Peas Please!!

So we introduced the boys to peas yesterday. I was going to do green beans but I bought some cheap beans and they wouldn't puree down. So, we switched to peas. OH, they were a hit!!!!

This video is only of Grant and Ethan, but I have pictures of all three. (Ethan was already blowing raspberries when I turned the camera to him. He then stopped.)

Grant

Ethan

Alex

We hardly had any gagging. Grant was the only one who gagged slightly. I made the peas and put some in a bowl. By the time Alex got up from his nap, Grant and Ethan had eaten the whole bowl, so I had to get more! Alex ate almost that whole bowl.
Hopefully the like everything else this much.

Day 2 of Avacado

Day 2 of avacado was a bit more successful, but as you will see, my teaching the boys to blow raspberries has come back to bite us!


Today, day 3 of avacado, did not go very well. Ethan didn't want to eat very much, Grant completely refused to keep any in his mouth and needed a good amount of formula to get the taste out of his mouth. Alex took quite a bit though. Don't know. Our boys are very picky eaters!! We are going to move to green beans or peas tomorrow. It depends on what I have in the freezer to make!!

Avacado (first "real" food)

We introduced the boys to their first "real" food, other than rice cereal today. It was quite the ordeal.


The only one that seemed to love the avacado was Ethan. He started out gagging, but he just had to get used to the texture.
Alex couldn't handle the texture of the avacado. He ate some, the threw everything up. It was not good. I tried again with him, but just giving it to him off my finger so he didn't have to worry about the spoon. That seemed to help some, but it still wasn't the correct texture for him. He still gagged some. But we will work on it. Grant would eat it, but he didn't like it! He spit the majority of it back out, but he did take some. We'll try again tomorrow.

6 month checkup and a new trick!!

The boys went to the doctor today for their 6 month well check. The did really well until the end of the appointment when they had to get their shots. They hate shots. I don't blame them.

Here are their most current stats.
Alex - 14lbs 1.5oz; 25 inches long
Grant - 14lbs 11oz; 25.5 inches long
Ethan - 11lbs 12oz; 23 inches long

Alex and Grant are on the graph for their growth, but Ethan still is not quite there. He is working on getting there, but just not quite there yet. He is still in the less than 0 percentile.

We got the OK to start feeding the boys "solids". So, tomorrow we are going to start them with avacado and see how that goes. They already get rice cereal, but now we will start will veggies and first fruits. Tonight I bought some carrots, acorn squash, and sweet potatos and made baby food for them. I put the pureed foods into icecube trays so we will have individual servings for them. I'm pretty impressed. It only took me about 2 hours to fill 4 icecube trays with the food.

So, the boys learned a new trick today. I was blowing raspberries at them to make them giggle, and they started doing it back!! You just have to watch the video.




So, yesterday, we had to take Ethan into the doctor for another check up/followup. We were playing with him on the table while waiting for the doctor and he ROLLED OVER!!! We got it on video. Check it out here.




Then today, I was taping tummy time, and Alex rolled over. He has been doing this for a while, but I haven't gotten it on video until tonight! Oh, what fun. All the boys can rollover from their tummies to their backs!!




So, here are a few pictures from the past couple of days.
The boys before tummy time tonight.

Alex and Grandpa Fischer

Ethan and Grandma Fischer

Every evening we read to the boys. They love it. Here is Daddy trying out a different position while reading to the boys. They weren't too thrilled to have him laying there with them. They like to see your face while you are reading to them.

Grant

Ethan

Alex

Ethan (a comparison)

Then and Now!! (click on the picture to make it bigger if you want.)

The dots on his face, that are holding his oxygen, are the same size in this picture. I know, it looks like an optical illusion, but they truly are the same size in this picture and in real life!! He has gained 10lbs since "then".

Taylor Fischer

One year ago, James and I had our hearts broken. It was the worst day of our lives.

Our baby, Taylor, was lost. We thought we had lost our first pregnancy.
We did not know that we would end up with three little miracles at the time.

We have chosen the name Taylor since we do not know if our baby was a boy or a girl.

We know that all things happen for a reason. My belief is that God knew that three little ones at a time was enough for us. We couldn't handle more. But He knew we could handle knowing that one of our little ones was with Him in Heaven.

I know that losing a baby so early does not compare to losing a child later in a pregnancy, or after they were born. But, Taylor will always be in my heart, and always be a part of me. It still hurts to think that my boys will not have their sibling - "Baby D" (as the doctors coined Taylor during the pregnancy). We know that we will get to meet Taylor eventually.

6 MONTHS OLD!!

Happy six months to Alex, Grant, and Ethan! They have been such a blessing in our lives and I can't believe how much our lives have changed.

They are growing so fast, and developing personalities. We haven't quite pinpointed them yet, but they are still working on it. Even though they are 6 months old in age, developmentally they are only 3.5 months old. But they are very developed 3.5 months! :)

They love to talk, when they are in the mood. They will giggle a bunch too. Their favorite thing that makes them laugh and giggle is mommy's nose on their belly or ribs. It gets them EVERY time!!

We will be going in to the doctor next Thursday, so I will update weights, lengths, etc then.

They are developing into great sleepers. Grant will sleep through the night almost every night. Alex will sleep through the night every once in a while. Ethan still wakes up famished in the middle of the night, though usually he sleeps from 8pm to 4am. I really can't complain too much about their sleeping habits. To only have two of them waking up once at night is pretty good.

We now have them on a fairly strict schedule. They get up at 6, 6:15, or 6:30 depending on who wakes first. Then they eat again at 9-9:15-9:30. They go down for a 2.5hr nap, eat when they wake, play for 3 hours, eat, back down for another 2.5hr nap, eat when they wake, play for 3 hours, then eat again right before they go to sleep around 8pm. It really does seem to work well for them. If we get off schedule though, the day is ruined. It is BAD, so we try to stay on schedule as much as possible.

I hope to eventually be able to get them off such strict scheduling (like when they are 3 or 4 years old) but it just isn't possible right now.

Well, here are a few pictures from today. I didn't get their teddy bears in the pictures yet, but I WILL get them today. I just may not post them today.

Grant


Ethan


Alex


Ethan would not put his tongue back in his mouth for anything. So, we had a ham for a baby during this picture.


Ethan, Alex, Grant


Alex


Grant


Ethan

1.28 and 1.29 pictures

1.24.2010 Alex, Grant, and Ethan's Dedication at Church

Alex, Grant, and Ethan were dedicated at our church, Calvary Baptist Church, on January 24, 2010. They were dedicated by three of our pastors: Brian Henderson, Anne Jernberg, and our Pastor Emeritus Mary Hulst. Brian held Ethan, Anne held Alex, and Mary had Grant. The boys did fairly well during the dedication. Grant wanted nothing to do with Mary's prayer however. It was ok though. They got to meet quite a few of their new church family.


James and I took the boys to the front and had our parents come with us to be a part of it.

Other family that was at the dedication was Great-Grandpa Dickey, Aunt Marie, Uncle Doug, Aunt Kara (soon to be Doug's wife), Cousin Andrea and her boyfriend Jeremy. It was so nice to have so much family there to witness this wonderful day for us.

Here is Alex and Anne.


Grant did finally agree to be nice to Mary.


We took a bunch of pictures after the church service. Here is the Fischer family with the Fischer Grandparents.


A unique thing about my family is that we have been American Baptists for quite a few generations. Here is the 4 generations of American Baptists, with the current ABCRM president (Grandma Rigsby)!!


We had the boys passed around from lap to lap. Here is Great-Grandpa Dickey with the boys (Alex, Ethan, Grant).


He was cuddling with Alex between takes!


The boys with Grandma Fischer (Alex, Ethan, Grant).


The boys with Grandma Rigsby (Grant, Ethan, Alex).


The boys with Great-Aunt Mimi (Grant, Ethan, Alex).


Aunt Kara (Doug's fiance) got to cuddle a bunch with Alex. He fell asleep on her during the service.


Thank you to all who came to the service and/or watched the service online! We appreciate all the support that we are receiving for these boys. God knows that we need that circle of family and friends around us to keep us on the right track.