Another McMahon Family Update

Well, it's been a month since the last entry, so I figured that I should write another update. For those of you who are still checking...sorry that we've become rather lazy in typing entries. This summer has flown by so quickly, it some ways everything seems like a blur. The girls are continuing to develop normally and become more active. Makaila is now pushing her upper body up, rolling around the room, laughing, making cooing noises, grasping toys with both hands and getting ready to start crawling. Faith is basically doing the same things, although she gets more frustrated when she is in the crawling position on her tummy. The other day we started feeding them solids, which they tolerated well (while making many funny faces). At their pediatrition appointment last week, Makaila weighed in at a whopping 13.8 lbs, and Faith was slightly lighter at 12.15 lbs. Both girls are in the 10th-15th percentile for their weight (which means 85-90% of children their age are heavier). Two weeks ago, Makaila had a brief three night hospital stay due to a urinary track infection. I decided to take her into emergency because she had been fighting a fever for a few days, and sure enough, after doing blood work and taking a urine sample, she tested positive for e-coli in her urine. As a s result, she was put on antibiotics for 10 days.
We will be heading off for three weeks of holidays at the end of the month where we will be spending most of our time at Sprout Lake. Graham's parents have offered to take all three kids for three nights, so Graham and I will be staying at a cabin (without kids) in Ucluelet. We also plan on visiting great-grandparents in Victoria as well as my parents in Courtenay. The day after we return from our holidays, Graham will be doing the kick-off for his Wednesday night youth nights.

Thanks for checking back with us every so often. You can assume that no new entries means that life with three children is extremely busy and that there's not much time to do anything else at this time. No news is good news.

Blessings,
The McMahons

McMahon Family Update

For those of you who keep checking our blog, (Paulette Grieve) we apologize for our lack of blog entries these past few months. Let's just say that our lives are very different now that the girls are home from the hospital, and I have a hard time finding any free time in my schedule to sit at the computer and write.
We cannot thank you enough for your faithful prayers. The girls are both doing extremely well. We have regular appointments with our pediatrition, the infant development center as well as the neonatal follow-up program at BC Children's Hospital for developmental assessments and we're always encouraged by the news that we receive. Makaila is "on track" with her development and is acting like a healthy full-term baby weighing in at a whopping 11.9 lbs. Faith is a little smaller (only 11 pounds), and is doing the same things as her younger sister - she's just a few weeks behind. Countless doctors and nurses that we have come in contact with along the way have stated that our girls are doing 'absolutely amazing' for all that they've been through - and we wouldn't say anything different. The Lord has given us the gift of two absolutely beautiful miracle babies - and an incredible story to tell as well.
On the practical side of things, we've had a constant stream of house guests staying with us to help us out. My mom has been here a total of eight weeks since the girls have been home from the hospital. Graham's parents and my sister have also come to help us out for a week at a time. We're now just getting to the point (almost 4 months later) where we no longer have people phoning to ask us when we want them to stay and help us out. I have several close friends who live in Abbotsford who have also been a huge help - whether it's volunteering to take Isaiah so that I can have a break, helping to clean my house or feed the babies - they've all been amazing.
We're looking forward to a fun summer filled with lots of friends and family and a few trips along the way. In one more week one of my best friends will be visiting for a few days from Saskatchewan with her husband and daughter. We then have a friend staying with us the last weekend of June. In early July I plan on taking the kids to Courtenay for one week while Graham is away in Oregan on a youth trip. We also have plans to head to Kelowna to celebrate my grandmother's 85th birthday at the beginning of August, and have scheduled our own family vacation the first three weeks in September. We're just hoping that some time in between all of these events we'll manage to find time to finish painting our house!
All in all...life seems to be settling into routine now. I'm no longer completely 'freaked out' to be left home alone with all three of my children :-) All I can say is "hats off" to those women who have triplets!!!

Update on Faith & Makaila 23

Last Friday my mom and I took Faith and Makaila into Children's hospital so that Faith could have her second MRI and Makaila could have an eye exam. Both girls did very well - considering it was a very long eight hour day. We were pleased to hear the results of Faith's MRI. Before going into the exam, we had been told that there might be some concern that Faith's head was growing at a faster rate than normal (which could mean that fluid was collecting in her brain). Of course, this concerned both Graham and I, so we were quite eager to receive the results of the MRI for some peace of mind. Later that evening, Dr. Miller called us at home to give us the results. (Dr. Miller is one of eight top neurologists in the world who is following Faith and Makaila's development). First of all he reassured me that Faith's head is a normal size - in fact, it is in the 50% percentile (good news). He then said that the ventricles in Faith's head are a little larger than he would normally expect and that they ARE larger than Makaila's ventricles. Essentially this is due to one of three things. #1 - it could be due to genetics (afterall, the McMahon's have been known to have large heads). #2 - it could be due to previous trauma to the brain (which could have occurred when Faith was first born) - however this is unlikely as there are no other visible signs to indicate that there has been trauma to the brain. #3 - there IS fluid collecting in the brain - which one could assume if her head continues to grow abnormally fast. At any rate, the doctors will continue to keep a close watch on Faith's head size throughout these next few months to rule out the last possible reason for her "larger than expected" ventricles.

In other news, the girls seem to be adjusting well to being at home. I think we're finally starting to settle into a bit of a routine. My mom went home to Courtenay to celebrate the Easter long weekend with my dad, so Graham and I have been doing the parent thing on our own these last few days. Things have gone relatively smoothly - despite a few minor hiccups along the way. I asked Graham to describe these last few days in only three words and he said "fun, complicated and busy". (I'm glad that he's finally had a taste of what my mom and I have been doing for the last month!)

Thanks everyone, for your suggestions on buying a used vehicle. Graham and I are pursuing things with the Motor Dealer Council of BC as well as Mastercard to see if we can get our $2000.00 deposit back. In the meantime, we have made a verbal commitment to buying another vehicle - a 2004 Toyota Sienna LE - from a lady in Whiterock. All the papers will be signed sometime later this week.
Happy Easter everyone! Thanks for continuing to read about our crazy lives!

New Photos!

We have posted new photos of Faith, Makaila, and the family on our photo blog: http://mcmahon-family-photos.blogspot.com/. Check them out!

Also, a few posts ago, Karyn mentioned that we had found a 2004 Toyota Sienna in Vancouver. Well, things went from bad, to worse, to absolutely terrible. To make a very long story short, the vehicle was not what we thought it was because the dealership did not disclose some very important details to us, we decided we didn't want it, asked for our deposit back, and they refused to give our $2000 back to us. So, we are currently out $2000 and we're trying to get it back through other means, but we're not holding our breath, nor do we have much time or energy to give to a lengthy fight. Sometimes we think we just need to write it off as an expensive learning experience (if you want to know what NOT to do when buying a used vehicle and what to look out for, just let us know and we'd be happy to enlighten you). Consequently, we still don't have a van either! So, if anyone knows anyone who wants to sell a 2004 or newer Toyota Sienna (we need the space and the backseat configuration this van provides) for a fair price, we're still looking! Your prayers for a good van we can afford would be appreciated too!

We are still trying to get the feeding thing down, but the girls are catching on. Sometimes it seems like all we do is feed them, but we are overjoyed to have them home. Isaiah is doing AWESOME!!! Our prayers to have him grow into a loving, caring, and protective big brother are being answered right before our eyes. When someone comes into our house Isaiah proudly introduces them to his little sisters and he's always kissing them and wanting to hug them. We are thoroughly grateful for this and we are so proud of him. Thanks so much for all of your support and prayers...we still covet them.

Blessings,

Graham

Welcome home Faith!

Thanks so much everyone for leaving your comments. It's so good to know that people are still thinking of us - especially as our lives have changed so dramatically within these past few weeks. We always wonder who is still following our journey...

Anyway...yes...we have some big news!!!

On Friday Graham and I went to the hospital to pick up Faith. It was rather strange...just knowing that there would be no more trips to the hospital. Again...feelings of 'surrealness'. Was this REALLY happening??? Is Faith REALLY coming home to live with us??? On the one hand this was the day that we had been dreaming about for so long...and yet it was also a very normal day. Nothing spectacular happened at the hospital. We just loaded her into her carseat, packed up her stuff, received some last minute instructions from the nurse, then we headed back home. It was all so easy. After 142 days of visiting Faith in the hospital and experiencing the emotional roller coaster of having two extremely premature babies...this leg of our journey was finally over. Nothing big and flashy. Just time to move on...

Faith has managed to fit into our daily routine very well. She's a great 'feeder'. (Much faster than Makaila who often spits up). At this point, our lives seem to revolve around food & changing diapers. Isaiah calls both girls "Taya" (a shortened version of Makaila's name). He's very affectionate towards both of them. To our suprise, Isaiah has decided to take potty training to the next level these past few weeks. He's now able to remove his own diaper (which we have discovered several times when we have gone into his room to retrieve him from his afternoon nap). We just know that one of these days we're going to discover something unpleasant in his room. Despite this however, we're excited that he's taking the initiative to potty train himself.

I've basically accepted the fact that it will be almost impossible to go anywhere with all three of our kids right now. At this stage, I think it would be too much hassle (with feeds, naps, potty training etc). We also don't really have a vehicle that would fit all of us and our gear (unfortunately the deal that we had made with buying the 2004 Toyota Sienna ended up falling through). That's okay. We don't mind being "home bodies".

Well...I'm sure there's probably lots more that I could say...but my time on the computer is very limited. Thanks again everyone for your continued prayers. I will be taking Faith into Children's hospital on Friday for her second MRI. Our pediatrition recently told us that her head is growing at a little faster rate than normal - so we're eager to get the results of the MRI. We're not too worried though. In all honesty, I think that she's just inherited a "McMahon head". We'll be sure to post the results when we recieve them.

Blessings,
The McMahon 5

Update on the McMahon family

Makaila has been home for almost three weeks now, and life is starting to settle into routine.
I have continued to visit Faith in the hospital everyday - however I admit it is getting harder and harder. How many days has it been already? Just out of curiousity...I decided to count...and its been 139 days. This means that I have probably visited the hospital over 200 times in the last five months. No wonder I was thinking to myself the other day "...I'm done!!...I can't handle this anymore...I want to get on with my life!!"
Fortunately we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. The doctors and nurses are preparing Faith to come home this Friday. Throughout the last two weeks she's been slowly weaned off her diuretics, and as of today everything was stopped. My mom is still staying with us - which is so awesome! She's been a great babysitter, cook, cleaner etc. In preparation for Faith's coming home, tonight Graham and I went mini-van shopping. We've known ever since we first found out that I was pregnant with twins that we would need a different vehicle, but neither of us have been too eager to go car shopping with everything else going on in our lives. We managed to find a 2004 Toyota Sienna in Vancouver for a decent price, so we put a down payment on it. Sometime in the next few days the subjects will be removed and we will be proud owners of a new, used vehicle.
For those of you who still read this blog - thanks! It's great to read the comments and know that people are still thinking about us. You've all been so encouraging! Thanks!

New Photos!

We have posted new photos from the day Makaila came home. More will follow. Just go to http://mcmahon-family-photos.blogspot.com/ to view them. Blessings,

Graham