Never Ever Thought I’d Say This…

but I am soooooooooooo very thankful to my parents for moving us from Kirkland to Duvall when I was 13.  At the time, I seriously thought my life was over, I hated my parents and had a hard time adjusting to “country” life. 

Prior to Duvall I’d lived in the same house for 12 years, that’s where my friends, school and church was.  I was happy.  We were happy.  So what if we were growing out of our house.  I thought we could just sell or get rid of Kelly and/or Alex and we’d be just fine!  I mean we had survived just fine for the past 12 years…what was a few more right?

We moved into our house on the day of my 13th birthday, bad timing huh!  I started school a week or so later and survived.  Not only did I survive, but I thrived in school.  Don’t get me wrong it was super hard at first, I was so anxious I got violently ill over the move.  But once I finally got myself together and got healthy again it was all uphill.  My high school years were great, I felt I got along well with everyone, every clique, every group.  I’m lucky to have been born with a pretty outgoing personality and am willing to start conversations with anyone and every one.  (Hence the name of my blog….Cori’s Big Mouth….I don’t know how many times people have told me to SHUT MY MOUTH!).

I made friends in school, but because of the distance I’d moved from my old house (about 2o minutes) I stayed in more contact with those friends after high school.  I’m great Facebook friends with my High School friends, but it’s those childhood friends that I hang out with and communicate with.  So those childhood friends I grew up with continue today to be my closest friends, pretty funny how that is the case.  Moving into a new home, in a new neighborhood brought new neighbors.  About 6 months after moving in I heard about a family in my neighborhood that had just had triplets.  I sought them out, got hired, and gained a second family. 

Finding Charity and her family gave me the opportunity to get involved with something I was really interested in …. multiples.  A few years after the girls were born Charity took over the local (and statewide) Triplets and More group.  Through this group, I met many, many other families of multiples, many of whom I went on to work for!  Who would have ever thought that a young girl, with an interest in multiple births would suddenly have the opportunity to work and help many families.  Off the top of my head I figure I have babysat/nannied for 5 sets of twins, 8 sets of triplets, 1 set of quadruplets and even a set of quintuplets!  So that is pretty impressive if you ask me!

With all that being said, I LOVE WHERE I LIVE!  I love my home, I love my friends, I love my church, I love my current and past job, I LOVE MY COMMUNITY! 


Thank you mom and dad for making the decision to move us here, even though I often complained….I can’t be more thankful!!  Love you guys!

QOTD 6/17: Have you ever been in the hospital and had to stay overnight?  Have you ever been super sick and ended up in the hospital? 

Come check out the Cori's Big Mouth Community, see what Liz of A Belle, A Bean, A Chicago Dog & Tiny Tots of Teaching Tiny Tots have to say and don’t forget to share your story!

Toys & Togs Totals

I’m writing this while stuffing my face with Wendy’s sitting at Sea-Tac waiting for 4:30 when I can board my flight to Spokane.  A bit annoyed that security confisgated my hair products, but what can I do?  Not much…oh well!
I think this will be my plane, it’s another commuter plane where you get to walk on the ‘runway’ to get on the plane.  I’ve only been on one, once before when we went home from Disneyland last year!
Anyway, Brandi, Alex & I went to card-count today for the Toys & Togs Sale last Saturday and I have to say everyone did really well!

Emoms: $68k, not the highest ever grossing sale, last fall it was over $80k, but still nothing to frown about! *they now have to pay the sellers, pay for rental fees,etc. so I'm not sure how much they actually get to keep*

Charity: $375.00 total and she'll get a check for $338.15  (she made 90% as a team-lead, Emoms keeps 10%).  Charity didn’t sell much this sale, because her girls aren’t going through clothes as fast!  It’s crazy the day finally came when she is about done with the sale!

Julia & Jaime: $2,630.75 total and Julia will get a check for $2,367.68 (she made 90% as a team-lead, Emoms keeps 10%).  I did a quick tally of Jaime’s cards and we figure Julia will end up keeping about $1,900 and Jaime about $650 of the total amount.  We won’t know exact numbers until we get the cards back. 

Not to shabby for anyone though!!  I wish it was my money!  Okay I better pack up my stuff, hit the potty and then go wait to board the plane…Spokane…here I come!

Tagging Frenzy

That's what today was like for me!  The sale is on Friday and I've been a tagging fool today! 

Jaime came over to my house to help me work on Julia's clothes.  We worked for almost 4 hours, and when we finished were 90% done with her clothes!  Tonight before I went to bed I finished tagging the remaining clothes (maybe 10 items) and then bagged a few piles up.  I have probably 30 items of clothing to hang and then bag up, plus a huge pile of onsies that still need to be sorted, bagged and tagged.  I hope to finish all of Julia's clothes tomorrow night!  It'll be such a great feeling to be done but also to get my room back - lol!  I look like I should go on that show The Hoarders with my piles of plastic garbages bags strewn across my room!

Tonight Brandi & I went to Charity's to help her with tagging.  Boy the lady has hardly anything to sell compared to years ago when we had TONS!  We got a good amount done tonight and she is going to have the girls go through their clothes and stuff tomorrow and we'll reconvine on Wednesday to finish up!

Last night (see I told you I've been in a tagging frenzy), I went to Jaime's to help her finish up tagging her stuff.  All she needs to do now is hang her clothes and then sort by size.  Brandi & Jaime are going to try and finish that all up tomorrow evening.

I the sale, but the prep leading up to it can be a killer!  Especially since we all wait until basically the week of, to start preparing!  Oh well, that's what makes it fun....isn't it?

March of Dimes Fight For Preemies

On November 9th, I blogged about this event [HERE].  Today, is the day we will fight for preemies because we need to fight ― because babies shouldn’t have to.  As I mentioned in my previous post, I have personally known three families who had premature babies, the Elkins’, the Harrington's and my cousins’ little girl Emmalee. 
Elkins Triplets
The Elkins girls were born at 32 weeks, 1 day.  Their mom, Charity, spent one month at home bedrest, and one month on hospital bedrest before she delivered them on April 1, 1999.  At birth the girls weighed: Angelique- 2#15oz, Melissa- 3#3oz, and Kennedy- 3#9oz.  Even though the girls were so small they broke all records and went home 1 week (Kennedy) and 2 weeks (Melissa & Angelique) after they were born.  When Kennedy was released at 1-week-old, she was the smallest (weight & gestation) preemie ever to be released from The University of Washington Medical Center NICU. 

Discharge photo of the Girls together

Today the girls are happy, healthy, beautiful 10-year-olds!  I cannot believe how far these girls have come!  They have overcome so many odds and are absolutely perfect today!!

Recent shot of the girls 

Harrington Triplets
The Harrington’s were born at 33-weeks gestation on April 29, 2007.  Their birth weights were: Jack- 4#7oz, Nate- 3#1oz and Gabrielle- 4#1oz.  I had the honor of getting to visit them in the NICU when they were a day old!  They were so little and on so many instruments it was almost scary.  But amazingly none of the triplets had any real issues.  They spent about a month in the NICU to learn to suck, swallow and breathe on their own.  I had the opportunity to visit them a couple times a week during the month they spent in the NICU, so that was really special!

  First group photo in the NICU

Yikes!  Today, the trio are in their terrible-twos!  However, it really isn’t ‘terrible’ all the time at all!  They are a lot of fun with a whole lot of energy!  These three have also come a very long way and are no longer preemies at all!  They love to play together, chase each other and love on each other!  They have their moments, but I really think their ‘terrible twos’ are better of!f described as ‘terrific twos’!  They are awesome!

All 3 Now!  Yes, I bribed them with candy!

Emmalee Paul
Emmalee was born at 36 weeks, 3 days and was just shy of being full-term (37-weeks) on January 3, 2009.  Emma tried to come at 34 weeks, but thanks to the doctors and preterm labor stopping medication, they were able to stop Jaime’s labor and Emma baked a little longer.  One born, she had a good stay at the hospital and was able to be discharged with Jaime the day after she was born.  However, right after going home, she started to show some real preemie issues.  Emma started having apnea/brady-cardia’s a lot, she couldn’t regulate her body temperature very well and was very jaundiced.  At her first check-up after discharge her jaundice levels were way to high, and they were debating putting her back in the hospital.  However, her doctors chose to give her a few more days to see if her levels would level off and begin to drop, which they did.

  discharge photo

Emma is now 10-month’s old!  She is still having ‘preemie issues’, she has problems at times maintaining her body temperature and breathing still is off occasionally.  But she’s been thoroughly checked out my her pediatrician and doctors at Children’s Hospital in Seattle and everyone says she is fine, and will outgrow it, it’s just a matter of time!  She now army crawls and is on the verge of really crawling.  She gets up on her hands and knees rocking.  She also has started standing holding on to furniture and that means walking is soon!!  She is a beautiful little girl, and I’m so happy she’s part of my family!

  9-month photograph

[Edited 11/17 @ 9:42pm] Emmalee tried to come at 32 weeks, but labor was stopped with tributiline.  She then tried to come at 34 weeks, but Jaime's labor stopped on it's own!

I hope these three stories have moved and inspired you to also feel the need to Fight For Preemies.  They are precious children, who were born to early, but thanks to the amazing doctors and technology available today all will have healthy, great lives!
For more information about the Bloggers Unite Fight For Preemies, please visit their website HERE.

Prematurity Awareness Month

The month of November is Prematurity Awareness Month and each year 20 million babies are born too soon, too small and very sick - half a million of them in the United States.  On November 17th I'll be participating in the March of Dimes' Fight for Preemies blogging event.  I urge you too, to join me in this event!

Ask Yourself: Do you know a baby that was born too soon, too small, unable to suck, unable to breathe on his own? Premature birth is a health crisis that jeopardizes the lives and health of nearly half-million babies each year. It is the #1 killer of newborns and can lead to lifelong disabilities. Worse: the number has increased 31 percent since 1981. It can happen without warning and for no known reason. Until we have more answers, anyone’s baby, could be born too soon.

Me: I have had the oppurtunity on several occasions to work with and love many premature babies over the last ten years.  The Elkins Triplets were born at 32weeks,1day, the Harrington Triplets were born at 33weeks and my neice Emmalee was born just shy of 36 weeks gestation.  On November 17, I will be posting a special blog post honoring these three familes specifically but in hopes of giving other people hope about premature births.   Just today a wonderful family in my ward delivered their son at 27 weeks, he is doing well right now and thanks to the amazing medical advances, he has a great outlook to have a happy, healthy, normal life.

According to Bloggers Unite: Fight For Preemies, medical advances give even the tiniest babies a chance of survival, yet for many babies premature birth is still a life or death condition. It’s the #1 cause of death during the first month of life. And babies who survive face serious health challenges and risk lifelong disabilities.

The rate of premature birth has never been higher. In half the cases, we simply don’t understand what went wrong. We need to fight for answers. And, ultimately, preventions.

November 17 is dedicated to raising awareness of the crisis of premature birth. The March of Dimes invites bloggers like you to get involved.

• Learn about premature birth at marchofdimes.com/fightforpreemies
• Put a badge on your blog during November, Prematurity Awareness Month®
• On November 17, blog for a baby you love and to help others

We need to fight ― because babies shouldn’t have to.

Trick-Or-Treating

We did ALL the Halloween festivities today, so I’ll have to break it into a couple of posts!  Thought I’d start with the fun trick-or-treating photos!
We all went down to trick-or-treat in Duvall with Amy & her girls plus our fabulous family!  Camryn & Madison had a lot of fun going from store to store collecting candy!  Jordyn & Emma weren’t quite sure what was going on but were in good spirits!

Emma before she got her costume on, we thought she looked like a cat burglar!
 
 
Princess Madison

Poor Madison after we went trick-or-treating spiked a fever of 103.6deg, so she missed going out tonight.  She is so miserable and it’s so unfair that she had to get sick on Halloween.  I hope she’ll be feeling better tomorrow.

But not just the kids had fun….my parents & Aunt Sue joined in on the fun….kinda embarrassing isn’t it!!

Of course the Harrington’s came for a visit!  This was the first years the triplets actually went out at night!  Here they are as adorable Super Hero’s!  Jack was freaked out when he first came up to the door because of all the people and was trying to get behind Mark but as soon as we pulled out the candy he was right in the middle of it!  Sophie was an adorable Prom Queen!

And of course the other triplets stopped by too!  Here are Melissa, Angelique & Kennedy!  I can’t believe how big these girls are!!

Stay tuned tomorrow for some pumpkin carving pictures!!

Day of Shopping

What a day of shopping I had. We (Brandi, Jaime, the girls & I) headed to Southcenter Mall this morning around 9:30am and didn't get home until 7:30pm. I am absolutely pooped and tired tonight! Brandi needed to go to Macy's at Southcenter to buy a pair of jeans that apparently was only in Southcenter, Kennewick and Reno, Nevada (a really good deal I guess). We got there and shockingly they didn't have any (LOL), so she ended up having to order a pair from Reno (Kennewick wasn't answering their phones). That was the only plan we had, and by about 11am we were done!

We went and got lunch and then Jaime decided she wanted to get Madison some school clothes for when she starts preschool in the fall. We had a great time shopping for new clothes for Madison, we hit all the stores in the mall plus Target, Walmart, Osh-Kosh and Payless Shoes. Madison got a lot of new clothes that are super cute! She also found a backpack that was just Maddie sized at Osh-Kosh (opposed to the ones at Target that were almost as big as she is!).

We met Charity, Alex & Erin at Red Robin for dinner and dessert (thanks Charity!). After dinner I headed back to Monroe with Jaime and the girls. Madison was excited to have a 'fashion show' of all her new clothes for Zak & Jaime. Madison is super excited to start Preschool! What a big girl she is!

Swimming with Triplets …. X 2

This week Seattle has had record breaking heat…we’ve hit 100degreees the last couple of days! It is HOT HOT HOT! Luckily I have been working and could take advantage of the pool and A/C! So yesterday during the babies nap Kelly came over, and Alex was watching the Elkins Triplets so they came over too. We had so much fun swimming, not to mention stayed cool!!

Melissa, Kelly, Angelique, Alex, Kennedy

Kennedy jumping for the football


My big helper the last couple of days – Kelly


Melissa & Kennedy both jumping for the football!


The triplets….Kennedy, Melissa & Angelique

Then the babies woke up so they came in with us! Nate actually enjoyed the pool for the first time! Jack & Nate stayed on the ‘ledge’ (shallow area of the pool) where they could jump and play! Gabbi however is all over the pool!!


The boys with Melissa, Kennedy & Kelly


Jack & I swimming

Gabbi floating around


Cori & Gabbi


Kennedy & Nate

Here’s a 3minute video of the baby triplets & Kelly playing in the water! Don’t worry Kelly had it under control and I was ready to jump in and save anyone who was in trouble!!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Field Trip to the Airport

Today the triplets and I took a field trip to the airport to pick up Paul who was flying in from Florida. The babies did really well considering we left at 12:30 (nap time) and didn't get home until 3pm - all of that time was spent in their carseats driving to and from Seatac.

We arrived at Seatac and we immediately saw the new Sound Transit Monorail to which the boys yelled "choo choo train". Then just a few minutes later a huge airplane took off to which Nate yelled "choo choo train". Not quite Nate, good try though! Apparently they aren't aware of airplanes yet...but I have a feeling after today that's going to change!!

We arrived early and Paul hadn't even landed, so I went in hunt of a McDonald's to buy french fries to bribe the babies for the drive home (I didn't want them to fall asleep). So off we went, we drove probably 10miles and found NOTHING!! I mean NO fast food restaurants! We finally passed a Jack In the Box - which I HATE (after their ecoli problem years ago I cannot stand the place!)...but I was desperate and needed french fries - the babies were now chanting "fff-fry, fff-fry". Let me tell you, Jack In the Box has NASTY fries, maybe I just got a bad batch - but they were soggy and flimsy, just plain gross! But the babies enjoyed them, and it did keep them awake the rest of the ride home.

After that we picked up Paul and headed back to Duvall. Both Paul & I agreed it was really eary to see a set of baby triplets sitting in the backseat of the Elkins' car (I drove Charity's MDX). It totally was a de-ja view and brought us back 8 years ago to when Charity & Paul's triplets sat in their car seats in the backseat! Really odd feeling!! But their girls are now 10, and not babies anymore :(

Scrapbooking Weekend

This weekend my parents were going to Olympia so I decided to have a Scrapbooking Weekend here! Brandi, Jaime & Erin all came over and we scrapped for 2 nights!! Sadly, we were a bit chatty and I only got 5 layouts done (10 pages). Brandi was a speedy and accomplished 15 pages I believe…what’s up with that? Jaime didn’t get much time to scrap because of Emmalee, but she did 4 pages too! Erin just hung out with us, she didn’t feel like scrapbooking this time! We had a lot of fun!

Waterfall: Madison playing in the fountain at my house
Summer 2007


Pool Fun: Madison swimming in her pool at Grandma’s House
Summer 2007

Pump It Up: Madison at Pump It Up!
~ 13 months old (2007)

Stars & Stripes: Madison & Alex doing Pop-It’s on 4th of July!
July 4, 2008

Train Ride: Erin, Jaime & I took Aiden, Connor, MacKenzie & Madison on a train ride through Snoqualmie!
October 2008

We also had Kennedy, Melissa & Angelique over Saturday afternoon to teach them how to scrapbook. For their birthday we gave them scrapbooks and invited them over for a 5 hours crop, teach them how to scrapbook and pizza!

Kennedy really got into scrapbooking and was a speed scrapper, accomplishing 15-8.5x8.5 layouts!! Melissa was slow and steady, got a bit distracted and I think she may have finished 2 layouts! Angelique was right between the other two and worked at a steady pace accomplishing several pages herself!

We had a lot of fun with them over, and took lots of pictures! Here are a handful of them!

I have a fun post for tomorrow night…so stay tuned!!