Hilton Head

We've arrived in Hilton Head, and so has my brother. The hotel was a PITA to find since the address given was a property management office with an after hours drop box to pick up the keys. Of course, I had to call to get the combo and then figure out (for myself, as the idiot on the phone didn't know a damn thing) that my hotel wasn't labeled specifically, but was instead in the catch-all box at the end. I took nearly an hour to find the office and then find the hotel.
But we made it, eventually.


The hotel is pretty nice, and the kids like their new crib.


That is two mattresses covered by their comforter, between two twin beds. Pretty nice padding!!

New Videos

Here are some new videos we took this week. The first is Heather laughing at the Q's tricks and the second is William being tickled. Enjoy!

And the Lukacs Triplets, weighing in at...

Okay, so it's been a while since we've last posted, but let me tell you, a lot has gone on. We've moved from Rhode Island to Virginia, bought our first house, had the kids baptized, and went to my fathers wedding...which was beautiful. All of this has happened in just the last 2 1/2 months. Now we are trying to finish moving in, prepare for a deployment, and raise 3 kids. Can I have a nap? : )

Anyway, the kids are going to be 6 months tomorrow, Friday, and because of that they have seen the doctor and been weighed. Heather, my happy little girl, is a girly 12.2 lbs. John, my screechy little boy, is a solid 13lbs. And William, who used to be my tiniest little thing, is now tipping the scales at 14lbs!!!!! He is our little Chunky Monkey. They are all eating well, and the doctor says they are doing wonderfully. So, we go back at 9 months as long as nothing happens till then.

John and I are great. John loves his job on USS LABOON, and I am edging my way through the perils of weight loss; I'm down 12 lbs and counting. I guess we'll see.

And that is all for now, more kids stuff soon.

More Portrait Simple Photos

Here is a link to the latest round of photos taken at Portrait Simple. This time with Pop-pop and Nonna.

Portrait Simple Online Gallery

The password is 5186.

Scrapbooking

I've created a website to order my Creative Memories items through. As you know, Creative Memories is a photo-preservation and scrapbooking company that sells lots of high-quality items to both store, scrapbook, and display all your memory items - not just photos, but any brochures, programs, tickets, or any other type of memento you've collected over the years!

Please take a moment and look at what I can offer you to help preserve your memories. Send me an email if you have any questions or have a specific interest you don't find on the site. All the items on the site can be shipped directly to you, so you don't have to wait for me to mail it.

Here's a link to the site.

Happy Scraping!

Major Updates!

The triplets just got back from their 4 month doctor's visit- they got all their shots and also got weighed and measured.

Guess what? William is now bigger by a whole ounce (being generous to John, it's probably a little more than that). The stats are now:

Heather: 10lbs 7oz
John: 10lbs 12oz
William: 10lbs 13oz

WOW!!! No wonder my arms hurt when I carry them in their car seats. BTW, we took the infant inserts out of their car seats yesterday when it started crunching their necks!

Finally, here is the long anticipated video: Rolling Rolling Rolling.

More Pictures of our new Home

I was fooling around on Microsoft's Live Search 3D map engine. It only has 3D maps for major cities right now, but it does have some cool side-angle shots of much of the US. Here is our current place in Newport:


And here is our new place in Suffolk:

I am getting very excited about this!!

Family Photos from Portrait Simple Studios

While Grandma and Grandpa were up here, we went to the photo studio that Sarah and I are members of to get family photos. We spent a good hour there and got some great photos of us and the triplets. The entire session is available online, but we only bought from the first 20 or so photos on the website (we sorted them by preference first, then chose which ones to buy). We bought the compilations mostly.

To access the archive, click here and choose the session from 17Feb2007. When prompted for the password it is "5186".

Where is the House I'm Trying to Buy?

See the virtual tour of the home at VisualTour.com

Pictures!

Sarah took these this weekend.

Check that...WILLIAM is growing like a weed

Sarah just had their formal-on-the-record doctor visit and it turns out that William is no longer the littlest one. He pass Heather by 3oz yesterday. He's closing in on John, too! I'll update this with the actual numbers when Sarah reminds me of them...

Holy Growing-Like-Weeds Batman!

The triplets got their monthly flu shot yesterday, and in order to get the dosage correct they had to get weighed. The results were a shock to both of us: John came in a 7lbs 11oz. William came in a 7lbs 1 oz. Heather is somewhere in between.

We noticed that they had outgrown nearly all the Preemie stuff, and we had to shift to Newborn diapers already, but we had no idea they'd gotten so big!

Remember when we thought that William would probably do really well outside the womb because of the way he had to fight tooth-and-nail (so to speak) for everything he got inside? As confirmation of that suspicion, it's interesting to note that in the same period that John and Heather grew roughly 50oz, William grew 60oz - a 20% faster growth rate! Dang!

Pictures will be forthcoming soon.

They're ALL Home Now!!

Finally, all 3 of our wonderful babies are home, safe and sound. Here is a photo of them in the family bassinet.

The absence of posts says it all.

John and Heather came home on Dec 26th, and we've been a little too busy to post for the last few days. Here are the photos of them just before we left the hospital (The afghans were made by their Great-Grandmother).

Sarah and I have been doing pretty well so far. We have been blessed with very content children. They sleep well and long - so much so that we've had to wake them up several times to feed them! We even took them to Walmart to get a few items.

Christmas Party in the CCN

The triplets have all been moved to the Continuing Care Nursery (CCN). That's a great thing, since it means they no longer need the level of care the NICU provides. The nurses say the kids in their care are on the "feed and grow" plan. It looks good for us to take Heather and John home tomorrow! William needs another 10 days or so of growing - he's still got to gain about 330 grams (~11 oz).

We put them in the Christmas outfits their Grandma got them - the first of many embarrassments we are sure to cause them! They looked so cute!!

Oh. By the way, Sarah's Home

Sarah came home on Tuesday afternoon. It would have been headline news, but the babies did something special. I can't recall exactly what it was, but I'm sure it was special - after all, it trumped Sarah's return home, right? Musta been something...

Just kidding! Sarah is doing spectacularly! She's healing nicely, she's up and about, and she fitting back into her early pregnancy clothes. She's got a little while before she'll fit back into her pre-pregnancy clothes, but one thing at a time!

They've Gone Wireless!!

Here's a picture of Heather in her first night of wireless activity - she's off the IV and taking all her nutrients by mouth now. She's up to 40cc per feeding (every 4 hours), a jump of almost 10cc from the previous day.


The nurses tell us that John is scheduled to come off the IV tonight, and they are considering a "do not reattach" order for William (they won't take it off, but if it comes off don't put it back on). So all three are fighting hard to get to come home!

----

Both William and Heather are done with the Jaundice treatment. Hopefully tonight John will finish up as well.

Heeeerrree's Jaundice!!

We fully expected this - it is almost guaranteed in premies (and common in full-term babies too) to get Jaundice. It is an inability of the liver to break down excess red blood cells from the birthing process. Those cells collect in the skin and eye tissue and cause a yellowness. The light helps break it down.



William got it first, and by the time this is posted he should be off it. Then Heather and John followed suit the next day. They should all be done by Monday with the treatment.

--Break--

As far as their progress, everything goes very well. Heather and John are both taking 20cc's of formula/milk at each of 4 daily feedings and asking for more! For their size they need to take about 28cc's before they can come off the IV drip. That should be in the next day or two if they continue as they have. Both are back up over the 1800grams necessary to leave the NICU, too. Once they get off the IV, they are going to be weaned off of the heaters over about 3 days. Once that's done they can come home!!

William is fighting hard, but he's just won't be able to make up the distance between him and his siblings before they leave. He was the first to get and finish his Jaundice treatment, the first to start growing (all babies lose a little wieght right after birth), and the first to take food from a bottle. But he's just too small to come home yet. Poor little guy, he's fighting so hard! He'll probably be another week behind John and Heather.

Here they are!!

They have all arrived! All the babies and Sarah are doing unbelievably well! It is physically and statistically impossible for them to all be doing this well. Sarah is healing very quickly and will be discharged probably on Tuesday.

All three were breathing on their own right away - no intibation necessary. They are taking food via formula, and two of the three are well above the minimum weight necessary to go home. Heather and John could be home by the end of the week!! William has to gain about 400 more grams before he can come home. Still, I couldn't have asked for more!!

Heather Teagan was born at 9:30 at 4 lbs 1 oz. She appears to have Blue eyes and brown hair.

John Andrew V was born at 9:30 at 4 lbs 7 oz. He appears to have Blue eyes and Strawberry Blonde hair.

William Frederick was born at 9:31 at 3 lbs 3 oz. He appears to have Red hair and he has the most brilliant green eyes!

William is by far the most energetic - the doctor predicted he would be because he had to fight so hard to get nutrients inside. He is moving even when he sleeps.

The doctors and nurses have been nothing short of excellent. Here is a photo of the organized chaos in the OR at the time of delivery. Each baby had a team of nurses assigned, so the room was quite full!

Are we ready for this?!?

This is just a quick note to let everyone know that the Triplets are scheduled to be delivered tomorrow morning at 8AM. There is no pressing health concern for the babies or for Sarah, but both are showing increasing signs of stress and it’s time for them to be born. Please pray for all five of us. As soon as I have pictures they will be posted here.

Sarah will need about 4 days of recovery time in the hospital, and we don’t yet know when the babies will be able to come home. However, Sarah did a fantastic job going all the way to nearly 34 weeks, so it’s possible they will come home sooner rather than later. Here’s hoping!!

Cheers!