9 years ago...

Nine years ago (on Oct 16th) Donna & I exchanged vows two and a half years after we met. I didn't know the travels or journey that was in store eleven and a half years ago & I surely never imagined the family we would create!!!
It has been a challenging and adventurous ride. We have endured our fair share of heartache; moving, illness, loss of loved ones, infertility, loss of pregnancy, & more moving. But we've always come out on top. I have to say that as hard as it has been being away from family & friends this past year, it has to rate as the best year we have had to date. We have met some amazing people on our journey to parenthood & of course nothing can top welcoming our 3 beautiful boys into the world.
Happy Anniversary Donna, heres to many many more...

This photo is from our trip home for my dads
surgery, the boys were 3 months old

Having A Hard Time Letting Go...

It's a strange thing, I have looked forward to the time I would quit pumping & feeding the boys breast milk pretty much since I started. It's a lot of work & very time consuming. As the boys get older & become more aware of the world around them & sleep less, it has become almost impossible to have the time to sit down & pump for 30-45 minutes every 3 hours. Well now that the time has come & I have made the decision to stop I am having a hard time completely giving it up. I have started transitioning the boys to more/all formula & have only been pumping in the morning & at night. I don't really know what the next step in cutting back is & I'm kind of nervous about not making milk at all anymore. But on the other hand, I'm looking forward to spending more hands on time with the babies & not having so many bottles & parts to wash :) A time saver all the way around, plus with formula I can make all their bottles for the day ahead of time & not spend my life in the kitchen, which is where I feel like I'm at all the time!!!

Kellan, Garren, & Caden all smiling!!!

On another note, the boys are doing great with their helmets. They are suppose to wear them day & night, only taking them off for baths & pictures but, the helmets get really stinky & need washed at least once a week (really more) They take overnight to dry so the boys end up not wearing them for 1 night about once a week. They could stand to be washed more but I don't want the boys out of them too much so we just wash them once a week right now. I'm hoping at their 8 week check up they will be able to cut down to just wearing them at night. I hate not being able to kiss their little foreheads & they get frustrated when they try to nuzzle their heads in our necks, the helmets hurt us & the boys aren't getting the contact that they want. Over all they are tolerating them well & don't even seem to know they have them on.

After bath before bed nap, lol

After our last bottle getting relaxing before bed

We Got Them!!!

Tuesday we went back to see "The Helmet Man" actually we saw the fitting lady.

After obnoxiously promoting my sale on Just Hookin' for 2 weeks, and soliciting on several Mothers of Multiples sites, along with calling and emailing every organization I could think of or that was suggested to me, we finally made enough money to put a substantial down payment on the boys helmets.

Caden, Kellan, & Garren

We have amazing friends and have met more amazing people through this process that we are very grateful for. It's amazing in todays environment how generous & willing people are to help out 3 little boys they don't even know. It truly warms my heart.

To show my appreciation I have extended the sale of my crocheted items through the end of the year & to include all items in stock & custom made. Please if you have not, check out my
Just Hookin' page on facebook or my shop on Etsy. I'm trying to get everything updated on Etsy, but it is a slow process & I'm focusing more on getting all the orders I have, filled... in between taking care of the boys of course.

Thank you again to all those who have made a purchase, a donation, or passed our info along!!!

5 Months Old

Our home is filled with baby babble, squeals & smiles. Although it has been 5 months I still sometimes have a hard believing we are moms. Sometimes Donna looks at them & then looks at me and says "Spring, we have 3 babies!" It sounds silly, but there was a little bit of time there when we didn't think it was possible. I'm also in denial about the boys being 5 months old.

Kellan, Garren, Caden

Caden, Kellan, Garren

This last month has been really been fun!!! The boys are all smiles all the time... They wake up grinning in the morning & open their mouths wide as if they want to say something. They coo & babble all day long. I love how when we walk by they give us a bashful smile & how they light up when we leave the room and then come back again.

Garren 

Caden

Kellan

We are still working on getting the boys their plagio. helmets but, we are making great progress & I think we'll be able to talk the doctor into giving us the helmets with half the money down next week :) I am busier than ever crocheting! I love to crochet anyways & I'm happy I'm able to raise money doing it. How do I have time? I just have to do it while the babies nap or after they go to bed... the floors don't get vacuumed quite as often & our laundry is a little further behind, but it's all worth it to get the boys what they need. I could only pray to stay this busy selling my stuff, but I know, as it already has a bit, business will slow down again. If you haven't yet, check out my shop Just Hookin' on facebook or on Etsy :)

Well the boys are growing like weeds! They haven't had a check up this month so I don't know what their current weights or lengths are, but I went in to get Caden up one morning & I swear he looked like he had grown 3 inches overnight! Garren changes by the minute, every time we look at him he looks different. I don't know if it's their new facial expressions or if their faces are filling out. Whatever it is, they get cuter & cuter by the day!
These boys can't sit still anymore! Their arms and legs and heads are just going everywhere all the time. Sometimes I can't get their legs in their sleepers and just let them hang out until bedtime. They are all consistently holding their heads & chests up when laying on their tummies and they are inconsistently rolling over. Kellan rolled once from his tummy to his back & hasn't figured it out again since :( Caden recently rolled twice, they do try pretty hard to do it again, but they get sooo mad when they can't. Garren has rolled from his back to his side but has not rolled from his tummy yet. They also use their legs a lot when they're on their tummies, they turn themselves in circles, I figure it's just a matter of time before one of them goes forward.
The boys carry on a lot of baby babble conversations, even quiet little Garren has found his voice & likes to use it! Kellan squeals at his hands when they do quite what he wants & he squeals at the TV (I only let them watch it while they are waiting their turn to eat) and Caden has taken notice of hanging toys and talks & giggles at them, when he doesn't have them in his mouth :)

Well we've got a busy month ahead of us, so stay tuned for lots of new blog posts!!!

Happy October , I hope you are all having a beautiful Autumn!!!

Garren, Donna, Caden