8.4.09: Army crawl

All three girls have officially begun to army crawl. When laying on their tummies and having a barrier behind their feet, each girl will push themselves forward. If the barrier moves with them, they will keep going, even off the play mat. Of course, they haven't yet learned how to crawl (they aren't even two months old) but they do enjoy sliding their bodies and faces on the play mat using this technique. It is hilarious to watch with their butts in the air and faces smashed into the ground.

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).