Tonight's menu: Rice cereal for all!!

Tonight I started the boys on rice cereal! Our pediatrician in California had told me to wait until 5 months to start the boys on it so with Monday being their 5 month birthday, I figured why not start tonight? Eating solids is such an exciting venture for us! I decided to give them their "treat" at their 5pm bottle, so it could settle into their stomachs before they ate again at 7pm to go to bed. The instructions I got from my doctor (plus every other website and book I've read) say to give the baby 1 teaspoon of rice cereal to start. So I took 1 teaspoon of the dry rice powder flakes and mixed it with some formula to get it to a basically watery consistency. I was shocked to see how much "cereal" 1 teaspoon of the dry flakes actually goes! I thought I would make 1 teaspoon for each baby, but everyone I talked to said that for the first time (and even for the whole first week possibly) they will hardly take any of it and mostly spit it out because they don't know how to use a spoon and don't really know how to swallow, etc. So I figured I would use the 1 teaspoon in the bowl for all 3 of them tonight for the first time. I couldn't believe how well they did---they were so good! Dylan sucked his little spoon (it was MY baby spoon when I was a baby!) dry (I thought I was only going to give them 1 taste from the baby spoon) so I ended up giving him about 6 spoonfulls before I switched over to Andrew and believe me, he could have eaten a lot more of it! Their faces were priceless to see--each one trying to figure out the whole spoon thing! Check out the pictures!

Dylan eating rice cereal

Dylan was the first up....I wasn't sure how he would take the spoon--but he was amazing! Watching him, you'd think he ate with a spoon his entire life. He literally GULPED down that rice off the spoon! It was so funny to watch! Look out pizza shops--Dylan is starting (and mastering the first time!) solid foods!

Andrew eating rice cereal

Andrew was second up after Dylan. At first he was pretty unsure of the whole spoon thing and dribbled a lot down his chin. But then he seemed to get the hang of it after a few spoonfulls.

Danny eating rice cereal

Danny was the last one we fed. He did an excellent job! I wasn't sure if he was ready for it, but since I knew Drew & Dylan were, I figured he should just get it too. Well, he did better then Andrew! He took that rice like a champ! It was amazing to me to see how well these boys did with the spoon considering they haven't seen anything but a bottle their whole lives! Go Danny!

Danny the tickler

Here's a cute picture of Danny tickling Dylan's toes. It's fun to see the boys start to interact with each other, which they are finally starting to do more of.

Stacy visits!

One of my best friends from Villanova came to visit today! She works for Tiffany and they are sending her to Japan & Hawaii for to audit some shops, so I was so happy to see her before she is halfway around the world! The boys were very excited to meet Stacy "on the outside"---last October Stacy and her husband Kevin came out to California to visit us and I was newly pregnant (didn't even know triplets at that time!). So "officially" she had met the boys before, this was just the first time she could actually SEE them!! We had a great time this afternoon catching up and hanging out with some cute little men!

Dylan's response...

"Ok people, what is the big deal? Who cares about rolling over?? I am thinking of more important things...like when is my mommy going to stop giving me that silly formula and give me some REAL food? I'm talking pizza, cheese fries, burgers, steaks, you know, the good stuff. I am just going to milk this "youngest" thing and since I am the "baby" of the group, I can buy me some time before I have to roll over. Right now when mommy puts me on my tummy, I just like to snuggle on down and take a little nap."

Not to be outdone......

"Hi, it's me, Danny. You should have heard all the commotion last night Mommy made for Andrew just because he rolled over. I mean, it's really no big deal! So to prove it, I woke up this morning and when Mommy put me on my tummy before breakfast (this is BEFORE 8am folks!) I just rolled right over onto my back...and did it again, and again, and again. I would roll over, and she would put me right back on my tummy again, so I just kept on rolling to show her it's no big deal. Here's a picture she took of me right after I did it the first time."

"You shouldn't be surprised that I rolled over--I AM the OLDEST, remember?"

"I am such a big boy! Look out world--crawling is next!"

"I think that Andrew & I need to work on teaching Dylan to roll over now. I'm glad that I can check this 'rolling over' thing off my to-do list!"

The first to roll over is.......

"It's me, ANDREW!!!!!!"

"Mommy put me on my tummy on my play mat right before dinner-time. I rolled to my side, rocked back and forth a few times (I knew I had an audience watching--Mommy was right there holding Danny, Dylan was sitting right next to us, Uncle Kevin & one of my great grandmothers were watching, and my grandmother was in the next room)--so I had to give them a good show. So finally I just used some energy and gave a good old kick and rocked myself right onto my back. Boy you should have heard them cheering for me! Here is a picture of me right when I landed on my back! (Of course Mommy had her camera right there!)"


"I am such a big boy! I rolled over!"

"Let's have a party to celebrate!"

"Mom, did you put this in my baby book yet? I want everyone to know that I rolled over FIRST!"

Dylan's new socks

"Help Mom! My socks don't fit anymore!"

"Thanks for the new socks! They fit much better!"

"I love my new socks!"

"Did you know that I also wear different pj's then my brothers?"

"Look how cute I am in my pjs!"

Settling into the East Coast...

The boys have transitioned nicely to life on the east coast. I am working on getting them all together on a nap schedule, which so far has proven to be difficult. They eat their breakfast bottle at around 8am, and then ideally I would like all 3 of them to go down for a nap around 9ish, and sleep until about 10am or 10:30am. Right now, I might have one that does that, while the other two wake up earlier, or two that do, and the other doesn't sleep at all, etc. Then we eat our "lunchtime" bottle around 11am, and I am *trying* to have them be awake and have play time from the time they finish their bottle until their next bottle at 2pm. During this time I try to read books, have some tummy time, and just play/cuddle. It works some days keeping them up during those hours, but if 1 of the boys didn't sleep during their morning nap, then one of them gets tired during this period and takes a nap then. So it's rare that all 3 are sleeping at the same time right now!! Then after the 2pm bottle I have been trying to take them for a walk around 3pm for an hour, (in which they fall asleep). I try to wake them up at 4:15ish so they can play for 45 minutes before their 5pm dinner feeding, and then when they wake up at 4:15, that was the last time I let them fall asleep until their "bedtime" which has gotten earlier and earlier. I started out feeding them at 9pm, and these days they are getting tired/slightly cranky by about 6:45ish, change them by 7pm, nursery rhymes/singing until 7:30ish (hopefully they last that long, sometimes I am bouncing them around to stay awake just a little longer!) and then they take 3 sips of their bottle around 7:30ish (depending on the night) and they are OUT for the count. They are good about taking all or most of their bottle even though they are sleeping while they eat. We put them to bed when they are finished, which is usually around 8pm-ish....then my night begins :) I haven't wanted to blog about their sleeping habits, because I've been afraid to jinx anything, but I am happy to say that they are all sleeping really well during the night. Usually one of them wakes up around 3:30am-ish (and who that is depends on the night, it could and has been all 3 of them on different occasions), one wakes up around 4ish, and one wakes up between 4:30 and 5am. Each time one of them wakes up, they get a quick diaper change, and then take a bottle and immediately fall back asleep when they take a few sips of the bottle. So they are not up long. But that is pretty good considering they are pretty much asleep by 7:30pm--so to make it to even 3:30am is a good 8 hours!! Even though they go back to sleep again after their "middle of the night" bottle, they are pretty much all up again around 6am or 6:30am at the latest. I do have to say that Andrew slept through the night 2 nights ago--bed by 8pm and woke up at 6:30am!! That was only one night, but I just keep hoping he does it again!!! But it's really not bad with them waking up only once during the night!! What a change from what it used to be!! And it's only going to get better! I think by next weekend I will start them on some rice cereal and I am hoping that will make a little difference too!!
We miss Ryan, who is back in California. He's back there packing up the house, putting all our things in a POD, and doing lots of cleaning/repair work to the house to get it ready to go on the market by the beginning of Oct!! He's now officially moved back into his parent's house with the dogs. He is coming for a visit (and Kath & Jay's wedding!!) in the beginning of October and he can't wait to see the boys (and me too!) He'll probably come back one other time at the end of October and then the next time we'll see him will be in mid-Nov. when we move into the new house!!!
Phew, it's been so busy with packing, moving, traveling, getting organized here, but I think we're finally settling into a good routine here and the boys are of course thriving! I just posted a few more pics from today of the boys "hanging out" on a Saturday. They are getting so big and so cute!! Drew & Danny "blow bubbles" all the time and constantly have their fingers, fists and now thumbs in their mouths. They are so funny. I think that I can see some white little teeth buds on Drew's upper mounth, so maybe some teeth are about to appear sometime soon. He's awfully drooly lately, but not in any pain yet....so we'll see. Dylan is now catching up to the other boys in terms of his talking. Danny & Drew chit chat away all day long,and now Dylan is joining in as well. It makes for a loud house with all the babbling, but it's really funny to listen to. They are very serious about what they have to say. We just wish we could understand it! Drew & Danny are also laughing a lot now, sometimes when they are tickled and sometimes at just random things they think are funny. It's hilarous to hear their little giggles!! They are all eating well and getting so big! It's getting so fun to play with them as they get older like this...by the beginning of October they will be 5 months old!!

Dylan hanging out

Danny hanging out

Drew hanging out

Triplets visit Aunt Kathleen

My grandmother made all of our Christmas stockings by needlepoint. They are so beautiful and special and we love hanging them up every year (still!!) to see what surprises Santa will fill them with. When Ryan & I told her that we were pregnant, she got so excited to be able to make another stocking--for her first great-grandchild. She thought she would have plenty of time, no problem. Then a few weeks later we told her that it was twins. Still--no problem. She was excited to go out and pick another needlepoint pattern to make. Well--when we told her we were expecting TRIPLETS, that is when she realized that:
a) those little holes are awfully small,
b) 3 babies are a LOT!
c) Christmas will be here before we know it!
With all that in mind, she enlisted the help of her good friend, our Aunt Kathleen Campbell to make one of the stockings.
Today we took the boys to visit Aunt Kathleen and thank her for making Danny's stocking! It is absolutely beautiful and Danny is so lucky to have such a special stocking.

Danny says "thank you" to Aunt Kathleen

Drew & Dylan

Drew & Dylan hang out together!