Spending time at Grandma and Grandpa's

The triplets have spent some time at Grandma and Grandpa Niebuhr's house lately. Since I have started conducting a choir at church, Grandma Ellen takes them to their house during that time. They've also watched them on weekend afternoons here and there so Mom and Dad can get some things done.

Not much new is happening this week, again. Grace is proud to report that her top front teeth are coming in. The left one is showing, and the right is very close to poking through. The boys do not have any top ones, yet. Will also has a new trick. He has started "dancing" when he hears music. He will shake his head and move his feet when he hears one of his musical toys play. He was also doing it on Saturday while daddy was whistling a tune to him and when we were watching the football game, everytime he heard the band play. It is pretty funny. Xander is sleeping somewhat better, but he is still restless and wakeful in the early a.m. (and when I say early I mean early, like 4 or 5). We struggle with this, because we want to let him cry and learn how to soothe and put himself back to sleep, but he has woken up the other two before. Another challenge to life with triplets (I should write a book!)

All these pictures are courtesy of Grandma Ellen. She took them while they were at her house.
From top:
Grace playing outside in Grandma and Grandpa's yard.
Xander outside.
Will outside.
Getting ready for pajamas and a nighttime bottle.

Another week flies by!

Well, another week has flown by! We didn't do much these last few days, just stayed home and played a lot. We've been spending a lot of time outside, again. It's been so nice lately! However, We have been struggling with naptimes and nighttimes lately. Xander has been screaming in his sleep and is virtually inconsolable, and is getting very poor sleep, so he is a bear when he's awake. I broke down and took him to the doctor yesterday. He's not sick, no ear infections (which is what I thought it might be). Turns out he's having night terrors, for which there is nothing you can do. It is happening while he is in a deep sleep, so he's scared and screaming but it not fully waking up. Our nights are long and sleepless. We were up with him no less than a half a dozen times on Sunday night (we got about 3 hours of sleep, each). Last night wasn't quite as bad, but I was up at 4:00 and never went back to sleep. So, that has been the major stressor in our house lately. Everything else is going beautifully, they are eating, playing and growing well. Grace and Will have started babbling the syllable "da da". Brian is proud! Still working on creeping and rolling. Grace can get up on all fours with some help and rocks back and forth. Xander has been getting on knee under him while he is on his tummy and pushes himself forward.

Top: Will having tummy time.
Bottom: Xander in the exersaucer, it's a favorite!
No pictures of Grace this week, sorry!

8 months old!

The triplets turned 8 months old on Friday and I really can't believe the time has gone so fast! They are starting to do something new and funny almost everyday. Their personalities are showing and they make us laugh! Will and Xander have started traveling. They're not crawling yet, but they will roll around the room to whatever they want, still sacrificing personal safety for the much desired toy. Xander has some bumps and bruises on his head from rolling into the chairs, coffee table and piano (see top picture). Will doesn't roll into anything, thank goodness (see second picture). When on their tummies, they will scoot forward for something they want, it looks like the beginning of an army crawl. Grace is still happy to sit up and play (see third picture). She still HATES her stomach. We listened to Nebraska's football game on Saturday, it wasn't on TV (see bottom picture). Saturday's game is on TV though, and we are having a party at our house, should be fun!

We had a follow up appt. at the NICU yesterday. The doctor was pleased with their development. She had them manipulate some big and small things, sit up, roll and do some other motor things and watched them play and babble. She is happy they're so strong and are "talking" a lot. They weighed them, but with their clothes on, so I think it was a little high. Will was 22 ish lbs, Xander was 20 1/2 lbs ish and Grace was in the 17 1/2 lbs range. All in all, a good report. We won't go back there until they are 12 months corrected age, which means 14 months in March.

Labor Day Weekend

Sorry for the late update this week. I lost my camera at one of the three family gatherings we were at last weekend and it took me all week to track it down and get it back. So, here are pictures from Labor Day weekend. Saturday we watched the football game at home (see bottom picture). Then, Saturday night, we went to Bob and Ann Fiedler's house (they are Ellen's brother and sister-in-law). Their kids Doug and Jen each have a set of twins, that were born less than a year ago. Doug and Jessi have a boy and girl who are 9 months old. Jen and her husband have 3 month old boys. So, as you can imagine, with our 3 included, it was a huge baby frenzy (middle picture). There were almost as many babies as adults.

Sunday, we had another Fiedler gathering, this time at Dale and Ellen's house. For those of you who don't know, Ellen has 8 brothers and sisters. It's a huge family. Only half of them came, and there were still 40+ people in her house. But, a lot of family who hasn't ever met the triplets got to see them, and again, there were plenty of people to hold them (top picture is of Brian's cousin Jillian who is 12 or so holding Xander and letting him play in the water fountain in the garden). We ate, drank a lot (Fiedler's are known for that) and took some family pictures. Lisa snapped this one of Brian and Will that turned out very cute. We spent Monday trying to recouperate from Saturday and Sunday, but ended up going to Kara and Wes's new house for a BBQ with the Hoefs clan. I think we'll lay low this coming weekend! I'll update again after Monday afternoon. We go to for another follow-up visit to the NICU on Monday afternoon, so I'll post what that doctor had to say.