4.6.10: Eating on their own

(left to right: fiona, daphne, stella)

Today I was able to put a wagon wheel in front of each girl and they picked it up and fed themselves. I'm not claiming the entire wheel was consumed or that the floor didn't have remnants of this milestone, but we are well on our way to feeding ourselves.

4.5.10: Exhaustion

Our trip home went well but it was much more exhausting than our flight to Seattle. Perhaps because Brant and I were worn out from the week or just because the girls had a rougher start in the morning. No one would sleep on the plane, regardless of the fact that we were flying during nap time. This time Brant and Daphne were in the row in front of us, so that was a nice change. However, neither Fiona nor Stella wanted to sit in the car seat and those airplane seats are not wide enough to fit two babies on my lap. I kept having to rotate the two of them in and out of the car seat. Here was my tactic: Take baby in my lap, get them to stand up and pin them to the back of my seat using my ribs. Then pull out baby in car seat and put onto lap (keeping first baby pinned). Then using my back, I nudged the standing girl to the side and catch them with my one free arm. Once the standing baby was in my arm, I began the challenging task of getting said baby into the car seat with one arm. It was a spectacle nonetheless, but it worked. There was no hysterical screaming only a bit of fussing, but nothing too bad. After a quick drive, we were home. Brant and I were exhausted but it was in between nap times so we had to keep the girls awake - got to keep on the schedule at all times.

Apparently the girls were not tired despite their missing the morning nap. During this time, Fiona decided to stand on her own (for the first time) for at least five seconds - we were so proud. She stood long enough that despite our exhaustion we were able to get the camera and take this picture.

4.4.10: Easter

It seems that the girls knew it was Easter as they escaped from their room and went straight for their Easter eggs. Stella led the pack, then Fiona and finally Daphne. Inside the Easter eggs my sister hid some wagon wheels - a yummy treat that the girls just started enjoying this week. They each found their one Easter egg, but I must confess they were brightly colored and in the middle of a blanket. Still a very successful first Easter in my book.


During the morning nap time, the Easter bunny also hid eggs for Brant, Rob and me. I can't even remember the last time I participated in an Easter egg hunt, but we had a blast. Brant and I were much slower at finding out eggs compared to Rob, but we think Rob had an advantage due to prior egg hunting in his home. Then the evil Easter bunny appeared and hid eggs for my sister. This evil Easter bunny hid them out of sight and throughout the house, it provided me a lot more entertainment than my sister who found it less amusing to rummage through her house. No word yet if all the eggs have been found - but at least they were void of candy.


(left to right: brant/daphne, sean/stella, fiona, tamara/piper)

Thankfully on our very last day in Seattle, Brant's friends Sean and Tamara were able to come over. All four of us went to high school together and their little girl (Piper) was born in late July, around my original due date. It is crazy to think back in high school we had no idea we would be having babies at the same time. Piper is adorable and waves hello/goodbye - I am SO jealous.

Another great day in Seattle, our final day. It was a wonderful trip, too short of course, but thankfully we were able to see (and introduce our girls to) so many friends and family.

4.3.10: Relatives

(left to right: brant, daphne, fiona, stella)

We started off the morning skyping with nana, great nana, Evan and Melissa who were all in Kentucky for Easter weekend. It was the first time great nana skyped and you could tell the girls were excited to see her. They even figured out that pulling on the towel the computer was on, brought their relatives closer.


(left to right: kelly, daphne, rob, stella, fiona)

Here is a picture of the Kochmans before the chaos of more visitors began. They were really good sports. Not once did they complain of anything and trust me there were plenty of opportunities as we consumed their entire home.

Our next visitor was Brant's friend from college Matt. Unfortunately, the girls got a little cranky in between their naps so we didn't get any pictures of Matt with the girls. It was wonderful to see Matt and I think he was excited to see the girls in person even though they were having a tough day.

Thankfully after the afternoon nap, the girls seem to have recovered from their moodiness in time to meet their Aunt Michelle and Great Aunt Janet. We also got to see and play with Michelle's kids Stephen (4) and Paige (2). I am often asked how hard it is to handle triplets and honestly, I just wonder how hard it is to keep up and entertain kids of different ages. Michelle does a great job but I have to wonder which is harder....I suppose it really just depends on the kids.


(left to right: kelly/paige, kari/fiona, michelle/stella, stephen, janet/daphne)


(left to right: kelly, daphne, stephen)

Stephen really likes babies. Let me repeat, Stephen REALLY likes babies. Now imagine how happy he was to have three babies appear. He desperately wanted to hold the babies but I am still a little nervous to have kids hold the girls, so Auntie Kelly came up with the idea to have a 'group hold'. You can see that Stephen was pretty excited about it and Daphne took the opportunity to lick him.

After all the wonderful company, the girls were pretty exhausted. Brant and I desperately wanted to go out to our favorite restaurant (Bamboo Garden) while we were in town. Last time we were in Seattle, there was a huge snowstorm so we weren't able to go. This is a special place to us. We frequented the restaurant so much while in high school and college that we held our rehearsal dinner there - subjecting our family to an entirely vegetarian cuisine accented by tons of fake meat! We had two willing babysitters (thanks again Kelly and Rob) and decided to make a date night out of it. After putting the girls down for bed, Brant and I escaped and enjoyed our big night out. It was wonderful and extremely yummy.

4.2.10: Kim and Alyssa!

(left to right: stella, kari, daphne, fiona, kim, alyssa)

wondering what those shiny things are behind us in the picture? well they are airplane wings. yes, seriously airplane wings. Kelly and Rob are building a four seater airplane in their garage and have various completed airplane parts around the house. It is amazing (and a little scary) to see the airplane actually take shape.

Today was another exciting day for the girls and me. While Brant was busy working (earning his ticket to Seattle), we had a play date with Kim and Alyssa. It was wonderful! Last time I saw Alyssa she was just a couple months old and had a pretty tough start........but not now. Now she is walking everywhere, eating normal food and thriving. It was fantastic to see how loving parents and a persevering child can get through almost anything. She played nice with the girls and even allowed Kim and me to talk a bit. They were able to stay and play the whole day. It gave me a good vision of what my life *might* be like in another 9 months which is both wonderful and scary at the same time (especially when multiplying by three). It was sad to have them go home, but in our house we definitely appreciate a routine and wouldn't want to interfere with bedtime.

Brant arrived back at Kelly and Rob's in the late afternoon. The girls were clearly excited to see their dad after two days. Somehow, Debbie was able to escape for the evening kid-free. She came over to help with bed and bath time and then her and I went out to a late dinner. I'm not sure how everything aligned but thanks to Andy and Brant (and of course Kelly and Rob), Debbie and I were able to go out for a couple hours and catch up - it was great. At some point, the waiter told us to cash out but assured us we could stay until the restaurant closed - I think he could tell we had a lot of catching up to do :)

4.1.10: Play date with Debbie's family

(left to right: Sammy, Debbie, Fiona, Daphne, Kari, Joey, Stella)
I know, I know, not everyone is looking at the camera - this is the reality of five kids in the same picture.

Today I (FINALLY) got to meet Sammy, the newest addition to Debbie's family - and oh boy is he adorable. Joey, now four, was amazing (as always) and read me books shortly after my arrival - I was in awe. I can't wait until my little ladies are as communicative as Joey - the house will be a chatter all day. It is crazy to think that the last time I saw Debbie there was only one kid between the two of us, and now there are five!


Debbie and I were originally due just days apart, but Sammy was born at full gestation while my ladies were born almost six weeks early. This would lead you to believe that my ladies would be bigger than Sammy, but that is SO not the case. I thought this picture of Daphne (~18lbs) and Sammy (~24lbs) was a good example of the difference in size.


(left to right: daphne, stella, fiona)

I think when Kelly and Debbie were trying to feed the girls, the girls were a little distracted by the other kids and adults around them. Needless to say, feeding was a bit more of a challenge than either anticipated when graciously volunteering to feed these ladies. This is why we wear bibs. Regardless, I found it hilarious that all the girls ended up leaning to the right after eating lunch.


(left to right: stella, daphne, fiona)

My sister made these adorable onesies for the girls. They came in very helpful when meeting new people as Fiona and Stella look so very similar. Of course, instead of preserving these adorable onesies, they managed to get very dirty when wearing them for the first time. Once they were marked by the solid food, we decided to have the girls try a bitter bar which enhanced the mess beyond belief. At least the girls enjoyed the bars and feeding themselves!

What a great day, I got to see the entire family! Thank you Debbie, Andy, Joey and Sammy for sharing your day with us!

3.31.10: First vacation

After months of preparation, we finally embarked on our first vacation. We knew it wouldn't be an easy task to travel with triplets, but we also know that we have a wedding to go to in Indiana this fall and needed a practice run. Brant had to go to Seattle for work, so it seemed to make sense to piggyback on his trip and stay at (I mean takeover) my sister and Rob's house.

So we did it. We flew with triplets. It went pretty well. Brant kept Daphne entertained while Fiona and Stella hung out with me a couple rows back. Besides some irritability while on the tarmac (don't we all feel that way), the flight went ok. We were relieved to arrive safely in Seattle to the smiling faces of Kelly and Rob and two automobiles. Yes, it takes two automobiles to get our family of five + Kelly and Rob home. We arrived at the Kochman's where they had acquired countless baby necessities from a variety of friends. In this normally kid-free home, there were three jumpers, a swing, four playpens, two changing stations, three booster seats for eating, diapers, food, formula and countless toys acquired from at least seven different people. I actually think they had a better set up than we have in our own home. Immediately we took to changing and feeding the girls - gotta keep on the schedule even when traveling. The girls missed a majority of their morning nap, but took to their afternoon nap without a problem.

Once the girls woke from their afternoon nap, we adventured over to meet up with another triplet family (two weeks younger) for a play date. It was crazy to see so many little ladies together.


(left to right: Brelynn, Stella, Fiona, Daphne, Avery, Camille)

3.27.10: Lazy parents

We had two events today, a photo shoot and a bbq - a very busy day for us. Needless to say, we had to keep our outfits clean as we didn't have time to change before or after our feedings....hence the topless feeding session :) When raising triplets, there are times you just have to cut corners and this was one of them.

3.26.10: Dance card

As my grandma would have said, our dance card was very full this week. We had four (yes, four!) play dates. On Monday we DROVE to a new park and attempted to play nicely in the grass (without eating leaves) with a twin mom and singleton mom. Wednesday we walked to the nearby park for a weekly play date organized by a group affiliated with Brant's employer. Thursday we met up with my neighbor and played in her house consuming all of her son's toys. Friday we DROVE to another park and went for a walk with a twin mom. It was a crazy week. Yes, that's right - we drove to two separate play dates and ended up going to three different parks. The girls are still pretty young for play dates, they just kind of sit there and crawl around trying to escape from the confines of the blanket. I figure right now, the play dates are more for me, to get out of the house and attempt to talk to other adults. Usually the talking is limited to ten words and then interrupted by chasing after a baby (repeat several times). They usually only last about an hour before the girls get fussy, but an hour is an hour. I am getting a bit quicker at getting places in the car by myself but am still pretty exhausted by the end of the day. I imagine I will always be exhausted after taking care of triplets all day.

The girls have also started eating melts, puffs, yummies or whatever you call them. I am trying to get the girls to feed themselves these cheerio-like objects. I know they can put leaves in their mouths, so I figure perhaps they would be willing to put actual food in their mouths. We are getting close. I put a puff in front of them after having lunch. Stella and Daphne both tried to get in into their mouths right away. Daphne was pretty successful getting it onto her tongue - of course her tongue is always sticking out so she had a bigger target. Stella was struggling to figure out how to get the puff from her closed fist in her mouth as her entire fist didn't fit in her mouth - but she gets the idea. Fiona had to study the puff for a bit and then got it stuck to her chin. The below picture was my attempt to capture everyone grabbing their own puff, oyyy.


(left to right: fiona, daphne, stella)
notice that daphne already has a puff in her hand, but is still trying to steal fiona's.

3.21.10: Drugs and alcohol

(warning this posting will border on 'TMI' for most)

Today was my first day without pumping in over nine months. That's right, I have decided to stop pumping and been cutting back since the girls' nine month birthday on March 11th. First a little history. When the girls were born, they were so small and premature that they were fed with a NG tube for at least a week so nursing wasn't an option. Once they were done with the tube their milk had to be fortified therefore nursing was not an option again. Eventually when nursing finally became an option, the girls had grown a huge preference to a bottle and treated nursing as a nice appetizer. As I was trying to feed three kids, this meant that after I nursed everyone I then had to go and pump in order to keep up my supply. Once I had completed pumping, I usually had to then nurse again - it was nonstop. Eventually I just gave up on nursing in lieu of sanity but continued pumping.

For the first three months, I pumped for four hours a day (30 min x 8 times) and the girls each got 5/6 milk and 1/6 formula (we kept them always with at least one formula feeding a day to maintain a tolerance to the taste, etc). Months 4 and 5 I was able to pump for 3 hours a day (30 min x 6 times) while still maintaining the same level of milk for everyone. Then in November I thought I was going to quit and got down to pumping one hour a day (20 min x 3 times). The girls were getting half fresh milk, one feeding of frozen milk and two feedings of formula - but I was getting much more sleep (and sanity - probably closely related). I was able to maintain pumping three times a day (thanks to the new establishment of naps) up until I stopped. Remember, I am home by myself with the girls weekdays, so before naps (which started at about six months) I had to keep three babies happy while pumping several times a day, not an easy task to juggle. So for the first nine months, the girls got at least half milk - which I consider a huge accomplishment. I estimate to have pumped in total ~16,500 oz, phew that makes me tired. To put some perspective on it, that is enough to fill up a car 12 times!

So now I am in the painful process of stopping. I suppose they don't tell you how bad 'stopping' is when the child doesn't ween naturally, probably for fear that people would decide never to pump at all. It was worth it for me. The kids got a good start which was important to me given that they were born so early.

Besides getting the time from pumping back into my day, I also get another good hour just from washing/preparing bottles. Time is precious and rare these days so I am still trying to figure out what to do with myself. I am trying NOT to eat as much as I have grown accustomed to in the past 18 months. I look back fondly on those days of sitting down with some Ben & Jerry's and not worrying about the quantity consumed. Of course this also meant 18 months of no caffeine, pain/cold medicine and limiting myself on alcoholic consumption (none while pregnant and an occasional glass when pumping).

Who knows what final form my body will take it has been through a lot. Who knows if 'everything' will go back to where it should be - or if I will have new built in knee pads (I guess I could take up volleyball again?) Honestly, it really doesn't matter. I have a wonderful family and that is the most important thing to me.

(What I do know, is that now I can drink caffeine, alcohol and take medicine as needed. Pardon me, gotta run - I have a hang nail...where is that pain medicine at?)