7 Months~ WOW!!

On Monday the boys turned 7 months old! I spent a lot of the day reflecting on the last 7 months and going back and looking at all their pictures, let's just say I was a little weepy ;) I don't have any new pictures uploaded yet but I do have a few minutes to write, so I thought I would take advantage of that.

Evan: The BRUTE! He is such a big boy and has recovered wonderfully. Besides the scars on his belly you would never know the battle for his life that he went through. (As an update, Simply Thick is still under investigation for it's link to causing NEC in preemies, so nothing to report yet: Simply Thick Update from the FDA ) Evan gives the biggest, cheekiest grins all day long. His legs kick nonstop, sometimes with his little brothers as casualties! He prefers to spend most of his time on his belly these days, but no crawling yet. He is great with his hands~ always grabbing toys or putting paci in and out of his mouth.

Payton: Our little peanut! He is about 2 pounds lighter than his bro's, and I can't stand it! I am use to chubby bubbie baby boys so this is hard for me :) He just doesn't like to drink his bottles. While his brothers take down 7-8oz, he tires after 4-6oz. He is loving the baby food these days though so I give him as much fruit/veggies/rice/oats as he wants. He is the cleanest eater too, barely needs a bib- I love it! He is such a sweetie and loves to hold on to you tight, so hard to put him down sometimes. He also loves to "grab" his brothers and have any type of contact with them that they will allow. He is definitely a morning person, and gets very tired by the end of the day but refuses to fall asleep- silly boy. We're working on it.

Riley: Such a squirrel! The "tiny" "Baby C" has sailed through the last 7 months with a mischievous grin on his face. He is still the most inquisitive and full of joy, but boy can he let you know when he's not happy! He loves to stand and be in the jumper. He is doing great with his bottles and the baby food and catching up to Evan in weight and was even longer than him at our last check! He looooves his hands, but not his brothers- he can get MAD when they are in his space too much (Ahem, Payton!)

These boys are about to switch to size 3 diapers and are into 9 month clothes now! It's hard to believe that September is coming. In September the boys are going to their 1st wedding. Uncle Danny and Haley are getting married on 9-10-11 at Lake Metigoshe. Brody is a ring bearer with his cousin, Drey. Let's hope they make it down the aisle together ;) Luckily weddings are filled with lots of people so hopefully we shouldn't have a problem having the trips well taken care of since Ben and I are both in the wedding party. Although I am kinda second-guessing the high heels I got to wear ;)

Weekend Travels

We had a busy weekend! After the 7am feeding Saturday morning G&G Waind were helping us load up the boys and all of the many bags and props that go along with a weekend trip for us- which is A LOT by the way!! We were impressively on the road by 8:09am! The road trip to Grand Forks to see the boy's great-grandpa Warren Waind went pretty smooth. We got to a gas station by 11:10am and fed the boys their bottles before heading to Gpa Waind's cousin's restaurant at Kings Walk Golf Course. It was great that Grandma Chari made arrangements for us to have the private dining room available to us as I don't think we would have made it any other way! We set up a blanket on the floor for the trips to stretch out on and got some great 4 generation photo's in too (although not on my camera, boo!) After lunch we took the crew back to the home where GGpa Warren lives and showed off the boys to all the other residents- it was the 1st time many of the old ladies had ever seen triplets- it made their day :) After the 3pm bottles we packed up and started our next 3 hour road trip of the day to cabin at Lake Metigoshe.

We timed everything perfectly- can't do it any other way- and got to the cabin in time to make more bottles, get beds set up, feed the babes, get them to bed, and enjoy some time on the deck before we all crashed! We woke up to a beautiful Sunday morning on the lake. We were able to fit in a pontoon ride, including a visit with aunt and uncle Waind, and lunch back at the cabin before packing up all of the bags and beds and heading back home to Minot. We were home before 6pm- just enough time to unload, make another batch of bottles, put the beds back together, feed/change the boys, and luckily they were just as tired as we were and went right to sleep:) It was a lot of work- but well worth it!! We realized a long time ago that most things we will do as a family of 6 with triplets will be exponentially harder and more tiresome, but we want to give our boys as many "normal" opportunities and outings as we can. I really have a case of the "Mondays" today, and the road trip has set Ben's back recovery back (boo!) but we are happy we were able to do it and most importantly introduce G-Gpa Warren to the boys.

 Brody LOVES to be outside at the Cabin

 E-P-R, I tricked Gma with the hats on who-was-who :) I can't lie though, I even got Riley and Evan mixed up once while they were wearing them!

 Brody was playing peek-a-boo with the trips

 It was pretty cool to watch this plane take off right next to us while we were on the pontoon ride

  Ben was the captain for a bit :) We had the triplets on the pontoon in their triple stroller while they napped, it worked out pretty good!

Fun in the SUN

We finally cleaned up and brought out Brody's water table since we had another gorgeous day on Sunday

We then decided to bring out the slip-n-slide that we planned on using at Brody's bday party before that was rained out...it was quite a hit! Even though B didn't get the concept entirely he still had a lot of fun.

The trips were dressed up in cute outfits my great-aunt brought back from Stugis in SD :) They rolled around for a bit and then I put them in their stroller to take their afternoon nap- it worked out perfectly! It felt good to be able to keep them on their schedule without being confined to our room in the basement :) will have to be more adventurous like this more often.

After the trips woke up from their nap we stripped them down so they could cool off a bit. My dad and brother came home from working on our house (they are AWESOME!!!) to join in on the fun. (check out the stink-eye Riley is giving Brody, it was soooo funny!!)

Our "little" family <3

Cousin Drey was not sure about the melted chocolate on his hand from reaching in the candy bag- it didn't phase Brody one bit though. These two are quite the pair these days!!

The Waind clan, missing Matt, Mel and Drey. We are all looking forward to Dan and Haley's wedding coming up in just a few weeks.

I didn't get a pic, but my mom also came over just in time to help feed the boys and go through the bedtime routine~ it truly was a day full of family love (and help!!)! After the trips went to bed my cousin and her bf cooked everyone dinner (who says tacos need lettuce?? haha!!) just in time for Bev and Terry arriving home from their weekend away. We ended the perfect day with a nice glass of wine on the deck, until the mosquitos ran us inside and off to bed :)

I can't tell you how nice it was to experience a "normal" day with our families! Our lives have been consumed by the "2011 Minot Flood" that we haven't much taken time for "normal family time." It was a spontaneous fun filled day. Ben and I had not been home together for an entire day with our boys in weeks; one of us has either been working, down at the flood house working or Ben has been laid up with his hurt back. We really enjoyed the time we had together and it was made even more special as the day went on and more family just started showing up! This is how we envisioned our lives would be and why we made the choice to move home, it's nice to see that days like this will become "the norm" as we make our way through the flood devastation. We have a loooooong way to go, but we will get there. The progress on the house has been huge with my dad and brother here. They came here as the rest of us have had to return to "work" and "reality." I haven't spent this much time with my dad and brother in years, it has been really special. We have had the best times during our "breaks" at the flood house and morning and late night convos with the extended family we have here at the Kongelf Casa ;)

I'm 3!!!

 Of course we had a Cars cupcake-cake!

 Becky and her youngest daughter, Adaleah, Laura, and I- nice to spend time with my sis's!

 Brody, Ellie, Bell, and Drey- the present-opening crew!

 Brody and Bell thought something was really funny! Love that these 2 are spending time together while my sis, Becky, and her family are here visiting from Colorado. 

 Brody is now prepared to get some work done on the "nasty" house (as he has termed it) on West Central

 We had to improvise with the piñata since it was raining outside. I wish I had the pic people were taking of Bell after the candy was all dropped- she sat down in the middle of it all and just dug in and enjoyed a sucker, it was too cute.

 The best pic I could come up with of EPR, they were not about to take a nice picture, it was too chaotic for them! Boy did they nap loooong after the party was over! 

Our 1st 4 generation picture :)

Even though we planned on splash splashing outside for B's bday party, we still had a great time inside since the weather didn't cooperate with us (we had an early lunchtime party, and the afternoon did turn out to be sunny and gorgeous- oh well). Brody was SO EXCITED to see his friends and family, he ran around squealing for about an hour before settling down to even think about food or presents. 

Brody has been 3 for only a few days, but it seems to be different already! MUCH HARDER! I kinda miss my sweet 2 year old ;) He has just been testing us a lot more the last few days we'll say! I am hoping that he is still recovering from the crazy fun-filled weekend (Grandpa Steve also turned 60!!) and coming down for a sugar high...my sweetie should be back soon, right?? Our next goal is of course, potty training! We started in Portland before the move, but then he got sick and when he was better it was too close to the big move to even think about trying to get him to tackle the potty. I am not sure what approach we will take, any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Honestly, we couldn't be more proud of our little boy, he fills our heart (and many others) with love every day. He is the best big brother the trips could ever have and the most amazing son a couple could dream up! Lately he has been going around telling everyone that he is "Mommy's Sweetie Pie" and he really is! His humor is contagious and he says the craziest things to get everyone laughing- he is simply.....the best :)

Happy 3rd Birthday Sweetie Pie!!! xoxoxoxoooo

Last pictures from Portland

We had pictures taken for a Full House Moms fundraiser during our last weeks in Portland and just received them. They were taken shortly after Evan's second surgery, you can see how skinny he is compared to Payton and Riley! It was a trying day as it was their nap time and they weren't very happy. Brody also wasn't feeling well as these were taken the day before he was ambulanced to OHSU in May.

The boys have already grown so much since these pics were taken! I hope we get into our house soon- I have only about a zillion pictures to hang up :) These pics make me miss my long hair :( Although I am not sure if I am ready to grow it out again- I think I'll get another cut soon. Brody's hair keeps getting shorter, so mine might as well too (If Ben's get any shorter we will have to get out the bic razor- Ha!)

We had a great day yesterday celebrating Brody's 3rd Birthday, will have to work on that post next :)

On the charts!

We went in for the boy's 6 month Dr apointment last week and they are all on the growth chart for their ACTUAL age instead of their adjusted age! This means they are on track for 6 month old growth, where before we always looked at the chart for their adjusted age (8 weeks younger). Mommy was very happy this :)

Evan: 16 lb 2 oz, 25.5 in
Payton: 14 lb 10 oz, 24.5 in
Riley: 15 lb 7 oz, 25.5 in

Riley, Evan and Payton at their appointment

Evan and Riley are in-between the 25th and 50th percentile and Payton made his mark on the 5th percentile curve. Dr. C was very thorough with the boys and the shots weren't even that bad. He is going to have us come back at 8 months and do hearing and vision re-checks and just to continue to establish them as patients. We are also now getting set up for the infant development program where a therapist will come to our house and work with the boys to make sure they are on track with their development given their prematurity. Our first intake visit is this Wednesday, I love home appointments! E and R continue to roll over both ways and often get very frustrated when they are on their bellies and can't move anywhere...Payton may just walk before he crawls- that boy has some strong legs and loves to stand. Payton and Riley are liking the rice cereal the most, Evan is not a fan. Maybe we will try a veggie this week.

We had a busy weekend and made a lot of progress at the house with the gutting, it's weird to say, but it's looking good! We have found the "bones" of the house are strong and in great condition. I think we should be spraying it with chemicals to kill any mold growth within the next day or two. Unfortunately Ben is still unable to work on it due to his back problems :( I hate seeing him in so much pain and his spirits are running low- this is the longest his pain has lasted since he originally bulged a disc in 2006. He is going back to the chiropractor today, we will see. The rest of our family and friends have really pulled together and I can't believe how hard EVERYONE has been working, we are so thankful.With the arrival of my brother from Martha's Vineyard and my dad from Jacksonville, FL, there is now 13 of us living under my aunt and uncle's roof! Now that's a full house.