Instantly Outnumbered: April 2012

I know, I know, another long time without a post...I'll spare you the excuses and just get into the important stuff...

A lot has happened over the past 6 weeks including the triplets' 4 month appointment, Nadia's heart catheter procedure, and my first criminal trial (which caused me to be MIA for about 2 weeks). The 4 month appointment went well and the pediatrician was very happy with how well the kiddos are doing. While these weights are a few weeks old now (since the triplets turned 5 months today), at the time Ryan was 14.5 lbs and Andrew was 11 lbs 10 oz. Nadia has a more updated weight since she had her heart catheter procedure this past Monday as explained below. When they weighed her last week she was 11 lbs 5 oz. At the four month appointment the pediatrician talked to us about starting the kids on solid foods (like rice cereal) but for the time being we are sticking with formula only (although the boys already get some rice cereal in their bottles).

We are down to 5 feedings a day now with the day time feedings every 4 hours and only one middle-of-the-night feeding at 2 am. It is amazing how much better our quality of life has become now that we are on a 4 hour schedule. We can actually take the kids out to do stuff (they love taking walks..I mean getting pushed around in style) and we have more time to get other things done around the house in between feedings. In fact today was the first time that we took the kids to church. A couple weeks ago we even took them on a walk through Yorktown but instead of using the stroller we used kid carriers. Julie had Ryan in a single and I had Drew and Nadia in a special double carrier that we got from a friend who has twins (thanks Andersons!). If you thought that a triple stroller attracted attention you wouldn't believe what carrying around 2 babies in a baby carrier can do to peoples' attention spans. We almost caused a dozen minivan crashes as people stopped to gawk at us.

Do these babies make me look fat?

Ryan rocks his hat...and loves looking around

As mentioned above, Nadia had a heart catheter procedure done this past Monday to check on the status of her heart and to determine when she should have surgery. The doctor's were looking at two things during the procedure - how much pressure was being exerted on her lungs and how much blood was flowing back and forth between the chambers of her heart due to her heart defect. To do this they inserted a tiny tube through a vein in her leg which was then routed to her heart. They then injected dye into her heart and subsequently took some special x-rays which allowed the doctors to see what they needed to see based on the dye. Nadia was a rock star and handled the procedure (which included getting knocked out) with flying colors. The results were that the pressure on her heart and lungs was fine and therefore the surgery to correct her defect will not take place until sometime later this year when she has had a chance to get a little bigger.

Another big event that took place over the past several weeks was my first criminal trial. For those that don't know I am a Special Agent for the Treasury Department which involves investigating all types of white collar crime. So far in my career all of my investigations have ended with a guilty plea from the defendant(s). However in this most recent case, the defendants decided to go to trial. The case involved two individuals who engaged in an investment fraud scheme and it was supposed to go to trial last November, right before the triplets were born. The case ended up being postponed until early April which ended up being a big blessing because I had to put some serious time in during the weeks leading up to trial and especially during the two weeks of actual trial (multiple 16 hour days in a row anyone?). Thankfully Grandma and Grandpa Waskey took turns coming down to help out while I was occupied with the trial. After all was said and done the jury convicted both defendants which made the time invested seem worthwhile. Needless to say, Julie is keeping her fingers crossed that there aren't any more trials in the near future :)

The last thing that I want to write about before you get some new pictures is referenced in the title of this post. Now that the triplets are 5 months old we have had plenty of time to come up with numerous nicknames for each of the kids which we thought you might get a kick out of. The different "nicks" are listed below:

Ryan - Little King (both the meaning of his name and the way he acts...sometimes changed to Drama King); Cryin Ryan (for obvious reasons); Tubbies (for how big he looks...although this is mainly just due to his ginormous head); Mini-Me (for his likeness to me); Little Buddha (he looks just like those statues); Wrecking Ball (for the way he bashes his head into ours whenever we are burping him on our shoulder)

Andrew - Ladies Man (for his ridiculous cuteness); Bud Bud (Julie came up with this variation of buddy and it just fits); Special A (because he's a little special)

Nadia - Miss Fabulous (for the poses she strikes when you pick her up), Girly Girl (because she is all girl), Pissy Missy (for those occasional tantrums), Rosebud (given by Grandma Smith)

And finally some pictures from the past 6 weeks: