New Vehicles

This past weekend I decided it was time to go vehicle shopping. Over the last few weeks I have thought long and hard about it and came to the decision that I could not wait any longer and had to do it now. I let Crystal have the afternoon off of getting spit up on and let her go get a pedicure with the girls. My mom was in town, so we loaded the kids up in the Tahoe and went vehicle shopping.

We had a lot to consider when vehicle shopping. I wanted to get something that was practical and had so good options. I was actually a little disappointed in the selection, but had to go with what they had. I really didn’t want to have to order anything and wait on it. The funny thing was that the difference between the top of the line and the bottom was HUGE! You had a corvette and jeep at the top and what seemed to be a Hyundai at the bottom (no offence to you Hyundai owners out there). Here are the three at the top of the spectrum:

Seeing as we had to buy three of them, I did not see the point of spending that kind of money on something they would grow out of in a few months!!! All three of these were $100 or more. They were pretty tricked out though, but for the money I was expecting more. For that kind of money I was thinking there should have been chrome spinners on the wheels and a good little sound system.

Then we came to the end of the isle and what we ended up getting. I consider this the VW Bug of the group. It will get them where they need to go, but doesn’t have all the bling of the other vehicles. It has wheels, a tray and a toy bar. What else does a 6.5 month old need?! My first car was a ’69 Super Beetle and I could not see buying the girls a Corvette and Jack a Jeep as their first car. What would the neighbors think?

When we got home, we had the Inaugural Boudreaux Trioux Grand Prix. I think they really enjoyed it. Kate is by far the best driver so far. She is starting to get the hang of moving forward now. Jack and Addi still can’t quite figure it out so the first checkered flag went to Kate!!! I am thinking about moving out most of the furniture and putting up some canes and maybe a banked curve. Lets see how that goes over with Crystal.

Until next time…

Kate - "Get the heck out of my WAY!"

Addi - "Who you talkin to? I ain't movin!"

Addi

Jack aka "Ricky Bobby"

Kate

Kool Kate

Too cool for words

Rough Life

"Serious" Addi

Beginning of a typical day for us. Watching Disney

Happy Half Year!!!

On Sunday the 28th, the Trioux turned 6 months old! WOW! What a fast half of a year. It only seems like yesterday that Crystal was laid up in the hospital growing these little babies. We have come a long way since then and have become old pro’s at this! Yea Right! We are having the best time of our lives! I would not trade our lives for anything. Everyone asks “How do you do it?” My two best answers are, “You just do” and “We don’t know any better!”

Friday the 26th was their 6 month pediatrician visit. I took off half a day and so did Crystal so that we could go together. Tammy also went with us to help out. The doctor said the kids are doing AMAZING! They are growing just like they should and developing just like they should be doing. She said that we still need to take into account their prematurity, but it is becoming less and less of a factor. They are really starting to catch up on their actual ages. From day one, we really have not worried too much about their “adjusted” age. They are going to develop at their own pace is they way that we have looked at it. If they are a little behind SO WHAT! They will catch up and so far they have. The doctor did not really have any concerns except that they all seem to have very dry skin and she told us to stop bathing them once a day. Since we did that, Jack’s skin looks GREAT!!! Overall it was a great visit, except for the shots! Addi actually did the best and was the first to stop crying.

Trioux Up To Date Facts and Stats:

Addi: 14 lbs @ 24” (15%)
Addi is doing much better with her reflux. I really think that over the last few weeks she has turned a corner and is not as affected as she used to be. She is not spitting up like she used too, and she is not as fussy as she used too. She is still having a hard time sleeping through the night since we took her out of the miracle blanket. She tends to wake up starving hungry once a night. She is still trying to roll over from her back to tummy but can’t quite get her arm out of the way. She is hold her head very steady and can sit up against the back of the couch pretty well. She still loves her swing and sleeps in it quite a bit. She is probably our worst spoon feeder so far. She loves all the food she tries, but still has not learned to open her mouth for the spoon. You have to sneak it in there. She is very bright and inquisitive. She is always looking around checking out her environment and knows when someone enters the room. She is our most talkative now. She experiments with her sounds a lot.

Jack: 15.75 lbs @ 24” (1%)
Jack is our short little chunker. He is relatively quiet but when you get him laughing it is the funniest thing to hear and watch. He loves to sit in his highchair when I am in the kitchen doing something. He has the cutest smile when you look at him. Overall he is a pretty happy baby, but when he is unhappy you will know it! He does great rolling over from his back to his tummy, so much so that lately he has been sleeping on his tummy in his crib. He has not learned that he can go from tummy to back easier so when he does get on his tummy he tends to whine about it until you flip him over. Since we quit giving them baths every night and we started to use some different cream, his skin has done AMAZING! It looks great. He no longer looks like Bill Clinton with the red chapped cheeks. He is a little better than Addi with the spoon. He loves his food though. It is kinds funny though, when you first dump it in his mouth, he will look at you with this funny grin like “what am I supposed to do with this?” He eventually swallows it. His favorite food is apple sauce. You would think that stuff was baby crack! He LOVES IT! Here lately he absolutely loves his Baby Einstein jumper! He will sit in there forever and jump and bounce. He is such a happy little man.

Kate: 14 lbs @ 24.5” (16%)
Kate by far is the most easy going laid back baby I have ever met. She is teething so bad right now, but when you look at her, she will give you the biggest grin she can (fingers in mouth included). She was the first to roll from back to tummy. She did it for two days until we actually witnessed it. We call her the ninja baby! She is very crafty and fast. She will probably be the first to crawl. While on her tummy, you can see the parts moving, but she can’t quite get then all together to move. She can inch her way a little bit at a time though. She is also the one who with out fail sleeps through the night. We put her down to bed and won’t hear a peep out of her until the next morning. She is so self sufficient. She is also hands down the best spoon eater. She will open her mouth wide when you get the spoon close to her mouth. She loves it. She can almost eat and entire jar of apples on her own! She is very close to sitting up on her own. She is always trying to lean forward and sit up.

So far they have all tried peaches, bananas, pears, apples and sweet taters. Their favorite by far has been the apples. Like I said before, that stuff is baby crack! They can’t get enough. We have started making our own food a little, but we are using the store bought organic stuff while we introduce the foood to them. Once we know there are no allergies, we will start making our own. I would rather make it fresh than give it to them from a jar.

Well, until next time. I think 4 blog entries in one day are enough. Now for their 6 month photo shoot with my mom.

Six Month Trioux

Addi

Jack

Kate

Addi and Ping

Jack and Ping

Kate and Ping

Mellow Mushroom

Last weekend my mom came into town for the weekend. She got here late Friday night and was able to stay until late Sunday afternoon. It has been almost a month since she has been here, so she was really surprised at how much the babies have changed since then (more about the changes in a later post). We had a great time with Nana here. She really helped take care of them after their 6 month check up. They were all very puny and wimpish after getting all their shots. Saturday was a pretty rough day. All three had low grade fevers and were not wanting to eat at all. But we pushed through and by the end of the day they were feeling better.

Sunday morning I let Crystal sleep in and Nana and I did the early feeding. We fed and watched CBS Sunday Morning (a tradition). After we got done with feeding I got a wild hair and came up with the idea of taking them to lunch at Mellow Mushroom. My thinking is that it is a little loud in there and it’s wide open so if they do have a meltdown it won’t be as dramatic. We had not tried it yet and part of me was a little scared, but since we had an extra person we had a 1:1 baby/adult ration. As many of you know, you can’t let them outnumber you! They are out to get you and will take over! LOL!

We decided to get them ready, feed them at 11:30 and then quickly head out the door. They are usually pretty sleepy after they eat so they might be easier to control! Well, it worked. By the time we got to the restaurant, Kate and Jack were asleep. We decided to just carry them inside instead of breaking out the Limoux. They staff was great, they got us a huge table where we could spread out and have plenty of room. Our waiter, not too bright, actually came up and asked “are they all three twins?” Could have teed off on him but decided not too. Addi sat there looking up at me and fell asleep within about 10 minutes of walking in the door. Jack woke up and played in his car seat the whole time. Kate woke up about the time the pizza got to the table and got a little fussy so Crystal and Nana took turns holding her. Overall it was a great experience and will give us the confidence to do it again. Maybe even just the two of us!

Trioux and Family at Mellow Mushroom

Daddy and Addi

Momma and Kate

Nana and Jack

Various and Sundry Pictures

Just a quick post of a few various pictures I found amusing over the last few days. Just trying to get caught up this here blog!

Hunka Hunka Burnin Love

Playtime! (I know, I need to start thinking about childproofing!)

Kate just got her hair did

Blury picture, but very cute!

Sweet Little Addi

Where's Waldo?

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