We Survived!!! - Turning 1 Year

We have officially survived our first year of triplet-ness!!! We are now the proud parents of 3 absolutely adorable and amazing 1 year old kiddos. Reading back through all our entries over the last year and a half brings back so many memories, and tears to our eyes. We have been on a very unique journey, one we would not trade for the world. God has blessed us in so many ways, we do not even know where to start thanking him, with the exception of thanking him for handpicking us to be the parents of these 3 little people. 

All 3 are very much on the move, crawling everywhere and very fast at that. Maddy still hasn’t quite figured out how to get up on her hands and knees to crawl around, but finds it much easier just to drag herself around after her brothers. Their new favorite came to play is hide and chase. They love hiding behind corners and the furniture and love when you chase them around. They have all also found the enjoyment of having each other around. It is so fun to sit there and watch them play with each other and laugh and giggle together. It seriously can melt your heart!

We have also had an exciting last week. All 3 kids are now only taking 1 bottle per day (the bedtime bottle) and are making the transition from formula to whole milk much easier then we thought they would. We are so excited to be done with both phases, but it is sad at the same time, as our little babies are now very much turning into toddlers! Their favorite games to play are hide and seek, chase, peek a boo, they love giving high fives and lots of hugs.

Mason James

Mason has proved to be our biggest boy throughout this last year. At their 1 year checkup, we were very surprised to hear that he is in or around the 90^th percentile in weight, height and head circumference. He is weighing in at 24 lbs 8 oz and is now 2’7” tall. In 1 year, Mason has gained 19 lbs 11 oz!! He is by far the easiest one to get giggling and when he does, it honestly warms your heart. He is definitely the picky eater of the group. He prefers carbs over anything else. He wants to make sure everything he is about to put in his mouth is not mushy or wet in any way. He loves bread/toast, waffles, cheese, puffs and quesadillas.

Dylan Patrick

Our little monkey man is still always on the go. He is in the 50^th percentile across the board for weight, height and head circumference. He is weighing in at 21 lbs 9 oz and is 2’6”  tall. In 1 year, Dylan has gained 18lbs and 1 oz! He is by far our best eater. We think he is ready to be taken off baby food too, but Mason wouldn’t survive if we did. His favorite foods are grapes, PB&J, cheese and quesadillas. Dylan is proving to be our little dancer, as anytime he hears music from a toy or we turn the radio up at all, he will start bobbing his head and dancing. He has also be working on learning sign language and can tell you when he is ‘all done.’

Madelynn Grace

Our little princess has definitely proven that she is not to be left behind from her brothers. She is in the 60^th percentile for her weight, and 50^th for height and head circumference. She is giving Dylan a run for his money and is very close to catching up to him in weight. She is weighing in at 21lbs 4 oz and is 2’4.75”  tall. Maddy has gained a total of 19lbs 1oz over this last year. Maddy loves to pull herself up into a standing position and hold on to your hands, arms, shirt, whatever she can get her hands on. Just as long as it is some part of you. We call her our little cling-on. She is still very much in love with Kita, who is very quickly running out of hiding spots. Maddy also just recently has begun dancing when she hears a tune she likes. She also is a very good eater, loving almost everything you put in front of her. Some of her favorites are also waffles, toast, cheese and quesadillas as well.

Needless to say, we are very proud of the good job (and hard work) we did in getting these babies to catch up to their peers. Their doctor was very impressed with how far they have come this first year. I got tears in my eyes at the doctors office when he validated that all our hard work paid off to get these little beans to where they need to be. We look forward to the many, many years of memories our family will have in the future, and can not wait to share our journey with all of you. We are so blessed to have you all in our lives, and we can not thank each and everyone of you enough for supporting us from day 1.

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving Holiday, from our family to yours!

With Love,

Shawn, Beth, Mason, Dylan and Madelynn



11 months old!

11 months old… It is so crazy to think that in less than 4 weeks we will be the parents of 3 – 1 year olds! This past month has definitely been an exciting one for us. We officially have 3 babies that can pull themselves into standing positions, and both the boys are pro’s at putting themselves into a sitting position. All 3 are also on the move non-stop. Kita is learning that he is running out of hiding spots! Maddy still hasn’t quite conquered the whole up your knees crawling, but she just pulls herself along, occasionally getting up on one knee. I am beginning to think she has excellent upper body strength. We are taking bets on who is going to be the first one to walk between the boys. Our original guess was Dylan, as he has always been the first one to do everything, but we are starting to lean towards Mason, as he seems much, much more sure of himself and has started practicing standing up without holding onto anything. Dylan loves nothing more than to walk behind any toy that has wheels on it, but we think that he is a little too wild and just wants to go, go, go.  

Both the boys also had their 1^st haircut. Our friend Katee came over and worked hard to do it! They were so interested in what she was doing and would not hold still for a second. It was amazing that she was able to get it straight.

We also had our family fall pics done, again by our friend Katee. We are so blessed to have such a multi-talented friend! They turned out beautiful, again, getting 3 babies to look at the camera was definitely a lot of work.

This last week Shawn and I celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary, and what an amazing 4 years it has been! We got a chance to get away for a night, mom’s first night away from the kids! It was hard to leave them, but we knew they were in great hands with Aunt Nancy. We can not thank her enough for helping us out. It was fun to go to dinner and have time for just us.

We have a very busy month ahead of us; 1^st birthday parties for friends, a trip to the pumpkin patch, celebrating their first Halloween and planning their first birthday party. I have a feeling that from here on out, we will be nothing but busy, as if we hadn’t been already!

Happy Fall!
S&B+3



10 months old!!!

It is hard to imagine that our babies are 10 months old! Looking back on all the months previous, they have absolutely amazed us in their growth, curiosity and with their individual personalities. We had a very fun month with the babies; taking them to the Great MN Get Together, the State Fair. They did so good, especially since we were there for 6 hours! They tried a couple of different foods, sunfish, French fries and Grandpa even gave Maddy some chocolate malt, which she absolutely loved. We also blew up a small pool for the kids on a hotter day and they really loved it! Pictures below! We have been enjoying the cooler weather, spending more time outside on walks and playing in the yard. This last month also brought us our first sickness at our house. We had made it 9 months, 2 weeks and 4 days without anyone getting sick. I think a lot of it had to do with teething, but Dylan was the first one to get a cold, which of course both Mason and Maddy ended up with as well. Let me tell you, having 3 babies with runny noses and drooling non-stop because of teething made for a very long week and a half!

Mason

Mason was the first and is still the only one that can put himself into a sitting position. He looks so grown up when he does it! He is also crawling the best, up on both his hands and knees. He is definitely still our little snuggle bug, with a little smile and giggle that will melt your heart. Mason currently has his top 2 front teeth coming in that you can see, as well as the 2 next to those as well as 2 other bottom teeth coming in.  over the past couple of days Mason has just started pulling himself up onto furniture and toys, but it only ends up being 1 or 2 times each day.

Dylan

Dylan continues to be our little monkey man, going through each milestone with a huge grin on his face and developmentally very advanced. Technically, they babies are only 8 months old since they were born 2 months early, but Dylan is definitely not letting that hold him back. He was the first to crawl, kneel, stand and is working on walking. Crawling for the most part he gets up on his hands and knees, but he is still much faster when he does his little army crawl. He absolutely loves to stand and hold on to everything and anything, but 2 of his favorites are anyone’s hands that will hold him and the window sill so he can see outside. He also still loves to jump non-stop, especially when you are holding his hands. This past weekend he took his first few steps behind a walking toy, so it won’t be long now before he is really on the move! Dylan also has 6 teeth coming in, 4 on top and 2 more on the bottom.

Maddy

Maddy has really changed a lot this month. She really, really wants to keep up with her brothers and no longer gets frustrated when she can’t. She loves to feed herself at dinner time, even though she is just getting in her first 2 teeth. It won’t be long now until she starts pushing herself up into a sitting position. She also loves to sit and look outside in our main window in our living room, but she has to do it from her little exersaucer, as she has not quite started pulling herself up yet. One of our plans for this coming weekend is to lower her crib mattress down as well to the next level. She is definitely moving along at her own pace!

We are very much looking forward to the fall; taking the kids to the Anoka Parade, their first pumpkin patch, and Halloween which will be their last 1^st Holiday!

Happy Fall!

Love,

S&B+3

At the Fair!

Swimming in the back yard!

Having fun with Grandma!



9 months young!!!

9 months old, already? Again, where has the time gone? It is hard to believe that the summer is also coming to an end. I look back and wonder what we did, but think of all the smiles and giggles we shared, the walks with our neighbors (also the Olson’s who have Twins) and the many days of learning new things! All three babies are still on a wonderful schedule. They are sleeping at night from 8-6:30 or so, take 2-3 naps each day, have 4 bottles and 3 feedings of baby food and their favorite, puffs and mum mum crackers =) They have also tried some big people food; broccoli pieces, egg yolks, toast, apple pieces and some noodles. We also have 3 crawling babies in our house, with Maddy just starting this past Sunday, and man, is she FAST! She passes the boys right up. They all seem to want to try to keep up with Kita, who is now one of their favorites, after mom and dad of course! They are all starting to sit up really good on their own, so we have been able to bring out our Choo Choo wagon (picture below). On our first trip around the block Mason was so excited he screamed out and smiled the whole way. We must have been a sight to see!

The babies had their first trips to the Mall of America and the MN Zoo the end of July, all in the same day. Needless to say, mom and dad were exhausted, but the kids had fun. We are really excited for next summer when they can really start enjoying the zoo and animals a little more.

The kids also had their 9 month pictures taken last week on their actual 9 month birthday. Our very talented friend Lorissa from Lorissa Lynn Photography took the pictures for us. So far the one’s we have seen are absolutely adorable (see below).

 Maddy

At the beginning of the month she really wanted to be able to keep up with her brothers, but she had a hard time. You could see her really trying her hardest to crawl forward, but she would just end up scooting herself backwards and would get really frustrated and start to cry. It was hard not to laugh at her, but she was so cute! She is continuing to be a very good eater, she is still the first one to let us know when it has been to long since her last meal. She has become very ‘talkative’ the past couple of weeks, and one of her new favorite things to play with are her feet. Our nickname for her is now butterball, as she is the roundest and most happiest! She also now weighs in at 17 lbs 12 oz.

Dylan

Dylan started off the end of July with really crawling and starting to climb all over any toys on the floor. One of his favorite things to climb on has been our little table we have in our living room that has a lower shelf that we keep all their books on. Dylan was the first to have his crib lowered down to the next level, for we knew at anytime he would be working on getting into a standing position. On this past Saturday after one of his naps, I went into the room to get him up, and low and behold, he was kneeling in it holding onto the edge of the crib with this very mischievous grin on his face. And just last night, he really surprised us by standing up for the very first time. He had crawled over to a bar stool we have in our kitchen, first kneeling and holding onto the lower rungs and then next thing we knew, he had pulled himself into standing! We were so proud, as was he as he kept looking around and at us with a big grin on his face. It was so cute! Dylan is also the best eater in the house. He always opens super wide when it is his turn to eat off the spoon and also does the best with feeding himself. Dylan is still second in weight at 18 lbs 8 oz.

Mason

Mason is still the biggest sweetheart and snuggle bug of all. He has become very outspoken these last few weeks, and very tickle-ish as well =) He is still our big milk drinker, which he does best at drinking out of the bottle and sometimes forgets that he needs to open his mouth in order to get breakfast, lunch or dinner in =) He doesn’t seem as interested in feeding himself, so he will let one of us put the puffs or whatever else in his mouth for him. Mason’s favorite game to play is peek-a-boo. You don’t even need to hide your face anymore, just seeing peek-a-boo will get him smiling. And his smile is for sure one that melts the heart. He has also had his crib lowered down, we have a feeling it won’t be long now until he is the one kneeling in his crib and smiling at us when we go in to get him in the mornings. He is also still our biggest boy, weighing in at 21 lbs 13 oz.

We have really been enjoying the cooler weather these days, and look forward to many more this coming fall. We hope you all have a great end to your summer, and look forward to updating you all, as we get closer to our sweet little love bugs turning one in less than 3 months!

Love,

S&B+3

Ah sweet mornings, one of our favorite times of day =)

8 months old!!!

It is hard to believe that we are now parents of 3 – 8 month old babies! Another month has passed us by in the blink of an eye! We have enjoyed 2 trips up to the cabin over the last 3 weekends. So far we have found that Maddy and Mason are going to be the swimmers of the group, Dylan we aren’t so sure on (see pic below). We officially have 4 teeth in the house, 2 belong to Mason and the other 2 belong to Dylan, both on the bottom only. So far teething hasn’t been as bad as we were thinking it would be, but Maddy hasn’t had her turn yet. Just a lot of drooling and chewing on everything! We have now started 2 food feedings each day, which has brought us to an all new schedule yet again. Every morning the babies wake anytime between 6-6:45. They get their first bottle at 7 followed by cereal and a fruit at 8. They then nap from 9-10:30 and have a bottle again around 11. Nap again from 1-3, followed by a bottle. They take a short little cat nap from about 5:15-5:45, followed by supper and then the bed time bottle at 7:30. We truly have 3 very good eaters on our hands, as at supper they are going through 4+ jars. So far our favorites have been sweet potatoes, squash, and any of the fruits. Our least favorite has been peas by far. We also enjoyed another first holiday for the babies, the 4^th of July! They dressed in red, white and blue to help celebrate the day of our independence. Unfortunately they didn’t stay up long enough to watch the fireworks, but hopefully in a few years that is something we can share with them =)

Mason James

 

Mason was the first of the 3 to get a tooth. It is a toss up between him and Dylan as to who will crawl first. Both boys are rocking back and forth on their hands and knees just working as hard as can be to figure out how to get that hand up and in front of the other. It won’t be long now before someone is on the move. We aren’t sure how we feel about that just yet =) Mason has become a lot more independent this last month, he loves to play peek-a-boo and be read too.

Dylan Patrick

Dylan continues to be our little monkey man, preferring to be in the standing position more than anything. For a while their we were thinking he would be going right from rolling around to walking, but I think he will be happy once he figures out the crawling thing and will really be on the go. It won’t be long now until we have to lower his crib down to the next level. We are counting down the days until he starts pulling himself up on things as well.

Madelynn Grace

Little Maddy has really found her voice over the last couple of weeks. It is so fun to hear her talking to her brothers every morning when we get them up. She also talks herself to sleep every night, which is so cute to listen too. She is still Kita’s number one fan, always breaking into a huge smile and coo-ing whenever she sees him.

 Maddy and Dylan tubing at the cabin

We had a great time at our neighbors house for their twins’ Elin and Anders 1^st birthday party. It gave us some insight as to what we have to look forward to in just 4 short months! It has been so great getting out of the house more often experiencing new things and sights with them. Whether it be a quick trip to Target, or a stroll around the block, it’s fun to see the babies reactions to the new surroundings.

We hope you are all enjoying your summer thus far and keeping cool on these very hot days!

Love always!

S&B+3



7 Months Old & Daddy's Day

Another month has come and gone, with the triplets changing more and more each month. We officially have 3 babies that now can roll front to back and back to front, thus all 3 are now sleeping un-swaddled every night. That being the case, we never know what position we are going to find them in, who’s sucking their thumb, who’s limbs are hanging out between the bars on their cribs.  (See Dylan Below) We love it =) We have been very blessed with good sleepers;  We still have a night here and there where we have to get up to console someone back to sleep, but for the most part they are now sleeping from 7:30pm – 7am. We did have to separate them at nap time, so we have one in their crib, one in a pack-n-play in our room and another in a pack-n-play in the guest room. With Mason learning to scream and Dylan ‘talking’ super loud when he wakes up, they have been waking each other up from nap time constantly.

We went up to Fargo the first weekend in June for cousin Claudia’s graduation party, and we had so much fun! We stayed in a hotel and took the babies on their first swimming adventure; they loved it!

All 3 babies are on the move, I have a feeling it won’t be long until we have someone crawling. They are getting good at practicing sitting up, but none of them can do it on their own for long without falling over =) They also love to put every toy they get into their hands directly into their mouths; it’s so fun to watch them actually reach out for the toy that you are holding for them.

Every night now we give them rice cereal and a fruit or veggie to try. So far we have done bananas, prunes, apples, carrots, and sweet potatoes; peaches, pears and peas are next in line with more to follow. They faces they make while trying each of the different foods is priceless!

One of our new favorite activities is for the babies to play ‘ball’ with Kita. We lay them down on their bellies in the basement and toss the ball around to Kita. They just lay there and laugh super hard to see Kita chasing it all over the basement.

Mason James

Mason has really changed a lot this month, more so in the last weeks. Our big boy that always loves to snuggle has started to get a little more independent. He scoots around the floor on his belly and has started actually jumping around and playing in the jumper we have for them.  Don’t get me wrong though, he still does love to snuggle! He is over 19 lbs now, so he is definitely our big boy! This past weekend he also got his first two teeth! The first one cut through on Friday the 15^th and we noticed the second one on the following Sunday. It makes me sad to think that we will be loosing the gummy smiles I love so much!

Dylan Patrick

Dylan is still our wild little monkey; he prefers to be standing more than anything else. Just the other night I walked into him in his crib up and on his hands and knees rocking back and forth. It won’t be long now before he will be crawling around. Mom and dad are really nervous, but excited for this next stage. It’s hard to imagine what it will be like with 3 little ones on the move constantly!

Madelynn Grace

Maddy has also changed a lot this past month. She is steadily catching up to her brothers in weight, now weighing in over 15 lbs. She has the chubbiest little cheeks that you could just kiss all day long. Her newfound best friend is Kita. Every time she sees him she gets the biggest grin on her face. She even looks for him when she hears his nails on the wood floor. She has gotten so smiley over these past few weeks, it just warms your heart.

Daddy’s Day

On Sunday we celebrated Shawn’s very first Father’s Day, which was an amazing day for him. I think he is truly loving being a dad to these 3 very special yet individual little one’s. We sent him golfing with Uncle Kory on Saturday which is one of his favorite things to do. Auntie Abby came over and helped feed and snuggle babies while they were gone. We couldn’t be more blessed and thankful that we were chosen to be the parents of them. With all the craziness that being a parent to triplets can bring, we have learned to be more flexible with our schedules and lives, but we have also learned what it really means to love, not only with your heart, but with our whole bodies. We would not want it any other way!

Wishing you a warm and fun start to your summer!

S&B+3

6 month update!

The babies are now officially 6 months old! It is so crazy to think how much our lives have changed in such a short period of time!

All 3 are growing like weeds; we had our 6 month checkup last week. It’s so great to see how much weight they have gained, but man, having 3 babies get their shots all at once is very, very hard on mom. Luckily, the crying didn’t last too long, for mom or the babies, but it was still hard on everyone.

The babies had a very busy past month. On Saturday May 12^th the babies were joined by many family and friends as they were baptized. It turned out to be a great day, the weather was amazing and no one cried as they were getting baptized. This past weekend they also tried their first bit of rice cereal. Maddy did the best with eating it, she opened her mouth and seemed to enjoy it. Dylan did ok at first, but he got mad that we didn’t get it into his mouth fast enough. Mason wasn’t quite sure what was going on, and we think he was too hungry, as he had a complete meltdown and wanted his bottle instead. It was quite comical, but we will keep trying until they all get a good rhythm down. The babies also had their 6 month pictures taken by our good friend Katee at Elegant Pear Photography. Mason did the best and Maddy wasn’t quite sure what to think, but the pictures turned out great! See some previews below.  All 3 babies are starting to notice Kita a little more. I don’t think they are quite sure what to think of the furry little guy that comes around them once in a while, but anytime they see him they just stare at him and try to figure him out. Each day brings more and more smiles from the babies. We have even been lucky to get all 3 of them giggling at the same time. It truly warms your heart when you hear them giggling away. Here is an update on each of the babies over the last month:

Mason James

Mason continues to be our little snuggle bug. He is still very content with hanging out in someone’s arms, the swing or just laying around on the floor. He has rolled over from his belly to his back just once, but we still counted it even though we think it was an accident =) He is also still our big boy, weighing in at 17lbs 12 oz, so close to being 18 lbs! it’s amazing how going from holding him to one of the other 2 makes such a huge difference. We had taken him into see a specialist at Children’s hospital to have his hemangioma looked at, along with another doctor to make sure it is not affecting his vision, and based on the findings we are going to wait it out a couple of more months to see if it keeps growing in size or starts to go down. Some of the treatment options have scary side affects, and we don’t want to have to go through surgery as he would need to be put down, so for now we are going to wait it out. The eye doctor said his vision is in no way being affected, so we will just keep a close eye on it. This past weekend Mason learned that he could scream out, quite loud in fact, and he did it all weekend long. We think he loved hearing his own voice, even if this morning it scared Dylan and made him cry =)

Dylan Patrick

Dylan continues to be our very independent and roly-poly. He doesn’t stay in one position for very long, and is the only one that we currently have sleeping un-swaddled at night.  He loves to stand up either by being held or in the jumper we have for him. He also puts absolutely everything he gets his hands on directly into his mouth. We have a feeling it won’t be long before he, or any of the babies for that matter, start getting some teeth. Dylan also is our most sensitive one, any loud sounds seem to scare him a little more than the other two, so we have to console him a little more if there is too much noise around. He loves being held up in the air and is our super happy go lucky boy.  Dylan is now over 2 feet tall, but he is our skinny little guy weighing in at just 15 lbs.

Madelynn Grace

Oh Maddy, where do I begin with her? She continues to be the princess of the house, again keeping us on our toes as to what she will do next. She still keeps us all in check, for sure letting everyone around know if she is in any way not happy at all. She has rolled over a couple of times for us in the past, but this weekend she made a show of it rolling from her stomach to her back a bunch of times over and over again. She is also proving to catch up to her brothers in weight, as she is now weighing in at 13.5 lbs. Not much longer and we are thinking she will be catching up to Dylan. She definitely does not enjoy going down for naps, as she is scared she will miss out on something that is happening out in the living room, but once we can get her settled down she is down for the count. On the babies baptism day, Madelynn carried on a tradition that I hope one day her daughter will carry on for her, as she wore the very same dress that I was baptized in when I was a baby.

We have been very, very lucky to have such great babies. All 3 seem to be sleeping very good at night (our last feeding is at 7 pm and they can make it usually anywhere from 4-6 am without having to eat again) and continue to be very, very healthy. Knock on wood, we have yet to have anyone with any sickness at our house! We can not even begin to count the blessings and joy these 3 amazing little babies have brought to our family and we can not imagine our lives any other way. It is hard to believe that in just another 6 short months we will be celebrating their birth as they turn 1 years old!

This year definitely marked the best Mother's Day I could ever ask for. It is hard to believe that in 1 year we have learned about and had these 3 little miracles!

We hope everyone has a safe and fun start to their summer with a great Memorial Weekend coming up!

S&B+3