Naughty or Nice?

I vote NICE! At least most of the time. :) By the way this picture was going to be much cuter in my mind than how it actually turned out. Haha! They are wearing these outfits again today so I might try a redo. 

Merry Christmas from the Peerys! Here is our Christmas card.

Front

Back:

The boys are approaching the 4 month mark so I will have a good update for y'all!

Here are some random pictures till then...

Ryan on tummy time (sometimes he just sleeps instead of "working out")

Ryan with a nighttime touchdown

Stokes on tummy time (and possibly trying to eat the blanket)

William being held by his Dad

William breaking free from his swaddle (sorry about the low lighting)

Cute baby foot

All 3 being held by their Grandpa Stokes

Grateful

Holidays really make me think about all the good things in my life and help me to remember to count my blessings. One of the very many things I am grateful for this year is hand-me-downs! As you can probably imagine, having triplets is expensive and there are quite a few things that we need(ed) 3 or more of. We have been so fortunate that we have generous people in our lives and have been given lots of (new) gifts and tons of hand-me-downs. We have been given bouncy seats, swings, toys, strollers, pack n plays, and LOTS of clothes! That probably doesn't even cover all the baby gear we have received. We haven't actually had to buy the boys any clothes yet, since we got some clothes at our showers and people have sent clothes that their little boys can no longer wear. What a blessing! We have even been given clothes and such from people that we don't even know but are friends of friends! All this to say...THANK YOU! If you are reading this and you've donated some clothes or other gear, you may even see it appear in some pictures and you can lay claim! "Hey, I think they got that onesie from me!" or "Hmm, that boppy looks familiar !" :) Hopefully you appreciate the 2nd life your clothes/toys/gear are getting from these sweet babies. Please know that we appreciate it and will pay it forward when we outgrow stuff to pass these things along to friends of ours with babies and/or charities.

From the boys...

T

H

A

N

K

U

A few more pics from the changing table this morning...

William

Ryan

Stokes

Is it Friday yet?

We so look forward to the weekends when Dad is at home with us! 

Here is a picture from today.

The weather is really mild & we thought about going for a walk but the day has gotten away from me. Andddddd I feel like I say that every day!

My Aunt Mary Nell was here with us this week and she just left a few minutes ago. I am sad about her leaving and because I am on my own for the next while. I have a picture of her on my camera (I am writing from my phone right now) that I will post later! Taking care of the babies on my own feels a little overwhelming. Maybe it's just the thought of taking care of them myself is what scares me, not the actual taking care of them part! I have had so much help and I've become reliant on it! We have been spoiled with all the help and support and love from our friends and family. A dear friend, Beth, is coming over tomorrow and then it's the weekend and Thomas will be home. Then Christmas is right around the corner and Thomas is off work on Christmas Day and the 26th. So I will really actually have help most of the time for the next week! Whew! Wish me luck anyways! :)

Perfect gentlemen

Yesterday the boys were wearing these cute onesies that their Aunt Ashley sent them. They just looked so adorable that I had to take their picture! I am just curious...can you tell who is who? If you think you know, leave a comment saying what order you think they're in (go from left to right)! Enjoy...

The babies were not very excited about having their picture made ha!

I know I have mentioned that we have had lots of help from wonderful family members who are willing to take a few days or a week out of their lives to come stay with us and help with the babies. It is a true blessing! This week we have Thomas's Aunt Suzy here from Knoxville. She had been great and is so funny and helpful! I have so enjoyed having her around!

Yesterday morning I had a dentist appointment and I felt bad leaving Suzy with all 3 babies considering she just got here on Monday! Two of my mom's dear friends, Carole and Brenda, volunteered to come over to help Suzy and allow me to go to my appointment and run a few errands while I was out! YES!!!! How perfect! I was gone for a few hours and missed Carole as she had several meetings for work she needed to attend but I did get to spend some time with Brenda (or Brendi as we sometimes call  her). I promised her she could have a blog cameo! ;) 

Thanks for your help yesterday! Oh yes...and for the delicious chicken pot pie & the M&M cookies! :)

Ryan's EEG

We had the neurology appointment for Ryan on Monday and he got his EEG. I didn't know much about EEGs and wasn't sure what to expect but it was actually a relaxing experience.

It started out as kind of a stressful morning because I was told not to let him sleep/nap before the appt. That is hard to do when...a) I have 2 other babies that I have to change and feed so I can't just hold him and bounce him constantly, and b) I have never tried to keep a baby awake; usually I am focused on trying to get them to sleep, so it was a new experience for me. Anyway, Thomas worked from home that morning to help with the babies so I could focus on Ryan and get out the door in time to make it to the appt without being late. 

When we got there they put us in a room with a hospital bed and I was told that I could just sit or lay on the bed and hold him, feed him, whatever I needed to do. The nurse/EEG tech got this cap with holes in it and put it on Ryan's head. He did not like it. In his defense, he was hungry and tired and that contraption was probably scary! Then she put gel on his head where each of the holes was and stuck an electrode there. When she was done she wrapped his head in gauze to keep the cap in place since it was a little too big for his head. Then she dimmed the lights and left the room. I fed Ryan, then burped him and then we just sat there and I held him. With the silence and the dim lights and a sweet baby in my arms, I was at peace. I think Ryan and I both dozed off a little. 45 minutes later the door opened and the lights came back on and we were done! 

I got a call from the neurologist later that afternoon with the results. She said his brain showed some immaturity still but she did not see any seizure-like activity. Huge sigh of relief! I don't have the answers as to what the immaturity means and the long term effects it will have on him and that is just something that time will tell. We don't have to go back to the neurologist until April.

After our appointment was over yesterday, I randomly ran into a triplet mom friend of mine while I was still in the medical building. She just happened to be there for an appointment with one of her kids as well. Her name is Carly and she also had triplet boys. She and I met at the hospital because she works there as a labor & delivery nurse. She is so sweet and would come to visit me while I was on bed rest and provide advice and encouragement. I took that opportunity to pick her brain about her  pregnancy and her boys since they are about a year and a half older than mine. Carly is a great role model for me and other than a few emails, I hadn't seen or talked to her since leaving the hospital. It was great to see her and I got to meet her son Zachary. He was such a cutie! :)

Pictures of Ryan from the EEG

Removing the gauze covering

The cap with holes for electrodes

Sweet baby after the cap was off (gel is in hair & we had to wash his hair yesterday) (oh yeah, and my camera phone flash didn't go off for these so they're really dark)...

An important lesson in swaddling

Swaddling. It is a MUST. Swaddling the Peery triplets at night CANNOT be skipped. Let me tell you how we discovered this rule...

Yesterday was surprisingly warm here. We were changing the thermostat upstairs where the nursery is fairly often since the boys came home from the NICU to make sure we found the perfect temperature for the babies...not too hot but mostly not too cold! I have a husband that likes to keep the house a little chilly for "normal" people, like me! And by normal, I mean a woman who is always cold. Haha! Anyway I finally got Thomas on board with a set temp on the thermostat and decided that we shouldn't change it until winter was over. I think I heard that switching the thermostat too much will make your bill higher, soooo...we were set. Then the outside temp went up and our house got hot! Last night we were putting the babies to bed and they were wearing these soft, warm Kissy Kissy sleepers (thanks, Sheilah Baker!) and I thought we should skip the swaddlers so the babies wouldn't get too hot. We put them in their crib and Thomas & I went to bed. Shortly after falling asleep we hear babies crying. We spent the next several hours putting pacifiers in mouths, rocking babies, trying to sleep through the sounds of crying coming through the monitor, etc. It was a very sleepless night...for all of us. The babies seemed hungry and at one point I walked in and Ryan was sucking on William's shoulder (very comical!). I was getting concerned that we would have to go back to 3 hour feeds at night. Did I mention that we went to 4 hours at night a few weeks ago?!?! The babies did great & were sleeping right through so we would still have to wake them up for feeds. It eliminated 1 feeding and made it a lot easier on us at night and gave us a little more sleep. I did not want to go back to 3 hour feeds at night! I was also worrying that we didn't give them enough milk and all sorts of other concerns. It was a lack of sleep induced thought process, ie all over the board and not always making sense. At the 5 am feed, Thomas mentioned that maybe we should put the babies in the swaddles and see if they sleep better. DUH!!!! Maybe I should have thought about what was different last night vs previous nights. But that just made too much sense for this sleep deprived mama. The obvious and genius thought came to Thomas though, thank goodness! We wrapped those babies up in their swaddlers and they slept peacefully and quietly until we got them up at 9. Ahhhhh. Sleep....we missed you, even if we only see you for a few short hours at a time. Trust me, 2 hours is better than 0 hours! 

Lesson learned on the swaddle! We shall not go swaddle-less again anytime soon! ;)

Sweet peanuts all swaddled and ready for bed tonight...

We made it

We got through "week-o-appointments", but I'm not going to lie...it wasn't always pretty, folks. In fact, at times it was a downright struggle! Wednesday was especially rough trying to get to the pulmonologist across town (with work & school traffic) by 9 am and to have an eye appointment for Ryan later that afternoon. What a doozy. It's hard to describe why & how it's such an ordeal to get the babies out of the house and to, say, an appointment but trust me when I tell you it is! 

The appointment with the pulmonologist went fairly well considering 9 am is a feeding time so my Aunt Trish and I were trying to feed 3 hungry, crying babies in the room while nurses were coming in and out and checking things. The babies did really well with their synagis shot and although they cried, they settled right back down and did not seem extra fussy for the remainder of the day or the next day. Thank goodness! We did get updated weights and lengths on the boys!

Stokes: 8 lb, 2 oz; 19.5"

Ryan: 7 lb, 13 oz; 20"

William: 7 lb, 14 oz; 20"

We feel like they are doing great with putting on weight and getting bigger each day!

*disclaimer: they did all have dirty diapers when they were weighed, so actual weigh may be slightly less :) I realized once we were there that I only had 2 clean diapers in my diaper bag. Great. Not sure how that happened, considering I want to have at least 6 diapers on hand anytime we go anywhere, but whatever!

Ryan's eye appointment did not provide the news I wanted to hear...he still has 1 immature eye at risk for retina detachment due to ROP. We have to go back again in 2 weeks. I did, however, hear something new I hadn't heard before. They will really only continue these follow up appointments until he hits 50 weeks gestational age. At 50 weeks the risk of detachment is negligible so they stop checking. So as long as his eyes don't get worse in the next 8 weeks or so, we should be in the clear! I am still hoping his eye will actually mature in the meantime.

On Thursday afternoon we had the BabyNet appointment and it was really just an introduction to the program, a chance for me to ask questions about it and sign some paperwork. Next steps are that we will get assigned a special instructor (or instructors) that will evaluate the boys to help determine what types of follow up help they need, if any. This would include physical therapy, speech therapy, and occupational therapy to name a few. The great thing about all of this is that there is no charge to me (woooo hoooo!) and everyone will come to the house (another wooo hooo!)...see comment above about what an ordeal it is to leave the house with all the babies. BabyNet will help with the boys' needs until they are 3 years old. I am really appreciative for this service! Although I hope none of the babies needs any type of therapy or developmental help, I realize the chances of that are pretty low due to their gestational age and size at birth. Only time will tell and I am glad to have the support if this program if/when they do need some therapy or help.  

Friday was less hectic since we didn't have any appointments and my dear friend Beth Atkison came over to hang out and help with the boys all day since she didn't have to work. My Aunt Trish left on Thursday afternoon so I was glad to have the help and I really enjoy the adult interaction! Plus it helps that Beth is hilarious and keeps me laughing all day (and she's great with the boys, too!). Beth is going to come help on several Fridays this month so I will be looking forward to those days!

Side note...my Aunt Trish was incredibly helpful and sweet while she was here earlier this week. She must have been exhausted when she left because she really was working hard all week! The little guys loved her and she was so gentle and caring towards them. Thank you for all your help, Aunt Trish!

Remember how I said that we got professional pictures made the other week? Well our FABULOUS photographer, Jana Candler, got the pictures back to us and they are amazing! Our boys are so beautiful and the we are so pleased with how the pictures turned out! You can check out a sample of the pictures on Jana's blog:

www.janacandlerphoto.com/the-peery-boys/

Greenville peeps: we highly recommend Jana for weddings (she was our wedding photographer), baby pictures (go to her blog - linked above - and you'll see why), and any other possible occasion (engagement, graduation, anniversary, family portrait, etc)! Not only is Jana incredibly talented, she has a heart of gold and as soon as you meet her you will want to be her friend! After our wedding, several people in our wedding party hired Jana for their weddings because they fell in love with her! If you meet her, you will, too! ;)