Three More Manns: 16 Months Old (Plus the 15 Month Update Too)

I'll go ahead and warn you - this will be a long post! I completely missed the 15 month update so I'm catching up for 2 months! I don't even know where to start! But because it's September, I'll start with a picture of the boys in their Grace shirts. We wear gold for Grace. Grace is one of our 2014 triplet friends who was diagnosed with leukemia a few months ago. She's pretty awesome and we think about her often!

Here's a picture of sweet Grace! I feel like she's always smiling! Please keep Grace and all the other cancer kids in your prayers!

Ok so in the past few months, here's what we've been up to: we turned 1 year adjusted (our due date bday was July 23); we had appointments for swallow studies, eye exams, newborn clinic, cardiology, and our 15 month checkup; we got new carseats; we grew teeth; started drinking out of big boy cups; switched to whole milk (all 3 of us!); we're working on baby sign language; and lots of other fun stuff! First, here's what everyone is up to these days! Weights are from the 15 month newborn clinic appointment.

Mason

20 lbs. 15 oz. (22% actual, 41% adjusted) 28.3 inches (4.3% actual, 0.2% adjusted)

Mason is the sweetest, happiest baby ever! (I think I've said that before!) He's also a mess! In the last month he's learned how to sit up, pull up, stand, and cruise! He still army crawls mostly but he CAN crawl the right way. And he'll totally do it . . . until he sees someone watching him! Ha!

Mason has 10 teeth! 10! Crazy right?! And apparently he bites? He hasn't ever bitten me but I've heard rumors that he knows what to do with his teeth!

Mason is really trying to talk these days! I obviously can't understand him but he's trying. When he doesn't have his paci in his mouth, or some other paci he found lying around the house. They're all Mason's! Ha! He waves, claps, and says mama, dada, ball, and book. His favorite toys are books.

Oh, and at school Mason is the bad one apparently. But I don't see it. Ok I totally see it but in my mind he's the good one for some reason. He's a sneaky one! Mason will stay super quiet so no one pays attention to him then he's getting into something in the other room by the time we realize it! And he doesn't listen AT ALL. Mason does what Mason wants to do. Exclusively.

Ok here's some Mason pics!

Logan

18 lbs. 1 oz (1.9% actual, 6.5% adjusted) 27 inches (0.1% adjusted, nowhere near the chart for actual age!) Logan is growing! Yay Logan!

Logan is funny, sweet, and very VERY opinionated! And very loud! He talks just to hear himself talk. I have no idea where he got that from! He says mama, dada, bye bye, and waves, claps, and shakes his head. He's also still making mean faces at people. Ha! I love it though! They say Logan is the good one at school but I'm not so sure. Maybe he's good at school. At home he's a mess and he's kinda mean. He steals pacis for fun, even though he doesn't even use pacis! Ha!

Logan is standing and cruising along walls, furniture, everything. He'll let go for a couple seconds too but he sits down as soon as he realizes it. He loves to walk behind the push walker though! And by walk I mean run basically.

Logan FINALLY grew a tooth. Yay Logan! He just has the 1 still. But it's a start! He's the best eater out of all 3. He's the only one who will eat veggies. He's also the worst about drinking from a cup. He knows how to do it, he just chooses not to do it.

Here's a few more pictures of Logan. I actually took Logan to Addison's Rosary Rally for her volleyball team by himself last week and we had a great time! Logan was super good when I had him one on one!

Brian loved this one!

Every night. Ha!

James

20 lbs. 2 oz. (13% actual, 29% adjusted) 27.3 inches (0.3% adjusted, nowhere near the chart for actual!) My kids are short in case you haven't figured this out yet!

James is the most advanced physically but he's BY FAR the neediest! I thought it would be sweet to have a mama's boy, and it is, but it's exhausting! James LOVES his mommy! (and his daddy too). He doesn't like many other people though. I feel bad but James is very picky about his friends. He's the sweetest out of all 3 boys though. He gives hugs and kisses (open mouth, eat your face kisses). And James also grew a tooth. 1 tooth for James too!

James stands up, cruises, crawls SUPER fast, and runs behind the push walker. He will let go and free stand (that's what we call not holding on) for a few seconds. He talks quite a bit too. He says mama, dada, ball, book, bottle (sounds like ball), cracker (I have a witness), and he waves, claps, and brushes his hair. He also high fives and fist bumps. Ha! I'm serious. And James signs more and all done. Oh and James's favorite word is "uh oh." He says it correctly, like when he drops his food or cup off the table and when he throws his paci out of his crib. He also says "uh oh" when he wants to sing Old McDonald or when he just wants attention (all the time).

Here's some pictures of James!

He thinks he's king of the babies in this chair!

Ok now for the appointments! I'll try to keep this brief!

Eye Dr.

All 3 boys went to the eye doctor for ROP follow ups. ROP is retinopathy of prematurity, which is common in preemies. All 3 boys had zone 3 grade 1 ROP, which is very mild. They all "graduated" last August, right after Logan came home. We had followups to make sure everything is still going well. All 3 boys' eyes were structurally and developmentally normal. Yay! They can also tell their "prescription" at this age too, which I had no idea they could do!

Here's how they did (they should be farsighted at this age btw):

Mason: a little nearsighted. This means he'll definitely need glasses, but likely not until school age

Logan: farsighted and just where he should be. Hopefully he won't need glasses

James: nearsighted but not as much as he should be. He also has an astigmatism in one eye. He'll also likely need glasses but not until school age.

Mason and James will go back in 6 months for followups. Their vision issues are normal. I have horrible eyesight plus preemies are more likely to have bad eyesight in general so this isn't uncommon.

Swallow Studies:

Logan and James had follow up swallow studies to see if we can go down on their thickener. They didn't do very well :( They actually both did almost exactly the same as their first swallow studies almost a year ago. They're both going to ENT for followups just to make sure nothing else is going on. We go next week. But it's just a precaution. We're not anticipating anything major.

Addison and I took Logan and James to this appointment because Brian wasn't feeling well. The boys did great! But Logan was not impressed. Ha! The radiologist even commented about Logan's bitchy resting face!

And of course James and I took a selfie!

And pictures right before the actual test.

Newborn Clinic

I took the boys to newborn clinic BY MYSELF! And we all 4 did great! I felt like a rockstar. Seriously. Huge accomplishment!

We saw Dr. Kim this time. Everyone did great! A couple therapists came in and did developmental evals. They boys are catching up! Yay! They're still behind but that's expected. They get therapy at school so we know they're getting what they need already! The biggest news from newborn clinic was that WE SWITCHED TO WHOLE MILK! All 3! Yay! That means no more formula and no more mixing 3 different recipes every single night. And we stopped using the pulse ox for Logan every night. We still have it in case we need it but we haven't taken it out of the closet in the last month. It's been amazing! We will have one more newborn clinic appointment at the end of October. I know they aren't newborns anymore but I'm glad we can still go because (1) we love our neos and (2) they are following our thickening issues. So we'll be back!

15 Month Appointment

The 15 month appointment picture is at the top. And nothing exciting to report. They got shots. They got a good report. And we will go back at 18 months for 1 more shot and then no more shots until they're 4! (except flu shots).

Cardiologist

James had a cardiologist appointment. He had 2 small holes in his heart (they all had small holes in their hearts actually). James had a PFO and a VSD. They are/were tiny on the last echo so the cardiologist discharged him and said he's all clear. Yay James! And of course pictures.

Other happenings this month:

We went to Sam's again.

Logan slept for part of the trip

The boys have been fake sick a few times. Fake sick is when they get sent home for diarrhea. That doesn't count in my opinion. #fakesick. Exhibit 1:

I tried to take them to work with me but it just doesn't work out anymore.

James - we left after he turned my computer off for the 3rd time.

Logan - almost, but not quite as bad as James

Oh and we got new carseats this month! Because we're big boys now! I had the carseat people at Arkansas Children's Hospital install them to make sure they were put in correctly. And luckily I know how to do it now because I've already had to take them out to wash the covers! (Ugh). They seem to like them! We use our wagon every single day to take them in and out of school!