Baby C... Almost 2 years old!

Last but certainly not least...

Garrett Campbell... aka baby C.  Garrett's middle name was chosen for my best friend and "sister" Elyse and I could not have chosen a better boy to fit her personality.  He is so loving and caring, and my worrier, but he is also a huge goofball and so far pretty "athletic".  Though I think he already shoots a basketball better than Aunt E. :)

Garrett loves to shoot baskets and will shoot over and over all day long.  We recently went to a birthday party at MyGym and all he wanted was to shoot hoops. Silly guy!  He is strong and has done all his gross motor skills first, including jumping and walking down the stairs like a big kid.

G is my biggest momma's boy and likes to keep a close eye on my whereabouts. He cries every week when I drop him off at church even though he is always playing and laughing when I come back to pick him up.  He is my "OCD" boy and everything has to be in order to make him happy, doors have to be shut, shoes placed in the drawer, etc.  He also LOVES his Crocs and will put them on first thing in the morning before he is even dressed.  He has the most words as far as language goes, but doesn't always use it so effectively.  He is my pickiest eater, but loves his veggies and fruit. He is a good sleeper, but often takes the longest to fall asleep at night.  Twice last week he went to bed without me being there, which makes me a little sad.  They are growing up way too quickly!

G and mommy!

The oh so special Crocs.

Best way to eat an Oreo!

Shoot G!

Don't forget the gloves!

Baby B... Almost 2

Next up...

Ryder James aka baby B. He is the smallest and has been since the day he was born.  He is catching up to Garrett with the help of a daily pediasure, but can't quite seem to match him.  He is my funny boy who likes to be silly.  He also has the biggest temper and is known to throw himself down to the floor and lay there yelling if something doesn't go his way.  He loves to snuggle with his momma and play rough with his daddy.  He has caused us the most worry starting in the womb and having undergone 3 different surgeries so far, 2 hernia repairs and tubes for his ears.  He is amazingly resilient and has always been back to normal the next day.  He was the first to show interest in potty training and does pretty well with it.  He is my cleanest eater and eats the most. He is a good sleeper, but still likes to get us up once or twice a week.  He doesn't talk much but follows directions really well and can scream with the best of them!

First to have a black eye, and have impeccable style.

He is a great problem solver.

Cheese!

Looking like Garrett.

:)

Baby A... Almost 2 years old!

Over the next couple of weeks I wanted to highlight each boy separately. I always do group posts and sometimes their individuality gets lost in the mix.  Yes they are identical, but their personalities are very different!

Daniel Jeffrey aka baby A. He is the biggest in size and definitely uses that to his advantage!  He is a total Abbey's boy (our nanny) and would probably go home with her every day. :). He loves to dance and if he hears music he will stop whatever he is doing to dance no matter where we are.  He is constantly jabbering and I call him the Sweedish Chef because most of the time I have no idea what he is saying.  He is my only lefty in all of my 4 children, and Dan is hoping that will mean good things for his baseball career. He runs everywhere he goes - full steam ahead - and has a few cuts and scrapes to show for it.  He is also my best sleeper. Goes right to bed, falls asleep on his own and often needs to be awakened in the morning.  I wish he would teach his brothers!

He looks like Ryder in this picture! (Don't mind the mess behind us!)

Silly boy

Trying to swing like big sis.

Asleep wherever he lies down!

Daniel and his Abbey. (He is the only one that can say Abbey, and he says it more than momma, should I be worried?) :)

Bedtime Battles

Back in November and December we switched the boys to toddler beds.  They have done surprisingly well with the transition and seem to enjoy their little bit of freedom.  In the morning they get up and quietly read books while sitting in their chairs waiting for someone to come in to start the day.  Nap time has still been consistent, they lay right down and are typically sleeping within minutes.  

Most nights they lay down and go to sleep with one or both of us in the room without much trouble.

And then there are nights like tonight when they decided it was time to play and sing and yell to one another.  It is hard not to get frustrated in moments like that.  Tonight we said ok, wind down on your own, and we left the room.  Well apparently Ryder thought he was never going to see us again because he had an ultimate meltdown screaming and banging on the door.  I couldn't leave him in there behaving like that, it breaks my heart to hear my children in distress like that!  

I went back in after a few minutes and tried again.  Ry laid down and wanted me to pat him.  After telling the other two boys to find their beds I settled in next to Ryder.  A few moments later I had Daniel in my lap snuggled in tight and Garrett lying on a pillow next to me.  I just leaned back on Ry's bed with one hand on him, one on Garrett and my head resting on Daniel's head and thought, wow I am so incredibly blessed to be their momma.  It is so easy to get frustrated when they won't just go to sleep, but if they had tonight I would have missed out on an opportunity to love on my boys.  My boys who just wanted to be close to their mommy.  I need to savor moments like this, because in a blink of an eye, they won't want me to cuddle with them anymore.

So to those of you who are currently going through the frustrations of transitioning to "big kid" beds, remember this is just another phase, they will eventually get the hang of it and sometimes all they want is to have mommy or daddy close by while they drift off to sleep.  So cherish those moments... Even the ones where you want to pull your hair out because they don't stay toddlers forever!

Ok Winter I Give In!

So we have had quite the week.  On Tuesday last week we had to take Garrett to the pediatrician because his breathing was rough.  Turns out he had RSV (so all the boys have RSV - they sounded horrible).

Enter breathing treatments...

Then on Thursday we got a foot of snow and Ryder standing in the middle of the floor screaming in pain. Which lead to this...

Ambulance ride with a few hours in the ER.  We were originally told we would need to be admitted because his breathing was horrible.  Then a breathing treatment helped so we were to be transferred to the local children's hospital for surgery on his new hernia (the reason we went to the hospital in the first place). It was then decided that we were to go home because he was too sick for surgery.

He is not so sick anymore... 11pm last night...

Today we met with our pediatrician and we will be seeing the surgeon on Thursday with what seems to be surgery pretty shortly after that.  We would appreciate prayers that everything goes smoothly and that the hernia stays "stable" until the surgery.

Besides they would much rather be doing this...

Instead of being sick!

Happy New Year!

The boys are now 19 months old!  I'm still in shock that we are closing in on 2.  The thought of not one, not two, but three 2 year old boys is a bit terrifying!  These boys already work together to get into all kinds of trouble.  

The boys has their 18 month check up - and everyone is doing well!

Daniel's stats:  24.7 lbs (22nd percentile); 33.5 inches (79th percentile).

Ryder's stats: 21 lbs (3rd percentile); 31.25 inches (17th percentile)

Garrett's stats: 23.5 lbs (12th percentile); 32.5 inches (52nd percentile)

Daniel is clearly built like his Daddy with broad shoulders. He is our tank and he uses his weight to his advantage as he has become our little bully!  He even pushes Maddy around, pretty successfully too!  He loves to dance and is still my blankie boy.  He loves to play ball and can climb anything.  He also enjoys shrieking like a girl!

Ryder is my tiny guy.  He had surgery to put tubes in his ears the day before thanksgiving after having 4 straight months of fluid in his ears and successive  ear infections.  The doctor was not worried about his weight bc of the recent surgery and because he had a GI bug most of the week before the appointment.  She did recommend adding some healthy fat into his diet.  He now gets full fat yogurt and cottage cheese and the occasional pediasure!  Ryder has also become my little ham, as soon as a camera appears he smiles in the most cheesy ways possible.

Garrett is my sweet boy.  He's the first to give a hug to a sad brother.  He will make sure his brother's get the same things he does before getting his own.  He hands out cups for me at snack time.  He loves to play with his baby doll and will rock her and pat her.  And is now starting to sing to her as well.  He is definitely a sensitive soul and gets his feelings hurt pretty easily.  He also loves to dance.  His new favorite thing is to shake his head no, even when he means yes!

All 3 boys are doing so well using plates and silverware to eat their meals.  Some current favorites are soup, broccoli, and meatballs.  We are working on open cups, but it's still kind of a disaster!

The biggest milestone... All 3 boys are in toddler beds!! We had a fairly easy transition at first, but then Christmas chaos and New Years set us back with the boys deciding bed time was party time.  We took a good look at our bedtime routine and after just about a week and a half of very strict bedtime, I'm happy to report the boys have been asleep by 8pm the last 2 nights with no fight and none of the boys getting out of bed!  Praying that it continues!

That is my favorite part of beds - finding the boys cuddling together!

This post is going to be long!  Let me recap the past couple of months!

Ry's surgery was quick and easy and the follow up from his surgeon has been awesome.  We are so happy with how well it all went.  And his walking improved so much after that!  His hearing has also improved, which is good.  I was really upset when I found out he had conductive hearing loss in both ears.

Morning of!  It was an early start, he wasn't amused. 

We had a busy Thanksgiving day, followed by a busy Black Friday getting our Christmas Tree! Madelynn was allowed to pick, and I am pretty sure she picked the biggest one she could find!  It was a beautiful tree (it's actually still standing, just on the deck now)!

One week following this I ended up hospitalized for 5.5 days!  I needed to have my gallbladder removed and then needed another small procedure to remove a gallstone from my common bile duct.  Fun!  The nurses and docs did a great job and my favorite nurse from maternity snuck in to see me too! :) as much as I hated being in the hospital the week before Maddy's birthday, I did manage to get lots of crafts done!  I am also so thankful for all of the people that stepped up to help Dan make it through the week managing the kids and coming to see me! We also received these awesome shirts from a fellow triplet mom, while I was there, perfect timing!

(I was planned, I wasn't, neither was I)

We managed to have Maddy's birthday as scheduled! She loved her Princess Sofia Tea Party and was thrilled that so many of her friends could come and join her!

We then had "lots" of Christmases with friends.  We are so incredibly blessed.  We have so many people in our lives who love our children.  It makes me so happy to know our children are loved!  We were able to spend Christmas Eve with Dan's family and Christmas Day at home and with my family and then more time with Dan's family.  It was a fun, crazy day!

Christmas pictures for the cards I still haven't printed!

Christmas Eve service!  Rockin' the fedoras. 

Santa came!

We had some very happy kiddos!

We started the new year off the right way with going to the Farm Show twice in one day!  Milkshakes for breakfast! Yum!

They really loved the milk shakes, potato donuts and seeing all of the animals!

We have had quite a few busy months. And I'm hoping things slow down in the next few months!  Who am I kidding, we have triplets!

15/16 Months and Halloween Happenings

As usual, I haven't updated in quite some time.

We had our 15 month check up and the boys are growing like crazy!  Daniel was 23.5lbs, Ryder 21lbs and Garrett was 22.5lbs.  They are all 30" or taller as well, but I don't remember the specifics because it was in September!

The boys have been healthy, though Ryder had to deal with an ear infection that took two rounds of antibiotics to really kick.  Thankfully it was only one or two sleepless nights in there as he is so happy typically!

The boys are really starting to talk more and are repeating sounds much more frequently.  Every now and then we get random words that seem to come out of nowhere!  

The boys love to play with puzzles, little people, cars and books.  They love reading books and will sit intently listening to their bedtime story!

They are always on the move, climbing on everything and using each other to reach things.  Ryder isn't yet walking as well as his brothers, but he is taking more and more steps each day.  I've learned that with Ryder I need to just be patient, he does things on his terms.  The newest skill in the household is that Daniel can reach the pull down door handles and provide "freedom" to his brothers... Like when they showed up on the deck while we were letting the dog out!  The deadbolt is locked all the time now!

October has been a busy month!  We started the month going to the Halloween Parade and the kids loved it!  We definitely had an advantage and got tons of candy!  Maddy was pretty happy to be a big sister to triplets that night!  The boys were even photographed for the local newspaper. :)

On a rare morning off I was able to go with the nanny to take the boys to a local farm for their fall harvest days.  The boys had a blast playing all morning!

Mid-month we participated in our town's Streets of Treats.  Maddy loved playing all of the games and again getting a bunch of candy!  She also made sure to always get something for her brothers.  She is a great big sister!

Just this week we had lots of activity!  Monday was Alumni Trick-or-Treat at my college and the kids again had a blast! Lots of activities and lots of candy!

And then on Halloween we had Maddy's parade at her school and of course trick or treat night!  

Maddy's best friends joined us for trick-or-treating, rounding out our Despicable Me theme by adding Margo, Edith and of course a tiny minion!  Even though we had a few tears over line leader responsibilities, the kids had a blast and the boys even walked for a little bit to get a few pieces of candy for themselves! :)

All in all it has been a busy month, but man have we had fun!

Oh and just because...