Happy Halloween

I love dressing up the kids for Halloween.  This year I wanted to do a group theme while I still can.  I'm sure they will all have a mind of their own in a few short years and want to pick their own costumes.  Ben loves fire trucks, so I took the idea and ran with it.  Ben's costume is a fire chief raincoat and rain boots, black pants with duck tape stripes, and a fireman's hat.  The babies costumes were made from white onesies and hats with felt for the details.  Thanks to G-mama, Nannie Daniel, and cousin Ashley for putting the fire puppy costumes together and making my idea a reality.  There is no way I could have done all that by myself.  We are looking forward to going trick-or-treating with friends tonight.

The Daniel Fire Department at it's finest.

Fire Fighter, Ben

Chase, the Fire Puppy

Ryan, the Fire Puppy

Tyler, the Fire Puppy

The Joys of Potty Training

Yes, I know I'm probably crazy for trying to potty train Ben while taking care of three infants, but it has to happen sometime.  Four children in diapers is not easy on the pocket book.  Ben is now two and a half years old and ready.  Had it not been for everything that has gone on in our house the last eight months he might have been potty trained well before now.  Potty training takes a lot of time and energy, something I haven't had a lot of lately.  We have had the little potties out in our house for months.  Ben has used them from time to time when he gets the urge to go, but nothing consistent.  We have tried several times to wear underwear for the day or just go bare bottom to help him potty train.  The trouble is he usually loses interest after several hours or begs to have his diaper put back on him.  At school, they put him on the potty and he is happy to sit, but he hasn't actually used it.  So I had to figure out a way to get him interested and keep him interested.

Ben and I went to the store to get some bribes.  We bought Toy Story underwear and lots of snacks and juice to give him for using the potty and staying dry and clean.  Last Tuesday, when Ben woke up we began.  He got up took his diaper off, went potty, and put on his new Buzz Lightyear underwear.  All day I rewarded him not only for going to the potty, but randomly for staying clean and dry.  He only had one accident the entire day.  That night he was upset that he had to wear a diaper to bed, so we compromised and put the underwear over the diaper.  The next morning, he got up and wanted to go potty and put his underwear back on.  He also insisted on wearing underwear to school.  I didn't want to dampen his spirit so he went to school with it on. It didn't end well.  He came home with a bag of dirty clothes.  He was so disappointed.  Luckily his teachers were very good sports about it.  Now, he wears pull ups while he is at school, but I don't think he can tell the difference between them and a diaper.  When he is at home he wears underwear.  He is doing great.  He knows when he has to go and sometimes he goes potty without telling me he has to go.  He has had very few accidents.  Today, just a week later he was able to keep the same pair of underwear on all morning before nap time.  Not one single accident!  I put a diaper on him to take a nap. However, I just found his diaper in the bathroom floor.  He decided he had to go potty, took his diaper off, went potty, and got back in bed with no diaper.  I will have to wait to see if he makes it the entire nap time dry or if I will be cleaning up a mess when he wakes up.  I am so proud of him and the progress he has made in a week!

Update:  He woke up dry and brought underwear out so I could help him put it on. :)

Outing

The boys and I made it out of the house today!!!  We went to visit the Bible study group I have been involved in for the past year and a half.  It was so good to get out and spend time with some great ladies.  The boys enjoyed it too.  They were very well behaved.  

Aren't they cute in their matching overalls?  I wish you could see the
cute little lions on them.  Very appropriate for the Daniel's Den.

3 Months

Another month has passed and the boys are now 3 months old.  As with any baby, the first three months are usually the hardest and the same is said to be true about multiples.  Hopefully, things will continue to get "easier".  We now have a good routine and schedule down.  The boys eat at the same times every day starting a 7:00 am.   During the day they eat every three hours and they usually start waking up right around feeding time.  We also have the eat, play, sleep routine down now.  They were so sleepy at first they would eat and usually go right back to sleep.  Now after each feeding they like to "play" before going down for a nap.  The only feeding that varies in time is the middle of the night feeding when I wait for them to wake me up.  Derek feeds them around 11:00 pm before he goes to bed and they are now sleeping a 5-6 hour stretch before waking up to eat again.  I can't wait for the day when they start sleeping eight hours straight.  Hopefully, it won't be much longer.  We follow the Babywise plan.  It helps you to set a routine for your baby's day and teach them how to sleep.  I used this with Ben and absolutely loved it.  This time I actually read the chapter for multiples.  I skipped it the first time I read it thinking that doesn't apply to me...ha ha!  Goes to show you never know what God has planned for you.

I can't believe how they have grown over the last 3 months.  They have all doubled their birth weights!

                    Chase               Ryan               Tyler

Birth:           5 lbs 12 oz       5 lbs 0 oz        5 lbs 7 oz

1 month:       7 lbs 2 oz         6 lbs 5 oz        6 lbs 12 oz

2 months:     9 lbs 14 oz       8 lbs 14 oz      9 lbs 2 oz

3 months:     11 lbs 14oz      10 lbs 7 oz      10 lbs 13 oz

Here are our 3 month pictures.  Look at all those smiles!  

3 months old: Chase, Ryan, and Tyler

Chase

Ryan

Tyler

No More Co-Bedding

Since the boys have come home, we have put them in the same bed to sleep.  I have never seen anything more precious than three babies cuddling with each other while sleeping.  I would sometimes catch myself just standing over the crib watching them all sleep and cuddle together.  All the multiples books I read said multiples usually enjoy sleeping in the same bed and they can do so until they are able to roll over.  My babies are not rolling over but they are getting to big to all fit in the mini-crib together.  So we decided to put them to bed in each of their own cribs.  I am also hoping it will help them start to sleep through the night if they don't have someone squirming beside them.  They still aren't sleeping through the night, but they are going back to sleep a lot easier after the late night and middle of the night feedings now that they are all sleeping in their own beds.  That makes all the difference in the world when we can feed them and go right back to bed without having to go back in numerous times to get all three back to sleep.  I am going to miss seeing them all cuddled together.

The boys cuddling for the first time once everyone was home.

Handsome Boy

Ben, my handsome little boy.

Lunch with Daddy

We had a great opportunity to get out of the house today.  Daddy did not have a lunch appointment scheduled, which is a rare occasion.  I packed up all four boys and we grabbed some lunch from a drive through for a special lunch appointment.   It was great to get out of the house if only for a brief time.  Ben loves to go to Daddy's work and ride the elevator to his office.  His favorite part was eating the candy Daddy had there.  The babies were not as happy.  They do not care for their car seats.  They haven't had to spend very much time in them.  We are going to have to keep looking for opportunities to get out and about although I was totally exhausted when we got home.  This was the triplets first real outing besides the doctor's office and our first outing as a family!

Daddy and his future accountants.

Under House Arrest

Some days I feel like I am under house arrest.  For the past six months I have barely left the house.  It all started in mid-April when I went on bed rest.  For three months, the only times I left the house were for doctor's appointments and the seldom escape from the house for a special occasion.  Since the babies were born, it hasn't changed.  I rarely leave the house.  I go to our Bible study group on Sunday nights, I occasionally drop Ben off or pick him up from school when I don't have help lined up, and I sometimes make rare escapes from the house by myself to run errands or go on a date with Derek.

In the beginning, we had to protect the babies fragile immune systems.  Premature babies are more susceptible to illness.  When Chase and Tyler were released from the NICU we were advised to not take them out around a lot of people for 6-8 weeks.  So we decided to keep them at home until they were two months old.  Well, now they are three months old and we still haven't taken them out of the house accept to the doctor's office.  Why? The logistics of taking three babies any where is difficult.  It's a lot of work to load up three babies.  Up until recently, I haven't had the energy to do it.  It has taken some time for me to rebuild my energy after being on bed rest for three months, recovering from surgery, all the while taking care of 4 children and getting up in the middle of the night for the last three months.  Now, I am itching to get out of the house.

I want to get them out, but I also realize I have to be smart about it.  October is the beginning of RSV season.  I will have to be extra careful so that I keep them healthy.  The last thing I want to do is have three sick babies.  There has to be a way to find a good balance of getting them out of the house while keeping them healthy.  I think it will be good for all of us to start getting out of the house.  I am ready to get back to life as we knew it.