Three Little Monkies

The boys try out the Baby Mum-Mums Lainie & John got them.

Mmmmmm, tasty.

Kicking and playing.

Michael assumes the Moses position.

Ryan loves to chew on anything that's tasty.

James enjoys catching his toes.

The boys love grabbing my pants when I walk by.

Sometimes it's hard to extricate myself from their tiny little hands.

Reading the electronic book Uncle Joseph got us.

Duke enduring some love, Newhouse Boy style.

Adventures in Baby Food

Today, Mom and I decided to try our hands at making baby food. I've been saving those little plastic tubs that Gerber food comes in for this very purpose, and it seemed to have worked pretty well. The true test comes tomorrow when I attempt to feed it to the boys.

James loves his toys, even when he sleeps.

James practices his horror movie scream.

Michael relaxing on the big chair.

The face of a happy boy. He probably just saw Duke (the boys are still in love with their pooch).

Ryan studying at the feet of the master. Playing video games with Daddy in the "cat-bird seat."

He's smiling, so that must mean he's winning the baseball video game.

Lucky Seven

Our three little men are seven months old. Where does the time go? I'm pretty sure that just yesterday, we were hanging around the NICU hoping that our tiny little babies would learn to eat on their own and be able to come home. The boys are starting to fill up their big chair, and no one looks like a posed slug. They are sporting some monogrammed bibs that Momo Campbell bought them for Christmas.

Bob and I got some good news last week. The boys now have an employed father as of February 1st. We are happy to be back among the working, but I am wondering how I'm going to make it with my first mate out on the road for long stretches of time. I'm sure it'll all work out just fine, but I think I might have to have some planned outings with the boys. Luckily, Momo is coming to help out while Bob goes out on his two week travel-pa-looza, and Grandma & Papa Joe are just down the road.

Bob, the boys, and I appreciate all of the prayers that have gone up on our behalf. I can attest, that God does hear prayers and sends you an answer in his time. It's been hard being unemployed, but it has allowed me to have some much needed help and given Bob time to spend with our little men. Sometimes, it's hard to see God's plan as you trudge through life's hard times, but in hindsight, it sure does seem easy to see. I'm excited about what this next chapter in our life will bring with it (hopefully it'll be a while before that chapter includes crawling - which I think has become my biggest fear).

Park It!

This week brought some good news for Bob and I. It seems as though we might be returning to the working world. It's good for our pocket books, but there will be a lot of travel involved, and the boys and I have gotten used to him being around. After our news, it was such a nice day, we took a walk to the park. It was the first time the boys were big enough to sit in their strollers (the single and the double), and I think they really enjoyed the ride. Once we got to the park, there were only two swings, so we put Michael and Ryan into the same swing. It seemed to work well. They really liked to go high.

Come on, Daddy, PUSH!

James enjoyed his solo seat.

Michael got the rear position for a whole different view.

Ryan enjoyed himself, but looked concerned most of the time. Despite his worried look, he did laugh every once in a while.

Toes, Teeth, Tags, and the Tube

As the boys approach seven months old, they are getting more active and less sleepy. Bob and I are usually able to get two of the three to sleep at the same time during the day, but getting all three to sleep for any significant period of time is almost impossible. Today, they were all asleep for about 15 minutes. I felt a tremendous sense of accomplishment, made lunch, went to the bathroom, and by the time my lunch was ready, one, two, and then three sets of eyes were open. Such is life with triplets, I guess.

The boys are getting more mobile - they roll around and James can do some kind of special ops roll and crawl thing to get across the room. Everyone is starting to sit up for a few minutes, but there are still lots of falls. Michael tries to lift himself up from laying on his back to sitting. It looks like the little guy is trying to do a crunch. All of the boys are obsessed with toes. Their toes, my toes, Bob's toes, each other's toes, toes of any sort. A couple of days ago, Ryan was in the walk around toy, he stopped at Bob's recliner and bit his toe. I still have a scab on my finger from his little razor tooth.

Speaking of teeth, Michael has joined the ranks of the toothful. About a week ago, he got both front bottom teeth. Ryan is starting to have a second tooth poke through his gums, but so far it hasn't fully broken through. James is still toothless, and his big mouth grin is so cute. He is currently admiring himself in the mirror and attempting to get up close and personal with the PS3 while he screams like a tiny veloceraptor.

Perhaps the most fascinating thing (besides toes) in the world of my children is the tag. Why enjoy the toy when you can chew on a tag. Michael is currently availing himself to the tag on his activity mat. Since we went to the Star Wars concert and the boys watched Jerry's big TV, they have started to notice our TV. James is by far the most tied to the TV. He will stop and watch almost anything - sports, the direcTV screensaver, Project Runway, etc. Bob and I have started to turn off the TV a little more often and spend more time hanging out on the floor with the boys.

James enjoying some quality TV time. We had to move the walk around thing so as to protect Daddy's entertainment system.

Daddy & Michael watch the Cowboy game. Even Michael thought the Cowboys were playing bad enough to merit a little adult beverage.

This face makes me happy. Sweet little Ryan takes a snooze with Daddy.

If only they could all stay this sweet forever.

He Spits, He Snores

Grandma, the last of the holiday out-of-towners, flew home to Louisiana on Saturday. We had a fantastic time with her and all of our holiday company. It certainly made our lives easier to have so many extra hands around the house. Bob and I are having to readjust to being just the two of us again. Some things have been really nice, like lazing about in my sweat pants all day (whatever modicum of sexiness I ever possessed has definitely gone out of the window). The house has kind of deteriorated. There are so many toys in the living room that a normal human can not navigate through it, and the middle seat on the couch has become a storage location for all sorts of random crap.

The boys are certainly enjoying playing and doing all sorts of new things. Today, at Lainie's house, Ryan sat up for almost 5 minutes, Michael has been straining to sit up (when you lay him on his back, he tries to sit back up), and James managed to roll/scoot off of the safe zone and wrap the Christmas lights cord around his neck in record time.

One of my favorite things that James has learned lately, is how to blow raspberries. He finds them greatly amusing (when you do it, when he does it, when Ryan does it). He likes to rasp during diaper changes, while eating, while jumping in the jumper. It drives Bob nuts that he likes to spit while eating. I just crack up. No matter how many times he does it, I always find it amusing. I will probably regret it later, but for now, may the little monkey blow.

We have been eating all kinds of new foods. The boys have a great love for peas and green beans. They seem to like the mixed veggies with spinach, and we have finally worked our way into fruits (I talked to Christy today, and Jack is eating meat - which reportedly smells like dog food, so we may try and incorporate some protein soon - we've got to keep up with the Moores, haha). So far, the only fruit that we've experienced is the lovely banana. No one liked it at first, especially Michael. After a couple of days of bananas, we took a break, and when I tried them tonight, Michael didn't do the "bananas are completely disgusting" face. I had mixed emotions - glad he was enjoying his fruit but sad that the funny face has disappeared. I guess we'll just have to wait for the next thing he finds disgusting to get the yuck face.



Despite our somewhat uncertain circumstances, there are a few things that make me feel like life couldn't be better. One of them is the little diddies that my husband likes to sing (to the boys and to me). His latest chart topping hit is "shake the booty." I'm pretty sure that Beyonce may want to record it, but I don't think she could put the shake into it that Ryan does. Ryan also snores like an old man. Lately, I've heard strange noises on the monitor, and I'll go upstairs to check things out, only to find that Ry is sawing logs. For someone so small, he can certainly make some odd sounds.



Pretty soon, I fear that we will be the home of at least one crawling baby. James has recently (in the last couple of days) become mobile. He likes to scoot/roll all over the place. Yesterday, he was on a play mat near the fireplace and managed to get himself stuck when he encountered the couch. I can't express how much mobility frightens me. I know that in the end, I'd like for my children to actually be able to walk - I'm not excited by the thought of carrying my 13 year old around, but do the boys have to get mobile so soon? If you ask James, I think he'd probably say yes.

Mamaw Makes It to Haslet

Joe's mom, Mamaw, is in a nursing home in Burleson. She hasn't been able to see the boys based on the restrictions on kids in the nursing home, so when my parents brought her out to see their new place, we went over to see her. She was so excited to see the boys (Mamaw has always loved babies, and I must say we have three very cute ones). She couldn't hold them all on her lap at once because they've gotten so big and squirmy, but she did get to hold all three of the boys.
Mamaw & James pose for a picture. I love the face James is making (I think I've seen it a few times in my own mirror).
Michael and Mamaw are all smiles. Those dimples have been getting harder and harder to coax out. He loves to smile when he wants to, but Michael refuses to smile for cameras.
Ryan pegs Mamaw in the face and is pretty happy with himself. I couldn't believe he got her in the face, but the boys have all been grabbing our glasses for weeks now. They are getting pretty good at successfully removing them from our noses (I'm a little worried about broken glasses, but hopefully our glasses are triplet-proof).
The boys play around while Mamaw and crew look on. The boys are such good self-entertainers. They will lay under their playmats or jump in their jumpers for long stretches of time (which enables their mother to actually take a bathroom break every once in a while).

All Hands on Deck

With the holidays in full swing, our house has been quite a hub of activity. The boys are definitely a draw, and Bob and I enjoy having lots of family around. With all of the helpers that are around, I feel somewhat useless. Bob and I are so used to getting things done together, that we have a pretty effective system. Lately, there have been days when I haven't fed one of the trio, and it freaks me out. We are definitely grateful for all the help, but it's just weird not to have to do everything ourselves. We are starting to get spoiled. Right now, Kathy is feeding the boys and I'm sitting on the couch - how crazy is that!

James gets a bath-time hello from Ryan.

Not only do we have lots of help at feeding time, bath time has become an event. Usually I wash while Bob dries, diapers, and comes to pick up the next kid. Then I lotion the boys up, Bob puts their jammies on, and we throw them upstairs in their beds for the night. With so many volunteers, I hand off each kid to a different person who dries, diapers, lotions, and clothes the kid. Also, there is rocking to sleep and cuddle time post-bath. I wonder if the boys are getting used to all this attention. Pretty soon, they will return to napping in their swings, going to bed right after bath time, and being patient during feeding time.

Michael enjoys the new bath toys while getting a scrub down from mom.

Ryan, kicked back in his bath ring. Unfortunately, the bath rings don't stick to the bottom of our tub due to the bumps on the bottom made to keep people from slipping. The boys all like to push off of each other and the sides of the tub. The other day, James managed to flip himself over and took a trip to the bottom of the tub. I wish I could say he won't do that again, but I'm pretty sure that he did not learn much from his bath time face plant.
A couple of days ago, the boys got a package from Uncle Stephen with these Baylor Bears shirts. Already, our boys are aspiring to be college men (although I gave strict instructions that they should attend state schools within the confines of the state in which we live - no private school/out of state tuition when Mom and Dad go from 0 to 3 kids in college).