Bellies & Babies

The amount of time I spend standing at the sink cleaning and preparing bottles is truly outrageous. We are still several months from adding solids to the babies' diet and are in no rush to add the messy time-consuming undertaking to our schedule.





During activity gym time Madison fish-hooked Payson in the mouth. And not just for a second but for several minutes, letting go and re-hooking him several times. He had no problem with it and at one point he was even knawing on her fingers.

Over Memorial Day weekend we were crazy enough to host a party at our place. A lot of our friends already had weekend plans so it just so happened that the only people who could attend were six HBS couples. It was so fun to have everyone together after almost a year since we left Boston. Babies Logan, Ella, Charlotte, Payson, Hayden and Madison (yes, 50% of the babies at the party were ours - gotta get used to that) gathered for their first photo together. And mommies-to-be Ashley, Daphna, Stephanie and their husbands celebrated their exciting news together. This party was a far cry from our parties a year ago!
Justin and Stephanie were visiting from Minneapolis and were a huge help over the weekend. They were feeding, burping, and diaper changing pros by the end of their stay. It was such a treat to have them share in our lives and spend so much time with the babies before their little ones' arrival. Stephanie outfitted the babies with "I love Cheerios" onesies an act which she admitted was a shameless plug for her employer. Maybe we can get some free Cheerios out of General Mills one of these days!

It Takes Two

The babies are so cute when they snuggle together and sometimes there just aren't enough places to put the babies so they go into a swing or seat together. It sure makes for some cute photos!

First Mother's Day & Baby Dedication

Sunday was a big day for us. Not only was it my first Mother's Day (having one child let alone three!) but it was also the day of the babies' Dedication. Baby Dedications are for publicly acknowledging your need for God's wisdom, guidance and strength in parenting and for committing to raise your children in the Lord. We don't baptize babies because we believe in letting the child make the decision on their own to follow the Lord when they are ready and baptisms follow ones personal commitment to Christ. This is a photo of us on the big screen.
There were about 20 families and we were the only ones with triplets. Keith held the girls and I held Payson. Thirty seconds before we filed out Madison fell asleep in Keith's arms. They did great and were quite the hit.

Our families attended the service and many came over to our house afterwards. There were lots of babies to fill willing arms and here you see cousin Emma with Madison in a headlock and second cousin Max on the far right.

Later we went to a portrait studio to get pictures with Keith's family. His grandparents were in town from Colorado so we were able to get a picture of four generations of Melker men. Keith and I planned it all out so that we would feed the babies at the studio so they would have 30 or so minutes of happy time for pictures before they would get sleepy and fussy. Unfortunately the studio was behind over 45 minutes so the babies were fussy and exhausted by the time our turn came around. They were fussy but to the studio's credit, their props and silly behavior kept the babies from fussing during the photos and at this point that was doing good. It was way too late to get any smiles!

Last minute Keith and I decided to get a few shots with just the 5 of us and I'm glad we did. The babies crashed as soon as they hit their carseats.

So what was my best Mother's Day present? The night before all three babies slept through the night sleeping for 11+ hours! The stars aligned because I accidentally snoozed through a pumping so I got 6.5 straight hours of sleep! Keith said I was like my old self that day!

In Action

The babies are very active these days and are smiling, cooing and even making little laughing sounds. They are really drawn to sounds and toys and to each other. They love to look at one another and they smile and laugh when looking at each other too. It's incredibly adorable as you can see from the picture of Payson smiling at Hayden. And below you see all three enjoying the mobile in Hayden's crib one morning just after they woke up.

Though we only bathe the babies a few times a week Madison had a few "blow outs," which caused her to have 4 baths in 48 hours! The babies and I still go on walks when the weather and schedule permits. Here we are cooling it out before our stroll.

Here are the babies in action with some of their favorite toys: