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April 04, 2001
Adam did so well over the last two days that Craig was able to take him home today. Adam arrived home at about 2:30pm. I'm sure he was excited to see the girls, so much so that he wore himself out and slept right through it. It feels good to have the whole family home. Now, the fun begins.
Megan and Kaitlyn came home after 18 days in the NICU. Megan weighed 5 lbs 13 ozs and Kaitlyn weighed 5 lbs 4 ozs when they came home. Adam came home after 20 days in the NICU and he weighed 6 lbs 6 ozs when he came home. We have already scheduled our first doctors visit with Dr. Truesdell, the babies pediatrician, for Monday, April 9th.
Eventually, we may not be updating the site as frequently as before. But we will make sure we put some of the more important milestones on the site, like first dates. So, for the girls that might be about 18 years. This site will continue to be updated frequently during the first month or so, then we may go to a weekly update for the first 6 months, then maybe a monthly update. So, stay tuned, there's more to come.
April 09, 2001
What a week it's been. Some nights are good some aren't so hot. With a 3 hour feeding schedule and the feedings taking about 45 minutes or so, that doesn't leave a lot of time between feedings for doing much, like sleeping. We got the go ahead from Dr. Truesdell to increase their feeding amounts and move them to a 4 hour feeding schedule. We are in the middle of doing that and are on a 3.5 hour schedule. It is a world of difference at night with just 3.5 hours that we can't wait until they are on 4 hour schedules. We are tracking all their feedings and diaper changes using a spreadsheet. We have to do this otherwise it is easy to lose track of who ate and who got changed.
Chris's mom Mary arrived last Saturday afternoon. She is going to be staying with us for a while and give us a helping hand. Having an extra pair of hands will help a lot.
Megan, Kaitlyn, and Adam had their first Well Baby visit with the their Doctor today. It was quite the effort to get 3 little ones ready, strap them into the car seats, put them into the mini-van (we borrowed Chris's sisters), get them out at the doctor's office and then do it all again to get them home. Their doctor visit went very well. Dr. Truesdell said they are all looking great, and are exceeding their growth expectations. Babies should be growing about an ounce a day. Even though they are just over 3 weeks old, since their due date was April 21st, the doctor is considering them term babies or newborns. This is how they will compare them to development charts. By a couple years, they won't adjust their ages by a month anymore because they should be developmentally close enough to other babies at their real age.
We spoke with the doctor about RSV, since this is a big concern for premature babies because of their prematurely developed lungs. The kids will get their second and final Synagis shot on April 27th. April is supposed to be the end of the RSV season, but we still need to be careful for a while. The doctor thought by next season they wouldn't need shots. For the next couple months we need to be very careful and have all visitors wash their hands, and keep the babies away from anyone who may have a cold or cold like symptoms. The doctor does not want us to take the babies out for a couple months until the RSV season is over and they have grown a little more.
April 16, 2001
We tried to put the kids on a 4 hour schedule, which we tried for a while, but they were still waking up early for their feedings. So, we are going back to a 3.5 hour feeding schedule. We think we might have pushed them a little to fast to a 4 hour schedule. They definetly are not sleeping as much as they used to. And neither are we. They are eating about 3-4 ounces each feeding though. So, they are getting plenty to eat.
Dr. Truesdell wanted to weight the kids a week after their first appointment, so a nurse from the county health department stopped by to weigh the kids. This is a free service, so that we don't have to take the kids in to the doctor's office. They all continue to grow faster than the normal 1 ounce a day pace.
April 27, 2001
The kids had their 2 month doctors appointment, even though it's only been 1.5 months. Everyone is doing great, they all are growing like the weeds in our yard. We can't wait until they are old enough to mow the lawn. They all got their last shot of Synagis for RSV, as well as 4 other shots that cover 6 vaccines as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. They got 2 shots in one leg, and 3 in the other. They didn't like that very much. And neither did mom. They all calmed down pretty quickly because they were being held by mom and both grandmas.
They are still on a 3 - 3.5 hour feeding schedule even through the night. Occasionally, they might sleep for a whole 4 hours at night. Craig does his part by taking naps with the kids as necessary.
May 13, 2001 - Mother's Day!
Today is Chris's first Mother's Day. The kids got Chris a card and promised to be good all day. We'll see if they hold up that promise. Craig got Chris a nice "Mother and Child pendant with 3 Aqua birth stones." We made the first real outing with the kids, by spending the day (or at least what was left of it after we finally got the kids fed, dressed and ready) at Chris's sister's house . It's a whole big production number just getting the kids ready. Jenny had to come pick us up in her mini-van as we still don't have a large enough vehicle. However, we did finally locate a full size van for a pretty good price. Craig's parents are bringing it to Des Moines from Cedar Rapids on Wednesday.
We've got all three kids sleeping in their own cribs now. They are getting so big so fast. They seem to have adjusted to sleeping alone and are still not disturbing each other by their crying. About the only time they cry is when they are starting to wake up and they are hungry. Otherwise, they are pretty laid back and mellow. They must take after Craig.
Chris and the kids had their television debut just this last Friday. Channel 5 news did a spot for Mother's Day about triplet moms. Chris had her Mother's of SuperTwins meeting on Thursday, and a news reporter was there filming. She said she wanted to interview the newest mom and a mom who was going back to work. So, she came out and interviewed Chris and filmed the kids Friday morning. That night on the 5:00 news, they did a short segment and showed the kids and did a couple quick sound bites from Chris's interview. We are still waiting for the agents to start calling.
May 22, 2001
We went to the doctor today for their Well baby visit. Everyone is doing great, except Adam has a cough. They are switching to regular formula and we got a few samples of Similac w/Iron and Enfimil w/Iron. We stopped by Drs. Mahone and Drake's office since they have not seen the babies since they were born. Only Dr. Drake was available. She was surprised at how big the babies were and how small Chris was. Today was the first time the kids got to travel in their new van. They were excited, or maybe that was from Chris hitting a couple curbs. I think the family bus might take some getting used to driving.
June 09, 2001
All 3 kids recently got over a cold. Adam and Megan had a pretty bad cough. Running the vaporizer and elevating their beds helped relieve their congestion. They are all on the verge of sleeping through the night. For the last 2 weeks they have been sleeping anywhere from 4-6 hours at night. They have all started to find their hands, but haven't quite fully figured out how to control them enough to suck on them. They have also started to smile and coo. It's an amazing thing to see them smile.
We braved our first real outing as a family. We all went down to the farmer's market, amidst a couple thousand people. We used our double and single stroller. We weren't quite brave enough to use the triplet stroller. The two strollers got enough attention, we didn't need more. We had help from a couple friends of ours, Matt and Drew Reynolds.
June 17, 2001
Yesterday was the kids' 3 month birthday. Megan and Adam have been doing pretty good at sleeping from about 11:30pm until 6 or 6:30am. Kaitlyn is still waking up between 3:30am & 4:30am, but we are able to get her back to sleep until the first morning feeding. They are all still on a 3 - 3.5 hour feeding schedule, and they are eating about 5 - 6 ounces at each feeding.
Today was a special Father's day for Craig. Not only was this his first Father's day, but the kids were baptized today. This was the first mass that the kids have attended, and they were perfect. Not even a peep. They all slept right through the homily and service. Not unlike their dad. Just kidding. The baptism was after the mass. The godparents for Megan are Jennifer and Mike Rister (Chris's sister). The godparents for Kaitlyn are Shelly and Bob Ehler (Craig's sister). The godparents for Adam are Sherry and Steve Derby (Shelly's twin sister).
June 19, 2001
Last night was a very good night. All the kids went down about 11:30 and slept until 5:15 without making a peep. Monday morning we found all of them awake and sucking their thumbs. That should start to keep them busy if they wake up in the middle of the night.
We had their 3 month pictures taken today. We also took our first official family photo. It took some convincing to get Adam to smile on his individual shot. We didn't have any luck in getting all 3 of them to smile at once in a group shot. But we really didn't expect that to happen.
June 29, 2001
We dropped the late evening feeding on Monday. This was typically between 11 - 11:30pm. We have been putting the kids down for good at 10pm and they have been sleeping until 6-6:30am. Only occasionally do they wake up in the middle of the night, but they don't make much noise and are able to put themselves back to sleep. We are still feeding them about every 3.5 hours and they are eating about 5-6 ounces.
Thursday, Chris took the kids to her former work, Communications Data Services with help from her mom. They stayed for 1.5 hours and the kids were pretty good, except for Adam who got a little fussy and ended up falling asleep. Chris was happy to see all of her co-workers again. They all seemed to enjoy the babies.
The kids had their 4 month baby well appointment. They all continue to do very well and are growing at the 50th percentile or greater. Adam has thrush in his mouth. The doctor prescribed some topical medicine. It should be gone within the week. All the kids had their 4 month booster shots. They got 4 shots, 2 in each leg. They didn't like that too much, but quickly calmed down after the shots. Mom and Grandma handled it a lot better this time.
July 22, 2001
It's been a long time since we last updated the diary and so much has happened.
The kids turned 4 months old as of July 16th. As of a couple weeks ago, we put the kids on a 4 hour feeding schedule (8, 12, 4, 8). They first started at 7 ounce bottles, but are now at 8 ounce bottles. At the same time, we started stretching their sleep. They were going to bed about 9-9:30pm and were sleeping until about 6:30-7am. After Chris's mom Mary went home, we changed their feeding schedule to 7, 11, 3, 7. We are now starting to put them to bed between 8:30-9pm
Chris's mom Mary left to go back home to Florida on Saturday, July 14th. Chris's parents are moving to Dallas, TX, where Chris's dad, Steve has been transferred to. Chris's mom had been living with us since the babies were born. The Monday after she left was an eye opening experience trying to get through the day alone. It was extremely challenging to feed all three babies and to try to keep them on the same schedule. Chris really misses having her mom around to help. Craig is going to help with the 7am feeding before work so she only has to do two feedings alone.
We made our first family trip out of town. We went back to Cedar Rapids to visit family and friends. Having the full size van really helped, as Chris was able to check on the kids easily, and she was able to change Adams diaper as we went through the McDonalds drive thru.
All the kids are laughing and giggling and cooing. Adam tends to do it a little more and louder. They like to stare at their hands and try to shove them in their mouth. They are very happy first thing in the morning. They'll laugh and kick their hands and feet in excitement. We have been holding them up to each other so they can see one another. They will stare intensly at each other and smile. They like to play in their excer-saucer.
Oh, and finally, Craig got fixed. He had a no-scalpel vasectomy, which is supposed to have a faster healing and recovery time than the traditional procedure.
August 2, 2001
The kids are growing fast. Warren county has a program where a nurse will stop by and see how things are going for newborns. She weighed the kids today and they all have gained about 2 lbs in just 1 month. They are all eating about 28-32 ounces a day. They are still getting breast milk for about half of this. Chris hasn't decided yet how long she will be able to keep that up. She will probably keep pumping until they are at least 6 months. We are going to try to start feeding them some rice cereal in the next month.
Last Saturday we went to a triplet picnic in town. There were a lot of other families there with their kids. Megan was not on her best behavior, I think it was either too hot, she needed to take her nap, or she had gas. When all three started screaming we dashed for the van and drove around for an hour as they took their naps.
The kids love their Baby Einstein videos, they've been watching these since they were a month old. If Craig has anything to say about it, there won't be any purple dinasours in the house.
August 19, 2001
It's been over a month since Chris's mom left. Chris & the kids are doing very well. They've gotten into a good routine and feeding schedule. They are all eating 4 times a day and taking 3 naps. It helps that Adam takes his bottle in about 5 minutes, but the girls are another story. We are still on the 7, 11, 3, 7 feeding schedule, but now they are going to bed between 8 - 8:30pm. They go down very cooperatively at night and are very good about just lying in their crib if they wake up early in the morning.
The girls like to blow bubbles and Adam likes to make gurgling sounds. No one has rolled over yet, but Kaitlyn is getting close. We fed the kids rice cereal for the first time on Saturday. Adam seemed to really like it, Kaitlyn did pretty good, but Megan wasn't too sure about it. We had to do some rearranging of the kitchen to accomodate 3 high chairs.
Chris took the kids for a walk last Tuesday all by herself. She even walked down to the local Dollar store. All the way there she was thinking about how she was going to open the store door and get the kids in. Luckily, there was someone going in the store at the time she arrived.
August 28, 2001
Over the weekend Chris had some kind of 24 hour stomach flu. She started feeling sick late Friday night, and was hurting up all day Saturday. She felt better by Sunday. Well, it seems the kids caught what she had, because on Monday, Adam was vomiting everything he ate. So, he pretty much went the whole day without anything to eat. To make matters worse, Megan and Kaitlyn started throwing up as well. Chris put the Green Machine to good use cleaning the couch, chair, and carpet. Finally, she moved the kids to the linoleum floored kitchen. Chris had to change her clothes 5 or 6 times. Craig was finally called home about 4:00pm as it had become too overwhelming with 3 kids vomiting. For some reason her calls to the doctors office didn't get returned for about 5 hours. Finally, Chris got through to the "new" nurse and she had us go to the after hours clinic.
The clinic was backed up, so we didn't get in to see the doctor until about 8:00pm. The kids were very hungry by this time. The doctor checked the kids out, and the girls had an elevated temperature. He said that the vomiting was probably over and to expect diarrhea the next day. Fortunately, his prediction did not come true. He recommended feeding the kids Pedialite to make sure they didn't become dehydrated.
The kids were doing very well by today. They all were in good spirits, and were eating well. They were oddly in good spirits on Monday as well, even though they were vomiting all day. They did keep all their food down today.
September 09, 2001
We took a trip to St. Louis for Labor Day weekend. Matt and Andrea Reynolds rode down with us in our van. We were able to load up all of our luggage, two strollers, toys, a cooler, and a pack and play, with room to spare. The kids traveled very well to St. Louis. They slept for most of the trip down. We only stopped once to feed the kids and ourselves.
We were visiting friends of ours, Jim and Michelle Beattie. We all stayed at Dottye's (Jim's mom) house on Lake St. Louis. She was nice enough to give us the master beadroom so we could have room to put 3 portable cribs in with us. We also were able to visit with: Chris's grandpa, George; Chris's aunts & uncles, Debbie & Jim, David & Rhonda, Dan & Jan; Chris's cousins, Amanda & Katie; Chris's friends, Mark & Mary, Jim & Tracey.
Kaitlyn rolled over for the first time on Friday, August 31st. Everyone pitched in to help with the kids. Matt fed his first baby, and Jim changed two poopy diapers. We spent some time relaxing down by the lake. The kids even took a nice nap there. Craig suffered the same 24 hour stomach virus that Chris and the kids had earlier that week. Matt took some pictures during the trip and you can see those here.
The trip home was a little more eventful than the trip down. The kids started getting fussy about half way home. We stopped a couple times to feed the kids. We also had an unplanned stop, as the van suddenly decided to stop running as we were driving down the interstate. We were lucky enough to coast into a rest area about 30 minutes from home. We had to call for help and call for a tow truck. Jenny and Mike Rister, Chris's sister and brother-in-law, and Mike Orwig, our friend, drove down to pick us up. Craig and Mike O. waited around for the tow truck. We all made it home safely after a very long day.
In case you're wondering, we ran out of gas. The fuel sensor that tells how much gas is left was misreading. It was showing more than a quarter tank of gas left, when it really was on E. We had to have that replaced.
Today, Adam and Megan rolled from their stomachs to their backs. They haven't rolled the other way yet, but Megan is very close. All 3 kids have found their toes. Megan and Kaitlyn are doing better at eating rice cereal.
September 17, 2001
Yesterday was the kids' 6 month birthday. We didn't do a whole lot to celebrate, the kids didn't seem like they wanted any cake. Megan finished her 8 oz bottle in about 5 minutes. This is a new milestone for her. Normally, the girls need a couple breaks. Both girls have been finishing their bottles with only 1 break the last couple days. Chris has started feeding the kids rice cereal twice a day now. We are going to start introducing vegetables at one feeding and rice cereal at two other feedings. For the next six months we are going to be slowly reducing their bottle intake and replacing this with solid foods. For a suggested feeding schedule check here.
We took the kids to The Picture People, for their 6 month pictures. Several other triplet mothers use this place. We got our pictures back in one hour. They turned out great. We're still waiting for those agents to call.
The kids had their 6 month doctor appointment today. That means shots. They each got 3 shots for immunizations. They handled it pretty well, they only cried for a little bit. They were getting fussy, but we think that was because they were hungry and tired. Craig gets fussy when he's hungry and tired too. Poor Adam had some adhesion of his foreskin to his penis. We need to make sure that doesn't happen as it's not a pleasant experience for him to pull the skin back. They all were between the 50th & 75th percentile for height, weight and head size. This was without any adjustments for prematurity.
September 30, 2001
Megan finally rolled over last Tuesday. She has rolled over quite a few times since then. Adam has yet to roll over on his own. The kids have tried; squash, carrots, and green beans. So far they have liked them all. They will probably be like their dad, he hasn't met a food that he doesn't like.
October 16, 2001
It's the kids' 7 month birthday today. They are all rolling over a lot. Sometimes they get themselves stuck on their belly in the crib and we have to roll them back over. Kaitlyn has a tooth working it's way through. We are using two pack and plays (portable cribs) so that everyone can take a nap in a different room. This has worked out very well, as they used to wake each other up prematurely from their naps.
Daddy went to Walt Disney World last week for work. We didn't tell the kids, because they would have gotten upset that they couldn't go. Maybe there will be another conference in about 4-5 years, and they can tag along. Craig's mom came up for that week to help Chris out.
October 31, 2001
Happy Halloween! We took the kids to the mall with their cousin Nicholas. We got a lot of stares, comments, and people stopping us.
The kids seem to be adjusting to the Daylight savings time change. They still seem to be bothered at times with their teethin. Kaitlyn has her two bottom front teeth in. Megan just had a tooth break through. Adam should be next.
The kids are eating two servings of cereal a day, and last week we started fruit after their serving of vegetables for lunch.
Chris's mom arrived last weekend to help out while I'm away at a conference
next week.
December 09, 2001
A couple weeks ago, Adam finally got his first tooth. He still only has one, while both girls have two bottom teeth. All 3 kids are sitting up on their own very well. They haven't started crawling yet, but they get around pretty good by rolling and turning. They've been rocking on their bellies so it seems they might be getting ready to scoot or crawl. I don't think we are ready for that yet!
When the kids are playing on the floor together, they will take things from each other. The girls don't seem to mind when that happens, but Adam is none too happy about it. Adam also gets a little peaved if something is just out of his reach. Adam has really taken a liking to our ceiling fans and lights. You can ask him where the fan and lights are and he'll look right up at them. We've accidentally discovered that the kids like Disney's Rollie Pollie Ollie.
We've gone to feeding them cereal and fruit for breakfast, two servings of vegetables for lunch, cereal and fruit for dinner, with a bottle still before bed. They seem to take after their dad when it comes to eating, They like everything (including the creamed spinach), and they really enjoy eating. They are good about opening their mouths wide for the spoon.
We've dropped their third nap, which was at 5pm. So now they only nap at 9am and 1pm. We've been putting them to bed between 7:30pm and 8:00pm and they still sleep until 6:30am or 7:00am.
We had to get rid of our infant car seats because all the kids are over 20 pounds. We bought 3 new infant/toddler convertable seats. They can be used reverse facing until they are a year old and then we can flip the seats around to be forward facing.
December 19, 2001
We tried to start them on finger foods last weekend. We gave them each a couple cheerios. They weren't quite sure what they were supposed to do with them. We went ahead and put them in their mouth, and they all gave some strange looks, like "what is this thing?" Megan is now picking them up by herself and eating them, Adam picks his up, but he can't find the way to his mouth, and Kaitlyn just doesn't like them at all!
The kids had their 9 month check-up yesterday. Everything is going well with them. They are all around the 75th percentile for their height and weights. This is without it being adjusted for being born 5 weeks early. They must be taking after their dad. Kaitlyn weighs 20 pounds, Megan weighs 20 pounds 7 ounces, and Adam tips the scale at 21 pounds 13 ounces. It's that Iowa corn fed beef.
Chris and her mom took the kids to Target for their 9 month pictures. They were all very cooperative and the pictures turned out pretty good. Target has a web site that you can look at your pictures online and order from there. However, they only show them for about 3 weeks. Here is a link if you are interested.
January 01, 2002
Happy New Year! We hope everyone had a merry Christmas. We had a great time celebrating our first Christmas with the kids. They didn't understand what was going on, but they did help open presents. They got a lot of toys and new pajamas.
All the kids now like Cheerios and can pick them up and put them into their mouths by themselves. We've also given them Yogurt and bananas. We tried Cottage Cheese once, but they made some strange faces. We are working on adjusting their menu by reducing their formula intake and adding some soft vegetables and fruits.
All the kids have gotten at least 3 of their upper front teeth, as well as both bottom front teeth. Megan has begun scooting, and Kaitlyn has gotten up on all fours but doesn't know what to do. Adam seems pretty content with jumping in his exersaucer. All 3 kids like to stand and play with their activity table. They can't stand on their own yet, they still need help to keep stable.
All 3 kids came down with colds after Christmas. They only have runny noses, which may be due to teething. They definitely don't like having their noses wiped or sucked out with the rubber bulb syringe.
January 16, 2002
The kids are 10 months old today. Time is sure flying by fast, they are growing up so fast. Megan has 8 teeth now, Kaitlyn has 7, and Adam only has 6. Megan is scooting all over the house now. She likes to follow us into the kitchen or down the hall into the bedroom or bathroom. She also likes to chase Kitae around the kitchen. Both Kaitlyn and Adam have scooted, but they don't do it very often. Megan has sat up on her own. Today, Adam stood up in his crib all by himself. The girls can stand in their cribs but they can't pull themselves up.
We've started to give them chopped meats like chicken, turkey and ham. They have also had steamed vegetables. They still don't like cottage cheese all that well. It'll be great when they can start drinking whole milk in a couple months. It's getting old making 12 bottles of formula a day.
All the kids have been mumbling what sounds like momma and dadda for sometime. But, Megan says "baby" when she looks at the Baby Faces book and while Chris was taping the kids, Kaitlyn turned to her and said "Momma" deliberately.
In case you haven't noticed, we've surpassed the 5000 diaper mark recently. Another 10,000 to go. Let's hope not!.
January 27, 2002
Adam can finally follow the girls down the hallway or into the kitchen by scooting along. The girls enjoy following each other around, I think they are playing follow the leader. Kaitlyn finally got her eighth tooth today.
Adam started drinking his bottle by himself. We can give him his bottle while he is in the highchair and he'll drink it all by the time we get the girls out of their chairs. That will be so helpful for mommy during the day.
Currently their schedule looks like the following:
They are waking up anytime between 6:45 and 7:00. We start eating breakfast by 7:30.
They play until they go down for their morning nap at 9:30.
They usually only take about an hour morning nap.
They eat lunch about 11:30.
They play until they go down for their afternoon nap at 1:30.
They usually sleep between one and two hours.
They get a snack after they get up, and they eat dinner at 4:30.
They get their last bottle at 6:30.
They go to bed for the night between 7:00 and 7:30.
February 16, 2002
Today the kids are 11 months old. Only 1 more month before they are 1 year old. The time has flown by. It only seems like yesterday they were in the NICU.
Adam has started to walk behind a push walking toy. All the kids can pull themselves up to a standing position and they can walk around the couch and furniture. It's great that they can do that, but now they can get into more things. Adam has pulled a kitchen chair over trying to stand. They like to stand by the living room window and look outside. Another bad thing about them standing up is they like to stand in their crib when it's time to go to bed.
We are completely off of baby jar food. We have been using canned vegetables and diced meats. They are pretty good about feeding themselves the bigger chunks of food. Adam likes to shove as much food as possible in his mouth. It usually just sits there because he's become a slow eater.
Adam and Kaitlyn like to clap. The girls like to sing a soft high pitched tone. They will mimic you if you start singing first. As much as we hate to admit it, Adam is a whiner and is "sensitive." Megan has bitten Adam a couple times on the hand. I think it was Adams fault for putting his hand in her mouth.
March 10, 2002
Megan and Kaitlyn crawling on hands and knees. All three like to push stuff around. They sometimes fight over the two push toys.
Kids have been sick. they got it from Daddy who has been sick for about 2 weeks.
March 16, 2002
Megan, Adam, and Kaitlyn turned one today! We can hardly believe how fast
a year has gone by. They seemed to enjoy themselves at their first birthday
party. I'm sure the kids appreciated both sets of grandparents being there
for their first birthday.
They each had a small birthday cake, which they weren't too sure what they
were supposed to do with it. The girls just dipped their fingers in the
frosting and ate nicely. While Adam put his whole hand in the cake and
smushed frosting between his fingers.
The kids all received way too many gifts. They better not get used to that
because it won't always be like that.
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