Baby Shower

Our next door neighbors, Nick and Bonnie threw a baby shower for Sherri on Saturday. This is how awesome our neighbors are - and apparently there was a great turnout! Mark and I skipped the festivities, but by all accounts the shower was a great party, Sherri enjoyed it tremendously.
Hostess Bonnie

Co-Hostess Haley

Opening Gifts

Decorations!

Of course, some of our neighbors are contemplating putting their homes up for sale, now that the street will have to endure years of "The Miles Boys".

Triplet Gifts

We've started to receive a few gifts from friends, and although they kind of scare me they are really cute so I want to post them.

...from our favorite nurse Jelaine J.!

...from Calvin and Dana!

...now just imagine a little baby in each one, and you'll realize why I'm starting to freak out.

Garage Project

This week my brother Grant came out for 2 1/2 days... and we pounded out our "spare bedroom" project! In two days, we framed, insulated, wired, dry-walled and taped this little sucker - I was impressed. It took away about 1/6th of my garage, a pretty good trade-off for getting an extra bedroom/office. Mark calls it "Grampa and Gramma's Room"! Ha ha. Sherri says it has a water view too... of the hot-tub!

Actually, it turned out even better than I thought it would, which is great. All I need to do now is another coat of mud and paint.






Sherri has officially gained more than 30 lbs...a milestone for her. This is testimony to all the eating she's been doing and I'm really proud of her. I think she's doing great...although we did find out this week that she's seriously deficient in iron, so this week she has to go in and have iron transfusions at the hospital...that won't be fun. She's really starting to feel the babies move around and kick...the party is just starting in there!! This coming week she'll be 20 wks so we're into the last 3 months or so of this pregnancy...we'll be ready!

Felt the babies move last night!

So last night, we were sitting around with Mark, Sherri had me hold her belly and I felt the babies kick. First time for me to actually feel them which is pretty neat for me. Up to now, you know they are there, but it just seems a little different when you feel them - like they are trying to talk to you. "Hey- don't forget about me, ok? kick kick". It was a nice reminder of what we're trying to do - as Sherri had had a rough day, and I didn't know what to say/do to make her feel better.
I had woke up in the middle of the night 2 nights ago to find Sherri in the B/R crying, really emotional without really knowing why. We talked and I suppose once in a while it is just all pretty overwhelming to think of carrying and delivering 3 babies at once. Honestly - if it was me I'd be absolutely losing it pretty much on an hourly basis! So I can imagine how she feels. There are times when it seems like the most amazing thing to be going through... other times it just seems like a bad dream. At any event, by last night she seemed much better- I think I may see more of this to come!!
Sherri's pretty much on house arrest now - only going out for really important reasons, and that probably contributes to the stress. But better here than in the hospital thats for sure. And it doesn't help that we've got several projects on the go that disrupt the normal ebb and flow. But its "geturdun" as my brother says...there'll be no time for projects after the 3 turkeys arrive!
Today being Sat, its time to clean house, mow the lawn and spend some time with Mark. Beautiful day here, so maybe we'll go down to the lake for a while.

Some New Pics

These were taken today, Feb 3, 2010. They are really starting to move around if you watch them for a little while.

February Already!

So I think we're 18 weeks into this thing now...Sherri would know to the day...I'm a guy though so I'm pretty happy if I just kinda know. I have to admit though...I'm feeling the pressure and realize that my life as I know it will soon end. Last night, I crawled into bed (late as usual, after painting) and was happy to at least get a good nights sleep. And then it hit me that getting a full nights sleep will be basically impossible in 4 months, and that probably won't change for at least a couple of years. Mark still gets us up once or twice a night usually, and he's 3 so good luck with triplets, huh? People are so helpful in telling us that "you know, you'll need some help with those babies..." No. Really? They're just stating the obvious of course, but trust me...we are keenly aware of the facts. We have no idea what it will be like...how could you...but we do know that it'll be pure survival for a while!
And of course there's always the looming worry of the health of the little guys, how small they will really be when they arrive, how long they'll be in the hospital, how long Sherri will be in the hospital, how Mark will adjust, etc, etc. And I do have a tendancy to worry a bit (comes naturally, thanks mom) so it always seems to be present. Focus Garth...it will be fine.
I've found a very nice girl to help us with Mark for the next few months. She's coming to the house every weekday morning to keep him from being too neglected and hopefully - to ease the shock if Sherri ends up in the hospital for an extended period. I seriously think Mark is going to pay a price in the next few months...I just hope he someday is thankful for the brothers to play with, and that he doesn't take it too hard. His poor world will just be rocked. For now it seems to be working out, Mark is slowly warming up to Amber and she seems to be great with him.
We're off to Swedish for the bi-weekly weigh in tomorrow, I can say that Sherri is starting to put on the weight, her belly is getting big, and the nausea hasn't gone away. She's always tired, constantly trying to eat and nothing is easy to do. I do feel for her - she's the toughest gal I know and she never complains, but I know that this is hard on her. One day at a time, right? People have been asking for a belly pic, but she's pretty camera-shy so I might need to get one on the sly!! All in all, things are great, she feels the babies move once in a while now and we're slowly marching on.
By the way, thanks everyone for all their wonderful calls, comments, meals, and encouragement. We have people we don't even know that are doing little things that make us feel very special - words can't explain how we feel about this. Each day my respect for the members of our fellowship, our friends and neighbors increases. Thank you.