Liv Gets an Early B-Day Present

This weekend a very nice guy that Adam works with stopped by the house with his wife and kids to see if Olivia would like a Jeep. At first she just sat in it and pretended to drive. Then she found the pedal. And the rest is history! She is still a little small for it so her foot slides off the pedal a lot but that doesn't seem to bother her.

Olivia concentrating very hard!

Had to give Adam's old Alvin a ride. She even buckled him in!

The kids are really going to love this!

What's that?...An Update!

Hard to believe, but the babies are already four months old and Olivia is about to turn TWO! As I'm sure you can imagine things are pretty crazy around our house these days, and my days of weekly blog updates are long, long gone! But as we start to get into more of routine things are getting easier, or maybe just more predictable, either way reality has long set in and we are still alive! But we honestly can't thank our family, friends, and nanny enough for all their help! I am pretty sure if it wasn't for them Adam and I would have checked ourselves into the nut house long ago!

So as the bottles are warming in the crock pot I'll give you update on what's been going on.

Olivia will turn two on August 2nd and I hate to say it but I am already starting to see a glimmer of those terrible two's. Do not get me wrong though...Liv is a smart, energetic, outgoing, beautiful little girl that loves everyone including her new brother and sisters. But I am starting to hear the words; mine, no touch, and stop quite a bit these days. This summer she has continued to go to Somersaults, that is little kid gymnastics, which she loves. She has so much fun jumping around, hanging from bars, doing somersaults, and singing the "bye-bye" song at the end of the 30 minutes. And I have to admit, I love taking her. Her vocabulary has really grown too and she soaks in every word you say. I've started trying to work with her on colors and shapes this last couple weeks, but it seems like everything is yellow, even shapes!

As for the babes, they just keep growing! They had their four month check up today and all did very well. Hannah is 11lbs 4oz and 23 inches long. Hayden is 11lbs 12oz and 23 3/4 inches long. And Jonathan is 14lbs 3oz and 25 inches long! The girls are still on the lower side of the scales but are on the charts! And Jonathan (Big Boy) you would never guess he was born 53 days premature! He is right on target for his height and weight.

From right to left you have Hannah, Olivia, Hayden, Owen, and Jonathan. On this night Liv's cousin Owen and Aunt Jocelyn came over to help with Olivia and the babies while Adam played baseball. The night went really good until Jonathan decided to projectile vomit all over myself, himself, and the the living room floor!

Here is a picture of the girls playing with my mom. I believe Hannah is on the right and Hayden is on the left, but don't hold me to it!

This is Hannah playing in the bouncy seat. She has figured out how to make it make noise and light up. As you can see by her eyes it still surprises her! Hannah, seems to be the laid back one of the three so far. She is the oldest, the smallest, and yet the one that is always surprising you.

Hayden is swinging in her swing. She tends to be a little more serious, but she gives up smiles pretty easily. She seems to be a little of both Hannah and Jonathan all wrapped into one. Such a sweetie!

Oh Big Boy! Jonathan seems to be the loud one of the group. (I think he is taking his ques from his big sis Olivia!) He was smiling first, cooing first, and giggling first. But you don't want to be around when he gets hungry or mad because he will let you have it!

All of them are smiling and giggling a bit. And they can sit in their bumbo seats and hold their heads up. They have also started to reach for toys and they love to try to fit their hands into their mouths. They all eat five times a day and are tentatively sleeping through the night. Down to bed around 10:30 pm and then they are up and having their first bottle of the day around 8:30 am. Usually one of the girls will get up first around 5:30 am but we have been able to get them back to bed until the rest wake up, so that has truly been a blessing.

So all in all, things are going very well. We definitely have our moments good and bad, but each day we survive makes the next day a little easier to get through.

Pictures!

When the babies turned 2 months Samantha Bender of SB Photography came to our house and took all the kids pictures. I haven't seen all of them yet but she does have some of them posted on her blog and they are absolutely wonderful. Especially the ones of Olivia! So cute! I have to admit I wasn't sure how they were going to turn out and was afraid that they would look like pictures that I would take since they were at the house, but she did a great job and as you can see I obviously couldn't take those.

If you want to see the cutest kids on the block click on her blog and check them out! www.sbphotoblog.com

And on another note we hired a nanny! Yes, I wasn't sure we really needed one. But after a few days on my own and a little convincing from Adam I was ready. Luckily we found someone right away. Her name is Nicole and she is going to Coe College for Early Education. She just started Friday and I'm already grateful for her. She comes in the mornings at 7:30 and stays all day until 6:30 pm. She is great with the kids and helps out a lot around the house. What a blessing! I have found that one mother can take care of 3 two month olds and 1 one and a half year old by herself if she absolutely has to. But it runs a lot smoother if you have an extra set of hands. And if you are so blessed to have a third person you can get a lot of things done and you might even get out of the house for an hour!

So, all is going well here. Liv is doing great, she is a wonderful big sister, and the babies are busy being babies...crying, eating, sleeping, and pooping (usually in that order too!). As for Adam and I, we are still trying to make it through the night feedings. :)

Oh, and I also want to thank everyone that has been helping us out. Whether you have donated your time, money, and/or food we greatly appreciate it. We really do need all the help we can get at this point. I'm sure you all know the phrase, "it takes a village to raise a child." well, we know that now more then ever! Adam and I are so grateful for all of you!

Long Overdue Update

We sincerely apologize to all of you loyal followers of the blog for the long gap in between updates. Obviously we have had our hands full with our three new additions to the Sadler family. We have had all three of the kids home for for 3 1/2 weeks now. Hayden got to come home first, two whole weeks before her other sister and brother. The doctors at the U of I were not ready to send Jonathan and Hannah home with them still having breathing spells. So Hayden got all kinds of special attention for two weeks before the others came home.

They are doing pretty well at home, not sleeping, but doing well. We have them on a schedule where they are eating every 3-5 hours. So we usually are only getting up twice during the night to do feedings around 1:30 or 2:00am and then again around 5:30 or 6:00am. Sometimes one, two or all three will not settle down after a feeding, which will make for a long night. Overall, they are doing excellent.

Olivia is handling the new babies very well and likes to love on them, cover them with blankets and rock their bouncers (sometimes she doesn't know her own strength). Sue Ann is supermom, but still needs help while I am at work. Audrey's Care Pages had truly been a blessing with many people signing up to help with the babies, clean, bring meals or just give us a night out. I probably stress out the most when things get a little crazy, but I will adjust to the madness. I probably picked a bad time to quit chewing (tobacco); maybe that is why I am all stressed out. It will be four weeks tobacco free on Friday!!

Anyways thank you all for your continued thoughts and prayers and all the volunteering of your time to help our family. We cannot express how much it has meant to us. Thank you.

Adam

Diaper Shower!

On April 18th the most wonderful people that we had never even met before held a diaper shower for us! It was hosted by MOPS and the West Union Young Married Sunday School Class. Jocelyn, my sister-in-law, and her family are members of the West Union Mennonite Church and when another member, Lori Whitthoft, found out about us they wanted to do something to help. So they came up with a diaper shower! I couldn't believe it! I was so touched!
They ended up collecting over 1600 newborn, size 1, and size 2 diapers. And so far we have used 102 of those diapers in the last five days!
What a blessing these wonderful people have been to us! It has been so nice not having to worry about diapers, and they have saved us hundreds of dollars!
If you happen to be one of those people reading this. Thank you so much. You have truly been a blessing to our family!

7 Weeks Old!

The babies are now 7 weeks old and are all doing very well. The girls are weighing over 6 lbs now and Jonathan is weighing in at a whopping 8.5 lbs! Almost double their birth weights! So that is wonderful. Jonathan and Hannah are still here because they continue to have spells. But they are less frequent. So until they go those very long seven days without one they will continue to remain here. It seems to get harder and harder on me every time they have a spell and the count starts over. I see them growing so well and doing so good and then all the sudden they have a spell and it seems like such a set back, especially when they get to day five and then have one!

Olivia has been adjusting very well to having Hayden at home. Every night when Hayden and I come home she comes up to her and says "Hello baby" or sometimes its "Hello Hayen!" One of the cutest things I have seen her do so far is when Hayden was starting to fuss a little in her bouncy seat, Olivia came over reached out her arms like she was going to try to pick her up out of it and said in her best mommy voice, "oh, come here, come here." It was so cute! Liv is really starting to put her words together now, so I'm sure it won't be long before she is telling everyone what to do!

Adam is still working hard to pay the bills, and continues to be Mr. Mom while I'm gone. He is also getting back into the routine of sleepless nights!

As for me, I'm hanging in there. I have just recently given up breast feeding. At times I feel guilty about it, but when you realize that you would have to pump over two quarts of milk a day to just keep up with them you don't feel so bad anymore. They got the most important part of it and I lasted 6 weeks so I am proud of that!

Hayden Comes Home!

Things have been pretty crazy this last week. The babies turned one month old, and Hayden got to come home on the sixth! Since she has been released I've been driving back and forth with her to the hospital everyday so that I can spend the days with Hannah and Jonathan and the nights with Adam and Olivia. Hannah and Jonathan are continuing to have "spells" (were their heart rates and oxygen levels drop way below normal), but Hayden has been doing very well at home.

Hayden had to pass the car seat test before letting her come home. She had to sit in it for over 30 minutes while still being monitored, to make sure she wouldn't have any spells.

Olivia welcomes home "Hayen." She loves her new little sissy!

Coming back to the hospital to visit Hannah.

Hayden snuggling with her brother in his tiny bassinet.

One Month Old!

It is hard for me to believe that our babies are already one month old. Thankfully our time in the NICU has gone by fast and hopefully we won't be here too much longer. No, we don't know when they can come home, but it is looking like it could be anywhere from sometime within the week to a couple of weeks. And yes, one or two could come home before another. We get those two questions a lot! Another question we get a lot is, what has to happen before they can come home. The answer to that question is, 1) They have to be spell free for 7 days straight, and 2) they need to be able to eat on demand (no tube feeding) and still be gaining weight. There is no rule that says if they weigh more then so many pounds they get to come home. And speaking of weights. They have all been gaining very nicely. Hannah is 4lbs. 15.9oz, Hayden is 5lbs 9oz, and Jonathan is 6lbs 11oz.

Hannah

Hayden

Jonathan