Howard Trio Plus One: 14 Months (12 Months Adjusted!!)

A year ago yesterday Faith came home from the NICU. She was the last of our babies to come home from the hospital and she was there for 60 days. From the day our babes were born we were told to expect them home around their due date, but I knew that many preemies came home much earlier and I was sure that all three of our babes would be home much sooner than their due date of August 7. Jack and Alexis came home after being in the NICU for six weeks, but Faith kept having spells which kept her there longer and put us on a roller coaster ride. When Faith was finally home the first thing we did was put her in the pack n play with Alexis and Jack to reconnect. The rest is a blur except that I remember feeling extremely relieved that we no longer had to travel back and forth to the hospital (I remember saying I didn't want to leave the house for days), but also nervous about whether or not we would be able to do this triplet thing. Somehow we had to find the energy to feed three babies around the clock, make their formula, wash bottles, change diapers (all without the help of nurses!), and pray that they continue to breath as they were no longer on monitors. I'm sure any other NICU parent can relate to the panicked feeling when you realize you won't know if they stop breathing during the night as there isn't an alarm that will sound. When I think back to a year ago today, I am so happy and relieved that we are no longer in that place as, although it was full of joy, it was also extremely stressful.

Today I can officially say that we've made it through our first year of our trio being home and that it has been an amazing year. Please don't mistake this statement as saying that it was easy as it certainly was not. This past year has been full of challenges: baby related, new parent related, and friend related (friends moving away and trying to maintain other friendships while taking care of our babes). But ultimately, we made it and we learned a lot along the way.

Here is our 14 month update...

How old? 14 months (12 adjusted)

Our weights:
Alexis: 18 lbs 13 oz (+ 11 oz from last month)
Jack: 17 lbs 6.5 oz (+ 2.5 oz from last month)
Faith: 18 lbs 7 oz (+ 14 oz from last month)

Size clothes: Mostly all 12 month, except for the few random pairs of pants that they still fit in.

Eating schedule: Since last month we dropped the late night feeding (10:45 p.m.) which feels like a HUGE accomplishment! Once we lay everyone down around 8:00 p.m. they are in bed for the night, and now we can get to bed earlier. Woohoo!! We also moved the first bottle of the day as we were feeding it right after they woke up in the morning but we now do it right before their morning nap. So bottles are now fed around 9:45, 2:15, and 7:30. Breakfast is around 7:00, lunch around 12:00, and dinner between 5:30 and 6:00. They also sometimes get a small snack before dinner (cheerios or crackers in snack cups on the floor).

Naps: No change from last month...Naps are still going great and they generally nap from 10-12 and 2:30-4:30, plus or minus 30 minutes on the start times.

Bedtime: Bedtime is still going very smoothly. Although sometimes Jack cries it out for a bit, that has been decreasing and usually all three fall asleep without any problems. This feels amazing as we had a rough couple of months at the beginning of the summer.

Favorite foods: This is pretty much the same as before: all love fruits, grilled cheese, and mac n cheese. Cooked carrots are a new fav (smothered in butter). Meat is often a hit. They all love crackers and get super excited when I take them out of the cupboard.

Food dislikes: Avocado, plain cheese, and most vegetable are not favorites.

Likes: Same as last month for the most part, but their newest game is sticking their fingers in eachother's mouths. Oddly, this is absolutely hilarious to them. They also love to play in the long curtains in our kitchen. Everyone gets excited when I take out the motorcycle push toy and everyone enjoys walking while holding our fingers. Recently all have started to really enjoy flipping through books and looking at the pics on their own.

Jack's favorite game right now is seeing how long he can stand. He'll crawl up to one of us, grab our fingers, stand up, let go of our fingers, and smile from ear-to-ear while we count to see how long he stands. He has made it to 26! Jack also LOVES swimming. He WANTS us to dunk him under!

Dislikes: Alexis, Jack, and Faith have definitely become more opinionated in the last month. They get upset if we want them to do something that they don't feel like doing or if we take something away from them. They also get quite jealous if we focus our attention on a sibling, which has been challenging for us.

Our milestones:

Faith is practicing walking and we do believe it will happen soon! She has taken up to 10 steps on her own (when we stand her up to walk), but she has also taken a few steps without our prompting.

Lexi has been practicing standing without holding onto anything. She waves all of the time and she loves to dance when music comes on! She is also clapping a lot.

Jack cut two teeth in the last 10 days which has not helped him with his weight gain. Like I mentioned above, he loves to practice standing on his own. Like Lexi, he loves to clap.

Here are some fun pics from the last month...

It's so fun to hold hands! (F, A)

The girls bear crawled all day yesterday. So funny! (A top, F bottom)

I discovered that our local grocery store does have a cart with a double seat! It is the one with the car in front, which our babes are not quite ready for so I had Jack in the carrier while I shopped. It was bright out...they really were happy. (A, F)

Faith is getting ready to walk!

Lexi being very girly while she drinks her water

Faith playing in the hamper

Jack practicing standing

We are ready to hike into the climbing area. Micah actually carried Lexi but I had all three for a few minutes while he put his backpack on.

Watching Val climb while hanging out in the Go Pods. We alternated between the Go Pods and our small tent as they could crawl around in the tent without getting filthy and eating dirt and rocks. And we were so happy we had the tent for shelter when it started thundering, lightning, pouring rain, and hailing! Notice that both girls took their left shoes off.