For those of you who aren't familiar with the above acronym, Early Childhood Intervention is the long version...and they showed up today. Fellow triplet and preemie mommies should be more than familiar with ECI. If you aren't, do some research. This is a free service provided by the state/county and your children will benefit from their services. If your children appear developmentally delayed or if they were born prematurely, simply call ECI and request an evaluation. It's never too early. We started when the girls were less than 4 weeks old, corrected, in Texas. Today was our first evaluation since arriving in Ohio and we are very excited about the therapy our daughters will be receiving over the next few months.
The evaluation starts off with a question/answer session between the parents and the developmental specialist. In our case, this included questions regarding milestones achieved, verbal and non-verbal communication, eating habits, etc. In the midst of the question/answer session, the developmental specialist also works with each child individually, utilizing toys and objects to help determine how a child is progressing. Following the evaluation, the developmental specialist will then assess the information and determine the child's developmental "age". Based on the results, the child may qualify for occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech therapy, a nutritionist, etc.
Our evaluation went a little better than we expected. 29-week preemies are generally expected to reach milestones 2 to 3 months later than full-term babies born on the same date. We therefore only consider our daughters' due date in calculating their age when it comes to milestones. For example, although our daughters were born on October 29, 2008 and will be 9 months old tomorrow, their due date was actually January 11th, so their corrected age is 6 1/2 months. That said, they should be reaching milestones for 6/7 month olds right now. Fortunately, Makenna and Lauren are doing so well that they have not only reached milestones for their corrected age, but have also reached quite a few for their actual age. In other words, they are doing better than we expected. Olivia is behind her sisters, but is generally where she needs to be for her adjusted age. This was even pretty good news.
Makenna is doing so well that she requires no intervention right now. Lauren, however, needs to work on her attention span and focus when it comes to social interaction. Additionally, she has trouble initiating tasks where she is required to pick up and hold small objects. We have to pry her hands open to help her understand what she needs to do. Occupational therapy should help with the latter. Olivia will receive OT and PT to help her develop muscle strength so that she can gain more control over her movements. She rolls over fairly well and is technically very strong, but she is floppy.
So, that was our ECI experience for the day. If you feel your child may not be meeting milestones and especially if your child was born prematurely, please get in touch with your local ECI office. Do your child a favor and get an evaluation ASAP so that he/she may benefit from therapy sooner than later. For a general overview of where your child should be developmentally, visit http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/milestones/index.html
Untitled
We'll just call this another obligatory post. It's Friday night and I'm sitting alone on the sofa and taking advantage of the DVR. Livy is asleep in her bouncer, which is sitting right at my feet. On one side of her bouncer is Jake, on the other side, Chloe, and right behind is Riley. Lauren and Makenna are sound asleep in their beds upstairs and Paul is in the office working on logic games (ie, studying for the LSAT). I'm exhausted, but cannot sleep, so here I am updating the family blog.
So let's see....the girls are still completely toothless and I have been advised to enjoy the gummy smiles while they last. I'll take teeth, thank you very much.
Makenna is a little shit. In a good way...but also a very naughty way. Sometimes I stick her in the jumperoo or walker just so that I don't have to chase her all over the place. She hasn't even bothered to perfect her form when it comes to crawling because in Makenna's world, speed is paramount. So long as she can quickly get from point A to point B, it matters not how good she looks while getting there. Lauren, on the other hand, must value appearances because all she does is work on her form. Little Lauren pushes up into this perfect crawling position, then rocks back and forth...and just when it looks like she is ready to move forward, she collapses to the ground and has somehow moved back a few inches. Olivia just rolls around and although she tries to pull her knees up, she isn't yet strong enough to work on any sort of crawling.
All three are still insanely vocal and as of this past week we are finally hearing new sounds. Their volume is collectively increasing, as well, which is really awesome, I must say.
So I have been seriously considering making some baby food for the girls. By "seriously considering", I mean that I picked up some veggies and they have now been sitting in the fridge for three days. I haven't even bothered to look for recipes...that's how lazy I am. I wonder if I really need a recipe, though? I am generally 95% successful in the kitchen when it comes to adult food. I don't use recipes for that, so do I really need them for baby food? Perhaps a brief consultation with one or two recipes will do the trick. Speaking of yummy adult food, who wants my recipe for guacamole??? Oh, and I guess I might as well throw in my chicken marinade since so many people ask about both. Disclaimer: I DO NOT USE MEASURING CUPS...I wing it. That means my "recipe" is really a list of ingredients and loose suggestions for the amount of which to add. My food is tasty. If yours isn't, it's not because my recipe is flawed. Here goes:
Guac:
3 avocados
1/4 cup sweet onion
jalapeno to taste
1 to 2 tomatoes (spring for the good ones...the ones on the vine, preferably)
a handful of cilantro, finely chopped
1 lime
1/2 orange
garlic salt
season salt
pepper
onion powder
Add all ingredients EXCEPT tomatoes. Use potato masher to mash everything together. Then add diced tomatoes and stir. Yummy!
Chicken marinade:
1 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup teriyaki glaze
3 tbsp honey
1/8 to 1/4 cup brown sugar
juice from 2 or more oranges
chopped green onions...an entire bunch
ginger...fresh or powdered
sesame seed oil (just a wee bit)
season salt
pepper
2 cloves pressed garlic
onion powder
cut with water if you need more volume
Update complete.
So let's see....the girls are still completely toothless and I have been advised to enjoy the gummy smiles while they last. I'll take teeth, thank you very much.
Makenna is a little shit. In a good way...but also a very naughty way. Sometimes I stick her in the jumperoo or walker just so that I don't have to chase her all over the place. She hasn't even bothered to perfect her form when it comes to crawling because in Makenna's world, speed is paramount. So long as she can quickly get from point A to point B, it matters not how good she looks while getting there. Lauren, on the other hand, must value appearances because all she does is work on her form. Little Lauren pushes up into this perfect crawling position, then rocks back and forth...and just when it looks like she is ready to move forward, she collapses to the ground and has somehow moved back a few inches. Olivia just rolls around and although she tries to pull her knees up, she isn't yet strong enough to work on any sort of crawling.
All three are still insanely vocal and as of this past week we are finally hearing new sounds. Their volume is collectively increasing, as well, which is really awesome, I must say.
So I have been seriously considering making some baby food for the girls. By "seriously considering", I mean that I picked up some veggies and they have now been sitting in the fridge for three days. I haven't even bothered to look for recipes...that's how lazy I am. I wonder if I really need a recipe, though? I am generally 95% successful in the kitchen when it comes to adult food. I don't use recipes for that, so do I really need them for baby food? Perhaps a brief consultation with one or two recipes will do the trick. Speaking of yummy adult food, who wants my recipe for guacamole??? Oh, and I guess I might as well throw in my chicken marinade since so many people ask about both. Disclaimer: I DO NOT USE MEASURING CUPS...I wing it. That means my "recipe" is really a list of ingredients and loose suggestions for the amount of which to add. My food is tasty. If yours isn't, it's not because my recipe is flawed. Here goes:
Guac:
3 avocados
1/4 cup sweet onion
jalapeno to taste
1 to 2 tomatoes (spring for the good ones...the ones on the vine, preferably)
a handful of cilantro, finely chopped
1 lime
1/2 orange
garlic salt
season salt
pepper
onion powder
Add all ingredients EXCEPT tomatoes. Use potato masher to mash everything together. Then add diced tomatoes and stir. Yummy!
Chicken marinade:
1 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup teriyaki glaze
3 tbsp honey
1/8 to 1/4 cup brown sugar
juice from 2 or more oranges
chopped green onions...an entire bunch
ginger...fresh or powdered
sesame seed oil (just a wee bit)
season salt
pepper
2 cloves pressed garlic
onion powder
cut with water if you need more volume
Update complete.
Wah!
It's 5am. I'm awake. Livy woke up for a 3am bottle. We're okay with that because she's itty bitty and we prefer she not be. So when Livy gives a 3am hollar, I come running, bottle in hand. So at 3am she stuffed herself silly and took a trip back to dreamland. I didn't. I couldn't really, because I had been sleeping since 8pm and just couldn't fall back to sleep. So I decided to hang out in cyberspace. Do people even say "cyberspace" anymore?
4am rolled around and Makenna started chatting to herself. That chatting turned into crying pretty quickly. Why did she awake at 4? Probably because Paul and I gave up early and put them in bed at 7, rather than 8, last night. We were both too exhausted to keep them up for another hour and, frankly, so were they. So I did the bad mommy thing and gave her a 5am propped bottle in bed. She is now asleep.
Lauren, however, is kicking. She lifts both feet in the air and slams then down into the mattress. She does this while sleeping, but eventually will awaken herself with these little earthquakes.
Hopefully now that Makenna has been fed, she will sleep until 8am. I have places to be in the morning, so it would be really fantastic if they slept in while I shower and prepare their bags. Paul and his mom are taking the girls to the Neurologist while I attend a 2-hour meeting. I'm just hoping my appointment ends in time for me to meet with them at the doctor's office. This neuro appt is just a regular follow-up being that they were preemies. We expect to answer questions regarding their development and if all goes well, we shall never return. Fingers crossed.
Makenna is still walking with assistance. I'm not sure why this amazes me, but it does. I'm in awe everytime she takes a step. When we returned home from the family festivities on July 4th, she actually walked about 8 feet around the living room. She just took off and kept going, one foot right after the other, in a matter of 15 seconds, maybe. Her face absolutely lights up when she's on her feet...it's adorable.
Okay, so it's now 5:15 and absolutely quiet. I'm gonna go ahead and attempt to crawl back into bed now....
4am rolled around and Makenna started chatting to herself. That chatting turned into crying pretty quickly. Why did she awake at 4? Probably because Paul and I gave up early and put them in bed at 7, rather than 8, last night. We were both too exhausted to keep them up for another hour and, frankly, so were they. So I did the bad mommy thing and gave her a 5am propped bottle in bed. She is now asleep.
Lauren, however, is kicking. She lifts both feet in the air and slams then down into the mattress. She does this while sleeping, but eventually will awaken herself with these little earthquakes.
Hopefully now that Makenna has been fed, she will sleep until 8am. I have places to be in the morning, so it would be really fantastic if they slept in while I shower and prepare their bags. Paul and his mom are taking the girls to the Neurologist while I attend a 2-hour meeting. I'm just hoping my appointment ends in time for me to meet with them at the doctor's office. This neuro appt is just a regular follow-up being that they were preemies. We expect to answer questions regarding their development and if all goes well, we shall never return. Fingers crossed.
Makenna is still walking with assistance. I'm not sure why this amazes me, but it does. I'm in awe everytime she takes a step. When we returned home from the family festivities on July 4th, she actually walked about 8 feet around the living room. She just took off and kept going, one foot right after the other, in a matter of 15 seconds, maybe. Her face absolutely lights up when she's on her feet...it's adorable.
Okay, so it's now 5:15 and absolutely quiet. I'm gonna go ahead and attempt to crawl back into bed now....
Mobile Makenna...
At this very moment Makenna is on the floor next to me, wriggling her way over to the printer and grabbing EVERYTHING in her path.
So it's really cute when babies learn how to roll over, and then learn how to hold their heads up, and then learn to push themselves up into crawling position. That's about when the cuteness stops and is replaced by sheer horror. I have a mobile Makenna and I'm kind of happy that I don't have a mobile Lauren or Olivia. But it would be my luck that the first baby who starts moving all around would be the one who will pose the biggest threats to my sanity, her own health, and every object in her destructive path. Fortunately, she moves at a turtle's pace right now and I have time to start babyproofing, right?
So what exactly is she doing? Well, she can move 360 degrees in a heartbeat, she can roll her way around a small area, and she can army crawl a few feet. But all of that seems to take too much effort, so she would rather just stand up. Well, now when she stands, she bends over at the waist, does lots of squats, and lifts her foot forward in a marching motion...and then lifts the other foot...and then lifts the first foot again! Last night she took 4 steps. Oh my God, she's trying to walk. Thank goodness she has terrible balance right now and cannot even stand in place without holding onto someone...and although she can stand up while holding onto the sofa or other pieces of furniture, she hasn't figured out that if she lets go, she will fall....hard. So it's like her brain hasn't caught up with her physical strength. Right now, the girl is all braun and no brain. Well, wait, I take that back. She actually is very inquisitive. Now when she crawls over to objects, she looks up and actually lifts her body so that she can reach up and touch them. So I imagine pretty soon she'll be grabbing onto things and pulling herself into a standing position. It all just happens so fast with her!
Our other two sweet darlings are a bit behind Ms. Makenna. Livy did just start rolling over regularly a few days ago. She hates being on her tummy, but she's doing better and better now that she is making the choice to roll from her back onto her tummy. I actually gave up on tummy time with her a while ago because I learned with Lauren and Makenna that once they learn to roll onto their tummies, they have no choice but to be in that position...and at that time, they will gain fantastic upper body strength. So why rush it and force lots of unnecessary tears? So, Livy is a roley poley (how does one even spell that phrase?)
Lauren is just content to lie on her tummy and watch the world. She does try to push up into a crawling position, but she doesn't make much effort with actually moving forward.
Any predictions on when Makenna will start walking on her own?
And any predictions on when we may see some teeth out of these girls???? 8 months and not one tooth. This is driving me NUTS!
So it's really cute when babies learn how to roll over, and then learn how to hold their heads up, and then learn to push themselves up into crawling position. That's about when the cuteness stops and is replaced by sheer horror. I have a mobile Makenna and I'm kind of happy that I don't have a mobile Lauren or Olivia. But it would be my luck that the first baby who starts moving all around would be the one who will pose the biggest threats to my sanity, her own health, and every object in her destructive path. Fortunately, she moves at a turtle's pace right now and I have time to start babyproofing, right?
So what exactly is she doing? Well, she can move 360 degrees in a heartbeat, she can roll her way around a small area, and she can army crawl a few feet. But all of that seems to take too much effort, so she would rather just stand up. Well, now when she stands, she bends over at the waist, does lots of squats, and lifts her foot forward in a marching motion...and then lifts the other foot...and then lifts the first foot again! Last night she took 4 steps. Oh my God, she's trying to walk. Thank goodness she has terrible balance right now and cannot even stand in place without holding onto someone...and although she can stand up while holding onto the sofa or other pieces of furniture, she hasn't figured out that if she lets go, she will fall....hard. So it's like her brain hasn't caught up with her physical strength. Right now, the girl is all braun and no brain. Well, wait, I take that back. She actually is very inquisitive. Now when she crawls over to objects, she looks up and actually lifts her body so that she can reach up and touch them. So I imagine pretty soon she'll be grabbing onto things and pulling herself into a standing position. It all just happens so fast with her!
Our other two sweet darlings are a bit behind Ms. Makenna. Livy did just start rolling over regularly a few days ago. She hates being on her tummy, but she's doing better and better now that she is making the choice to roll from her back onto her tummy. I actually gave up on tummy time with her a while ago because I learned with Lauren and Makenna that once they learn to roll onto their tummies, they have no choice but to be in that position...and at that time, they will gain fantastic upper body strength. So why rush it and force lots of unnecessary tears? So, Livy is a roley poley (how does one even spell that phrase?)
Lauren is just content to lie on her tummy and watch the world. She does try to push up into a crawling position, but she doesn't make much effort with actually moving forward.
Any predictions on when Makenna will start walking on her own?
And any predictions on when we may see some teeth out of these girls???? 8 months and not one tooth. This is driving me NUTS!
8 Months Old!
I can't believe the girls are 8 months old today! Moreover, I can't believe how proud I am of these three little beauties. They are all three more perfect than I would have ever imagined them to be. Certainly that is just my Mommy bias, but I really feel so blessed to have given birth to my daughters. Just knowing them makes my life complete.
Makenna is sitting on my lap right now, just chatting away as I type. This girl gives me the biggest open-mouth, wide-eyed smiles every single morning. Incidentally, she also cries big, huge elephant tears every single afternoon. She just melts down throughout the day, and let's everybody know. But she goes from tears to smiles in an instant...and as frustrating as it can be, we love that she wears her heart on her sleeve. We also love how much she absolutely adores her two sisters. Makenna is the one who giggles with delight everytime one of her sisters is close enough to touch. She's just so much fun!
Livy is perfectly precious. She is quiet, happy, and always content. If she cries, it's for a very good reason...and usually due to physical pain. She does have a bulshit hour every evening. But that's it. The girl just goes all day, as content as can be...and then has an hourlong breakdown every night. It's like she just saves it all up for one big blow-up, and then she's happy again. She's just a doll, though, and her strength amazes us. And we love that no matter how much she has to go through medically, she still has an angelic spirit about her. Livy is simply an absolute pleasure to be around.
Lauren is just a cuddly little bear and she LOVES her mommy. I think Paul might be a little jealous over that one, but I need to revel in this because soon enough they will all be daddy's girls. Lauren is a lot like Livy in that she just doesn't cry and fuss unless she is really pissed off. In fact, sometimes when Makenna cries, Lauren just gives her a look as if to say "Are you freakin' serious, drama queen?" I think the best part of Lauren's personality is her sense of humor. She just lets out these neverending guttural laughs that can't be topped. And when she smiles, her whole face just lights up. How can you help but fall in love with 17 pounds of cuddly, smiley baby?
So I'm trying to remember dates of our recent milestones, but my memory fails all too often now. Thus, I'm using this blog as a diary of such events:
May 8 - Lauren rolled over for the first time
June 4 - Makenna rolled over for the first time
June 25 - Livy rolled over for the first time
June 27 - Makenna started army crawling
June 28 - Lauren and Makenna ate their first meat: Chicken...actually, it was Chicken and Apples...and ohmigod, did they LOVE it! Steak and taters, here we come!
Lauren is now waking up from her morning nap, so it's time for all of us to head downstairs and eat some brunch. I'll try to add some new pics later.
Makenna is sitting on my lap right now, just chatting away as I type. This girl gives me the biggest open-mouth, wide-eyed smiles every single morning. Incidentally, she also cries big, huge elephant tears every single afternoon. She just melts down throughout the day, and let's everybody know. But she goes from tears to smiles in an instant...and as frustrating as it can be, we love that she wears her heart on her sleeve. We also love how much she absolutely adores her two sisters. Makenna is the one who giggles with delight everytime one of her sisters is close enough to touch. She's just so much fun!
Livy is perfectly precious. She is quiet, happy, and always content. If she cries, it's for a very good reason...and usually due to physical pain. She does have a bulshit hour every evening. But that's it. The girl just goes all day, as content as can be...and then has an hourlong breakdown every night. It's like she just saves it all up for one big blow-up, and then she's happy again. She's just a doll, though, and her strength amazes us. And we love that no matter how much she has to go through medically, she still has an angelic spirit about her. Livy is simply an absolute pleasure to be around.
Lauren is just a cuddly little bear and she LOVES her mommy. I think Paul might be a little jealous over that one, but I need to revel in this because soon enough they will all be daddy's girls. Lauren is a lot like Livy in that she just doesn't cry and fuss unless she is really pissed off. In fact, sometimes when Makenna cries, Lauren just gives her a look as if to say "Are you freakin' serious, drama queen?" I think the best part of Lauren's personality is her sense of humor. She just lets out these neverending guttural laughs that can't be topped. And when she smiles, her whole face just lights up. How can you help but fall in love with 17 pounds of cuddly, smiley baby?
So I'm trying to remember dates of our recent milestones, but my memory fails all too often now. Thus, I'm using this blog as a diary of such events:
May 8 - Lauren rolled over for the first time
June 4 - Makenna rolled over for the first time
June 25 - Livy rolled over for the first time
June 27 - Makenna started army crawling
June 28 - Lauren and Makenna ate their first meat: Chicken...actually, it was Chicken and Apples...and ohmigod, did they LOVE it! Steak and taters, here we come!
Lauren is now waking up from her morning nap, so it's time for all of us to head downstairs and eat some brunch. I'll try to add some new pics later.
We Ferberized Them
Shout out to fellow triplet mom, Megan, who directed me to her description of the Ferber Method on her website: http://johnsontripletgirls.blogspot.com/2009/03/sleep-training-update-ferber-method.html My husband and I owe you a debt of gratitude, not only for saving us cash and hours of reading Ferber's sleep training book...but for giving us the gift of sleep!
We ferberized the shit out of our girls this week. It all started last Monday when I told Paul "ef it...we're putting them to bed at 8:00. I don't care if they cry. We'll just walk back in a few times and reassure them that all is good." Well, the joke was on us because both Lauren and Makenna wanted to eat again by 10pm. Same thing happened Tuesday night. Wednesday night the girls stayed at Paul's mom's house and although she tried to put them down by 9, they all kept waking up until midnightish. On Thursday Lauren and Makenna cried for an hour straight, but finally slept until 6am. On Friday, they drifted off to sleep without fussing, but woke up for a 3am feed. On Saturday I realized that something wasn't working and I asked the triplet moms for help. Alas, Megan showed me the light. She directed me to her website, which gives a brief description of the Ferber Method.
Saturday night they went down at 8pm and fell asleep without a fuss. Then, when they awoke for a 3am feed, we ferberized. We went in after 1 minute of crying to reassure them, then went back after another 3 minutes, then went back every 10 minutes therafter. It took about an hour and a half. They finally fell back to sleep until somewhere between 6 and 7am. Then Sunday night they went to bed with about 15 minutes of fussiness, but slept all night. And last night they went to sleep with about 2 minutes of fussiness and slept all night...actually, they slept for about 11 1/2 hours!!! It's amazing...and it took only about a week. And since this is my blog and I can say whatever I want to say, I would like to say "why in the hell don't more of you mothers try this?????????????"
I just read about a mom who "doesn't believe in 'cry it out'" so she lets her kiddos climb in bed with her every night if they wake up. She's prepared to allow them to do this until they sleep through the night on their own. I suppose I don't really believe in "cry it out" either, because I would never just let my kid sit there and cry and cry and cry without addressing her needs. But I sure as hell would try the Ferber Method if it meant my kids would get a great night of sleep nearly every single night...and I would get a great night of sleep, too.
So, yeah, we're all very happy in our house with this new schedule. Just thought I'd share...
We ferberized the shit out of our girls this week. It all started last Monday when I told Paul "ef it...we're putting them to bed at 8:00. I don't care if they cry. We'll just walk back in a few times and reassure them that all is good." Well, the joke was on us because both Lauren and Makenna wanted to eat again by 10pm. Same thing happened Tuesday night. Wednesday night the girls stayed at Paul's mom's house and although she tried to put them down by 9, they all kept waking up until midnightish. On Thursday Lauren and Makenna cried for an hour straight, but finally slept until 6am. On Friday, they drifted off to sleep without fussing, but woke up for a 3am feed. On Saturday I realized that something wasn't working and I asked the triplet moms for help. Alas, Megan showed me the light. She directed me to her website, which gives a brief description of the Ferber Method.
Saturday night they went down at 8pm and fell asleep without a fuss. Then, when they awoke for a 3am feed, we ferberized. We went in after 1 minute of crying to reassure them, then went back after another 3 minutes, then went back every 10 minutes therafter. It took about an hour and a half. They finally fell back to sleep until somewhere between 6 and 7am. Then Sunday night they went to bed with about 15 minutes of fussiness, but slept all night. And last night they went to sleep with about 2 minutes of fussiness and slept all night...actually, they slept for about 11 1/2 hours!!! It's amazing...and it took only about a week. And since this is my blog and I can say whatever I want to say, I would like to say "why in the hell don't more of you mothers try this?????????????"
I just read about a mom who "doesn't believe in 'cry it out'" so she lets her kiddos climb in bed with her every night if they wake up. She's prepared to allow them to do this until they sleep through the night on their own. I suppose I don't really believe in "cry it out" either, because I would never just let my kid sit there and cry and cry and cry without addressing her needs. But I sure as hell would try the Ferber Method if it meant my kids would get a great night of sleep nearly every single night...and I would get a great night of sleep, too.
So, yeah, we're all very happy in our house with this new schedule. Just thought I'd share...
Up and Running!!!
I'm the type of girl who can do without television...primarily because I can watch everything I want online. Take away my internet, though, and I'm not a happy camper. Don't get me wrong, I am quite content to leave technology at home while visiting my favorite little island (shameless plug for St. John), but I just don't like to be on the mainland sans google. Thus, I am happy to announce that our internet has been restored. All is right in my world. Paul is currently downstairs watching television while I sit on the floor of an empty office...Jake lying on my right, his monkey on my left, and Paul's computer on my lap. A cushy chair would be nice, as would a desk; however, it won't fit in this office. Rather, it won't fit through the door. It will, however, fit nicely on Craigslist now that we have internet again.
Oooooh! Just heard a baby burp. Paul must be putting Makenna back to bed. So tonight we tried the whole "in bed by eight o'clock" thing...and it worked soooooooooo well...for about 45 minutes. Let's just say that Makenna has a set of lungs, and quite possibly a tapeworm because she won't shut up and she won't stop eating. Is it too much to ask to have all three babies in bed at a decent hour? We are just so tired of ten and eleven o'clock bedtimes. The worst part is that it's different every single night. There's no consistency. It really doesn't help that we have had such an erratic schedule since the girls came home from the NICU, but I think it's time to create a routine. So today was day 1. I think we're allowed to fail miserably on day 1, right? Tomorrow will be better. I'll just go ahead and keep telling myself that.
For those of you with an interest in such matters, I took the girls to California on the 19th to visit my mom and grandparents (yes...I flew alone with 7-month-old triplets). I am so relieved to say that the flights went quite well. We flew nonstop and the girls behaved perfectly. I mean, they were so content on those flights that people were complimenting us as they walked off the plane. I won't lie, it was hard work. I had to figure out a way to feed all three at once, change diapers without leaving the seats, play musical carseats, and keep those girls happy...but they were all three so content and we were a fantastic team.
Our visit went very well and we all had a really nice time. Olivia had so much floor time that she can now roll onto her side. Makenna is still working on the whole rolling over thing. I'm thinking she's going to me more chatty and less athletic since she's quite happy just lying on the floor and making loud noises. Lauren is totally opposite. She wants to move and hardly makes a peep. They are all laughing, giggling, and engaging us more and more each day. We did have some professional pictures taken during our trip, but I'll have to load them another day.
In the meantime, all is well and I'm loving my internet.
Oooooh! Just heard a baby burp. Paul must be putting Makenna back to bed. So tonight we tried the whole "in bed by eight o'clock" thing...and it worked soooooooooo well...for about 45 minutes. Let's just say that Makenna has a set of lungs, and quite possibly a tapeworm because she won't shut up and she won't stop eating. Is it too much to ask to have all three babies in bed at a decent hour? We are just so tired of ten and eleven o'clock bedtimes. The worst part is that it's different every single night. There's no consistency. It really doesn't help that we have had such an erratic schedule since the girls came home from the NICU, but I think it's time to create a routine. So today was day 1. I think we're allowed to fail miserably on day 1, right? Tomorrow will be better. I'll just go ahead and keep telling myself that.
For those of you with an interest in such matters, I took the girls to California on the 19th to visit my mom and grandparents (yes...I flew alone with 7-month-old triplets). I am so relieved to say that the flights went quite well. We flew nonstop and the girls behaved perfectly. I mean, they were so content on those flights that people were complimenting us as they walked off the plane. I won't lie, it was hard work. I had to figure out a way to feed all three at once, change diapers without leaving the seats, play musical carseats, and keep those girls happy...but they were all three so content and we were a fantastic team.
Our visit went very well and we all had a really nice time. Olivia had so much floor time that she can now roll onto her side. Makenna is still working on the whole rolling over thing. I'm thinking she's going to me more chatty and less athletic since she's quite happy just lying on the floor and making loud noises. Lauren is totally opposite. She wants to move and hardly makes a peep. They are all laughing, giggling, and engaging us more and more each day. We did have some professional pictures taken during our trip, but I'll have to load them another day.
In the meantime, all is well and I'm loving my internet.
