Hi everyone!! It's that time of year again. We are planning on walking in two 2008 March of Dimes "March for Babies" this year. We plan on doing the Cedar Rapids walk on April 27th & then the Des Moines walk on May 3rd. The walk in Des Moines will be our 2nd year with team H.O.P.E. (Helping Other Preemies Excel). If anyone is interested in walking with us in either walk, let me know and I can get the information for you.

For anyone who does not know, March of Dimes funds research to help prevent premature births and help premature babies. This is such an important cause for us since our babies were born prematurely. When I was pregnant with the triplets I went into the hospital for preterm labor and an incompetent cervix at 23 weeks (it'll be two years ago, April 10th. Oh, was that a very scary time for us! Yes, I'm crying right now just thinking about it), at that time I had an emergency cerclage and was given the Surfactant steroid shot to help the babies lungs develop (the research that was done to make the Surfactant steroid shot was funded by the March of Dimes) I was then in & out (mostly in) of the hospital for the next 3 weeks and then home on strict bedrest with a monitoring system for almost 3 months. The end result of all that hard work are our 3 beautiful and healthy babies, born at 33 weeks (7 weeks early on June 18th) and only needed approximately 2 weeks+ in the NICU to learn to eat and grow. If the physicians and medical community had not had the knowledge and skills that they did, I don't know that we would have been so lucky.

Please come walk with us or give a donation to help other families have happy endings too.

http://www.marchforbabies.org/Ernbergertriplets

Please come back & visit our blog for new pictures of the trips, I try to update weekly.

http://www.ernbergerfamily.blogspot.com/

Thank you!

Kristi, D.J., Austen, Caitlen & Brooklen

Happy Easter!

We had a great Easter morning, the kiddos did a great job hunting for eggs (plastic eggs filled with mini M&M's) and finding the goodies the Easter Bunny left for them in their baskets~ Sesame Street books & sunglasses were the biggest hits.

Oh, I love the sunglasses!!

Holy Saturday (Easter Eve)~

Yesterday we spent the morning into the afternoon at my mom's with my sisters & their families~ a lot of kiddos, but it's always fun to get everyone together. Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos at my mom's~ just too crazy! We had lots of great food~ thanks mom! Love the cinnamon rolls, they were soooo yummy =) My kiddos made it until 2:00ish, thanks to cake & ice cream we had for Bailey Beth's 8th birthday, which is next weekend, but we celebrated it a bit early since we had everyone together.
The kiddos fell asleep shortly after we had everything loaded into the van! Don't they look so peaceful?

After nap we headed to Target to get our grocery shopping done. Decided what the heck & everyone went~ yes, busy day! We packed jelly sandwiches & juice cups to help entertain around the store. Then it was home to get ready for bed. Here are a couple pictures reading bedtime stories with bunny ears on.... we were getting ready for the Easter Bunny! They are all starting to (sometimes) look at the camera, smile & say cheese~ it's so cute!

Easter Bunny
We took the kiddos down to see the Easter Bunny last night. Austen & Brooklen did a great job, but Caitlen didn't like the bunny at all! Well, I shouldn't say that, she didn't mind looking at him a far, but not up close!
I don't know about you, but Easter is really sneaking up on me this year being so early. I'm not even sure if we have everything! We will probably either color eggs tonight or tomorrow, maybe I'll boil them up tonight so they are ready to go tomorrow night. Maybe we'll see if the kiddos want to help. Otherwise our plans for the weekend are to go to my mom's tomorrow and then just hang out at home on Sunday, have an egg hunt, eat some candy, relax. (Nanna is in Florida, enjoying some sunshine~ lucky Nanna!) Believe it or not, but the weathermen are threatening us with some snow today!? Wasn't yesterday Spring~ that means no more snow!
Here are a few more pictures I took with our camera, she just really didn't like him! Poor little girl.

Bunny 08 & Bunny 07
I always like to see how much the kiddos have changed in the past year~ oh, it's a lot! Kinda makes me a little sad..... ok, back to my point of this post.
Here is this year's Easter Bunny picture & last year's. I like the look of last years bunny better, but I do remember he wasn't so nice. It doesn't look like Caitlen cared much for him last year either, there were no tears, but she has a funny look on her face. It also looks like it was much warmer~ short sleeves & no socks or shoes! I have to say TOO CUTE!

Gloomy Day
Ya know, today is just one of those days for me...... one of those days you could just do without! It's cloudy outside, may rain or snow (really aren't we done with the snow yet?) The kiddos are all in moods~ not good ones either. Cranky, always wanting what the other one has, more needy than normal. Just kind of a bummer day.... then I saw my horoscope for the day, guess I should have just stayed in bed! But, my silver lining~ tomorrow will be better =)

Leo July 23 - August 22
The good news is this: it can only get better. For today, however, there may be some trying times in store, dear Leo. If you're a parent, the children will ask, "Can I please?" every five minutes, and at work you will feel pressure from all sides. Not even your love life is immune from the feelings of doubt that seem to hover over your head. No form of compromise is possible for you today. Just sit tight and know that calmer days are coming.

Side note: Happy St. Patty's Day!