Monday, April 28, 2014

8 Months Old

Friday the 25th marked the babies' 8 month birthday. That makes them 5 months adjusted. We had an EEG for Ryan that morning and in the evening, MaSha, Ashley, and our nieces, Taylor and Anna, got here to spend the weekend with us. More on our awesome weekend in a future post. ;)

All the babies are growing well and gaining weight...especially William! We got updated weights this past week and here you go.

Stokes - 15.2 lbs
Ryan - 15 lbs
William - 18.4 lbs

L to R: Ryan, William, Stokes

Here's a snapshot of what is going on with each of the triplets.

Stokes
Stokes continues to be a smiley, giggly and happy baby. He can light up a room with his sweet, toothless grin. I say toothless now, but I think he may be approaching his teething phase. He has started putting everything in his mouth and loves to gnaw on whatever it is. I can't feel or see any teeth just yet. His laugh can be pretty shrill but he has also started on his belly laugh as well. It's awesome. His mood can change on a dime and he can go from crying one second to laughing and cracking up the next...and vice versa. As my sister in law Ashley said this weekend, "he's going to be the social chairman for his fraternity". He just seems to be a people person. He loves grabbing on to stuff and is so funny because he'll hold your shirt or your hair when you pick him up or are holding him. Stokes has starting sitting up for a few seconds on his own. Then he topples over to one side or face plants, but he's very close to being a real full-time sitter! He has found his feet and just loves to grab them and put them in his mouth. He almost always has a hold of his feet or ankles and it makes me laugh when I see him with his legs and feet straight up in the air. He has begun to babble a little and will blow raspberries with his mouth. Stokes sometimes sleeps really well for us but he will go through short phases lasting several days at a time when he wakes up a few times throughout the night. We still swaddle him at night but this little Houdini manages to get an arm or 2 out pretty much every time! Stokes is wearing 6 month clothes and size 2 diapers right now.



Ryan
Ryan has been going through a rough patch lately and I think it has a lot to do with reflux. Poor baby usually has at least 1 big spit up each day. His dad and I are following the advice from his pediatrician and trying to change things to help him out. Right now we're adding rice cereal to each bottle to thicken it up and we're using a faster flow nipple. We've also been skipping the Poly-Vi-Sol with iron that we put in the morning bottle each day to see if the iron is hurting his stomach. Sometimes he just gets so upset and I can't seem to soothe him and it makes me feel so bad to think that he is in pain. He's also not smiling and laughing hardly at all anymore, which makes sense if he doesn't feel well. Thomas and I both are anxious to get this issue resolved so that he'll feel better and act like his sweet, calm self. Ryan is starting PT (physical therapy) later this week and I think it will be a big help towards reaching some developmental milestones. We realized this weekend that he loves the great outdoors. When he was crying, we took him outside and he seemed to really calm down. I think now that it has warmed up we might be spending more time on the back deck during the evenings. He sleeps really well throughout the night and I usually even have to wake him up in the morning for his bottle. Ryan's hair is starting to come in a little more and is getting a little thicker. It's kind of a light brown shade...much lighter than either of his brothers. His beautiful eyes are still blue. He is really such a handsome little guy! Right now Ryan is wearing 6 month clothes and size 2 diapers.



William
William has turned into quite the talker. When he gets going, he will talk your ear off. He makes all sorts of "word" noises and blows raspberries. He loves to laugh and has started chuckling and he also has an adorable belly laugh that he'll do every so often. He really gets a kick out of it when I wipe off his hands with a washcloth and he will start cracking up. William smiles a lot and can be a bit of a flirt. He is probably not too far away from sitting up but isn't quite there yet. He loves his hands and spends a lot of time chewing or sucking on his fingers. If his hands aren't in his mouth, he'll put them together at midline right at his chest. He has so many rolls! He is definitely chubby and so much fun to hold and squeeze! We were able to take him off the high calorie formula. Since birth, all 3 babies were on high calorie formula (24 calorie instead of 20 or 22) to help them gain weight, which is really just a different ratio of formula to water than what is printed on the can, but William has gained enough that he gets to have regular calorie formula. He sleeps really well and rarely cries. You know the saying...a fat baby is a happy baby! I love holding him because he will just lay his head right on my shoulder and it feels like a perfect fit. William, our big boy, is wearing 9 month clothes and size 3 diapers.


Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Peery Family Spring Pictures

Here are the pictures that my fabulous friend Heather took for us on Easter. She did such a great job and I'm really pleased with how they turned out. Don't you think she's a talented photographer?!?! I think we got some framers!

Peery Party of 5! Spring 2014






William



Stokes



Ryan







 
 

Monday, April 21, 2014

Happy Easter

Easter weekend a fun-filled and busy weekend for our family.

Good Friday

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."
John 3:16-17
 
Can you imagine giving up your child to be tortured and killed for other people's sins? I certainly can't. My heart hurts to even begin to fathom what God endured as a parent on Good Friday.
 
Our Good Friday included an Easter egg hunt at the Bakers. I was debating on going because it was during nap time and I wasn't sure if that would spell a total disaster! That and because I was on my own and wasn't sure how I would get all the babies unloaded from the car easily. Regardless, I decided to go. How am I going to learn about outings if I don't do any? I got up early and had everything ready to go so that as soon as we were done with our 10:30 feeding, we could load up and go. I did have to snap a few pictures before we left because I rummaged around and found 3 cute outfits for them to wear. And by the way, it's been beautiful for the last few weeks and then we got a cold snap. Darn.
 
Stokes

Ryan 

William
 
The other ladies at the egg hunt were very helpful and willing to lend a hand. Several of my friends and their kids were there and I had such a great time seeing everyone! The boys were sweet and did great! I was very proud of them.
 
When we first got there, Sheilah had all the kids on the front porch and they were singing songs while the Moms were hiding the eggs in the backyard. How cute are all these kiddos?
 
 
Then we walked around back and the egg hunt began.


 
The triplets hung out in their car seats on the deck when they weren't being held. Maybe next year they will participate in the egg hunt!

Brooke holding William and her youngest son, Bennett
Then it was lunch time. All the kids were so cute and sweet!
 
Our hostess, Sheilah, holding all 3 babies.

My girlfriends! L to R: Mary Lanier, Kristy, Jami (holding her youngest, Sam), Brooke and me

Holy Saturday
 
We were invited to another Easter egg hunt on Saturday but I had to regretfully decline. It was also during nap time and I didn't want to forego nap time two days in a row. That and we already had a scheduled photo shoot in the afternoon. One activity in a day is tiring enough...I wasn't sure I could handle two! I'm hoping that next year we will be able to participate in more things. We'll see!

During nap time, Thomas and I tackled a task that has been on my list for quite a while. The garage was a mess. I wanted to get it organized. I suppose spring cleaning has gotten me this year. We spent some time on the garage but weren't able to finish before the babies started waking up.
 
In the afternoon I got the opportunity to visit with Brent and Catherine Atwood and their new baby, Hayes. He was so adorable! He is about 4 weeks old and it was crazy to see a newborn and think back to when the boys were his size. They seem so big to me now!
 
On to the photo shoot! Heather agreed to take some family pictures for us. While she's not a professional photographer, she definitely has an eye and talent for taking pictures. She actually took our engagement photos, oh, about SIX years ago! I can't believe it's been that long, but I'm starting to get off topic here. Anyway, Heather was so sweet to agree to take our pictures, however, the WEATHER (eye roll) did not cooperate so we decided to postpone until Sunday and hope for good weather.
 
On to dyeing Easter eggs! The boys are still too little to participate in this fun activity so Thomas and I pretended that we were kids and had a great time dyeing the Easter eggs after the boys went to sleep.




 
 
Easter Sunday

"He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.”
Luke 24: 6-7

Rejoice! Jesus Christ has risen indeed!

Interestingly enough, the weather seemed to correlate to the mood of Jesus's followers. On Friday and Saturday, the sad days of mourning, it was cold, rainy and miserable. Then on Easter Sunday, the day of celebration of our great Lord, the sun was shining bright and it was perfectly warm. It was a fantastic day!

We gave the boys their Easter baskets and they totally loved them! This is actually not true. They didn't really pay much attention to their Easter baskets this year, but just wait until next year! Their baskets came from their Aunt Ashley. How cute are they?!?! She sent them along with a bunch of goodies including swimsuits, rompers, socks and a personalized bunny plate for each baby. She spoiled them...and us!

Stokes
 

 
Ryan



William



All 3


I also had to take some pictures of each of them with this adorable [Easter] bunny sleeper. It even has a little bunny tail on the back. So cute!

Ryan



Stokes



William

 

During nap time, Thomas and I resumed our work on the garage cleanup project. I didn't take a "before" picture, but here are a few "afters". Trust me when I tell you that it's a big improvement! It feels great to complete a project that has a visible difference.




Thankfully, since the weather was so perfect, we were able to take our family pictures. Heather did an amazing job and her assistant, Walker, was helpful AND hilarious! I won't post any here but will do a separate post with some of the pictures!

Babies with their photographers, Heather and Walker.




That evening, Carole came by and brought us dinner. She had brunch at a great meat and three restaurant and was so sweet and thoughtful and got "to-go" meals for Thomas and me. Let me tell you, this was some GOOD food! Carole helped us with the evening feeding and helped us put the boys to bed. She is a wonderful friend to all five us of.


The weekend was busy but was so much fun. We got to see some great friends, have some good meals, spend time with the babies and most importantly celebrate Jesus's resurrection. Happy Easter to you!