We Wish you a Merry Christmas! And a Happy New Year!

Last Friday we took the babies to the dr. for their 8 month check up! I hate going to the dr. as much as they do….but only 2 shots this time, so I guess that’s better than some of their past visits. This appointment, we had the pleasure of taking in urine samples. It’s hard enough when I have to do it for myself, let alone try to ‘catch’ my babies! They provided us with a bag that had a small hole and stickers around the edges. I laughed at the idea that it was going to work. And they only gave us 3 bags…no room for error! I had the genius idea to try to ‘catch’ the boy’s while they were in the bath, because no fail, as soon as they get in, they go! Well…of course this time when I actually wanted them to go, Zach got in the tub….and….did….not….do….. ANYTHING! FAIL! I tried to attach the bag while he was in the tub, just in case he was waiting, but still nothing, and then I checked the bag, and bubble bath had gotten in….DOUBLE FAIL! Now I didn’t even have a bag for his! Colby was next in the tub. And on command, he cooperated, I caught it in the bag, and had success #1! And although Avery usually goes in the tub too, she isn’t anatomically equipped for an easy catch…so I waited until the next day for her. The morning of their appointment, Josh took Colby’s bag to the office, and got a new one for Zach. I stuck it on them, and put their diaper over it…and checked….and waited….and checked….and Avery went pretty fast, success #2! Zach was rolling and scooting all over the place, so he might have gone, but it wasn’t staying in the bag like I needed it to! Finally, right before we left for the appointment, I took the bag off and there was enough that drained down that they could do what they needed to with it! SUCCESS #3~FINALLY! The funny thing is, I have realized there are a lot of things people don’t tell you about being a parent until you are in the moment….and this is one of them!
The dr. thought they all looked great!
Avery, our little peanut, weighs 16lbs 4.5oz and she’s in the 25% for both height and weight
Zachary, the mover and shaker, weighs 17lbs 14.5oz and he’s 25% for height and 20% for weight
Colby, the big guy, weighs 19lbs 8.5oz!!!! That’s almost 20 Pounds!!!! He’s 75% for height and weight and 90% for his head!!

Crawling update: Zach has successfully taken a few official crawls forward (without the face-plant in between!) Colby is now up on all fours rocking back and forth, but then flops on his belly and wiggles his arms and legs. It’s really funny. And Avery is still rolling everywhere! They are starting to get more curious about things, and manage to find everything we don’t want them to get into! And the room is pretty well cleared out!

We are so excited about Christmas this year! I have had so much fun trying on all our Christmas outfits, and the babies are patient and let me play =). They are just so cute I can’t help it! I tried to restrain myself with presents for them, but you know how that goes. For a mama who loves to shop, and all the cute things they have out there for babies, they made out pretty well!!

Colby lookin studly

Zach lookin cute....with shoes on!!

cute in sweater vests

I probably won’t have the chance for another post between now and Christmas, as we are doing Christmas with my immediate family tonight, Christmas with josh and me and the babies tomorrow and my mom’s side for Christmas eve evening, then josh’s immediate family Christmas morning, my family in the afternoon and josh’s extended family in the evening. We’ll be doing lots of running, but there are too many people we need to see and can’t decide who to cut out! So until the babies are a little bit older and need to be home on Christmas morning, we will be running!! Good thing we got new hats to keep us warm!! (Thanks aunt linda!!)

Zach just woke up....he really did like his hat!

Colby couldn't figure out what happened to his hands with his mittens on! He was so confused!
What a sweet girl!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours! I hope you get to spend lots of time with those you love, eat way more calories than you should, and remember the reason we are celebrating Christmas. Through God, all things are possible. We have realized how true this is and will continue to be grateful everytime we look at our 3 little miracles! Thank you to all our friends and family for all of your love and support this year. We wish the best for you now and throughout the upcoming year!

sleepless nights, festival of lights, weekly count

So I know I shouldn’t complain. But I’m going to for just a second. I have been so blessed with good babies who have all 3 been consistently sleeping through the night since the end of July/beginning of August. I was questioning myself, because I continued to set an alarm and get up through the night to pump when they weren’t! (which made it an easy decision to stop when I did in October!) I think my body adjusted really well to getting broken sleep in hour and a half chunks, and I really didn’t feel so tired, which was great. But, now that I’ve enjoyed many nights with 8 or more uninterrupted hours of sleep, to go back to our old ways is TERRIBLE! We have had 4 bad nights in a row…3 caused by Zach (who I hope is teething b/c the poor baby was pathetic last night but no fever and nothing obviously wrong!) and one by Colby who was just hungry (surprise surprise!).



Here was my schedule last night:
10:00pm Colby asleep
11:00 Avery asleep
11-11:30 Zach screaming (administer Tylenol)
11:45 Zach asleep
11:45-12:15 make formula
12:30-1:30 sleep
1:30 wake up to zach screaming (josh gets him)
1:40 take zach from josh
1:40-2:30 Zach screaming
2:30 put zach in the cosleeper that’s still attached to our bed
3-6:30 sleep (not straight through though, zach woke up 2-3 times and if I held his hand, he’d fall back asleep)
6:30 Avery up (I think she was feeling left out of being up entirely too early the past few nights, so she got up to eat a little and fell right back to sleep)
7-7:45 sleep
7:45 Zach up (not screaming like he did last night, but not completely happy either) and drank a little bit of a bottle and fell back asleep
8-9:30 dozed in and out while holding zach
9:30 colby and avery awake for the day
for those of you that don’t like math…that’s less than 6 hours total of very broken sleep and after 3 other nights of bad sleep, I’M TIRED!!








Now onto the fun stuff!
Josh is on vacation (kind of) from work as of Sunday morning. He had to go in yesterday all day though for training, so we now get a good stretch of daddy time! On Monday night we took advantage of the 60 degree weather in December and went to the zoo for the Festival of Lights! There were a lot of other people that had the same idea as us too….it was VERY crowded. But for our purposes of just walking around and enjoying the night, the lights and a few animals, the crowd didn’t bother us much at all!

We started by seeing the elephants. There were 2 that were right up close and personal. We took turns getting the kids out of the seats to see the animals, so Avery got to get out to see them!

We were dorks and had to use the map to get around (I’m sure I’ll know it much better in the next year or two!) and figured out a loop to follow. We saw the giraffes,

some fish, went in the cat house, saw a sleeping polar bear, saw the monkeys,

and saw Santa's reindeer!

Colby took a nap the 2nd half of the night, so he missed his turn to get out and see the animals..maybe next time. Josh said he was a little disappointed that we saw the elephants first b/c they were right there and fun to watch, and then everything else was either hiding, sleeping or on the other side of the exhibit from where we were. But we had a really good time, we stayed warm and the babies were great! (except for in the car on the way home….the boys were REALLY loud)

We saw the gingerbread girl and boy too!

Yesterday, like I said before, josh had training all day, so it was just me and the babies in the afternoon. After their first nap, I made the peanut butter cookies with the Hershey kiss in the middle while they were playing in their bouncers and walk around. We read books and played some more after I was done, then they all took their evening nap at the same time. As soon as they were asleep I ran back to the kitchen and baked 4+ dozen of homemade oatmeal raisin cinnamon chip cookies! of course now I’ll have to eat them, and that isn’t the best, but the fact that I was able to make almost 8 dozen cookies when I was home by myself with 3 babies is empowering! Now today I have a little more shopping to catch up on and maybe a little wrapping and will get to enjoy a dinner tonight with the ‘ladies of oxford’! I think I’ve earned it! =)

And by special request….the totals for the week…

12 bottles a day=84 bottles a week (filled,emptied, hand washed, repeat)
15ish diapers a day=105ish diapers a week
6-7 jars (or the equivalent of) babyfood each day=right around 50 per week
4-5 loads of baby laundry each week (which means folding and putting away all that too!)
3 times a week run the dishwasher

Times we’ve seen Santa this year….3…Merry Christmas!!

how do you do it?

The day in the lives of the 3 cutes 8 month olds you've ever seen!
I get a lot of really stupid questions when I’m out with the babies, but one honest question I get over and over, and I think people really do want to know…is “how do you do it?” So in case you were wondering…here’s how I do it.
Between 8-10 Possible early wake up from one or more of the babies. They will be fed a bottle, have their diaper changed, and be put back to bed.
(If someone wakes up between 10-11, they will not have to go back to bed!)
11am-All babies wake up (or are woken up). Anyone who hasn’t had their first bottle will get it now, and everyone else plays on the floor
11:30-The babies are loaded into their table and we eat breakfast….a bowl of oatmeal and fruits (the magic bullet is my new favorite tool…I am making their baby food, and can throw just about anything in and it purees in seconds!)


12:00pm-Everyone gets their faces and hands washed and we get dressed for the day! Then play in equipment so mom and or dad can eat lunch/do dishes/take showers/do laundry/clean/run errands etc.

Between 1-2pm (there’s a range depending on who woke up when…about 4-4.5 hours after their first bottle) 2nd 8oz bottle of the day.

2pm (ish)-Nap time (it’s a really good day when they all go down at the same time….we are working on taking naps in cribs….work in progress, but so far so good)

4pm-Josh goes to work, play time with mommy

6pm ish-3rd 8oz bottle of the day....this is one of the arrangements when i have to feed them by myself....and now if they all fall asleep, they get carried to their beds

6:30-7 until no later than 8-Nap time #2
7:45ish (whenever everyone is up)-Dinner time! Dinner consists of a green and orange veggie with fruit for dessert
8:30-Bath (twice a week) or Jammies
9:00-Story Time! Everyone sits in their bumbo chairs and mommy reads them books! They like the ones that make noise the best, or ones I can do motions to (5 little monkeys)
10:00-4th 8oz bottle (sometimes a little more for Colby) and everyone to bed by 11!

Babies Favorite Foods: Sweet Potatoes, Bananas, Peaches, Harvest Vegetables with mixed grain
Babies Favorite Activities: Putting anything and everything in our mouths, playing Peek-a-boo, rolling around on the floor with mommy and daddy, chewing on teethers/newspaper ads/toys, being held and loved on, getting kisses and hugs

Never a dull moment....but never a bad day!

running man

i moved the walk around toy to the hard wood floor and this is how zach adjusts to the wheels spinning so easily!

December update

Almost 8 months old!

I have a lot of patience…..but this blogging program is pushing me far past my limit! I’ve uploaded these pictures 3 times now, but knew better than to type anything until the pictures were here. So now I’m typing in Microsoft Word, and going to fight the program to let me cut and paste it into the blog. So this program is part of my excuse for such a long break between entries…the other excuse is…I’ve got triplets!! =) Now on to them….

They are adorable! And their personalities are coming out more and more every day. Avery is a Mommy’s Girl. Bad. She likes daddy, she likes Mamaw, and a few other women are ok, but if mommy’s around, she better be in her arms. (I secretly love it though!) To the outside world she is sober, very few smiles are revealed, and she takes everything in, and isn't always too sure....but to mommy, i just have to walk in the room, say her name, or make eye contact and i have smiles and giggles galore!

She just converted from scooting on her back and wearing all the hair off the back of her head to barrel rolling across the floor. 5-6 rolls in a row can get you to just about anything!! Colby is a ham. He’s big and strong, and when he gets tickled he has an adorable little laugh. He’s happy, content, and likes to be big (ie. Eating anything off our plates we will give him, tries to hold his own sippy cup and bottle, and sits up). He LOVES to bounce in the doorway jumper…and is really good at it too!! He still loves to stand up, but when he’s laying on his belly, Colby can pivot himself in a circle, and will get up on all 4’s but doesn’t move yet. He's freakishly flexible too!!
Zach is just a sweetie. He is a smiley little guy and loves to snuggle and give kisses. We have a toy that is a play table with a seat attached that allows them to walk around the table, and he loves that he can walk around and be mobile in it! He wears a mark into the carpet he does so many circles!! Although he isn’t crawling yet….he’s super close and in the mean time he gets around by pivoting and scooting.


Avery is still the only one with teeth. I keep checking the boys daily to see if there’s a change, but so far, nothing. They are happily chewing on EVERYTHING and really have been good teethers (if there is such a thing!)

We had a fabulous thanksgiving. Unfortunately Josh had to work that day, but my mom and brother rode with me and they were familiar faces and extra hands at the family gatherings for the babies! The babies did awesome though. We went out to lunch and then hung out at my grandma’s, then went on to my mom’s side of the family for the evening. One of my cousins said “I haven’t heard them fuss…is that normal?” And I’m happy to reply that it is normal. They are such happy babies, the fussing is very minimal, the sleep is long through the night, and I don’t think they could be any better! The day involved a lot of travel to all those stops, which meant lots of little naps for the babies, but they just went with the flow! It was great. I have so much to be thankful for this year and was so blessed that I could take the babies to show off and spend the day celebrating with my family. Great-Grandma and her 3 Great-Grandbabies!



My Zachy Turkey

Colby Looking at the big doggie

Did I mention Avery doesn't like boys? (No offense Uncle Mark!)

This weekend was a busy weekend! My friend Kim and her hubby Brian came down on Saturday to visit for the day. Poor Brian wanted nothing more than for Avery to like him, and she just DOESN’T LIKE BOYS!! And is consistent. Last week our friends Geoff and Mandy were over, and Geoff could wave at her across the room, and she would start crying! We still had a great visit with them…complete with a trip to skyline! (which meant the babies got to have bites of oyster crackers! Yum!)
Kim and Colby, Avery and Zachary

Colby

Avery

On Sunday, we started the day with the Santa Luncheon with my multiples group. It was so much fun to hang out with everyone and see their growing families and share ours with them. Last year we went to the lunch when I was pregnant and it was so much better this year to have the babies with us! They had the ‘real’ Santa and Mrs. Claus, who were wonderful. They were so kind and gentle with the babies. The babies were very excited about all the hair they could grab onto on Santa’s beard! But then Avery realized Santa was a boy, and wasn’t too thrilled.

Finally everyone was looking!!

Then Sunday evening, we met Josh’s family for his dad’s birthday dinner. The babies loved Outback. They had French fries, Sweet Potatoes, Baked Potatoes, and Ice Cream! (I threw in some baby food Pears and Bananas for healthy effect too!) And once you start feeding them, they are worse beggars than Cooper is, and whine and grunt until they get more!

I take a ton of pictures…but now that they are doing more and smiling more they are getting so much cuter! I could easily post 50 on here and still have to sort through to find my favorites!

This is Colby on "dress like daddy day" with his jersey and jeans on!

Here’s Zach about to fall out the front of the swing….totally not relaxed….totally not how this seat is supposed to work. Hopefully we will be migrating nap time to their beds….not sure how much they are going to like that though!

It's been so much fun decorating for Christmas! Here are our stockings all lined up!!

Thier first matching outfits!
(C, Z, A)

Colby sitting up like a big boy!

Mommy with her super-human strength (Josh and i actually had a conversation about this last night....he can't do this as easily as i can, and didn't know why....i decided it's because i have hips and he doesn't!)

to ease my pain i am going to start another blog with the rest of the pictures i wanted to include....stay tuned!