Our First Christmas as a Family of 6!

Christmas was a lot different this year than last year! We knew we were pregnant last year, but we didn't know it was three and we hadn't told anyone yet! What a difference a year makes! The hectic Christmas family traditions are so much crazier with 3 babies! But we made it and we had a great Christmas! And we took our first roadtrip! (And it was a success!) We even made it to see Santa! And no one cried (they didn't smile either but I'll take it!)

I haven't posted in almost a month because we've been so so so super busy! We ended up doing almost all of our Christmas shopping online and almost all the last week before Christmas. We had great intentions of shopping a few weeks ahead of time and getting everything done BEFORE the last minute. But that didn't happen. Instead, we spent 3 nights at Children's with James (1 night) and Mason (2 nights) the week before Christmas.

The boys will be 8 months tomorrow (December 29) so I'll write another post about what we've been up to later this week (including why we spent 3 nights at the hospital). This one is just about Christmas!

Here's our Christmas card! I love it! Thanks to Miranda Carr for taking the awesome photos! (She took the Ho Ho Ho one above too!)

And I put the babies in gift boxes too! I had visions of amazing photos. Kind of like the babies in pumpkins pics I did for fall. Well, it didn't turn out as well this time! Ha! Here's a collage I put together! Mason wasn't in the mood!

James didn't mind it though!

Addison and I went to Garvan Gardens in Hot Springs to see the Christmas lights with Brian's mom and his brother and his family. It was cold so the babies didn't go. But Addison and I had a great time!

We spent Christmas Eve at Brian's parents' house in town with his family. I didn't get any pictures but Brian got this one of Mason with his Aunt Katie and cousins Liam (11 months) and Emily (2). The babies were a big hit! Emily especially loved them!

And here's one of all the cousins at Nina and Pop's house together for the first time! The boys are out of order because Josie didn't want to hold a baby so Emily is holding James instead!

Later that night we headed out of town for Memphis! Our first roadtrip! Yay! We packed so much into the Mann Van! Addison had one seat in the back row but other than that the entire back was full to the ceiling except for a small space for me to see out.

The boys did great in the van on the way to Memphis (not as good on the way home!) We got there about 9:30. Then we went to Midnight Mass. The boys slept through the whole thing. And we had the cry room to ourselves. 

Then my favorite Christmas tradition - presents at my grandparents' house after Midnight Mass. The boys were great for this too! Logan slept the whole time. Mason and James were awake most of the time but they were really good! Which is a good thing because we didn't pack any bottles because they don't eat in the middle of the night!

Here's a few pictures:

Brian and James

My favorite gift - LEMONHEADS!

Then we went back to my parents' house and went to sleep (around 5 am) and waited for Santa! I didn't get any pictures from Christmas Day at my parents' house (mom fail!) but it was a great day! The boys were perfect! Addison was perfect too of course! We had planned to stay until Friday (the day after Christmas) but because everyone was so good we ended up staying an extra day! Yay! So fun!  

Brian took one picture. His "Reinbeer" that my sister gave him!

Here's a few more pictures from the Christmas season!

Logan

Mason

And our Christmas ornaments (I actually have another set that my mom made but I put them on the tree right away before I took pictures!)

Oh and we have an Elf on the Shelf! Of course! His name is Buddy and he gets into a little trouble from time to time. Here's a few pictures of Buddy from this year. He wasn't too naughty!

Buddy turned the milk green! Ew!

Buddy rolled the Christmas tree!

And one of my favorite things about Christmas - Christmas cards! I have lots more that didn't fit on this side of my kitchen too! One of my triplet mom groups did a Christmas card exchange so I have triplet Christmas cards too! I love my triplet mom friends! We even did a Secret Santa this year and I got the sweetest gifts! And I really had fun buying gifts for my triplet mom too!

Ok this was a little long (I know most of my posts are long!) so I'll end it here! Stay tuned for an 8 month update!

7 Months Old!

The boys turned 7 months old on Saturday! (Remember they were 3 months early so they're like 4 month olds). I'm a few days late (of course) but I didn't get the official 7 month pics until tonight! And they're pretty hilarious in my opinion. They were not cooperating tonight! Ha! Logan especially!

We've been really busy over the last week! First Thanksgiving, then the boys were baptized on Sunday. If you missed my Thanksgiving post, you can read it here. More about the Baptism in a separate blog post later this week! But here's a sneak peek at their super cute Baptism outfits! 

Ok so now for the monthly update. The boys got their November Synagis shots last Tuesday so weights are from then. We're working on transitioning from a 3 hour feeding schedule to a 4 hour feeding schedule so right now the boys eat 5 bottles a day (7, 11, 2, 6, and 9). I'm still nursing Mason and Logan 1-2 times a day and pumping 1-2 times a day. I thought I would have quit by now but I'm still at it! Their bottles are all formula though. I'm saving the little amount I get when I pump for after I stop breastfeeding/pumping so they can get the benefits a little longer after I stop.

Here's one more group photo before we get to the individual updates:

Dressed up like little men in our button downs

Mason:

Weight: 12 lbs. 13 oz. (approx. 5th % for adjusted age)

Mason is very smiley! And he has just started laughing! It's so cute! He babbles quite a bit too! I think baby talk is my favorite thing! 

Mason still loves his swing. And the play gym. He's started kicking a lot and he's discovered toys (sort of). He reaches for toys hanging from the play gym. And puts them in his mouth. Of course! And he loves Sophie.

Mason is still the best sleeper. He sleeps through the night pretty much every night. Mason is also the best in the Mann Van! He sits in the very back and I hardly hear a peep out of him! I wish Logan and James would take notes! 

Mason gets speech and physical therapy at school. He's doing great (in my opinion at least!) I can really tell a difference in his development! We're working on weight bearing with his legs (I don't think that's the official term). I put him in the jumper at home and he mostly just sits there and chews on the side of the seat and looks around. Not much jumping. But he does jump occasionally so it's a start!

Here's some Mason pics:

Logan:

Weight: 11 lbs. 6 oz. (still under 2nd percentile). Even though he's tiny he's growing and going great!

Logan is our talker! He is always making noise! I have no idea where he gets it! (Yeah right. We all know). He also smiles all the time now and he's just starting to laugh. But only when he wants to! Check out the 7 month pictures for proof. Mr. Grumpy Pants.

Logan loves to kick his legs! I call him crazy legs! Logan spends a lot of time under the play gym now and he jumps in the jumper pretty well. He kicks like crazy! We call him crazy legs! Logan loves his swing still but not as much as he did a few months ago. 

Logan is starting to play with toys too! I can tell that he's really concentrating and trying to bat and grab things now! Fun! Logan's favorite "toy" these days is his cannula. Yes you read that right. He likes to play with his cannula. He mostly likes to take it out of his nose and put it in his mouth. Luckily he barely needs it. He gets so mad when we try to put it back in his nose so I took it off last night to see how he did. And he did great! No desats (low o2) while he was awake and playing. I'm still hopeful that maybe he can get off oxygen next Friday when we go back to the Newborn Clinic! Fingers crossed!

Here's a picture of my sweet Logan without his cannula! Love this sweet face! He liked having the cannula off too!

Logan also goes to speech and physical therapy at school. I can tell a big difference in Logan too! He's very talkative, he's reaching for toys, and his neck is getting so much stronger! He also rolls back to belly some too!

Yay Logan!

Here's a few more Logan pictures:

Logan modeled the Baptism outfits the day before!

James:

Weight: 12 lbs 8 oz. (3rd % for adjusted age)

James is our laid back baby. This is super surprising if you knew James in the NICU. He was feisty! But now that his reflux is under control he's super chill. Most of the time anyways. He still gets angry sometimes. But for the most part he's a pretty happy boy.

James loves hanging out in the jumper. He'll sit there for a long time and jump and look around. He's starting to reach for toys too. He even reached for me the other day!

James doesn't talk much but he does talk some. And he laughs sometimes too. Usually he just smiles really big though! I love his smile! 

James is also starting to favor Brian and I over other people. He doesn't favor me over Brian or vice versa but when he gets tired he wants one of us to hold him. Or he wants to swing. That's right, we're equal to the swing.

James is getting physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy at school. He's doing great too! I can definitely tell a difference with his physical therapy! James rolls over and he can lift his head and look forward on his belly.

James has also had a cold or something similar for the past few weeks. Poor baby! He acts fine but he's very congested and he sometimes refuses to eat. Yay. Just what we need. But he's eating enough and he hasn't had any fever, wheezing, contracting, or other bad symptoms so we're just sucking boogers, using a humidifier, and putting Baby Vicks on his feet (pediatrician recommended this so don't think we're crazy!). He seems better today though!

Here's a few James pictures:

So all in all we've had a great month. I can't believe my babies are 7 months old! I was looking through my phone the other day and came across pics from when they were just born. They were sooooo tiny! I know that they're still tiny but they seem huge to me! 

Also, now that Thanksgiving is over we can start celebrating Christmas. Yay! I can't wait to celebrate their first Christmas with them! Here's a few pictures of the boys in their First Christmas onesies and leg warmers!

Mason

Logan

James

Brian with all 3 boys

Ha! James and Brian are cracking me up in this one!

And because it's Christmas time, I made Snickerdoodles. And Brian and I ate them for dinner Saturday night. (We did eventually eat some soup too but waaaay later).

So Much To Be Thankful For

Yesterday we celebrated our first Thanksgiving as a family of 6! We've been through so much over the last year. And we have so much to be thankful for (for starters I'm thankful this is a blog. Otherwise that last sentence would make me cringe). Yesterday morning is a perfect example. We got up with the boys and fed them at 7, then I spent my morning playing in the living room with my 3 miracle babies. Then I woke Addison up to watch the parade and we watched it together (and the dog show of course). The boys even watched the parade! 

Mason watching the parade

Logan watching the parade

James watching the parade

Addison watching the parade with Mason

Ha! They were cracking me up! They don't watch tv so this was a rare treat. And they loved it!

Oh and Brian was in on the baby time too!

When Addison asked me what I was thankful for this morning, I said lemonheads. True story. I am very thankful for lemonheads. But I'm thankful for so much more. 

First, the obvious. I'm thankful for my amazing miracle babies. They've already proven that they are the strongest little boys I know!

I'm thankful for my wonderful husband who puts up with my unique kind of crazy and only picks on me a little for being crazy. And I'm super thankful that he does so much for me and our family!

I'm thankful for my beautiful, smart, sweet, and sassy daughter Addison! 

I'm thankful for my family who has supported me more than I could ever ask over the past year. 

I'm thankful for the amazing NICU nurses, neonatologists, respiratory therapists, lactation consultants, therapists of every kind, surgeons, and I'm sure so many more who kept our babies alive when they were so tiny and helped them grow. These people are angels on earth. Seriously. 

I'm thankful for my career as a lawyer and for Jack, who refers to me as his law partner, even though I'm kinda still a baby lawyer. 

I'm thankful for my awesome triplet mommy friends on Facebook. I've never met them but these ladies really helped me through some tough times and they provide great advice and support every step of the way! It is so wonderful to have my triplet mama Facebook groups. Otherwise I would be lost on this whole triplet journey!

I'm also thankful for the Mann Van, which I got back Wednesday! Yay! I never thought I'd say that! Ha! But the Mann Van is awesome and it kept us safe when we got in the wreck a few weeks ago.  

I'm thankful for sleep. This one needs no explanation. Sleep is glorious. You know it. 

And the counterpart to sleep - coffee. I'm so thankful for coffee. I love coffee!

Also candy. I love candy. A little too much. 

And 100 calorie popcorn.

And I'm so thankful for everyone who has prayed for us this year, everyone who has sent us meals, cards, gifts for the boys (sorry if you didn't get a thank you card! Babies came while I was in the middle of them but I am so appreciative!), and everyone who has visited (and everyone who has stayed away because you were sick). 

And I'm so thankful for Addison's sweet friends and their sweet parents. I don't know that we could have done all we've done without these girls and their mamas helping out! 

So there. I made a thankful list. I'm sure I left so many things off the list but it's a start! I've thought about doing the daily "I'm thankful for" thing on Facebook for the month of November but I'm sure I would be one of those people who run out of things to say by Nov. 10 and then just start repeating! Ha!

Oh one more thing I'm thankful for . . . It's Christmas Time!!! Yay! We had to wait until Thanksgiving was over, but now we can start celebrating my favorite time of the year!

And last but not least, a few pictures from yesterday. I didn't get the boys Thanksgiving outfits, but they did wear some pretty awesome vests! I planned on taking a group photo and it started out great. James and Logan were in a great mood. Then Mason happened. So no group photo. Here's some individuals though.

Sometimes my ideas don't work out. Thanks Mason! Ha! Oh well!