We LOVE Christy!!!

It isn't February yet, but it's close enough! And since February is the "love" month, I thought I would do a month of posts about the things we L-O-V-E. :)

So for my first post, I will shout it from the rooftops, we LOVE Christy!

Christy with Reagan, Addison and Baylee

I've been telling everyone for weeks that Christy was coming back and she is here! We love having her here, not only do Brent and I get full nights of sleep (Hooray!) but the girls progress and progress in their sleep training.

Addison

Addison and Reagan slept 12 hours last night and Baylee woke up a few times due to the huge thunderstorm we had. Christy said Baylee would jump and start crying each time a huge clap of thunder would hit and it was LOUD last night. So if it hadn't been for that, Baylee would have slept great as well.

Christy playing with Reagan, Baylee and Addison

This week Christy and I are working to move the girls to a 3 hour rotating schedule starting around 7 or 8 am. I would like to get the girls up at 8 am each day so their bedtime would then be 8 pm. An 8 pm bedtime gives Brent more time in the evenings to spend with his girls after work, but so far, the girls love the 7 o'clock hour. They average getting up around 7 or 7:15 am each morning, which is fine, we are rolling with it. Eventually, they will be old enough to stay awake longer and spend the entire evening around dinner time with their Daddy. :)

So, for those interested, our new schedule goes a little something like this:

7:00 am - Wake to Feed, playtime

8:30 am - Nap

10:00 am - Wake to Feed, playtime

11:30 am -Nap

1:00 pm - Wake to Feed, playtime

2:30 pm - Nap

4:00 pm - Wake to Feed

5:30 pm - Nap

6:30 or 7:00 pm - Wake, bedtime routine

7:30 or 8:00 pm- Bedtime

If they wake up at 8 am any morning, we just push their schedule back an hour and give them a short catnap around dinner time so Brent and I can eat dinner when they get tired and need a nap.

We are also working on getting the girls to self-soothe with their fingers instead of a pacifier.

Reagan

We have tried unswaddling them for a few naps, and thus far, haven't been too successful with this. We think the girls just really like to be swaddled up tight and it helps them stay asleep. Having both arms out of the swaddle for naps just allows them more opportunities to smack themselves in the face and wake up WAILING haha! So, we are going to do some more intense training on that next week.

Christy with the crew :)

Baylee is doing AWESOME with her new, improved tongue. She is already using a #2 nipple on all of her bottles as are Reagan and Addison. She has a white stripe under her tongue where they cut and you can tell that it is healing very well.

Baylee - half smile :)

She is happy and loves sticking out her tongue and making all kinds of "la" and "luh" sounds. :) We are still dosing her with some Tylenol because she seems to get bothered by her tongue before naps, we think because it is still sore. But she is really doing great with it and much better than we expected.

We also love it when Christy is here because Brent and I get to do things we hardly ever get to do. Last night we went to dinner together! It was POURING outside, but we figured we could make it to the door of the restaurant without an umbrella. Here is what Brent looked like when we finally got inside...HAHA! SOAKED! Those aren't shadows on his shirt, that is a bib of rain. :) And tonight, we are happily going to a movie together...AT THE THEATRE! I know...the little things get me all excited these days!

L-O-V-E to you all and Happy Birthday to my awesome sister and SUPERMOM, Missy!

The Frenulumectomy

Medical Jargon
Diagnosis: Ankyloglossia (tongue tied)
Procedure: Incision of the Lingual Frenulum

Layman's terms:
Excessive attachment of tongue to bottom of the mouth.

Baylee Before Surgery

Baylee had her tongue clipped this morning. I really was expecting the worst and so far, I'm pleased to say that hasn't really been the case!

Last night, I fed Baylee a dream feed at 11 pm just to keep her happy and sleeping through the night. I wasn't allowed to feed her anything except pedialyte or juice between midnight and 3:15 am, so at 3:00am I gave her 50% pedialyte and 50% water mixed just to hold her over this morning. She did great all night and started to wake up right around the time I needed to get her dressed to get in the car.

We arrived at the surgery center at 6:15 am this morning and Baylee was overall in good spirits and not fussing too much. We went into pre-op where they took her vitals and discussed the procedure with us. For this procedure, they give the child a little anesthesia through a mask over their nose and mouth and no IV is needed. They also use a local anesthetic to numb the area they are going to cut.

In pre-op, Baylee started to get a little antsy so I kept thinking they needed to get this over with or we were going to have one SCREAMING baby on our hands. Right about the time I thought Baylee was going to let loose and let me have it, the nurse came to take her back for the procedure. I stood there and watched her take Baylee away, a happy and smiling baby...*tear*. I didn't actually start crying until we got into our little waiting room. All those motherly thoughts swarming through my head and freaking me out about all the things that probably wouldn't but could go wrong.

It wasn't 5 minutes later when the doctor came in and told us it was over and she was back in recovery. :) She did great and he wants to see us in 10 days to check on her, but overall everything should be just fine.

When we got back to where Baylee was recovering, Brent and I sat next to her bed to wait for her to wake up from the anesthesia. She looked so sweet covered in her pink blanket from Aunt Missy and she was sucking on her paci under her oxygen mask. It didn't take her long to come out of it and when she did I grabbed her up and rocked her and she didn't cry at all! She just looked at us like, "Where the heck am I?" I gave her a bottle and she went to town on it but still seemed a little woozy.


We were home with her by 8:30 am. I gave her some more to eat when we got home and she gladly took all of it and I put her straight to bed after a little cuddling and saying hello to her sisters. She hasn't napped as well as she usually does and I suspect it is because the local anesthetic under her tongue is wearing off and she is starting to feel a little soreness or pain. I gave her some Tylenol after a few bouts of heavy crying and she peacefully went back to sleep. Such a sweet, sweet baby Baylee is. All of the nurses were just ooo-ing and ahhh-ing over her and asking us all about the triplets.

Baylee After Surgery

(sadly, this is the best "after" shot I could get...Baylee wasn't in the mood for photos :))

Speaking of the triplets! The girls are doing just fantastic! Brent and I weighed them last night with our at-home scale and Baylee weighs 14.6 lbs. and Addison and Reagan both weigh 14.10 lbs!!! Our big girls!!!

Reagan Riley, Baylee Brynn and Addison Ann

Christy will be here today to help me for the rest of the week and also get the girls down to 0 feeds each night and on a 3 hour rotating schedule. We can't wait to see her!

Also, we are the featured family on Christy's website this week, so go check out all of the pictures of the girls on the pages to her website at http://www.sweetbabydreams.net/.

Love to you all!

This and That

Just a few funny tidbits from the past few weeks...
Brent and I at the grocery store a few weeks ago-
Young Teenage Cashier after he scans a 24 oz. can of formula (we had 5 on our cart) "Woah...is that formula? Man, that is expensive!"
Brent - "Yes....yes, it is."
Teenage Cashier - "How long does a can like that last you?"
Me - "Well, for us, not very long."
Brent - "We have triplets."
Teenage Cashier - "Triplets! Wow, so how long does one can last you?"
Me - "One day."
Teenage Cashier - "A can a day! Wow, that's expensive!"
Brent and I both - "Yes, yes it is."
Brent to me as we are walking out of the grocery store - "We just blew that kids' mind."

Our girls chit chatting during playtime

Today was our Saturday together. I hate to say it, but most days I don't get up early enough to get fully done up after a night in and out of bed for feedings. I am lucky enough to get a shower and get makeup on before the day is through.
So, today, after I was still in my pajamas at noon, Brent said,"Honey, do you want me to take care of this feeding so you can go get dressed?" Haha! I said, "Are you saying that because most days you come home and I'm not fully dressed, still in my comfy clothes with no makeup? Or are you really trying to be nice?" He said he was just trying to be nice....no hidden meaning :). So, I said, "Sure! I would love to go get ready while you take care of the girls."
About 30 minutes later Brent came into our bathroom to find me and there I was...soaking in a bubble bath. I decided to fully take advantage of the situation and go all out. I spent the entire hour and fifteen minutes soaking and getting ready at my own pace and with no interruptions. It was fantastic!

Reagan sweetie

Mommy and Addie Bear
My sweet Addie

Baylee Boo smiling away. We are pretty sure she is going to be a morning person :) just like her Daddy. I believe Addie and Reagan will be more like me. Give me some time to wake up and then I will be cheery. :)

We are looking forward to this week and not looking forward to this week all at the same time.

First, the good part, Christy is coming back. Yeay! The girls have been doing really well, but I am looking forward to them sleeping through the entire night. Then maybe I can get a full 8-9 hours of sleep at night and feel refreshed enough in the morning to get up early and get ready before they wake up each day. Last night was a very good night, Baylee and Addie ate once and Reagan went all night without a feeding. I joked to Brent that all the really good nights happen when he is able to help me on the weekends. They can't possibly have one of those really great nights when I am doing night feedings alone during the week. ;)

Second, the not so good and good part, Baylee is getting her tongue clipped. We are so happy she is getting this done for many reasons. One, we know she will eat better and gain weight at the same pace as her sisters. Two, we know it will be better to get this done when she is very young so she won't remember a thing. Three, we are pretty sure this issue would cause her speech development problems in the future. She already doesn't "talk" to us as much as Reagan and Addison do. But, all that being said, I am not looking forward to having to keep her from eating if she is hungry from the hours of midnight to 7:30 am. I am also not looking forward to how she is going to feel immediately afterward. And, I am REALLY not looking forward to having to hand my baby girl over for the procedure. That is going to be really, really hard on me and this is just a tiny little procedure. I can't imagine what a wreck I would be if she had to have a major surgery for something.

Love to you all!

Update on Baylee and Reagan

Just a little update on Baylee and Reagan.
Brent and I took Baylee to the ENT this morning. We waited and waited....and waited. Then we got to see the doctor for about 30 seconds and after 1 or 2 quick questions and a quick look at Baylee's tongue, he said, "Yes, we need to clip that." THANK YOU!
But, there's a hitch, of course. We have to wait until next Wednesday for the "surgery" so we can wait on insurance approval. And, it gets better. I can't feed her after midnight and her appointment for the "surgery" won't be until 7:30 am the next morning. Ummmm, infant and no feedings for 7 and 1/2 hours = bad scene. They did tell me that I can give her Pedialyte until 3 am, but nothing at all after that. We will see how that goes. Dreading it!
I say "surgery" because really they are just clipping below her tongue a little but since she is so young and won't willingly open up her mouth for the procedure they have to give her some anesthesia. Recovery should be relatively quick we are hoping.

Baylee, loving her time on the changing table

Also today, we found out that Reagan's CT Scan came back completely normal. Great! And we also got to have the physical therapist come see Reagan for the first time for an assessment. She does have some slight tightness and weakness on one side of her neck and this is what caused her to favor one side over the other causing the flat spot. The physical therapist worked with Reagan for a while and Reagan did really well with the stretching until the very end of the session and she was over it. :) The physical therapist also showed me some stretches to do with Reagan about 6-8 times a day. She said as long as we work with Reagan and she has PT once a week for a while, we should see some major improvement in her head and she will start to really strengthen those neck muscles. We are hoping and praying that this works for her and we don't have to go as far as a helmet. The physical therapist said that Reagan's tightness isn't as severe as she has seen, so we can definitely work with it.

Reagan baby gazing at the board next to the changing table

Addie's turn before bathtime...slight smile...I couldn't catch the big smile in time with the camera on my phoneReagan and Baylee smiling at each other during playtime today, it was SOOOO CUTE and made me cry. It was like they were saying, "Hey, sister!"

The Crock Pot Cookery

So, I have been testing out crock pot recipes on Brent for that past two weeks. Some have been good, some have been nooooot so good. I attempted my first pot roast today and I must say, it was delicious! I was so pleased with myself that I made Brent take pictures...my first pot roast Yeay! Yes, we had a photo shoot of our little dinner for two that I had cooking away in the crock pot all day. :)

Voila! Pot Roast, Potatoes, Carrots and Rolls

Here are some of our favorite recipes so far....

SPICY POTATO SOUP
1 lb. Ground Beef or Bulk Sausage, Browned
4 Cups cubed, peeled potatoes
1 small onion, chopped
3-8oz. cans tomato sauce
2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2-1 tsp. hot pepper sauce
water

1. Combine all ingredients except water in slow cooker. Add enough water to cover ingredients
2. Cover. Cook on low 8-10 hrs. or High 5 hrs. until potatoes are tender.

Our variations:
We used bulk HOT sausage Jimmy Dean
Cut the onion (Brent hates onion) and seasoned with a little onion salt
Added: Garlic salt, Crushed Red Pepper and Italian Seasoning to taste
You can adjust the spicy-ness of this dish by the sausage or hamburger, the hot sauce and the crushed red pepper

CORN CHOWDER
6 slices bacon, diced
1/2 cup chopped onions
2 cups diced, peeled potatoes
2-10 oz. pkgs. frozen corn
16 oz. can cream-style corn
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. seasoned salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 cups water
2 cups milk

1. In skillet, brown bacon until crisp. Remove bacon, reserving drippings.
2. Add onions and potatoes to skillet and saute for 5 minutes. Drain.
3. Combine all ingredients in slow cooker. Mix well.
4. Cover. Cook on low 6-7 hours.

Our variations:
We cut the onions, of course, and added in the bacon that was browned.

BRISKET-Mom's recipe
1 medium brisket
1 jar Claude's brisket sauce or Liquid Smoke
Garlic Salt
Onion Salt
Celery Salt

Sprinkle brisket liberally with all salts. Rub into the meat. Place meat upside down (fat side up) in the slow cooker ceramic dish. Pour the whole jar of Claude's over the meat. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight. Place in slow cooker on high for 4-6 hours the next morning.

BARBECUED PORK
2-3 lb. boneless pork roast, cubed
2 onions, chopped
12-oz bottle barbecue sauce
1/4 cup honey
hamburger buns

1.Place meat in slow cooker. Add onions, barbecue sauce and honey.
2. Cover. Cook on Low 6-8 hours.
3. Use two forks to shred meat.
4. Serve on buns with sauce.

Our variation:
Cut onions, we used Bullseye Barbecue Sauce.
We had so much of this leftover that we used it for burritos for lunch the next day with a little cheese and light sour cream...delicious!

POT ROAST
6 potatoes, peeled and quartered
6 carrots, peeled and halved
3 to 3 1/2 lb. chuck roast
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
10 3/4 oz. can cream of mushroom soup
Salt
Pepper
2-3 tbsp. flour
1/4 cup cold water

1. Place potatoes and carrots in slow cooker. Add meat. Top with soups.
2. Cover. Cook on Low 8-9 hours.
3. To make gravy, remove meat and vegetables to serving platter and keep warm. Pour juices into saucepan an bring to boil. Mix 2-3 Tbsp. flour with 1/4 cup cold water until smooth. Stir into juices in pan until thickened. Serve alongside as gravy.

BEEF ENCHILADA CASSEROLE
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 Tbsp. oil
10 oz. can of enchilada sauce
8 oz. can tomato sauce
salt to taste
pepper to taste
8 corn tortillas
1 lb. hamburger, browned
15 oz. can ranch-style beans, drained
11 oz. can Mexicorn, drained
3/4 lb. cheddar cheese, grated
2 1/4 oz. can sliced black olives, drained

1. Saute onion and garlic in oil in saucepan. Brown hamburger with onion and garlic. Stir in Enchilada sauce and tomato sauce. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Place two tortillas in bottom of slow cooker, layer 1/3 hamburger/sauce mixture on tortillas, top with 1/3 beans, 1/3 corn, 1/3 cheese and 1/3 black olives. Repeat layers 2 more times ending with black olives.
3. Cover. Cook on Low 6-8 hours.

Our Variation:
No Onions, No black olives. Served with tortilla chips and salsa.

Along with our crock pot experimentation, the girls have been doing great!!! Baylee slept 11 HOURS LAST NIGHT!!! We had a great night, two nights ago when all of the girls slept from 7:30 pm until 5:15 am. They are doing great! They have started holding onto toys and getting excited and smiling at toys they like. They are also very close to rolling over and we are working slowly on sitting up. Addie and Reagan LOVE the monkey toys we have hung from the top of their swings. We let them sit in their swings maybe once a day without the motion on and just play with the monkey toy and they just squeal and bat at him...so cute!

Reagan in her swing

Grammy has been here to see us A LOT lately. She has been a great help to me with the girls during appointments. She also helps me all the time by watching two girls when I have to take one girl for an appointment so I don't have to take all three with me to every appointment. Here is a picture of Grammy with Baylee Boo during playtime.

Grammy and Baylee

Baylee during tummy time
Addie loving her reflection in the mirror above her swing :)

We are very much looking forward to the next few weeks. Christy is coming back! YEAY! She is going to help me get the girls down to 0 feeds. Imagine it, 12 hours of sleep at 5 months old (3 months adjusted). She's awesome. :)

We are also looking forward to our nephew CJ's 4th birthday party! Star Wars theme...so cool. :) On the invitation, guests were encouraged to dress as their favorite Star Wars character and Brent said, "I need to find out what Clark (our brother-in-law, CJ's daddy) is wearing so we don't duplicate costumes." I said, "Honey, I am pretty sure that was meant to be directed at the kids invited." and he replied, "Well, where are we going to find three Princess Leia costumes for 5 month olds?" He's such a riot and keeps me laughing all day long. Love you, honey!

Pictures with Daddy!

Addie with her Daddy...all smiles

Addie...she likes to touch faces :)

Addie...bigger smiles!

Reagan baby...cutie!

Reagan again...smiling a little bit, we are working on the big grins :)

Baylee Boo loves to smile!

Addie not in the mood to smile at Mommy...

Daddy and Reagan baby

Daddy with Baylee Brynn
Addie and Daddy...still smiling. She loves her Daddy.

4 Month Check-up & Our Oldest Friend Matthew

The girls' had their 4 month checkup at the pedi on Thursday. 3 hours at the doctor's office later (seriously....3 hours) here is what we know:

• All girls are off of their iron supplement. Yeay! One less thing!
• Baylee Boo is switching back over to Zantac from Reglan for her reflux. We didn't want to keep her on Reglan for too long because of some potential side effects.
• Baylee has an appointment with the ENT (Ear, Nose & Throat) specialist in about 2 weeks to look at her tongue. The connective tissue below her tongue is connected really close to the very tip of her tongue, making it hard for her to reach her tongue to the top of her mouth. This makes it hard for her to soothe herself by sucking on the roof of her mouth and also makes it hard for her to close off the flow of a nipple on a bottle which is why she is still on Preemie nipples. We also believe this will cause issues with speech development down the road and we would like to nip that in the bud right now by getting that connective tissue clipped if at all possible. We also would like to get it clipped now rather than later so she won't remember the experience at all. :) Our pedi said she "wasn't going to touch it with a 10-foot pole..." Don't know exactly why pediatricians are so hesitant these days, we have heard this can be rather common and we didn't expect to have to be referred to an ENT. Oh well, we will see where we get with the next doc.

Baylee Boo - "Ooooooo Ahhhh..."

• Reagan has a flat spot that has developed on the back, right side of her head. Having Reagan sleep on her back, as we are told to do these days, has caused this. We also believe that Reagan has some stiffening of the neck muscles on the left side of her neck which causes her to comfortably lay on her right side all of the time. We have a CT scan scheduled for next week to make sure her skull plates have not already fused together making the flat spot permanent (which we don't expect to be the case) and then we will start some physical therapy for Reagan to help relax those neck muscles so she can lay on the other side and even out her head. If all else fails, and as a last resort, we may have to get a helmet for her to sleep in to round out that side...we will see.

Reagan Baby - She likes checkin out the stars and her reflection in the mirror above her...


• All of the girls have a little cough with some congestion. The pedi said it wasn't in their lungs at all, just up in their noses. Baylee was wheezing a little during the appointment so the pedi gave her a breathing treatment while we were there and she did improve. So we are doing breathing treatments for Baylee as needed for wheezing. Hopefully, the girls will get over this crud so we can get back to sleep training. :)

Addie Bear -"I don't know about these things, Mom..."

• The girls also got their 4 month shots...all 4 of them. It is always hard to watch, but after 2.5 hours of dressing, undressing and redressing, poking and proding...they were tired, hungry and OVER the doctor's office so that made things a little more stressful. I was expecting a crazy night because of the messed up schedule they were on, but Baylee woke twice to be fed, Addison once and Reagan not at all. :) Progress.

I think that is it! Whew!

As far as the girls' physical development:

Reagan - 13 lbs. 7 oz. and 23.25 inches long

Addison - 13 lbs. 2 oz. and 23.5 inches long

Baylee - 12 lbs. 13 oz. and 22.5 inches long

The girls are charting exactly average for a 4 month old child even though they were premature. They are in the 90th+ percentile for adjusted age (2 months old) for their weight and height.

Also, while we were loading up to leave the doctor's office in the triplet stroller, a mom came out of her waiting room to ask about our triplets and her little 3 and 1/2 year old triplets followed her out of the waiting room. 2 girls and a boy and they were SO CUTE! She asked us a few questions and then mouthed "This is much easier..." referring to her 3 - 3 and 1/2 year olds. :) I sure hope so.

Today the girls' had a visit from their first and oldest friend, Matthew McKown!

Addison and Matthew had a special bond...after a few minutes he didn't mind her touching his face so much. Haha!

Matthew with his girlfriends :)

"Mom! There's a boy on our blanket!"

Matthew - "I could get used to this..." :) CUTIE!

4 Months Old & A Few of Our Favorite Things

The girls will be 4 months old tomorrow...my how the time flies. Brent and I were looking at pictures of the girls from a few days after they were born and we were just amazed at how much they have changed. We don't even recognize them from those old pictures anymore. I thought I would share some of the "then" pictures and the "now" pictures I took of the girls this morning.

Baylee Brynn - 6 Days Old Baylee Brynn - 4 Months Old

Addison Ann - 6 Days Old

Addison Ann - 4 Months Old

Reagan Riley - 6 Days Old

Reagan Riley - 4 Months Old

The girls today in the cute onesies their Great Mamaw and Papaw gave them for Christmas!

A Few Of Our Favorite Things (Right Now)

1. Cute Bow Holders

The girls' Great Aunt Susan gave them these CUTE bow holders for Christmas. We just love them! The girls like to gaze at the little feathers floating in the breeze on the wall. Love, love them! Now we just need to fill them up with BOWS!

2. BumpName by InchBug

The girls' Gran gave them these neat rubber bands with their names etched into them that we use to distinguish whose bottle is whose before, during and after feedings. I was constantly picking up all of the bottles and then when I sat down to record who ate how much I would think "Dang, whose bottle was this?!" Not anymore. They are microwave and dishwasher safe and they also help us keep the bottles in place when we prop them for feedings because they are rubber. This would be a fantastic gift for a new mom, or a mom with a child or children in daycare as they need to keep track of bottles and cups and all kinds of things like that and of course any mom of multiples. :)

3. My CrockPot!

This is my re-newed favorite thing! I really don't have time to make dinner in the evenings. Even though the girls go down for a nap around 5:30, the nap is rocky at best, and they usually only make it to 6:00 or 6:30 before they are ready to get up. So even if I did have time to make dinner before Brent made it home around 5:45 or 6:00 each night, we wouldn't have time to eat it until after the girls are in bed around 7:30 or 8:00. I decided to try to use my crockpot more to save time in the evenings and I just love it. I can throw everything in at 8 am and leave it on low for 10 hours and then dinner is ready when we are ready for it. My mom gave me the "Fix it and Forget It" Cookbook one Christmas and we are going to be sampling a few recipes out of it this week. I made a bar-b-q brisket in it last week that I thought was fantastic! Brent thought it needed more flavor :). He said, "Your mom's brisket always has so much flavor..." Well, I think it is the Claude's Marinade that mom uses so I guess I will be using that next time. :)

4. Our PlayStation 3!

You might be asking yourself, "Whaaaaat? Michelle, I didn't think you were much of a video gamer..." Well, I'm not. :) Brent originally bought our PS3 for the Blueray capability because we watch a lot of movies and Brent likes the best picture possible (you know men...). But recently we discovered that we can RENT movies through our PlayStation 3. REALLY! We can! Our PS3 is hooked up to our wireless Internet network at home and Brent created an account with the PlayStation store and we can download entire New Released movies to our PS3 and we have 14 days to watch them. Awesome, right?! No more going to Blockbuster or the Red Box down the street and then having to worry about returning them on time. We watched two movies over the weekend (in stages during nap times :)) and the rental prices are just what you would get at Blockbuster but no driving and no returning. Love it! I bet Brent never thought he would catch me saying that I love our PS3. Haha!