Michigan Trip Part 1

This is a long trip (18 days!) so I'm sure there will be many blog posts about our adventures.

Two days before we left for our trip I decided to take the babes to the doctor since all had colds and I wanted to make sure that they didn't have ear infections since that would really bother them on the plane. This was the first time I took them to a doctor appointment by myself, but honestly it wasn't difficult. I put one baby in a carrier and pushed the stroller in the doctor's office and then I set up a Go Pod in the exam room. The nurse gave me a few minutes to get everyone situated so that I could bring one out to the scale at a time. Alexis, Jack, and Faith did great! And the best news was that no one had ear infections.

Alexis in the Go Pod, Faith in the stroller 

My friend Val gave the babes an early first birthday gift as she got sun hats and she wanted us to have them on our trip. They were too young at Christmas to really help with unwrapping, so this time opening gifts was a bit more interesting. Of course, the paper was just as exciting as the hats themselves.

L to R: F, J, A

Alexis LOVED the paper

Faith modeling her hat

Lexi with all three

Micah had a business trip Monday evening through Wednesday so I was going to be on my own for a few days leading up to our trip, but his mom graciously drove down to ABQ a day earlier than originally planned so that I would have some help with the babes as I tried to pack. I always find packing to be stressful and we were definitely busy working on it up until the last minute.

Our flight departed ABQ at 6:00 a.m. on Thursday which is WAY too early. We woke up at 3:30 a.m. to get ready, pack last minute things, and load up the car. We left our house around 4:15 a.m., picked up our friend Dan who agreed to drop us off at the airport (in fact, we borrowed his SUV the night before since it is much bigger than our 4Runner and we could fit 4 adults, 3 babes, and all of our stuff), we arrived at the airport around 4:45 a.m. and Dan helped us bring everything into the airport (two strollers, three car seats, three large bags, and four carry ons). I had read a lot about the potential damage to car seats from checking them, so we decided to bring them all the way to the gate with us to decrease the handling by the airline. This created a bit of extra work going through security, but it gave us peace of mind which was good. We were shocked by the line at security in ABQ for 6:00 a.m flights since it's a small airport and we have gotten through security in minutes in the past, but we ended up having to wait in a long line which made things stressful and we arrived at our gate when the flight was already boarding. We thought we would have plenty of time at the airport so we planned on changing the babes diapers and putting their clothes on before we got on the plane, but we had no time at all so we boarded the plane with extra wet diapers and PJ's!

Although we held up the line to gate check both strollers and all of the car seats, everyone was very nice and helpful and one lady actually held Lexi for me so I could collapse the strollers as Micah brought other stuff down the ramp. I think everyone was weary about having three babies on the plane, but for the most part people were very nice and sweet with the babes. We fed the babes right after take off to help with their ears and we planned on feeding all three on the way down but only Lexi was interested (Jack sucked his thumb and Faith had her paci). Jack cried for a little bit on the plane since he had a little trouble falling asleep, but other than that all three did great!

Lexi with Micah (left) and Faith with Grammy (right)

Jack was with me on the flight

We had a 3.5 hour layover in Minneapolis which gave us plenty of time to change the babes into their clothes, feed them solids, feed another bottle, eat lunch ourselves, play on the floor, and go for a walk. All three slept on the second flight which was a relief for all on the plane, and again we received many compliments.

We put one baby in a car seat in our double Snap n Go and piled the car seats in the other spot and underneath. Here Jack is riding in the car seat but all took turns.

Our set up. Jack is in the car seat and the girls are in the double umbrella stroller.

We found a very quiet and empty spot to play with and feed the babes. L to R: F, J, A

The perfect onesies for traveling "No Paparazzi Please." L to R: F, A

My parents took two cars to the Grand Rapids airport so that there was plenty of room for all of us plus our stuff. Although we were all tired from the early wake up, we wanted to make sure my grandma got to see the babes right away as she hasn't been able to make it out to ABQ to see them, so she came over for dinner. It was fun to introduce her to Alexis, Jack, and Faith!

My grandma, the babes great grandma, with Alexis

On Friday morning we took the booster seats out to the porch and we've been feeding the babes out there almost every meal since. Although my parents condo has plenty of room for two, keeping the boosters on the porch helps keep some of the baby clutter out of the house.

L to R: A, F, J

One big reason for coming to Michigan now was so that our grandparents could meet the babes. They are all in their 90's and no longer traveling so this was the first opportunity we had since we want to wait until after the sick season. Jack is the only Howard grandson so Micah's grandpa was really looking forward to meeting him. Friday mid-day we picked up Micah's grandpa and we all went to the nursing home to visit his grandma.

Micah and Jack with Grandpa Howard. Unfortunately Micah's dad wasn't able to come along for this trip.

Micah with Jack, Faith on the left, Alexis on the right, with Micah's grandparents (his dad's parents)

We are so thankful that my brother and his wife lent us their van for our stay since we can easily fit all three babes, four adults, and two strollers! Here we are coming home from visiting the grandparents.

Since the first part of our trip overlapped with the end of the Tulip Time Festival in our hometown (Holland, MI), we went downtown to see the Dutch Dancers on Friday evening. All three babes were very intrigued!

Watching the Dutch Dancers. I did this for one year in high school.

My cousin gave us the cutest Tulip Time shirts! L to R: A, J, F

Friday night we decided it was time for a bath after a long day of traveling the day before. Rub a dub dub, three babes in Grandma's tub!

On Saturday we watched about 30 minutes of the big parade. Since the parade coincided with the babes afternoon nap we only saw the very end, but that was probably enough for them anyway. They did seem very interested in all of the people and the music though!

Grammy with Lexi (yellow hat), Grandma with Faith (pink hat), Jack with me (blue hat)

Jack, Faith, and Alexis enjoying the parade

The sun hats definitely have room to grow, but the girls didn't seem to mind their obstructed view during the stroller ride after the parade

Micah and I got engaged by the lighthouse in Holland, Big Red, during a run almost 10 years ago, so we enjoy going back to the lighthouse whenever we are home. He had the idea that we should take photos by the lighthouse on Mother's Day, which was a great idea! Both my parents and his mom came out to the lighthouse with us and we were fortunate to have great weather.

L to R: F, J, A in front of Big Red

L to R: My mom with Jack, me with Faith, Karen with Alexis

My parents with A, J, F

My parents with A, F, J

L to R: A, F, J

L to R: F, J, A

Big Red

Lake Michigan. L to R: F, J, A

L to R: A, F, J

For lunch on Mother's Day my brothers and their families came over to my parents house as well. It was the first time that our entire family had been together since Alexis, Jack, and Faith were born (and since Micah and I were in Michigan 16 months ago)! It was a lot of fun being together, and Brayden and Adelle enjoyed feeding their baby cousins.

Brayden feeding Alexis

Adelle feeding Faith

Brayden and Adelle entertaining the babes

In the afternoon our extended family on my dad's side got together for a Mother's Day celebration and to meet the babes. Alexis and Faith were very tolerant of being passed around from relative to relative. Jack wasn't feeling 100% (teething and his cold) so he was much happier hanging out with someone he knew (me, Micah, grandma, grandpa, his aunt, or one of his uncles).

L to R: A, J, F

Grandma with all of her great grandchildren!

Micah left during the family party for his flight since he was only in town for the long weekend before going to Yosemite to climb. He flew out to Las Vegas where his climbing buddy picked him up. On Monday they drove the rest of the way to Yosemite and today they enjoyed their first climb. Alexis, Jack, Faith and I will continue to meet up with friends and family during our stay while also enjoying a change of pace and non-stop help from family (mostly my mom) while Micah has a much anticipated two-week climbing trip in Yosemite.

11 Months

Sadly Alexis, Jack, and Faith have been fighting their first real cold for the past week. All winter we were very cautious about bringing them out in public and we were conscience about washing our hands before touching the babies and their things, and we tried to ask everyone who was in contact with them to do the same even though it felt awkward at times. Since the babes were preemies (31 weeks, 2 days) they qualified for the monthly RSV shot this past sick season and I am glad we decided to get it as it gave us additional peace of mind and helped keep the babies healthy even though the monthly shots were hard on everyone. I knew they would get sick sooner or later, especially as we let down our guard and because it's harder to protect them now that they are on the move, but it's still hard to watch them fight a sickness.

Although I am enjoying our now 11 month olds as they are so much fun to play with and to watch them explore their world and grow, I also feel sad that they are almost 1 year old! It's hard to explain but I think most moms probably feel this way. I wouldn't say I'm a baby lover as I get bored just cuddling babies and I'd rather make them laugh and teach them new things, but it's still hard watching MY babies become more like toddlers as there is no going back. I definitely found it difficult to appreciate the baby stage since we had a rough start in the NICU and we spent a lot of time worrying about their health, their weight gain, and their development, not to mention the hours spent bottle feeding three babies in the early months, but now that they seem to be growing up so quickly I'm feeling sentimental. Here are some pics from the early days...

Jack (a few days old)

Alexis (a few days old)

Faith (a few days old)

Alexis, Jack, and Faith together in the NICU

Alexis and Jack

Alexis and Faith

Faith and Jack

Faith, Jack, Alexis

First family photo on our anniversary when they were two months old, which was full term since their due date was a few days before our anniversary

Although it's not even been a year since they were born, I have a hard time remembering what they were like at this age. Although they are still not big babies by any means, they have grown so much and they act so much older now! It's amazing how much change a person goes through in the first year of their lives. This past month has brought many changes developmentally and new teeth! I was excited to see this progress since I didn't feel like much happened in their tenth month. Here is our 11 month update.

How old? 11 months (9 adjusted)

Our weights: 
Alexis: 16 lbs 2.5 oz (+ 8 oz from last month)  
Jack: 16 lbs (+ 4.5 oz from last month) 
Faith: 15 lbs 14 oz (+ 7.5 oz from last month)

Not the best weight gain, but since they are getting used to eating more solids and less formula, and battling colds and Jack is teething, it was a rough eating month.

Size clothes: For the most part everyone is wearing 9 month size clothes. Some 12 month clothes fit as well (it's crazy how different each brand sizes their clothes). All are wearing some 12 month PJ's although most of the 9 month still fit too. 

Eating schedule: We are still doing bottles around 7:00, 11:00, 3:00, and 7:00 and we are still feeding solids around 8:00, 12:00, and 6:00 (when Micah is home for dinner). We are still getting the girls up around 10:30 for a bottle (before we go to bed) so that they get in a few more ounces for the day. Although we have tried this with Jack a couple of times in the last month since he has not gained much weight and he needs to drink more, he still refuses to eat at this time. 

Naps: Naps are still going great for the most part, although recently Jack seems to take shorter naps than the girls (sometimes only 45 minutes in the morning and in the afternoon). For the most part, though, I get an hour by myself in the morning and afternoon.

Bedtime: Faith is still sleeping in the guest room and Alexis has been sleeping through the night more often now. Eventually we want to move the girls back into the same room, but for now it seems to be better to have them separated since Faith still wakes up. We are trying to help Faith sleep through the night as we have gotten back into the habit of giving her a bottle sometime between 3:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. as she wakes up crying and has trouble falling back asleep unless she's fed, but we've realized that she probably doesn't really need that extra bottle since it means she only drinks about an ounce at her 7:00 a.m. bottle. 

Favorite foods:  They still love the same foods as last month and they are getting better at eating thicker foods or things with lumps. I know they are ready to feed themselves more so that is something I plan to work on during the next month. Although ultimately they need to feed themselves, the transition will be hard as I'll need to be on the lookout for choking and it's much slower to have them feed themselves (although all three do a great job at getting food in their mouths when we give them puffs and yogurt melts). Everyone has also figured out how to drink from a sippy cup AND straw cup and they think it's a lot of fun. I still have to help them get the cups to their mouths some of the time, but they are figuring out how to do it themselves too which is exciting. Right now they don't get much from the cups and half of it dribbles out of their mouths so I'm just giving them water, but hopefully in the next couple of months they can transition to formula or milk in their cups so we can start eliminating bottles.

Food dislikes: All three seem to prefer mixed foods instead of foods on their own. Right now they will pretty much eat anything, and if they don't like it I just mix in a fruit puree or something I know they like and they will eat it.

Likes: Honestly I really believe they love hanging out with each other. When they wake up from naps and I bring them downstairs they usually get big smiles when they see one another, which is super cute. The girls especially like moving around the house together and giggling together (I wish I knew what they were babbling about!). A walk still does the trick if they are fussy. All three still love being tossed in the air by Daddy, hearing us make any sort of funny noises, getting tickled, musical toys, and people watching.

Dislikes: Getting cleaned up after meals and getting diapers changed are still on the top of their dislikes. They also don't like being in their car seats when we are at the store (especially Jack). And long car rides are not anyone's favorite as we found out a couple of weekends ago when we drove to Denver and back. I wish I could read to them more often, but Jack gets really upset when I turn the pages since he likes to hold the book so it just becomes frustrating for everyone.

Our milestones: 

Faith goes on all fours all of the time and she will do several hand and knee moves before reverting back to her army crawl (because it's so much faster for her). She is literally all over the place and our baby gates will be going up as soon as we get back from Michigan. Faith has attempted to get up the first step on our stairs several times with some success at getting her feet under her. And within the last week she has conquered getting into the sitting position on her own! She also loves to go from sitting to standing by just holding onto our fingers.

Lexi has started to army crawl as much as she rolls now, which is great progress. She's still working on getting from the seated position to her belly on her own, but she does it part of the time. She also manages to get all over the house, although she's not as quick as Faith she loves exploring. She also spends time getting on all fours and rocking, and she enjoys standing while holding our fingers.

Jack is definitely scooting everywhere now which is awesome. He loves to make his way over to the slider door and look out the window or just move around the family room to different toys. He is also working on getting from the seated position to his belly, and is making progress. Like Faith, he loves to go from sitting to standing by just holding our fingers and he would practice standing all day if we would let him. Jack also cut TWO new teeth in the past month! He got his bottom right tooth on April 22 and his top right tooth on May 3. He has been drooling like crazy due to the teething. Still no teeth for the girls!

Things we do to make Mom and Dad smile? Faith loves to crawl over our legs and use our legs to help her stand when we are sitting on the floor. We love watching all three explore their world by scooting around and playing with toys. They all love to get in each others personal space and it's quite funny to see Faith sitting on Alexis or Jack's laps and to see them all tangled up in each other. Like I said last month, pretty much everything they do makes us smile.



Our 11 Month Pictures

ALEXIS

Watching Faith play with Grammy during her photo shoot

JACK

Despite his cold and cough (and possible croup) he managed to be smiley for his photo shoot

FAITH

 

Not the best pic since it's blurry, but she's actually crawling on her hands and knees!

She was headed to Lexi. It's hard to sit and take photos when your sister is playing nearby!

ALL TOGETHER (L to R: Alexis, Jack, Faith)

It was much harder to get all three looking at the camera and smiling this time. They are so much more interested in other things (Mommy isn't that exciting anymore) and they are all battling colds.

Tomorrow we fly to Michigan! We are hoping that our two flights (ABQ to Minn and Minn to GR) go smoothly despite the colds and the 4:00 a.m. departure time from our house. We are thankful that Grammy (Micah's mom) is here to help us travel and that we will get to see both of our relatives while we are there. I am looking forward to a somewhat relaxing 18 day stay in MI with our babes while Micah spends a couple of weeks climbing in Yosemite! A much needed vacation for all of us.