Tripletville Adventures : Progress with Zachary!!!

Let me start by saying that I hope I didn't offend anyone in last week's post when I mentioned that even though we were offered loads of help, not much came of it. I want to re-state the fact that I am not resentful of this as I realize we all have lives to live and sometimes what we think in our heads that we will be able to do, in reality, is just not possible. I also want to say that we've received sooooooo much help in other ways. People have been so generous since we've shared the news that we were going to be going from a family of two to a family of five. We've had people cook for us, we've had people organize a semi clothes, toy, baby items drive for us, we've had people we don't even know drop off baby items to various family members and friends, and we've had the BEST emotional support from our friends and family. Not to mention the unbelievable amounts of diapers and free formula samples we've been given. So many diapers that I've given my leftovers to pregnant friends of mine. We've had people GIVE us a dishwasher and build a cabinet to fit it in because our kitchen is out-dated and didn't have space for it... We've had so many generous gift cards and monetary gifts. And my showers... wow... were we ever spoiled rotten!! I'm still getting bags of clothes from friends as the boys are growing out of the first bags of clothes. A friend of mine even showed up today with a bag full of clothes. My guest room is overflowing still with things I've been given that I need to organize! I NEVER want to sound ungrateful and if you've ever had a "well she's just an ungrateful little biatch" thought please remove said thought from your head as I've never been more appreciative and aware of people's generosity in my life! Rant over...

We may have solved Zachary's problem!!!! Thanks to my sister who, having experienced the same type of issue with my niece as a baby, told us to change the nipple and use a faster flow. Now Zachary had been using the same nipple since he started bottle feeding at the end of his NICU stay and we had tried to change him to various different types of nipples since and we were never successful. When my sister suggested we try a super fast flowing nipple, I thought that I would try him with a Tommee Tippee (same as his brothers) but a 6 month plus fast flow. I was very skeptical of this as we had tried the Tommee Tippee nipples in the past and he wanted nothing to do with it. I, by chance, had bought a pack of the faster flowing nipples a while back so I decided to try it out thinking that it was a waste of time... Low and behold, Zachary took right to it and finished his bottle without crying AND without needing me to walk him around or bounce him on the exercise ball or whatever. He stayed right there on his pillow and aside from a little confusion at first, had a really good feed! I was soooooo happy... I thought for sure it was just a fluke but what do you know, he has been doing it since! Here's my theory: I think Zachary developed a gag reflex and his previous nipple being longer, he'd gag and that created a sort of aversion to drinking. Gabe says that it may have just been a coincidence and that whatever had been bothering him just stopped bothering him but I'm inclined to think it was the changes to the nipple and flow. He's been spitting up a little bit more than usual but that was to be expected with a higher flow. What use to take him 30-45 mins now takes him less than 20 minutes!!! Can you say relieved?!?!! I was/am quite happy and I'm hoping that this weekend was not just a dream!

We also decided that it was time to make the switch to powder. I wasn't sure if Zachary would handle the formula switch on top of his other changes but all three didn't bat an eye at the switch! Last time we tried to switch about two months ago was a disaster! Having about a month's worth of powder formula in our cupboard, I thought it was time. This is going to make my life quite a bit easier as I'm also going to get this Formula Pro mixer which is like a Keurig for formula. It'll perfectly mix my water and powder and heat it up in less than a minute!!! I know some of you may think... what's the big deal? Is she THAT lazy that she can't mix powder with water on heat it up on her own?? When you have three babies screeching that they're hungry, trust me, you'd want this amazingness of a product too!! No need of making sure you have the right amount of water and fomula, making sure that it's all mixed right with no clumps and then waiting another 5 minutes for the water to boil and then another 3 minutes for the formula to heat up... this is going to be a Godsend! Check it out:

We've had difficulties getting it but some angels (once again) have come to our rescue and it'll be in my possession within the next two weeks!!! I'm so excited for this!! Man the things that excite me as a mother are quite different than what use to excite me pre-motherhood!! Haha...

The boys are developing so well! We had out physio and occupational therapy appointment this week and they're right where they should be! The boys are all different in their development but what Zachary can't do, Jacob or Samuel can and vice versa. The girls were quite impressed with them! They are where three month old babies should be which is what's expected as that's their corrected age and they're not expected to start catching up to their "real" age yet. The high-risk neonatologist was also quite impressed with them and said he didn't even want to see them until the fall because he was so happy with where they're at!
My boys are thriving! Zachary and Samuel both turned from tummy to back this week, something Jacob's been doing for weeks! Zachary only did it once and Sam twice but it's a sign of things to come. They're all really good at going from back to side so they'll be going from back to belly soon and then WATCH OUT!! We'll have to put our baby jail up soon!! My brother in law gave us one of those blue mats we used to have in gym class and we put that down so they have more room to play. We've started trying various other play things like exercausers and Jolly Jumpers, both of which the boys aren't too sure about...

I was trying to get them to look at each other.... FAIL

It's crazy how quickly things are changing now and how every week they are learning something different. Samuel seems to be the fastest developer of the boys but the physio lady told me that his brothers are just developing different skills that he hasn't developed yet. We bought a new toy and Samuel LOVES it! He's been loving his hands lately and anything he has in them will automatically go to his mouth...

He's also getting closer and closer to holding his own bottle!

My mother in law said that when they were feeding him on Saturday night, she put the bottle right beside him while she burped Jacob and he brought it back to his face and started drinking again! We didn't really believe it until he did the same with me today! It doesn't last very long but he's getting there!!

It was my sister's birthday this week so we made sent her a picture:

It says "Happy Birthday Auntie" for those of you who can't read French

It was also my parents' 20th wedding anniversary and it was my step-dad's 70th birthday a little while ago so we decided to go out to celebrate all those occasions on Saturday night while my amazing in-laws babysat the boys. We went to the Casino Buffet and we had lots of laughs... We don't often get to go out kid less as a family and spending time with them was refreshing. Of course, we were home at around 8:30 (we partied HARD!!! lol) as we still had to get up at 6:30 this morning!

We were able to go out for a few walks this week with the weather getting nicer. I met up with my friend Julie and her newly born twins (SO CUTE!), it was really nice to see her. She's the one whose belly Jacob was standing on in one of my previous blogs. Her twins are amazing and she's doing really good too in case you were curious :). We had visits from my friend Josée and her mom and look who came for a visit this morning:

The Hawking/Stafford family! Could their little guy BE any cuter?? Alicia is expecting her twin girls at the end of the summer so between her and Josée (who is also expecting a girl), they'll have the boys all set up!! Unless any of them prefer the other sex of course!

All in all, we had a really good week with the boys. They amaze me every day and every time I see their faces my heart swells and I can't believe they're all mine... I didn't know it was possible to love this much... but I do guys... I really do...

Other pics of the week:

So I know they say that kids shouldn't watch TV until they're at least 2 but c'mon.... how cute is this??

Jacob fell asleep after "watching" for 5 minutes...

As he was watching, he was also sucking his hand as you can see in the previous pictures and he ended up giving himself a hickey...lol

Showing off the cute little shoes made by Auntie Erin xox

Jacob had to put his doctor shirt on to go see the doctor of course!!

I took this picture to send to Josée and her mother after they had been here for about 40 minutes and not a smile from Zachary... the boys were not their best self when they came to visit so I had to send her a pic to ensure they knew that they weren't always cranky!! haha...