Fun times

Well, Marcus is pretty much walking now. It's funny though, because instead of taking actual steps, he shifts all his weight to one leg and then swings his other hip forward. Think of any John Wayne movie. I swear, he looks like he is trying to walk like an old west gun-slinger. It is the cutest thing!

Let's see... the boys love going to the zoo. We went last Wednesday, and their favorite part was the snow cone we all shared.

We've also set up a little kiddie pool in the back yard. The boys think that it's a pretty fun thing, but they only have fun in it if I get in with them. If I'm not in with them, they pretend to hate it. Once I am in the pool, I become Owen's favorite pool toy. He grabs my feet under the water, bends my toes, makes me fold my legs then extend them again. He also takes my hands and makes me splash. Marcus thinks he's a pretty big man because he's figured out how to blow bubbles in the water. I think I may have a swimmer on my hands! He's such a goof!

The boys have always played and interacted with each other, but I've really noticed them trying to socialize with each other, and with Ben and I. Their vocabularies are expanding everyday, and they have already started putting some words together. I am a very proud mommy! They've been saying simple words like "yeah" and "hi" for awhile. Ethan's favorite thing to say lately is "tickle tickle!" It's so cute. I was getting them out of their cribs the other morning and Ethan looked right at me and said, "Tickle me!" He's recently also uttered to me "I busy" "BAMBI" and "Lo you" which I take to mean "love you."
They are all also making acknowledgements to when I hand them something or help them with things. They mumble sounds that somewhat resemble "thank you."

They LOVE music and to shake their groove thangs! haha. But seriously, they should teach dance lessons! It's so fun to watch them react to different kinds of music.

Also, Owen has learned that if he wants a toy someone else has, he has to wait for it. The other night Ethan had a toy, and Owen wanted it, so Owen laid on his tummy next to Ethan (much like a teenage girl will lay on the floor while talking on the phone) and he just watched. As soon as Ethan got bored and moved away from the toy in question, Owen popped up and grabbed the toy! It was pretty funny!
They also seem to have figured out the game "Monkey in the middle" to an extent. Ethan and Marcus will run/crawl around Owen in circles chasing each other and laughing, and Owen just sits there and acts totally oblivious to his brothers. So, it's not really anything like "monkey in the middle" but it's still fun to watch.

Tonight Owen and Marcus were having the best time. Marcus would sit in front of Owen, and Owen would stand facing him, and bend down over him trying to touch his head to Marcus's head, and Marcus would laugh and laugh, and then he's stand up and grab Owen's shoulders, and they would touch foreheads and laugh, then Owen would gently push Marcus and Marcus would fall down, and then Owen would pat Marcus on the head. They did that for almost half an hour.

I wish I had more video and pictures or them doing these things, but every time I pull out the camera or camcorder, they start posing.

Anyway, that's what I've got for now. They do about a billion adorable things everyday, and if I wrote them all in this one blog post, it would get a little too lengthy!

They do grow up so fast...

Haven't updated in months, as in my typical fashion...

So the boys will be 16 months on the 20th. It's amazing how much they are learning and absorbing. Owen has decided to be the big brother of the pack, he's so funny. He struts around the house and you can just see on his face that he thinks he's mister big guy. He acts tough and won't be caught dead wanting Mommy... unless his brothers are playing with Mommy... or if he's tired.... or if he doesn't feel good, or someone stole his toy... or if his cousin is around...

Ethan is a complete and total Momma's boy. If he's contently playing and having a good time and I walk by without picking him up... OH BOY! When I'm not holding him he is trying to crawl up my legs, or yelling for me to come get him. Even if he's being held by someone else, if I'm near by he's throwing himself out of whoever's arms in my direction. It's so nice to be needed and so loved, but goodness...can't I have a minute to myself?!

Marcus. Our little butterball. Marcus is content and happy about 97.8% of the time. There are times though when he acts as though he is so starved of attention. Mainly, he only complains that his food's not on the table in front of him fast enough. Of course, once his food is in front of him, he insists on inspecting, feeling, and playing with it before he really eats any.

All three of them are growing and thriving. They have their own little table they sit and eat at. They eat all "human" food now. No more bottles, formula, mush or baby food. They love hot dogs. They also love chicken, noodles, turkey, bread, green beans, bananas, strawberries, cherrios, cupcakes, applesauce, sorbet, macaroni, spaghetti, yogurt, and pretty much anything else that's set in front of them. They were a little freaked out by eggs at first, and then Ben put ketchup in their eggs (a completely horrid and disgusting idea to me) and they loved it. Thank goodness for Ben having differing tastes than me when it comes to eggs, because it got the boys to eat their eggs!

Let's see...Two boys are walking now! Owen and Ethan. Owen's been walking for a long time now, and Ethan likes to follow Owen around the house holding onto his hips now. Cutest thing. Of course, whenever they do something so unbelievably adorable, as soon and I grab the camera or video camera, they stop. Marcus is working on walking, but hasn't quite figured out how to move and balance himself upright yet. He'll stand up and start to lose balance so he spreads his legs further apart. He seems to think the further his legs are from each other, the more sturdy he'll be. Such a cutie.

They LOVE playing outside, which I love, because feeling cooped up inside all day everyday is depressing. We like to go on walks to the park, but that kind of stopped when we were there and a dog-napping took place. If someone will steal a dog from someone's yard in the middle of the day... yeah... Maybe we'll start going on longer walks to nicer parks.

A BIG THANKS to Jeff (sorry, I do not know his last name). Jeff, a co-worker of my father-in-law, gave us an old car. We're a two car family!! That means Ben can go to work, and I'll have a car with the car seats here. I don't have to feel "stuck" anymore! Plus, it's a huge relief to know I'll have a car at all times in case of an emergency!

It has been such a long time since I have updated this. To any readers, I'm sorry it's been so long. I actually forgot I even had a blog. Well, the boys are 10 months old now. Owen is so close to independently walking. He wants to get up and go so badly and he gets to frustrated that he can't just walk or run. That doesn't stop him or slow him down in the least, he is one of the fastest crawlers I have ever seen. He pulls himself up on everything. He also is trying to climb and jump. I'm worried that within the next month we will have to get him a toddler bed, I think before too long he will be climbing and jumping out of his crib.
Ethan is not far behind Owen in mobility. Although, after so much time in the jumper, he thinks that when he's standing he has to bounce up and down. It's cute, and he loves the up and down motion of bouncing, but we are trying to break him of the habit of bouncing all the time by much less time in the bouncer. So far we can get him to pull himself up on the back of the couch and stand with no bouncing. He, more than his brothers, reminds us of a puppy, he likes to follow closely at your heels, he like to try to chew on shoes, if he's up for play-time and anyone is eating, he will sit at your feet and "beg" for food. He is so ticklish, and when we tickle him, he throws his head back and laughs and laughs, and after being tickled for a minute, we just wiggle our fingers over his tummy and he acts like that tickles just as much as if we were actually tickling him. It's impossible not to laugh with him.
And Marcus.. he is our little teddy bear. Whether its first thing in the morning, or bed time, he always has warm, loving smiles for us. He rarely ever cries, and he is always content to play with baby toys rather than to find trouble. But, don't be fooled, he is just as rough and tumble as his brothers, and not always the little angel he seems. When he thinks no one is watching he steals toys from his brothers and when they try to take them back, he punches at them (usually square in the nose)!
Even though we try to discourage them from playing in the kitchen (because it's small and there are so many things they could potentially get hurt on) that seems to be their favorite place to be.
They've had their first Halloween and first Thanksgiving. I'll have to upload pictures to the computer, but they had so much fun eating Thanksgiving foods. We put plates on a blanket down on the floor for them. We let them try some Turkey, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes and some cranberry sauce. They were so proud to be eating what everyone else was having and even more, that they got to feed themselves. They didn't like that they were put in the tub directly after dinner, after they filled their bellies, they had a little too much fun with food. They essentially turned the floor into a mashed potato slip-and-slid, they shoved food into their diapers, smeared it into their hair and up their noses. I wonder if that is one of the reasons babies have such silky soft skin?
All three are teething!! It's frustrating and exhausting for Ben and I, even though they are being tough little soldiers about it all.
Well, that's about all I've got for tonight! I will try to be more diligent in updates.

finally getting back around to this...

Alright... so since April...

The boys are 4 months old now. They are getting so big! They smile, giggle, wiggle, "crawl" using their legs and faces. Owen is cutting his first tooth, and I'm sure the others will be following suit shortly. They are all, approximately, between 11 and 12 lbs each.

Apparently, while Ben and I were on a little vacation, Owen said, "Mama" although I have only heard him make that kind of sound when crying. I've been trying to get him to say it again ever since we picked the boys up for my parents' house.

The boys are now eating rice cereal, stage 1 baby veggies, and drinking juice and water, along with their bottle feedings. So far we have tried green beans, which only Owen seems to not mind, and sweet potatoes, which none of them are too fond of.

We are going on walks almost everyday now. The boys really enjoy walks, sometimes it's the only way I can get them to be calm. I will try to post pictures if I have time tomorrow in between unpacking, walking, playing, feeding, changing and bathing, PLUS clipping nails...

Warm sunny days

Today was warm sunny and beautiful, so I decided it was a perfect day to start breaking in the triple stroller. We walked up to the park and back. I think the boys are still a little unsure about the outdoors. The walk put Marcus to sleep, and Ethsn is still crying about his terrible experience... LOL
They are not too far from crawling and are very vocal, and are smiley and wonderful.

It's been awhile

It's been awhile.. I will try to re-cap the last almost 3 months!

The boys all got to come home from the hospital on the same day, which they say is very rare for multiples, so we were very lucky with that! They have been healthy and happy boys!
When they were on the Enfacare formula, they didn't poop as regularly as they were suppose to, and so we had to add Karo syrup to bottles, and then...EWW! haha. They are still all in one crib, however, it's getting pretty crowded in there! We have to rotate them every few days, because the baby in the middle always ends up getting beat up!
Their doctors appointments have gone well. There was a minor concern with Owen. The doctor was worried that his skull was fusing together too fast, and so I had to take him to get a CAT scan. He slept like a rock through it, and the results came back normal.
The boys have been sleeping through the night for quite a while now, which Ben and I could not be happier about! If only our neighbors would sleep at night and not host raves every night! Ben and I are looking for a house, we can't wait to get out of this awful apartment!
Being parents of triplets does get stressful, so Ben and I have an agreement that once a month we each get a night out. That's worked pretty well so far. We also tried having date nights once a month, but that doesn't always happen. Actually, it the boys' doctor who "prescribed" date nights. I actually think it's better for our marriage to each have a night away from each other and the kids. When we're out with each other, the only thing we really have to talk about is the kids and Ben's work.
Being a mommy to three tiny little babies at once really isn't as difficult as I had anticipated. My boys really are easy babies at this point. They eat, poop and sleep and are now at the age where they like to stay awake and make faces at mommy! They all have the best smiles! They are giggling and smiling and cooing now. The other day I thought they were all in their crib fussing, so I went in to check on them, and see what the matter was, they were in there "talking" to each other and giggling.
As far as daddies go, I don't think they could have a better daddy! He loves giving them baths and playing with them. Unfortunately, for a long time there he almost refused to change poopy diapers. I made a stink about how I had to change every poopy diaper they ever made, and now he is getting better at not handing poopy babies to Mommy right away.
They are hungry hippos 24/7! They eat 5 or 6 ounces every 3 hours. So I'm washing bottles 2 or 3 times a day to make sure they always have clean bottles.
When they were in the hospital and after they were released they were on medicine for reflux, and still spitting up all the time. They ran out of medicine and neither Ben or I could get to the pharmacy for a few days to get it refilled, and we discovered that when they are not on the medicine, they aren't spitting up nearly as often. So we've kept them off the reflux medicine, and have significantly less spitty babies!
They love music. They are very strong. Owen can even almost sit up from laying down with no help from us. He's our biggest boy. He's just short of being 3 months old, and can fit into 6 month sizes! The other two are not too far behind him in size. I have a feeling that I'm going to be able to lift just about anything pretty soon here at the rate these boys are growing.

Ben's managed to catch some germs, and the boys are getting sick now too. So I've got 4 sick babies to take care of, and not been feeling too fantastic myself. Yesterday I really wanted to just run away. However, as long as everybody doesn't keep getting everybody else sick, we should be in the clear and happy and healthy soon! I've been lysol-ing everything like crazy and been pumping Ben with lots of vitamins and immune-boosters!

That's all I can think of for now. I've put pictures of the boys on my facebook, so you'll have to go there to see them!

Busy Little Bee

Hey there, Folks!

Bonnie has been busier than a little bee! From what I understand, the feeding shifts tend to take about 4 hours between the three babies. While she's feeding, diapering, cleaning, and et cetera-ing, she's pretty distracted! Between 4 hour shifts, she usually has about 45 minutes to sleep. There doesn't seem to be much difference between night and day, because this goes in 24 hour cycles.

Though, from what I hear, Ben was able to take the graveyard shift last night before work, and Bonnie got about 5 hours of sleep.

Her body, which is probably under rested, has stopped making milk. Since she's not able to breast feed anymore, she is now accepting caffeine's donation to her waking hours.

I don't know what picture this paints for all of you out in blog-reader land, but for me it paints a picture of a very busy, but very determined woman.

I am more than certain that you are all very capable of empathy and can understand that it may be a long while before she has the energy to prioritize updating a blog.

So, please don't forget about the blog. Check back whenever you please. I'm sure encouraging comments will uplift Bonnie and Ben as they continue to muster all their energies each day. Eventually this will pick up again; they just need to get into their groove. In the meantime, I will leave you with some photos of the boys: