Braddock and Julia

Aunt Colleen took these nice pictures of Julia and Braddock on Saturday. We're all doing just fine here. Today was a very big day because we had our first outing without any help. We had to go to the pediatric opthamologist for eye exams for Julia and Braddock. Griffin has his exam today in the NICU. So there I was driving and pulling over three times on the trip to give the eye drops they needed to dilate the pupils before our visit. Luckily the weather was great today so that was one less hurdle. I got the triple decker stroller out of the car and loaded them in. Navigating through the crowded parking lot with lots of traffic wasn't fun since this stroller is the size of a small car, but we made it inside safely. Check one. Next obstacle... the elevator. Well, the stroller technically fits on the elevator but it fits horizontally, not vertically, so it took about a 40-point turn and the help of friendly elevator-mates to get us in there. We rode safely up to the third floor. Check two. Now to get into the doctor's office. Again, all sorts of maneuvering to get inside but we did that safely. Check three. Now all I had to do was sign-in, easy enough. Not really because Dr. Morgan's patients sign in in another room that I can't fit a stroller into. Just excellent. So I leave the GINORMOUS stroller taking up half the waiting room and take Braddock and Julia in their infant carriers to the other room where we sign in. Check four. And then we wait and wait and wait until we've long since missed our noon feed. Our appointment was at 11:30. I assumed that I wouldn't need to bring the bottles with me since we had to be done by 12:30 at the latest, right? WRONG. We didn't leave until after 1:00. The exam itself was so upsetting to witness as they screamed so loud while the doctor probed around the eyes for a couple minutes. These kids are tough as nails. The good news is that their eyes both look to be normal. Preemies are quite susceptible to eyesight problems so they need these exams every two weeks until they get to 42 weeks. We have two more to go.

Anyway, we made it through and then we somehow got safely back down the elevator and into the car. At this point, we went across the street to the hospital to see Griffin for a little while and to feed Braddock and Julia. Griffin took Braddock's hand in the crib while I changed Braddock. It was so sweet to see.

Now we're home and all worn out. The funniest part about the whole day is that we are a total scene. Everyone wants to know why I have a triple stroller and only two babies and everyone wanted to look at them and give me some bit of advice on how to handle triplets. Not one of them actually has triplets but I'll keep their advice in mind. So what should be a quick in and out is not ever going to be the case. Back at the NICU Julia and Braddock were like rock stars. All their nurses and doctors and parents we've befriended couldn't get over how big they are and how great they look. Griffin is also big and looking great. His feeding is almost up to par so he isn't too much longer there, and thank God because we miss him.

So that's it from Camp DiMasi. We repeat this little dance on Thursday when we go to the orthopedic specialist for Braddock. I'm sure to be a pro by then.