What a week!

12 weeks old and what a week it has been. The week started with me headed back to work and Maddy starting "school". I work 11 hours on Mondays and came home to find out that Daniel and Ryder had diarrhea throughout the day. I figured that it may have been just the stress of being with someone new, at least that's what I was hoping.

That night Maddy started throwing up, so I knew then we were up against a GI bug. By Tuesday afternoon the boys were still pooping a ton and Maddy was barely eating anything, so I left work early (the kids were with our awesome nanny and my mom) and took Ryder to the doctor bc he seemed to be getting the worst of it and he can't afford to lose weight. Well unfortunately he has dropped from the 5th to the 4th percentile, but the doctor said he was well hydrated and that we were doing the right thing. She switched the boys to soy formula mixed with breast milk and had us offer pedialyte in between bottles.

Wednesday Maddy was back to her old self, which meant that by the end of the day she was cranky from being pent up all day. The boys seemed to be feeling better, but then Daniel threw up. Ugh!

Today they have pooped a lot less, but both Daniel and Ryder have thrown up once. They woke up hungry this am and have eaten much better today, but obviously they are still not 100%. It breaks my heart to see them sick and I am praying that Garrett doesn't get it too! I don't think I can take much more.

Please pray for healthy babies, I really cannot stand to see them sick. I'm so worried about Ryder's weight and this is taking its toll on him. Daniel also seems to be losing ground when compared to Garrett, but he has a little better reserve. So again, please keep us in your prayers. And here is hoping for a better week next week!

We are beach bound this weekend so I'm hopeful that the babies feel better so we can all have a relaxing time with some good friends!

And even though he's sick, he's still all smiles - my Daniel man!

Looking back...

I found Ryder's hospital bracelet in the diaper bag tonight. How quickly I have forgotten how tiny they really were. We are truly blessed at how healthy these boys are.

Catching up!

Ok so this is long overdue and actually I started it a week ago...

Life has been busy lately!  Lots of changes are happening soon - I'm back to work at the end of the month and Maddy will be starting preschool!  Not sure how easy the transition back to work will be, but at least I'm only going to be working 3 days a week.

The boys are just awesome!  They are getting so big and even their 0-3m clothes are getting tight!  It will soon be time to switch out clothes again!  Speaking of switching clothes, we had to order new Woombies because Garrett and Daniel no longer fit into theirs.  I highly recommend woombies vs any other swaddle.  We have lots of the Halo sleep sacks, and while they are nice the boys always find a way to get their arms out and they don't sleep nearly as well.  Put them in a woombie and they sleep amazingly well!  Also since woombies are a little on the expensive side I contacted the company asking if they would provide a discount for multiples and within a few hours I had a code to use online for a discount!  I was so happy with that we bought 6 this time!

The boys are on a great schedule right now and I feel like everything is flowing pretty smoothly.  They eat, play, and then nap and that seems to make for happy babies!  This week we tried switching the boys to a formula for fussiness and gas because they are horribly gassy, well it did not agree with Garrett at all, so we are just going to deal with the gas.  I think it bothers me more than it does them anyway.  Ryder is finally rid of thrush so he has been allowed to nurse.  I only let him nurse on one side and then give him a bottle because he is on the higher calorie formula and I don't want him to miss out on too many extra calories.  Daniel and Garrett just have 2 spots on the roof of their mouth, so if I can remember to give them the medicine more frequently then it should be gone soon!

Daniel is our social guy.  He loves to smile and coo at everyone.  He loves to play with his activity gym and look in the mirror.  He is pretty laid back until it is time to eat and then he will let you know.  If we are a minute late he will be relentless until the bottle is in his mouth!  He also has managed to roll from belly to back.  I thought it was a fluke at first, but now he is doing it pretty consistently.  Yay buddy!

Daniel - 2 months old

Ryder is our "singleton" or so he thinks.  He prefers to have attention all the time and would much rather be held than anything else.  He is no longer willing to sleep for any length of time in his bouncy seat (which is where they typically nap) because he wants to be held instead.  Thank goodness he sleeps just fine in his crib, so overnight isn't a problem!  Ryder has rolled from belly to back once or twice and it is usually just when he's mad enough to do so.  Ryder is always giving sly smiles and has the best expressions!

Ryder - 2 months old

Garrett is our sleeper.  He loves to sleep!  He is always the first one to fall asleep and typically is the last one up in the morning.  He usually loves to eat and is often the first one done.  The last couple days hasn't been great because his belly was upset, but otherwise he is an excellent eater.  He has also rolled from belly to back, but is no where close to doing it consistently.  He is also very stingy with his smiles.  He will smile at us, but he makes you work for it!

Garrett - 2 months old

Since this is already a long post, I will try to post again tomorrow with some of the fun things we have done recently to wrap up the summer!  We still have a few fun things planned including a long weekend to the beach with some friends!  7 kids (4 infants, 2 2.5 year olds and a 5 year old!) and 7 adults, I think we are covered!

more cuteness...

Daniel, Ryder, Garrett (seriously boys, hold still!)

Daniel, Ryder, Garrett - 10 weeks

Daniel, Ryder, Garrett - 3 peas in a pod
(someone made these hats for us and they have little pea pods as the tassel!)

8 weeks!

8 weeks!  How can my babies be 2 months old already?  They are getting too big too fast!  I can't believe that in just a few weeks I will be heading back to work.  It is going to be so hard to leave them, but fortunately we were able to keep our nanny who we used with Madelynn.  It will be so nice to have her in our home!  

The boys had their check up and are awesome like always!  The doctor was very pleased with their growth as well as their neck strength/head control. They had some shots, which did not make for happy campers that night.  Nothing a few snuggles couldn't fix though.  All 3 boys now have thrush; thanks for sharing, Ryder.  We were very careful to not have the boys share things, but a few mistakes of switching nuks when it was dark has managed to spread it to the other boys.  That means breast feeding has been put on hold and I'm going to treat myself just to be on the safe side.  Fortunately all the boys should be cleared up by the beginning of next week.  I'm still struggling with my supply, but it's tough with just pumping, and also trying to make sure I'm eating and drinking enough.  At least the boys are getting 10 ounces each every day.  Because of how well they are growing we can put Daniel and Garrett on regular formula, which is 20 calories/ounce.  Ryder is going to stay on the neosure for now, 22 calories/ounce.  He is growing well, but the doctor doesn't want him to fall behind.  Oh and we are going to try to drop the midnight feeding and see what happens.  The boys eat every 4 hours during the day and have been eating at 11:30 pm and then not again until 7:30 am.  For the last week or so they have needed to be awakened at 11:30 and they weren't really eating well, so we are going to try dropping that feeding and just see what happens.

Here are their stats:
Daniel: 10 lbs 15 oz (39th%) 21.75 inches
Ryder:  8 lbs 12 oz (5th% up from < 3rd) 20.75 inches
Garrett: 11 lbs 3 oz (44th%) 21.5 inches

Other changes, the boys are starting to try and roll and often make it from their back to their side.  They have started smiling, not consistently yet, but I don't think it will be much longer.  They are also sleeping in their own cribs.  It broke my heart to separate them because they love to cuddle with each other, but lately they were moving so much they were practically on top of one another in the morning so we decided it was time.  They don't seem to mind and are usually moving all over the place in their crib, but it was still sad for me as it meant they were growing up already.

We have a low key weekend scheduled, so hopefully we can relax and play. :-) 

Daniel, Ryder, Garrett (8.5 weeks)

Maddy wanted a picture with her brothers!