18 Months

I've decided this will be my last "monthly" update as our babes are now 1 1/2 years old, and it seems a little silly to write an update every month like they are infants.  I will definitely keep posting to my blog about things we are doing and random things that I think about during my days as a stay-at-home mom, but I won't continue to write about their weight gain, their schedule, and their milestones. When looking through a developmental checklist from our early intervention therapist, I realized that our babes are now caught up on almost everything except for language! This feels amazing as they have come so far and I hardly refer to their adjusted age anymore. No one seems surprised when they ask how old our kids are and we tell them their real age, so I don't feel the need to mention their prematurity as often as I once did. We feel so thankful that they are all healthy and developing on track, as we had so much anxiety about our future when I was pregnant. So, here is my last monthly update (*tear*). 

 

How old? 18 months (16 adjusted) 

Our weights:  
Alexis: 20 lbs 6 oz (+6 oz from last month). Alexis weighed 3 lbs when she was born, so she will soon be 7x her birth weight! It is truly hard to imagine our sturdy girl as a preemie.

 
Jack: 19 lbs 6 oz (+ 13 oz from last month). I was shocked to see this weight gain from Jack this month as he can be a finicky eater. Jack weighed 3 lbs 3 oz when he was born, so he is more than 6x his birth weight.

    
Faith: 20 lbs 2 oz (+ 5 oz from last month). Faith was tiny at birth as she weighed only 2 lbs 13 oz. The 6 oz between her and Jack made her look so much smaller and more fragile. Although she definitely has less meat on her bones than Alexis, Faith can hold her own! She is also almost 7x her birth weight.

Our heights: 

I never mention heights in my blogs, but when we went to the doctor a couple of days ago we found out that the girls were both 31.75 inches, which puts them in the 50th percentile for 18-month-old girls! We never paid much attention to percentiles since our babes have always been small, but I'm shocked that they are so tall in relation to others their age. Jack is 30 inches tall, which means he is in the 1st percentile for 18-month-old boys (boys and girls have different charts), and he is in the 6th percentile for his weight, but at least he's on the chart!

Size clothes: Jack is in 12 month pants and he is starting to move into 18 month tops. The girls are almost completely in 18 month clothes. We have a few 12 month onesies that we put on them, but they definitely will not fit much longer!

Eating schedule:  Our eating schedule has not changed since last month, which means we still give our babes two bottles a day. They don't drink much throughout the day so we feel like it is important to give them their morning and night bottles to help them stay hydrated, and to give them some extra calories. They really aren't interested in drinking milk out of a sippy cup, although they will drink water, and the doctor said that the amount of milk they get in their two bottles is more than enough since they eat yogurt and cheese every day. 

Naps: Same as last month: Nap from 10:00-11:00 and 2:30-4:30. I am surprised that they still seem to need two naps a day, but maybe we are close to transitioning to one nap as almost every day for the last week I have had one babe refuse to take an afternoon nap. I am not excited to cut out a nap as I really enjoy having a little time to myself in the morning to shower and in the afternoon to get some stuff done around the house. It is extremely difficult to get anything done with three busy toddlers as I have to keep an eye on them at all times! Although it puts a damper on my productivity when one babe refuses to nap, I am still able to get quite a bit done as I only have to keep an eye on one busy kid.

Bedtime: Bedtime is still going smoothly but, like last month, we have continued to have some night waking. I'm beginning to see that this is just how it is with kids no matter what their age as there are so many factors that affect their sleep (and with three littles those factors are multiplied!). We have had five full night's of sleep in a row, though, so today I feel super-human!

 
Favorite Activities: Climbing is a new favorite skill. They have been able to climb the couch for awhile, but now they don't need an throw pillow to give them a boost. They also climb the kitchen chairs constantly, even though we try not to let them since it's so easy to slip off, and tonight Jack climbed onto the table from a kitchen chair. 

Pretend play is also a new favorite. They like to take bowls and cups from the play kitchen and pretend to eat or drink, and they love to "feed" us their pretend food. They also like to "clean" the kitchen floor with the travel Norwex cloths, which isn't surprising considering how often they see us cleaning the floor after meals! 

They love to get stuff that we ask them to bring to us, such as a stuffed doggie, a plastic giraffe, or a ball. It is amazing to see them process what we are saying, look around the room, and then proudly bring back the item. Today I was reciting the words from the book "Pajama Time" and Alexis excitedly ran over to the book bin, found the book, and then proudly brought it over to me. I hadn't even asked her for it and I was shocked that she knew exactly what I was talking about even though we haven't read that book recently!

New Stuff: Last month I said that we were dealing with a lot of whining and I was disappointed in myself for not teaching them sign language, so I focused on it for a few days and amazingly they have caught on! So far I have only taught them "more," "all done," and "milk," but it has made a huge difference in the amount of whining that we hear every day which is major relief for our nerves. The girls are especially excited to sign, which makes sense as they are slightly ahead of Jack in the number of words they say as well. 

Both girls often repeat words that we say, and Jack has been chiming in lately as well. Although they are technically behind in speech right now, I feel confident that they will catch up by the time they are two (which is what is expected of preemies). 

Biting was an issue last month and it continues to be so. All three bite out of aggression and anger, usually when a toy is taken from them or when someone is in their personal space (read: all of the time!), but I am trying my best to keep a close eye on them and stop the biter before it happens. I think we are making progress, but it definitely isn't a fun problem to have.

They are getting a little better at sharing when I ask them to do it, and they also comfort each other when one is sad, which is amazing to see. Faith seems to be the most empathetic as she doesn't like to see Alexis sad, so she will find a pacifier, a bottle, or a stuffed animal to give to her so she feels comforted. All three are also starting to hug and kiss each other to show affection, and all three like to pat or rub another's back when a babe is tired or sad. This melts our hearts!

Here are a ton of pictures from the last month as there were so many cute ones to choose from!

We visited the Botanic Garden and Aquarium using our new Triple Play stroller. All three seem to enjoy riding in it and it's great for me as our triple stroller doesn't fit in our car so I always had to carry one if I went anywhere alone. Plus, there is a huge storage bag in the back for all of our necessities.

Faith feeding Alexis. They love to feed us and feed each other. Notice how her mouth is wide open like adults do when feeding babies. So funny!

Climbing on the kitchen chairs (F, J, A)

The girls sitting by each other in the kitchen while eating a snack (A, F)

This spot by the dishwasher was a favorite for a few days (J, A, F)

Reading books on the couch. And, no, this was not staged!

Babes in boxes. They love it when we pull them around the room like they are in little cars.

Alexis

Faith

Jack

Future band? Faith with the drum, Jack with the xylophone, and Alexis with the piano.

More reading

Most of the time we let them climb up the stairs for nap time and bed time, but they all love to gaze at the photo wall in the living room first since this area is normally "off limits."

Jack

Faith

Alexis

Jack

Mommy's helpers cleaning the kitchen floor (A top, J bottom)

Our first library story time, which was only possible with the help of our friends

Faith and Alexis hugging

Playing on our new (to us) outdoor play equipment. Alexis is underneath and Faith is climbing up.

F, J, A trying on their winter jackets from Grammy and Grandpa. I actually found Faith's at a secondhand shop, but we felt like Jack and Alexis needed the same thin, warm jackets for traveling to Michigan for Christmas (and for the cool days here).

A new trick: Stepping on plastic bowls and trying to balance. Alexis is attempting the feat here.

One afternoon this past week Jack decided to learn to balance on all of the toy vehicles. Normally he is a bit more reserved than the girls when it comes to trying new things, but all on his own he figured out that he could carefully take his hands off of the handles and stand up. This vehicle was actually the most difficult as the seat is not flat. Look at that pride!

Grandpa and Grandma gave the kids (and me!) a new wagon for Christmas, but the bonus gift was the box that it came in which makes a great tunnel!

Thanksgiving Weekend

Micah's parents came back to ABQ for Thanksgiving. It was great to have family in town for our trio's first Thanksgiving meal as last year they weren't eating solids yet. Although we supplied the turkey and I made the green bean casserole, my MIL ended up doing 99% of the cooking which I appreciated as I don't enjoy cooking very much and I don't get much of a break from it these days as I don't feel right about feeding our toddlers Dominos. She made most of it ahead of time and brought it along so there wasn't much that needed to be done on actual Thanksgiving except for the turkey and heating everything up, which was nice since there was so much else we wanted to get done while they were in town. We all enjoyed our meal, and our babes seemed to think it was fine (they weren't begging for more but they weren't throwing it all over the floor either).

Thanksgiving day was actually spent working around the house, both in the yard cleaning up leaves and taking down the old archway in the backyard from the previous owners which was falling apart, and working inside on the laundry / mud room. It felt a bit sacrilegious to work so hard on Thanksgiving day, but Micah had to go to work on Friday so we felt like we had to make good use of our time while his parents were in town. During the evening we did stop by our friends Dan and Val's house for pie and a bit of socializing, which was a nice break from the work as we always enjoy their company.

Men working

The girls make great supervisors

Watching Daddy work

Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving we took our kids to their first adult party. They have been to several parties, but usually there are many kids around and this time there was only one other toddler in the house besides our three. They enjoyed exploring our friends' house, eating popcorn and fresh-baked cookies, taking books off of the bookshelf, chasing our friend's miniature 5 lb. dog, playing with TV remotes, and watching a silent Christmas movie on a large projector screen...all things we don't normally let them do in our baby proofed house! It seemed like they really enjoyed their independence and all three were really brave wandering around and interacting with whomever they came across. It was funny to watch and made us realize that we need to do things like that more often so that they have a variety of experiences. Thanks for inviting us all to your party Dave and Jen!

Playing on a rocking chair and watching a silent Christmas movie

The rest of the weekend was spent working around the house, and my MIL and I did do a little shopping with our babes, although they seemed to tire of it quickly. Now that they are fully mobile they are not as content sitting in a stroller or shopping cart for a long period of time. We also opened a few Christmas presents as we don't have plans to all be together again until after Christmas.

I am happy to report that a ton of progress was made in our laundry / mud room over the weekend. It wasn't very functional before as it was basically a small room with a washer and dryer and a large shelf that was too high for me to reach without a step stool. Micah came up with a great design based on each of our needs and desires, and I think it will work great once we get the trim up, get it painted, put up some coat hooks, add some baskets, and put on cabinet doors. Some day we hope to have a house with a large mudroom since there are a lot of shoes and jackets needed for a family of five, but for now I think this will work well.

BEFORE

AFTER

AFTER

Here are some other photos from our long weekend:

Trying on dresses that were made by Micah's parents' neighbor

Trying on Christmas outfits from Grandpa and Grandma Snyder

Alexis

Jack

Jack helped me decorate the tree!

Our living room decorated for Christmas. This is gated off so the kids don't have access.

I picked up outdoor play equipment from our friends over the weekend too! We are loving having this in our backyard. Thanks Kaytee and Jason!

Opportunity Cost

This evening I found myself shedding a few tears as I sorted through old socks and decided what needed to be donated or thrown away. Socks. Not baby socks, but my socks. I am not a very emotional person, but my socks reminded me of my "old life." The one before our trio when I worked full-time outside the home, ran marathons, and completed triathlons. And basically did whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted in my free time.

Socks were a very important part of my wardrobe when I worked-out six days a week and when I wore socks to work almost every day, but socks aren't as important now that I am a stay-at-home mom in ABQ and my main footwear is flip flops. So tonight, when I was putting away my clean socks, I decided it was time to sort through my sock drawer since it was unnecessarily full, and suddenly I was reminiscing about the life I once had and I was feeling a bit sad that it is gone.

The thing is, most days I don't miss my old life, but sometimes it just hits me. It's almost like I've lost a loved one as random things remind me about my old life and I feel a deep heartache for the past. I'm sure that I don't need to reassure anyone of how much I love being a stay-at-home mom for our trio, but there were parts of my old life that were very fulfilling. It felt good to pick a goal race, either a half-marathon, marathon, or triathlon, create a training plan for myself, follow the workouts, and complete the race (I've realized now that it's nearly impossible to follow through on any sort of training plan as I never know when I'm going to be woken up in middle of the night and I don't workout if I don't sleep. Period.).  It felt good to complete a 20 mile training run on a Saturday and know that I was in great shape (these days pushing the stroller is my workout so it's more like interval training than a long run and I don't get out very often now with the cooler weather). It felt good to earn a paycheck and be told by my supervisor that I was doing a great job (although Micah says this to me once in awhile, our kids aren't saying much yet...and kids don't usually tell their parents they are doing a good job anyway). I am extremely goal-oriented and I like to see results, and because of that my old life was very satisfying.

Me and my friend Katie in the Phoenix Rock n Roll Marathon in January 2010. Katie and I have been friends since 1st grade and although we grew up in Michigan, we both lived in the Denver area for a few years so we were able to train for this marathon together. Although marathon training is hard, we had so much fun doing it together as we were almost exactly the same pace so we pushed each other just the right amount, and we had so many great conversations while running. The weather was perfect and the Phoenix course is flat, so the icing on the cake was that I qualified for the Boston Marathon (although I didn't end up running at Boston for various reasons).

Before we had kids, I thought I would make running and climbing a priority no matter what, but I didn't understand the opportunity cost. I learned about this concept in one of my business classes in college, and since then it has stuck with me. Opportunity cost is the value of the best alternative, so in my case I can spend time with our three toddlers or I can do something else such as a workout, go to work, spend time with friends, or anything else I choose. Of course, I know I need a break sometimes and I do make sure that I get out of the house most Wednesday evenings, but during the day when our kids are awake I mostly choose to hang out with them as I don't want to miss anything. That might sound a bit silly, but children are only babies and toddlers for a short period of time and there is so much learning and change each day, and we have it multiplied by three right now! It is impossible for me to know what it feels like to have a singleton, but I'm assuming that the feeling of "missing out" isn't as strong since there is only one child developing at this rapid pace.

Headed out for a bike ride in ABQ

I am confident that one day in the future I will once again pick out a race, probably a half-marathon for starters, create a feasible training plan, and complete the race, but for now I am honestly okay (most days) with going on the occasional run by myself, pushing the 100 lb. stroller while run / walking, or just counting my many trips up and down the stairs as my "workout." When Jack came up to me tonight with a toy hammer and said "bang, bang, bang" I felt a sense of accomplishment as he learned that from me! I would have been so sad to have missed that moment as he was so proud of himself and his new word.

A random afternoon with Jack, Faith, and Alexis

Visit from the Colorado Grandparents

Micah's parents have been busy building a garage at their house, so it had been awhile since they came down to ABQ. We ventured up to see them twice in September, but things have been busy and there hasn't been a time for them to come down. This past weekend, though, they came for a visit and we put them to work. There are several house projects we want to work on this fall, and Micah's dad knows how to do electrical work, drywall patching, and other things that Micah hasn't had much experience with, so we knew we had to take advantage of his time here.

The babes eating lunch and watching Grammy mow the lawn. She isn't afraid to get her hands dirty, and we really appreciate her help as well!

Grammy reading to the babes after their nap. Now that they can safely get on and off the couch by themselves, we are able to sit on it too! We weren't able to sit on the couch when the babes were in the room before as they would get really upset if we didn't help them up too.

We showed Grammy the park that the babes like to run in. They took off in three different directions so I was glad to have her along to help keep them nearby.

Jack and Faith pushing the stroller through the field with Lexi watching.

All lined up for a pic with their stuffed animals. L to R: A, F, J. Alexis was happier about this than she let on in the pic.

We also took Grammy to the Botanical Garden. Jack was really into the toy trains and he kept putting his head through the fence posts to get a better look.

The highlight of the weekend, at least for me, was the addition of this light to our kitchen! It's really hard to do dishes without a light above the sink, and we do a ton of dishes at our house, so this was a necessity.

This is what the light looks like when it's turned off. I'm really enjoying it and I'm so thankful that Micah and his dad installed it for us (me).

The guys also patched the space in our laundry / mudroom where the previous owners had a dog door. We hope to work on our mudroom over Thanksgiving weekend, when Micah's parents return, so patching the hole now will make the mudroom makeover that much easier. I took 90 minutes during nap time and ran some errands that had been piling up that I didn't want to take the babes on since the errands themselves were super quick, and it would take 10 times as long to load the babes in and out of the car at each stop. I was able to go 8 places in 90 minutes, which felt very productive. I also took an hour out of my day Saturday morning to ride a spin bike at the YMCA for a fundraiser. This was a fun way to start my day and, believe it or not, it was my first time on a spin bike even though I rode a road bike for years. Saturday night, after we put the babes to bed, Micah and I went out for a little date night, which was great.

Thank you to Grammy and Grandpa for coming down to not only help us around the house, but also to love on our babes. They really enjoyed their time with their grandparents!

Alexis, Faith, and Jack with Grandpa