5 1/2 Months and Counting

I'm struggling to come up with a title for this post as I still don't feel like we've hit any major milestones at our house, but we do have a few minor ones to share.

First of all, Jack officially weighs more than our cat! This may sound silly, but months ago when we were sitting in the NICU holding our tiny babies Micah joked that we'd throw a party when the babies weighed more than our cat. For those of you that have seen our cat you probably think this is quite the feat, since most people seem to think she is fat, but she actually only weighs 11 lbs 11 oz (as of last week when we put her on the baby scale). And as of today, Jack weighs 11 lbs 12.5 oz! When all three pass this mark I think I'll bake a cake!

Sadly, we are still struggling with getting the girls to eat enough during the day so Micah has been getting up with them during the night to feed them. We decided a couple of days ago that it was time to attempt to get them to sleep through the night, as long as they successfully increased their intake during their remaining six bottles so they continued to gain weight. We have only tried two nights so far, but we are hopeful it will work this time!

We determined that Faith is not dealing with reflux anymore, so she is now sleeping flat on her back in her crib instead of sleeping on her wedge! Honestly, I don't know if reflux was ever much of an issue for her as she never seemed bothered by it like Lexi did, but the NICU suspected it was the cause of her spells so we added rice cereal to her formula so that she didn't have so many reflux episodes as it is supposed to help keep the food down, and she has been sleeping on a steep slant since coming home. About a month ago I tried laying her flat for nap time but she would not sleep, and she is normally a good sleeper. I suspect that she was so used to being in her harness at night that she felt too free just laying in her crib. So we slowly weened her from the wedge by propping it up with towels and pillows until it was pretty much flat, and then we put her in her crib and she was fine! Having all three babies sleeping flat on their backs in their cribs actually feels like a huge step as no one was doing that for the first couple of months they were home. I remember Micah saying we shouldn't have even bought the cribs as they were sitting there empty, but now they are definitely being used!

One of the last naps Faith took on her wedge. She looks so relaxed!

Faith sleeping flat on her back in her crib!

Lexi sleeping in exactly the same position as Faith at the exact same time

The babies are really starting to "talk" to us, which is so much fun! Of course right now they are just making sounds, but they sound so cute and it feels like a pretty big step considering we had babies for 4+ months that didn't really make any noises in response to us. At the time I thought they were making noises as they would make little babbling sounds when playing, but this is very different and very intentional. It's the best feeling to talk to one of the babies and have him or her get a huge smile and make cute sounds!

My mom came out for a quick trip this past weekend, and it was a lot of fun to have her here. She really enjoyed seeing the babies, and of course they enjoyed hanging out with their grandma! I also realized that I am feeling more and more like myself as we played Scrabble both nights she was here, which is something we always used to do when we visited one another, but during the pregnancy and for a few months after, I was too exhausted to even think about playing. And, I actually beat her one of the nights which doesn't happen very often considering her job involves writing so she has more practice with words. Can't wait for more games when my parents come out for Christmas!

Wearing their new Christmas jammies from Grandpa and Grandma (L to R: Jack, Faith, Alexis)

Trying on the hats. It was hard to get them to hold still!

On Grandma's lap (L to R: Faith, Jack, Lexi)

Sunday was World Prematurity Day, which prompted me to pause and reflect on how far the babies have come. As I said at the beginning of this post, sometimes it doesn't feel like any major milestones have been met with the babies, but when I think back to their time in the NICU and how tiny they were, I realize how far they have come. They may not be rolling over or sitting up yet, but that will all happen sooner than later, and the fact that they are all healthy is a major milestone in and of itself.

Top left: Me and Jack the day after the birth. Top right: first time I held both girls at the same time, a few days after their birth. Bottom: me with the trio this past Friday. I definitely look like I'm feeling better too :).

We took some photos for our Christmas card while my mom was visiting. Here are some that we took but won't be using on the card:

This pose was my idea but I admit it didn't turn out the best for the babies :). It's hard to come up with poses for three babies who can't sit yet!

me and Faith

Me and Lexi

Me and Jack (unfortunately we didn't get a pic of Micah and Jack this time)

Micah and Lexi

Micah and Faith

And some random pics from the past couple of weeks:

Micah's first pic with the trio. Can't believe we didn't do this sooner!

Ready for a walk! These Patagonia buntings work great with our new stroller as blankets just fall off.

Tummy time contest: Lexi vs Faith!

Jack

Lexi

Faith

They still love to scoot together when we lay them near each other. So cute! I've caught them holding hands a few times too, but I never get the camera quick enough. This is Faith and Jack.

Lexi and Jack

Jack's first time using a computer

First Road Trip

Micah and I wanted to go on a little road trip with the babies as we usually do quite a bit of traveling and we haven't been able to go anywhere as a family since the babies were born. In fact, I hadn't gone anywhere since February or March when we last visited Micah's parents since I had to stay close to home during my high risk pregnancy, so we decided it was definitely time to get away.

Micah's parents live in Monte Vista, CO, which is only about 3 hours and 45 minutes from ABQ, so we decided it would be the perfect first destination with the babies. It took quite awhile to gather all of the stuff we needed for our trip and pack, but we recently got a cargo box that attaches to the hitch of our 4Runner so everything fit in our car perfectly. I forgot to take a picture of our packed car, but we brought two pack n plays, Faith's sleeping wedge, three rock n plays, two bouncy seats, a play yard, a double stroller, climbing gear for Micah, tons of clothes for the babies, bottles, formula, and everything else the babies require during a 48 hour period!

We left Friday afternoon so that we could drive in the daylight. We decided to stop halfway through the drive to feed the babies as we wanted to keep them on their feeding schedule to insure we got in all of their bottles during the day. The drive is partly on an interstate and partly on a two lane highway, so there are some nice pull offs on the less busy section of the drive to stop for a feeding. I fed one baby in the front seat while Micah sat on the middle car seat base in the backseat and fed the other two simultaneously. This worked out great and everyone ate well! The only problem with stopping was that the babies got off of their eat, play, sleep schedule as they fell asleep as soon as we started driving again after the feeding, which was fine until they started waking up with about an hour left in the drive. Unfortunately, there wasn't much we could do to console them as they really just wanted to get out of their car seats and play, so there was a lot of crying for about the last hour of the drive.

Micah's parents have a spare bedroom in their house, and they also have a small upstairs with a pull out couch. We opted to sleep upstairs on the pull out so that we could have the babies in the same room with us so that we could hear them during the night. We had only slept one night with everyone in the same room as we quickly decided to move the babies into their own room once Faith got home as there were too many baby noises to keep us awake during the night. Now the babies are much quieter sleepers, though, and we enjoyed our family sleepover both nights!

Micah with Faith, Alexis, and Jack (top to bottom) in the morning after they all woke up. Micah was watching a climbing video and Faith was very excited about it as well!

It was a lot of fun to see Micah's parents again as we hadn't seen them since Labor Day weekend! The babies have changed so much in the last two months, so they enjoyed the smiles and seeing how much more interactive they are now. I also enjoyed our visit as it was the first time I have been able to escape the chores at our house as we are pretty much constantly working on stuff since it is a lot of work to maintain our household while taking care of three babies. Since I didn't have a long list of things to get done and Micah's mom took care of all of our meals and loading the bottles into the dishwasher, the only thing I had to do was make formula (and feed babies, but I had plenty of help for that too!). So for the first time since the babies came home, I actually just sat near them and read while they napped. This was so relaxing and whenever one of the babies would start fussing I would hold them or put them near me and they would fall back asleep. It was so nice to just enjoy being in the presence of the babies for once instead of constantly seeing the work that needed to be done.

Alexis, Faith, and Jack (left to right) playing at Grammy and Grandpa's house

Faith smiling for Grammy

Alexis smiling for Grammy

Jack with Grandpa Howard (not sure why his face was cut off...I didn't take this pic)

On the drive home the babies were sleeping great and with the time change we had an extra hour to work with in our day, so we decided to just push the next feeding until we got home. Although there were about five hours between bottles, the babies did great with this and we only heard a couple of whimpers in the last ten minutes of the drive. 

The trip was definitely a success and we are already planning our next few trips! We are planning on meeting Micah's parents in Ouray, CO at the end of December so that Micah and his dad can go ice climbing and his mom and I can enjoy the hot springs. Our friends might join us as well, which would be a lot of fun, and with the extra hands taking care of the babies it will feel like less work which will help it feel like more of a vacation. In March I am considering doing the Zion Half Marathon, which will be an adventure as we would also hike there with the triplets. In May we are hoping to make it to Michigan to visit family. And we will be back to Michigan in August for my brother's wedding. We are looking forward to our upcoming adventures!

5 Months Old

The last five months have flown by so fast and I'm starting to believe that this baby phase won't last forever.  Although most people always say the baby stage goes too quickly, since our triplets were born two months early we have felt like they have been tiny babies for a long time already! These days they are smiling a ton and we have even heard some giggles. They also have great head control and are doing an awesome job with tummy time.

Current weights:
Alexis: 11 lbs .5 oz
Jack: 11 lbs 6.5 oz
Faith: 10 lbs 12 oz

Although they are still on the light side, most people comment on how long they are. They are actually starting to outgrow some of their 3 month clothes and move into 3-6 month and 6 month clothes!


Alexis

Faith

Jack

 

The Trio