Here's the goods
Cover:
Spread:
Close up of the cuties:
So if you're an IPTAY donor check out the Peery triplets' print debut!
Sunday, December 29, 2013
We're kind of a big deal, part 2
The boys are famous! They've officially made it into a magazine! For you Clemson fans, they're in IPTAY's Orange: The Experience magazine, the December 2013 issue.
Monkeys & whales & monsters, oh my!
I love when the boys have coordinating or similar outfits!
And since it's Sunday, aka NFL day, here's a shout out to the Buffalo Bills. We have some work friends from our office in Buffalo who sent these adorable onesies to the boys. Of course the babies like the Bills since CJ Spiller plays there! ;)
We are a house divided when it comes to the NFL. Obviously the babies like the Bills, Thomas pulls for the Redskins and I love America's team, the Dallas Cowboys! Here's a picture we took recently with our team shirts on.
I should also mention that I like the Panthers and the Falcons, too. Guess I am spread pretty thin on NFL allegiances haha!
We stand united when it comes to college football though! Clemson tigers!
We have the Orange Bowl game coming up. We will need the babies to be good luck charms to help Clemson get the W.
We started taking down the Christmas decorations yesterday and today we're going to tackle the main Christmas tree. I sure do wish we could just leave it up all year! ;)
My friend Amy and her mom came by today to meet the babies. Amy had a little boy named Cole around the same time my babies were born. Cole is huge and is already wearing 12 month clothes! I look forward to the days that these guys can play with Cole and his big sister Elly. Hopefully they'll catch up to him size-wise at some point! Amy wanted to hold all 3 babies and get a picture.
In talking to Amy I realized that we won't be able to hold all 3 of them like this forever. At some point they'll just be too big. I am excited about the boys getting bigger and stronger and learning more things but that thought made me a little sad!
Hope everyone has a good restful Sunday.
This is the day The Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Thursday, December 26, 2013
4 Months Old
Wow...the babies are FOUR months old, as of Christmas Day. They've been home with us for almost 2 months. Soon the NICU is going to feel like a distant memory. To be honest, it has already started happening.
Just the other day I did a drawer switch out and removed the newborn clothes and put in the 0-3 month clothes. These bigger clothes fit them great! They've also recently moved from newborn diapers to a size 1. They just keep growing!
Here is an update about each baby.
Stokes
Stokes is such a sweet baby. He was labeled as the troublemaker and fiestiest baby while in the NICU but seems to have really settled down. It is fairly rare for him to fuss or cry but when he does he is very easily soothed. His cry sounds kind of funny actually. He lets out these high pitched little squeals that sound like a pterodactyl. He also has a raspy sounding cry and sometimes even sounds like a cat. But like I said, he is easily soothed so he normally doesn't cry very long. I can just go and pick him up and shortly after he will just quiet right down. Nothing feels better to a mom than when you can soothe your upset baby. It's a little victory each and every time. It feels to me like he was just waiting for me to pick him up and snuggle him. Speaking of snuggling, this little guy is so squeezeable! He has gotten some rolls on his arms and legs. Sweet baby rolls are the best! He also has the most amazing cheeks. I can't help but to kiss them each time I pick him up. Actually...who am I kidding...I have to kiss those cheeks whenever I am even near him! One of my very favorite things about Stokes are his facial expressions. He uses his eyes and eyebrows a lot and makes the funniest faces. He keeps his dad and me laughing! Stokes came home from the NICU on a monitor that checks his heart rate and breathing. I will write a separate post about his monitor but for now the update is that he's not quite ready to ditch it yet. I took Stokes to the doctor on Christmas Eve after a call to the nurse to ask about a diaper rash that won't go away and a mention that I had heard him wheezing. When I heard the wheezing, I casually told Thomas that he may end up with asthma (common for preemies), but the more I thought about it, I got worried that my sweet Stokie may have RSV, which is a 4 letter word in our household. As soon as the nurse heard the word "wheezing", she recommended that Stokes and I get an appointment set. I have been paranoid about RSV and have read and heard about many preemies that have gotten it this season and had to go back to the hospital. It can be very serious. I actually have a friend with two kids (not preemies) who are both getting over RSV right now. The thought of my boys getting it really scares me. So we went in for an appointment to be on the safe side and he checked out just fine! No RSV, his breathing was good with no wheezing and we have got a new course of action for that stubborn diaper rash. Actually his doctor said he looked big and sounded great! He weighed 9 lbs, 9 oz. I am so proud!
Nicknames: Stokie, pterodactyl (or Terry for short), and the Emperor (there is a story behind that one and credit goes to Aunt Suzy)
Just the other day I did a drawer switch out and removed the newborn clothes and put in the 0-3 month clothes. These bigger clothes fit them great! They've also recently moved from newborn diapers to a size 1. They just keep growing!
Here is an update about each baby.
Stokes
Stokes is such a sweet baby. He was labeled as the troublemaker and fiestiest baby while in the NICU but seems to have really settled down. It is fairly rare for him to fuss or cry but when he does he is very easily soothed. His cry sounds kind of funny actually. He lets out these high pitched little squeals that sound like a pterodactyl. He also has a raspy sounding cry and sometimes even sounds like a cat. But like I said, he is easily soothed so he normally doesn't cry very long. I can just go and pick him up and shortly after he will just quiet right down. Nothing feels better to a mom than when you can soothe your upset baby. It's a little victory each and every time. It feels to me like he was just waiting for me to pick him up and snuggle him. Speaking of snuggling, this little guy is so squeezeable! He has gotten some rolls on his arms and legs. Sweet baby rolls are the best! He also has the most amazing cheeks. I can't help but to kiss them each time I pick him up. Actually...who am I kidding...I have to kiss those cheeks whenever I am even near him! One of my very favorite things about Stokes are his facial expressions. He uses his eyes and eyebrows a lot and makes the funniest faces. He keeps his dad and me laughing! Stokes came home from the NICU on a monitor that checks his heart rate and breathing. I will write a separate post about his monitor but for now the update is that he's not quite ready to ditch it yet. I took Stokes to the doctor on Christmas Eve after a call to the nurse to ask about a diaper rash that won't go away and a mention that I had heard him wheezing. When I heard the wheezing, I casually told Thomas that he may end up with asthma (common for preemies), but the more I thought about it, I got worried that my sweet Stokie may have RSV, which is a 4 letter word in our household. As soon as the nurse heard the word "wheezing", she recommended that Stokes and I get an appointment set. I have been paranoid about RSV and have read and heard about many preemies that have gotten it this season and had to go back to the hospital. It can be very serious. I actually have a friend with two kids (not preemies) who are both getting over RSV right now. The thought of my boys getting it really scares me. So we went in for an appointment to be on the safe side and he checked out just fine! No RSV, his breathing was good with no wheezing and we have got a new course of action for that stubborn diaper rash. Actually his doctor said he looked big and sounded great! He weighed 9 lbs, 9 oz. I am so proud!
Nicknames: Stokie, pterodactyl (or Terry for short), and the Emperor (there is a story behind that one and credit goes to Aunt Suzy)
Ryan
Ryan has the most laid back personality of the three. He is just so sweet and will calmly lay in his boppy and patiently look around when his brothers are upset or when he's waiting to eat because I am feeding someone else. When he does cry it is a funny howl-like sound. His eyes look so blue to me still and I think there is a decent chance that they will stay blue. Ryan loves to stare up at whomever is holding him. He will look up with these little blue eyes and looks like he wants to start a deep conversation. He looks very intelligent. He uses that time while being held to get an arm and neck workout. He will push his head away from you so he can look at you and make eye contact. I am glad he is "working out" because he does not care for tummy time. He has started to roll over from tummy to back so if he's not napping during tummy time, he just rolls right over! Ryan goes to sleep at night really easily and requires less rocking and patting than his brothers. He does take a pacifier every now and then and does such a good job keeping it in his mouth. He totally fits the "middle child", low maintenance stereotype. I still worry so much about his brain development since the neurologist noted some continued immaturity. I wish I knew what that really meant and what the outcome will be. I need to practice patience and just continue to pray. He just seems so smart to me that I can't figure how his brain is immature.
Nickname: Wyan (pronounced why-an) - our niece Anna doesn't pronounce R sounds yet and we love to hear her say Wyan so we started saying it and it kinda stuck! We also call him Ry Ry sometimes.
William
William is definitely our baby. He craves a lot of attention and wants to be held a lot. When he's not being held he's typically either sleeping or crying. That's a slight exaggeration (emphasis on the slight)! His cry can get pretty loud and we feel confident that he has a healthy set of lungs. William's cry is heart wrenching and he will even go so far as to throw in the lip quiver. No one can resist that! This smart cookie knows what he's doing and definitely gets held the most. He absolutely loves to snuggle and will burrow into your neck while you're holding him. One of William's best features is his eyes. They are absolutely beautiful. I think there is a hint of brown creeping in and they are so sincere and actually sparkle! The sparkle may just be leftover tears from his last cry. I kid! :) He has these long eyelashes that compliment his eyes just perfectly. And he has the cutest button nose. William is the biggest pacifier fan by far. He absolutely LOVES it! At times that he seems so upset and inconsolable, you can put that paci in his mouth and he's instantly silent. I need him to work on keeping the paci in his mouth though. He will suck on it so vigorously that it pops out. This translates to me putting it back in his mouth numerous times per day. William is our best eater and consistently finishes his bottle without us having to work with him much to do it. He's actually getting 10 ml more per bottle than his brothers and is probably not the smallest baby anymore. We will find out at their next pediatrician appointment in a few weeks. While on tummy time William can scoot himself partially off the blanket somehow and I have a feeling he might be the first baby to crawl. I love that he embraces the role of being the baby of the family and also when he hears me across the room and turns his eyes over to try to find me.
Nickname: Winky (not sure why because he doesn't actually wink!) and sweet pea
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
A Very Merry Christmas
It looks like Christmas 'round here!
Our mini Clemson themed tree
Our real Christmas tree
Me holding my boys last night (left to right: Stokes, Ryan and William)
Our sweet angels tucked in and waiting for Santa. They were so sweet and peaceful after we serenaded them with a candlit version of Silent Night.
The babies' first Christmas has been a great day! They slept really well last night and we let them determine when they wanted to eat instead of us setting alarms and waking them up. Disclaimer: when the first baby wakes up, they all eat even if 1 or 2 were still sleeping! So we fed them around 2:30 am and then again a little after 6 am. Not too bad!
After the 6 o'clock feeding Thomas and I didn't go back to bed. Instead we came downstairs and enjoyed breakfast casserole and coffee that was sweetened with homemade Irish creme (made by Thomas). Then we opened our stockings. Santa brought Thomas 2 large containers of peanut butter, some candy, several scratch off lottery tickets and 2 DVDs - The Polar Express & Elf. My stocking had a sweet card that Thomas wrote and gave to Santa to go in my stocking, candy, 2 tangerines (Van Pelt tradition to get an orange in your stocking & Santa remembered this year!), lottery tickets and a DVD - Elf! Wow, that silly Santa gave us both the movie Elf! Haha! Great minds... :) We won a whopping grand total of $4 from our lottery tickets. But hey, $4 is better than $0!
Thomas gave the dogs these huge bones for Christmas and they were so excited!
Soon after that it was 9 and time to feed the babies again. After the feeding Thomas and I took turns cleaning up a little, showering and getting the babies ready for the day, re: changing diapers, putting baby lotion on them and changing their outfits.
Fresh new look for Christmas day! These onesies say, "My 1st Christmas", so of course they had to wear them today!
An unhappy little elf (William)
Fresh new look for Christmas day! These onesies say, "My 1st Christmas", so of course they had to wear them today!
An unhappy little elf (William)
Then the boys got to "open" their stockings. They got an assortment of Aquafor, infant gas drops, gripe water, diaper rash creme and they each got a movie as well. Stokes got The Sword in the Stone, Ryan got The Incredibles, and William got Wreck It Ralph. Man, Santa sure did know exactly what the boys needed in their stocking this year.
During the 12 noon feeding we decided it was the perfect time to watch Christmas movies and watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Shrek the Halls. Did y'all know that Shrek and Fiona had triplet ogres?!?!?! I didn't, but now I know and I love it!! Glad we watched that one! ;)
Dinner preparations and table setting took place throughout the afternoon. We pulled out our fine china, folks! Never been used and it was about time! I didn't bother with the whole place setting, but please note I got the dinner plate AND the bread plate. Impressive.
The 3 o'clock feeding proved to be fairly amusing. A Christmas Story marathon was on TBS and provided the background entertainment during feeding time. During this feeding both Stokes and William had a major spit up. I was feeding Stokes at the time of this alleged incident and let me tell you, I had spit up on my jeans, shirt and scarf and poor little buddy had it all over himself too! Within a matter of 2 minutes after Stokes spit, William spit. Thomas was feeding him and it mainly got it on William's bib. However, a few minutes after that Thomas noticed a dark, wet spot on William's back. Yep, it was poop. And it got on Thomas's jeans. And his hand. He and I just looked at each other and laughed. What else can you do?!?! Needless to say, William no longer matches his brothers with the cute my 1st Christmas onesies. An outfit change was in order.
Between the 3 and the 6 o'clock feedings, Thomas and I exchanged gifts. We were both happy with what we got! Thomas got a Keurig and here's the story behind that. He started drinking coffee when I was in the hospital on bed rest, but started talking about drinking coffee as soon as we found out we were having triplets! He knew it was inevitable. With all the coffee talk comes Keurig talk. We had a plain old regular coffee maker for years and we really only brought it out when we had guests staying with us. We were seemingly the only adults that didn't drink coffee! Anyway, I put my foot down about us getting a Keurig before either of us actually drank coffee. Makes sense, right? It's not like a Keurig costs $20! Anyway, Thomas had started drinking coffee and was mentioning the Keurig every so often again but was placated as there is a Keurig at the office that he uses on week days. All this coffee talk and his new coffee obsession gave me a slam dunk idea for his present. The boys and the dogs were so sweet and they got him some K-cups. How thoughtful! I got some new boots and they're really cute! I may or may not have sent Thomas the link for the boots and he did a great job fulfilling the request. He also came up with the idea of me having a "Katie day" where I can get my hair cut and use a gift card I already have to get a massage while he keeps the babies. I think I'll wait for the full blown "Katie day" until I am no longer pumping so I can really enjoy my time at the spa. In the meantime, I will definitely take him up on the hair cut. My hair has not been cut since before I went on bed rest (July 22) and is way too long. In addition, the babies have started grabbing it. Ouch. They don't pull yet but my hair is constantly in their hand anytime I'm holding them and they don't want to let it go!
Pictures from our mini gift exhange
We decided to continue the Christmas movie mania by watching Elf. In case you didn't know, the best way to spread Christmas cheer is to sing loud for all to hear! Watching Elf took us through the 6 pm feeding.
Thomas holding Ryan
My sweet little elf, Stokes
During this time we were working on dinner. Putting stuff in the oven, setting timers, pulling stuff out of the fridge, etc. MaSha (Thomas's mom) arrived from Virginia around 6:30 and immediately jumped in to help us with dinner and holding babies. We were juggling a few tasks right when she arrived!
In an effort to keep the movie theme going, once Elf ended Thomas put in the National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation DVD. This was during the time that we were preparing dinner and then eating so it was more like background entertainment instead of us sitting down in front of the tv and watching it. Plus we've only seen it 10,000 times. :)
We ate around 7:30 and our menu consisted of baked glazed ham, hash brown casserole, pineapple casserole (from our dear friend Carole), brussel sprouts, rolls and some spiced apples that MaSha brought. Everything turned out very delicious! I feel like it was a success for our very first Christmas dinner at our house.
The spread:
Dessert consisted of some chocolate pie that MaSha brought and some Brick Street sweet potato cake that Carole gave us for Christmas. I had a small(ish) slice of each! If you live in or travel to Greenville and have never tried sweet potato cake from Brick Street, you are missing out. NOT. KIDDING. Try it. You won't regret it. But your thighs might.
Both desserts were delectable!
Around dessert time, the babies were starting to fuss. They were beginning to think about their 9 pm feeding and were feeling a little hungry. So we had to each get a baby and hold him while we enjoyed our dessert.
After dessert and cleaning up our plates, we fed the babies their 9 pm bottle and started watching our final Christmas movie of the day, It's a Wonderful Life. We only got to watch a little bit of it, but it's such a classic that Christmas Day isn't totally complete until you see some of it! I think our movie marathon touched on several of the most important Christmas movies. I wasn't disappointed!
We put the babies to bed and decided to open just a few gifts. MaSha brought presents from our family in Virginia and we each opened a few of them. We never got around to opening any of the presents for the babies, so we'll save that for tomorrow. It was a go-go-go day and we were all pooped!
All in all, our Christmas was very merry! I still have a hard time comprehending that we went from a family of 2 last Christmas to a family of 5 this Christmas. We are so blessed to have our boys home with us for this holiday and that they are healthy and growing and doing well. We are constantly thanking God for that miracle.
From our family to yours, MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Isaiah 9:6
"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."
John 3:16
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."
Romans 15:13
"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope."
P.S. The boys turned FOUR months old today! Since today's post was 100% dedicated to Christmas, I'll do a separate post with some specific updates about each of our sweet babies.
The 3 o'clock feeding proved to be fairly amusing. A Christmas Story marathon was on TBS and provided the background entertainment during feeding time. During this feeding both Stokes and William had a major spit up. I was feeding Stokes at the time of this alleged incident and let me tell you, I had spit up on my jeans, shirt and scarf and poor little buddy had it all over himself too! Within a matter of 2 minutes after Stokes spit, William spit. Thomas was feeding him and it mainly got it on William's bib. However, a few minutes after that Thomas noticed a dark, wet spot on William's back. Yep, it was poop. And it got on Thomas's jeans. And his hand. He and I just looked at each other and laughed. What else can you do?!?! Needless to say, William no longer matches his brothers with the cute my 1st Christmas onesies. An outfit change was in order.
Between the 3 and the 6 o'clock feedings, Thomas and I exchanged gifts. We were both happy with what we got! Thomas got a Keurig and here's the story behind that. He started drinking coffee when I was in the hospital on bed rest, but started talking about drinking coffee as soon as we found out we were having triplets! He knew it was inevitable. With all the coffee talk comes Keurig talk. We had a plain old regular coffee maker for years and we really only brought it out when we had guests staying with us. We were seemingly the only adults that didn't drink coffee! Anyway, I put my foot down about us getting a Keurig before either of us actually drank coffee. Makes sense, right? It's not like a Keurig costs $20! Anyway, Thomas had started drinking coffee and was mentioning the Keurig every so often again but was placated as there is a Keurig at the office that he uses on week days. All this coffee talk and his new coffee obsession gave me a slam dunk idea for his present. The boys and the dogs were so sweet and they got him some K-cups. How thoughtful! I got some new boots and they're really cute! I may or may not have sent Thomas the link for the boots and he did a great job fulfilling the request. He also came up with the idea of me having a "Katie day" where I can get my hair cut and use a gift card I already have to get a massage while he keeps the babies. I think I'll wait for the full blown "Katie day" until I am no longer pumping so I can really enjoy my time at the spa. In the meantime, I will definitely take him up on the hair cut. My hair has not been cut since before I went on bed rest (July 22) and is way too long. In addition, the babies have started grabbing it. Ouch. They don't pull yet but my hair is constantly in their hand anytime I'm holding them and they don't want to let it go!
Pictures from our mini gift exhange
Pretty wrapping, huh?!? I know he didn't wrap this, so it had to be either Pressly or Wendy!
We decided to continue the Christmas movie mania by watching Elf. In case you didn't know, the best way to spread Christmas cheer is to sing loud for all to hear! Watching Elf took us through the 6 pm feeding.
Thomas holding Ryan
My sweet little elf, Stokes
During this time we were working on dinner. Putting stuff in the oven, setting timers, pulling stuff out of the fridge, etc. MaSha (Thomas's mom) arrived from Virginia around 6:30 and immediately jumped in to help us with dinner and holding babies. We were juggling a few tasks right when she arrived!
In an effort to keep the movie theme going, once Elf ended Thomas put in the National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation DVD. This was during the time that we were preparing dinner and then eating so it was more like background entertainment instead of us sitting down in front of the tv and watching it. Plus we've only seen it 10,000 times. :)
We ate around 7:30 and our menu consisted of baked glazed ham, hash brown casserole, pineapple casserole (from our dear friend Carole), brussel sprouts, rolls and some spiced apples that MaSha brought. Everything turned out very delicious! I feel like it was a success for our very first Christmas dinner at our house.
The spread:
My plate:
Both desserts were delectable!
Around dessert time, the babies were starting to fuss. They were beginning to think about their 9 pm feeding and were feeling a little hungry. So we had to each get a baby and hold him while we enjoyed our dessert.
After dessert and cleaning up our plates, we fed the babies their 9 pm bottle and started watching our final Christmas movie of the day, It's a Wonderful Life. We only got to watch a little bit of it, but it's such a classic that Christmas Day isn't totally complete until you see some of it! I think our movie marathon touched on several of the most important Christmas movies. I wasn't disappointed!
We put the babies to bed and decided to open just a few gifts. MaSha brought presents from our family in Virginia and we each opened a few of them. We never got around to opening any of the presents for the babies, so we'll save that for tomorrow. It was a go-go-go day and we were all pooped!
All in all, our Christmas was very merry! I still have a hard time comprehending that we went from a family of 2 last Christmas to a family of 5 this Christmas. We are so blessed to have our boys home with us for this holiday and that they are healthy and growing and doing well. We are constantly thanking God for that miracle.
From our family to yours, MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Isaiah 9:6
"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."
John 3:16
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."
Romans 15:13
"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope."
P.S. The boys turned FOUR months old today! Since today's post was 100% dedicated to Christmas, I'll do a separate post with some specific updates about each of our sweet babies.
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
'Twas the night before Christmas
'Twas the night before Christmas
Eggnog toddy tonight... :)
And all through the house
Not a creature was stirring
Not even a mouse...or triplet babies!
We had a lovely Christmas Eve at the Peery house. We were a little bummed to miss one of our favorite church services, the candlelight Christmas Eve service, this year, so we improvised. After the boys were fed, Thomas read scripture of the Christmas story and the two of us lit candles and sang Silent Night. The boys were all swaddled up in their crib. It was such a cool and special moment. This was all Thomas's idea. Do I have the sweetest husband or what?!?!
The song Silent Night worked! The boys didn't make a peep and haven't since! It really is a silent night around here. We kissed them each goodnight and told them that Santa might come tonight if they're good!
Merry Christmas Eve! We are looking forward to tomorrow!
