What We've Been Up To....

It's been over a month since I've blogged!  Time has flown by as usual. I finally uploaded some pictures yesterday, and was actually amazed at all we have done in the past month. It reminded me why I need to stay updated on this blog...because if I don't , I won't remember all the awesome little details of our day to day life!

So, here's what we've been up to...

At the beginning of June, we were at the Fair (yes, another fair. Brandon has alot of them):

At the fair, I carried Garrett for awhile in the cuddly wrap...and a lady (who had consumed a fair number of cocktails) stumbled up to me wondering "why is your baby so high?" After some clarification, it became evident that she thought I was pregnant....she didn't see Garrett's little legs sticking out the bottom of the wrap, and wondered why my "pregnant" belly was so high.  

Rylen loved the cars ride. The guy even stopped making him get off and just let him go round and round over and over again:

What else?

We did a couple of day trips to Adam Lake and Clear Lake:

Caught some frogs:

Caught some leeches:

 Took some naps:

There was a lot of cuteness happening:

Rhys discovered Garrett's feet:

And discovered that grabbing Garrett is a favourite past time of his:

We have since had to split the boys up into separate cribs as Rhys was getting a bit too grabby for Garrett's liking: one day we woke to Garrett howling, and discovered that his whole chubby cheek was clenched into Rhys' fist and being happily yanked by his smiling little brother.


What else have we been up to?

Oh yes, feeding babies, changing bums and all that good stuff:

And we've been doing alot of breastfeeding too, even Rylen:

At the end of the month we went to Winnipeg for an appointment for Rhys.
The road trip there was horrendous. The day after we arrived, my facebook status said: Survived another road trip to Winnipeg...just barely: 2 out of three kids pooped their pants, 2 out of three kids projectile vomited everywhere, 3 out of 3 kids cried/whined/yelled/fussed 90% of the drive. 2 out of 2 adults had a searing headache. Total roadside stops made: 5! We may have to just live here, don't think I can handle the drive back to Brandon on Monday!


It was so awful. But, it was worth it because we had a great time visiting family and friends,  and the drive home was textbook perfect with everyone sleeping except Mark who was driving (happily enjoying the peace and quiet).


So far it's been a pretty good summer and I am proud of ourselves for getting out and doing the things we enjoy, even though it takes a whole day to plan, pack and get organized for every outing we venture on.

Sleep

What's even better than a sleeping baby?

Two sleeping babies!

Heart to Heart

Garrett and Rhys love their bumbo chairs.

Lately, they have been enjoying having "chats" with each other while they relax in their bumbos.

It's pretty cute:

6 months

Today, my little guys are six months old (4 months corrected)!

I thought that time really flew by when Rylen was a baby, but this is ridiculous. Everything with these guys seems to be in fast forward. From the moment I went into labor, to this very minute, life has been crazy hectic and the days go by so quickly. I don't think my mind has really had time to catch up and process everything that has happened!

Garrett and Rhys are doing so well. I say it all the time, but I really can't believe how far they have come. From little 3 and 4 pound preemies to these chubby, smiley, happy babies. I remember when they were in the NICU, thinking that we were never going to get out of there and just move on and live our lives. But here we are!

Garrett and Rhys are pretty much on track developmentally for their adjusted age. They are smiling, laughing, talking, grabbing and holding onto toys and rolling over from tummy to back (Garrett actually despises rolling over. Every time it happens he freaks out and is quite irritated that such a travesty should occur!)

Rhys is a bit bigger than Garrett and he is getting into size 6 months clothes, while Garrett is still quite comfy in 3 month stuff. They are both in size 2 diapers.

Both guys still feed every 3 hours or so. At night, they do a small stretch of 4-5 hours from around 8pm to 1am. After that, they are awake every three hours and start their day around 7am. As a result, Mark and I are still doing our "shifts" and taking turns getting 5 hour stretches of sleep each.

Rhys is a pretty laid back baby. He has quite a bit of patience and is willing to go with the flow. If something does set him off, he starts off by jutting his lower lip out in a perfect pout while his eyes fill with tears. It's pretty much the saddest thing ever and is guaranteed to get him some attention ASAP.  Rhys has a big smile, and the cutest little chuckle when you tickle under his chin.

Garrett is Mr. Extreme. He is super happy and smiley. Or not. He has no patience whatsoever! When he's hungry, he wants to be fed yesterday. His cry is so loud and piercing. His smile is HUGE with a giant open mouth. And he LOVES to be admired. As soon as he catches somebody's eye, he bursts into this giant smile that draws you to him like a magnet. He's so sweet, and such a charmer.

These last six months have been crazy and stressful. Looking after two babies is a lot of work! Really, everything is very "task oriented". You feed, burp, change bums, and then move onto the next kid. There isn't much time left over for cuddles and all those little moments that make having a baby so enjoyable.

 But, we are finally feeling like we are settling into things. Garrett and Rhys are so much fun to interact with now and we are starting to really enjoy our time with them, rather than just feeling like we are feeding/burping/changing machines!

Today, in honor of their "six month birthday", I made the effort to coordinate their outfits and do a mini photo shoot. My goal was to get both of them smiling, but of course, getting babies to cooperate for photos is pretty much impossible.

Here's what I got! (Garrett is in orange, Rhys in grey)

A Year Ago...Our Journey Begins

I am big one for reminiscing. I'm always "remembering when" or relishing memories. I'm a sentimental person and have a hard time saying good bye to things. So, it's very typical of me to remember special dates, or things that happened on certain dates in years past.  Lately, I have been reminiscing of one year ago, when unbeknown to us our lives changed completely.

This past year for our family has been one filled with chaos and many ups and downs. It all started around this time last year. May 23rd to be exact. That was the day I took a positive pregnancy test (which of course I kept, and labelled "baby number two").

(Side note: I probably could set a world record for the person that has the most used pregnancy tests sitting in her nightstand. With Rylen, I kept taking them, as I got this thrill of pleasure at seeing the the + sign appear. And, as I stated before, I'm sentimental and so I couldn't bear to throw them away. With this last pregnancy, I only took two tests, but of course I kept them both. Anyone else out there keep their pregnancy tests?)

Anyways, I pulled out the pregnancy test the other day, and laughed at the label. Baby number two. Ha! Little did we know that it was actually baby number two, three and four cooking away in there. We were so sure that our plans had come to life. We wanted our second baby to be born in January and it looked like that's what we were going to get!

If there is anything we have learnt from this past year is that life cannot be planned! Sure, certain aspects can. But the big things, the things that we mere humans don't have control over, those things just happen, and there is nothing you can do about it!

(Another side note: When I was 38 weeks pregnant with Rylen, I saw a "clairvoyant" which I think is a fancy term for "psychic". I did it for the fun of it, not really having any specific questions or things I wanted to know. Anyways, this clairvoyant told me that she saw my life as a straight line, with very few ups and downs. She said I was a lucky person and that my life would be straightforward.  I asked her how many children I would have and her answer was vague. Nowhere in there did she say anything about triplets!!!! I wish I could see that same lady again and ask her if she "saw" the triplets and chose not to tell me....cause I'm sure if she did tell me I would have taken my money back and ran! Ha!)

Anyways, back on track. Life cannot be planned. It is a big lesson. Because Mark and I were planners. We thought we had it all figured out. And then things didn't go quite as planned. When more than one baby entered the picture, we had no clue how to cope.

I wish I could go back to the day that we found out about Garrett, Benjamin and Rhys. I wish I could enjoy it more, and marvel at the amazing gift we had been given. I wish I could erase all the stress and worry that immediately entered my mind. I know our reaction was normal and only natural, but I just wish I could have smiled and said "Great! Bring it on!" and sat back and enjoyed seeing my three healthy babies on the ultrasound.

Because now I know, that no matter what, our family can make it through anything!  The things we worried about initially are really no big deal. All that matters is that we are together, and we are healthy. This is a lesson that Ben taught us (thank you sweet Ben).

Stay tuned for more reminiscing. (Although some things I will forever ban from my memory...such as the extreme exhaustion during early pregnancy and my 5 day stint in a tent trailer during a heat wave on Mark's family farm at 12 weeks pregnant....we don't need to relive those things!)

Oh, and if you want to reminisce with me, click here to read about the day we found out about our triplets!

One of the pregnancy tests I took. Maybe I should have seen the 3+ as a sign! :-)

Birth Control Moment... (The Day I Washed the Floor Twice)

I will explain the title of this post a little further on....or maybe no explanation will be required!

So, just to set the scene...I had one baby with an ear infection. And one baby with croup. Thank goodness the three year old was at daycare or I may have ran away.

After getting back from the second trip to the walk-in clinic in two days, Garrett, who was on amoxicillin, decided to erase any doubt from my mind that he was intolerant to his medicine, by projectile vomitting all over the kitchen. And, I mean everywhere.  I actually slipped on a puddle of it and almost fell.

It wouldn't have been such a huge deal, and maybe wouldn't have nearly brought me to tears, except for the fact that I had literally just finished cleaning the remnants of his "Bumbo Poop" off the floor.

What is a "Bumbo Poop" you ask? Well, if you have a baby, and a Bumbo, your probably don't need an explanation.  But, for those of you who don't, a Bumbo is a plastic molded chair that looks space-agey and allows babies to sit up before they can actually do it on their own. Super cute, super fun.

Not so much fun when you poop while sitting in one.

You know when you take the garden hose and cover the end with your thumb and the water sprays everywhere under the high pressure??? Well, basically a "Bumbo Poop" is just that, except with poop, not water. Big explosion. Everywhere.

Garrett was literally dripping poop as I removed him from the Bumbo, hence why it got all over the floor.

Bathed him, washed the floor, and then he spews barf everywhere (think fire hydrant).

And, during all this, Rhys is alternately screaming and coughing up a lung.

That, my friends, is a birth control moment. In other words, anyone thinking of having a baby or in the age category where having a baby is possible, would think twice about it after viewing the scene at my house.

Mark and I often joke that things get so crazy around here, that we should really invite the high school over for a tour and then the teen pregnancy rate would plummet! Ha!

Anyways, as with all crazy moments, I survived. And even managed to have a good laugh about it afterwards. Garrett laughed too.

It's a good thing these guys are so cute!

May Long Weekend...Pseudo Camping

We love camping.

But we are terrified to do it this year with two babies. So far. Maybe as the summer progresses, we will gain the necessary courage to try and cram everyone and their stuff into our tent trailer.

But, for now, we will just pretend. Which is what we did today!

We drove to Adam Lake and visited friends who were camping there. Even though it was just a day trip, we still had to plan, organize and pack half the house up. On the list of items we brought: four changes of outfits for the babies (used two), three changes for Rylen (used all three), breast pump, bottles, and millions of burp cloths and blankets (we used all of them!)

But, it was totally worth it! We had such a great day. The weather was awesome and Rylen had a blast with his little friend. We had the convenience of our friends' super nice trailer, and the comfort of knowing that we were going to drive home and sleep in our own beds at night.

Garrett and Rhys did great despite both of them being sick. I think they enjoyed the fresh air and the new surroundings. Rylen loved the dirt, the bugs, and the beach.

 It totally reminded me of what is awesome about camping and why we love it so much.

I hope we get the courage to try this summer. Perhaps when Garrett and Rhys start sleeping longer stretches at night (waking up three times a night to feed babies in a tent trailer does not appeal to me).  But for now, I think we will stick to the day trips.

I am so excited for summer!