10.18.09: Kicking for entertainment

short video coming soon

Today we caught the girls kicking the toys on their astronomy themed playmat. It is so fun to see them beginning to entertain themselves.

10.16.09: Paranoia

For the past couple of days when eating during the daytime, Fiona would eat an ounce and then hysterically (and I do mean hysterically) scream for at least a half hour then be ready to eat the remainder three ounces of food. This was pretty alarming and didn't seem to be getting better. So before the weekend set in I called our pediatrician to ask for suggestions. Fiona was happy the rest of the day except when eating so we knew it wasn't anything too serious. However, my call into the pediatrician set off a chain of worrisome events. Another doctor called us back and only heard me say that my four month old was having trouble eating and screaming (she ignored the other details). Just based on that she demanded that I bring her into Urgent Care to be examined. After an hour of traffic and only 15 miles, Brant and I arrived about 5 minutes before Urgent Care closed for the day. The doctor assured us that everything looked fine and we were sent home. The other girls stayed at home with Grandma Bonnie who was here one last night before heading back to Indianapolis.

I guess there are several good parts to this story.
1. Brant and I now have some idea where Urgent Care is (a different place than our normal medical office)
2. Because Bonnie was here, we were able to go together for this first experience
and mostly importantly
3. Fiona is fine (already eating better) so we are hopefully this is just a phase.

10.13.09: M.O.M.

So I did it, I joined a mothers of multiples group. The first meeting was about 'living green' lasting only a couple hours in a nearby suburb. I was glad that I went but the topic was only 'so so' since our apartment complex doesn't seem to recycle and the speakers discussed things such as repurposing your laundry water and having a hen. At this time in my life, those things are not practical, but who knows in the future.

The highlights of the meeting for me was the fact that I:
1. interacted with adults
2. was surrounded by people with twins and therefore felt a little less abnormal by having triplets.
3. reminisced about my college days in super 'green' bellingham, wa.
4. got out of the house without the kids (sounds mean, but it is necessary sometimes - mama's gotta keep sane after all)
5. was reminded of how lucky Brant and I are that our kids were born so late (for multiples) and healthy.

10.12.09: Rolling

Today Stella decided to roll over from back to front. She has been the most active in working on this skill and finally figured out this one time what to do with her inner arm (which had been blocking her successful completion of this task for some time now). The other girls continue to hoist their legs into the air and fling them to one side or another. This roll is only stopped by the kickstand (known as their inner arm) that they can't quite figure out what to do with. Stella has successfully rolled over a couple times but definitely still struggles with that darn inner arm. It is only a matter of time until everyone is rolling. I will continue to work on getting a synchronized rolling photo or video but for now all I have is the picture of the successful roll via face plant done by Stella.

10.11.09: Four months old

Today we celebrated the girls four month birthday. Grandma Bonnie is visiting and helping with the girls 'expressions' (code word for occasional screaming). For some reason, Fiona and Stella have taken a liking to screaming after they eat about an ounce of food, wanting to rest for a good 30 minutes and then deciding they are ready to eat the remaining 3 ounces. Daphne who loves to lick everything (including freckles) continues to down her milk just like her daddy downs his beer ;)

The girls are smiling all the time and talking (cooing) in a way that already makes me fear what our phone bill will look like once these girls can actually talk. They love standing up (with some adult assistance under their armpits) and sitting (with some assistance from pillows). They have also started seriously trying to roll over - something I have not been encouraging - but the grandmas were. Selfishly, I was hoping for them to stay still a bit longer, but the girls are ready. With a lifting of their legs and an enthusiastic toss to the side, the girls are starting to roll over. As of today, no one has made it all the way to their belly - they keep getting stuck on their inner arm, but once they figure out what to do with that arm - they are going to start doing somersaults, I just know it.

10.6.09: Sweaters

Daphne (blue), Stella (orange), Fiona (purple)

The girls finally fit into the beautiful sweaters that Keren made for them (perfect timing seasonally). I guess it really is fall as the temperature barely reached 70. This was our first walk with them. Thanks Keren!

10.3.09: Long and lean

During our move out to LA in mid-August, I realized when packing that the girls newborn clothes didn't fit them anymore, especially their sleepers. The girls seem to be long and lean with huge feet. When you look at their bellies in the newborn attire, there is plenty of room, however when you look at the length - things were awfully snug. Brant actually pointed out to me that the girls toes were curled up inside their sleeper feet - what a bad mom - I totally didn't realize this and promptly put them into their 3 month clothes.

So here is my rant - why on earth are the clothes for babies between 8-12lbs called 3 month clothes? Even our girls (who started off extremely small) are beyond 8lbs at three months. So I guess I have learned that 3 month clothes are really for babies 0-3 and six month clothes are for babies 3-6 months. Why not just label this way?

Needless to say this same issue repeated itself (ALREADY). While both grandmas were here, they teamed up to show me that the girls were ready for the 6 month clothes. I feel silly putting the girls into 6 month clothes when they are still less than four months, but I guess this is just the ridiculous labeling that children's clothing manufacturers use. Don't we have enough to worry about when raising children, must we really worry about confusing clothing labels too?

10.1.09: What season is it?

Finally today, we decided it was time to use blankets when taking the girls for their daily walk. Until now, the girls had just worn their onesie and coordinated (usually) pants, no socks, shoes or blankets as it has been pretty warm (mid 80s most evenings). It is crazy to talk to people in Boston and Chicago and realize that they are already experiencing 'sweater weather' while I am here in CA just experiencing a continuation of the summer with many days in the 90s - is it really October?

While on this walk, the grandmas decided to spoil me. They each took turns wearing the Baby Bjorn and the other pushed the stroller - I didn't carry anyone! As I enjoyed the free hands, I found myself walking quicker than normal and even bouncing unnecessarily at crosswalks - apparently trying to sooth the phantom baby that I was holding.

9.30.09: Grandmas

Today the girls are officially spoiled - both grandmas are here and finally the number of adults outnumbers the number of babies. This is wonderful! Everyone can be held and get the attention that they deserve. I only wonder how it will be when everyone leaves, but for now I am going to totally embrace that both of our moms are here. I know the girls are thrilled and love the constant attention. I got some time to run errands (and nap!) without feeling guilty about leaving three babies with one person. Heaven!

9.25.09: DMV

Have you ever had an idea in your head that later you realize was totally ridiculous? Well here was one of mine. Brant and I needed to register the car and get new CA licenses. My first thought was that we would just bring the girls to the DMV and then take turns taking the written driver's test and dealing with the process - seems reasonable right? We are in the suburbs after all. In the Seattle suburbs this wouldn't have been a problem. Well thankfully my mom was coming into town so we saved our DMV visit until she arrived. Wow - that was a lucky thing. The DMV here is crazy! People everywhere, 25+ windows to which you visit at least 5 just to get a license and chaos, udder chaos. There was no room for a stroller, let alone a twin stroller, let alone infants, let alone all the germs and of course don't forget the hours it took to complete these simple tasks. I definitely didn't think that through very well - it would have been a disaster if we brought the girls. Again, this was an idea that thankfully didn't occur - I really need to think through the environment I bring the girls into a little more - sometimes I just forget how simple tasks can become very complicated with three infants.

Also today Brant and I went on our first (I think) adult outing since having the girls. A colleague at Brant's work had a gathering and we were able to travel to his house and socialize with other adults - without babies. (Again, thanks to the babysitting of my mom) Little did my mom realize that her visit would be full of babysitting within the first 24 hours after her arrival - I wonder if she would have come had she known this... It was nice to get away, of course we missed the girls, but it was nice to remember that we are humans first and parents second. Sometimes I feel like I am just an entity to feed, change and get spit up on :)