Happy Independence Day!!

A holiday weekend gives me the opportunity to catch up on things around here.  On Saturday, we returned from a whirlwind tour of McKinney - Norman - McKinney (with Daddy flying and driving back and forth from San Antonio).

On the positive side, the boys got to spend time with all their grandparents, their uncles, their second cousins, and many other "aunts" and "uncles" in Dallas.  On the down side, this was because Great Grandma Kaldahl passed away last Sunday.  Fortunately, Autumn and Jeff were able to spend time with Grandma the week before she passed, and she was able to see the boys several times over the previous six months.

Four Generations of Kaldahls!!

The trip to Norman was an exciting one for the boys.  Besides seeing Granddaddy Greg and Gigi, the boys had their first trip to the zoo.  They didn't really notice the animals too much but they did enjoy splashing around in the water.  It even managed to draw big smiles from the normally stoic Ezra.

The boys also go to run around outside Granddad and Gigi's backyard (a true honor).  They avoided the koi pond and instead, enjoyed bottomless plates of watermelon, cuties (procurred especially by Grandaddy Greg), and picking up sticks!

While the drive home to San Antonio was one of the toughest yet, everyone is happy to be home.  Baby Girl's nursery is painted, the front room was cleared out (at least for a day), and all of the boys' toys were waiting for them.  They have wasted little time getting back into their routine which includes waking up at 7am, milk, playtime, breakfast, playtime outside, nap, lunch, playtime inside, nap, dinner, playtime outside, fruit snack, baths, and bedtime around 8pm.  More importantly, daddy is happy to have his whole gang back together again for lots of wrestling, tickling, and the occasional reminder of discipline!!

A Visit From Dear Friends...

The past week plus a few days, we've been blessed to have our dear friends the Santoros visit us from our old stomping grounds, Arizona.

Mark and Jeff both had to go TDY for the week, so that left Autumn and Dawn with six kids to handle.  Fortunately, Jacob and Elijah have grown up to be really good boys so they were as much of  a help as they were a handful (Jeff is writing this so perhaps Dawn might have a different perspective ;-)  ).

You could tell our little brood of boys enjoyed watching how big boys played.  They would just watch Jacob and Elijah in everything they did.  They weren't necessarily ready to try many of the things they did, but the did get to play with them some.

Here's Ezra laughing at Jacob growling at him!

Everyone also had a blast on the new play area (play set and sand box).  This included playing on the play set, throwing sand around, and making ice cream and hills with the rocks.

Jacob (blue) directing his workers building their hill.

Elijah dumping sand on Trinity (FYI...she loved it!)

Looked so fun, Elijah dumped it on himself too!!

Finally, everyone settled down for some yummy watermelon.  As wild and crazy as all these kids could be, nothing settled them down like placing some watermelon on the table.  Everyone enjoyed their pieces and even sat still enough for their first group photos...

The first of hopefully MANY double family pictures together!!

It was a busy week for everyone involved but we truly loved it.  We call can't wait to get together again when our kids will be older and yes..the number of kids will increase by 33% (I'll let you figure out the math)!!

We're Back!!

After a 14 month hiatus we are going to try and be better about updating our blog.  It may not be perfect updates, but at least we can try to keep track of things a bit better...and maybe share a story or two!!

This past weekend (Memorial Day) Grandaddy Greg and Gigi came down to visit us and hang out with the boys.  I'd love to say we spent the weekend travelling all over San Antonio, but with the exception of a brief visit to the Alamo (minus Daddy), most of the weekend was spent getting the house together in preparation for Baby Girl's arrival in August.

The first major project was getting the boys' new outdoor play set set up.  Although Grandaddy and I thought it would take considerably longer, after just a couple of hours it was ready to go.

Although they were a bit skittish at first, they have come to enjoy crawling all over the play set.  Ezra and Gideon can already crawl up to the top level by themselves and Caleb only lacks the confidence to do so.

Gideon loves his new playset! 

 Caleb does too!!

Ezra loves playing in the tunnel!

 Everyone gets involved in the action!!

3 1/2 Month Dr Appt

The boys had a doctor's appointment on Wed.  I guess it was their 4 month appointment, but I'm honestly not sure what we call it.  But everything went well...even their first vaccinations :-(  They screamed like you would expect, but they have calmed down and so far are behaving as normal now that they are home.  So far, so good....

Most of all, we were curious about how much they weighed.  I think the last time we weighed them all together they were in the 8-9 lb range.  Today...they were in the 11-12 lb range which is a gain of almost 20-25% in just over a month!!  Pretty exciting.  Most importantly, they are all gaining on the preemie percentile chart.  If you recall...our first few appointments, they were not even making it onto the chart.  Now, their weights are all in the 63-83% range.  Those are still on the preemie chart, though, so most people still consider them small.

That's easy for them to say...we saw these guys at birth and they have more than doubled in size...and it is noticeable.

Caleb is our little heifer.  He weighed 12lb 4oz...almost a full pound more than his "younger" brothers.  But...he is the shortest...at 22.5 in.  The funny thing about Caleb is that his head circumference was in the 94th percentile....you'd have to see it to believe it.  The interesting thing is that during the pregnancy...all three of them measured larger than normal sized melons.  Hopefully that is a good sign of healthy brains!!

Gideon weighed the least...he was 11lb 2oz.  But...he was longer than Caleb at 23.1".  If you put the two side by side you really get the feeling that Caleb is gonna be a football player or catcher...and Gideon is gonna be the runner.  Gideon has long, slender legs.  His head was more proportional to his body too.  He still has adorably big eyes and we always love his smile!!  His reflux is not as bad as it used to be...but he still has moments where he either spits up a lot or is just clearly uncomfortable.  He actually had an ultrasound on his tummy a week or so ago...but all was normal so that was good.

Ezra weighed 11lb 5oz and was 23.4" long.  He hasn't been eating as well as the other two so I wouldn't be surprised if Gideon overtakes him in weight one of these days.  His lack of appetite earned him his own individual trip to the doctor, but they just think it is reflux or colic as well.  The frustrating part about his situation is the variety of advice we seem to get from different docs or PAs.  Some say, "Give him gripe water" other say "Don't give him grip water."  Well heck...we can just go on google to get that kind of advice.  Which we did...and since gripe water seems to work...we do it!!  :-)

We've taken the opportunity to take the boys out in public more.  We take them to church on Sundays which is fun.  For some of the hassle of having triplets...watching people get so excited to see your little boys is a definite joy.  Plus...the ladies there are so willing to help Autumn that in some ways...doing care time there is easier than at home!!  :-)

They also go on daily (sometimes twice daily) walks when the weather is nice...and we even went out for ice cream the other day.  Hopefully, if the weather is nice, Autumn and Granddaddy Greg will take the boys to National Harbor tomorrow.  But unfortunately, the forecast is not too great so that might be a weekend trip or something.

Anyways, that is about it....God Bless!

3 Month Pictures...

We don't have them yet.  But today was another milestone...the boys had their first professional portraits taken.  Autumn got the idea from a friend to have the boys pictures taken at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months.   So today was the first set and things went surprisingly well!!

First off...the photographers were really nice.  I'll hold off going into too much detail until we see the proofs (don't want to jinx the process and editing!).  But we were super pleased.

But more importantly...isn't this always the case...the boys did great!!  We scheduled it so the photographers would arrive just as we were finishing their 9am feeding since this is when the are in their best moods.  We had them in their first of two outfits (3rd set was in just diapers).  Once they figured out the lighting we were off.  As a whole, we found ways to get them to at least look in the general direction of the cameras (bells) and I think we got some good shots.

As a whole...I think they shots we get will be nice.  We took some group photos in their crib, individual shots and group shots on a blanket, group diaper shots, and some fun shots where they each faced in and then out like "spokes" on a wheel.  We also tried to get some family shots (with Teddy!).

By the time we were done, the boys were ready to eat again and staring to get fussy.  But they were amazingly well behaved and super calm during most of the shoot.  It will be so fun to get the proofs back and we'll be sure to post the best ones.  What will be more fun is looking back on these and comparing them to the next few months photos and seeing how quickly our little weeds are growing!!

God Bless!!

J

3 Months Old and a Trip to the Capital...

Well...it has been forever since I last posted.  Things have been very, very busy and seem to get more busy every day.  I suspect this will continue until I finish my Thesis.  It will be nice to come home at some point and be able to "leave" work at work.  I can't complain though.  My hours allow me to spend more time than usual at home...and is pretty flexible too.  Just gotta write that thesis!!

The boys are three months old today...and oh how they have grown.  The last time any of them was weighed was a few weeks ago.  Gideon had an unscheduled doctors visit because he wasn't keeping his formula / breast milk down.  He was quite a bit smaller than Caleb or Ezra so we were concerned he wasn't getting enough nutrients and calories.  But he weight just over 9lbs...and he was the small one.

Caleb feels like a huge monster compared to Ezra and Gideon.  It is funny to hold one of them for awhile...then to hold Caleb.  You can really notice a difference.  His appetite is really paying off.  He takes 4oz easily...5 oz occasionally...and for his final meal before bed time he takes about 5.5 oz.  He is still the most grumpy when he is hungry...but he seems more controlled than a few weeks ago.  His personality is also starting to show through more.  When he is happy...he has a really cute smile..sort of mischief looking!!

Caleb in his Bumbo

Caleb on the changing table

Gideon is still our happy little cutie pie.  You'd never know he was the most uncomfortable of the three.  If he isn't having reflux pain or spitting up his formula he is always smiling.  He is such a little treasure because his smile is infectious..and when you smile at him...he just smiles back bigger!!  The last week or so he is starting to take more milk at feeding times.  But he still spits a lot of it back up.  It isn't as bad as it used to be but we continue to pray he gets better so we know he is getting the nutrients he needs.  He is also so fun to hold because he will curl into you so quickly.

Gideon is always smiling!!

Except when he's sleeping!

Ezra is still Ezra.  He is sort of a cross between Caleb and Gideon.  He has a very cute side of him that has us continually discussing his future as a "baby model."  He has bright smiles and a big ole mouth without teeth!!  Like Caleb...he can have a grumpy side.  He seems to take after his big brother in his willingness to show his extreme dissatisfaction when not fed right when he wants.  He also has started this thing where he only takes a little bit at night...then screams bloody murder when you try to give him the rest of his bottle.  Very strange...but we just take it as his way of saying "No thanks...I'm done."  But he is still such a cute little baby...we love him...and his brothers to death!!

Ezra just looking around!!

Ezra loves to hold onto you when sleeping!!

RSV season has kept the boys indoors since they were born.  We decided it was nice enough to finally take them outside for an adventure.  Because of its unique relationship to Washington DC, we decided to have their first outing to the annual Cherry Blossom Festival.

As a whole, things went pretty good.  You might not believe that when I tell you we never made it to the festival itself...but in some ways...getting the boys out and just getting a feel for everything involved was as much of a success as anything.

The biggest hindrance was traffic....go figure.  We also had to have Gigi take the Metro into the city and meet us somewhere because with the boys...our SUV only has room for two adults (driver and passenger).  We also got stuck in traffic right when the boys feeding time was so we had to adjust a variety of things.

Ultimately, Autumn and her mom met up at the Washington Memorial and began to feed the boys while I spent another 15-20 minutes trying to find a place to park.  By the time I got to them, feeding time was almost done...but us adults needed to eat.  So...we found a concession stand...got some hot dogs and enjoyed a picnic outdoors.  After that...we decided to take what we learned and get out of town while we were ahead.  The boys had been really good up to that point...we were all in relatively high spirits...and we knew we had to deal with afternoon traffic.

It was a good little run.  We learned a lot and if nothing else...we certainly have the confidence and comfort with the Triple Decker stroller (pictured below) to go out whenever we want to.  I think we'll just avoid national events in the city.

Right now...the boys are sleeping, but I am gonna feed them one last time before going to bed.  The trip to the city did throw off their feeding times a bit and we want to be sure they get the calories they need.

Thanks for all the well wishes...I'll try to write again more quickly this time!!

God Bless!!

Echocardiogram for 3 please

Hey Ya'll
I thought I would update everyone on the boys.   First of all, being a mother to triplets has been a fantastic experience.  I have learned to multi-task tasks that I never dreamed of.  I can pump/nurse while giving one of the boys a binkie or rocking his bouncer, I can make myself a plate of lunch with a baby in my hand, everything is done in tandem.  The most difficult part about taking care of the boys for me is that you simply can't respond to everyones needs immediately.  You always feel guilty that one is crying as you feed another, so even when you are taking care of one, you feel you are neglecting another.

Yesterday the boys had their cardio appointments at Bethesda.  The boys each have small heart murmurs so they all needed EKG's and possibly echocardiograms.  The EKG's were done while I held each of them, they were wailing so we fed them each a bottle.  Unfortunately, they all had abnormal EKGs so they each needed to have echocardiograms.  When I was pregnant, I had an one of these...and it only took about 20 minutes.  With wiggly baby boys they take about 45 minutes each!!  So I held each boy while he squirmed and fought and eventually succumbed to sleep while the doc put the little gel probe over their little hearts.

Fortunately, things are pretty normal with the boys.  They all have small holes in their hearts but nothing to be overly concerned about yet.  Caleb and Gideon's hole are in the upper chamber and Ezra's is in the lower chamber.  Ezra's hole requires us to follow up at 1 year, the doc says it is normal and nothing to be alarmed about and hopefully the hole will close up by about 8 years of age.  Overall the visit took about 5 hours which was much longer than I thought.  Judging by the boys behavior they are pretty tired and so is mommy!

Besides the heart stuff, we also got each of them weighed.  I'm to the pont where I don't even remember their exact weights.  But Caleb is now the biggest and weighed about 9lb 8oz.  Ezra was close to that.  Gideon has fallen back a bit and only weighed about 8lb 8oz.  Unfortunately, he spits up so much of his "meal' due to reflux I worry he might not be getting as many calories as the other guys.  We are gonna talk to the doctor about changing his formula or maybe even trying soy milk based formula.

A