8 Month Update (A Few Days (or weeks) Late)

The boys turned 8 months old on December 29. Yep, 12 days ago. I actually did take their pictures on the right day this time! I've had good intentions of posting their 8 months update (and several other posts) since then. I didn't get to it. I just took my Christmas decorations down today. Over 2 weeks AFTER Christmas. That means that my Christmas decorations were probably up longer after Christmas than before. Oh well. We just got to enjoy them longer! Right? Right!

8 month weights and heights:
Mason: 14 lbs. 2 oz., 24.21 inches
Logan: 12 lbs. 6 oz., 24.02 inches
James: 13 lbs. 10 oz., 24.21 inches

They're all growing well but they're still tiny! Mason is 8th percentile, James is 4th percentile, and Logan is 0.5 percentile for adjusted age (5 months). They're just starting to fit into 3-6 month clothes and size 2 diapers. We started baby cereal after they turned 8 months/5 adjusted to get ready for baby fruits and veggies next month! They hate cereal so far but we're still practicing!

So month 8 was an interested one! We had our first Christmas, our first hospital stays (that's right two of them), and the boys really started doing stuff! Yay (except for the hospital stays part). But the most exciting thing - Logan got to stop using oxygen! Yay Logan! Look how handsome he is!

I know he looks sad! He had just gotten his flu shot! And Logan looks sad pretty often. He has a really sweet smile but he doesn't like to share it with others. Silly boy.

All 3 boys have started playing with toys this month! It's so cute! James is really good at grabbing toys. He'll reach for a toy, play with it, then lose interest and drop it. Mason and Logan will play with toys but they don't purposefully reach for toys as much. 

Here's a picture of a triplet meeting. Logan is clearly in charge.

Here's what everyone is up to this month:

Mason

Mason is my sweet, cuddly, laid-back little man. He's been talking a lot. He also smiles all the time. So sweet! He's our calmest baby . . . except when he's not! Then he's Angry Mason! Luckily Angry Mason doesn't come to play very often! 

Mason has figured out how to roll over to his belly but he doesn't do it very often. He's pretty content laying on his back just looking around. You can't really see it in these pictures, but Mason's hair has started sticking straight up. It's hilarious! He doesn't have much hair but the hair on top is a little long and doesn't like to lay down.

Logan

Logan is our serious but crazy man. Logan is a huge talker! He's always kicking his feet, batting his arms at something, and just always moving in general. And he's very opinionated. If he doesn't like what he's doing or what you're doing he'll let you know! Ha! So funny! He also sucks his thumb now all the time. It's the cutest thing ever (I know it's a bad habit but I'll deal with that later if I have to!). Logan has started rolling over to his belly, but he doesn't like his belly and he can't quite figure out how to get back to his back so he rolls over then screams for us to save him.

Like I said above, we got the ok to stop oxygen finally! The plan was to take it off during the day for a few weeks then take it off at night. Well, we all got colds the week after we stopped oxygen so I actually let him keep the oxygen an extra week. Since then he's done great during the day! He loves not having the cannula on his face! We love it too! We are still using it at night because he wasn't quite ready to stop at night. But I've turned him down to 1/8 liter and he's doing well. I think he's almost ready to stop the oxygen at night though too! Yay Logan! He absolutely HATES the cannula. He pulls it out almost as fast as we can put it back in his nose. He does it in his sleep too which is NOT fun when we're trying to sleep! Hopefully not too much longer!

This is what Logan thought of my photo shoot

Trying to hold his own bottle

James

James is Mr. Personality! He loves to smile. And he has a huge smile too! And he FINALLY started talking! He was only making throaty noises for the longest time. I think he did it to clear his throat once and we copied him so he thought it was funny! Ha! He's also very ticklish all over! And he loves being thrown up in the air. (We don't really throw him before you freak out!)

James is the most coordinated of the babies right now. He'll look for a toy, reach for it, and grab on to it. He's pretty content to play by himself most of the time too. And he's learned to roll over to his belly. He was doing it all the time for a while but he doesn't do it as much since his surgery. But I love looking over and seeing him looking around like this:

Unfortunately he rolls over when I don't want him to also! Like when he's supposed to be eating:

He thought this was hilarious! Ha! He also rolls over when he sleeps sometimes. Not often luckily because it makes me super nervous! I took a picture the first time because I didn't know if it was ok! I worked really hard for this picture too because he's facing the wall!

James also loves blankets. Any blanket really! I personally love the Aden and Anais swaddle blankets (not for swaddling though) so he uses those all the time. He puts them in his mouth, over his face, etc. He usually has one in his hands if it's close by!

Here's a few more pictures of James. I have the most pictures of him this month for some reason. Maybe it's because he was doing crazy stuff all month!

Grocery shopping with dad

I don't even know what to say. He did this during naptime

Now for our not so fun 8th month stuff. It all happened in 1 week. First, on Monday, James had a little procedure that was supposed to be an outpatient procedure. Well it wasn't. James had a hard time coming off anesthesia so he needed some supplemental oxygen for a while. And he got to spend the night because of it.

He bounced back quickly though! The same day James was in the hospital, I had to pick Logan up from school early because he had ringworm. Seriously. Ringworm. So I got to take him to the after hours clinic. We got some anti-fungal meds and he's good to go!

Round 2 - Mason's hospital stay. The next night, Mason was having a super hard time breathing so I took him to the ER. He was wheezing, retracting (looks like breathing with his belly and you can see him pulling in under his ribs), and coughing. He tested negative for the flu and RSV. They said he had bronchiolitis, which is an umbrella term that includes many of the major respiratory viruses. Unlike most people, babies included, Mason doesn't do well when he gets a virus. Most people get cold symptoms. Mason ends up in the hospital. This is why we wash hands religiously. This is why we don't let just anyone hold or even touch the babies. Preemies don't handle viruses well. Preemies who have been intubated do even worse. 

We spent 2 nights at ACH. We almost busted out after 1 night but it wasn't meant to be! They had actually discharged Mason but he started wheezing and retracting and overall just struggling again so I had a doctor come by and she agreed that he needed to stay. He was pretty excited when the time came to leave though!

We're back in the hospital now with the same thing. He literally just started feeling like himself last weekend. Then he got another virus and we're back. This time it's a little worse. He's needed some oxygen this time. We're on night 2 and hoping to go home tomorrow!

I'll end on a happy note. Here's a few more pictures!

Visiting Dr. Peeples in the Newborn Clinic

This about sums up our 8 month photo shoot!

Happy New Year 2015!

Mason

Logan

James

Before I get to 2015, I want to say a few things about 2014. If you've been following my blog you probably know that 2014 was probably the hardest, craziest, and also one of the best years of my life. My little family of 3 doubled in size!! And my first baby turned double digits! I spent almost 5 months pregnant, almost 5 months in the NICU, and the last few months finally trying to find the new "normal" for my life and my family (we're still trying but we're getting close!). This time last year we thought we were having 1 baby. WRONG! I learned so much about myself, my family, my friends, life in general. So here's a little of what I learned:

• Life is crazy and unexpected! Never take anything for granted! 
• I am stronger than I ever imagined (and so is Brian). I can do amazing things. I had triplets (again Brian helped)! Who does that?! Well, me and my triplet mom friends that's who!
• I have an amazing husband. (We'll see if he reads this because he thinks I never say nice things about him. Ha!)
• I have an amazing and supportive family (I already knew this but they showed me even more this year than ever before!)
• I have a great job. (Already knew this too but Jack just proved it again this year!). I love that I get to go to work and do something I enjoy with people I respect. And that I get respect back in return. As much as I love staying home with the babies, I could NEVER do that every day! (Props to the moms who do it!) But I also don't feel pressure to work to the detriment of my kids either. Again, I have the best job ever!
• I "met" some of my best friends this year and I haven't really even met them in real life! I have some wonderful, funny, super supportive friends whom I've only met on Facebook! You may think it's crazy, but my triplet mom friends are the BEST EVER! I can't wait to meet some of you this summer! Yay!
• People who work in the NICU are angels on Earth. They do God's work. And I owe them more than I can ever repay! 
• Preemies are the strongest babies. They have something extra! They are truly little fighters! And I have 3! They're going to do great things I know it! They may kill me in the process but I'm ready for the challenge!

Ok so now on to 2015! We end/start every year at our house with the NYE Mann Olympics. This year was the 4th Annual NYE Mann Olympics. What's that you ask? Well Brian came up with the Mann Olympics a few years ago and it's probably my favorite tradition that we have! Every NYE we stay home and play games all night with Addison (and we drink grown up drinks too). Some normal games (like cards and board games) and some silly games (like guess what's in the box without looking). Some games from this year include: write your name with your toes, frog game, popcorn toss, paper towel/TP tower, cotton ball/shaving cream nose game, Jenga, war, and more! Oh, and we keep score too. And we have prizes.

Here's a few pictures from the 4th Annual Mann Olympics:

Paper towel/TP tower game - Brian won!

Blowing cards off the bottle - winner has fewest (not 0) left

Cotton ball nose

Key game

Here's the final scoreboard. I won of course. I'm a 3 time Olympic champion! Like my prize?! Brian made it! 2nd place got money though!

Brian and I also got dressed up and went out to a very nice dinner with friends before the Olympics! I got to buy a new dress too! Yay!

Here's a few pictures from dinner:

I wanted to take the boys' New Years pictures last night but they weren't having it! They hated the hats! Here's the best I got last night!

Me and Mason

Brian and Logan

Shannon and James

Brian found the hats BTW! I love them! Here's a few more New Years pictures from our photo shoot today! No group picture this time because, again, they hated the hats!

Mason

Logan

James

Oh, I guess I should tell you my New Years resolutions! I told Brian my resolution was "to not be fat on the inside" this year! Ha! I sometimes say that I'm "fat on the inside" because I eat like a fat person. Luckily I don't LOOK like a fat person. But I feel that way. Before I got pregnant I was in the best shape of my life. Most of my clothes fit again now, but not all of them. And they don't fit WELL. So, here's my New Years resolutions (the serious ones that make sense to normal people):

• Eat healthier.
• Drink more water (64 oz. a day).
• Exercise at least 3 times per week.
• Run at least 2 times per week.
• Spend 1 day per month with just me and Addison.
• Cook dinner at least 1 time per week. I used to cook dinner most nights but since I got pregnant Brian has taken over dinner responsibility. I really want to cook dinner 3 times per week but I need to ease into it! And find new recipes that take less time to prepare!

I think that's enough! Brian's resolution is to create a budget and stick to it. So I guess that one applies to me too! (I HATE budgets! But I know they're a good thing so I'll give it a shot!)

Thanks so much to everyone who has supported us over the past year! We couldn't have done it alone! All the prayers, dinners, carpools, kind words, etc. mean so much! I know I've said it over and over again but I really mean it!

Here's to a great 2015! And hopefully less surprises!