Sunday, June 22, 2014

Father's Day & Grandma's Visit

Micah's second Father's Day was cut a bit short as he had to leave last Sunday around noon for a conference for work. We did get to spend a few hours at home together before he left, though, which was fun. Hopefully next year will be a bit more relaxing though as it's always stressful to pack and get ready for a trip.

Father's Day photo taken right before Micah left for the airport

Our gift to Micah
Although I have done one 24+ hour period alone since our trio was born, I prefer to have help and my mom was able to fly out and spend the week with us which was great! During the week we went on many walks, we played in the backyard, we went swimming twice, we went to our trio's one year doctor appointment, we went out for gelato and frozen yogurt, we installed our new 3-in-1 car seats in our 4Runner, we lowered all three cribs, and we introduced Alexis, Jack, and Faith to many new foods as they ate what we had every night for dinner. It was a very fun and productive week, and we were definitely sad to see my mom leave (although we were happy to have Micah return!).

Here are some photos from our week together:

Swimming at the YMCA. We rotated them so each could practice their "swimming."

Walk with Grandma. A, F, J

Jack LOVES gelato!

Chick-fil-A is super close to our doctor's office so I have gotten in the habit of stopping there after doctor's appointments. This was the first time we shared the meal with our babes and they all enjoyed their chicken nuggets!

One morning we walked to the grocery store which is about 1.5 miles from our house as we had to get a few groceries (and Starbucks). Alexis, Faith, and Jack love getting out of the house but both girls fell asleep on the way home. Luckily, we were able to put them in their cribs without disturbing them and they continued to nap.

Using our new twins feeding tray during breakfast. Thanks Pam!

Faith's newest trick is climbing on the couch. Luckily she can only do it when we take the cushions off as she hasn't figured out how to come down safely yet.

Our new 3-in-1 car seats! These seats allow our babes to interact while we're driving and it's so cute to see them holding hands and hear them giggling while we drive around.

Bubbles! It's hard to blow bubbles when you have two eager "helpers."

Jack enjoys bubbles the most

Playing in the kitchen

They are figuring out how to stand by taller things now. Here's Lexi standing next to the table.
Jack wanted to try on his outfit for Grandma that he will wear at my brother's wedding in August. The top fits great but the pants are huge so they'll need to be altered.

We realized that Alexis, Jack, and Faith will need shoes for my brother's wedding and we were hoping to find some at Target, but we didn't have any luck. It was still fun to show Grandma the triple cart though!


The slider door is always an attraction. Most of the time Alexis, Jack, and Faith move around the house together while they play, which is super cute to watch but it also causes some issues since they crawl over each other and pull each other down when they're standing.
Taking pics with Grandma before she left for home. I love how her and jack have the same expression.
Take 2! L to R: F, J, A


Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Our (New) Daily Grind

 It's been a couple of months since I wrote about our daily schedule, and since it has changed (again) I wanted to write a post so I remember what it was like for us at 12 months (10 adjusted). Although our bottle, meal, nap time, and bed time routine is the same every day, the time varies a bit depending on what we have going on, so this is our typical schedule.
 
Between 6:00 and 7:30 -Alexis, Jack, and Faith wake up. I am amazed at how inconsistent their wake up time is since we put them to bed at a pretty consistent time each night. I set my alarm for 7:00 so if they all happen to be asleep I get a few minutes to myself. Otherwise, I wake up when I hear someone making noise (these days it could be talking, crying, or shouting). If any of the babes wake up early they just play until I get the others up for the 7:30 bottle.

Good morning!

Alexis

Faith
7:30 - After I get all three babies out of bed and diapers changed (and I have put in my contacts and brushed my teeth), I feed the first round of bottles. These days this means they Faith and Alexis are in their Rock n Plays and Jack is on the floor with pillows, and I prop their bottles.
7:45 - Make three trips downstairs to bring each baby down. I clean up some dishes and bottles and then get their breakfast ready. By the time breakfast is ready they probably all have a dirty diaper so I change everyone's diaper and then put each baby into their booster seat.
8:30 - Feed all three babies breakfast, which is usually yogurt and some finger food such as banana, toast, and Cheerios. These days there is not much interest in being spoon-fed so we are working on incorporating more finger foods.
9:00 - Clean each baby's face and hands and put everyone on the floor to play while I clean their trays and do more dishes and make formula.
 
Playing post breakfast (Faith still has her PJ top on). These chairs are one of the favorite spots to play right now even though they have been the cause of many falls!

Faith playing in her PJ's in the morning. Her newest trick is climbing to the top of the couch (when we have the cushions off so it's short enough for her to get on).
 
9:30 - Get all three babies dressed, which is a workout now that they are all crawling (the girls on all fours and Jack on his belly) and they don't want to lay still for a minute! 
 
Mid outfit change Alexis (top) and Jack decided it was a good time to play in the kitchen.
 
10:00 - Take three trips back upstairs to put each baby down for a nap. Right now Faith is sleeping in the guest room for naps. I then pick up and do other things around the house until I'm sure all three are asleep.
10:30 - This is my best opportunity to take a shower since it's the morning and all are sleeping, but sometimes I have so much to do that I choose to shower later on. I also use this time for laundry, cleaning, etc.
12:00 - Everyone wakes up and I bring them downstairs. Lately I have had to wake everyone up. 
12:15 - Lunch, which is a mix of puree and finger foods such as cheese, pasta, fruit, vegetable, etc.

Faith

Jack

Alexis
 
12:45 - This is when I try to get out and do something with the babes. We run an errand, visit with friends, or go to the YMCA so I can workout and they go to Child Watch (which is free with the membership and great for me, but it's only open until 1:30 so I have to hustle over there).

At our friend's pool between naps

Alexis, and Jack at the end of a Costco trip. They were both over it but I thought their pose was so cute!

 
2:15 - We get back from being out and it's time for a bottle! I carry everyone back upstairs and read books to the babes while they drink their nap time bottle.
2:30 - Afternoon nap for the babes and time for me to work on things on my To Do list. Before I get down to work I usually eat a snack by the computer to relax for a few minutes. 
4:30 - Babies wake up from their naps. Time to play! We either go out by the water table or just stay inside. Once in awhile we run an errand.
 
Alexis, Jack, and Faith playing (and me with my feet up)
 
5:30 - Dinner time! Hopefully Micah is home or about to get home to help with this meal. If possible we eat as a family.


6:15 - Done with dinner and time to play again or go out and do something. We did swim lessons for the last couple of weeks at this time of day but I'm sure we'll find fun things to do to fill this time now that they have transitioned to a later bed time. We have also been having friends over for dinner, which is great since we get to see them without having to get a babysitter and a year ago I couldn't imagine hosting dinners with three babies!


Swim lessons! Our friend Sarah came a few evenings to help out since we didn't have enough hands for three babes.
When we didn't have Sarah with us at swim lessons one babe sat on the side in a Go Pod and watched. No one seemed to mind at all since there was so much going on! This is Alexis.

Parent and Tot swim lessons! L to R: Micah, Faith, Jack, me, Alexis.

Auggie and Eland over for dinner (with Val in the background)

Davis and Sarah over for dinner. We have really been enjoying eating in our new backyard this summer!
 7:45 - Change into PJ's and get bottles ready.

Since everyone is now crawling it is necessary to have a gate upstairs by the bedrooms. Although it's not a huge play area, it's great for keeping everyone safe before bottles.
 8:00 - Third bottle of the day and read more books while they drink. We read not only because it helps them grow, but also because it helps them focus on something else so that they end up drinking their bottle instead of squirming around.
8:15 - Put Alexis, Jack, and Faith in bed. The girls are now sleeping in the same room at night.
10:45 - Get all three up for a 5 oz bottle to add to their calories for the day since no one seems that interested in eating or drinking during the day, and we believe this helps them sleep through the night.
11:00 - Finally go to bed and USUALLY sleep through the night. Hopefully I didn't just jinx myself by writing this!

Although it's still a very busy schedule, it feels little more manageable with one less bottle during the day (as compared to our schedule at 10 months), we have been getting out more which is good for all of us, and they nap great so I do get some time to get stuff done (it is pretty hard to load the dishwasher when the babes are awake as they all think it is so fun to play with the dirty dishes!). 


Here are more pics of all of the playing that happens at our house!

Faith and Jack by the gate downstairs


Faith and Alexis. Can you tell they're identical?!

Faith. She can pull herself up on anything now, whether it's got something to hold onto or not!

Faith and Alexis

Alexis and Faith. They have now figured out that our built-in shelves are the perfect height for standing next to.

Jack, Alexis, and Faith. They love to follow me around the kitchen while I'm trying to get things done, so sometimes the measuring cups are the best way to distract them.

Faith "skiing" on plastic tubs

Playing in Lexi's crib while I'm trying to get stuff done in the girls room. F, J, A

"Look mom no hands!" Lexi and Faith.

Lexi
 

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Birthday Weekend

I cannot believe Alexis, Jack, and Faith are 1-year-olds! Although the last year felt both fast, because we were so busy taking care of three babies and having various family and friends come visit, and slow, because we didn't get out much as we had to protect them from germs since they were preemies, we made it through the first year as new parents!

We considered throwing a small birthday party with a few couples that have been a larger part of Alexis, Jack, and Faith's lives (or just our lives) over the past year, but due to scheduling conflicts and not wanting to make the weekend stressful with throwing a party, we decided to just celebrate with Micah's parents. I'm really glad that we kept the weekend low-key as it was still a lot of fun and we have a lot of great memories, but it also gave us space to reflect on this weekend a year ago and how scary the birth of our trio really was. Having babies born premature is not ideal, and the way that the birth of our babes came about definitely made the experience traumatic for me. That said, ultimately this weekend was a celebration of Alexis, Jack, and Faith and how far they have come from the 3 lb, 3 lb 3 oz, and 2 lb 13 oz babies that they were a year ago!

Here are some photos from the weekend:

This is a comparison of the first diaper size Faith wore (doll size??) vs the Preemie size that Jack and Alexis wore (and they all came home wearing) vs their current size 3 diapers

Friday morning we all went out to eat at Flying Star and it was gorgeous on the patio! Here is Micah and his dad with Alexis and Jack.

Micah's mom with Faith

My parents sent a water table for their birthday so we set it up and enjoyed using it all weekend! L to R: A, F, J
Faith and Jack

We have been enjoying grilling and eating on our patio. The babes enjoyed playing on the grass before dinner. I love how Lexi is playing with the ball and tupperware.

Jack always has a smile for Mommy

Our setup while we eat outside (the babes already ate earlier)

Alexis

Jack

Faith
Birthday morning! A, J, F

They were pretty excited and it was hard to get them to hold still!
Jack
Opening gifts! PJ's from Uncle Kyle, Aunt Jodi, Brayden, and Adelle!

Working on their "big gifts" from Mommy and Daddy.

Although we technically gave the dolls to the girls and the cars to Jack, this is what happened after the gifts were opened :).
Faith thought the best part of her doll was the tag

Bag of balls! They worked together to get them all out!
Between their morning and afternoon nap we headed to the YMCA to swim at the pool. We are so happy that the Y is a 10 minute walk from our house so we don't even have to load our babes into car seats!  Although they don't look thrilled here, Jack, Alexis, and Faith all enjoyed their birthday swim...I just forgot to take pics while they were in the water and by this point they were ready for lunch and their nap.
Birthday cupcakes made by Micah's mom that I frosted and decorated. This was MUCH simpler than the ONE cake we made for their birthday party in Michigan so I might be using this strategy in the future!

Unfortunately we didn't get any good pics of us with our babes on their birthday, but we do have a family photo shoot planned for this weekend which I'm really excited about!
Grandpa and Grammy with A, J, F

All watching Daddy intently as he tries to light the candles in the wind


Alexis

Jack

Faith

The aftermath. They all enjoyed the cupcake and the frosting!

More presents Sunday morning since we didn't have time to open them all on Saturday (the guys were working on garage projects as well this past weekend). Alexis and Jack are ready!
Puzzles and clothes from Aunt Bex, Uncle James, and family. They also gave us the cute "It's My Birthday" t-shirts that they wore on their actual birthday!
Alexis playing with the great musical motorcycle push and ride toy from Grandpa and Grammy

We did make it to church, but Jack was having more fun playing than listening to the sermon.

And so were the girls. We always sit in the back section so the babes can play behind the wall without disrupting everyone since everyone else sits in front of the wall. It is time to put them in the nursery, though, as we are now spending time chasing them as they try to crawl away so it makes it hard for us to pay attention :).


We are so proud of Alexis, Jack, and Faith and we look forward to the next year as they learn to walk, talk, and do all sorts of things!