21 Month Update!

That's right, the trio turned 21 months over the weekend!  So we're already that close to the big 2nd birthday!! Though they didn't have to get any vaccinations or see the doctor at 21 months (not until 2 years) I thought I would do an update anyways.  I don't have any weights or lengths but I do have a lot to say about their big personalities!

Gavin:

His official nickname, which I'm sure will carry over into adulthood is "Dennis the Menace".  It's so funny when I try to explain to people what his personality is like because they don't really get it until they spend five minutes with him.  Then I get the reaction of "holy cow Gayla, I don't know how you do it...I would be a nervous wreck with him all the time"!  He is certainly ALL BOY!  Forget your typical kids toys, all Gavin needs is a table to climb on, a floor vent to stuff his body in or a couch to jump off of!  Even though he is a tiny little guy he has absolutely no fear of ANYTHING! He has recently been "taught" to sit in time out by himself with a timer set for one minute and while he sits there you will hear him saying the word "bad" over and over to himself! It's hard not to laugh.  But when Gavin is in that sweet moment he sure does love to cuddle up to you and stroke your face and hair!  He loves to read books, "cook" stuff up in their kitchen for you to taste and sit in front of the refrigerator playing with magnets...when he's not crawling inside of or on top of furniture. 

Gavin into his book...

Ava:

Don't let Ava's sweetness fool you!  She sure can be the instigator as well, especially recently with the transition to toddler beds.  She'll give a little push or bite here and there to start the fight with the boys...just her way of letting them know that just because she's the girl doesn't mean they can mess with her!  I've been feeling bad for her lately though because the boys are really into wrestling with each other and when she tries to throw herself in the mix they tend to "not allow her" to be one of the boys...maybe that will change come September if some more pink joins our family!  Ava MUST have the attention on her and if she doesn't she will find a way to fix that.  She is all about copying us both verbally and physically and has been showing that "nurturing" side of herself lately.  Hopefully this means she'll be Mommy's little helper.  She's one tough cookie and has a very high tolerance of pain.  In fact, we recently found out she has a double ear infection but the only sign she was showing was a 103 temperature that wouldn't break for three days!  She wasn't pulling on the ears or fussy!  Then she had an allergic reaction to the amoxicillin by breaking out in a rash all over so we had to put her on a different medicine.  Here's a video of Ava...listen closely in the beginning as she recently learned how to say "ABC" and "itsy bitsy spider"!

Brayden:

Brayden is still the sweet, quiet one.  He recently recovered from a pretty bad cold though and was a miserable patient that wouldn't stop crying for what seemed like days!  Future wife...beware!  He loves to just run up and snuggle with everyone even if he just met you.  And he definitely prefers ladies over men!  He cannot get enough of any moving vehicle whether it's a firetruck, car, train, helicopter or school bus.  He'll stop everything he's doing and run to the nearest window when he hears one coming down the road.  And any book that has a car in it needs to be read to him at least twenty times a day!  Brayden loves to go for walks in the stroller for some fresh air and points to everything spouting out "that" for you to tell him what it is.  He loves to tell everyone "bye bye" even if you're just walking into the next room...makes you feel wanted!  Brayden is just a lovable, kind child that is so content reading books or playing with cars...unless he's hungry!

Mr. Serious into the Dr. OZ show!

The toddler bed transition is going well...better than expected actually.  They do really well at night, although Gavin and Ava enjoy sleeping in one bed together or on the floor!  Nap time takes a little longer to get them down and settled long enough for a solid nap but I know that will come with time.  Here are a few funny pictures of them cuddled up together:

Ava snuggled up in Gavin's bed

Nap time conference

Gavin snuggled in Ava's bed

Ava wandered over into Brayden's bed

Check out the position of Gavin and Ava...looks comfy!

 They're pretty much eating everything that we have for dinner with the exception of steak and other tough meats since they still don't have all of their teeth.  Some typical things they eat daily/weekly:

Oatmeal
Bananas
Greek Yogurt
Blueberry Pancakes
Eggs (Hard boiled or Scrambled)
Vege Straws
Cereal Bars
Sammy Grammy's (great snack I found at Babies R Us)
Crackers
Fruit (apples, peaches, pears, mango, grapes, mandarin oranges, applesauce)
Raisins
Yogurt Drops
Graham Crackers
Vegetables (broccoli, sweet potatoes, peas, carrots)
Vege Burgers
Deli Meat
Amy's Organic Meals
Pasta
Chicken Sausage
Chicken Nuggets (love the ones from BJ's that are shaped like dinosaurs and all white/organic)
Fish (grilled or baked)
Pudding
Laughing Cow Cheese Triangles

Just a few ideas for others out there!  Other than that, we've just been trying to stay warm lately with the cold weather up here...hoping it will get warm come March.  We're also gearing up for our big "spring break" trip to Disney in two weeks!  We're flying there with the trio along with Joe's sisters.  My parents are driving down and meeting us there.  We also get to enjoy the vacation with our amazing friends from Ft. Bragg, Eric and Chelsea Brumfield along with their sweet Addison who is just a few months younger than ours.  They are flying all the way from Washington state to spend the week in Disney with us!  We're so excited for this opportunity to spend with friends and family and I'll be sure to do a few posts on our experiences while there! 

I had an ultrasound last week along with the first trimester screening for Bonus Baby and everything looks great according to the doctors!  My next ultrasound will be at the beginning of April in which hopefully we'll get to find out gender! 

Vanilla Pudding!

So the trio are doing a great job with using forks on their own but we haven't really let them experiment with spoons...afraid of what mess they can make!  But over the weekend our good friend Missy visited with her cutie, Chloe who is only a few months older than ours and we were super impressed at how she used the spoon so the training began this week!  I bought some vanilla pudding, hoping it would be a little less messy than chocolate and I was surprised at how well they did!!

Of course Ava was the messiest!

Brayden chose to use both hands!

Gavin thought the end of the spoon was a better option!

Ava and Chloe

Playing in the ball pit with Chloe!!

18 Months Old!!!

Yes, they are already 18 months old! Can you believe it?  Next thing I'll be blogging about is the terrible two's...times three!  They'll actually be 18 months on Thanksgiving but we had their wellness visit this week.  So here are the stats:

Ava:
Birth: 4lb 6oz
18 Months: 24lb 14oz (70%) 30.5cm (23%)

Ava's still the chunkster!!! Brayden's not far behind though! Ava has a mouth full of teeth that she still likes to use on her brothers if given the opportunity. Her molars are also coming in on the bottom. Ava has so much personality and can put on a show for anyone (hmmmm, where did she get that from)...she is extremely smart as well. She can point and say a few of her body parts (nose, eye, mouth, ear, hair, fingers, toes, belly button) and will copy anything you do or say. So we have to be extra careful now with what we do when our little mini me is present. Ava loves to snuggle and walk around with blankets wrapped around her. She follows directions really well but will also test you while giving a sweet little smile to see what she can get away with. She likes to copy Gavin with the climbing and has already discovered how to put her foot up on the crib...we're just waiting for her to learn how to climb over top of the railing! Ava is such a sweet little thing that wants to cuddle all day with a book in front of her!

Gavin:
Birth: 4lb 2oz
18 Months: 21lb 8oz (7%) 30 cm (5%)

So in other words...Gavin's got his Mommy's short, stalky stature!  But it's okay because it hasn't affected how well he can climb, run, or get into trouble!  He's got some more teeth now including some back teeth coming in!  Daddy is still his favorite person and when he's around no one else exists in Gavin's eyes.  He loves to climb on EVERYTHING including, but not limited to, the TV stand, book shelf, highchair and couches.  Not to mention he makes the most of his size by stuffing himself into the floor vent in which I had to pull him out!  Gavin is also the only one that can open doors despite his height.  So he'll open the doors and let Brayden and Ava in, then he'll run away!  Needless to say, Joe was very busy last week installing door locks and latches and nailing down floor vents!  Gavin still doesn't have a huge appetite but he'll eat just about anything.  Words that he says regularly are Mommy, Daddy, dog, bear and baby.  He can't quite say some other words but he gives a good attempt if you say them first.  We have 3 ceramic piggy banks sitting on the shelves in their room so his newest thing is needing to kiss each one goodnight before being put in his crib.  Gavin definitely has no fear and will no doubt keep us on our toes FOREVER! 

Brayden:
Birth: 3lb 11oz
18 Months: 24lb 9oz (40%) 31cm (19%)

He's not far behind Ava in weight but he still stands the tallest with those long legs!  Brayden has the most teeth and is struggling through his molars right now.  Poor thing, is a drooling machine!  Brayden is still our best eater, though he'll throw in some games once in a while to see if he can get away with it.  In the past couple of weeks he has become very vocal and walks around talking his own language all day.  He's big into copying sounds of objects and once he gets it, he remembers it!  Brayden LOVES cars, trucks and machines and when he pushes cars around he does the vroom-vroom sound along with a beep-beep here and there.  If a truck or car drives by he gets into a zone and there's no getting him out of it until it's gone.  Lately, Brayden has also realized how strong he is and how to defend himself.  So he's learned about time outs to go along with that when he shoves his sister down on the ground or clocks his brother on top of the head.  He'll give you that little smile though to try and get himself out of the time out.  Hopefully that stage will pass soon.  You can always count on Brayden to have a smile on his face and witness him running around giggling (unless he's hungry)!

We now eat together as a family at the table for dinner which is so nice and for the most part they eat what we're eating unless it's something like steak, which they can't quite chew yet.  It's probably the best part of the day for me when we're all around the table enjoying dinner and laughing. 

All three of them are really into sounds now and can do a Pig sound where they scrunch their noses up and breathe in and out as well as an Elephant sound where they tuck their top lip and blow up.  It's so cute to watch!


All three have been working really hard to use forks and spoons on their own and are doing great!  They've fully transitioned into straw sippy cups which is so much easier than spouts as far as the leaking goes! 

Dinner Idea!!!

So as some of you know and have experienced we have some picky eaters. Particularly with Ava and meat! I found a macaroni and cheese that is all organic and whole wheat by Annie's. You can find it in a couple of different cheese flavors and pasta shapes.  I found it up here at Stop and Shop but also by the case at BJ's. I made it last night for dinner and added some canned tuna fish to it and they LOVED it!!! Just another dinner idea out there for you!

Changes

Lots of changes in the Luchetta household these days! Since Gavin, Ava and Brayden turned 1 we've been able to "graduate" in a few areas.

The first thing was getting rid of formula and drinking whole milk. We mixed half formula and half whole milk in their bottles for a week to see how they reacted. Ava spit up a little bit the first few days but did fine afterwards so we transitioned to full bottles of milk.

Formula $25/can times 3/week

vs

Milk $2.88/gallon times 3/week

The next thing was tossing the bottles and bringing in the sippy cups!  This was another great one!  We started around 8 months introducing cups while they were in their highchairs with water.  Then at 12 months we started putting milk in them and the transition was a piece of cake because they had been exposed to the cups for so long.  One day we decided to get rid of the bottles and give them sippy cups with milk at every meal/snack and water in another set of cups throughout the day.  There haven't been any issues without bottles! It is so much easier when we go out and can take the cups with us!  A must to go along with sippy cups by the way are the straps for them when your child enters the "throwing" stage!! They attach to anything!

Bottles

vs

Sippy Cups!!



Last, we've turned their carseats around!!  This was really exciting because now we get to look at their sweet little faces!  They can also see the DVD players that we had installed in the back of the head rests for those long road trips. 

Facing forward!

I can't believe how fast they're growing up...anyone have suggestions on how to slow it down!?

What They Eat!

Since Gavin, Ava and Brayden have been eating solids I've been getting the question "so what are some things that they are eating"?  Their feeding schedule has changed a lot since I last posted the daily schedule.  They no longer have 10:00 or 3:00 "snack" bottles.  We knew that it was time to get rid of these because they weren't finishing their bottles and they were starving come time for lunch and dinner.  Here's an example of their daily feeding schedule these days:

7am: Breakfast (cut up pears, pureed fruit mixed with cereal and yogurt, graham crackers, 3 oz milk)

(nap from 8:30-10)

10am: Snack (cut up mozzarella cheese, cut up carrots, 3 oz milk)

12pm: Lunch (cup up vege burger, mandarin oranges, 3 oz milk)

(nap from 1-3)

3pm: Snack (cottage cheese mixed with pureed fruit, vanilla wafers, 3 oz milk)

5:30pm: Dinner (cut up turkey burger, peas, cut up peaches, 3 oz milk)

6:30pm: 6 oz bottle of milk during bed time routine

Some other foods that they like and are eating are:
mango
asparagus
green beans
squash
mashed potatoes
apples
bananas
lima beans
broccoli
sweet potatoes
blackberries
blueberries
strawberries
cherries

Turkey burger

They were  holding hands (or stealing eachother's food)!

They LOVE to eat!!

Most of the foods we are just steaming to soften and cutting them up for them to eat.  Fruits like blackberries or any others that have a tough skin we're still pureeing and combining with yogurt or cottage cheese.  There's really not any food that they don't like yet.  We love using the Morning Star Vege Burgers.  They're all organic and have a ton of protein in them.  We buy as many fruits and veges fresh but we haven't had the best experience up here with finding good quality produce so we also buy a lot that are frozen and some canned.  So hopefully this gives some ideas for all you Mommy's out there that are beginning the solid food stage.

We did a ton of research on when to begin solid feeding.  Our doctors were telling us to begin around 4 months but I found a great book as well as asked another mom of triplets (who is also a nutritionist)  her opinion on this.  Between the two there were a lot of statistics showing that it's better to wait until 6 months of age to avoid any increased links to childhood obesity.  Rice cereal is always the first "food" that doctors tell you to start with; however, a lot of people make the mistake of using it as food.  If you look at the nutritional content there is none! It's just empty carbs.  Really rice cereal should be used to teach them how to eat off of a spoon...NOT IN A BOTTLE! Putting it in a bottle can cause them to aspirate!  If you do start rice cereal at 4 months make sure you don't use it to replace a milk feeding so that you don't lose any nutritional value.  Everyone is of course entitled to their own opinion on this topic but this is ours based on lots of research, professional guidance and now our own experience. 

Great book full of research and sample menus!

1 Year Stats!

This was a rough appointment!  They only had to get one shot but they had to have blood drawn to test for lead and anemia.  Since their veins are so tiny it was very difficult to get a good flow of blood.  The doctor had to prick all three of them a few times in both the hands and the arms and still only got a little bit from Gavin and Ava so she'll have to redo it at their 15 month appointment.  Because of the lab company that our insurance uses they require the doctor to fill up 2 tubes of blood rather than 1 which is a whole different issue that I would love to discuss!  On top of that all three have been running between 102-103 temperatures since Monday with lots of nasty noses and coughing.  Of course it's as soon as the weather gets nice that they get sick!

Anyways, here are their stats:

GAVIN
Birth weight: 4 lb 2 oz
Current weight/height: 18 lb 6 oz (3%) 27 1/2 in (5%)

Still has 2 teeth on the bottom and a few coming to the surface on the top.  He's standing by himself, cruising in between furniture and expecting him to start walking any day now!  We call him Dennis the Menace because he wants to play with anything that's NOT a baby toy. He loves to do cheesy smiles for the camera and is always "talking".  He still loves books, pushing toys/furniture around the house, and playing with blocks. 

3 Months Old

12 Months Old

AVA
Birth weight: 4 lb 6 oz
Current weight/height: 20 lb 4 oz (40%) 28 3/4 in (30%)

She has 2 teeth on the bottom and has 2 cutting through on the top.  Standing while holding onto something but not interested in taking any steps just yet.  Ava is a very affectionate child and just wants to crawl all over us all the time.  They got a blowup cow for their birthday and she loves to play on that.  She also likes to stand at the activity table and try to knock her brothers down!! She tends to find herself very funny and you'll often find her crawling around hysterically laughing at herself! Ava is a great eater and will eat just about anything! She has even been eating chunks of mango lately! 

3 Months Old

12 Months Old

BRAYDEN
Birth weight: 3 lb 11 oz
Current weight/height: 21 lb (25%) 29 1/4 in (50%)

Has 2 teeth on the bottom and 4 on the top.  Brayden was our smallest but surpassed the others a while ago.  He's so long that I had to buy onesie extenders to make them longer so we could snap them!  He's standing by himself and attempting to make a few steps.  He's not as gutsy as Gavin but he's definitely right behind him!  Brayden loves to play with anything that makes noise and especially likes books that have touchy/feely things on them!  He still loves the jumperoo but will be grown out of it as soon as he reaches 24 pounds :(  Brayden is a big eater as well and you will only hear him fuss when he's hungry...otherwise he's such a happy baby.  He's big on texture so he's a little unsure about finger foods like melon or mango.

3 Months Old

12 Months Old

They're all in size 4 diapers and we're slowly transitioning to whole milk.  They get whole milk in the morning and the rest is formula.  I think next week we'll probably go to all whole milk (thank goodness...no more expensive formula).  I can't believe we're already at the 12 month mark!  This year has been amazing and I'm excited to see the next phase of milestones and adventures!

3 Months Old

12 Months Old

New Schedule...Yes, it's changed AGAIN!

So our daily schedule has yet again changed! G, A and B are now eating solids for breakfast and dinner so it's affected their schedule.  They still are supposed to consume between 24 and 32 oz of milk/formula a day until the age of 1 since it has guaranteed nutrients in it, so we've kept bottles as the base of their diet.  Their day still starts at 7 am in which they get stripped down to their diapers and eat breakfast in the highchairs.  Joe gets up at 5 am while I get to sleep a little longer (what a great husband I have).  He unloads the dishwasher, sets out the bottles for me to make, cleans up around the house and gets ready for work.  Lately the boys have been waking up earlier than 7 so we try to let them "quietly play" in their cribs but sometimes they get too loud so Joe will bring them downstairs to play while the others sleep.

Ready to have breakfast!

Joe also gets their breakfast ready by choosing from the fruit shelf (usually bananas, apples or pears) 2 cubes for each baby (4 oz total each baby) and thaws them out in the microwave.  He adds a little cereal and done!
Once they're fed we clean them up and get them dressed for the day. This has been quite the challenge now that they're crawling because they do NOT want to lay still!  We let them have some playtime with each other on the living room floor before we give them a 4 oz bottle at 8.  By 8:30 they're ready to go down for their morning nap.  This nap they're aloud to stay downstairs and sleep since we're slowly transitioning upstairs for nap time!  During this time I put together the days bottles, start laundry, get dressed, clean etc.

Days worth of bottles! I put them on a tray to carry upstairs!

We store them in a mini 'fridge and warm them when it's time

Gavin's ready!

Ava likes to throw temper tantrums at the beginning of nap time and ends up falling asleep like this!

They sleep for about an hour to hour and a half and then get a 5 oz bottle at 10.  Once they've digested that bottle and there's less chance of spitting it up (about 30 min. after) playtime begins!  We go into the play room and we do different stations such as reading books with me, tummy time, the exersaucer, walker etc.  This time has become much easier now that they're a little more independent and can entertain themselves.  I get a chance to have one on one time with each of them while the others play. 

Gavin playing with the kitchen

Ava "reading" a dog book

HMMM...so many choices!

Brayden loves to try and get the fish/boats in his tummy time water mat

One side of the play room where we have stations

Brayden jumping in the exersaucer

We play until about 11:30 and then change diapers and get ready for the next nap which is upstairs.  YUP! That's right as a lot of you know we've been having a hard time getting them to sleep in their cribs for nap time.  Not sure why because they sleep great at night in them!  So during the Christmas break while I was showering one day Joe decided to give it a try AGAIN and they went down great.  Since then we've been putting them up there for one of their naps.  So Brayden and Ava sleep up there while Gavin sleeps downstairs because the swing is the most comfortable for him with his helmet on.  And we really want him to get good naps since he's not sleeping great at night. 

They sleep until 1 when they get a 6 oz bottle.  We have more playtime after this for now but hopefully once this snow melts this will be our time when we go for a walk!  They go down for their third and final nap of the day around 3 and wake up at 4 for another 6 oz bottle.  After this bottle they have playtime with each other again in the living room or they walk around in their new walkers.  At 5 I begin making their dinner for them to eat at 5:30.  They get 4 oz of vegetables (broccoli, peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, cauliflower, potatoes, avocado) mixed with grains again.  As soon as they're done they start to unwind with each other on the floor while Joe and I prep OUR dinner.  I get the bath and their bedroom ready at 6 and begin Ava's bath at 6:15 while Joe watches the boys and cleans Gavin's helmet. 

Joe then brings Gavin up when I'm done with Ava so I can give Gavin a bath while Joe puts Ava's PJ's on and gives her, her last 6 oz bottle (bottle prop).  Once I'm done with Gavin, Joe takes him to put his PJ's on and I give Brayden his bath.  Once I finish Brayden (Joe gets Gavin started on his bottle) Joe gets him dressed and I finish feeding Ava and Gavin.  Joe feeds Brayden and they all are in their cribs by 7pm! 

Joe feeding Brayden before bedtime

Me feeding Ava and Gavin before bedtime

Once we're done with the babies we make our dinner and try to eat by 7:30/8 as well as feed Brody and Sadie.  That gives us about an hour to an hour and a half to spend together watching TV before we head to bed around 9/9:30.  Right now the babies are doing great sleeping through.  Occasionally they'll wake but they've been really good at putting themselves back to sleep.

On certain days of Joe's schedule he comes home at lunch so I can go to the gym for an hour or so.  I haven't worked out since I was 4 months pregnant so it feels so good to get back into it.  Hopefully I'll be ready for the beach this summer!

We're hoping to add solid food at lunch time around 8-9 months of age so their schedule will be changing drastically then.  I'll be sure to post the new one!