5.29.10: Swimming

Today was our first attempt at swimming. Our complex has swimming pool, so we clearly needed to take advantage of this luxury. Especially given that our landlord came around and decided that we are wonderful tenants and we no longer need to move - of course this is after we found another place. I insisted upon a pre-swimming picture just in case hysterics broke out. Fiona(pink), Daphne(green) and Stella(yellow) are modelling their new swimsuits with no idea what is to come. Mighty adorable if I do say so myself.

Brant took the girls into the pool one at a time. I stayed on the pool deck with the twin stroller and the two other girls. It went better than expected, especially considering it even took Brant several minutes to warm up to the chilly water temperature. The girls whined a bit, mainly due to the water temperature, but we ended the experience with hope. If we can go out when the water is warmer, I think the girls will enjoy swimming and we will finally take advantage of the pool right next door!






After a twin birthday party and swimming for the first time I was exhausted, but the day wasn't over just yet. Brant went to a colleague's birthday dinner tonight, meaning that I had to put the girls down for bed by myself (something we avoid, but happened three times in the past week due to an onslaught of visiting colleagues). While I was preparing dinner, I looked over to see Daphne standing on top of her car (how she got on top of it without it rolling I don't know) and Stella eating the netflix movie that was on top of the speaker. This means that Daphne grabbed it while on the car and handed it to her. It seems that they are learning about teamwork already...oy!

5.28.10: A little bit country

(left to right: Stella, Fiona, Daphne)

I know you are thinking, Kari why are all the group pictures when the girls are eating or drinking these days? Well, I respond, because that is the only time I can get all three girls to stay still for any amount of time - otherwise they all go in different directions.

Today was actually rather cold for this area, in the 60's. Seemed like the perfect time to test out the new overalls that Grandy customized for the girls. The overalls have dual functionality as clothing (of course) and as a toy because we seem to love playing with buttons and the colorful decorations on our sisters' clothes.


Fiona loves to push her car around the living room, usually backwards.


Stella loves to play with (and of course chew on) the swing. Notice the added washcloth/padding to the back of the swing to prevent nibbling - held on with duct tape of course (because I AM Kari).


Daphne loves to crawl over the arm holding up the swing. She does this several times a day and giggles and claps for herself upon completion of this obstacle course. (Yes, I need to sell the swing soon, it isn't even plugged in anymore)

5.24.10: Sea legs

It has been a great week. The girls continue to thrive. Stella is now confidently walking halfway across the room. When putting her down she prefers to land on her feet and immediately starts walking. Fiona is doing a great job walking too but seems to be a little less confident than Stella. Both look like drunken sailors when stumbling across the room, it is pretty cute. Fiona has learned to clap, but doesn't seem to recognize what she is doing when it happens. Daphne claps all the time, it is so adorable. When I come in after their nap, she sits up and starts clapping. I think we should always enter rooms to clapping, it is so endearing.

We got our new convertible car seats. These seats should last us until the girls reach 80lbs (aka forever!). The girls are getting close to the height maximum for our current infant carriers (nowhere near the weight max). Thanks to some great bargain hunters, we ended up saving a ton on these new seats. Of course, we didn't get our preferred color choice (gray/black) but instead ended up with some garden green seats with a flower print. I am too nervous to open the box and see what the patten looks like in person. I think I will wait until we are having a really good day. Perhaps it will look like a big garden across our backseat, I can only hope. And yes, rumor has it they will fit across the back of our honda civic. So for now, they sit in our living room stacked in boxes probably for another month or so.

We got news yesterday from our landlord that he intends to raise our rent AND shorten our next lease to eleven months. Brant's job gets renewed on 9/1, so a lease ending 6/30 would render us homeless for two months whenever we move. Needless to say, that doesn't work for us. We are now in pursuit of a new place. Just when things seem to be calm and stable, something gets thrown into the mix. Oh well, it keeps life interesting and provides us with an opportunity to purge all the junk we brought from Chicago (since we ended up just throwing everything into boxes and focusing on our new babies).

5.18.10: Push and clap

Today we finally caught this video of Daphne clapping (which she just started last week). She loves to clap whenever she is happy/proud of herself. Grandy got a book for the girls with a button that chirps when pushed. Daphne has been enjoying pushing the button in the book (thereby making the chirping noise) and then clapping (thereby showing she is proud of herself and knows that she did a good job). It cracks me up every time.

Grandy had to go back to Seattle to clean out her house today - the move to Phoenix has become official. The girls had a good time restling Grandy before she departed.


I think the caption for this picture should read: Fiona says, "Grandy I think I need to be changed, what do you think?" Stella says "Yee haw, wait, why isn't this horse moving?"


This is a good example of life these days. Grandy was trying to wear her curlers around the girls, who instead recognized them as new things to pull at. (Stella/blue, Daphne/brown, Fiona/pink). Notice how they approach from all sides.

5.17.10: Month of Kari

(left to right: Stella, Fiona, Daphne)

May is a wonderful month; not only because the weather is getting warmer and flowers begin to bloom, but a month full of celebrations. Brant has lovingly deemed May the 'Month of Kari'. Thanks to the new addition of Mother's day, every holiday that I get to celebrate comes in this one month (mother's day, my birthday and our wedding anniversary). Today I got to celebrate my birthday with my three little ladies, husband and mom. It was a great day and the girls were especially adorable. Heck they were doing so well, we even adventured out to toys'r'us for the first time. Next year, they will be able to fully enjoy my birthday by partaking in my traditional consumption of an oreo and rainbow sprinkle ice cream cake....I will just have to prepare myself to share it (or get a bigger cake!)

5.13.10: Cheerios

(left to right: fiona, daphne, stella)

Today we made an escape to the park with Grandy on a beautiful day. It was wonderful to have an extra pair of hands to wrangle the girls from escaping and eating grass. The girls were mesmerized by some people playing basketball. The only distraction greater than basketball players is when I put some cheerios on the blanket. From this picture you would never know, that they had just eaten before we went to the park.

5.11.10: Eleven months old

(left to right: fiona, daphne, stella)

Our home has changed significantly in the past month. Fiona and Stella are walking short distances. Daphne started standing on her own and of course jumping when doing so (seemingly too impatient to walk). The girls prefer to 'cruise' (walk hanging onto furniture) whenever possible and rarely find it necessary to resort to crawling. Our new favorite hobbies are flipping the pages in books, banging on things, stealing binkies from each other and drinking from/chewing on sippy cups (leading to many wet shirts - see stella above). We have dropped the 11pm feeding and the girls now sleep from 7:45pm to 7am.

The mmmmmmommmmmmm sound has arrived (FINALLY). Fiona seems to have it down the best so far. Everyone is babbling nonstop, the house is full of giggles and chatter. I strongly believe the girls talk to each other when in their cribs during nap time. It is hilarious to listen to on the monitor. How else do you explain the binkie toss during naps? Most of their binkies end up next to each other in the middle of the floor even though they are on opposite sides of the room - perhaps natural horseshoe players?

In the past month, we have begun to eat real (non-pureed) food which means that I have become a chef. Sure cheerios and string cheese don't classify as cooking, but steaming fruits and veggies sure do! The only food so far that I have had consistent difficulty feeding to everyone is cottage cheese. Honestly though, I really don't blame them I also find the consistency repulsive.

real food:
Banana
Sweet potatoes
Peas
Apple
Corn
Zucchini
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Asparagus
Blueberries
Cherries
String cheese
Cheerios
Green beans
Cottage cheese

We continue to venture out several days each week for playdates. I have gotten decently quick at getting everyone in and out of the car as necessary. My average time is less than 15 minutes from playing in the living room to departing the garage. Not too bad considering it involves six shoes, six socks, sometimes jackets, a diaper bag, stroller and bjorn/wrap - oh yes and getting myself ready :) It has been a wonderful month and as always, I look forward to the next.

5.9.10: Mother's Day

(left to right: stella, daphne, fiona)

Today was my first mother's day. I wasn't sure if I'd ever get to be a mother, so imagine getting to celebrate with three adorable little girls and a fantastic husband. Starting off the day with with some beautiful cards created by the girls (with daddy's help), eating yummy crepes, going to the botanic gardens and playing on the swings (fiona and stella's first time). It was an amazing day and I never wanted it to end. Oh and as a special bonus, Brant changed all the poop-filled diapers for the day!


(stella/red, fiona/green)

5.8.10: Giggles

Having a tough day? Surely these adorable giggling videos (Fiona, Daphne, Stella) will make you smile.








Here is an impromptu attempt from fiona to push daphne on the car. Now, if we can just get them to change each other's diapers then we will really be set.

5.5.10: Spontaneity

Feeding three little ones is a big task, so we have been on a very strict schedule for the past five months. In early December (with our pediatricians ok) we dropped the 3am feeding. We continued to put the girls down for bed around 7:30pm and then woke them up at 11pm for a final feeding before the long stretch of sleep through the night. Brant and I usually go to bed just after 11pm, so we didn't mind feeding the girls since we were still up. More importantly, we really valued the eight hours of sleep we got each night when the girls were well fed. Sleep training was not a fun time and it was not something we were looking forward to doing again. With some coaxing from our play date friends, we decided it was time to drop the 11pm feeding and have the girls sleep from 7:30pm-7am. For the past week we have been reducing their food at the 11pm feeding by an ounce each night and finally, last night, we didn't feed them at all. Of course there was a tiny bit of noise, but nothing substantial. The transitioning went really well and now our little ladies are sleeping almost twelve straight hours. Of course you'd think we go to bed earlier now that we can, but that hasn't occurred just yet.

On a whim, Brant's cousin Mette invited us over to Joan and Doug's house for a night of tacos and drinks (nicely coordinated with cinco de mayo). Normally we would never attempt such a spontaneous adventure especially in the middle of the week - but we did it. Less than an hour after the invitation, we were on our way. We had the girls take half their afternoon nap at home and then threw them in the car for the remainder (nicely timed with our arrival at our destination). We stayed, played and visited until bedtime and then began driving the girls home. The car rides went really well. The girls got pretty fussy during their normal 'strolling' time 5:30-6:30 but thankfully we had many willing hands to distract them. Here are some cute photos from our adventure. Who says a family with ten month old triplets can't be spontaneous?


daphne and great aunt joan (who is trying to steer daphne away from the newly found garbage can)


daphne and aunt mette (who is trying to increase daphne's palate to include limes)


(left to right: fiona, stella, daphne)

When no other toy will do, playing on 'jungle gym daddy' does the trick. It is always interesting to see who gives in first, the girls wanting to explore something else or brant needing a break from the drool, gnawing, and climbing.