Baptism

The babies were baptized Sunday at St Patrick in Troy in a private ceremony.  They all did great with no tears. 

The deacon offered Austin a chance to splash a little holy water on his brothers and sister.  He was shy and wouldn't do it.....but....15 minutes later..... he changed his mind and was baptizing anything that would move including numerous cousins.

Here are some pictures from the day -

The recently baptized and big brother

Stangels

Sowers

Ryleigh, Leslie Noll & Keith Doseck

Cayden, Abby Sowers & Jason Prenger

Gabe, Kelly Sowers & Jay Sowers

Cayden from Kentucky

Weathering the Storm

The babies will turn 12 weeks old tomorrow. 
We've also reached the point where they have been home as many days as they were in the hospital. 

As of Friday, they weighed as follows:
Gabe  8 lbs, 10 ozs  (gained 15 ozs in 14 days since last doctor appt)
Cayden  8 lbs, 6 ozs (gained 11 ozs in 14 days)
Ryleigh   8 lbs, 3 ozs (gained 13 ozs in 14 days)

This past weekend we reduced the number of feedings from 7 to 6 and increased the amount at each feeding to 4 ounces.  Give or take 15 minutes, they eat at 830am, 1230pm, 430pm, 830pm,  1230am and 430am.  They have taken to the change well.

Night times have been much, much better the last few days, as we have worked hard to make sure they have been awake more during the day.  A book we read talked about all babies going through a difficult period that lasts two weeks anywhere from 8 to 12 weeks old.  The author refers to it as "The Storm."
We don't remember this from Austin, but we definitely had some thunder and lightning with the triplets.  Thank goodness we had overnight help with Chris for two weeks and Kelly for two weeks to help weather the storn.  Court's mom also spent a couple weeks with us in July and is always such a huge help.  Couple that with a lot of help from Court's dad, my mom and dad, all our siblings, various great aunts and many of our neighbors and friends......and...... we are keeping our heads above water.

We were treated to some awesome home made meals the last few weeks from Aunt Lois, the Kriskos, the Hensleys, Grandma Stangel, and the Fox's.  As Austin finishes the main course, he has taken to hollering for "Dessert!' as someone always seems to have baked something tasty for us. 

Courtney and I were even able to leave the house and go to dinner together for the first time on the 16th, as the Klopfensteins came over and watched the triplets and Austin for a couple hours to give us a much needed sanity break.

We are still working on potty training with Austin.  He has amassed quite the collection of pee stickers and will go in the potty a few times a day.  A friendly warning from him regarding impending #2's still eludes us usually though.  He did go one time in the potty though.  In addition to holding babies, he also has moved on to helping hold bottles and participating in the burping function....and, just yesterday, he was happy to jam a pacifier in his brothers mouths when they started to cry. 

Finally, the trips were baptized yesterday.  Everything went well......I will save details and pictures from that for another post this week.

Here are a few pictures from recent weeks......

Cayden, Ryleigh

Various babies

The Quiet after the Storm

Saying Goodbye to Aunt Kelly

Court's sister Kelly headed back to Florida today after spending most of the last two weeks at our house helping us with the babies and Austin.  Kelly works at an animal conservancy in Florida.  She is used to taking care of turtles, fish, and snakes but transitioned quite nicely to three newborns and a two year old.   She said that feeding a baby is not much different than a turtle, just more burping.

Austin had a ball with his aunt the last few weeks, and can't wait for "Keckie"  to come back soon.

She gave up her relaxing vacation days to spend time in our non-relaxing environment and we are eternally grateful to the self proclaimed Baby Whisperer.  

Thanks Kelly !

Mind Numbing Stats

The following happened at our house each week in July.

147 bottles are given.
This can take 25 minutes to 40 minutes depending on time of day and baby.  On average, I would say 30 minutes per bottle, so 74 hours a week.  This is generally split amongst three people with visitors, family/friends staying overnight, etc.  So, we are each spending close to 25 hours feeding bottles in a week per person.  Wow!

Roughly 210 diapers are changed (excluding Austin).
If you figure 5 minutes per diaper from beginning to end, that would be 18 hours per week spent changing diapers.

Makin' it look easy

Court's long time friend Chris stayed with us for 12 days at the beginning of July.  She works in child care and was an amazing help.  In an incredible act of selflessness, she spent her vacation time from work feeding babies, changing diapers and getting limited sleep.  I would have probably just went to the beach.....

Court and I were both sad to see her go on Saturday, and so was Austin who thought she was pretty cool and has continued to mention her this week.

 

10 weeks old

The triplets turned 10 weeks old yesterday.

We had a doctor appointment on Friday morning, and they weighed as follows

Gabe  7 lbs, 11 ozs  (gained 18 ozs in 17 days)
Cayden  7 lbs, 11 ozs (gained 21 ozs in 17 days)
Ryleigh   7 lbs, 6 ozs (gained 21 ozs in 17 days)

1+ oz a day is very good growth and the doctor was pleased.

Everyone is doing well health-wise. Gabe is the most trouble.  Each of the triplets are taking vitamins twice a day, fortified with iron, which is needed because of their prematurity.  The iron appears to make them constipated.  There is a lot of grunting and several days often elapse between BM's.  Gabe has struggled moreso than the others and is very uncomfortable / fussy at times.  We are working on some things to try and help him feel better. 

Their new night time feeding schedule includes delicious meals at 800pm, midnight, 400am and 800am.
They haven't taken to the new schedule as well as the last change, and usually are ready to eat 15-30 minutes prior to the scheduled time.  As we are not running a buffet, we hope in a few more days they will be transitioned to the new schedule.

Thanks to the Knostmans, Aunt Carrie, Grandma Stangel, the Hittepoles, the Dellers, the Burgassers, the Storchs, Aunt Nancy and the Ameys for providing some delicious meals in the last two weeks.  In addiiton, we received several meals from Courtney's friends in the Tri-State Multiples group. As you might guess, this is families/moms of twins, triplets, etc.  Courtney has received a lot of support from several of the moms in the group before and after the triplets were born.   It has been helpful for her to have some contacts (and now friends) that have been through the same unique experiences.

Court's sister from Florida flew into town Saturday and is staying with us a big part of the next two weeks to help out. .

Urine Luck, Another Update

We are happy to report that Austin is regulary peeing on the potty for us.  He went for the first time Monday in celebration of the 4th and continued with his new found skill on Tuesday.  Alas, the trips are still in diapers....

Latest Weights, Austin Update

As of Friday morning, unoffically, via the home scale:

Gabe  7 lbs, 5 ozs  (gained 12 ozs in 10 days)
Cayden  7 lbs, 2 ozs (gained 12 ozs in 10 days)
Ryleigh   6 lbs, 12 ozs (gained 11 ozs in 10 days)

We are very pleased they have continued to gain weight at 1+ oz a day under the slightly modified feeding program.  Next doctor appt is July 8 so hopefully they will keep up the weight gain and maybe we can stretch things out just a little further.    

Austin was very adamant about wanting to hold a baby tonight, so we gave it a shot.  He did great and was very calm and gentle and held Gabe on his own for several minutes.  This might be one of the best smiles we have ever captured on film-

Overall, Austin has done great with the trips.  He is without a doubt going through the terrible twos, but as far as the trips, he has been more interested and loving and has not shown any signs of jealousy or resentment.  He is a great kid with an amazing spirit that lights up our world as well as anyone he comes in contact with.  He has started to regain a lot of the independence he lost during the traumatic months of April and May when mom and dad had to spend a lot of time away from him.   The trips will always get extra attention because, well, they are triplets, but Austin will always be our first born and we have amazing memories of his first two years before being joined by the triumvirate.   God bless our little boy.