Fun Picture

He's a little cupie doll.
or Superman
but even if it doesn't look the same he reminds me of Edward Grimley.

A Miracle

This picture is Perrin eating the wipee box at his kidney doctor's office. We'd forgotten to pack toys so we entertained ourselves with the wipee box and camera.
Earlier this month Perrin had some tests for his kidneys. If you remember when he was born his kidney had water on it and he had a backward reflux from his bladder to his kidney rated a 5/5. 99% of the time this requires surgery. Our nephrologist, Dr. Nold, had Perrin watched and taking an antibiotic for a year. We went for imaging studies late last month, and I commented to the radiologist how he'd previously had a grade 5 reflux. The radiologist didn't seem to believe me, so he pulled his films. He came back saying, you are right, he did have a grade 5 and it is now completely normal. This is really a miracle. I smiled politely and thanked him but I had asked Dr. Nold about the chances for Perrins to revert to normal previously, and Dr. Nold said something like while most grade 5's have a 99% chance of surgery, preemies, have a slightly better chance for resolution, or at the very least to ratchet down the level of severity, so I'd taken this with a grain of salt. When we went to see Dr. Nold he looked at the films and was thrilled. He also called it a miracle and says while he expected things to improve, that they improved this quickly was truly a miracle, and we have run out of reasons to keep meeting like this.

We are very happy that Perrin is doing so well.

Walking for Perrin and Hydrocephalus

Well, we've had a lot go on in the last week. Grandma Cheri is hospitalized due to complications of COPD and on life support right now. She's doing better, but it's taken its toll on her loved ones, and we are all hoping for the best. In the meantime, Grandma Muriel was released from the hospital Saturday after a long hard fight against Burkitt's Lymphoma/Leukemia. She is going home now after being hospitalized since spring. It's been a long 6 months, but we are glad to see her beginning her road to recovery. We haven't mentioned this much in this blog as we want to keep the focus on the babies... but the health and wellbeing of their grandmothers is a part of their lives, and so it has been a bipolar week in terms of their grandmother's wellbeings.

Sarah also had a rough week. She loves her dog Gus, but she doesn't understand about cornering a dog and warning signs, and she ended up being bit in the face. She had a cut under her eye that warranted some stitches. This all went down at the same time as Grandma Cheri being rushed to the hospital. We opted to stitch Sarah ourselves rather than take her to the ER where the wait would've been problematic in regards to coordinating things regarding Grandma Cheri. [For those of you who don't recall, I work in the medical profession.] Bless that baby girls heart... after her dog bit her, her mom and dad swaddled her so she couldn't move, then held her head and gave her numbing shots and stitched her. She was so mad. She threw up in the process of the whole thing, and I was a nervous wreck doing it. I was so nervous about working so close to her eye and doing a good job as to keeping the scarring to a minimum at the same time it was quite distressing doing this to our little 15 month old baby girl and I wanted to be swift about things so as to not continue to break her heart about mom and dad ganging up on her and doing that to her. I'm sorry Sarah. But, I think the stitching job looks okay and I'm hoping for minimal scarring for you.
After it was all over, we held her a lot and she then finally calmed down and all that adrenaline was converted into a very manic little baby running around the living room squealing with joy, well into the night.

I'm totally going to switch gears here as really this post was to be about Perrin, I started writing this post over a week ago, but it's taken me this long to finish it.

Let me just start by saying how proud we are of our little guy, how much of a joy he is and how lucky we are to have him around. If you don't remember, Perrin has hydrocephalus. This means the spinal fluid formed in his brain becomes trapped and causes lots of pressure on his brain, and as a baby, for his head to swell. This is what he had surgery for last October where a shunt was placed to drain the fluid off his brain and allow him a pretty normal life. The picture to the left here is prior to the surgery. You can see how puffy his head is and the look of discomfort which was there most of the time prior to the surgery. To the right is Perrin that same month while he was still in the hospital, just after the shunt. You can see how much less "puffy" he looked already. The shunt he had put in will need to be there for the rest of his life, or the hydrocephalus will flare again. You can also see how his eyes look downward here, that is due to the pressure on his brain affecting his ability to look up.


We are lucky that there is the option of the shunt to allow him this pretty normal life. Before the development of shunts, this problem was always fatal. That isn't to say that we are in a really great place just yet. Shunts fail. Shunts require replacement if they fail, which means repeat brain surgery. If we are lucky, Perrin will never have to go through this, but most patients with hydrocephalus will. Some need repeated shunts some ridiculous number of times. There is a girl in our parent support group who had developed hydrocephalus at birth, like Perrin, and this year when she was fourteen years old her shunt failed. Then the replacement did and so on and so on. She's had 22 surgeries since December and she's having another one next week. She has developed a thing called slit ventrical syndrome, where the spinal fluid is overdrained which causes the brain to expand and she lives with a horrible chronic headache, which worsens if she stands up and gravity drains the fluid anymore. So, here she is a 14 year old honor student who'd been living a normal life more or less and all of a sudden things took this turn. Another young girl was doing fine and then needed her shunt replaced, and lost her ablility to speak.

There are a number of people out there who go through life with hydrocephalus and minimal implications in there life, but there are also a great deal of them who aren't so lucky.

We walked this past Saturday to help support research to figure out what can be done to make sure people are living with minimal implications. If any of you out there who follow this blog and are fans of Perrin and would like to help him to avoid these scary stories, please feel free to support us at Team Fudd. You can click on the link here and also in the left column called Team Fudd Fundrasing to donate, and you can count this as a tax deduction.

Better Form

Here's a better video of Sarah Walking

And here's a video showing how much better Ryan is walking!

And Then There Were Two

First and foremost, Perrin had his eye surgery today and he is doing fine! He and Meva should be home shortly, they had to stop and get him new glasses on the way home. When things settle down a bit more today, I will update with more details about the surgery. Anyways, here's some pics from the past weekend.

Meva took the kids in their wagon to a Balloon festival. She said it was hard to keep them together and not run all over, so this was the only real good picture we could get.


Sarah loves to sit in my recliner and play the drum!

She's Not The Only One Either! Perrin Is a Big Fan

Ryan used to be the baby that hardly smiled when we took out the camera for pictures! That sure has changed, he's now the biggest ham and smiles like crazy for the camera.

And Speaking of Ryan!

What's Going On!

It goes without saying that we're busy, busy, busy. I feel bad about not updating this more, so I'll try to be more productive here in the future. That will probably mean less writing and more posts that are just photo's---which depending on how funny you think I am is a good thing or a bad thing.



IF I've done this correctly, you can start the video here above this will show you what has been the biggest news and development so far. I'm new to using this feature on blogger, so it may look odd or out of place on your screen. Please let me know as I'd like this to look nice. Anyways, for those of you not able to view this video, Sarah is walking!! She started little by little taking steps here and there away from mommy and daddy's support, and then a few days later she was off and running! She's been going ever since. She still walks like a little drunk, but her form is much much better, as is her balance. While it's great and all, it also increases the amount of trouble she can get into!

The boys are not yet walking. Perrin really doesn't show much interest in it yet, but he can easily cruise, or walk along an object (sofa, table, daddy laying on the floor) when he so chooses. Ryan on the other hand is almost there. First and foremost, his biggest challenge remains controlling his super-strong baby muscles. What Ryan does isn't really walking, he gets excited and tries to run-- his powerful little legs just start pumping and leave the top part of his body behind! He also does this thing which, the best way to describe it is, walking with one leg or as Meva has named it "Half of the Russian Step Dance." I've been trying to get that on video, and as soon as I can I will share it with everyone here. But the cool thing is that he keeps trying to stand straight up on his own without help, and then he takes anywhere between 2 and 5 steps on his own before crashing. I think by Halloween he'll be walking also!

Like the walking, I've mentioned before that Perrin has something called Strabismus, which in layman's terms means his eye cross. I had it as a child and had to have surgery, and that's what Perrin will be doing this Monday morning. He has an early morning surgery scheduled for 7:45am and should be home later that morning/early afternoon. It's a more common and minor procedure as far as surgeries go, so we aren't overly concerned about this other than the anesthesia's effects on such a young baby. He should be fine and I will post an update here on Monday as soon as I get time.

This weekend they are going to see a Balloon festival with Meva and our friend Colleen and her son Finnigan. I of course will be working and I have to miss this unfortunately, but Meva will take plenty of pictures for me, which I will share sense she hasn't posted anything here in months. Maybe me and the kids are just working her too hard, the poor thing. Speaking of little Finn, I am now watching him on Thursdays from approximately 9:30am until 6PM. Yesterday was his first day and it was a lot of fun....for me. I think he was just in awe of the three giant babies that moved real fast and kept taking his pacifier! I think he did really well though and being with other babies for extended times will be good for him!

That's about it right now. Below are some of the pictures from the kids trip to the zoo. It was kind of fun, but mostly boring as they are really a bit too young to understand it, but we're glad we went.

Perrin actually enjoyed petting the goats!


Sarah, who loves Gus, was terrified of the goats!











Father and Daughter! Can you see the resemblance??


Sarah fell asleep after seeing the monkeys!


Ryan joined his sleepy sister and it was time to go home!

I Laugh When I Pee

That's a statement that's worthy of a good story. Most people who have small kids no how fast they can get into something they shouldn't and having triplets obviously intensifies this. As a result, it's important to do everything you can to monitor them visually, but what's a parent to do when nature calls and your home alone? Since we have a bathroom right off of the living room, when I need to go, I just go with the door opened so I can listen for trouble.

Yes, I know this is gross, but some time ago Sarah figured out that when her daddy goes in that strange room, something is going on. So she follows me as far as our gate will allow her to and she stands on her tip toes trying to see what I'm doing. She can just barely see me standing as I take care of my business. So as I'm standing in front of the toilet trying to quickly take care of business, Sarah begins to giggle and grin, waiting in anticipation for the "Tinkle Music" of the bathroom orchestra that her daddy conducts! As soon as the tinkling begins, she starts belly laughing as though I was doing the funniest thing in the world. The laughter is contagious, and for me it's dangerous, as laughing can cause control problems.

So as a result of Sarah's continue wonderment at all things daddy, I now usually laugh when I pee. Meva says that Sarah is going to be very disappointed when she learns she can't pee like her daddy does, but I guess we'll tackle that problem when we come to it.

Speaking of Sarah, she is walking all over the place! Many people already know this, but we've been too busy to post lately, so consider this the official announcement. She still walks like she just left a toddler tavern, but she goes from one end of our living room to the other without a problem. Ryan is a bit behind her, standing up and taking a step or two on his own, but then falling down because he hasn't yet mastered control of his big baby muscles. Perrin could care less and is more than happy to crawl around on his hands and knees. He can stand and walk along the sofa, so we know it's just a matter of time for him.

The other day Meva took all three kids to get their picture taken, completely on her own. It didn't go well. The kids were cranky and the photographer really sucked at his pictures and didn't get how difficult it is to shoot three babies at once. As a result, some of the pictures of Ryan are just classic! In the second picture he looks like he's eating rocks.

I think the biggest surprise of this outing for Meva was that Perrin actually was the least crabby and as you can see from the left, he took a pretty good picture. I think that's all him and Meva and just some open luck on the part of the photographer. Meva has said that this is really a two person job and that the next time they get them taken, we're going to double team them!

I won't promise I'll post anything else this weekend, but I will try to get another post up soon as tomorrow the kids are going on their first visit to the zoo! There is a special exhibit that lets you pet sting rays, so with any luck we'll get some interesting pictures of the kids with wildlife to share!

Return of the Slackers!

That's right, Meva and I have officially become slackers here on the blog! Meva doesn't really have time to do much contributing here and I've been devoting my free time to writing in other areas, so we haven't put much time into updates. So, what's been going on?

In a nutshell, not much at all. The biggest news we have concerns teeth. At this point Perrin has 6 of them, 4 on top and two on the bottom. Sarah still has her 4 and Ryan now has an amazing 5 teeth. I say it's an amazing 5 because unlike Perrin, his top 4 teeth are all in the front (incisors), Ryan has broken a molar on his left top side! I discovered that last night and when I told Meva I think she thought I was pulling her leg---until she felt it herself. Surprisingly the biting hasn't been bad at all, just the occasional chomp here and there, and nothing that's really aggressive.

On the mobility front, depending on the perspective, it's gotten worse and better. No one is walking fully on there own yet, but Sarah remains closest. She took three steps on her own yesterday! I got so excited trying to get Meva's attention so she could see it that I scared her and Perrin with my shouts! Meva worked really hard with both her and Ryan over the weekend, acting as a guide and having them walk around the house with her. I think I can see their improvements from just this! She's such an excellent mother and she really understands what the kids need and how to take care of them (although I fear we'll never agree on the whole heating of bottles issue!!!). Perrin still shows no interest in walking on his own. He will pull himself up and walk along a sofa or table, but that's only to further his mischief. Even when Meva tries guiding him like she does Ryan and Sarah, he refuses and just lets himself get dragged. I think once the others are walking, he'll join them quickly.

Despite no one walking, their ability to crawl all over the place and get into things we think are out of their reach, they are constantly showing us how dumb we both are. What makes matters worse is that they really do work as a team! We've seen them hold objects still so that one of the others can climb it and reach for something on a table or desk! Like I said, their mobility is both good and bad.

We had the kids all reassessed for developmental issues at the 1 year mark because of being premature at birth. They're really all doing well, with Ryan and Perrin having a few issues. Ryan's issues are just in his shoulders--the boy has big tight muscles! I know that might not sound like a problem, but because they are bigger he doesn't like to move his arms above his head. It becomes a real annoying struggle with him when we're changing his clothes and trying to put on or take off his shirts! He is going to be meeting with a therapist to help him learn to use those muscles correctly and increase his upper body flexibility. All in all it is my belief that this is a sure sign that the boy was born a warrior and destined to be an NFL linemen!!

Perrin's issues are a bit more complex and are going to require more work. It's nothing bad or dangerous, but the best way to describe it (I don't know the medical term for this) is to say he is sensitive, or that he has sensory issues. What this means is that he doesn't like strange or new stimulus, especially with his sense of taste and touch. Giving him a new food is stressful situation for him, double so if it involves a texture that isn't like what he's used to. Foods like peas or berries need to be well smashed or "hidden" in the other foods so that the texture isn't immediately obvious to him. Once that happens, we slowly remove the disguising food until he's only getting the new stuff with the strange texture or taste. After coming along slowly, he's usually safe and good to go. A therapist will be helping him and us discover better ways to transition him to new items and foods here in the future.

For the future I think it's safe to say that slowly but surely we are trying to get them out of the house more often so that they'll be used to going out and seeing people. It's been hard up to this point because of everything we would have to do to take them somewhere, but it really is becoming a bit easier as they get older. We have a hydrocephalus walk coming up in October that we'll be bringing the kids along on and I'd like to get them to the Zoo this year before the weather takes a turn, but until they are able to walk for themselves, it will still be a real challenge. The real goal for both Meva and I is to have them ready for winter so that we can take them sledding!

The Last First Birthday Party

The weekend has ended and it marks a very busy week, which Sarah was nice enough to tell everyone about in the last post. At some points we were so busy that the babies were often forced to fend for themselves and find their own food. You can see here that Ryan thought there just might be some left over bottles waiting for him in the microwave. He didn't have any luck, but I was fortunate enough to catch him just as he was leaving and starting to search for food elsewhere. Seriously, we managed to get back from Ohio, to the doctor's office, deal with teething issues, and then host a second and final 1st birthday celebration for the babies with all of our friends and family from Illinois.

The doctor's visit went very well. The kids are all doing extraordinary and they are really starting to get big. The new weights are on the side, but for the most part they are 21, 22, and 23 pounds respectfully. They are each about 27 inches tall too. Despite being 2 months premature, Sarah is in the 90% for weight and height, which if you've seen her eat, that will come as no surprise to you. The kids each got a shot in their arms and Perrin really surprised us all by not flinching or even crying when he got stuck. He just sat there and took it like a hardass. To think, this is the same kid who gets scared when I tell his sister to stop beating him up! We did discuss some physical and sensory concerns we've had with both of the boys. Ryan appears to have some tightness in his shoulders and won't raise his hands above his head. Meva thinks Perrin is having some issues with sensory input like tastes, textures, and especially sounds. I'm not sure if that's really the case, but there are enough signs for concern, so we're having them both evaluated for some therapy.

The party was a rousing success! I am once again moved by the generosity of our friends and family in their support of us and the babies. It was a treat just to have everyone together for a few hours, but they all exceeded this by bestowing gifts upon us. I don't think Meva and I can fully tell you all how much we appreciate each of you. Our friends Tom and Colleen came and brought their son Finn. He's the one above us on the right, and he's one of the cutest babies you'll ever see. I am happy to report that there were absolutely no incidents of vomiting this go around. The kids did real well with handling the chocolate cake, but Perrin was the first to want to be done. Surprisingly, as you can see to your left, he was also the messiest of the bunch. I have witnesses that will vouch for the fact that he got that way on his own with very minimal assistance from me.

Both Ryan and Sarah were much more dignified in their eating. I would say they weren't as curious about what was in front of them this time, instead they were more focused on eating the cake and filling their bellies. At one point while Perrin was getting a cleaned up of all that chocolate, I had to pick up both of the remaining kids cakes and turn them around so they could get more cake! It was funny that at one point, both Sarah and Ryan decided they didn't want to use their hands any more and simply leaned forward and ate the cake directly with their mouths. I wasn't quick enough to catch Sarah in the act, but I was able to get Ryan with his little mouth planted in the front of the cake, that picture is below us on the left hand side. I think that had something to do with Ryan looking as though he has a Van Dyke on his face!!

I think if we were to have actually weighed and measured it, Sarah could be credited with having eaten an entire layer of her two layer cake! I was able to control the day a bit more during this party and I made sure that the kids napped before this and hadn't eaten for a few hours. It was important for them to be hungry so that they'd want to eat the cake and also so that they wouldn't get sick as the unusually high amounts of sugar, carbs, and wheat didn't interact badly and cause them to vomit, which I think played a key role in what happened to Perrin last weekend.

Being with the three babies all the time I've grown accustomed to doing things a certain way and I take them for granted. It's always interesting to me to have this realization hit me when I'm in the company of other people. I don't second guess in any way how I pick up and transport the kids around. I've been picking all three of them up and moving them since they were sturdy enough to handle it. As they've gotten older, bigger, and heavier I think it's gotten a bit easier because they cling on to me during this process. I don't often realize that I have almost 75 pounds of baby in my arms.

Well, at one point I found it necessary to grab all three of the kids during the party and carry them somewhere, possibly to change their diapers, I don't really remember. At some point everyone was joking about it and I suggested I add little Finn to the mix. Finn is a good choice because he and I get along really well, and he was such an obvious choice to add to a Dangerous situation. So here I was with all four of the babies, and my hat that Perrin tore from my head, in my arms. By the time I had walked from the dinning room to my recliner in the front room, little Finn had just about too much stimulation and was beginning to get a little uneasy, so we gave him back to his mommy. But the deed had been done, I successfully held them all, approximately 95 lbs of baby cuddling me and in my arms. That will be a moment I'll always be able to look back on and smile in my old age.

Busy, Busy, Busy!!

Hello Everyone!! This is Sarah. My daddy has been real busy lately getting our house clean and ready for people to look at it. I don't know why that happens, but it seems pretty important and daddy is always cleaning up after us. He said that since I'm now a big girl at 1 yr old, I could talk to everyone here on our website.

This has been the busiest week of my entire life. We went to Ohio to see my mommy's family and have a birthday party! When we came home, we went to the doctor and poor daddy has just been cleaning and putting all our new stuff in it's own place. Daddy said he would talk more later, but for now I could show you some pictures since I'm not very good with words. So, here's our little trip:

This Is Us At Grandma's House Eating Before Our Party

We Didn't Know It, But Mommy & Daddy Made Us Each Our Own Cake!

We All Had Birthday Hats! Here Is Ryan's.

Perrin Wanted To Eat His Hat.

I HATED My Hat! Daddy Came To My Rescue And Took It Off Quickly.


This Is Us Seeing Them Bring Us Our Own Cake


Ryan Eating His Cake


Me Eating My Cake


This Is Perrin Saying He's Had Enough Cake. They Should Have Listened.


Perrin Had To Take A Bath With Mommy Because He Got All Pukey!

Ryan Kept Eating His Cake.


So Did I. I LOVE Chocolate Cake.


I REALLY Love Chocolate Cake! I Bet You Wish You Had Some Right Now!


Even If I Could Use A Fork, I Would Still Get This Messy.


Anyone Want A Chocolate Kiss From Me?


Mommy Just Told Me We're Going To Do This Again Next Week!


This Is The Cakes After We Were Done. Daddy Said He Thought We'd Eat More.


We Cleaned Up Next To Open Presents, Isn't Ryan Just So Cute.


Even Perrin Cleaned Up Very Nicely. He's Another Cutey.


We Finally Got To Meet Our Aunt Virginia, She's There With Auntie Pooh.


Daddy Tried To Get Me To Ride A Truck. I Cried Again.


Ryan Liked Riding The Truck. He Said I was Being A Baby.


Perrin Wanted To Ride the Bike. Don't Tell Him Pink Is For Girls Though, He'll Get Mad At Mommy.


Ryan Spent Time With Grandma Muriel.


So Did Perrin, They Read A Book Together.


Grandpa Fred And I Took A Nap And I Had A Bottle.


Then It Was Time For Swimming With Mommy & Daddy. See Our Cute Suits.


This Is Ryan And Auntie Kelly. He's So Cool In His Pool Shades.


I've Also Got A Cool Pair Of Shades For The Pool, And A Bottle Of Course!


On The Way Home, Daddy Got Tired, So I Drove.

I really liked our birthday party. Is it true you get a cake every year on your birthday? I think I just fell in love with birthdays!! Daddy said he'll update with more info later, but I have to go now because he said I need to take a nap. I would fight him on this, but I do get a bottle. Anything that leads to me getting some food can't be all bad can it? Thanks For Visiting! Double Click on ANY Picture to See a Bigger Photo!