7.25.09: Custom attire

Nicole made these adorable onesies for the girls. One set specifies their birth order (notice that Daphne is trying to eat Fiona's head) while the other specifies the gestational name (alpha, beta, gamma) - a hit with all astronomers :) The final set shows their names with a cute coordinated decoration (see 8.11.09 posting for pic). I feel so lucky to have these customized outfits for the girls - especially with new visitors who struggle to identify who is who. For those who are crafty, you should totally steal her idea with the iron-on photo transfer paper and for those of you less crafty, I believe Nicole works on commission.

7.22.09: Daddy style

So I awoke from a nap to discover that all of the kids had changed outfits due to various spit ups and drooling. Brant had taken great care of them and immediately changed them into new attire as needed. I must admit that sometimes I pretend not to notice that the bibs did not actually prevent the milk from soaking their clothing (parent note: why do bibs even exist if they don't eliminate clothing absorption? - I am such a sucker to assume bibs have a purpose). Of course, I continue to use the bibs as I am still trying to convince myself that they do eliminate some wetness. I digress - I awoke to all the kids in new attire. Although, upon further examination - I noticed they were all wearing the same attire - plain white onesies - they looked like a jail house gang (minus the I heart Mom tattoos). I immediately questioned their father as to their fashion statement or lack there of. Of all the adorable clothes we have, he decided it was easiest to just put them all in the plain onesies - ones we typically use to put on the girls under their sleepers to keep them extra warm. Maybe he was secretly testing me to make sure I could tell Fiona and Stella apart - they do look awfully similar - but I have my ways. Needless to say, now I am trying to layout new outfits before napping - so if someone needs to be changed, they remain fashionable. :)

7.18.09: Schedule

We finally realized we were feeding three kids 'on demand' and therefore always feeding someone, we noticed we had trouble tracking who ate how much and when (insert parent guilt here). We decided that it was time for a schedule. Now we feed the girls every four hours which actually allows some downtime during the day to catch up on chores around the house - and maybe even a nap if we are lucky. Of course near feeding time, there typically is some crying and including the actual eating, this process can take about 2 hours. I am hopeful that after a couple more days the crying will even be eliminated and everyone will just learn to eat a lot of food fewer times a day rather than a little bit of food all day long - this will help to keep mom and dad sane too.

7.16.09: First Concert

Today Grandma Bonnie left for home (very sleep deprived) and Auntie Kelly arrived unaware of her forthcoming sleep deprivation :) While everyone was here and overlapping, the girls had some play time on their mat. Usually when this happens, someone falls asleep or starts screaming. However this time, they all laid on the mat and played - or at least moved their limbs. It was adorable and it lasted a good half an hour. The girls are starting to track with their eyes and seem to enjoy the astronomy themed toys above their heads.

Today was the girls' first concert - Billy Joel and Elton John were playing Wrigley Field. With the motivation of Kelly, we threw two kids into the wrap and Kelly held the third. We went onto the deck and even walked around the parking lot a little bit as we were able to hear the music from outside. Turns out the kids weren't positioned correctly in the wrap (mental note, read the instructions BEFORE putting kids in) but they were happy and sleeping so I wasn't about to adjust them. We were the talk of the neighbors who learned that we had triplets and were even able to enjoy the concert for at least an hour before someone got hungry.

7.14.09: Asleep in a crib?!?

Finally (with the help of Bonnie) the girls took a nap in their crib. Of course it only lasted about 15 minutes for Fiona, but both Stella and Daphne stuck it out a while longer. We are still working on that whole schedule thing, but at least laying in the crib no longer makes them scream.



By 7.16 the girls had mastered the 'burrito breakout' as my sister calls it. While they are all willing to sleep in the crib during the day for a short amount of time, they all refuse to leave their arms in the swaddle. It also seems that they sleep better when they are swaddled, so maybe we have a bunch of contortionists in the making. Once they complete their partial escape from the swaddle, then they are willing to rest.

Brant also found us a new place to live in Pasadena. It sounds wonderful and has a perfect location and all the criteria that we wanted (2 bedrooms, laundry in unit, parking and even 2+ bathrooms). Now we just have to figure out how to move a family of five, car, and all of our belongings to California. We seem to prefer grouping all of our life changes/chaos into one small span of time. I guess this means once the move is over, things will be very calm for a while (hopefully). Honestly, I think I've forgotten what calm is like.

7.11.09: One month old

(left to right: Fiona, Daphne, Stella)

Today the girls are officially one month old. Thought it was time for a picture of them together - hopefully I will take a picture each month, but no promises as things are crazy and often the days all blur together. While I had many pictures to choose from, I thought it was best to pick one that accurately reflected that chaos. I suppose with one kid it is easier to get the peaceful looking picture that is so familiar, but that coordination just doesn't happen for us - enjoy the reality (we sure do).

7.10.09: First group adventure

Our first group adventure (with all three girls) was to a doctor appointment on Friday. I think the first challenge was the vast underestimation I did when calculating the time to get everyone ready and out of the house. I, of course, forgot that everyone would need to be freshly feed, changed and prepped for the car ride - lesson learned: it will take longer to get five people out of the house than two. In the mad dash out of the house, I forgot the camera so we will have to take a picture of our second group outing.

We arrived at the medical building ten minutes before our appointment - phew. As I still have limitations on carrying heavy things (including a baby in their car seat) I was able to use the Moby Wrap to carry a baby (thanks Kate and Andrew) while Brant carried two infant carriers. This wrap is fantastic and I highly recommend it to anyone with one baby, let alone three. Once we got into the medical building the fun began. Over and over I heard 'triplets - wow', it was hilarious. I think Brant and I have been adjusting to the idea of triplets since November so we forget that other people don't see triplets too often. Although, I have a theory that there are many more triplets around than people expect, it is just that it is so difficult to go out in public with three newborns, that those with triplets are trapped in the house - we sure are. The funniest was when people would see the two carriers and the baby wrapped on me and assume we had twins and one carrier was empty. This happened several times and each time we heard 'ahh twins' Brant would get a big grin on his face and spin around the infant carriers to reveal our third delight :) One woman on oxygen and in a wheelchair even started screaming (in an excited way) both Brant and I were a little concerned for her well being as she got very worked up about the girls. Anyway, I think we forget that our reality is uncommon to most but wonderful to us.

The doctor appointment went well, everyone is continuing to grow appropriately. Stella is 6lbs 6oz, Fiona is 6lbs 9oz and Daphne is 6lbs 8oz. There really isn't too much data on expected weights for preemies and especially multiples but as long as they gain weight our pediatrician is happy. We keep having to remind ourselves that my due date wasn't until 7/21 and these ladies should still officially be inside of me. Of course, if they were - I surely would have toppled over by now.

7.9.09: Clean babies

(left to right Fiona, Daphne, Stella)

Well we finally did it, we bathed them all in one night. It actually went pretty well - the only issue was the number of babies and lack of arms to prep, wash, and dry. We ended up using the crib as a holding station for after the bath (at least we are finding a use for the crib since everyone refuses to sleep in it).

Thursday was also the first full day that Brant and I have been alone with all three girls (my mom was here when both Fiona and Stella came home but left on Wednesday) and we did just fine. I'm not saying there isn't a lot going on or that we aren't totally exhausted, but each time we see our little ones a smile goes across our faces and everything is totally worth it.

7.6.09: First family photoshoot

Now that everyone is home, we did a mini photoshoot.


(left to right: Fiona, Daphne, Stella)


(left to right: Daphne, Fiona, Stella)

7.6.09: Welcome home Stella!

Finally we are complete! We have all three girls at home. I feel like I have been holding my breath since April - just hoping everyone and everything would be okay. But now I can finally exhale, now we have all three girls at home - just normal babies at home (insert huge kari grin here). Of course there are three of them and they are a little tiny considering they are nearly a month old (but gigantic for triplets at almost 6lbs each). Stella is still a delicate eater that we need to watch carefully, Daphne loves to make grunting noises and Fiona, oh Fiona, sure can scream - not often - but when she does, boy is it loud and rather impressive if I do say so myself.

Now we enter another adjustment period. One of attempting to get everyone onto the same schedule, perhaps even sleeping in a crib. Until now (with our pediatrician's approval) we have been letting them sleep in their bouncers as they seem to enjoy the incline which simulates the NICU incline to which they were familiar. We are up for it, the sleep deprivation doesn't matter, we have our baby girls at home - we are thrilled!!!

Our first adventure out with all three of them will be to a doctor appointment on Friday - let the fun begin!

7.2.09: Double doctor appointments

Today both Daphne and Fiona had doctor appointments. Before the appointment we gave the girls baths, we didn't want our kids to be smelly on their first trip out in public together. The baths went pretty well and the girls didn't really scream too much (my tolerance for screaming has become much greater since becoming a parent). We treated the baths as an assembly line, which actually worked pretty well. Who said their aren't efficiencies in multiples?

The appointment was mainly for Fiona, to followup on her discharge from the NICU, but Daphne got weighed and measured as well. Clearly Daphne wasn't thrilled about Fiona getting all the attention, so while Brant was getting her naked for the scale, she decided to pee on him - she actually was able to get it onto his shirt from the scale. I nearly lost it laughing so hard and even Brant had a smile on his face despite the wet spot on his shirt. The aim was quite miraculous. After a quick warning pee, Daphne went into an awesome pooping session also on the scale. Apparently she had been saving up for sometime.

The latest weights are as follows: Fiona 5lbs 15oz, Daphne 5lbs 13oz and Stella 5lbs 11oz.

I can't believe my blog entries have become about poop and pee, I guess parenthood really does change people :)

6.30.09: Welcome home Fiona!

After controversy around which day Fiona would come home, it was finally decided that she would be joining Daphne at the Robertson household today. Daphne enjoyed her first unpaid babysitter (thanks Mom) while Brant and I went to break Fiona free from the NICU. Fiona checked into the NICU weighing 4lbs 13oz nineteen days prior and checked out weighing 5lbs 11oz. Our little ones are quickly approaching the 6lbs marker. We ordered/own 1000+ preemie diapers,(yes, 1000 - do the math - 10 diapers a day/30 days a month/3 kids) so I keep reminding them that they will be wearing those diapers until they are all gone - perhaps suggesting they gain weight in strategic places so as to continue to fit in the diapers ;)

Unfortunately Stella still remains in the NICU and will likely be there for several more days - hopefully no longer. I keep trying to remind myself (and I often get reminded) that we want them to come home when they are ready, not sooner. We want them to get the care they need and in the grand scheme of things, a couple days will seem like nothing. We are just anxious to have everyone home (of course).

6.28.09: Pace yourself

I just felt it was time for some adorable movies of our girls (especially now that everyone is tube free). They are continuing to grow well (everyone is now above five pounds!) and we are expecting them to come home in alphabetical order (Fiona next followed by Stella soon after). They have all been improving their eating skills greatly and now the challenge is for them to remain calm enough while eating to not have a heart rate drop. Stella is the most susceptible to this as she struggles to eat more than Fiona. When she finally gets it - she just can't stop gulping and gets a little TOO excited causing her heart rate to drop. In order to escape the NICU, each girl must go five days without this drop.

Daphne has been settling in well. We have learned that she loves to squirm, always demanding that her arms are free from the swaddle. She also loves to make noises, especially while sleeping. I'm not sure if she talking to someone or to herself, but she loves to grunt and sigh - it is pretty darn cute! She also recently discovered her fingers in lieu of a binkie. I guess we are in favor of this as the binkie can be misplaced, but those fingers are always there - she just has to remember how to get to them.