Check Ups (oh crap! #19&20)

18 month well child check up



not the most interesting video, just the boys running around at the doc's office being silly

The boys got a clean bill of health as usual; however, they were weighed two weeks ago and they seem to have lost weight? I'm not sure what to think since their appetites have been normal. But they were weighed on two different scales at two different places and in one they were weighed with a dry diaper and the other naked. Anyways, make what you will of it, but I'm not worried. At both places they show lovely normal growth curves and that's what really counts. For height and weight the boys are barely hanging on in the 1-5th percentile for their age. If they were in the 50th percentile they'd be more like 12mo olds, so these guys even for their not to be mentioned again 'adjusted age' are truly tinie tiny petite! BMI's are perfect though, not too chubby and not too skinny. Interestingly enough their heads are all in the 60-50th percentiles for their age!!! I've never paid much attention to head circumference but this time I actually bothered to look, so I guess you can't say they have small brains : ) These guys have big heads! Just the other day I met a 19month old who's height/weight was in the 80th percentile but his head was only in the 30th percentile, this just goes to show how kids (and adults) come in all different shapes and sizes : )

Weights

Caleb two weeks ago with dry diaper 20lbs 12oz,       now 20lbs 12oz 
Eli two weeks ago with dry diaper 20lbs 3oz,             now 19lbs 13oz 
Thomas two weeks ago with dry diaper 20lbs 7oz,     now 20lbs 0.5oz

Heights

C 30in
E 29.75in
T 30in

Head Circumference

18.9in for all, scary how identical they are sometimes!

Can you believe these guys are 5 times bigger then when they were born! How many full term babies can say that by 18 months? Never underestimate a preemie, they are strong little dudes! Sometimes I feel like the boys are growing at a snails pace but considering they were all born at just over 4lbs and 17inches long they really have come a long way. Which reminds me that we are walking again this year in the March of Dimes walk so if you are so inclined to throw down a couple of bucks for a good cause here is a link to our team page!

Donate to March of Dimes HERE
How could you say no to this face!

More Baby Updates

We took the boys to a coffee shop the other day and there was a dad and his son in the little kids play area. When he saw the boys the first thing he said to me was "that's the cutest thing I've ever seen in my whole life!" Of course you can imagine all the many questions he had for us after that : )

What is it about high chairs that makes kids not want to eat? I'm pretty sure they were invented by MOMs because I totally understand why so many parents of singletons ditch the high chairs (there is no way I could do that). These guys have ferocious appetites whenever they see me eating something or when I feed them from my lap. We do breakfast every morning while they play but that's all my floors can handle for now.

The boys doc gave me the ok to stop giving the boys vitamins with iron since the boys eat plenty of beans and meat. That stuff is so nasty and am glad to be rid of it. So now I'm on the search for a good toddler vitamin to make sure no one becomes deficient in anything.

I'm a little surprised the boys don't weigh more than they do considering how much they poop! It's not uncommon for these guys to go 4 times in one day. I'm pretty sure they are no where near potty training right now but I'm still hopeful for sometime shortly after two (please please please). One of the most frustrating things for me is when everyone decides to poop right before we are ready to leave somewhere. I just want to throw in the towel and stay home on those occasions (but I never do). Lately, when ever I ask the boys if they have a poopy Caleb gives me a funny guilty smile when he does! That's a good sign I think...

Whenever we get breaks from the rain the boys and I have been going to the back yard. The boys work hard back there collecting sticks and running around. They do so well out there besides the occasional 'I can't get up, please help mom!' I have been able to put some serious hurt on our invasive black berry bushes! I really love gardening so I'm pretty sure I can get my yard looking super by the start of summer : )

Caleb and Thomas now have 4 molars, one on each side and top and bottom. Eli has some catching up to do since he still only has one!

Check out this funny dog pile video...

Oh crap! moment #19 

Eli was seriously stuck...mommy to the rescue (after a picture though)!

Oh crap! moment #20

Yup, looks like another dead bolt higher up is in order...(Thomas)

 Eli racking his head trying to figure out this puzzle

 In case you aren't around small children these days but Thomas the Train is all the rage right now. I can't help but be totally sold on it and I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that I have a son named Thomas and that I used to watch it myself back when they had Ringo Star in it. The funny thing is that the boys (but especially Thomas) really love TtT stuff and the cartoon. I wonder how many little boys would change their names to Thomas if they had the chance?

 Look who fit's into their 2T rain jackets, just in time for a rainy but warmer spring! I think it's safe to put away the heavy coats and mittens now : )

 Cream Cheese face: this is why I have a hard time keeping weight ON! How much of my bagel with cream cheese did I actually eat? Just ask Caleb and the other two hyenas!

Life is hard when you're a triplet...

You wouldn't know it from this tug of war but the boys have been sharing a lot better these days. They actually give a toy back sometimes if their brother makes a big enough fuss! But not this time. 

18 months!

Two days early, I know, but I've never been too strict about when I take this picture. +/-1 week is fine by me : )

As always, in birth order CET

 Doing his cool dude look (Caleb)

Go long! C

We finally grew out of our last set of Robeez, I'm sad to see them go : ( They are so cute and so easy to put on (thanks J & T we loved them!). So the new indoor shoes are Skidders, thanks to the boys' tia! Caleb wears sports balls, Eli wears outer space, and Thomas the construction motif : )

This looks like it's from a 'got milk?' or kids vitamins commercial : )

The boys playing with their eclectic collection of blocks

ETC: How cute is this, I gave them their snack cups and they all sat down together to enjoy them! What sweet brothers they are but next time I want it birth order guys!

These guys are changing! I have noticed they walk and run with more stability, their motor skills are better, they follow commands, they are obeying me slightly better (with stuff they don't want to do), and their understanding of things is also improving. They are still not much for talking since they only have a couple of words but they babble on and on like they are saying something coherent. I think it will soon snowball on us. I continue to speak to the boys mostly in Spanish (lets say 80% Sp and 20% Eng) while Phil speaks to them mostly in English. They understand too many words to list both in English and Spanish. For example, shoe/zapato, down/abajate, sit/sientate, ball/pelota, let's go/vamonos...too many to list! Stuff doesn't live in their mouths anymore, the phase of putting everything in their mouths is almost over. This might be why they have been cold free for soooo long! I'm thinking they are ready for some new experiences, like play dough! (I'll save this one for when my sister visits next month, I'll try to record it though : ) 

At around 13 mo I let the boys play with this really cool creative wooden puzzle we have even though the box said it was age appropriate for 18+ months. I quickly realized they weren't ready for it when they almost broke a window with one and all they did was suck on them. I brought it back out last week and can you believe it, they were actually trying to figure it out! There was a lot of frustration going on though, but I think it is a good sign that their little brains were working away trying to solve it.  

Caleb got himself a new molar, top left just like Thomas. The boys had their first triplet play date with another set of BBB (two id and one fraternal) that are 6mo older and oh so cute. It was cool to see what it will be like in just another short six months. We are going in for our 18 mo well child check up at the end of the week so I'll have weights and heights on my next post hopefully!

I tell the boys to sit down on the bench so I can put on their shoes and they always obey, they know putting shoes on means we are going somewhere!

Check out these finely tuned motor skills, Thomas put a Kix on the top of his straw!

 Big smile of satisfaction!

 "You have to have skills to get the ladies"

Thomas picked up all the scattered straw cups and arranged them like this! Up until now it has always been the lowest common denominator, there can be no order...but now? Things are changing around here.

What sound does a dog make?

Thomas would like to tell you what sound a dog makes...

 Caleb was having a bad night so he suckered papa Ed into snuggling him back to sleep

 mama Sue with her triplets

 goofballs

 that Kix on Thomas' head would have stayed there forever if I hadn't picked it off

Thomas the Working Man

 

I'm home from work!

 Please take my brief case dad

 that nasty ketchup stain from my lunch meeting is gonna be hard to get off

 not so tight, I want it off not on!

 Eli 

 Good things come in small boxes : )

Caleb, doesn't this picture make you want to give him kisses!

Baby Updates

We got some new teeth, Caleb bottom left so besides his molars he's got four teeth in a row in the front top and bottom. Thomas got a molar on the top left side of his mouth (with one directly below it), this boy is gonna be eating steak soon!

Personality Updates

I have always been able to tell the boys apart and many who have met them for the first time say they each have their own 'look.' They are definitely not carbon copies of each other and I of course think they look so different that sometimes I question if they really are identical or not. I come to my senses quickly when I look back at old pictures and struggle to guess who's who. Since the boys were around crawling age I've been able to tell them apart by their cries. I have a pretty good accuracy rate when it comes to Eli and Thomas, I'm right about 90% of the time. With Caleb it's more like 99%, he has a very unique cry which sounds like he just found out the world is coming to an end but really his brother just took a toy from him. As they have gotten older I can add more ways to tell them apart with out looking at their faces. When we get new (to us) clothes Phil and I sometimes will assign certain pieces to a boy because it best suites their personalities and we almost always agree. For example we got some pajamas and monsters went to Caleb (he's always monsters), sharks went to Eli because he was the first to start biting his brothers, and Thomas got monkeys (some things I just can't explain). When they were smaller Thomas was always duckies and still is always puppy dogs.

Besides their looks/facial expressions and their cries I can tell them apart by the way they laugh, walk, talk, yell, dance, and run, they each have a unique way of doing all these things. I am surprised that they are so different from each other I sometimes wonder what if I had had id quads what the fourth boy would be like? Or if there had only been one baby who he'd be more like, Caleb, Eli, Thomas or would he have been totally different???

Caleb (nickname: wibs or wibbies, which morphed from cay-wibs)

All the boys are climbers but none of the boys come close to Caleb in that department. He is the owner of more oh crap! moments because of this. His climbing skills far exceed his good judgement, the boy is spiderman! He is quite stubborn, he puts up the most resistance when I try to teach him something. He's always seems to reach milestones before his brothers, maybe he'll be the teacher of the trio later on. Still looks the most different from the other two. He likes to say 'no' a lot but it sounds like 'nyo.' The boy loves to nurse and he's very very snuggly with anyone that can spare a lap. He's just learned that if he holds up his arms he'll be picked up, smart boy! Consequently his over use of this tactic means that he spends lot of time in my arms. He has taken over Thomas as alpha male but it's his first born right so he's just taking back what is rightfully his! Caleb also took over Eli as my 'singleton,' he gets more than his fair share of attention these days. Caleb is all smiles, and the most ticklish of the trio.

Signature facial expression: he gives this confused and disgusted look a lot.

Eli (nickname: shmee, morphed from eli-shmee-li)

He's a very fast learner and the easiest to teach. He's the most sensitive and if he doesn't get my attention quickly enough or I tell him 'no' over something he'll run away to a corner and half way there he starts crying (all the boys do this but Eli by far does it the most). He's quite the stuffed animal affection-ado, his favorites include a small dog, small cat (Mrs. Meowmer Meows), and his big lion (Roarski). He goes to bed with one out of the three but usually it's Roarski and sometimes he won't let go of him when we get him up. He'll hold him through his diaper change first thing in the morning but as soon as he's down and playing with his brothers he forgets all about his lion so I scoop him up and put him back in his crib. We kind of treat Eli as the odd man out, but not in a bad way, I think it's because he started out with the most personality. For example, if we have three shirts that are similar, the one that is most silly or most different automatically goes to Eli. He's just a silly little guy and you'll notice he gets the biggest paragraph! He has his own adjectives that we came up with, like 'feeling shmeely,' 'that's so shmee,' or 'thats shmee-tastic." Once my singleton, now he's right in the middle like his birth order. He's the one that rejected formula and only wanted to nurse now has the least interest in nursing but as long as the other two nurse he will too! He likes to put his chin on his chest while he runs forwards, all the while making a funny sound. Phil and I call it the chicken dance (although he's not really dancing). He is still quite the dancer and does his signature side to side sway and more recently a shoulder shake. Sadly all the boys don't dance as much as they used to : ( but maybe I just need some new music?

Signature facial expression: he gets this either wide eyed or droopy eyed (depending on his mood), cheeky, yet innocent look about him

Thomas (nicknames: Mr. T, Thunder, Thunder bolt, Thunder bird, T bird, little T)

Thomas has been such a good boy lately and requires the least of my attention. We used to call him Mr. Confidence but when Caleb took over as alpha male he seems to have lost this title as well. Thomas claims it was the hair cut he got a few months ago, like when Samson lost all his powers when Delilah cut off his hair. He is the most cautious one of the bunch. He's become the enforcer of rules, when I yell at the other boys to get off the super yard fence because they are pounding on the t.v. he'll try to pull them down. But this is not to say he won't just as readily break the rules himself. He's become the NO natural light Nazi, as soon as he notices that the shutters on our window are open he closes them. We've all been deprived of natural light for the past several weeks, "no natural light for you!". When he gets frustrated he does this cute little dance where he stomps his feet and smacks his hands around. A stranger witnessed it happening and she thought it was cute too but I do feel bad for him when he gets frustrated (I think it's a new stage we're entering). Thomas runs in the cutest way ever, he looks kind of like Fred Flintstones in that he looks like he's running so fast but is hardly moving forward at all and at the same time he does this little high step. When it's time for lunch or dinner Eli and Caleb come running to me but Thomas runs away! He loves a good chase : )

Signature facial expression: raised eyebrows that makes him look very inquisitive and surprised

SNOW! (oh crap! #18)

In front of Timberline lodge

Mt Hood in the background (Elevation 11,249ft)

 T

 T and E

 Mama Sue and Papa Ed pretending to be sledding

 Mt Jefferson in the background (Elevation 10,497ft)

 Here is a video of the boys stair skills. Eli the daredevil learned to walk down the stairs in big boy style, while Thomas the more cautious one gets down 4ft away and then backs up!

Caleb and pops

We headed up to Mount Hood so that the boys could experience snow for the first time and they did not like it! No sir they did NOT like it, not one bit! They did not like touching it, walking in it, or sledding in it. So we spent most of the time in the lodge where they had a blast. To add injury to insult Caleb fell off of me when we went down on the sled and best of all we caught it on video. While he was quite T.O.'d about it he was not really injured...we all (except the babies) laughed hysterically when it happened!

Oh Crap! moment #18 (video)

Baby Updates

At going on 18 months I just thought enough was enough, they are getting too old for baby bottles! Habits are a lot harder to break the older that kids get sooo....we have been artificial-nipple free for about a week now and it has been met with great resistance. They do great drinking water from their sippy cups but when it comes to milk they prefer a nipple. They won't drink more than 2 or 3 oz of milk from their sippy cups even though I had been giving them 6-8oz bottles of milk. I think the transition is harder for them because they still nurse and get only one bottle a day. They have used straws before and done well with them so I got them these neto spill proof straw cups and they do so well with them! They are quite the professional straw drinkers I must say. I'm not sure if I should say this but we may be done with sippy cups...maybe?

Phil flew out to Spokane WA for three days for work, so this was the first time he'd ever been away from the babies and the first time I've been all alone with the boys. I spent a full day by myself which for the most part is no different than any other day except when it comes to getting them up in the morning and getting them to bed at night. These are the hardest parts of the day because everyone want to nurse as soon as they see ME in the morning, so I had to change diapers while everyone screamed their heads off and I only have two boobs so I can shut up two by nursing them while the third baby screams his head off...not fun! Then I had to go through the 5 o'clock melt down on my own...so exhausting. The first night I thought I could work on a blog post after the boys went to bed but I was so tired I conked out in front of the tv by 9:30pm. Thankfully mama Sue and papa Ed came a day early to visit so that I wouldn't have to be alone for so long. 

I dropped one milk feeding so now two boys nurse twice a day the other three and they all get two straw cups of milk a day. The rotation goes like this now, everyone nurses first thing in the morning, two boys nurse before nap time and the third gets a sippy or straw cup, then two boys nurse before bedtime and the third gets the sippy or straw cup (we are still working out the kinks of being artificial-nipple free).