6 months, anniversary, and Christmas

6 months was a busy month!  We had lots of doctors appointments and many fun get togethers with family!  Some things that the kids are doing: Lilly has found her voice (she screams all day and night, while her brothers just watch her), first haircut, they have all found a method of self soothing (Lilly-thumb, Jaxon-pointer and middle fingers, and Miles- ring and middle fingers), they are starting to move ALOT (Lilly travels around her crib by pulling on the bumpers), the boys also had to go to Primary childrens to have their circumcision done (with preemies they will not do the surgery until they are a certain gestational age- since they were born 10 weeks early they had to wait until 7 months, we did it a little early).  The put the boys out for the surgeries and they went well, we stayed overnight with them in a tiny room, drove home in a blizzard, and had to go back to the hospital several days later because Miles' bleeding did not stop.  It took a while for them to heal, then we were able to celebrate the kids first Christmas!  We got the kids books, and they were also totally spoiled by both sets of Grandparents.  The kiddos absolutely adored the Christmas tree, and on some nights when they wouldn't sleep, Phillip and I would take them, sit in the rocker and just let them look at the twinkling lights, they just LOVED it!!!!

 

 

 celebrated our 4th anniversary- met 13 yrs ago

 

 they are loving to be strapped in and go with mom all around

 poor tired guys!!!

 cute little santa babies!

  

5 months

5 months!  The kiddos are growing and getting stronger everyday!  Some things that they have started- eating rice cereal (at almost 6 months), really interacting with one another (they love to entertain each other, especially our resident HAM- Lilly), getting out of the stage of wanting to be swaddled, LOTS of tummy time (they are deciding if they like this or not, but it's good for them!), sitting up with support (they love the bumbo but are still too small so we just put blankets to support them), Lilly holds her own bottle, love their swings (basically spending most nights in there), and they LOVE to snuggle with us and each other. 

 
 

 Jaxon

 Miles

 Lilly

Halloween 2013

Babies first Halloween!  One of Phillip's favorite holidays, so needless to say we dressed up!  The kids were going to be Batman, Robin, and Batgirl; but the costumes didn't end up fitting, so we went with plan B.  Which was naturally characters from one of our favorite tv series: The Big Bang Theory.  Phillip went as Sheldon Cooper, I was Amy Farrah Fowler, and the babies were 3 Bazinga babies!  The kids and I joined Phillip at his office for a party, then we came home and enjoyed the rest of the festivities! 
   

  

  

4 months, sleep schedule, and nursing

We are so excited that they have reached their 4 month milestone!  Some of the things that they love to do lately: SMILE, coo and talk to us and each other, getting their heads rubbed, tummy time (don't love this, but getting stronger), they LOVE music, nursing, interacting with family and friends, look at lights/fans, go on walks, hear stories, they love to be tickled, riding in the car, going on adventures (stores/family events), they are just very social! 
Along with news about their 4 month, I wanted to tell a little about their sleep schedules and nursing.  When Phillip and I found out about triplets we relied so heavily on blogs from other triplet parents, so we want to try and give some helpful information too.  The babies up until about 4 months (when we had them at home) were eating about 2 or more times during the middle of the night.  At about 4 months we were able to start letting them go longer.  We go in during the night and help adjust them if they are fussing, but unless they are inconsolable and we can tell that they are really hungry, they have been able to sleep a lot longer in the night.  We have really good nights when we are only up 2 or 3 times a night, and other not so great nights when they are up a lot.  This is the beginning of our sleep training I guess you could call it, and I've been very proud of how well the kiddos have done. 
Another point I wanted to touch for the mamas of multiples is the feeding.  One thing that I was glad that we did in the hospital was the non-nutritive feeding, this really helped to establish their latch.  So many people were skeptical about feeding these babies including myself.  We started out by pumping, then we began to nurse with nipple shields, then we were able to wean off of the nipple shields.  Something that I was not told was that each time we changed a mode of feeding, it was like starting all over.  Each time we started something new there were new pains associated, I guess having 3 kiddos meant starting over 3 times with the pains of nursing.  When the kids left the NICU they were nursing 2 times a day, they are now nursing each feeding.  We found that as we were only nursing several times a day and then pumping the rest, my milk supply was not keeping up.  The kids were picking up on the quantity that they were eating, and I just couldn't keep up.  Now that I am nursing I can keep up, as I take care of my body.  I drink about 3-4 liters of water a day, eat lots of snacks, and get rest when I can.  For now this works for us, and we will continue to see how things progress.  :)
It is such a blessing to take care of these babies!   

Baby blessing and family pictures

With my little brother just returning from his mission and my older brother and his wife in town, we thought that it might be nice to bless the babies.  My brother had already planned on speaking this day, so we asked if it would be alright if we made a whole day of it and also blessed the babies.  It was so wonderful to hear each blessing and know that my sweet angels are now named through the gospel and have a blessed life that awaits them. The same weekend we decided to do a quick family photo, as everyone was together.  It was a wonderful weekend, and we were so grateful to be with the whole family, which we haven't been able to do for a couple of years! 

 Miles

 Jaxon

 Lilly