Charlotte Camping Trip

We are back home from our week long camping trip. We got to Charlotte on Monday. We didn't do much on Monday. Tuesday, it was so hot outside, we spent most of the day at Concord Mills Mall since it was indoors and air conditioned!! The babies did great!! They stayed on their same schedule as they are on at home. When we would go up to the bath house to take a shower, we would take them up with us and use the family restroom and give them a bath. It was so hot the first part of the week. Luckily we had light summer dresses for the girls and Ashton just wore a onesie.  At breakfast tine, we would put the babies in their bumbos and sit them at the table.

Wednesday we went up to Camping World in Statesville and then stopped by Red Bull Racing Team shop. We stopped by Wal-Mart on our way back to the camper & bought a little pool for the babies. They loved playing in the pool! We did get a storm that night, really windy and rainy!

Thursday we spent pretty much all day going to different race shops around the area. We went to Ganassi/Earnhardt, Gibbs, Penske, Kyle Busch Motorsports, JR Motorsports, Kasey Kahne Racing, Martin Truex Racing, Red Bull Racing. We didn't get the babies out at every shop because some of them were small. Kevin and I would take turns going into the shops to look around or if Allie didn't want to go into one, she would stay in the truck with them. When we went to the Ganassi/Earnhardt shop, JPM and McMurray were signing autographs, when they got done, we asked if we could get a picture of them with the babies.

Friday was the Red Bull Fan Day at their shop. They had the Shutter Speed cars that Vickers and Kahne raced at the Coca Cola 600 race out so everyone could see up close the pictures on the cars. I downloaded a bunch of pictures of the babies on the car! Miss Sprint Cup Monica was at the shop, so we got a picture of her with the babies. We even did a little interview with her inside the shop!

We did have a lot of attention at the shop, but they get attention pretty much every where we go. We had some people from Red Bull take the babies pictures in their little Red Bull outfits. When I went up to get the autographs from the drivers, I asked Brian Vickers if he would hold Ashton for the picture. Of course he said yes, and joked around a little about last time he held a baby, it dropped. Kevin said it's OK, they bounce. They just laughed at it, knowing everyone was joking around!

One of the people who was taking event photos asked Kasey Kahne to get in the picture also. There was probably like 6 different camera taking pictures, we had no idea what camera to look at!

I absolutely love this picture!!



After the fan day was over, we had a little get together back at the campsite. Even though it rained, it didn't stop everyone from having a good time. We played some corn hole and hung out. I met some new friends and got to see old friends!

Saturday, we went out to breakfast with Kevin's family that live near Charlotte! After breakfast, we hung around at the trailer, then walked up to all of the merchandise trailers. It was so hot out there, we didn't stay too long. We went back to the trailer and let the babies swim in the pool again. I think Kevin got so hot, he got in with them.

Sunday, we went back up to the merchandise trailers that we didn't get to see on Saturday. We weren't out their too long since it was race day!! We were so thankful that Amy and her kids weren't going to the race and offered to watch the babies for us so Kevin and I could go! We did have fun!!

Monday we headed home! We stopped for breakfast & lunch. The babies did a lot better coming home than they did going there! Overall, they did AWESOME on the trip!!! They are pro's at camping now!

Vacation

We are vacationing for the weekend down in Corolla, NC at a beach house. Last weekend we camped at Kings Dominion campground in Doswell, VA. The babies had a good time. We didn't actually go into the amusement park, we went to Potomac Mills mall and did a little bit of shopping while the rest of the family went to Kings Dominion for Allison & Justin's chorus concert & rides. It rained every night that we were there, but that didn't stop us from having fun. We had the dinette in the trailer set up as the babies sleeping area & we also had 1 pack 'n play for sleeping. Let's just say that last weekend was the last time for the dinette area to be a sleeping area. Brittany has learned to grab on the edge and pull herself up! So we went out and bought 2 more pack 'n plays for sleeping.

When we were getting ready for our trip this weekend, we were greeted in the nursery by Brittany standing up in her crib! Ashton was half way up, trying to stand! Great!!! I have a feeling this is going to be a busy summer chasing them all around! With them standing up and now crawling around everyway. Brittany and Ashton have gotten the crawling down pretty good. Caitlyn is fine with army crawling around!

We leave on Monday for a week of dry camping at Charlotte. Everyone thinks we are crazy for dry camping with 3 babies! I think it will be fun!! Most of the time we will probably be out doing things around town, going to the mall and all of the race shops around the area! Stay tuned for the vacation recap!!

The babies turn 10 months old in a few days. I need to start planning their 1st birthday party!! I can't believe they are going to be turning 1 soon!! Where did the time go!?!

Month 9: Getting bigger

The babies had their 9 month check up yesterday. Doctor said they were perfect!! They are now considered true 9 month olds!!! It usually takes preemies 2 years to finally catch up to their age, so considering it's only been 9 months, we were extremely happy! They have been on Neosure(formula for preemies) since they were born and we finally get to come off that and go to regular formula! That is going to be like a pay increase for us!! For those who don't know about it, it costs about $16.00 a 13.1oz can. A 48oz. can of regular formula at Sam's club costs us $19.00!! They also get to start eating meat baby food and finger foods! We bought some Gerber Graduate puffs and some Cheerios yesterday for them to start eating.

Caitlyn is getting this crawling down pretty good. We were packing for Richmond and when we went into the living room and Caitlyn was trying to escape and get down the hallway!! She is also trying to stand on her feet when she crawls.

Ashton has started to sit up on his own. He will go from laying down, to being on his hands and knees, to sitting up!! He is sitting up all the time now!! He hasn't mastered the crawling yet. He is still going backwards or rolling around. Somehow he got into the hallway by the bathroom & bedrooms last night. Still haven't figured out how he got there!

Brittany is sitting up on her own now. She has started to army crawl a little bit. She loves to say Baa-Baa now.  She is starting to get her 3rd tooth, one on the top. Caitlyn and Brittany are going to have a bunch of teeth before Ashton has any!!

We are getting ready to go camping this weekend at the campground in Kings Dominion!!

Month 8: Growing!!!

This past month has been an exciting one! Caitlyn and Brittany has each gotten a tooth and their second tooth is popping through now! Ashton doesn't have any yet!!

We had to lower the mattresses in their cribs last night. It was getting to where they were be on their knees and grabbing onto the rails. They like to pull the bumpers down and look over them.

We spent the evening over my parents house last week and we had all of them on floor to play around. Well, Caitlyn tried to crawl! She moved each knee once! I think once she realizes that she can move around, she is going to take off!! Ashton and Brittany haven't moved forward yet. They both are moving backwards. Ashton got himself stuck under the end table in the living room and couldn't go anywhere!

We had an Easter brunch at my parents house with my sister and her boyfriend and took a nice walk around my parents neighborhood. Then we went to Kevin's parents house for Easter dinner with his family.

Next week they have their 9 month check up! Then we have 2 camping trips planned for May!

Almost crawling...

The babies are so close to crawling. I think Caitlyn will be the one that will crawl first though. She is always getting on her knees and hands and rocks back and forth.

While Caitlyn is the only one that looks like she is ready to take off crawling. Brittany is mastering the sitting up on her own. She does get a little excited sometimes and falls over, but she is definitely getting stronger at sitting up.

Ashton is too excited to sit up. Every time we try to sit him up, he arches his back and falls over. But, he is just a happy little man! This week he has been trying so hard to crawl.

They are also starting to get their little attitudes. This picture I took of Brittany at my parents house made me laugh. It was like she was saying, hurry up and take the picture!!

Eye see you....

Since the babies were born, they had to see an eye doctor when they were released from the hospital. They want to see preemies or preemies that have been on oxygen because there is a higher risk for eye development problems since they did not get a chance to fully develop. There are risks for crossed-eyes and lazy eyes and chance for glasses at an early age.

Brittany and Ashton had their first appointment before Caitlyn came home since they were released before she was. It wasn't a pleasant process. We were not aloud in the room when they did their exams because of what they had to do since the babies couldn't focus or move their eyes around yet. They would have little broken blood vessels in their eyes because of the process. But we were told that would happen. Caitlyn was seen a few weeks after. Everything looked good, so they didn't have to come back for another 6 months.

Ashton and Brittany went back a month ago and they had a great report!! Everything was developed the way it was suppose to. Caitlyn had her appointment today and she got the same report. So now they don't have to go back for another 2 years!! That was great news for us!

Little of this... Little of that

Since the last post, Caitlyn has started saying "Daa Daa!!" and "Baa Baa" Ashton has said "Maa Maa" "Baa Baa" Caitlyn has also started to get on all fours and rock. It's only a matter of time before she is crawling.

Our camping trip went great. The babies did awesome! They went to bed every night about 930pm. We took walks around the campground with them and took them to the camp store to see the ladies down there. The weather wasn't that bad, a little chilly at times.

Caitlyn has her first tooth coming in!! Man, that thing is sharp!!

Brittany had her first tooth pop up a day after Caitlyn. So now im just waiting for Ashton to get his! Looks like they all will be getting teeth at the same time. Lucky for us right?!

Caitlyn is most likely going to be the first one to crawl. She get's up on her hands and knees and starts to rock. She tries so hard to move!

Month 7: Starting to Talk

The babies are a little over 7 months old right now. They are eating a lot more baby food now! I haven't found anything that they didn't like! Makes it easy for me to feed them when they will eat anything! They usually eat a vegetable and a fruit each day. I will probably start to make that 2 a day soon! They are getting so big, I can't wait till there 9 month appointment so I can see how much they have grown.

I'm not sure if I have mentioned this before or not, but my parents bought the babies a Scout and Violet dogs. They are the best thing!! You hook them up to your computer through a USB and customize everything. You add babies names, favorite color, animal and food. It has songs that use that information and then at night there is a sleep button. It plays night time music for either 2,5 or 10 minutes. Usually by the 10 minutes, the babies are fast asleep! I definitely recommend them. We were in Target recently and they had baby Scouts and Violets. They didn't have all the other songs and games as the bigger ones did, it just had the lullaby music.

Ashton has started to figure out the "Daa" sound now. He loves to say "Daaa-Deee". It is so cute to listen to him call for daddy!! He loves to roll over a lot. I would lay him on the living room floor and he would just roll around everywhere! For some reason, he loves to just lay in his crib! He will play with his glow worm or his Scout dog! He will put his feet in his mouth, even if he is wearing socks or the footie outfits!

Brittany is saying "Daa Daa Daa" a lot. She looked up to Kevin and said "Daa Daa". She made him smile so big!! Brittany still doesn't like to be on her tummy that much. She does love to play in the Jumperoo and the Step 'n Play Piano. Brittany loves to play with her feet and legs. She will grab the bottom of her foot and just move her leg back and forth. She likes to put her feet in her mouth and stick out her tounge.

Caitlyn is stuck on the "Baa" right now and hasn't started the "Daa" yet. I think it might be because she use to have a ladybug on her car seat and I would always tell her to look at the bug. Caitlyn loves to sleep on her belly now and just loves to be on her belly anytime. She loves to play in the jumperoo and play on the floor with Ashton and Brittany. There is a little play microphone on it and she will put her mouth up to it and start moving her mouth, its so cute! Caitlyn loves her daddy too!

We upgraded our carseats recently. They are no longer in the baby carriers. We went to Babies R Us and purchased the Britax Marathon car seats. I love them!! It makes it so much easier to get the babies in and out of the truck. It also makes it a little easier when we go somewhere and have to feed them, we dont have to deal with buckling them in their carseats everytime, we just have to strap them into the stroller! We bought a shopping cart cover so we can take the stroller and use a shopping cart. Ashton took his first ride in the shopping cart and loved it!

Kevin had his St. Baldrick's head shaving in Richmond March 12th so I decided to dress the babies up in their St. Patrick's Day outfits.

We are getting ready to go on our first camping trip of the year in a few weeks! I'm sure the babies will do a lot better this time than they did in October and November since they are a little bit older now!

Month 6: Starting to move

We are 6 months old!! We have been eating solid food for about a month now and we love it!! Caitlyn's favorite is Sweet Potatoes, Ashton and Brittany love just about anything. I started mixing a little bit of cereal in with the fruit since they really love to eat the fruits. They eat 5oz of baby food with cereal almost 3 times a week.

At their 6 month check up this month, everything was right on track. They are gaining weight and growing great. The doctor was very pleased with what they were able to do at this age, considering they were born 2 months early! She told us that they weren't behind developmentally at all! That made us feel good because we work with them so much at home to get them where they need to be. Kevin works so great with them trying to get them to sit up and getting strength in their arms and upper bodies!

After our lunch time feeding, we go down for our afternoon nap. We usually sleep 2-3 hours in the afternoon. Since Caitlyn was always rolling over, we stopped swaddling her at 5 months. By the time Ashton and Brittany were 6 months, we finally got them to stop using the swaddles. Brittany took a little while longer to adjust to not being swaddled than it took Ashton. We are now using the Sleep Sacks so their arms are still out and they can move them.

The babies have started to scoot around while they are playing on their tummies. I think it's just a matter of time that they will be crawling around. We have started to baby proof the house and put things away that are low that they could possibly reach and grab.

I'm pretty sure they are getting ready to teethe. They are drooling a lot and aways chewing on something. We tried to introduce the teething ring to them, but they didn't want it. Ashton loves to chew on his taggie blanket. He loves to chew on tags! I did finally get Ashton to start chewing on his teething ring last week!

We bought a Jumperoo for the babies to start playing with. Ashton LOVED playing in it. When we took him out to put Brittany in, he cried! He wanted to keep playing and not let anyone else play in it. We had him in their one night while we were eating dinner and it was very quiet in the living room. We went in there and this is what we saw...

Little man was passed out in the Jumperoo!! So far, all of them have fell asleep in it! I don't think that is the purpose of it! But as Kevin says... he exercises like his father!


We had our first Valentine's Day as a family. We went to Olive Garden for dinner. Olive Garden was the last meal we had before the babies came home and it was first meal we had as a family alone. I had the babies dressed up in their Valentine's outfits and we had them sitting at the table with us. It was perfect!

We turn 7 months at the end of this month!!!  I keep asking Kevin, if there is no 29th of in this month, how do we know when they turn 7 months. He just says, well, I guess they don't turn 7 months until March! Haha!! Yeah right!!!

Month 5: Starting Solids

We started feeding the babies baby food!! We started them with Apples and Carrots and they loved them!! Ashton absolutely loved the Apples. You couldn't feed him fast enough with them. It was a long process to feed them because I would do it around lunch time so it was just me and they were just learning how to eat baby food.

Caitlyn started to consistently roll over from her back to her stomach. When we would put her down to sleep at night, in the morning she would be on her stomach. At the time we were swaddling them, but somehow she would always get her arms out. Since she was always rolling over, we stopped swaddling her.

They love to play in their Bumbos. Most of the time Ashton gets fussy and the girls will sit and laugh at him. It's cute to see the expressions on their faces when he is crying. We will sit them in a circle so they can see each other. Usually they will giggle and talk to each other.

They get a lot of tummy time during the day. I think Caitlyn is the only one that really likes it. Brittany and Ashton will start fussing after 10 minutes of being on their tummy.

They got an activity gym for Christmas, so now they each have their own. I set all of them up one day in the living room and they played all day on them. Our living room looked like an amusement park!