Chili Cook-Off

Two weeks ago Crystal’s parents came into town for a long weekend. They got here late on a Wednesday and stayed until Monday morning. We have a pretty good time when they come into town and this weekend was no exception. A typical Skantz weekend involves Crystal and I getting some much needed extra sleep and spoiled babies! Keith and I also love to grill on the Big Green Egg, drink good beer, and partake in a good cigar. We do this just about every night they are in town. So much fun! This time we did steaks on Thursday, took a break Friday for lent and had homemade shrimp etoufee. Saturday we did steaks again and Sunday did pork spare ribs and sausage. Good eats!

Ribs and Sausage! YUM!

On Saturday, we decided to load the kids up and take them to their first outdoor festival, the Baldwin County Chili for Charity Cook-off. I must say, the kids did great and we had a blast. They did great! They slept a little off and on, but overall stayed awake the whole time. The Addi was awake the whole time and just talked her little head off. Jack was hamming it up flirting with any woman that walked by and Kate just chewed on her fingers the whole time. The fun part was watching the other people’s reaction. Sometimes that is the most fun part of taking them out in public settings. We only stayed for an hour or two because we didn’t want to over do it for the babies. We got them home and fed and they laid down for a pretty long nap. What a fun day.

Trioux Limoux @ The Chili for Charity

Trioux

Addi

Jack

Kate

As the weekend came to a close, I started to feel pretty bad and felt like I was coming down with something. My throat was feeling swollen and I felt a little feverish. When I woke up Monday, I was downright sick! I stayed home from work and slept all day. I am so glad we have Tammy so that I was able to quarantine myself in the bedroom so I didn’t get the babies sick. I didn’t go back to work until Thursday I felt so bad. Then we had their 6 month check up on Friday so I missed half a day Friday. I worked a grand total of one and a half days that week, and then Tammy got sick the following Monday so I had to stay home with the kids. Thankfully during all of that sickness none of the babies got it!!!

I know, I am a bad daddy! I had to put it somewhere! LOL

One Year Ago...

I have been trying to come up with something all week to report, but there really is not a whole lot to report this week. We have settled into a pretty good routine with the Trioux over the last few months. They have been getting up like clockwork around 6:45 every morning. Except this last weekend, where for some reason or another they ALL slept till almost 8:00! It was VERY strange. I woke up scrambling trying to get their bottles made because they are supposed to feed at 7:30. Oh well, a little late will never hurt! The typical routine is Addi is the first to actually wake around 6:00 or so. We get her up and into her swing where she goes back to sleep until 7:00 or so. Then Jack wakes up about 6:30. I usually get him and stick him in our bed while we get ready for work. He is so content laying in our bed watching us. Kate is ALWAYS the last to get up. I think she wakes up around 7:00, but likes to just hang out in her crib being quiet. It is the greatest sight in the world when I go and get her. As soon as I round the corner and she seems me, her face lights up with the biggest smile I have ever seen! It will melt anyone!!!

The only major change that has occurred over the last week or so is Addi. As most of you know, poor Addi suffers from pretty severe acid reflux (no idea where she got that from, as I swallow my own Zantac!). As a result, we have kept her swaddled up tightly in a miracle blanket and propped up in a boppy in her crib. Every so often she would wiggle her way down flat and wake herself and half the house up. All we had to do was go in and prop her back up. Most times she wouldn’t even wake up fully. Here lately, there have been times I go in there at night and she has wiggled almost out of her blanket. I didn’t think much of it and just propped her back up. Well, must to my surprise, one morning, I walked in to get Jack out of his crib and low and behold, Addi is flat on her back, with her arms practically waiving at me! It was actually pretty funny. Somehow she figured out how to get out of her straight jacket! My little Houdini! This happened three mornings in a row! Funny thing was that she was not upset or pissed. She seemed more comfortable. So last weekend we took everything out of her crib and started laying her down just like Kate and Jack. The first few nights, she ended up in her swing, but after three nights, she made it all the way until morning! **sniff..sniff** My little girl is growing up! She seems to be much happier and goes to sleep much easier this way!

Now back to the title of this post. Yesterday was the one year anniversary of that fateful day we found out there were three little Boudreaux’s cooking in the oven! It is so hard to believe that it was that long ago. That is a day that I will never forget. It was our FIRST ultrasound after finding out we were pregnant. We had a pretty good idea that it might be twins, between the Follistem and the fact that both of Crystal’s parents are fraternal twins, but we had no idea what was in store for us. I was actually pretty excited about the idea of twins. Luckily our favorite ultrasound tech came in that day just to do our ultrasound because she was so excited that we had finally gotten pregnant. When she started looking I was soooo nervous. By this time, we had been through so many ultrasounds that I could pretty much pick out her anatomy. When she started, she found two sacs pretty quickly and all of us were very excited. She then backed up a little and said, and I will never forget this, hang on a second, let me look at that again. She got real quiet and then a huge grin came over her face. She looked up and said, well, here is A, here is B, and surprise, here is C! I had been standing the entire time and needless to say, I slumped back into my chair and my jaw hit the floor!!! Crystal didn’t say a word! I think I started to tear up a little. Not sure if I was happy, sad, terrified, excited, or what. Possibly all rolled into one. Of course the doctor told us to not stay set on the fact that we will end up with three. He really thought that one would be lost. Deep in the back of my mind I always knew that we would end up with The Trioux. When we left the doctors office we got in the car and called the grandparents. Of course they were screaming and hollering. We were still in shock though and really couldn’t speak. I think the greatest quote the entire time came from my boss when I came to work that morning. He said to me “Brian, I am shocked you came in this morning. If it would have been me to find out I was having triplets, I would have gone straight to the bar!!!”

All that being said, I LOVE MY LIFE with triplets! They are the single greatest joy in my life and I would not trade it for the world!

Here are some pictures for your enjoyment. There are more pictures of Jack in this update, but next update will be a different baby.

The Trioux visiting daddy at work

"Ladybug" Addi

"Turtle" Jack

"Ladybug" Kate

Everyone chillin watching the Olympics

I think we have a thumb sucker!!!

Jack sucking his thumb

Blonde Jack

Geaux Saints!

Last week had the potential to be a very long week at the casa de Boudreaux. Without going into to much detail, Crystal is what we would call a public official. She has a pretty stressful job, but one that she loves. Under normal circumstances, she leaves the house when I do, about 7:00 and is home shortly after I get home, about 5:30. For about a week and a half of every other month, Crystal has to work some very long hours. In the past, before the Trioux came along, it was no big deal at all! It just meant that I had to eat alone and chill with the dogs. Well, now that we have three infants everything is a little tougher. What makes it even worse is their schedule. Their bath time is at 7:00, with feeding following that and they are in bed no later than 8:00. Well, with her crazy work week, it had the potential of being a VERY long week for me! I was fully prepared to do everything by myself. Well, as it turns out, Monday was the only day that I had to bathe them by myself. All other nights Crystal was able to get home just in time for bathing, albeit extremely exhausted. I am so proud of Crystal for how hard she works and is still able to come home and take care of the kids. She is my hero!

The weekend went pretty well. We had a great time hanging out with the kids. Saturday, I took little man Jack around with me to run errands. It is VERY strange taking one baby with you. I am sure some of you other triplet parents experienced this early on as well. When you take three somewhere, you might as well be carrying a neon sign that says “HEY LOOK AT US, WE ARE THE CIRCUS SIDESHOW!!” I am not going to lie, taking one baby out makes you miss the attention some what. When you have one, nobody really gives you a second look. Last weekend we took the babies to Publix with us and had a ball. We were the talk of the store! When we went to check out, we had one of the baggers actually come up and unload our cart onto the conveyor and then load our cart back up. She then followed us out to the car and unloaded all the groceries into the Tahoe! I don’t think that would have happened if I just had Jack with me! LOL!

Then came Superbowl Sunday!!! This year we decided to not have a party at all. I wanted to cheer on my Saints and watch the game in peace. I made a pot of chili, some Rotel dip, and stocked the fridge with some Abita Amber. My dad came over and we had a blast watching the game. This is the first year that I can actually say I saw the ENTIRE game and all the commercials. It worked out perfectly! In fact, bath time came at half time so I didn’t have to watch the AWFUL performance of The Who! In the end I almost woke up the babies screaming and hollering at the Saints actually winning the Superbowl!!! I had the Boudreaux Trioux yelling “Geaux Saints!”

Now to some pics from the week:

Jack going with daddy to run errands (he is such a ham)

Camera hog Jack

Addi loves her jumper

Another Addi jumper

"Lean on me, when your not strong"

Big Girl Kate

Watching mommy and daddy act silly

Starting to sit like big babies (sorry for the blurr, best one I could find)

Kate - She is trying to get those knees under her

Gaggle of Babies??

Circle of Babies

5 Months!!!

It is very hard to believe that the Trioux are now five months old. It seems like yesterday we were still living in the hospital trying to stretch for each and every day. The last five months have simply flown by. Looking back it is just a blur. I have been trying very hard to enjoy every minute that I can because they will never be at this stage again, but sometimes I am guilty of thinking to myself, “I can’t wait until they can…” Well, now they are starting to… It is so amazing how much they change each and every day. Not anything major, but just subtle changes in their behavior and learned movements. As I have said before, all three are doing things very differently and at different paces.

Kate is still leading the way vocally, but all three are “talking” up a storm. Jack has really started to become more talkative over the last few weeks. Addi on the other hand has been the one to experiment more with her “talking.” She seems to be the one that will say the first word. She has really been working on her vowels pretty well and seems to have the biggest “vocabulary,” if that is at all possible.

All three are turning from stomach to back pretty well. Addi is a little slower than the other two. She gets more pissed off than anything else when on her tummy. Kate is definitely the most determined one to roll, but I think Jack will be the first to roll from back to stomach. He just can’t seem to put all the parts together to accomplish it. Kate on the other hand is definitely going to be the first to crawl. She has the movements to do it and has been able to scoot a little, but just can’t piece it all together to move.

We are now on a four hour schedule with all three eating at least 6-8 ounces per feeding. They are also on rice cereal twice a day after their mid day bottles. We have also started them on bananas as well. Jack was the first to take the spoon with any regularity. Kate was slow to take it, but once we added the bananas, she was all about it (girl after daddy’s heart). Just in the last week Addi has started to show some interest in eating from the spoon. At first she HATED it!!! We are pleased with their progress so far on the solid foods.

Now onto our poor little Addi. She has had a pretty rough time over the last month or so. Her reflux has really started to act up. Poor thing is in so much pain sometimes it almost brings me to tears. No matter how she is held, she cries. It is not all the time, but when it comes be prepared. The only thing that seems to soothe her is her swing. I did get the ok from her doctor yesterday to increase her Zantac, so hopefully that will help. She is the sweetest and most adorable thing but when she gets going, she sounds like a pissed off cat!!!

Now on to what you came here for… The pictures.

Addi, Jack, Kate (5 months)

Addi, Jack, Kate (5 months)

Our newly renovated dining room.

Feeding time at the ZOO! Test driving our new highchairs.

Wathcing our 2nd team, The Cowboys (Thanks PawPaw)

The whole crew looking sharp (Kate, Jack, Addi)

Such sweet sisters (Kate & Addi)

Addi and Kate getting ready for a day on the town

Big Daddy Jack

Sweet little Addi

Addi "Trust me, my moms a lawyer"

Jack "Trust me, my moms a lawyer"

Kate "Trust me, my moms a lawyer"

Addi passed out after one of her reflux fits

Finally, the most pitiful face (took 4 months to get this picture)

Doctor Visit and Being Home Alone

As you can see, it has been a little while since my last post, AGAIN! This is starting to become a bad habit! Sorry! Well, it has been a pretty crazy last week and a half. Just a quick summary:

We went to their 4 month check up last Tuesday and it is official: We have very short well proportioned babies!!! Neither of the three we even close to the growth chart in length. Mind you that is with no age adjustment. However, their weight to height is right around the 80% which I think is pretty good. Overall the doctor has told us not to change anything and to continue exactly what we were doing. She did give us the go ahead to start introducing rice cereal with a spoon into their diet. Will have another post dedicated to that one later. They are developing exactly as they should be.

Our beloved nanny Tammy had a pretty tough week last week also. She had been trying to fight off a wisdom tooth coming in for a few weeks. We were trying to get to the 21st so that Crystal’s parents could come down and stay with the babies so that Tammy could get her tooth taken care of and I would not have to take off from work. Well, things did not go to plan! Her husband called me EARLY Thursday morning and told me that it could not wait any longer. He told me that she was trying so hard to come to work but he had to step in and say no. That meant that daddy had to stay home for two days ALONE with the Trioux! I was pretty intimidated at first but when I actually did it, it was pretty fun. We watched TV, played, CRIED, ate, CRIED, played some more, CRIED, cooked dinner together, CRIED, and napped (them one at a time). Oh and did I mention CRY! Thursday was fine. Everyone did great. Friday was the day I almost lost my mind! Addi’s reflux was acting up very bad, Kate was teething like something fierce, and Jack did not want to lay down by himself. There was at least one baby crying at any given moment during the day! I didn’t eat lunch until 2:00 PM, didn’t brush my teeth until 2:30 and didn’t get a shower until later that night! I have a new found respect for all you out there that stay at home with your kids! As tough as it was though, I had so much fun and actually enjoyed it.

This past Tuesday was also a pretty interesting day. Monday afternoon Crystal informed me that she had to go to something for work and would not be home until around 8:30 or 9:00. Normally this would not be a problem. I would do their 6:00 feed by myself and then wait fro her to get home to bathe, feed and put to bed at 9:00. Well, this past weekend we changed them to a 4 hour feed schedule and took out the 9:00 bottle. Now they feed at 7:30, 11:30, 3:30 and then final feed at 7:30. So now I was left to do it all by myself!!! Again, I was a little intimidated but pulled thru just fine. Got all three bathed, fed and off to bed and only 30 minutes late! Not to bad if I say so myself.

Now for just a little update on each of the Trioux:

ADDI:

Our sweet and fussy little Addi. She has been the one with the most stomach problems. She has some pretty severe reflux going on. Right now she is on Enfamil AR and Zantac twice a day. Some days are good and some are very bad. Her bad days really tear me up! I hate so much to listen to her cry in pain. When she is not being affected by her reflux, she is one of the sweetest things on earth! She has the most beautiful little smile and little laugh. For the longest time she was WAY behind in the weight department. She was always at least two pounds less than Kate. Not any more! She has almost completely caught up to Kate. She is our little feisty one!

JACK:

Jacks skin seems to be getting a little better. Poor guy has been fighting eczema for the last couple of months. He has all the typical red spots all over his body. The worst part is his scalp. He looks like an old man with really bad dandruff. We have started using baking soda in his bath and it seems to be helping. He is starting to really hate his swing and loves to be in the middle of everything. He is starting to show some signs of teething, but none of the pain yet. He has no interest yet in rolling over or being on tummy time, but in the middle of the night, he ends up on his side and all turned around in his crib. He does have one of the most infectious laughs I have ever heard. Once he gets going in is HILAROUS!

KATE:

Kate is the epitome of happy baby! She is usually the one that laughs and smiles the most. She is also the most talkative lately. Sometimes I almost feel like I can have a complete conversation with her. Here lately though, she has been having a VERY rough time with teething. She has it pretty bad!!! Sometimes I will see her put her entire fist in her mouth trying to chew on it. It is pretty funny when she gets it there. Kate is leading the pack in firsts. She is the first to discover both sides of her hands and the first to roll from front to back. My money is on her to be the first to cut a tooth also. She is getting very strong and is showing that urge to try and crawl. We will see.

AS you can tell they are really growing and developing pretty fast. I am amazed everyday and the changes in them. You hear the old adage “they grow up so fast,” but you don’t believe it until you actually see it. I can remember when they were no bigger than a bag of flour. I am just trying to enjoy every minute of it! I love being a Triplet Dad!!!

Here are some more pictures of our life at home. One day I will update this blog and actually put pictures from our digital camera on here and not pics from my iPhone. It just so happens that I update this blog from work a lot of the time and those are the only pics I have available! (Don’t tell anyone about blogging at work!!! LOL)

Kate, Addi, Jack lined up ready for thier first rice cereal feeding!

Kate's not sure what to think about this whole thing.

Jack just chillin in his bouncy (notice the homemade step).

Brother and sister napping (Jack & Kate)

My FAVORITE picture of Addi

Reflection of the year that was 2009

“You never know how STRONG you are until being strong is the ONLY choice you have…”

WOW! If that doesn’t sum up the year 2009 for the Boudreaux family, I am not sure what would. What a life changing year it has been. Crystal and I went from a 2 person family with two dogs, a mortgage, student loans and no car payment, to the extreme opposite! I never thought my life could change so drastically in one year. It is AMAZING.

The beginning of last year is a stark contrast to the beginning of this year. This time last year we had been trying to have a baby for almost a year and a half. We had been getting very serious about it for about 6 months and started to see a fertility specialist. This was tough on both of us, but more so on Crystal. It really started to take its toll around the new year because nothing up to that point had seemed to work. Not to mention how much money we were spending. We had gone through the Clomid and started Follistem (for those of you that have taken that, you can attest to how expensive it is and for those who don’t, we met our prescription deductible in the first week of 2009). Financially it was VERY tough. We racked up some serious credit card debt quickly, but our doctor had a good feeling about it and so did we! I will never forget the day I think it happened. We had to go in for an ultrasound on a cold and rainy Sunday around the middle of January. Her numbers looked great and the doctor told us to take the trigger shot. Well as you can tell by now, it sure did work!!!

The beginning of February is when we actually found out we were pregnant. It was one of the happiest days of my life! I was actually boarding a plane for a business trip trying to get a hold of Crystal to find out if it was true. I had to wait until I landed in Dallas to find out. I will never forget when the text came across. I yelled in the plane and people cheered. It was like a scene out of a movie. Then about a month later we went in for our first ultra sound and our lives changed forever when we saw this…

Needless to say it was rather shocking when we saw that for the first time. We had no idea what we were in for, or how tough yet rewarding it was going to be. Like the quote says, I had no idea how strong I could be when I had to be. During this pregnancy, Crystal ended up in the hospital three times with major complications. Once for complications from the Follistem and twice for a cerclage. The final one landed her in the hospital for the duration of the pregnancy.

This was the hardest thing I had to do in my entire life. There were nights or mornings when I left the hospital that I would cry the entire 45 minute drive home wondering if I was strong enough to get through this. Watching Crystal become more and more miserable in the hospital nearly killed me. I wanted to be there with her all the time and help make her feel better. It took all I had to be the strong one in front of her to help give her strength and not show her the I was about to crumble, but I knew that was what I had to do. The last few weeks actually got a little easier. We had almost settled into a routine and were getting pretty comfortable.

The closer we got to Crystals birthday the more antsy I got. When we found out we were pregnant, we were given a due date of October 17th, which is a full term 40 week pregnancy. Well, as most of you know, the national average gestation for triplets is 33 weeks. Crystal’s birthday was one day shy of 33 weeks. From the beginning, I had a strong feeling that these kids would be here right around her birthday. I joked from the beginning that if it was her birthday, I would only have to remember two dates the rest of my life, their birthday and our anniversary. Well, that prediction came true! Two weeks after the doctor finally set a c-section date, the Trioux decided to give mommy the greatest birthday present ever, their arrival! By far the greatest moment of my entire life!!! Worth all the time driving and all the money spent. Nothing can compare to the feeling of having three lives in your hands!

Now that we have settled into our life at home, we could not be happier. There are many times I sit back and wonder what it would be like to only have one or two but all it does is make me appreciate the three of them more! I can’t imagine not having 6 little eyes looking up at me, or 30 little fingers grabbing for me. We do look forward to all the challenges that we will face over the next year. Should be fun and interesting!

Well on to 2010! I am going to try and start posting every other day or so. Today we have our 4 month appointment so I will have stats in the next few days. One thing that I can say about the last few days… TEETHING SUCKS!!! Especially times three!!!

Take care and until next time here are a few pics for your enjoyment.

Merry Christmas Mommy (Jack)

Little Addi after her bath

Jack being silly after his bath

Jack passed out in daddy's lap after a teething bout

Finally, daddy's Christmas present to the babies