My Thoughts On Delivery...

I've obviously never had a vaginal birth, so I don't have anything to compare it to, but I can tell you a c-section is pretty brutal.  I thought I'd bounce back really fast and be back in the gym after a couple weeks.  Yea, not so much!  I guess I didn't really think about my abdominal muscles being severed in half.  It definitely takes time for those muscles to heal.  The first 7 days were the worst.  I felt like I was walking hunched over the whole time because standing up straight just pulled the incision even more.  I probably should have stayed in the hospital the full 5 days instead of leaving after 2 nights.  I thought I just wanted to be home in my own bed, but quickly realized how nice it was to have side rails and a bed that moved up and down.  Getting out of bed was a struggle without pulling on side rails.  It's been 5 weeks and I'm finally starting to feel a little more normal.  I'm sure my stomach will never be the same…we'll see.  I'm back to my pre-pregnancy weight, but my stomach is just different.  I feel like my muscle has completely disappeared.  I can't even flex my stomach or suck it in.  It's really weird.  My incision doesn't hurt, it's more the space above my incision and my right side muscles feel like they are pulled.  I also have this little bulge above my incision.  It's really cute.  

Seeing Trey for the first time makes everything completely worth it.  It's crazy how much you can love someone you just met.  What's even more crazy is it was EXACTLY the same feelings I had when I met Cruz, Kash, and Julie.  Carrying your baby or not carrying your baby does not matter at all.  I thought carrying my own baby would be completely different, but it wasn't.  I remember the feelings I had walking back into the NICU for the first time and being able to hold my babies.  I was smitten from the beginning.  I think it helped being so involved throughout the pregnancy and being able to be at every ultrasound.  You fall in love early on and it just continues to grow - whether or not you are actually carrying the baby or not.  I obviously loved feeling Trey move around, but that doesn't make you love the baby any more or less.  

To read My Thoughts On Pregnancy…click here. 

Trey One Month Old

I can't believe Trey is already a month old!  Time definitely flies.  I don't even know what day it is most of the time.  I think it's funny when people ask me, "Isn't having one so much easier than three?"  I'm like…I don't have just ONE baby.  I have THREE 16 month olds and ONE newborn.  It is definitely not easy!  It's go go go ALL day long, and now even all night long.  I used to get two breaks a day (when the triplets went down for their naps), but now I never get a break since during their naps I'm feeding Trey.  Thank goodness he's a good baby.  He's pretty content as long as his tummy is full.  He only cries when he's hungry and occasionally just to be held or snuggled for a minute.  He wakes up two times at night usually.  He's warming up to his bouncy seat as long as he's swaddled but doesn't really like his swing.  The only way he can stay in his bouncy seat is if he's on the kitchen counter.  (Super safe right?)  If he's on the floor, Kash & Cruz try and get in with him, lay on him, poke his face, etc.  Julie still stays away and doesn't really want anything to do with Trey, which is actually great.  Makes it a lot easier.  :)  Trey has started smiling.  It's so cute.  He smiles with his entire face.  My other boys didn't really smile until they were 2-3 months old.  Julie was smiling the moment she was born. 

I think the triplets are going through a phase right now.  They are WAY more fussy and needy.  I'm not sure if it's because of Trey and their mom being gone more, or if they are teething.  I'm sure it's a little of both.  They are getting their one year molars and their I teeth too.   Sometimes they are soft with Trey and love on him, but lately they'll come up to him and start hitting him.  Or try and push him out of my arms so they can be held.  Julie doesn't ever hit Trey, but she'll cry and come lay on me and want me to hold her instead of Trey.  I'm hoping this phase passes quickly!!  We'll see.

I love his whole face smile! 

Trey's Photo Shoot

Newborn photos are priceless to me.  They are only tiny for a very short period of time.  

 Julie was being a total pill and did not want to sit still or smile.  I'm SHOCKED our photographer got this picture.  I'm SO glad she did!  My mom was fanning them with a huge tupperware bin top to try and make them smile.    

I about died when I saw this picture.  He's so dang cute!

I felt totally lame posing like this haha...

Trey's Name

The story behind Trey's name:
Before we had kids we had a list of names we both liked.  It's kind of funny how we used NONE of those names!  Cruz, Kash, Julie, and Trey were never on our list.  I TOTALLY thought I was having a girl this time around.  We would have named her Lucy.  We both liked it (and it was actually one of the names on our "list").  When we found out it was a boy we had no idea what we were going to name him.  We went over our "list" again, but nothing seemed to fit.  One day we were walking around Costco and Curtis said, "What about Trey?"  I actually kind of liked it.  We thought of other names, but always seemed to come back to Trey.  So it was set.  He was going to be Trey.

Curtis and I had no clue what we wanted his middle name to be.  I wanted to use my dads name - Mitchell - but two other of my nephews already have used that name.  Curtis didn't want to use the name Curtis, so that was out.  And I definitely wasn't going to use just the initial C.  Trey C. Brown sounds like Tracey Brown.  Not so much.  My favorite apostle is L. Tom Perry…so we were thinking of using Perry.  One of my best friends is Jen Covey (now Grimsley).  Her birthday is July 24.  If Trey was born on her birthday I wanted to use Covey.  Well, two days after he was born we still didn't have a middle name picked out.  My Dr. and Pediatrician cleared us to go home, but we didn't have his birth certificate filled out yet.  We could not decide what to do!  Seriously two minutes before we checked out of the hospital I asked Curtis what he thought of Casey - which sounds like KC - our initials.  He wanted to spell it Kacey so it had both our initials in the name.  Last minute we just decided to just do KC.  So there you go.  Trey KC Brown.  When you just say his name it sounds like Kacey, but it's actually both our initials.  We both like it and I'm glad we did it.

He's so yummy.  We just love him!

July Update

15 MONTH STATS

::CRUZ::

Weight - 24 lb 2 oz

Height - 32 in

Clothes - 12 month shorts, 18 month and 18-24 month tops

Diapers - Size 4

Cruz is the last one to walk.  He loves to walk with the little walker toy, or pushing the laundry basket, but he won't take steps on his own. I'm surprised.  He was the first to crawl, so I thought he'd be the first to walk.  He is such a happy kid.  Always laughing and smiling.  He loves to hide behind the couch, then pop his head out and play peek-a-boo.  It is so cute.  He is OBSESSED with his new baby brother.  He's the only one that adores him.  Every time I bring Trey downstairs he has to be near him, touching his face, cuddling up to him, kissing he head…I love it.  He's learning how to be soft.  Cruz loves all things water - the water table, pool, or bath.  He doesn't care when you put the facet over his head and let the water run down.  We have the cutes pool in our neighborhood with a little kid pool that all three LOVE.  It's only 1 1/2 feet deep.  They have these little floaties that they sit in and can walk all over the pool on their own.  Cruz is getting really good at throwing things.  He can throw it straight to me.  I think he's going to be my little baseball player.  

::KASH::

Weight - 24 lb 2 oz

Height - 32 in

Clothes - 12 month shorts, 18 month and 18-24 month tops

Diapers - Size 4

Kash started walking this past month (July 29th).  He's getting more and more confident and will turn and take a few steps on his own.  He loves to use the walker toy and walk everywhere.  He is OBSESSED with the remote control or phone.  It's the only thing that him and Cruz will fight over.  We try and keep them up above the fireplace and out of sight, but if they ever get there hands on them they'll point it up to the TV and start pressing buttons.  Kash and Cruz have started babbling a ton more.  I swear they think they are talking to each other.      

::JULIE::

Weight - 24 lb 9 oz

Height - 31 in

Clothes - 18 month and 18-24 month

Diapers - Size 4

Julie has been standing on her own for over a month, but finally took a few steps last week (July 29th - same day as Kash).  She also loves the walker toy or even just pushing the laundry basket around.  She's really good and steering around objects and walking all over the family room.  She'll even lean down to pick up a toy and throw it into the laundry basket and then keep walking.  Julie still loves to scream and talk all day.  She has definitely taught her brothers how to scream too.  She has a little attitude, definitely a girl!  She doesn't like to share or even have her brothers touching her toy.  She can steal toys from them, but if they ever steal her toys she starts screaming.  The boys don't seem to care if their toy is taken (unless it is the remote).  They'll just find something new to play with.  But not Julie.  She's too much.  She's definitely independent and likes to play by herself.  

TWO WEEK STATS

::TREY::

Weight - 8 lb 7 oz

Height - 21.5 in 

(I think his birth height was way off.  There's no way he grew 2.5 inches in two weeks)

Clothes - Newborn (his NB jammies are a little to small length wise for him)

Diapers - I ran out of newborn, so he's in size 1 now

Oh how we just love our new addition to our family.  Trey definitely completes us.  He is the sweetest little thing.  So far, he has been such a content baby.  He only cries when he's hungry, and once he's fed, he's back to his happy (or sleepy) self.  He has the yummiest lips I've ever seen.  Trey has a little brown birth mark on the left side of his head.  He also has a cowlick right at the front of his hair line.  His dark brown hair and furry little arms remind me a lot of Julie, but he definitely has his own look.  He has the cutest little nose and big eyes.  He's absolutely perfect.  

I love that they hold hands in the car.  Sweetest thing ever. 

Future BYU stars…or maybe just fans.  We'll see. 

4th of July

All my kids LOVE being in the water. 

15 months old! 

And they LOVE being outside. 

Our friends (Juli and Zac Erekson) came to visit for the weekend.  We had a blast together.  I wish they lived closer!! 

Daddy & Kash

Giants fans!  It's definitely getting harder to take pictures together - especially when I'm alone. 

I thought it would be a good idea to just put them all in the bath together.  Not so much.  I ended up with three slippery babies, falling all over the place, bonking heads, crying, turning the water on/off and hot/cold, and water EVERYWHERE.  I think I'll just stick to bathing them in the sink still.  Way easier on my back and sanity. 

Cute little bums. 

Kash

Cruz

Danielle & Kash

Last minute we decided to drive to Palmdale to be at Curtis' sisters bridal shower.  We drove down in the morning and drove back to Clovis that night.  I thought it was going to be absolutely terrible.  But they did SOOOOO good.  Curtis picked up Despicable Me before we left and they all (especially Julie) LOVED it.  They seriously did SO good on they way down.  We put them down for a nap when we got there, but Kash wasn't having it.  We got to enjoy the party for a while, then got them up.  We left Palmdale at 7:30pm thinking they would sleep the whole way home.  Yea right.  They didn't sleep at all…but still were as happy as can be.  They go to bed every night at 7:00-7:15pm.  They stayed up until 10:45pm and were all great.  I couldn't believe it.  The last 15-30 minutes I sat in the back with them and gave them treats, but other than that they were good.  I'm so glad we made the trip down.

Kash & Uncle Kenny

Aunt Stephanie & Kash

Grandpa & Kash

Julie & Aunt Stephanie

Cruz & Uncle Kenny

My nephew Joshua was born two days before Trey.  How cool is that?!  They are going to best friends for sure!  He weighed in at 9 lbs 15 oz!!!!  Crazy!  

July 22nd, 2014 - Trey KC Brown joined our family!

Julie is a little jealous.  She wants nothing to do with Trey.

Grandpa came to town to help with the triplets.  They LOVE him!

Kash, Julie, & Cruz with their new animals from Grandma Brown.

I can't even begin to tell you how grateful I am for my parents.  My mom has done such an amazing job at stepping in and taking care of the triplets while I was in the hospital, and now that I'm home recovering.  I could not have done this without her.  Nursing is an all new thing to me.  I definitely would have given up by now if it wasn't for her.  Nursing takes SO much time.  Time I don't have while taking care of 15 month old triplets and a newborn.  My mom has been SO great at giving Trey and me time to get the hang of it.  

Trey gets to hang out on the counter so Cruz and Kash don't squish him or poke his eye out.

Daddy cracks me up. 

When did Cruz get so big?!?

Cruz can not get enough of his baby brother.  Whenever he's in the room he has to be near him, touching him, poking his face, or giving him kisses.  It is so sweet!!  

Cruz cuddling with Trey...

hugging him...

kissing him...

grabbing him…  haha.

I love these little hands.

Trey's first trip to Target.

::1 week old::

First bath at home.

Kash is warming up to Trey.  Sometimes he wants to be around him, other times he pushes him away.

Second bath - after his umbilical cord fell off. (Aug 1)

Julie defintely loves her new animal…but not Trey. 

Hopefully she'll warm up soon.  I think she's finally realizing he's not going anywhere.  :)