Drum Roll........The New Kitchen!

Firstly - Wow!!! I just hit 10,000 views!

Finally managed to take some decent shots of the kitchen! With everything looking nice - except the floors and the painting - but we'll get to that eventually! I absolutely love it. I actually have too much storage, yep, too much!

Unfortunately it looks very dark in this photo. It is a dark space, but we are putting more lights up.

Love my island bench. I prepare dinner here and the kids sit on the other side and chat away to me. Much better than being stuck behind a wall!

These stools are not going to stay. They were just lying around so we thought we'd use them. Eventually we'll have 5 there!

I actually have a real pantry now! It looks small, but is surprisingly big inside.

The love of my life. Seriously! Lot's of yummy family meals will be cooked here in the future!

The view from the front door, looking into the kitchen.

 The view from the kitchen looking into the lounge. I have no idea why people would have wanted a wall here? It just opens up this space so much!

 As well as the Blum soft closed drawers, they threw in these 2 drawer organisers. I want more.

 I also love my sink. And my tap. The left hand sink has a tray over the top to dry things on, or as I like to do, hide things under. It also came with a colander type attachment, a chopping board, and a drainer that sits in the sink.

 Just to prove how much I love it. Here it is again. From another angle.

A massively huge thank you to the guys from Look Cabinets for running the competition. Creative stone for the bench tops, Kleenmaid for their amazing new appliances, Laminex for the splash back, Blum products, Cam the plumber, Dave the electrician and all the tradies that helped it all come together!

The bench tops are White Diamonds (they have a beautiful sparkle in them), Cupboards are Dulux Limed White (full strength) as a gloss coat. We will be painting the rest of the house in this colour, but at a quarter strength.. The splash back is a Laminex product called Metaline. I'm not sure of the colour name, but it's lovely and has a layer of metal, then perspex then another layer of metal. Super easy to clean too. Kicks are a brushed steel.

I couldn't have asked for a better 'present'. Honestly, it still hasn't truly sunk in that we WON this kitchen. Who wins a kitchen?!? There is no way that we would have been able to afford something like this when we did eventually get around to doing the kitchen. I feel so blessed to have it, and my wonderful family and friends at this time in my life. Yes, the triple hormones are getting to me a little bit now.   :)

Scan Update - 28 weeks 3 days

So very excited to say that our babies are growing amazingly!

Just to remind you where they were at 6 weeks ago, then 3 weeks ago and then today's measurements:

A (Isaac):  541g (1lb3oz), then 836g (1lb13oz), now 1256g (2lb12oz)
B (Dylan): 639g (1lb7oz), then 942g (2lb1oz), now 1604g (3lb9oz)
C (Ailah): 599g (1lb5oz), then 885g (1lb15oz), now 1312g (2lb14oz)

Some Facts:

In the last 3 weeks they have put on approximately 500g to 700g each!

I am now carrying a touch over 4kg of babies, Jordan was 4.2kg (9lb4oz) born

Plus the weight of 3 placentas!

My goal  is for them to be around 2.5kg at birth. That means they need to put on 3.5kg all together in the next 7 weeks!

That's approximately 500g a week, all together.

So if they keep putting on what they have in the last 3 weeks (500g - 700g each), we should reach that goal!!

Go the protein shakes!

Oh - and my cervix is still shut tightly and.....drum roll......5cm in length!!! Go super cervix!

No pictures as they were a bit squishy today.

Hello 3rd Trimester!

Well, today marks the first day of my 3rd trimester! Hopefully it is not a sign of things to come though. As soon as I went to sit up this morning I knew that I wasn't well. I felt a bit light headed and woosy, but ignoring it I got the kids sorted in front of the TV and made myself a cuppa. The dizziness wouldn't go away so I thought I'd better eat something. But when I got up to make myself some toast I felt even worse. I even told the kids that I really wasn't feeling well and that I might fall over......I said this because just last week I went through how to ring 000 (Emergency Services for any non-Aussies reading) and one of the things I had said was if Mummy falls over and you can't wake me up......I ate my toast on the couch, really not well, then re-tested my blood sugar levels to see if that was causing the problem. Nope, all fine. So I rang the doctor and she rang the hospital who rang me and told me to come up straight away.......then I rang my lovely friend Karen and had her take the kids to school and kindy, and my Mum to take me up to the hospital......after lots of checks, blood tests, blood pressure checks and CTG scans checking the babies' heart beats (and some lunch) I was allowed home. Because I haven't been well they think that my system is down a bit and I have a viral 'thing' that has affected my middle ear and of course, balance.

By the time I left I felt much better, not much dizziness, so it will be interesting to see how I go tomorrow morning.....

So hopefully that is my only 'scare' for this pregnancy! It was so lovely to have people drop everything to help me out, makes me feel very special. I suppose it was a bit of a trial run for me, and I was very calm. I could feel the babies having a fat old time in there, so I wasn't too worried about them, more about what my body was doing. In my mind I was thinking 'ok, if this it it and there is a problem, I'm 28 weeks so I'll end up in Brisbane, possibly sectioned very soon.' And you know what? I was ok with that. Whatever keeps myself, Isaac, Dylan and Ailah safe.

Lots more reflux happening now, if I've been sitting for a while my hips ache when I go to stand and walk, but it disappears straight away (a sign of things to come maybe), and still have pins and needles in the finger tips of my 3 middle fingers on each hand. Other than that, I feel great! 28 weeks was my first of 3 goals, so I'm very happy to get to here. 32 is the next one, which is average for a triplet pregnancy, and they class anything over that as 'gold', but of course my third goal is 35 weeks. But a little voice inside my head has always said 36. We'll see. I'm on the home stretch, into single digits, with 7 weeks to my final goal.

I'm confident.

It's funny, the black dress used to come to my feet when I first started taking these pics! Next week I'll have to hold up my boobs for the tummy one - it goes up far higher than you can see - and much lower!

Here's my growth for the 2nd Trimester, from 13 weeks to 27 weeks!

I know I've promised a kitchen post but I'm waiting for a nice sunny day to take the pics as the colours look better - needless to say - I LOVE it!

27 Weeks

Sorry for not posting for 2 weeks! I've been sick with a nasty cold that has all but gone apart from my 'smokers cough' as Daniel calls it. Straight up I want to say a huge thank you to my wonderful friends and family who have checked in, helped out and cooked for us these last 2 weeks. You know who you are :)

As well as the cold, we have managed to finish the nursery and the kitchen is almost finished too! Here's a sneak peek at the kitchen. It went from this:

To this!

All will be finished on Monday (except the painting and floor), so I'm super excited to
a) have a NEW kitchen, and
b) have a WORKING kitchen again!
Lets just say that the BBQ and I do not get along. Sure, there have been a few hiccups along the way, which have been rather annoying....but, I won a kitchen! So, really, I don't care (as long as the problems got fixed - which they did)! Once it's all done on Monday, I'll do a 'kitchen post' with lots of pics and of course, the finished product.

I feel that the time is just ticking away nicely now. What a lovely feeling it was to wake up this morning and know that I've hit 27 weeks. A lady that had her triplets a week ago (who was 5 weeks in front of me) had hers at 30 weeks. Her littlest bub was the same size as my biggest, which made me feel like I'm growing super babies! My first two babies were 9lb4oz and 8lb8oz so I figure I've got genes on my side.

Still sleeping apart from Daniel, which has its pros and cons of course. I can't lie in one position for more than about an hour at night, then the whole process of turning over occurs. Firstly I have to lift my tummy with my hands, then pull the pillow out, then put the pillow on the other side, then assist my tummy in the actual rolling over process. I'm getting fairly quick at it now! So, I think Daniel has it pretty good in the nursery single bed!

I wear my prenatal cradle from the minute I get up until I have a shower in the evenings, and I tell you, it makes a huge difference. Even the hour or two after my shower before I go to bed, I can feel the stretch that my belly weight puts on my skin. I think I've hit my full term with a singleton size - in an outwards direction - but I carried much higher with them, so there's still a bit of room to stretch upwards. And then some!

This dress at 6.5 weeks used to almost touch my toes.....now it is almost up to my knees. And I finally have to put it on over my head instead of pulling it up over my belly!

The stretch marks are certainly coming out in full force now, not matter how much oil I put on. Doesn't really worry me though, they are my battle scars :)

I added to my belly collage finally too. Starts at 6.5 weeks and through to 27 weeks.

And this one shows the difference in size in just 2 weeks! I didn't even realise I'd grown this much!

I did my Glucose Tolerance Test up at the hospital last week, and when I walked in there was another pregnant mum who had just started hers. As I got chatting to the plebotomist while she took my first lot of blood, she asked how far along I was, which of course brought up the topic of triplets. She looked at me in shock and pointed to the other lady and said - 'so is she!'

So I got to chat to the lovely Linda for the 2 hours it took to do our tests. She is 17 weeks and also would love a natural birth, and lives close to me. So I gave her all the 'goss' on who to see and what to say about natural birth......she went straight upstairs afterwards and told them she wanted to be put in Ted's clinic. You go girl!

Then we met again on Tuesday at a Gestational Diabetes chat at the hospital. Cue sad face. We both got called at 8am telling us the news and that we needed to be at the hospital for an information session at 10:30. My level at the end of my GTT was 10.5 - very high! So now I have to test my blood sugar 4 times a day and try to keep it at certain levels. I'm pretty much doing the right things already food wise, but I can't really exercise. I go back next week to chat to the obstetric dietician and they will look at my record book and decide if I need to go on insulin. A pain, but I am thinking that it may also help boost these babies' weight up a bit too! And if this is the only 'bad' thing to happen in this pregnancy, then that's ok too!

A Quickie

Just a super quick post to let you all know the scan went perfect! They practically jumped around the entire time so my poor sonographer had a hard time getting some measurements. I couldn't believe how active they were!

Stats as follows:
Baby A - Isaac: 836g/1lb13oz - measuring a day ahead of dates
Baby B - Dylan: 942g/2lb1oz - measuring a week ahead of dates - he's our little fatty!
Baby C - Ailah: 885g/1lb15oz - measuring 3 days ahead of dates
I'm so very please with these weights! Even the sonographer was shocked! Hopefully they continue to grow at this rate, so in another 9 or so weeks they'll all be over 2kg heading towards that magical 2.5kg mark that I'd so love to achieve.

 Fatty Dylan, who is so much like his older brother Jordan!

 Cranky pants Miss Ailah!

And the kitchen has started going in!!! All very exciting, can't wait to put everything back in the cupboards and have my house back to normal!

Also, I've been manically washing, drying, folding and putting away baby clothes and wraps and blankets and sheets! Mum even took some home!

A Busy Weekend

After a family filled weekend last weekend, and the constant rain throughout the week that saw us flooded in on Thursday, it was lovely to see the sun the last 2 days. Although Daniel couldn't go TO work, to be paid for the majority of the week, I had the whip cracking at his heels whilst he was home. I don't think he rested.

At the start the of week, we moved out of our old room, into our new room. The new room is 6m away from the house, so we set up the new baby monitor and explained to the kids how it worked. Needless to say we had a little visitor at 1am. The next night Daniel opted to begin 'sleep overs' on the floor of the kids rooms while I got to sleep in my 'hotel room'. It's dark. It's quiet. I've had lots of sleep ins this week! 

After moving our stuff out of our old room, Daniel began the prep and on Tuesday the nursery looked like this:

This continued throughout the week, with the ceiling being painted and the walls with their first coat on. By Saturday Daniel was feeling a little 'painted out'. So my beautiful best mate Taryn came over with her little boy, Reef, for a play. Little did she know that she'd end up offering to cut in for the rest of the day! Thanks babe!

Love, love, love the colour. It matches one of the blue's in the cot doona sets that I'm making. Yes, I'm anal about things matching. That's why I still don't have a 3rd cot....but that's another story.

Sunday saw Mick come over to install my amazing triplet cupboard. He worked on it all day on Saturday with Cheyne (Taryn's hubby). Let's just say I don't think Cheyne will be too keen to help with the other cupboards Mick is making!

Pretty new power points were installed. Another matching anal trait. My husband just sighs now.

And at one point he forgot how close he was to the newly painted wall and head butted it. Leaving a lovely blue splotch on his head for the rest of the day.

Told you it was amazing hey? Doors will come eventually. One day. A long way away.

And you may recall us winning a brand new kitchen?? You got it - we said bye bye to the old one on Friday!

This is what it looked like when I went to drop the kids off at kindy and vacation care. The book case down the hall is our pantry for the next week. Notice the 'cleanish' floor?

 

And this is what I came home to. Not happy. The electricians had to chisel into the block walls to move lots of power points. Yes, renovating is dirty and dusty. But at least tell me how much mess you may make so I know to shut the kids bedroom doors, cover all our plates and food in our 'pantry', cover the remaining kitchen items I hadn't yet put away and cover the TV and DVD player. Seriously?! Luckily Kerry arrived about 10 minutes after they started and began covering things and shutting doors or it could have been a lot worse. He then stayed and helped me clean it all up and pack the rest of everything away. Legend x

 

Change of pace. Our little pickings from our orchid. Yummy mandarins and some cumquats that I'll turn into marmalade when I have a stove top back. The kids (Reef and Amali) enjoyed the sweet mandy's.

And little miss helper decided she could put yoghurt into 3 bowls for everyone. Her brilliant helping failed when all the yoghurt slid into the first bowl. Times like these you have to just laugh!

Saturday night saw Amali at Grandi's for a sleep over. Mummy and Daddy were too exhausted to cook dinner for Jordan, so he chose his own. Roast lamb sandwich with cheese and baked beans. Umm, yum?

And what better to do with old power points? Give them to an inquisitive, bored 5 year old to pull apart. They are now in his 'box of treasures'.

And as for me. I finally remembered to weigh myself. I am now 88kg. And I'm happy! That means I have put on 20kg since falling pregnant - almost 1kg a week since I found out. Right on 'recommended' weight gain for a triplet pregnancy. Yes, it's heavy. Yes, I now wear my prenatal cradle all day. Yes, it helps. A lot. Tasks that last week seemed ok to do, are now a struggle. The kids and Daniel constantly get 'can you pick that up for me?' Sleeping is a tough one. Between my bladder constantly filling and 2 little boys jumping up and down on my cervix and a little girl kicking me in the ribs......lets say it's good training for when they arrive. I only last about an hour on each side or my back, then I roll over, clutching the pillow and my belly. I love having the bed to myself! 

My fingers stay slightly fizzy all day now, and my feet have definitely remembered what swelling in pregnancy is all about. Nothing near as bad as the last 2 pregnancies - summer babies. Need I say anything more?

25 weeks and 2 days. Less than 10 weeks to go to my final goal of 35 weeks. Wow, I just realised that means I'm into single digits! 9 weeks and 5 days!!! I can do it. I will do it. And just to prove myself, I'll go to 36 weeks.

Yes, you can see my nipple. Sorry about that. But I am trying to keep an accurate record of my beautiful growing belly. I can tell how much bigger I have gotten in the 2 weeks since my last picture, as my boobs are now sitting on the top of my belly! I didn't want to crop it any lower though......for obvious reasons! The strechies are out in force now, but still not as bad as some singleton pregnancies I've seen. Still drinking my protein shakes daily (yuck), but have cut back a bit on the eating and resting. I promised myself once I hit 25 weeks that I'd focus (again) on this. And I will. I have made my last trip to the plaza, and to Bunnings. I physically cannot do it anymore. And I don't feel bad saying no. My babies need me to chill out so they can stay in there longer and grow.

And lastly this week I'll leave you with the newest members of the Trama family. Ella and Louie's puppies. 1 male, 1 female. Super cute. They now have their eyes open and will be ready to go off to homes in 6 weeks time.

The girl is the darker one. She is also far larger. Cute little runty boy though!

Off for another growth scan tomorrow though, will update you all then!