A month and a half later I was finally able to schedule the trio's four year old doctor visits. This was the first appointment that I was able to do by myself...with the exception of shots. Joe came and helped me during vaccinations thank goodness because those were full of tears! So here goes a breakdown of each little miracle:
Gavin Joseph:
31 pounds, 38 inches
Still our little guy and in the bottom 10% for weight and height but also still the Dennis the Menace of the group! This kid has no fear and loves to "explore". He puts on a tough guy persona but deep down he's such a sweet kid and loves to be a helper to everyone, especially his Daddy! He's definitely Emma's favorite and will be her protector forever. Lately he's been really getting into superheroes, though we had to explain to him what superheroes actually do other than running around flexing their muscles! Spiderman is one of his favorites along with the cast of the movie The Incredibles. He's really good at coloring and definitely impresses us with how well he stays in the lines. Gavin isn't a fan of extensive amounts of running so we're not counting on him being a cross country runner of any sort but could definitely see him as a wrestler or gymnast! He says he wants to be an "Army Man" when he grows up! We'll see about that!
Climbing on Daddy's Jeep!
Keeping his little sis safe on the swing!
Helping Mommy sweep
He's loving "baseball"
Pickin' some flowers for Mama
Loves playing the drums!
Ava Grace:
38 pounds 41 inches
Ava still leads in both categories of weight and height. She's in the 75th percentile for height and 60th percentile for weight. She's definitely had the biggest growth spurt out of all three that you can physically see. She loves anything pink, sparkly and FROZEN but loves to wrestle around with her brothers! We find ourselves asking her to play the quiet game often especially in the car because she ALWAYS has input on EVERY topic! She loves to play with her babies and play the roll as Mommy. Though they've all been potty trained for almost 2 years now, we still put pullups on them at night. We decided to take a chance and have Ava go without a pullup the past few nights. To our surprise, the first night we did 7am rolled around the next morning and she walked into our room with NO ACCIDENTS all night!!! We were so impressed!
One of her best friends, Chloe
Loves to read to her sister
Flower crown
Playing dress up
Her new Minnie phone for being sleeping without a Pullup!
All she needs are those Cowboy boots!
Brayden Stevan:
37 pounds 40 inches
Brayden and Ava always compete in size but Ava seems to slightly pass him every time. He's in the 46th percentile for weight and 76th percentile in height. Brayden is still our "outside of the box" thinker with an incredible imagination that can entertain him for hours! Give him a truck, car, train or plane to play with and you won't hear a peep from him except for some pretty elaborate stories that he can tell you about each one (pretend of course). He loves the water and is looking forward to swim lessons in a few weeks. He doesn't enjoy playing with Emma as much as the others since it requires him sharing the toys; I know, you'd think he would be a pro at sharing considering he's had to do it from day one. One of his best buddies is Andrew, who is in preschool with him and shares many of the same personality traits! He loves to cuddle with his stuffed Clifford in one hand and car in the other!
Who doesn't love hammering nails into an empty box!
Water play!
Loves Meme and Poppy's boat!
Enjoying his birthday cookie at Barnes & Noble
Makin' some music with his guitar!
Doctor said all three checked out great developmentally to include eyesight! Walked away with completed physicals so they can PLAY SOCCER AND START PRESCHOOL in the Fall! Can you believe we're there already? In one year they'll be off to Kindergarten! Looking forward to Joe being home this year for Preschool milestones!
Not too much going on around here these days except that...our two year olds are little grown ups! I feel like since they turned two in May they've developed these individual personalities that closely resemble...ummm, adults! That is to include the attitude and independence as well!
Trying to copy Daddy and do handstands!
Ava had her cardiologist appointment since the doctors could still hear her heart murmur caused by a PDA from birth. I'm excited to say that after an Echo and EKG she is officially cleared and simply has an innocent murmur that will NOT impede her from any activities. The PDA has definitely closed and she has a healthy heart! So no follow ups for that issue! She has also taken an interest in taking her diaper off while we're doing some potty training with them to include during nap time while there's some stinky in her diaper...so to avoid a "decorated" room we used duct tape to keep her diaper on...desperate times call for desperate needs!
Duct Tape is our friend!
All three had their first dentist appointment as well! I was so impressed as none of them cried! They had their teeth brushed, flossed and fluoride. Brayden and Gavin don't have any spaces in their teeth so we will have to monitor them closely when the day comes that they start getting their adult teeth for overcrowding but Ava had great spacing. Brayden does have an under bite but she doesn't feel that it is causing any sort of speech delay so his hearing will get tested this week to rule that out next. The only "bad" news we walked away with was that we had to do away with pacifiers at night time for both Gavin and Ava because it is starting to effect their bite. They haven't had a paci in the day time since they were around a year old but they liked them at night still to soothe them to sleep. So that night we explained to them that pacis were for babies like Emma and so we needed to put all of their pacis in her room for when she arrives and that they're big kids now and don't need them. We thought it was going to be rough, especially for Ava, but NOTHING! That's right, no issues! They just said okay and went to sleep! They always surprise us in these situations!
Brayden's favorite word is "no" these days and loves to use it for EVERYTHING!! So we've been struggling with him on that. We've bumped them up to two days a week for the Child Development Center and they are getting much better with drop off now, which is more of a relief for us than them I think!
Not only are our trio growing up but our "first borns" are too. Brody and Sadie turned four years old on Sunday so we bought them a cake from the local pet store and invested in a new bed for them. We have never been able to find a bed big enough for both of them to sleep on so we always had to buy two but Joe found this great site that makes covers large enough for Great Danes that you just stuff with pillows or foam so we ordered one of those for them as their gift! I highly recommend them: http://www.bowwowbeds.com/
The kids got a kick out of the hats...the dogs, not so much!
Gobbling their cake down
The kids trying to help them!
Other than that I'm movin' right along with Bonus Baby (Emma)! Can't believe I'm already at 34 weeks...6 weeks to go! Doctor said last week that my belly is running small...which was hard for me to hear since the last time I ran quite large! But he's happy with everything and says I deserve an easy pregnancy this time around! Haha...I say as long as the birth is easy! Joe is back to working long days so the kids and I have been spending a lot of time outside in our homemade water park...at least we're getting a nice tan. Mom and Dad also came and visited last week which was a huge help during all of the doctors appointments while Joe was back at work! Next on the agenda: getting the nursery together and buying those last minute things for Emma's arrival! We'll be posting pictures soon!
We enjoyed the night of celebration at the Welch/McConville wedding overlooking the beautiful Hudson River!
We had the trio's 2 year developmental appointment with Dr. Kase yesterday and it went well considering we had three 2-year-olds pent up in a small examination room for two hours. Gavin and Ava are functioning on a 2-year-old level in all categories (expressive, receptive, fine motor and gross motor) and Brayden is also functioning on a 2-year-old level in everything except expressive (speech). We kind of knew that he was a little behind on his speech but the doctor is thinking that it may actually be a physical empearment due to his severe underbite. So we are getting his ears checked first to rule out fluid and then we'll have an ENT see him to make sure there's nothing wrong with his palette, etc. All three will also go see a dentist for their first cleaning and while there they'll take a look at his underbite. In the end we'll more than likely go ahead with some speech intervention just to help "teach" him how to form those long vowel sounds despite the underbite.
Ava has to go see the cardiologist again because they can still hear her heart murmur due to the PDA that she was born with. Since she's a "good size" child there's a possibility that they may have to fix it via surgery. Luckily, it's not an open heart surgery but will require at least one night's stay in the hospital because they'll have to insert a catheter through the groin and implant a coil into the heart area. I can talk about it now without getting emotional but we'll see once we get closer to that appointment! Other than that, all three are thriving and doing great! Here are their weights and heights:
Gavin:
Birth- 4 lb 2 oz
2 Years Old- 25 lb, 32 3/4 in
Ava:
Birth- 4 lb 6 oz
2 Years Old- 29 lb, 34 3/4 in
Brayden:
Birth- 3 lb 11 oz
2 Years Old- 29 lb, 34 3/4 in
So Ava and Brayden are the exact same size and Gavin is still our little guy but he certainly doesn't let size stop him from doing ANYTHING! While we were outside playing I took this super cute video of Ava!
We had our developmental appointment this week to make sure that the babies are on track since they were preemies. It's so funny to think back to the appointments where the would sit quietly in their stroller waiting their turn to "play" with the doctor and compare it to what goes on now in the room! This time they were ALL OVER THE PLACE! Forget saying that "anything a child can get into"...for ours it's "anything that an adult can get into" our children did! I felt bad for the doctor because she wasn't the normal doctor for us so I'm sure she was a bit overwhelmed! The final results were that they are functioning at a 22-month olds gross motor skills and a 16-month olds fine motor skills. She wasn't too concerned about the fine motor skills because technically they're 16 months old corrected age, since they were born 2 months early. Things she said for us to work on though include stacking blocks, coloring and puzzles. Here goes testing our patience (and theirs) I guess!
Overall, she thought they looked great! Ava is a little more advanced than the boys when it comes to talking but she said that they're still young so give until 2 years before we should be concerned. The boys are talking but more of that mumbling talk (or is that typical of a man, haha)! We have to get their hearing tested again because a lot of times when babies are in the NICU for a period of time the antibiotics that they receive can cause hearing loss and fluid build up. I think the only hearing issues our three have is selective hearing though!
So here are some funny photos/video of what they've been up to lately!
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'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!
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!
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!
So we finally had the babies 15 month stats and vaccinations done this week. This was actually our last visit to Dr. Gergely's office because we've switched insurance and are now going to be using the Army's facilities, which I'm actually excited about because I've heard great things about the doctor here.
So here were their weights/heights:
Gavin
Birth: 4lb 2oz
12 Months: 18lb 6oz, 27 1/2 in
15 Months: 20lb 9oz, 30 in
Ava
Birth: 4lb 6oz
12 Months: 20lb 4oz, 28 3/4 in
15 Months: 23lb, 30 1/2 in
Brayden
Birth: 3lb 11oz
12 Months: 21lb, 29 1/4 in
15 Months: 22lb 13oz, 30 3/4 in
So they're all still growing great and Brayden and Ava are still battling for the biggest! We also finally finished having their 12/15 month pictures done by our good friend Veronica. They are absolutely amazing so here's a taste of them:
If you'd like to see more pictures I've posted all of them including their first birthday pictures on Shutterfly (free registration):
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!
