Featured Blogger: Aimee of We Could Not Ask for More

This week our Featured Blog belongs to Aimee of We Could Not Ask For More. Aimee is the proud MoM of her son Drew and GGB triplets, Brenna, Emily and Carter. I really think this blog is worth following, honestly. Their story is an amazing one and when you are done reading this interview you need to read the November 6th post and have the Klennex ready (it was a beautiful tribute Aimee and Geoff, absolutely beautiful!).

You had a pretty long and hard road conceiving your son and your triplets, can you discuss that journey?

After trying to conceive on our own for about a year unsuccessfully, we sought out help from my OB/GYN, whose first concern was regulating my irregular cycles. We tried observing my cervical mucus, and timing intercourse using basal body temperature charting for several months. It became clear that I wasn’t ovulating on my own, so we went on to see a reproductive endocrinologist (RE). He suggested using Clomid to regulate my ovulation. After 3 cycles, it finally worked! We were pregnant! But the first ultrasounds were disheartening. There was no embryo in my uterus. After several ultrasounds, it was confirmed that although I was indeed pregnant, the embryo had implanted in my fallopian tube instead of my uterus. It was an ectopic pregnancy. Sadly, we had to wait several more months to even try again. We had a test done to make sure my tubes were not blocked and were given the green light to try again on our own. Unbelievably, with no medicine, we got pregnant again, on the very first try! Our son, Drew, was born 9 months later, in December of 2003.

When Drew turned one, we started thinking about having another baby. We were concerned about the previous trouble we had had, but with one successful pregnancy behind us, we were hopeful it would be easy this time. After several unsuccessful months of trying on our own, we decided to see an RE again. He was hopeful too. And after diagnosing me with PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome), he started me on Avandia to regulate my ovulation. This time, we got pregnant the first month! He had told us before getting pregnant that our chances of having another ectopic pregnancy were high (close to 66%), but Drew’s story had everyone feeling good about this pregnancy too. Unfortunately, after a few weeks, I started having horrible pain on my left side. A few days later it was confirmed that it was yet another ectopic pregnancy. This time, my tube ruptured and had to be removed.



How did everyone take the news of you being pregnant with triplets?

Everyone was thrilled, of course, that we were pregnant at all. Mostly they were shocked and surprised like we were!

One of the triplets, Emily, has several medical problems, can you discuss them?

After the babies were born, Emily was diagnosed with an extremely rare chromosome disorder. It’s called an unbalanced translocation, and hers specifically involves chromosomes 7 and 9. It is so rare that there are only a handful of other known cases in the world, most doctors have never even heard of it, and this makes it very difficult to have a prognosis. She has had many medical issues since birth, most appearing after 4 months old. Very early on, she had difficulty eating, but after 7 weeks in the NICU, she was eating like a champ and even started solid foods with her brother and sister months later. Unfortunately, the biggest medical issue she’s facing is epilepsy. She started having infantile spasms, a repetitive jerking type of seizure, and they have severely affected her development. At 2 years old, she is working on holding her head up, rolling, smiling, and sometimes laughing. She is cortically blind, which means that she is legally blind because her brain can’t make sense of what she is seeing. But she does have limited visual awareness of light and sometimes even focuses on a toy or a face. She did eventually lose her ability to eat and had an ng tube and now has a gtube. She has gastric reflux and kidney reflux on both sides which can cause frequent urinary tract infections. She has several endocrine problems. She has hypercalcemia and hypoglycemia which are controlled right now by her diet. She is also on the ketogenic diet to help reduce her spasms.


What are some of the resources you have used for handling these medical problems?

Our state’s Early Intervention program has been a wonderful resource for us. Emily receives PT and OT services through them. We also had the help of a social worker from EI for several months who helped us get hooked up with the DDD (Department of Developmental Disabilities). Through the DDD and the State Department of Disabilities we were able to get home nursing help for Emily. We live relatively close to a wonderful Children’s Hospital where Emily sees a list of specialists. And our local pediatrician’s office has also been wonderful as well. Of course, we have a loving network of family and friends who are willing to lend a hand too.


What are some of your favorite things to do as a family?

We love to watch movies, sing and dance, and play outside. We tend to spend a lot of time at home since getting out with four children and Emily’s equipment sometimes takes more time and effort than a trip out would be worth! But we have also taken two long road trips, and many day outings to museums, zoos, parks, the boardwalk, and shopping. We even went camping twice this summer in our pop-up, which was crazy, but so much fun! We just love to spend time together.

Finally, here is Aimee's question for all of us:

How do you get a good photo of your kids together (professional/studio/or just at home)?

Halloween Photo Contest Top 40

Thank you to all of our families that submitted photos for our Cutest Multiples Halloween Photo contest! Your kids are all absolutely adorable... (but you probably know that already!) This weekend we received over 1,000 votes- resulting in our fabulous Top 40!

Cast your vote for your favorite photo, using the poll box on the right. Voting will be open until Thursday, at 5 pm, to decide the Top 20! Please do not email in any further votes from this point on! Good luck, and congratulations to our top 40! To view the original contest post with all of our prizes, click here!

Cast your vote (one per computer) to help us decide the top 20! Votes will be accepted by the poll in our right sidebar ONLY from this point on. Please do not email any further votes. This round of voting will run until Thursday, Nov. 12th, at 6 pm. The Top 20 will be announced on Friday the 13th!

Contestants, feel free to grab this code for your blog and encourage your readers to vote for you!


<center><a href="http://www.multiplesandmore.blogspot.com"><img width="150" src="http://i585.photobucket.com/albums/ss293/lanik58/voteformebutton.jpg" height="150" /></a></center>

Multiples and More Question of the Week: Beauty on a Budget

I don't know about you but between Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Years parties, family photos and dinners in general being "beautiful" has now taken a new meaning. Before kiddos and before the economy tanked it was nothing to go to the mall to get a cute cocktail dress without thinking about the price, wear designer makeup (Sephora was my best friend) and had my hair cut and colored every 5 weeks. Clearly things have changed. So that brings me to our question of the week:


<center><a href="http://multiplesandmore.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i585.photobucket.com/albums/ss293/lanik58/Mulitples%20and%20More/QOTW-button.jpg" /></a></center>

Now, here's what to do:

• Grab the button, add it to a new post on your OWN blog
• Answer the Question of the Week on your blog (spice it up with pictures and/or video if possible!)
  
• Stop back here, and sign into the Mr. Linky
• Click on the other names in the Mr. Linky and check out everyone else's answers
• Don't want to blog about it? No problem, just answer the question in our comments section!

Can't wait to read everyone's responses!

Multiples in the Kitchen: Three Cheese Chicken Pasta

One of the staples in feeding my family is pasta. My kids love pasta and since I feed them whole wheat pasta, I feel pretty good about making it for dinner just about every night of the week.

Now since it is a family favorite, I have gotten pretty good at coming up with a number of pasta casseroles. For a weeknight meal, there is nothing easier than boiling some water, cooking pasta, tossing it with a protein, veggies and a sauce and baking it in the oven.

So for the recipe this month, I would like to share just such a recipe. This is a big favorite here: Three Cheese Chicken Pasta. So grab your multiples and lets get started.

I have to stop here because this month, I had a little issue with getting my multiples in the kitchen. They were totally not interested and flat out refused to join me.

Why? Well, the siren song of couch jumping and rough housing was just too strong.



So, I was left to do the cooking on my own. Which I did and even though it was a bit calmer than when I little sous chefs are there, it was just not as much fun.

Here is the recipe for Three Cheese Chicken Pasta

1lb whole wheat penne
1 package frozen spinach, defrosted
3 boneless skinless chicken breast, cubed
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 can (14 oz) dice tomatoes
4 oz cream cheese
1 cup mozzarella
grated parmesan cheese

• Heat oven to 375 °F.
• Cook pasta according to package directions.
• Sprinkle chicken cubes with Italian seasoning and then brown in large skillet that has been coated with olive oil. Cook about 3 minutes.
• Add sauce and tomatoes and bring to a boil.
• Simmer another 3 minutes or until chicken is cooked.
• Add cream cheese and spinach (make sure that all the water is squeezed out of the spinach. The easiest way is to wring it out in a clean kitchen towel.)
• Drain pasta; return to pan and then combine with chicken and sauce mixture.
• Stir in mozzarella cheese
• Poor into greased baking dish and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
• Bake for 20 minutes or until cheese is melted and dish is heated through.

And even though the kids didn't help make this dinner, they attacked it just like they usually do.

Guest Blogger: Melissa A. on Sleep Deprivation

We are officially closed to new submissions or our Halloween Photo Contest! The first round of voting will be via email! Cast your vote for your favorite photo, by emailing your choice to multiplesphotocontest@gmail.com. ONE VOTE per email address, please. Votes will be accepted until 8 pm EST, Sunday, November 8th. The top 40 will be announced on Monday!

To view the entries, click here!

***********************************************************************************
This week's guest blogger is Melissa, of Bumblebee Grace! Amazingly, from the trenches of taking care of newborn multiples, she has emerged to give our expecting moms a taste of what those first few weeks (ok, months) are like, and to take the rest of us on a little trip down memory lane.. or lack of memory lane, as the case may be..


Yesterday, I could not remember my zip code; a feat I had not accomplished since I was kindergarten. Yes, I’ll freely admit that having twins 3 weeks ago has caused me to regress to the level of a five year old. I was not adequately informed of the effects of sleep deprivation, so I figured I’d share the dangers with you before I completely loose my mind.



Exhibit A: During our first week home, I crawled back in bed after consoling one of the girls to find my husband hitting himself in his sleep. Derek was totally beating the tar out of his shoulder and snoring at the same time. I looked at him quizzically and then realized he was burping an invisible baby. I would have laughed until I cried had I not been so bone tired.



Exhibit B: Just about every single night I reach over to wake Derek in order to warm bottles. I inform him that I have one of the girls in bed with me so he’ll only have to grab the other girl. After about the third try at waking him, Derek will climb out of bed and start laughing. The baby I have in bed with me is invisible. The sleep deprivation causes me to somehow believe that the child has been teleported next to me just because I hear her wail over the monitor.



Exhibit C: Derek informed me last night at a 2am feeding that he needed to “mow the carpet” since I can’t do it after my c-section. Mow the carpet…. Right….



Exhibit D: As I’m writing this post, I suddenly realize that something smells. I look down at my lap which contains two girls and wonder when I changed them last…



Now all you expecting moms have a small taste of sleep deprivation. Me… well… I ought to go change these diapers before I forget again…

********************************************************************************

Shout Out of the Week: The Foster Family!

This week our shout out belongs to the winner of the Multiples and More Best Layout Award: Jennifer of The Foster Family! Jennifer is the proud MoM of twins Natalie and Audrey. It's easy to see why Jennifer won this award, her design is clean, polished and very very sleek! Here are a few of my favorite posts from The Foster Family:


Barf-O-Rama: Exactly as the title sounds, please leave suggestions to help with this situation.

Momotography: Hilarious and oh so true! And yes Jennifer, those prices are totally reasonable based on your mad Photoshop skills!

My Little Blogger: Everyone must see these photos!!! All I can say is, hilarious! Even Scott got a good chuckle out of this photo!

Beach Trip 2009: I have to give Jennifer several props on this post, A) She roughed it in a cabin, I can't even rough it in a Holiday Inn and B) She wore a bikini in public after having twins, I wear a two piece as in a tankini that comes down to my butt and a skirt. Bravo Jennifer, bravo (I'm mad jealous).

Couponing 101: I love her tips, and am so thankful that she shared them! Hope these tips help you as well!


A big thank you to Jennifer for being our feature today! Congratulations again on winning Best Layout!

Also, don't forget today is the last day to enter our Halloween Photo Contest! Be sure to check out the rules first!




PS: Have you voted yet???

Product Review and Giveaway: Pearl Paradise

The winner of last week's Paris Morris book giveaway is Twincerely, Olga!

This week, I had the pleasure of reviewing a Pearl Paradise White Freshwater Pearl Kids Set!


I will admit, I was a little skeptical about putting pearls on my daughter. After all.. she is two. But after receiving this gorgeous set, I can see why they make a great gift. The pearls come in your choice of length, so you can make sure they fit perfectly, and are a smooth, oval shape; a trendy spin on your typical round pearl necklace. Now, my daughter won't be wearing this on any playdates, but they sure will look beautiful with her Christmas outfit this year! I was really impressed with the quality and appearance of this jewelry; it looks truly classy and elegant.

The pearls originate in China, and are embellished with a 14 karat gold clasp. At a fraction of the retail store price, Pearl Paradise offers this set for just $55.00! You will find an amazing selection of Pearl Sets on PearlParadise.com, from the unique and beautiful black pearl sets, to pearl sets of an amazing array of colors; pink, lavendar, multicolored, even black!