4 Months Old!

I seriously can't believe it. They are growing so fast!! This month they have hit a lot of milestones and are completely out of the newborn stage. They are getting to be so much fun!

We had their 4 month appointment this morning and it went well! The babies needed shots but I think i was more worried than I needed to be. They cried for a few seconds but once they were picked up by Patrick or I, they were fine. It was hard to watch though!

We talked about starting solids, because I wanted to make sure we had the right plan. We want to start at 6 months but with them being preemies, I wanted to see if we should use their adjusted age or not. Because of how well they are growing and developing, the pediatrician said we can just go with the actual age. We talked about baby-led weaning which is what we are going to do, and about skipping rice cereal. She thinks everything sounds great and is on board! So if anyone has tips of blw, let me know! Im doing my research now :)

Weights and Lengths: Declan: 13 pounds 2 ounces and 24 inches long. Owen: 13 pounds 5 ounces and 24 inches long. Evelyn: 13 pounds even and 23.5 inches long.

Eating: They are eating every 3-3.5 hours during the day and for about 20-25 minutes except the feeding right before we put them down for the night, then they eat for anywhere from 30-45 minutes.

Sleep: They are sleeping through the night! We put them down around 9:30 and they sleep until 6 or 6:30! Sometimes they wake up between 4:30 and 5 but for the most part they sleep. It has been awesome. They also take 2 or 3 good 2+ hour naps a day. Depending what we are doing, since I like to get out of the house with them, their middle of the day nap isn't always as long. They also are all basically awake for the rest of the day.

Clothes Sizes: They fit perfectly in 3 months sizes but wear some 3-6 as well. 

Diaper Size: They are completely out of their newborn cloth diapers now, if not from weight it's because they out pee them and its not worth stuffing them more when they fit so well in our other ones!

Favorite Diapers: We are loving our bottombumpers. They are so trim and since they are sized they fit them the best. We also love our os simplex and tots bots. Overall Im really loving our one size stash!

Least Favorite Diapers: I love them all! But if I was to pick I would say prefolds just because they are getting so squirmy and they are more difficult and time consuming to get on. But they certainly have their place!

Favorite Things: They LOVE bath time and going outside. When they are fussing, if we bring them into the back yard they stop. They also love their bumbos and sitting and standing (with our help). We have recently started using the excersaucers for short periods because they love to stand and grab things, and they love them. They also love people. We take them to the playground and they just stare and are so interested in older kids. They are all such flirts and smile at everyone!

Least Favorite Things: Still waiting for things, they are getting a bit more demanding when they want something now that they are older so it can get pretty crazy around here. They don't like diaper changes but aren't too bad if we distract them. 

Milestones: They are talking, babbling, and laughing more, grabbing things, they all have great head control, they are getting great at rolling from tummy to back and do it almost every time  They think its hilarious. They are close to rolling from back to tummy.

Pictures:

Declan giving me a sweet smile

Owen loving his bumbo!

Evelyn being a daddy's girl

We Are Sleeping Through The Night!!

Yay!! The babies have slept for 8 hours straight 3 nights in a row!! Last night they slept for 7 which is still great. Patrick and I are like new people! I was most worried about Owen since he seems to get hungry the fastest. He is always the first one up. He usually wakes about 15 minutes before the other 2 but thankfully he is content for a bit of cuddling with mommy before he eats. I think Evelyn has been ready for a couple weeks since she seems to only wake when her brothers cry.

Last week they started to show signs of it. They would wake but not really needing to eat, they just were used to getting up and wanting to be held. And they would fall back to sleep before they finished a feeding. After 3 days of that Evelyn and Declan slept but Owen still woke after about 6 hours. But I changed him, gave him about a 5 minute snack (thats all he wanted) and held him for about a half hour and he fell back to sleep. He was perfectly content with that. Then they all woke up after about 7.5-8 hours.

I am so happy that they are all on a similar schedule! It has been a lifesaver. We are also so happy that they are mostly sleeping now and we can do things. Im not a zombie anymore and have so much more energy to do things with them! Now that they are awake for much of the day, and are getting more aware and playful, it's so much better to get out of the house.

They are down for their morning nap now and then we are heading to Golden Gate Park and the Children's Playground with some cousins for a picnic and some fun!

At some point this week or next we are going to transition them to their nursery, but im kind of sad about that! I love having my babies with me. It will be good for them though.

Anyone have tips on how best to do that?

A Day In The Life: 3 Month Old Triplets

Well I missed last month so I figured it was about time for another one of these! I always get a lot of questions about how I do it and what its like, and i'm so used to it at this point that sometimes I dont know what to say.

One of the main things that keeps our family running is a schedule. I know there are a lot of people that say we shouldn't schedule babies and some that swear by it. When I was pregnant I really didn't know how we were going to handle it and were just going to go with the flow and see what worked best for us. To be honest, if we only had one baby we probably wouldn't have had much of a schedule but, it's a necessity with three. It hasn't been hard to keep because the babies have pretty much dictated it themselves. But, it frees up so much time and keeps everyone happy.

So, today we are attempting to go to the zoo with Patrick's Sisters, Sarah and Emily, and my Sister-in-law Aimee and all the kids. It should be very fun and exhausting! Sarah has Keira who's 5 and Riley who's 5 months, Emily has Gavin who will be three this month, and Aimee has Jane who's 2.5 and Timmy who's 1 month today!

7:00 am- Patrick gets up and gets ready for work, Owen starts to wake up and I change him and we cuddle.

7:15am- All the babies are up and changed and hanging out in our bed.

7:30am- Patrick is ready so we carry the babies downstairs and Patrick cooks breakfast.

7:37am- The babies are ready to eat so I get situated on the couch and start with Owen and Declan.

7:49am- Burp and switch, Patrick brings me a plate.

7:58am- Burp and switch

8:10am- All three are done and Patrick leaves for work.

8:15am- I pull out the big mat and lay the babies out with various toys for some playtime and tummy time.

 

(Declan practicing some pushups, Owen laughing at the hanging monkey, and Evelyn after I pulled a blanket she was playing with off her face.)

8:45am- The babies need to be changed and are getting tired. I changed them all and get them dressed for the zoo and then put them in their car seats because we are going to leave during their nap.

9:15am- They are all asleep so I go and get the diaper bag packed and get myself ready to leave.

9:30am- I grab a morning snack and then get the car packed. I brought the mountain buggy with bassinet because they will be sleeping still when we get to the zoo and will probably want to nap again before we leave. But I am bringing the valco baby too in case they dont stay asleep or dont want to lie down. I also brought 2 ergos, one for me and another just in case.

9:40am- I load the babies into the car and head off to the zoo.

9:55am- We all meet in the parking lot and get all the kids loaded (we have 8!). I successfully transfer all the babies into the bassinet without much movement (thank God they are great sleepers) and bundle them up with some blankets since its a bit cold still.

10:10am- We all make it into the zoo! We let the big kids (Keira, Gavin, and Jane) dictate where we went and it was just great to get out of the house and talk!

11:00am- The babies started to wake up and needed to be changed. We all made a bathroom break and then headed to the cafe that we would eat lunch. Emily took the big kids to the carousel and maze while Sarah, Aimee, and I nursed. This was quite the experience! I have nursed in public before, but not in such a populated area. And now that they are bigger it's not quite so discrete! It took a few minutes to get situated since i didn't have a boppy or anything. I got some looks and comments but mostly positive.

I also just tandem fed Declan and Owen first since Evelyn was pretty content and it would be hard to do the rotation.

11:30am- Emily came back with the kids and we went up to order food. I stayed with the littles since I was still nursing Evelyn.


12:15pm- We all finish lunch and the bigs are eager to get to the petting zoo so we head there next. The babies are wide awake so I put Evelyn in the ergo since she is most content looking around and hanging with mommy and I laid the boys on their bellies in the bassinet and gave them a few toys to play with. (They were loving it and im so happy I brought this stroller instead of the other one! I dont think they would have lasted as long.)

 12:25pm- I thought the babies were a bit too small to be around the animals so Aimee left Jane with the others and we took the triplets and Timmy over to a grassy picnic area to relax for a bit. It was great because then the babies could get out and play. I brought a big blanket thinking we would do this and we layed them all down and they loved it!

1:00pm- We met back up and went on to the other side of the zoo. At this point I was carrying Owen since he was fed up with laying down. Evelyn and Declan were just hanging out in the bassinet.

1:30pm- We decided to take all the kids on little puffer train! It goes around most of the park and the big kids were really excited. We parked the strollers and since Aimee had Timmy in his carseat and he was sleeping she just kept him in that on the train and held Declan. I held Owen and Evelyn (and left the ergo in the stroller). They seemed to enjoy it but getting tired and normally I would have already put them down for a nap.

1:50pm- Once we got off the train and got all the babies changed and back in the stroller they fell asleep quickly. The big kids were getting tired too so we started making our way back to the other side.

2:00pm- We stopped in the store so all the kids could pick out a little toy. I got each of the babies a stuffed animal with the help of my nieces and nephew. We picked a baby tiger for Declan, a baby gorilla for Owen, and a baby giraffe for Evelyn!

2:30pm- We said our goodbyes and I successfully loaded the babies into their carseats without waking them up! (I was actually really worried about this and that we would have a rough ride home because we were at the 3 hour mark and I knew they would be getting hungry soon.)

2:50pm- We made it home with just a few squawks towards the end from Owen and I got them all inside and started to change him when Declan woke. I got them both changed and started nursing.

3:07pm- Evelyn woke up. Burp and switch

3:19pm- Burp and switch

3:30pm- Burp and done. I put the babies down on the play mat and we do some more tummy time, talking and singing.

4:15pm- The babies are getting tired again and I change them all and put them down in a crib in their nursery.

4:45pm- They are all sleeping so I go and do some laundry, I am a bit behind since we were out all day!

5:00pm- I start making dinner. Tonight it's Chicken stir-fry.

5:30pm- Patrick gets home and helps with some chores.

6:15pm- We sit down for dinner. We have to eat at this time or else we would never get to!

6:30pm- Owen is up and Patrick goes to get him and changes him. He puts him in the swing to try and buy us some time.

6:45pm- All three are up and hungry. We change Declan and Evelyn and then relax on the couch to try and catch up on tv, (tonight it's the Homeland season 2 finale just in time for the new season to start!) while I nurse.

7:30pm- They are all done and this is their cranky time of night. We try to hold them while we finish the show.

7:45pm- We made it to the (crazy!) end and take the babies upstairs for bath time.

8:30pm- They are all bathed, lotioned, and have clean diapers and pajamas on. We just hang out with them in bed while we watch some more tv.

9:15pm- Owen and Evelyn need to be changed again and then we get ready for one more nursing session.

9:25pm- I start feeding Owen and Declan since they are the loudest.

9:39pm- Burp and switch

9:53pm- Burp and switch

10:10pm- Finally finished. They eat a lot at this feeding to get ready for the night. We change them all again to their night time diapers and swaddle them and put them in their rock-n-plays.

10:20pm- They are all out.

4:41am- Owen is up. He is always first and he slept a long time! They were exhausted from the day. I get him changed and he is usually content with cuddling for a few minutes while we wait. They others are never far behind.

4:50am- Declan is up too so Patrick changes him and I start nursing them.

4:55am- Evelyn gets up and Patrick changes her and they cuddle for a few minutes.

5:02am- Burp and switch

5:14am- Burp and switch

5:25am- Burp and done. We get them all swaddled again.

5:35am- They are all out again.

7:00am- Patrick gets up and Owen isn't far behind. Our day starts all over again!

Changes!

Well we have had lots of changes around here!

The babies are officially too big to sleep together in the pack and play :( We are now using their rock n plays until they really sleep through the night and will go to the nursery. Thankfully they are still sleeping just as long but it just takes a bit more to settle them.

The babies also are all able to roll over so we have had to stop swaddling. So far they are doing well with that too and now we are using sleep sacks which are awesome!!

We have also switched them over to our valco baby stoller because they do not nap much in the stoller anymore and want to see out. We will still use it if they are sleeping but are now mostly using the valco.  We aren't using the joey seat yet because they aren't big enough but we either take the other single or just use the ergo which has worked out great. Its hard though since im used to them facing me!

We do playtime now between naps since they are awake much more and like to interact! They love tummy time and when we talk to them, they are all really trying to talk back! They love to stand up and are getting so strong and we have started to sit them in their bumbos since their head control is great.

It is so fun watching them grow up!