I just realized that I forgot to include weight updates in my 5 month update from a couple of days ago. So, as of 5 months 3 days, their weights are as follows:
Ava: 12 pounds 8 oz. - gained 1 lb. 8 oz. this month - 12th percentile
Lia: 16 pounds 8 oz. - gained 1 pound 10 oz. this month - 84th percentile
Mya: 14 pounds 13 oz. - gained 1 pound 3 oz. this month - 34th percentile
So, I think that I had written down the wrong info last month when I thought they said Mya was in the 65th percentile. I think it was more like the 35th or so according to my internet growth chart:
http://www.infantchart.com/
Is Lia ever going to slow down!?! 84th percentile! They are all eating pretty close to the same amount these days...if anything, Lia eats less because she always sleeps through the night, so the other girls often get one more bottle than she does. Yet, she continues to pull ahead on weight. Mya has stayed at about the same percentile, so she is growing steadily, and Ava keeps getting further up onto the growth chart :)
Never in my wildest dreams did I think that my 34 week preemies would weigh this much at 5 months old!
Pregnancy and life with triplet girls and their big brother and sister!
Lilypie Premature Baby tickers
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Monday, July 4, 2011
Happy 4th of July & Happy 5 Months!
It is hard to believe that the girls will soon be 6 months old! I'm afraid that their first 4th of July will be rather uneventful. I am not even close to brave enough to take them to the mob scene downtown today & I figure it is not worth messing around with their 8 pm bedtime to take them to see fireworks that they couldn't care less about and would probably sleep through, anyway. Instead, we will be celebrating by heading to the Lake tomorrow for a couple of days to stay at Grandma & Grandpa's condo. This will be the girls' first overnight trip anywhere. Hopefully I will have the opportunity to take Simone and Noa swimming and most importantly, get a little color to my shockingly, blindingly, white skin. Keeping my fingers crossed that we are able to maintain our schedule with the babies during our little mini vacation.
Speaking of schedules, the girls are 100% committed to their 8 pm bedtime which has been awesome. It gives me some time after they are down for the night to relax. I wish! More like, it gives me time to pick up the house, wash bottles, make bottles, fold laundry, make lunches, etc. etc... Oh well, it beats trying to do all of that while the babies are awake! Lia is still my champion sleeper, usually sleeping anywhere from 10 to 12 hours a night. Mya and Ava are still not 100% on board. Lately they have been taking turns sleeping through the night. When they do get up, it is usually a quick change and feed and right back to bed 15-20 minutes later, so we can't complain too much about that. I definitely can't complain because I still have Mom and Dana each helping with overnights a couple of days a week so I am usually well rested for work.
We have started baby foods the past couple of weeks. I was hesitant with as busy as we already are, I just wasn't sure how we would fit one more thing into their schedule, but it has been working out so far. So far, we have tried cereal mixed with applesauce, squash and bananas. They seem to like everything, but we are still spending a lot of time scooping it back up off their chins. It will just take a little practice to learn to eat from a spoon.
Personality wise, they seem to have done a complete 180 from the time they were born. We used to think that Mya was the calm one, Lia was more on the demanding side and Ava would just kind of go with the flow. Well, Ava hasn't changed that much actually. Most days she is content to swing away. She is the smiliest of the group right now. If you just look at her and smile she usually smiles right back at you. And Mya, sure she's still calm, as long as you are devoting 100% of your attention to her 100% of the time. OK, that may be a bit of exaggeration, but she definitely likes your undivided attention and she wants to be talked to all the time. She can go from perfectly happy to hysterical in a matter of a heartbeat if she feels ignored. She is just a bit of a princess. She is also a bit of a stinker. If her and her sisters are laying on the floor, she will maneuver a way to turn her entire body around so that she can kick the crud out of the other two. And Lia, well, Lia is usually just a fat, happy baby. As long as you don't miss her feeding time, she is usually good to go. The look of excitement on her face when she gets to try a new food is priceless!
The most exciting event of the past month was the birth of my niece Audrey. I can't wait for all the girls to start having playdates. She was born on June 16th (yes, another June birthday) weighing in at 8 pounds 15 oz.. She is definitely a sweetie. It astonishes me to think that the girls were less than half her size just 5 short months ago. It's hard for me to even picture anymore!
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Another big deal around here is that Noa is now a TV star! I think that I have mentioned that Noa is a bit of a dinosaur nut. Well, check out how he managed to turn his news interview about T-ball into the Noa Dinosaur Show!
Noa just had his last day of summer school on Friday, so he has a little bit of time off until his real first day of kindergarten. This summer school program is awesome because I feel much better about him going to school now and I know that he will be prepared and confident on his first day.
Simone has spent the summer so far doing what most pre-teen girls do...hiding from her parents. She has spent the vast majority of the summer hiding out in the "cave" in the basement, only emerging when threatened. She has done a better job of helping with the girls lately, especially when grandma or nana are here. She has actually even changed a few diapers! She enjoys picking out their clothes for nana, although I am amazed at how she manages to find something not pink to put on them every day!
Well, duty calls (ie babies scream), so I hope everyone has a safe and happy 4th of July! Here are a few more pictures from the past month.
Speaking of schedules, the girls are 100% committed to their 8 pm bedtime which has been awesome. It gives me some time after they are down for the night to relax. I wish! More like, it gives me time to pick up the house, wash bottles, make bottles, fold laundry, make lunches, etc. etc... Oh well, it beats trying to do all of that while the babies are awake! Lia is still my champion sleeper, usually sleeping anywhere from 10 to 12 hours a night. Mya and Ava are still not 100% on board. Lately they have been taking turns sleeping through the night. When they do get up, it is usually a quick change and feed and right back to bed 15-20 minutes later, so we can't complain too much about that. I definitely can't complain because I still have Mom and Dana each helping with overnights a couple of days a week so I am usually well rested for work.
We have started baby foods the past couple of weeks. I was hesitant with as busy as we already are, I just wasn't sure how we would fit one more thing into their schedule, but it has been working out so far. So far, we have tried cereal mixed with applesauce, squash and bananas. They seem to like everything, but we are still spending a lot of time scooping it back up off their chins. It will just take a little practice to learn to eat from a spoon.
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| Mya |
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| Ava |
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| Lia |
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| Everybody just hanging out being happy, then... |
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| Mya scoots around and gears up for one of her powerhouse kicks. |
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"Come on, let me have my fun!" |
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| Matt and Audrey |
Another big deal around here is that Noa is now a TV star! I think that I have mentioned that Noa is a bit of a dinosaur nut. Well, check out how he managed to turn his news interview about T-ball into the Noa Dinosaur Show!
Noa just had his last day of summer school on Friday, so he has a little bit of time off until his real first day of kindergarten. This summer school program is awesome because I feel much better about him going to school now and I know that he will be prepared and confident on his first day.
Simone has spent the summer so far doing what most pre-teen girls do...hiding from her parents. She has spent the vast majority of the summer hiding out in the "cave" in the basement, only emerging when threatened. She has done a better job of helping with the girls lately, especially when grandma or nana are here. She has actually even changed a few diapers! She enjoys picking out their clothes for nana, although I am amazed at how she manages to find something not pink to put on them every day!
Well, duty calls (ie babies scream), so I hope everyone has a safe and happy 4th of July! Here are a few more pictures from the past month.
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| Lia |
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| Mya |
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| Ava |
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| Ava |
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| Lia - wearing my first attempt at making a tutu |
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| Ava, Mya, Lia |
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| Mya, Ava & Lia - Tummy Time before they start screaming |
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| Ava, Lia and Mya - Happy 4th of July! - decked out in red white & blue |
Friday, June 10, 2011
4 Months Old - Busy, Busy, Busy
It has been FOREVER since I have posted anything. Since I have been back at work, the days seem like an eternity, but the weeks fly by! Going back to work hasn't been as bad as I anticipated. While I do miss my babies, being around adults every day is almost like a mini vacation and has been good for my sanity and brain function. If only there was a way to work half as much I would have the best of both worlds. The girls were sleeping so good when I first went back to work, but that has gone a little bit down hill. A few weeks ago, Ava and Lia got congested and started waking up at night. They are better now, but are out of the routine of sleeping through the night. Fortunately, they usually eat quickly and go right back to sleep. I still have mom and Dana each spending the night a couple days a week to get up with the girls on the nights I work. I have started taking on the weekends by myself and it has been going pretty good.
So, I realized that I don't post nearly enough about Simone and Noa. Both have had some pretty significant events in the past couple of months. Simone has become an Honor Star at church. It is something she has been working towards for several years now and gone to weekly classes and put in a lot of time and effort. In May there was a ceremony to celebrate their accomplishment.
Simone also had her 5th grade promotion at the end of May. This was her last year in elementary school and next year she will be moving on to middle school...a depressing thought for dear old mom :( We were very proud of Simone for receiving the business partnership award for her class for showing outstanding leadership skills!
Noa also had a couple of big events in the past couple of weeks. First we celebrated his 5th birthday which was May 31st, the same day that Dad/Grandpa turned 60. We also celebrated my nephew Andrew's 11th birthday on the same day. For those of you that haven't talked to Noa lately, he has become quite the dinosaur expert/fanatic, so of course we had a dinosaur themed party and pretty much every gift Noa received had something to do with dinosaurs.
And that was just the beginning of the "birthday season" in the Cunningham/Schmitz households. June 3rd, 4th and 5th brought birthdays for Munai (Nana), Aunt Becky and Wade. In addition, we have Uncle Kenny (6/7), Aunt Dana (6/11), Paulo (6/12), Uncle Matt (6/14) and Me (6/15). To add to the madness, we will also be welcoming my brother Matt's daughter Audrey Rose on June 16th if all goes according to plan. Hmmm...I hope I remembered everyone and I am not 100% guaranteeing I didn't get some of the dates mixed up...my brain is kind of mush most days! Anyway, Happy Birthday to all!
Noa also started his first day of pre-kindergarten summer school. It is a program where kids who are entering kindergarten in the fall can go to school during summer school in order to get used to the classroom and the routines. After the first day which brought two calls from the teacher (surprise,surprise), Noa has transitioned well. We have been letting him ride the bus which he loves! Here are some pictures of him waiting at the bus stop on the first day, and a video of our bus stop conversation that morning.
The babies had their four month check up this week and the stats are as follows:
Ava - 11 lbs. (3rd %) 22 inches (8th %)
Lia - 14 lbs. 14 oz. (75th%) 24 inches (50th %)
Mya - 13 lbs. 10 oz. (65th%) 24 inches (50th%)
The percentiles listed above are for full term 4 month old babies, not preemies. So, Lia, for example, is bigger than 75% of full term 4 month old babies! There is not much preemie about Lia and Mya anymore. Both are bigger than average. And the most exciting news is that little Ava has finally made her way onto the growth chart and I am sure that she will continue to climb.
I am sure that there is much more to report in babyland, but I am kind of drawing a blank right now. We are trying to work on things like pushing up when they are on their tummies, and hopefully rolling over in the near future. The pediatrician has told us we can start solids anytime we feel ready...not sure, though, if I can possibly fit one more thing into our day. We will probably go ahead and start trying cereal occasionally to get them used to it.
The babies have started becoming extremely sociable. The are starting to coo and all 3 are giving lots of big smiles in response to people talking to them, especially in the mornings when they are at their happiest. Just in the past couple of days, Ava and Mya have started laughing out loud which is hilarious! Hopefully I will get it on video sometime soon. And Lia has started amusing herself by blowing bubbles. We also found that the girls LOVE being read to. We set their chairs up into a reading circle and they will give us their complete and undivided attention most days while we read. They even seem to look at the books. It is good that they enjoy this because, as many of you know, my profession (Scholastic book distribution) means that my kids have large quantities of books at their disposal!
Well, hopefully it will not be so long before I am able to post again! Below are some pictures of the girls smiling and a few others. I hope everyone is enjoying their summer!
So, I realized that I don't post nearly enough about Simone and Noa. Both have had some pretty significant events in the past couple of months. Simone has become an Honor Star at church. It is something she has been working towards for several years now and gone to weekly classes and put in a lot of time and effort. In May there was a ceremony to celebrate their accomplishment.
Simone also had her 5th grade promotion at the end of May. This was her last year in elementary school and next year she will be moving on to middle school...a depressing thought for dear old mom :( We were very proud of Simone for receiving the business partnership award for her class for showing outstanding leadership skills!
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| Me, Simone and Wade |
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| Grandma, Simone and Aunt Dana |
Noa also had a couple of big events in the past couple of weeks. First we celebrated his 5th birthday which was May 31st, the same day that Dad/Grandpa turned 60. We also celebrated my nephew Andrew's 11th birthday on the same day. For those of you that haven't talked to Noa lately, he has become quite the dinosaur expert/fanatic, so of course we had a dinosaur themed party and pretty much every gift Noa received had something to do with dinosaurs.
And that was just the beginning of the "birthday season" in the Cunningham/Schmitz households. June 3rd, 4th and 5th brought birthdays for Munai (Nana), Aunt Becky and Wade. In addition, we have Uncle Kenny (6/7), Aunt Dana (6/11), Paulo (6/12), Uncle Matt (6/14) and Me (6/15). To add to the madness, we will also be welcoming my brother Matt's daughter Audrey Rose on June 16th if all goes according to plan. Hmmm...I hope I remembered everyone and I am not 100% guaranteeing I didn't get some of the dates mixed up...my brain is kind of mush most days! Anyway, Happy Birthday to all!
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| Lia, Mya and Ava wishing Daddy a Happy Birthday |
Noa also started his first day of pre-kindergarten summer school. It is a program where kids who are entering kindergarten in the fall can go to school during summer school in order to get used to the classroom and the routines. After the first day which brought two calls from the teacher (surprise,surprise), Noa has transitioned well. We have been letting him ride the bus which he loves! Here are some pictures of him waiting at the bus stop on the first day, and a video of our bus stop conversation that morning.
Ava - 11 lbs. (3rd %) 22 inches (8th %)
Lia - 14 lbs. 14 oz. (75th%) 24 inches (50th %)
Mya - 13 lbs. 10 oz. (65th%) 24 inches (50th%)
The percentiles listed above are for full term 4 month old babies, not preemies. So, Lia, for example, is bigger than 75% of full term 4 month old babies! There is not much preemie about Lia and Mya anymore. Both are bigger than average. And the most exciting news is that little Ava has finally made her way onto the growth chart and I am sure that she will continue to climb.
I am sure that there is much more to report in babyland, but I am kind of drawing a blank right now. We are trying to work on things like pushing up when they are on their tummies, and hopefully rolling over in the near future. The pediatrician has told us we can start solids anytime we feel ready...not sure, though, if I can possibly fit one more thing into our day. We will probably go ahead and start trying cereal occasionally to get them used to it.
The babies have started becoming extremely sociable. The are starting to coo and all 3 are giving lots of big smiles in response to people talking to them, especially in the mornings when they are at their happiest. Just in the past couple of days, Ava and Mya have started laughing out loud which is hilarious! Hopefully I will get it on video sometime soon. And Lia has started amusing herself by blowing bubbles. We also found that the girls LOVE being read to. We set their chairs up into a reading circle and they will give us their complete and undivided attention most days while we read. They even seem to look at the books. It is good that they enjoy this because, as many of you know, my profession (Scholastic book distribution) means that my kids have large quantities of books at their disposal!
Well, hopefully it will not be so long before I am able to post again! Below are some pictures of the girls smiling and a few others. I hope everyone is enjoying their summer!
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| Ava |
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| Lia |
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| Mya |
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| Mya, Lia, Ava |
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| Hanging in the Bumbos |
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| Mya and Ava in the baby gym |
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| Ready for Storytime |
Friday, May 13, 2011
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
First Easter
Last weekend we celebrated the first family holiday with the babies. This resulted in us making two outings to grandparents houses over the weekend and I have to say that it went pretty well. The babies are good in the car and they are always happy when we visit others because they get held way more than they should! This weekend is the first time the babies got to meet Uncle Craig and Abbie. I was pretty proud of the girls that they did not snot, spit or puke on Craig. I think they sensed his fear and rather than acting on it, they decided to behave themselves ;)
There really hasn't been much else excitement around here. The girls are getting bigger and bigger all the time. As of yesterday their weights were:
Ava - 8 lbs. 12 oz.
Lia - 12 lbs. 7 oz.
Mya - 11 lbs. 5 oz.
Everyone is putting on about half a pound per week. Maybe someday Ava will catch up, but for now she is gaining weight at about the same pace as they are. They are getting closer and closer to sleeping through the night. We usually have at least one good 6 hour stretch out of all of the babies. We have stopped waking up all three to eat when the first one wakes up and just doing demand feeding at night. Some nights it works out great and other nights not so much. The past three nights we have had at least one baby sleep through the night so hopefully they are starting some good habits. It would be nice since I will sadly be heading back to work next Tuesday. I know that after 6 months off it is time, but I can't imagine how much I will miss being home with the kids. It will take a big group effort to keep things going once this happens. Hopefully we don't all fall apart! I'm sure it will be fine!
I am sure there are plenty of other things I should talk about, but they are all escaping me at the moment. We have been working on getting responsive smiles out of everyone. It doesn't happen easily, but with lots of attention and talking we are usually able to pull a smile out of them. They are starting to be awake more during the day which is more work, but hopefully it means that we are getting closer and closer to sleeping through the night on a regular basis.
I guess my next post will be as a working mother of 5 so wish me luck! Here are a few more pictures of the cuties..enjoy!
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| Uncle Craig with Mya, Lia and Ava |
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| Nana with Lia |
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| All my gorgeous kids...and me with my eyes closed, of course! |
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| Ava, Mya and Lia....Thanks Robin for cute matching outfits! |
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| Mya, Lia, Ava |
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| Aunt Dana with Ava, Lia and Mya |
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| Grandma, Grandpa, Ava, Mya and Lia |
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| Uncle Codey and Ava |
There really hasn't been much else excitement around here. The girls are getting bigger and bigger all the time. As of yesterday their weights were:
Ava - 8 lbs. 12 oz.
Lia - 12 lbs. 7 oz.
Mya - 11 lbs. 5 oz.
Everyone is putting on about half a pound per week. Maybe someday Ava will catch up, but for now she is gaining weight at about the same pace as they are. They are getting closer and closer to sleeping through the night. We usually have at least one good 6 hour stretch out of all of the babies. We have stopped waking up all three to eat when the first one wakes up and just doing demand feeding at night. Some nights it works out great and other nights not so much. The past three nights we have had at least one baby sleep through the night so hopefully they are starting some good habits. It would be nice since I will sadly be heading back to work next Tuesday. I know that after 6 months off it is time, but I can't imagine how much I will miss being home with the kids. It will take a big group effort to keep things going once this happens. Hopefully we don't all fall apart! I'm sure it will be fine!
I am sure there are plenty of other things I should talk about, but they are all escaping me at the moment. We have been working on getting responsive smiles out of everyone. It doesn't happen easily, but with lots of attention and talking we are usually able to pull a smile out of them. They are starting to be awake more during the day which is more work, but hopefully it means that we are getting closer and closer to sleeping through the night on a regular basis.
I guess my next post will be as a working mother of 5 so wish me luck! Here are a few more pictures of the cuties..enjoy!
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| Lia, Ava, Mya |
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| Mya |
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| Ava |
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| Lia |
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| Mya and me with a new haircut (finally!) |
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