8.3.09: Whack-a-mole

Total chaos has erupted in the Robertson household. We have been desperately trying to pack our home while still adjusting to parenthood. Thankfully Grandy has been around to help watch the girls. One evening, Brant pointed out that watching the girls is sort of like whack-a-mole. Instead of bashing the mole with a mallet, you hold the baby until the next one starts scream louder and pickup/put down/insert binkie as necessary never knowing which baby will be next - it is a constant coordinated task to keep three babies happy at once. You are almost never free of a baby and when you are, the silence is amazing. Things are really crazy here (hence the delayed blog entries) but wonderful. The girls are starting to stare at things and even starting to touch each other - although I suppose the 'touching' could just be random arm movements, but for now I will declare them touching - it makes me feel better :)

7.31.09: Premies no more

Auntie Kelly got each of the girls a premie outfit which was worn when each girl came home from the NICU. Less than a month after all the girls came home, the outfits are too small. This is the first thing they have outgrown. The girls have long thin legs and arms but the bellies are bulking up. I thought it was hilarious to see their legs popping out of the pants and their bellies filling out the onesies. I am proud to say, they are premies no more. The girls have officially outgrown their first outfits and I couldn't be more proud.

ps - I promptly removed the girls from these outfits after the picture as I was worried Daphne would bust the seams :)

7.27.09: Robertson clan

Today was a special day for the girls. They met their great grandma Nana from Kentucky and Uncle Ragan and Christina who live in New York. They also got to see Uncle Evan and Melissa from Indiana who met the girls previously while they were in the NICU. It was wonderful to have so much of the Robertson clan around and the girls definitely had plenty of willing arms to hold them. The girls also got to celebrate Grandy's birthday (my mom) who celebrated with a late shift of watching the girls (2-6am) - lucky Grandy!

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.