'Tis The Season

Taylor is 18 months today and is such a happy baby girl.  This morning after she finished her oatmeal she put the bowl to her mouth and said, "dog!".  She totally caught me off guard and I starting laughing out loud at her.  I was thinking to myself, 'Yes, dogs drink and eat from a bowl but humans do not'.  It was so sweet and innocent and both of us got a good laugh out of her 18 month old humor.  :)  Taylor and Mia are the best of friends or 'thick as thieves' as Michael says.  She is talking more all of the time and has the cutest little run.  This weekend Michael, Taylor and I had our family Christmas and Taylor seemed to enjoy every minute.  We're excited to spend this Christmas weekend with her and the rest of our family.  She is also loving her Christmas cookies right now.  Wonder where she gets her sweet tooth?!?!  This weekend Grandma and Grandpa Kamp were here babysitting and Grandpa asked her to go to the store and gets him some cookies.  She went right to the cookies in the kitchen and of course got her way.  :)  She is still a pretty good eater and a great sleeper.  I'll take 12-13 hours at night and two naps while I can!!  

I can't believe this was 18 months ago already.  We love you all the way to the moon and back sissy!

Taylor thought unwrapping presents was tough.  There was a lot of grunting as if she was moving mountains.  

Daddy, Taylor and Mia... love them all to pieces!

Ahh... This is so much fun mama and dada.

Mamaw Ruster and I took Taylor to Christmas at the Zoo last night. 

14 week triplet belly.  Everyone is still doing well.  We have two routine appointments over the next couple weeks so I should have a few more details for you.   

P.S. - I'm watching Michael put together Taylor's kitchen Santa got her.  I can't wait to see her reaction!  At the rate Michael is going it might be ready for next Christmas.  :) 

The past few weeks in the Kamp household has been a lot of fun.  Taylor is a week shy of 18 months and has been very entertaining during this Christmas season.  She is talking more all of the time and has such a cute personality.  Here are a few highlights from that past couple weeks:

Taylor's hair seems to be growing like a weed so I try to put it up when I can.  However, she tries to pull it out which can make things very tricky. :)

Taylor has also discovered the dryer over the past few weeks.  She loves to crawl in the dryer and snuggle the warm clothes.  She has a blast while it lasts and is always disappointed when play time in the dryer is over.  I'm confident she'll be folding clothes in few short months.  :)

We had our first appointment with our OB on Monday and the triplets and mommy are all doing well.  The babies are all still measuring right on track and had doubled in size in two weeks.  I still feel great and do not have any restrictions at this time so I feel very fortunate for that.

This is the most recent picture of all three of the babies.  Hopefully, Baby A, B and C are a little more clear for you to see here.  If things go well we hope to find out the sexes of these little ones at our next appointment on Jan. 3.

Here is a picture of me 12 weeks pregnant with triplets and yes I feel like I'm a lot further along because of the size of my belly.  The book I'm reading about triplets states that with triplets, your uterus is the same size as that of a singleton mom who is 10 to 12 weeks further along in her pregnancy.  That pretty much sums it up because I remember being this size with Taylor and I was over half way through my pregnancy.  I've worn a few maternity tops but they'll be in full swing in no time.  :)

Lastly, I had the opportunity today to have breakfast with a childhood friend who is expecting twins.  Shortly after we left and went our own ways I thought that not too often due two women sit down for breakfast and eat for seven!!  Pretty amazing if you think about it!

I hope you're enjoying your holiday season with friends and family.  Take care.

XOXO

So Much To Be Thankful For

This Thanksgiving was another success for the Kamp Family.  We have a lot to be thankful for including our 17-month old baby girl that continues to bring joy to our lives on a daily basis and the three turkeys that will continue to cook in Mommy's oven for at least another 22 weeks.  :)  We also continue to be thankful for both of our amazing families and friends, new and old.  We have now told most of our friends and family about our exciting news.  It is really neat to see/ hear everyone's reaction.  I even told Michael I should be writing down that first thing that comes our of peoples mouth and making a post just of those, but it is too late to start.  I have a few favorites that I'm sure I'll remember for a long time.  

 The Kamp Family, Thanksgiving 2011

 Taylor, our 17-month old dancin' turkey!

10-Week Triplet Belly 

Do you see what I see?

I know this might be kind of hard to make out but it is the best picture we received today of the Kamp Triplets.  All of the babies look great and are measuring right on track for nine weeks and two days.  This was our first appointment where we haven't had any surprises so it was actually quite enjoyable.  I'll check back in after our appointment with our OB in two weeks.  

Happy Thanksgiving!  

Where to start?!?!

Many of you know, Michael and I had trouble getting pregnant the first time around.  When Taylor approached one year old we started thinking about her being a big sister.  Soon after I finished breastfeeding we went back to see our fertility doc to find out what we were up against.  Our first roadblock was that I had a cyst on my right ovary the size of a golf ball.  This had to shrink or be removed in order to try to get pregnant.  Right away it looked like this was going to be another journey.  With a little birth control and two cycles the cyst was gone and we were cleared to try to get pregnant.  After two unsuccessful cycles and a lot of arthritis pain for me, we went back to our fertility doc ready to get the ball rolling.  We were going to try exactly what we did before getting pregnant with Taylor on my next cycle.  Soon the familiar process began...taking pills and injections for the first ten days, followed by blood draw to check hormone levels, and lastly an ultrasound to see how many mature follicles were present.  I had two mature follicles so we got the green light from the doc.  After everything was is in place the waiting game began.  We waited 16 days before our first blood draw.  The first blood draw came back positive but the Hcg level seemed to be really high, 1150.  When I asked the nurse about it all she said was that the numbers have to double in two days and then we would follow up with a 6-week ultrasound.  My thought was, " Well yeah, but that still seems really high."  Back to the waiting game.  So Wednesday morning rolls around and I go back for my blood draw.  We were actually in Taylor's 16-month well visit later that afternoon when the nurse called and left me a message that the Hcg levels had doubled so now we have to wait for our 6-week ultrasound.  Again, the Hcg levels were very, very high, 3551.  At this point knowing the Hcg levels were really high, we tried to mentally start preparing ourselves that we could be having twins.  Twins don't sound so bad do they!?!?  :)  So we wait for our 6-week ultrasound, which is on Halloween (Happy Birthday Annie).  We have two heartbeats confirmed!! And there is a third sack, but the doc can't find a heartbeat in the third sack.  WOW,  so it looks like we are staring twins straight in the eye and maybe triplets.  The Kamp family is sure about to change!!  So we wait one more week and go back Nov. 7 (Happy Birthday Jill).  Three sacks and three heartbeats are confirmed.  Michael and I are now expecting parents of TRIPLETS!  Three beating hearts...All fraternal...Simply amazing and mind-boggling all at the same time.  As you can imagine, we have been on an emotional roller coaster since Nov. 7.  So many things go through our heads on a daily basis, but I will tell you I get a little bit more excited/ accepting of the situation every day!

Michael and I just returned from a six-day vacation to the Monterey/ Carmel, CA.  It was much needed and could not have come at a better time to say the very least.  We had a lot of time with just the two of us to reconnect and talk about our future.  A lot of times we laugh (Michael is pretty good at getting me to do that), sometimes I cry and sometimes both.  We know that we have our challenges ahead of us, but we cannot discount the fact that we have also been truly blessed.  After all, we had trouble having one baby and now we're going to have four children and be a family of six!  Never in a million years did I think I would be saying that.  So that is where we currently are in our journey and I plan to keep you all updated along the way through this blog.

We could not have made it through the past 3-4 weeks without the love and support our family has provided us through their positive encouragement and unconditional love.  THANK YOU!

Thank you Nicole for suggesting I start this blog.  A two-year old, newborn triplets, a blog... sounded like I needed something else to do.  LOL!

If you need cheap entertainment or some diaper-changing practice next summer, feel free to stop by the Kamp Ground!

In all seriousness, we do appreciate all of the the thoughts and prayers.

Until next time, take care.

XOXO