Just thought that I would give you a quick update, since the babies are changing so fast now it’s amazing….

Latest Weights:

Josh & George:  13lbs

Hannah:  12lbs 12ozs

This means that George is not the smallest baby anymore…..  The babies have lost all their newborn hair and are all blonde now….  Josh and George have about the same amount and Hannah still has the least…

Hannah is really blossoming, she is way ahead of the boys in fine motor skills, she can reach up and grab things on purpose.  She loves to play on the playmat and grab the mobiles that hang above her.  She also uses her left hand alot, so we are wondering if she might be left-handed, too early to tell.  She also has quite the little temper and goes from happy to very mad, very quickly.  I think that Hannah looks like a little Rossow, and alot like Kathy…

Josh is still the strongest baby, he can roll from his stomach to his back both ways now, he can almost roll from his back to his stomach…  he is really good at holding up his head and large muscle movement, but has a way to go on fine motor skills.  Josh loves to smile and laugh, but he has also gotten a little whiny.  Josh has a problem with settling down to take naps so alot of times he gets overtired and very cranky.  I think Josh looks like a little Erickson, I think he would fit right in with my cousin Danny Olson’s kids and you wouldn’t know he wasn’t a little brother…..

George has really come into his own this last week….  he has started to make alot of happy sounds and smiles alot more…. even though he still smiles alot less than the other two, his smiles are quick and brief.  He now looks happy alot of the time, instead of worried….  he is probably the least physical of all the babies, but he has very strong legs and can stand (supported) much longer than the other two….  I think George looks like a little Johnson, like me when I was a baby…  his double chin reminds me of my Dad….  the Rossow’s have said he looks like a little Burdine…

Surprising to us, the babies have started to eat at little less (the Dr. said this would happen), they have also started to wake up in the middle of the night alot more…  so our sleep is actually going down….  this weekend we took the babies to an Apple orchard, I think we are getting a taste of what it would be like to be famous, the other triplet parents warned us this would happen…  wherever we take the Triplets people follow us around or make comments to us or stop us to see the babies…. it’s fun, but gets really old after awhile….  all you here is “Oh my God”, then they run away and come back with someone else “Martha, you have to see this”….  if you stop moving you can really get a crowd gathered around you really quickly…

Here are some very cute pre-Halloween pictures that Grandma Rossow took yesterday when they were passing through the Cities, the outfits are a gift from Auntie Kristin and Gang, and the little hat is from Grandpa Rossow.

Thought that I would give you a quick update about the babies:

Let’s get ready to Rumble!!!!!

Here’s the Tale of the Tape……

In the Pink Corner, weighing in at 11lbs, 11ozs, standing 23 inches tall, Hannah “the Banana” Johnson!!!

In the Blue Corner, weighing in at 11lbs, 11ozs also, and standing 22 & 1/2 inches tall, Josh “the Wildcat” Johnson!!!

In the Green Corner, weighing in at 11lbs, 9ozs, standing 22 & 3/4 inches tall, George “Deep in Thought” Johnson!!!

The babies have been doing great, as you can see from the Tale of the Tape, George is closing in on Hannah and Josh….. 

Hannah is still the laziest and most demanding baby……  she has been having a constant struggle with constipation lately, so I think if we can get that under control she will be a much happier baby.  The doctor said to give her more pear juice then we had been giving her, but alot of times she is uncomfortable and she let’s you know it…  she cries for many different reasons, she really only has one cry and it’s loud and piercing…  we put her on her belly for tummy time to strengthen her muscles, but she just goes to sleep… she loves to lay on her belly….  she started to suck her fist in the last couple of weeks when she doesn’t have her pacifier, Kathy just called and said that she finally found her thumb and is sucking it now, it will be awesome is she can self-soothe herself at night and go back to sleep.  She also loves the electronic part of the bouncy chair, she will stare at it for a long time and interact with it, but when she’s had enough she will quickly let you know, she also is starting to like the swing more and more… she has really started to smile and laugh and it is so cute it will make your whole day… 

Josh is still the most active and physical of all the babies, he also probably sleeps the least.  Kathy just called me and said that he rolled over from his stomach to his back for the first time shocking her and himself.  He hates to be on his stomach, but he really exercises his limbs when you lay him there….  we’ll have to make sure he’s always strapped to the changing table now that he is figuring out how to roll over….  Josh usually only cries when he’s hungry, sometimes I notice that he and George seem to squawk back and forth, maybe they have a secret language…. he has a new annoying habit of putting his hands in his face when you are trying to feed him, he will bat the bottle out of his mouth or away from his face…  something about Josh scares me a little, I have the feeling that he is going to pay me back double for all the bad things I did when I was a kid (which were alot)….  he is definitely the joker of the bunch….  he makes all kind of wildcat sounds, thus the nickname….  he also has an adorable new smile and can giggle and coo…. it’s very cute….

George is still the easiest and most serious baby….  he cry is not nearly as loud as the other two, but unfortunately he’s a sympathy crier….  he will cry for no reason at all anytime Josh or Hannah are crying, this makes it tough to get them all settled down when they start acting up….  usually he only cries himself if he’s hungry or sometimes lonely….  he loves to be held, which unfortunately we don’t have a lot of time to do since there are three babies….   George is also the only baby that seems to be bothered by what the other babies do, if Josh or Hannah wake up and cry it will wake George up and stress him out… George is a thinker, he will look at something a very long time and you can see his little brain just going to work….  he has the biggest head of the three, I think he is storing a lot of data up there….  George rarely smiles, I haven’t seen him yet, but it’s a beautiful smile when you see it (I’ve seen a picture)….  George definitely sleeps the most of the three babies, but he also knows when to stay awake for the action…..  everytime we go out somewhere (like the zoo), George will sleep before we go when nothing is going on and then he’ll be wide awake when we get there so he can see everything…..  Josh and Hannah on the other hand will stay awake when nothing is going on and then sleep through all the exciting times….  for this reason I usually always give George the front position in the stroller, so he can see what is going on.  One last thing about George, he is by far the chunkiest baby of all three, he has cute little rolls everywhere….

George’s Bath Time

George hanging in his bouncy seat.

Grandpa Rossow with George.

Smiley Hannah!

Daddy with Hannah & Josh.

Josh smiles for the camera.

Mama and her three little ones.

Hannah is very sleepy!

Brothers 

George in his boppy.

Grandpa Wayne entertains all three at once.

Hannah enjoys her bath time.

Josh enjoys his bath too.

The Triplets are ready for their outing.

The Triplets with Grandma & Grandpa Rossow at Minnehaha Falls.

The Three Burritos!

The triplets had such a big weekend, I thought that I would write to everyone to share it before I forget….

Biggest news…..  we are now onto a 6 times a day feeding schedule….  YEAH!!!!   We now feed 2:00 AM & PM, 6:00 AM & PM & 10:00 AM & PM.  This is down from 7 times a day and is a huge change…

The babies have changed so much in the last couple of weeks, it’s been pretty exciting….  They are all in the percentages for normal babies and they have all started to smile (and actually mean it)….  Josh smiles much more often than the other two, with George smiling the least, he still worries the most though…. also, they really look at you now, they will watch you and where you go or what you do..    They are all starting to put on some baby fat and their little arms and legs are starting to get chubby.  Hannah and George love to lay on their stomachs, it also helps deafen their cries during our suppertime…..

Saturday, Aunt Carrie, Kathy and I went to Minnehaha Falls Park for a little picnic and the first official public outing with the triplets, the new 4 hr feeding schedule will make it much easier to get away from home for awhile.  We found out that right after the 10:00AM feeding and back before the 2:00PM feeding works pretty good..  Anyway, the weather was absolutely beautiful and we had a little picnic.  We had no sooner sat down when a lady from the next picnic table came over with a baby in her arms and asked if those were triplets… (we had the triple decker, so it’s a little obvious)  she said that she was from AZ and had 6 month old triplets (2 girls and a boy) and was visiting her best friend from high school who had 3 year old girl triplets.  They had all the little triplets there so we took a picture, though not very good, of all three families….  Anyway, we got many stares and comments as we walked around the park that day…..  mainly you would hear “Oh my God, are those triplets?” or “Mommy and Daddy look at that stroller, they have three babies”….  we were told by everyone in our triplet group that people would flock to the triplets like they were rock stars and alot of people did, they got a lot of attention that day…  we stayed and watched a military band at the bandshell before we left.

Sunday, Wayne and I took the triplets for a walk around Lake Nokomis….  it was fun, alot of the same thing….  looks, stares and comments…  Kathy, her Mom, Carrie, Aunt Sandy, Aunt Ronelle and cousin Lindsey and her baby Gavin all went out to lunch a Forepaughs and then hit the shops on Grand Avenue in St. Paul… 

Monday, Wayne, Marlys, Kathy and I went back to Minnehaha Falls Park… it’s a really nice park with good facilities, great scenery, a huge waterfall, food and usually something going on at the bandshell…  yesterday it was a Bluegrass Festival, but it didn’t start until 2:00PM and we had to leave at 1:30PM to get back home for the 2:00PM feeding…..  the weather was beautiful the whole weekend…

I’ve included a link to some pictures Carrie took on Saturday, hopefully it works… 

http://www.kodakgallery.com/BrowsePhotos.jsp?collid=354150128105.677868825505.1188937925502&page=1

Here’s a slideshow taken in Austin at Wayne and Marlys a couple weeks back…  It was the first out of town trip for the babies and they did very well….  there are some cute pictures with Winnie the Pooh….  There is a mistake in the labeling, George is in white with the Winnie the Pooh sleeper on….

http://www.kodakgallery.com/BrowsePhotos.jsp?&collid=703852492205.910727205505.1188941050666&page=1

I’ve sent a Kodak invitation of these two albums also if you can’t make the link work…

Love,

Jay, Kathy, George, Josh and Hannah Banana

Outside Grandma & Grandpa’s House.

George & Winnie the Pooh.

Joshua & Winnie the Pooh.

Little Hannah Banana takes a nap.

Kathy, George, Great Grandpa & Great Grandma Burdine.

Four Generations – Hannah, Kathy, Great Grandma Burdine & Grandma Rossow. 

Great Grandma Anita with Hannah. 

Joshua:

George:

Hannah:

The Johnsons are Minnesota Twins fans! (should be Minnesota Triplets, don’t you think?)

Kathy and George:

Joshua:

Hannah:

George:

Hannah in her first dress:

The Boys get a feeding from Dad & Grandpa:

Kathy takes the babies out for a stroll:

George at one month.

Josh at one month.

Hannah at one month – modeling her new Rossow Family Classic bib.

The triplets celebrate their first 4th of July in style!

A quick update about the triplets, we had them at the Dr. yesterday so we have the latest on their heights and weights.

Hannah – 6lbs 5ozs, 19.25″ Long
Joshua – 6lbs 4ozs, 19.5″ Long
George – 5lbs 13.5ozs, 19″ Long

He also told us no visitors for 3 months due to the prematurity of the babies lungs, and all caretakers must be healthy with no illness for two weeks. They drew blood on Hannah and George yesterday for labs, and Hannah howled so loud the whole time I thought she was going to break glass. I think it hurt Mommy a little bit to watch her little girl in such pain. I helped with George, but he didn’t cause as big of a fuss. Hannah has a slight heart murmur, the Dr. doesn’t think it’s anything serious and will outgrow it, but they want to send her to Children’s Hospital and have some tests run. Hopefully, it’s nothing, just them being cautious.

Our sleep is definitely going down hill quickly….. George has now decided that he wants to be feed and held about every 2.5 hours and he is very vocal about it, he will be inconsolable until he is fed. He’s been very disruptive lately and it’s wearing on Kathy and I, especially during the night. I joked that if he keeps it up were going to have to sell him to the Gypies in the middle of the night…. Hannah is still very finicky and definitely hard to burp, we are going to try to reduce her gas with some medicine. She’s also the most vocal when she wants something… she likes to sleep in the boppy pillow, so she’s been doing quite a bit of that lately. Josh is still the easiest by far, he spits up a little, but other than that he is a pretty content little guy who rarely cries and is very patient. He will wait until the others are fed with little or no fussing even if he’s starving. Even his starving cry is short and quiet, he’s also the most physical of the three, he’s strong and sometimes can jerk himself almost out of your hold. We got the go ahead from the Dr. yesterday to cut their feedings down to 6 times a day (every 4 hours) as soon as they can handle it….. unfortunately, George is going the other way, I think he’s going through a growing spurt.

Anyway, that’s about it for now…. Kathy has had a rough go of it lately with George being so demanding about his feedings….. It definitely keeps us up much more at night…. Thanks so much to my Mom (Myrna) and Kathy’s parent’s Wayne and Marlys who have been helping out…. My mom has been helping during the week and Marlys and Wayne on the weekends. They have been a God send and we couldn’t do it without their help. Plus I think we are eating much better than we usually do….

Don’t forget to check the website for new pictures and new updates: http://johnsontriplets.wordpress.com

Take care and hope to hear from you soon….. thanks again for all your thoughts and prayers, keep them up, we definitely need them…..

Love,

Jay, Kathy, George, Josh & Hannah Banana