believer for a long time but never was Baptized so now is the time to do it. I would love for our family and friends to join us this next Sunday, I promise you will enjoy yourself!
One of my friends and her little girl came with us today and I was so excited to have her!

Second Baptist Church
HWY 59 at Kingwood Drive
Kingwood, Texas 77339

3 little cutie pies

I found the most beautiful quotes today and it speaks truth loud and clear. Hope you enjoy!

"Only in darkness we can see stars"
"What you see depends on what you are looking for"
"Behind every good kid is a great mom"
"Well behaved women rarely make history"

Today we caught up on some sleep while Ricky worked a couple of hours. When he got home we all just hung out and cleaned up the house. Tonight after the kiddos had their bath, they put their new jammies on. The awesome thing is they are size 12 months!

Madi, Brody, Gracie

We are going to church in the morning and I'm really excited- we are becoming members! Happy to be plugged in :)

Have a great Sunday!

Krista

Changes coming to our blog...

Now that I'm a SAHM (Stay At Home MOM) I am looking for ways to earn some extra $$$ and save some too! I'm sure you all have noticed some ads on the blog. I purposely wanted to add those as well as the Amazon Deals.
I am looking for someone to help makeover my blog because I'm wanting to add a coupon / deal section too since I'm way into couponing. I'm looking for my visitors to view what they want and only that so if you only want to see updates from the kids, then there will be a tab for that.
Also, on the right side there is a section you can enter your email address. This would email you every time there is a new post on the blog.
Lastly, I love comments but never get any on our blog! How do you comment? At the end of each post the word COMMENT is there. Click on the word and you will be able to say what you want :)
I hope you all like the changes coming and will visit DAILY!! :)

I promise to add more pictures to our blog! Since switching from PC to MAC it is so much easier to download and store our pictures!
:)
Krista

sit down, buckle up, and hang on... life in the fast lane!

Now that the dust is settling from the birthday party, I need to catch up on everything that has been going on. For starters, something incredibly amazing happened last Wednesday during Gracie's first therapy session with her new Physical Therapist.... I walked in to the gym (Brody is in the other during this time so I go back and forth) to see THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

Wednesday, June 29, 2011 

This is one of the most BEAUTIFUL sites I've ever had the pleasure of laying my eyes on. You see, this is the first time this little girl has stood! And look at her face! She just knows she has done something amazing! This is what my days are. The miracles just keep coming! THANK YOU LORD! You all know her story, you know what doctors upon doctors have predicted and yet here again is PROOF that GOD is REAL! So after I screamed and took a picture I was an emotional roller coaster but for the best reason!

Speaking of therapy at Texas Children's, have I mentioned how I just love it there and I'm so glad we switched? 

 While with our new Occupational Therapist, you will find Gracie holding her bottle!! Brody sitting up like a big boy chewing on a toy, and Madi doing the same. Brody was not sitting good at all up to that point and Gracie wouldn't even think about holding her bottle!

 And this little turkey is eating Watermelon during her eating therapy! 

Moving on to Friday AKA their BIRTHDAY! 

They slept with us the night before so Friday morning I woke everyone up bright and early (5:30 am) for breakfast in bed which was donut holes!!! Looking back probably not the smartest thing to do since they smashed them into our sheets but I'm all about creating memories and traditions! 

Then it was time for PRESENTS from mommy & daddy! 

And all the cards AKA our fan club :) They had such a great birthday and birthday party!  I will be posting pictures from their party as soon as I get them. They have so many people who love them! 

I'll update again soon! Have a great weekend! I think we will be heading up to Lufkin on Saturday ;)