Getting Settled

Everyday I think about how great it is that the triplets are all home from the hospital now.  Faith has only been home for almost three weeks, but already the NICU seems like a distant memory. Although taking care of three babies is quite the challenge, we are working on figuring out how to best take care of them while doing some of the stuff we love.

Since I was approved to resume normal activities at six weeks postpartum (5 1/2 weeks ago), I have been running a few days a week. I haven't been running very far, partly because I'm so out of shape and partly because I don't want to be gone from the babies for very long, but I'm just happy to be out there again. This was a bit easier to do when we had family in town as there was always someone here to watch the babies for me, but I plan on running either before Micah leaves for work or after he gets home.  Since I've been running for half of my life I find that it helps me get in touch with the person I was before I got pregnant as everything else in my life has changed.  It also gives me a break from my new "job," and of course it's a great workout and I can't wait until I'm back in shape.

Micah has been climbing once or twice a week since the babies were born. He has a couple of climbing trips planned for the fall (Zion and Yosemite) so he needs to maintain his fitness. Like running for me, climbing helps him maintain a part of his life that he had before babies.  Although I have been running much longer than I've been climbing, I really miss it since I was climbing 2-3 times a week before I got pregnant. I've now made it to the climbing gym twice, once with Micah when his mom was in town and once with my friend Val. Although it is difficult since I still have pregnancy weight to lose and I have zero strength, it feels really good to climb again and I'm hoping to make it back to the gym at least once a week.

Twice we've loaded all three babies in the car and went to Uptown (shopping area). Before that we hadn't driven with all three yet as there hadn't been anyplace we had to go, but we decided Uptown would be a good start as it's an outdoor mall so we could get fresh air yet do something other than just go for a walk. We are hoping to bring all three babies on a short climbing day trip in the next couple of months (with the help of our friends, the Turners, that climb and have two kids) as although we know that our priorities have to change with the babies, we are determined to do at least some of the activities we did before the triplets as we really value our active lifestyle. 

Although we have made some time to go running and climbing, right now we pretty much spend all of our time feeding, washing bottles, making formula, changing diapers, and doing laundry. We are trying to stretch out the nighttime feedings a little so that we get more sleep, so I am now getting up at 3:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. instead of 2:30 and 5:30.  Hopefully we can even stretch that 3:00 a.m. feeding a little more soon as everyone does sleep pretty well, but right now at least one baby is crying and ready to eat at that time.

We are so thankful for friends that have been helping since our parents left. It is amazing how much help an extra set of hands is, and the babies all love to be held so having friends over to even just hold the babies is helpful. We are also extremely thankful for our church as various people have been providing meals for us.

 We haven't been to the doctor in a few weeks so we weren't sure how much weight the babies were gaining, but we recently received a baby scale from one of my mom's co-workers.  This is great as we feel much better knowing that they are still growing and gaining weight as they should!  Yesterday Jack weighed 7 lbs 12 oz, Alexis weighed 7 lbs 9.5 oz, and Faith weighed 7 lbs 10.5 oz.  They really are the size of full term newborns now, and we are so thankful that they are all gaining weight so steadily. 

Here are some pics from the last couple of weeks:

Jack with Tyler

Micah getting a bear hug from Alexis

Family photo on our 8th anniversary (8/13/13)

Pack n play fun (F, A, J)

Alexis snoozing on Grammy

Alexis resting with Davis

Alexis, Faith, and Jack with Grammy

Alexis and Micah sleeping

Getting stuff done around the hosue

Faith and Alexis

Sarah K. with Faith and Alexis

Auggie and Val with Alexis

Auggie and Val giving Faith a bath

Faith and Jack

Walking around Uptown with Jack in the carrier and the girls in the stroller

Micah actually pushed the stroller

Faith and Alexis. This pic really shows how much more square A's head is (right) which is how we can tell them apart right now.

Jack and Alexis. Although we put them several inches apart when we lay them down, they always find each other as they love to touch!

Alexis and Faith

They are starting to outgrow the pack n play!

Faith (left) and Alexis (right) - they love to touch!

Faith and Alexis

Jack