Three Peerys in a Pod: August 2014

In honor of their first birthday, I decided to post a few pictures of the triplets from their first days of life while they were in the NICU. You can see what a complete transformation they've made in the course of one year. It truly has been a miraculous year for us. God surely has his hands on each of these incredible babies. Oh, how I love my boys!

I didn't get to visit the NICU on the night my sons were born. I got to visit them in my wheelchair the next day.

Then...

Stokes

Aug. 26, 2013

Sept. 3, 2013

Ryan

Aug. 26, 2013

Aug 27, 2013

Aug. 31, 2013

Sept. 2, 2013

William

Aug. 26, 2013

Sept. 4, 2013

Sept. 9, 2013

And now...

Stokes, Ryan and William - Aug. 20, 2014

Yep, you read that right. 12 months old...in other words, one year old. My BABIES are one. How does that even happen? Their birthday was Monday, August 25th. I was pretty busy that day, which was a good thing because it didn't give me a chance to get all emotional and sentimental about this big day. Of course, that is kind of happening now that I am writing this! In a lot of ways, this year really flew by, but when I think about the day I had the babies last year, it seems like just yesterday. It was such a traumatic and scary night and the next few weeks were pretty hard. It is truly amazing to see what incredible changes each of my boys has been through.

Updates on each of my ONE YEAR OLDS...

Stokes
Stokes is my wild man. He is full of gumption and is always on the move! He has such a big personality, except when he's around too many people and he will occasionally get overwhelmed. He is crawling all over the place now and getting in to everything. He loves going to the dog bowls and playing in their water. Yuck. He also like to pull himself up to stand and wants to start walking. I'm totally not ready for that! Stokes definitely has the strongest personality of the three. There's just something about him. He is charismatic. He is pretty ticklish on his sides and especially on his neck and he cracks me up when he starts really laughing. His laugh is almost a little hoarse. He has 6 teeth now and his 4 upper teeth are starting to get big. They're very noticeable...and cute! His independent streak plays into his eating habits and now he really likes to feed himself. He loves Gerber puffs and is typically willing to try other stuff that we put on his tray. I still have to cut up his food really small, which makes it hard for him to pick it up. He does not really care for green vegetables but likes carrots, sweet potatoes and squash and also likes most fruits. Stokes is mostly wearing a size 3 diaper and 9 month clothes.

Ryan
My Ryan's personality has really come back now that we're done with his ACTH injections! We are still doing steroids, but he is on Prednisolone and we're able to give it to him orally. I don't mind him being on the steroids, despite the puffy cheeks, because I'm just so glad that his sweet personality is back. He is so laid back and go with the flow. His ACTH-induced irritability is gone and he is happy just to look around and kick his legs. Kicking his legs and moving his arms around is another skill that has recently come back since the ACTH wean. I'm not kidding when I say that he's a different baby now. He is fully engaged and will just laugh and smile whenever I pay him attention. He absolutely loves getting kissed and it will bring a big old smile to his face. He is doing a good job with propped sitting now and even rolled over today with very little assistance. He has a long way to go still, but each little thing feels like a major victory. I heard this little saying from another triplet mom of boys that also has a baby with infantile spasms (seriously, what are the chances?!?!?!) and it is that we celebrate developmental "inch stones" instead of milestones. Ryan has 2 bottom teeth and is currently taking Zantac, Prilosec (both for reflux), Topamax (anti-seizure medicine) and Prednisolone (steroid). He doesn't reach and grab just yet so he's not feeding himself. He is usually a good eater and will let me feed him whatever baby food I'm serving. He wears a 3 or 4 diaper and 9 or 12 month clothes.

William
Sweet William, or Swilliam as we sometimes say, is the happiest baby I've ever seen. He just looks for an opportunity to smile and laugh all day long. This is quite a departure from the newborn William that cried at all times that he didn't have a paci in his mouth or wasn't asleep. His smile is infectious and puts me in such a good mood! Anyone that meets him or is around him is just drawn to him and loves how much he smiles and giggles. He is actually battling a little cold, or possibly teething, right now and has been crying a little today. I know that a baby crying a little is totally normal, but it's actually very rare for him. The little bit of fussiness he's shown today tells me that he's really not feeling too well. Despite not feeling 100%, I still managed to get him to belly laugh for a good while today. He has the funniest laugh and when he really gets going, it is just so funny that it will make you cry from laughing so hard! William is not crawling yet, but likes to get in a crawling position and rock back and forth. He will also plank sometimes, which is also pretty comical. He does manage to "crawl" backwards a little and will get his legs stuck underneath tables, dressers, the pack-n-play, etc. He sits up really well and is happy to just play with any toy I put in front of him. He seems to be a bit of a bookworm and listens and pays attention during their bedtime story each night. He loves to hold books and it actually looks like he's reading them. William has 2 teeth on the bottom but I think he may have more coming in soon. He's a good eater but hasn't really mastered the process of picking food up and feeding himself. He will pick up food from his tray but normally he just squishes it in his hand. He's still my biggest baby and is super cuddly and sweet. William wears a size 4 diaper and is mainly in 12 month clothes.

On their actual birthday, I didn't make such a big deal about it since we just celebrated on Saturday with their whale-themed birthday party. Also, Thomas had to go out of town, which put a little damper on the day. It would have been better if their Dada had been here! We did, however, sing Happy Birthday first thing that morning!

Fifi helping feed them breakfast

Ryan had a make-up physical therapy appointment.

He also had a Neurology appointment to get an EEG.

In the Neuro office waiting room just-a-smilin'!

Getting his EEG cap on

Ready for the EEG to start

We spend the afternoon just hanging out. Then after dinner I gave them a little bit of ice cream to try for the first time! They definitely needed something sweet to celebrate their big day!

They weren't too sure about it at first. I'm not sure if it was the texture or the fact that it was cold. Their faces say it all!

But they eventually decided they liked it.

They typically go to bed around 7:30 but I kept them up until the exact time they turned one. Stokes and Ryan were born at 8:04pm and William was at 8:05pm. They were really tired and Stokes fell asleep before 8:04 and then went right down in his crib following. Notice the clock in the background. :)