8 Months

Eights months has been the perfect and easiest age so far and I use "easiest" loosely of course.  The boys are all sitting up now!  They seem much happier now that they can sit up and play.  It couldn't have happened at a better time with Derek in the thick of busy season and out of town for a couple of weeks this month.  The other bonus this month was the time change.  When the time changed in the fall the babies went from waking up at 7:00 am to 6:00 am and I was never able to get them readjusted and believe me I tried everything.  So when the time changed again this month I was determined to get them back to a 7:00 am wake up time again.  We kept everything the same the day before hoping that the time would change for us, but they would never know and their 6:00 am would become 7:00 am. I counted down the days for the time change. I couldn't wait for it to get here.  So what happened that first morning?  They woke up at the new 6:00 am!! What? How could this happen? That's right they woke up an hour earlier, but like I said I was determined and with the sun on my side I was able to get them to sleep to 7:00 am within the week.  Yay!  I don't know about you, but I like my sleep and 7:00 is so much better than 6:00 am.  We are on a great schedule now. We only eat 4 times a day!

Schedule
7:00 bottle, eat solids and play
9:00-11:00 nap
11:00 bottle, eat solids and play
1:00-3:00 nap
3:00 bottle, eat solids and play
5:00-6:00 short nap
6:30 bottle and bedtime routine
7:30 bedtime

We have been very adventurous this month going shopping and out to eat.  I took the babies on their first shopping trip to Target.  I put two in the stroller and one in the carrier and in we went.  I just had to pick up a prescription so it was doable, no big shopping trips with all three.  Derek and I also took all four boys to Akins Furniture in Fort Payne, Alabama to pick out a sectional for our living room.  It is amazing how well they all ride on car trips.  I am grateful for the nice quiet car rides because I know it won't be that way forever.  I also ventured out to Costco with the babies because we were desperately low on formula and baby wipes.  Those are two things that you don't want to run out of in my house.  I was able to put two in the cart (another plus to sitting up) and one in the carrier.  I filled my buggy and we were in, out and back in the car in 45 minutes.  The hardest part was getting all three out of the car seats and back in again. I have to move fast and be very strategic to keep everyone safe.  All three shopping trips were successful.  They love to be out of the house and are mesmerized by all the new sights.  This definitely works to my advantage.  The one thing that I am still not used when we go out in public are the looks, comments, and questions from people.  Yes, I know seeing one person with three babies at once is shocking.  I can't help but smile and laugh at myself when I go somewhere with them because I know how wild it looks.  Most people are in shock and intrigued at what they are seeing, some are very sweet and mean well with their comments and others are sadly down right rude and hurtful, but I'll save that topic for another day.

Tyler in the carrier with me at Costco

Ryan and Chase in the cart at Costco

"See my new teeth?"  There are four more on top for 6 total!

The teething phase is now upon us.  All three are chewing on anything they can get in their mouths.  Chase has been drooling like crazy for months now.  His first tooth broke through at the beginning of the month and within 2 weeks he had 6 teeth, 5 of which all came within 8 days of each other.  Despite having 6 teeth come in at once, Chase has taken it all in stride, as long as he had his pacifier.  Ryan and Tyler have yet to have a tooth break through, but I'm sure it won't be long.

Ryan

17 lbs 8 oz

Tyler

17 lbs 9 oz

Chase

19 lbs 8 oz

Chase, Ryan, and Tyler

Saying Goodbye

Derek and Maynard on the day we got him.

Last week we had to say goodbye to a wonderful family member.  Maynard has been a part of our family for 8 years.  Derek and I have had him our entire married life. He was our first baby and the greatest dog in the world.  We were nervous at first to take in a dog this big, but it was obvious very quickly that he was very sweet.  He was truly a big baby.  He captured our hearts in no time at all.  Maynard was the most well behaved dog and smart too.  We have so many wonderful memories of him.  He will be truly missed.

This is one of our favorite pictures of Maynard.

He loved to "go for a ride" especially in Derek's truck.  We never said those words unless we meant it because he would dance and whine until he was loaded up and ready to go.

Maynard's first Halloween with us.
 I dressed him up like the Chick-fil-a cow
and entered him the the local mall pet costume contest.

He thought he was a lap dog.

Maynard was the biggest lap dog I have ever met.  He may have been 130 pounds, but he still wanted to sit in your lap.  This was a common sight at our house.

He loved to give us hugs when he was younger.

In his early days, Derek and I were always greeted with a hug and a small kiss from Maynard as soon as we got home.

Maynard on the front porch

Maynard loved to lay on the front porch of our first house.  He would lay in the sun for hours.  We never worried about him running away.  All we had to say was "stay on the porch" and there he would stay until he was ready to come back inside.

July 2009

He Did It!

Tyler, Chase, Ryan

Thank you Erin for the adorable onesies.  Ryan looks like is really trying to put blame on Chase.  I'm sure there will be lots of this to come in my future...

All Smiles and Our First Tooth

We love to be outside, so we took advantage of the beautiful weather Sunday afternoon and fed the babies on the back porch.  I just love all their beautiful smiles.  Big brother was taking a nap to prepare for his special night with just Mom and Dad and the Disney Live show.

Chase
If you look close you can see his first tooth popped up last week!

Ryan

Tyler

Feeding Time

I am often asked how I feed three babies at the same time.  I start by placing each baby in a Boppie and propping their bottle with a blanket.  After they finish their bottle, I change their diaper, buckle them into their high chair seat and put on their bib.  I love the space saver high chair seats, but it makes it easier for us to just sit them on the floor in our living room (aka- baby central) instead of in our kitchen table chairs.  We will move them eventually when they are self feeding with finger foods.  I use one bowl and one spoon to feed them all from, unless someone is sick.  I go down the line and each one gets a bite.  Sometimes one of them will be impatiently hungry and they get extra bites of course.  Once everyone has had their fill they are cleaned up and ready to play.

We love our space saver high chairs

Ryan

Ryan

Tyler

Tyler

Chase

Chase

Tyler ready to play!

Triplet Baptism

Chase

Sunday was a very special day.  We were so honored to have so many friends and family present as the babies were baptized.  All the boys were so well behaved.  Even Ben stood quietly beside me on stage.

Ryan

Darin did a wonderful job with the baptism. It was very special to have him baptize our babies.  Darin and Leah were our first neighbors when we moved to Huntsville.  They are very special to our family.  Leah came and welcomed us to the neighborhood as our movers were unloading our stuff off the truck.  It had been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad moving day, but that is a whole other story.  She was so welcoming that I knew we were going to be okay here.

Tyler

I love how Darin said that each baby was baptized and presented to the church individually, because even though it's easy to think of them as a package deal, they are all seen individually by God.

The yummy food...

After the service, we invited our family to lunch. A wonderful caterer in town prepared the meal for us at her restaurant, Marketplace Cafe.  It was delicious and Margaret was so easy to work with.  

Enjoying the food and company

Pops and Nanny Jeffery

Aunt Bethany, Cousin Ashley, and Great Aunt Donna with the boys.

The whole gang

Our Family

Cute Jammies

Here are the boys the night before the baptism.  They were just bathed and so cute in their jammies we had to get a picture.

Chase, Ryan, Tyler