Breakfast with the Grands

Nanna is here from Virginia for 2.5 weeks to help out (and play) with the boys. Her help is wonderful because it allows Rob to work and study more, allows me to run errands and get out of the house, and allows us to take care of multiple doctors appointments. She has already mastered taking care of two at once (she did raise Rob and his twin sisters Lori and Traci!)

Grammy & Poppy came over on Sunday, so 3 of the 4 Grands enjoyed feeding the boys. Having the three of them here allowed us to go to church, which is our weekly date night together that we always look forward to.

Nanna, Grammy & Poppy

Wesley, Charlie & Winston

Wesley

Charlie

Winston (Do you like seefood?)

Our big boys

The boys had their 6 month pediatrician appointment the other day. Another round of shots, weigh-ins, chats about their development. She even took a look at the blog before their arrival, so she already knew about the solids, Charlie rolling, Wes starting to try to crawl, etc! (Hi Dr. Kudley! Isn't that the greatest name for a pediatrician? Much better than Rob's childhood doctor - Dr. Payne. Seriously.)

Drumroll...

Winston weighs 16lbs 8oz and is 25.75 inches
Wesley weighs 16lbs 5oz and is 25.6 inches
Charlie weighs 16lbs 5oz and is 26.25 inches

We were busy soothing babies (they each had 4 shots) to write down their new percentiles. But they are growing! They have quadrupled their birth weight by 6 months (most babies double theirs). You'd never know they came 6 weeks early!

The downside to developmental milestones

Last night, we got to experience the downside of Charlie's new rolling. He rolled onto his stomach in the middle of the night, but did not remember how to get himself back onto his back. (The boys have not slept on their stomachs since the NICU.) For an hour and a half we played this game of him wailing, us flipping him back over, him rolling back onto his stomach, wailing, repeat. By 3:30am, we decided Charlie would have to learn to sleep on his stomach. It was heartbreaking to listen to his cries, but incredibly disturbing when he would stop crying because we both thought the worst had happened. By morning, we found him sleeping on his stomach.

Charlie, all smiles after a nap

Win & Wes playing is more amusing to Charlie than the happy jumper

Wes on the move. Head down, butt in the air, legs moving

Wes & Win

Somebody should really put pants on that boy... The funny thing is that they were all lined up on the two blankets when playtime started.

6 months old

The boys are 6 months old today! When experienced parents tell you that time flies - they mean it. I have no idea where the time has gone, but here we are with 3 beautiful, healthy, joy-filled boys.

L-R: Winston, Wesley and Charlie


Making faces for the camera

Starting to enjoy tummy time...sort of

The boys can all raise and hold their heads up during tummy time, and often will spend it just rolling over onto their backs. Each has picked up a new trick in the last few days. Winston and I played a fun little game where he would lift his head up, I would look at him and smile and call out his name, and he would smile and quickly bury his head. This went on for about 5 minutes. Wesley amazed me pulling his legs up under him, sticking his butt up in the air and pushing towards me. His lower half was starting to crawl! We're doomed the day his upper half catches on. And Charlie has learned to roll from his front to back and back to front. He spent yesterday showing off this new skill as we found him on the activity mat doing some voluntary tummy time.

I broke down and did what most news moms do: I chopped off 6 inches of hair. My long hair had apparently become the safety ropes that the boys would hold onto as I would try to put them down. Unfortunately, this habit has not stopped, but at least now they are 3 inches from my face as they cling for dear life.

Hi Lizzie

Lizzie, Joy and Beth decided to swing by Boston on their way home from Vermont to New Jersey. Yes, completely out of the way, but they were willing to do this to meet their boys. Each had claimed one: Beth had Wes, Joy had Win and Lizzie had Charlie. Joy got 10 points for being able to tell Win and Wes apart the first time she met them - not an easy thing to do! Win was overwhelmed by the beautiful ladies that he didn't want to eat (though he did want to spit up all over Joy, thus claiming her as his own). We had warned Beth about Wes' recent non-stop screaming, but he decided to prove us wrong (thankfully). And I think Charlie's first word was "Lizzie", or so she would like us to believe.

Beth, Wes, Lizzie, Charlie, Joy and Win (Looks like two of the six socks stayed on the boys)

Lizzie teaching Charlie to stand on her shoulders. Or perhaps to sit on her head.

The lengths Rob was going to in order to get some smiles for the photos (from both the young and old)

Solids!

We just made our routine a little more...messy. The boys enjoyed their first meal today! As much as I believe it should have been lobster, we started them off with rice cereal. Overall, the boys seemed to enjoy themselves, although I'm not sure they actually ate anything.

And yes, we put them in their Bumbos on top of a table. The exact reason Bumbos were recalled so that they could put stickers on them warning parents not to do this. (As a side note, to our amusement the sticker told us not to put the seat on an "elavated" surface. You would think they would use spell check for an important safety recall?) But don't worry, tomorrow they will be their booster seats so we know they will be strapped in because Charlie spent much of his time trying to escape.

Before
L-R: Winston, Wesley & Charlie

Wes & Charlie


During
Winston

Wesley

Charlie

The true chaos


After
Winston decided to eat the spoon afterwards

What a difference a year makes...

One year ago today, we innocently went in for our first ultrasound to see what we thought we thought would be one baby. Maybe two. My HCG levels from my blood tests had been very high, so we suspected that there was a chance that we had twins, but even then, the nurses and others always said the levels didn't predict the number of babies. During the ultrasound, I thought I saw a glimpse of three, but figured that I had no way of knowing what I was looking at (it kind of resembled a moon...) And then we heard the doctor say, "I'm so sorry, there are three heartbeats." Sorry?? Rob and I started laughing hysterically. We were overjoyed and shocked.

The doctor's response led to a discussion on multifetal reduction (to abort one or two), which we immediately rejected. It was shocking to us that right after seeing three healthy heartbeats, that this would be the advice we would get. A "congratulations" would have been preferred! Unfortunately, we were advised to abort again and again, all because of the chances for health problems, and worse yet, because of the social stigma and economic strain of triplets. There is no guarantee with the health of any child: single, twin, triplet, whatever. Can you imagine? We were told that nearly 50% of parents of twins+ in the Northeast choose to reduce, although this is far less common in other parts of the country. It breaks my heart. I cannot imagine our lives without these three, wonderful, HEALTHY little men.

On a more lighthearted note, the night before we found out we were having triplets, we watched the "Multiples in the Womb" program by National Geographic. We sat back and laughed, never thinking it would be us. They featured a woman who was 6ft tall who was pregnant with triplets. They kept talking about how her height and torso length would help her carry triplets. I told Rob there was no way I could carry triplets seeing as though I'm 5'4 with a torso as long as an ant. Little did I know!

But here we are! So to celebrate, we are going to give the boys solids for the first time today!

Out and about

We have had unseasonably warm weather (well, that is to say that it has been 45 instead of -10 degrees). So on Saturday, we decided to take the boys on a bit of an adventure. They rode the T for the first time! We needed to (or thought we needed to) get a cable to connect our video camera to the Mac so that we could finally download all of our videos. So off we went, and there were many turned heads, comments to us and around us. Many a "Oh my gosh, there are 3!"




Grammy & Poppy took the boys on a walk around town yesterday. Here they are in their adorable knit hats from Kathryn and Alexis.
Winston

Charlie

Wesley

Of course.

So last night, Rob went out for a business dinner. Leaving me to tend to do the last feeding and put the boys to bed by myself. Of course, this would be when one of them had a blowout diaper. Poop everywhere. Seriously, how does a baby get poop on his elbow?! And the one time that they woke up over an hour early from their nap, so they were exceptionally fussy by the time they ate. I decided to feed Win and Wes first, because I knew they would scream if they had to wait and normally drain their bottles in 10 minutes. But of course this time they messed around with their bottles, sipping it like a fine wine and neither would come close to finishing. All the while, Charlie was attempting to leap from the bouncy seat onto Wesley's head below. Thankfully they all went to sleep without a fight. But I got to enjoy the evening by doing their now very necessary laundry and scrubbing the now defiled sink.

The best part of the night was Rob returning with a piece of cheesecake to make up for his absence. Thanks Skoler!

MA Christmas Observed

We spent the weekend at Grammy & Poppy's, celebrating Christmas the only way I know how - by eating Yorkshire Pudding. It is a family tradition - my late Grandfather used to cook this for his family (and I'm sure his parents made it before him), and my mom continued the tradition. She has the magic touch, as it is a very difficult dish to make. Describing the dish to others is difficult as they are normally put off by a soufflé/bread made with the drippings from roast beef, but trust me, it is heaven. Artery clogging heaven that happens only once a year.

The boys loved hanging out in the kitchen with everyone. Fireplace + Bumbo = Entertainment.

Wesley, Charlie and Winston (Yes, they're each are wearing T shirts that say "Everyone's Favorite".)

Enjoying the fire with Julep (You can see the eggs and other ingredients for the Yorkshire Pudding warming next to the fire.)

Playtime all the time

Now that the boys have more neck control and are starting to sit up (with a lot of help), we're pulling out the fun toys. The nursery is now set up like Curves Gyms - the boys get to enjoy one activity and then rotate to the next.

Charlie and the Bumbo. They have spent their first 5 months playing on their backs and sitting in their bouncy seats, so this is a nice change! As you can see, he's thrilled.

Wesley and the Happy Jumper. The happy jumper has brought out many smiles and laughs, though as you can see from the photos, the boys need the assistance of a pillow behind them and a folded blanket under their feet.

Winston and the Activity Mat. Been there, done that. Win patiently waits for his turn on the new fun toys!

Sharing a crib is so 2007

A new year, new cribs. The boys are now in their own cribs! Our boys are so grown up. This is traumatic enough for me. I would keep them in the same crib until they go off to college, if it were up to me.

And because we were in VA for most of December, we decided to decorate our apartment for the month of January. So yesterday, Rob was able to find a Home Depot that had leftover trees. As you can see, we got a surprisingly good deal. Rob didn't have any change in his pocket because he assumed it would cost more than a dollar...

The beautiful Penny Tree


The added bonus is that we will not have to carry the tree out as a whole. By the rate the needles are dropping, the entire tree will be disposed of by way of the vacuum...