This Week in Pictures...

Clark has started into a very busy time at work for the next couple months. This is a bummer because he works six days a week and only sees the babes for about 10-20 minutes in the morning. As a result, each day this past week I sent him a picture to keep him involved in what we're doing!

Soooo, here's this week in pictures.

Monday: the babies first snow storm!! Unfortunately work wasn't canceled for Clark...



Tuesday: After the babies 2pm feeding, we always sit down and read for a little bit. This is assuming everyone is in a good mood. Most of the time they are and really just happy to look at something besides their activity mat. We always go through our alphabet letters (we have big colorful letters), we read a book about numbers, and finish off with wild animal sounds. They LOVE the animal sounds book and always pay very close attention surprisingly.


Wednesday: The pediatrician gave us the go ahead for rice cereal this week. We started both Zachary and Leah and have now subsequently stopped. Ha! The reason we started Leah was because she was not finishing bottles and refusing to eat after being burped. We stopped her Zantac (reflux medication) also and for some reason she has an appetite again and is finishing bottles just fine. So we decided the rice cereal can wait since she isn't acting hungry otherwise. Here's her first day though. 99% was on her face.


Thursday: Mom and Leah trying to get a self-portrait. This was about the 30th picture and I finally got her looking remotely near the camera. It'll do I guess!


Friday: There must be a Grandma in the house because I definitely am not responsible for how high this kid's pants are.


Saturday: My sister got online and found a product that helps free up our hands while the babies eat. They are called BaBa Buddies and as seen below, they sit right on the babies chest and prop up the bottles for them to eat. Of course we still need to monitor to make sure no one is choking but they did pretty good the first go around. Pretty funny.

Life With a Four-Month Old x 3...

Well we headed off to the doctor this morning. The babies were cranky on the way over so we worried it would be a disastrous appointment. However, like I've said before, they enjoy the tissue paper and kicked around on it for about 45 minutes while I talked to the doctor. Then....


Zachary must have had a quick memory run across his mind of the last time they were on tissue paper...and he had a meltdown. I have NEVER heard him cry so hard before in his short life. When I picked him up and calmed him down, he would freak out again if I tried to lay him on the table. Smart little bugger. So there was lots of crying BEFORE the shots even happened. Because he was screaming and frightened the others, they started crying too. Not good. Here's the look of fear when they figured out where they were.



Note Zachary's hair cut. His Dad gave him a buzz because he's balding in back and had a mop up top. Now's it's all evened out and he looks like a million bucks!

Pediatrician Update: The doctor seemed please with how the trio was doing and growing. Of course there is concern over Zachary's reflux, Leah's constant spitting, and Caleb's rapid weight gain (not really:), so we have decided to add some rice cereal to Zachary's diet as well as Leah's, take Leah and Caleb off the high calorie formula, and increase Leah's dosage of medication.

Before I go on with their stats, I wanted to compare diaper sizes today. I can't believe they used to be able to fit into those TINY little pad things when they were born. Those won't fit around their legs now let alone their waists! I'm holding up a size 2 diaper which they will ALL be in soon. Caleb is already there.




Here are their current stats:

Leah- 3 lbs 15 oz, 15 inches

Weight: 12 lbs 10 oz (30th percentile)
Height: 23.25 inches (25th percentile)
Head: 16 inches (40th percentile)
Pant size: 3-6 months
Onesie size: 3-6 months
Diapers: size 1
Ounces/day: 21-22 oz
Medications: Zantac 1.4 mls twice daily up from 1 ml
Other info: loves to be near ANYONE, loves to touch and look at her brothers, great at holding her head up, scans just about everything in the room with her big eyes, still can only breath out of one nostril, has more fat rolls than the other two boys combined, having difficulty growing hair, and is so happy in the morning giving lots of smiles.


Zachary- 3 lbs 5 oz, 16 inches

Weight: 12 lbs 1 oz (10th percentile)
Height: 22.5 inches (less than 3rd percentile)
Head: 15.75 inches (10th percentile)
Pant size: 0-3 months
Onesie size: 0-3 months
Diapers: Size 1
Ounces/day: 21-22 oz
Medications: Prevacid, 1/2 tab twice daily
Other info: Thrashes his head back and forth while sleeping causing serious balding in the back of his head, first one to do most everything including smile, very stubborn and strong willed, loves to stand on your lap and refuses to bend his legs, flat headed on his left side and could possibly need a helmet (will know more later), received first hair cut at 4 months and surprisingly had a lot of hair, and is the cutest little munchkin I've ever seen.

Caleb- 4 lbs 12 oz, 17 inches

Weight: 15 lbs 13 oz (70th percentile)
Height: 23.75 inches (20th percentile)
Head: 17 inches (75th percentile)
Pant size: 6 months
Onesie size: 6-9 months
Diapers: Size 2
Ounces/day: 26-27 oz
Medications: None
Other info: Has the loudest cry and will wake the neighborhood, smiles at everything, giggles when you giggle with him, loves to eat, rarely takes a pacifier and is a great self-soother, will play quietly for long periods of time, loves his baths and smiles the whole time, falls asleep easily, is sweet as a marshmallow and cuddly as one too.

So here's a rundown.

Eating: Thinking back to when the trio came home three months ago, feeding them seems like a cinch now in regards to how often. Getting them to actually eat...is a different story. The trio is eating four times/day with Zachary getting an additional bottle overnight. We've just recently started feeding every four hours because we were having to wake the babies every time, they were tired and cranky, and usually after being force fed, they would spit/throw it all up. So we said forget it! We'll encourage them to sleep longer and offer more at each feeding.

This seemed to do the trick for a few weeks. Then the New Year came and for some reason, Leah and Zachary refuse to eat after only a few ounces. Has this happened to anyone else? We burp them and then we're done for. They won't let the bottle back in their mouth and start gagging. Then the crying begins. We've worked through it and usually get a decent amount down but some days it is so frustrating. Both Leah and Zachary have reflux and are already on medication twice a day. We use Dr. Brown bottles, burp them frequently, keep them propped while eating, etc... We're doing all the right things but the fact of the matter is that they just could care less about eating. They eat until they aren't hungry anymore instead of eating until their full. There are a couple things yet we could still do like thickening formula with rice cereal or changing formula. They have still be drinking the high calorie formula from the hospital days. Doc did give us the go ahead to change Leah and Caleb over to normal formula and use up the rest of the high cal stuff on Zachary. Once that's out, switch him over. Hopefully we'll see an improvement with their reflux once we've totally graduated from that formula. Leah uses a Nuk pacifier so we tried the Nuk bottles thinking she would eat better with those or spit up less. Nope. Still refused and kept collapsing the nipple. Not a big fan of those bottles. They say there is a venting system. If so, it doesn't work well at all.

Caleb is a great eater and is always enthusiastic about his bottle. The reason he is so much bigger than the other two is because he RARELY spits up and ALWAYS finishes his bottles...usually wanting more. I thank my Heavenly Father everyday that we have ONE good eater out of three. Plus he doesn't burn many calories because he doesn't cry as much. We do feel bad though as he typically gets ignored after eating because we are concentrating on the other two. He's so good and just sits there looking around. So sweet.

Sleeping at night: I'm so relieved to say that two of the three babies are sleeping 12 hours at night. After the last feeding at 6pm, we put them all down and don't hear from Caleb or Leah until 12 hours later. Sometimes we even have to wake them up! I hate doing it but we've got a schedule to keep (see below if interested :) Some nights are better than others and they occasionally wake up and whine, but for the most part they stay put and sleep soundly. This is probably due, in large part, to the fact that they are wrapped SUPER tight. We really can't lay them down unwrapped because they are so accustomed to it and their arms wake them up if they twitch or touch their face. Not sure how we're going to wean off being swaddled. Any suggestions fellow bloggers? We did buy some muslin swaddle wraps because they are more breathable. We were coming in to some sweaty babies in the morning and worried they were overheating.

Like I mentioned before, Zachary still can't make up for a lost feeding at night so I still feed him around 1-2am and put him back to bed until 6am. We've been working hard on getting the babies to sleep better and have incorporated A LOT of routine to their bedtime feeding. This includes giving their vitamins and medications, bathing and lotioning, listening to soft music, turning the lights down, singing and rocking, sound machines to the same sound every night, and putting something soft next to their face. I believe in association and I know these babies associate all these things with sleeping for a long period of time. They have proved that. I hope Zachary starts eating more soon so we can eliminate his night feeding also. I have been staying true to Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth and usually open the book once a day.

Napping: Naps are hit or miss. Sometimes they nap well, sometimes they don't. We encourage them to sleep as long as they will though. After one hour of sleeping, Caleb INEVITABLY wakes up and screams bloody murder. Inconsolable. We've tried everything. Now we just ignore him (he sleeps in our walk-in closet), he stops after about 10 minutes, and proceeds to sleep another 1.5-2 hours. So weird. Everyday it's the same thing though. Haven't quite figured it out. He's in the closet though because his scream wakes all the babies in the neighborhood. What's weird is that he doesn't do it at night.

Playing: As stated in the book mentioned above, 4 to 8 month babies usually can't tolerate more than 2 hours of wakefulness at any given time. Because the trio are still only 3 months developmentally, they are able to stay up no longer than 1.5 hours before getting grouchy and overtired. We try to do as much as we can with the babies while they are awake but be watching the clock as well so we know when to start winding down for a nap. While awake, they really like to lay under the activity mat, look at picture books, and play with their hands. They have lots of smiles when we play with them and are so much fun. I feel bad that they lay under the activity mat most of the day but they seem to like it and we can play with them all at the same time in the same place.


Here's a run down of our day...nothing exciting but for my own purposes I am recording what we do. Stop reading at this point if you're not interested.

6am: Declare the day, change diapers, prepare babies and boppies for bottles

6:15-7am: Give medication and begin feeding frenzy #1

7-7:30am: Lay under activity mat, help them practice standing and holding head up

7:30am: Lay all babies back down for a first nap, sometimes they fall asleep fast, sometimes they don't

8:30am: Listen for Caleb's high pitch, mid nap, screaming exactly one hour after being put down

8:30-9:30am: Walk back and forth to the bedrooms trying to encourage them to sleep and put the pacifiers in their mouths about 100 times

9:30-10am: Bring babies out as they wake up, lay them under activity mat, tummy time, play music

10-11am: Begin feeding frenzy #2 for the next hour

11:30am-12pm: Put all babies back down depending on who is tired first

12pm-2pm: Play the whole nap charade again with Caleb's screaming included

2-3pm: Begin feeding frenzy #3 for the next hour

3-3:30pm: Read books with them, show pictures, lay under activity mat, tummy time

3:30-4:30pm: Encourage babies to sleep so they can make it until the next feeding. Lots of times this third nap is the hardest and they all end up in the swing for a while. Lately we've been using this time for a walk since they won't sleep. Wash bottles during this time also.

4:30-4:45pm: Prepare night bottles, vitamins, and medication, prepare bedrooms with pacifiers, sound machines, lovies, blankets, etc... lay out pajamas, diapers, lotion for post-bath routine, and prepare boppies with burp clothes, bibs, and something to prop bottles.

4:45-5:15pm: Draw bath, undress babies, bath babies, take out one at a time to prepare for bottle

5:15-6:15pm: Give medications and vitamins, feed bottles, burp, wrap, soothe, rock, and sing to all three babies

6:15pm: Silence... (sometimes a baby is SO tired they take forever with their bottle and cry through the whole thing. So 6:15pm isn't always a for sure bedtime).

6:15-9:15pm: Pour next two bottles, mix more formula, cook, eat, shower, laundry, whatever...

9:30pm: Bed until Zachary eats at 1:30am

4 Month Pictures

Four months has arrived! Can't believe it...

Although four months, the trio's adjusted age is about 10.5 weeks. So some big milestones we hit this past month (developmentally their second month) were smiling, giggling, cooing, using their hands and mouth to explore, and holding their heads up. Each day they are getting better and better at tummy time and it's so encouraging! Of course they hate it but I tell them it's for their own good and they seem to understand.

I was determined to get some pictures of these milestones to document their four month birthday. This turned out to be a harder task than I had planned. However, I think I came away with some decent pictures this past week. SOOO...this will be purely a picture post. When they go in for their four-month appointment on Tuesday, I'll write all the nitty gritty about life with three four-month olds.

Enjoy!

Day 1 attempt at showing off their neck strength. We had to put Caleb on there right at the last moment because his neck muscles work for about 10 seconds.


Getting weaker and weaker...



Day 2 attempt at showing off their neck strength. This was pre-feeding so Caleb was NOT happy and wouldn't lift his head at all. He has a SUPER loud scream that Zachary got right in his poor little ear.


Then Leah had a meltdown and was inconsolable for the next 30 minutes. Like the shirt?


Day 3...SUCCESS! Leah unfortunately is not growing any hair at the moment so her head just looks long and shiny. So we stuck a hat on and Zachary already had his froggy outfit on so for good measure, we gave Caleb a hat too.



Those little buggers. They all wouldn't look at me or smile but they did pretty good I think!

Here's our little Caleb man checking out his Christmas present from Gram and Papa. Giving him kisses.



So cute with all his chub.


He is fascinated with the camera so when he smiles and I try to catch a picture, I pull out the camera and he immediately stops. So I hid it behind his car seat, got right up in his face, and was able to catch the tail end of this smile.


I know, more tummy time. He's really improving though.


Miss Leah...she is the best at holding her head up like I've said before. She looks back and forth and back and forth, taking it all in.



Morning smiles after a long night of sleep.


When we went for a walk the other day I invited my little neighbor who is 13 and the first thing she said when she saw Leah was, "She's got huge eyes!" Not sure if that was a compliment or she was saying she had bug eyes or something. They're big, no doubt, but nice and blue!


Our big man Zachary is always full of smiles!!


He loves and hangs on tight to his Wubbanub.


He's runner up in the head strength department.


There they are in all their glory. Immunizations should be interesting. Getting the Tylenol out and ready!

All Aboard the Streamline...

The past two weeks it has just been Clark and me to man the trio. He's had a couple weeks off from work and it's been so much fun having him around all day.

If anyone knows Clark, you know that he's all about efficiency and numbers. Making processes more smooth and quick. Saving time and cutting off minutes or hours spent on a task each day. So as you can guess, he had lots to say about what was going on here at home day in and day out.

First off, we've been bathing the kids in the kitchen sink, one at a time, then feeding them after they are done bathing. Clark was standing over the sink for almost an hour each night while I sat and fed babies in the living room. We would have to time it so when a baby was finishing his/her vitamins, I'd give Clark a five-minute warning to take the baby he had out of the bath. Then we'd switch and I'd feed another baby his/her vitamins and the baby coming out of the tub the rest of his/her bottle. It was all very complicated and usually lots of crying took place. By the time bedtime approached all the babies fell asleep from pure exhaustion.

Of course Zachary is always volunteering to go first, whatever it is.


Mr. Caleb is definitely outgrowing the sink and has to sit up in order to fit.


Miss Leah thinks she can already get away with a bikini and is asking her Dad what the big deal is!? Love this picture. We had to stick a bow on her head because she was looking an awful lot like Caleb now that she's gotten bigger.


So after a few nights of all that, Clark talked me into it and we trialed the big bath tub....



with all three...



at the same time.


We used some bathing mats that the hospital gave us so they are all at an incline. Worked perfectly! It was kind of stressful the first go around because we realized that the bathroom echoes. So if one baby starts crying, they all do because it's so loud and startling. Then they are all hysterical and can barely be calmed down to eat. We've gotten better at making bath time a quiet time and if it looks like a tantrum is coming, that baby is promptly removed and taken away so the other two can enjoy playing in the water. Now we bath, lotion, and change the babies all within 20 minutes! Yes! Bath time has now been streamlined.

Next on the agenda was feeding.

For the past three months we have been feeding them every 1/2 hour, every three hours. For example Leah at 8am, Zachary at 8:30am, and Caleb at 9am. By the time everyone finished and put back down to sleep, it would be 10 or 10:15am and we would start again at 11am. We've toyed with the idea of tandem feeding to cut down on the time but since they are inconsistent with how quickly they eat, that option was hard to implement. Sometimes Zachary is quick, other times you really have to work with him almost an hour to finish his bottle. So, since Clark was on baby duty for 5-6 hours in the morning, he took matters into his own hands and streamlined the feeding process.

All three...



together...



at the same time.


This way can be done with one person but is pretty chaotic. With two people, however, it can be done smoothly. We don't do it this way every time and like I said, one baby is usually struggling and needs attention or another baby won't burp or someone is choking etc... There always seems to be an issue. But it's pretty cool when they all eat at the same time and Clark and me are just hanging out. Feeding has, for the most part, been condensed to be about one hour or less depending on the day. Yes! Feeding time has now been streamlined as well.

Because they are all eating around the same time, we are now able to do circle tummy time! It's so hard to get tummy time in during the day unless they do it all together. Leah is by far the winner and has such a strong neck. Caleb struggles but his head is heavier. He cries and cries but we're getting there! Zachary is in between. It depends on his mood.


Last on Clark's list of streamlining were the little things of the day like documenting diapers, washing bottles, mixing formula, and pouring formula. He's worked it all out so I only have to sterilize water once every other day, wash bottles once a day, measure formula every other day, and mix formula twice in 24 hours. Also, we only document dirty diapers rather than what is happening every diaper change. Documenting diapers seems over the top but believe me, with three babies you'd be surprised how FAST you forget who you changed, when, and whether it was dirty. Since our babies frequently suffer from constipation, we have to know how long it's been for each baby!

It was nice to get up these past two weeks and see all the babies hanging with their Dad and already be dressed and changed. However, I did not take any responsibility for how any of the babies looked. One morning I woke up to find Caleb dressed in a myriad of stripes...


I told Clark that Caleb looked a little clashy but he said it was a sweet lookin outfit and Caleb picked it out. I couldn't argue after that. :)

I'm sad to have Clark go back to work on Monday but I'm so glad for all the changes he's made. We now have a little more down time during the day. We feel like we have our heads a bit above water at this point. We'll see how long it lasts.

Here's a video of the trio eating all together...

Signing Off Until the New Year...

I want to start with a shout out to a very special Dad who had a birthday this month! Since his mom was here she made the traditional 'C' cake that Clark always had growing up. Very fun! You can't see very well because of his shirt and the shadows but the numbers on that cake are a big 2 and 8! Of course we had the annual Spaghetti dinner and all Clark wanted to do that day was lounge around the house. So we did! Lounging is what I do best these days considering pajamas are now part of normal daily wear. Happy birthday Clark!


Next up, we had a very special visitor this past week! The kids were so excited that they hurried and changed into their Christmas gear and lined up in the boppies. Then they patiently waited and wondered who would get to go first....


Yep!! Jolly Old St. Nick himself graced our front door!! Due to RSV/flu season and all the sickness going around right now, the trio was not able to leave the house to visit him. He felt so bad that he made a special trip just for them (friends from church had a Santa suit from the Christmas party). No meltdowns this year since they are still oblivious to what's going on if it doesn't involve eating. Leah kept getting tangled in Santa's beard and Caleb pulled a neck muscle trying to figure out who this big, red stranger was!



The following pictures make me want to sing this song:

"Jolly Old St. Nicholas, lean your ear this way...


don't you tell a single soul, what I'm going to say...


Christmas Eve is coming soon, now you dear old man...


whisper what you'll bring to me, tell me if you can." :)

The triplets have all been on their best behavior since September and promised Santa they would be good next year too... (they'll be walking this time next year. yikes!) Here's a better look at their Christmas gear that Gram bought. Thanks Gram for being here! Can't wait to see you again soon!

Merry Christmas!

Pictures

On the day of the blessing, of course the babies were tired and whiny. So we didn't get any decent pictures. We tried again this week and finally had some success! Smiles even! Both the boys wore Clark's blessing suit and looked very handsome. Leah wouldn't give us a good smile but at least she wasn't crying.

Photos courtesy of Gram!

Zachary

Caleb

Leah

These next pictures (including the one at the top of the blog) were taken for their three-month birthday!




I received these outfits at my baby shower and I think they are super cute. However, I've never had the boys next to each other while wearing them. They started to look like jail cellmates thinking up ways to break out of this place!


"I wish my prince charming would come save me from my crazy mom, gram, and brothers." -Miss Leah


Zachary hittin on the ladies already!! Friend Hazel getting nice and snuggly with him.

"Your hair smells really nice." -Zachary


Clark had a bear when he was little named....Beary. Beary has survived years of neglect while Clark grew up and left to college. Now Beary has found new friends and feels loved all over again. Caleb and him cuddled during a nap yesterday so Caleb wouldn't feel so lonely in his crib.

*I know there are not supposed to be any blankets, pillows, stuffed animals, etc... in cribs with babies. This was merely for the picture. :)



So a question I frequently get asked is how we feed all the babies. The one and only book about triplets has a section on breastfeeding triplets and that it can be done.

I'm sure it can. Just not by me. The lactation consultants at the hospital always assumed I would be breastfeeding, not just pumping, once the babies came home. When I would tell them I really wasn't planning on it they acted so surprised and promptly ended what little conversation we were having.

Point is, these babies get bottles with formula. At first when we brought them home we had to pay close attention to each baby while feeding for fear of them choking or not breathing. Now that we are a little past that and they are all better eaters (for the most part), we can feed two at a time. Clark, his mom, and I have all seemed to master the tandem bottle feed. It's always pretty hysterical. Both babies get propped in boppys on each side of you. Then you feed them each with one hand and when it comes to burping, the other one just has to wait patiently. Recently while Caleb is waiting to be burped, he ends up burping himself....which saves us both time and gives us a good laugh. He doesn't have time to wait around! Last night I was really proud because I changed, fed, burped, and wrapped two babies in 30 minutes! YES! Feeding two at a time, I decided, depends on three things:

Burpability of the baby
Ferver with which the baby eats
No hold ups at the diaper change

If all three of those elements are in place, we're looking at a sub 30-minute feeding. Love it. Haven't quite figured out how to get that third baby fed at the same time without bottle propping. I'll have to think on it.