Blog Update: 11.5 months

It's been a good week... so I thought I would blog about it. Also, I'm becoming more and more aware of how this blog is my "scrapbook" or way of documenting what's going on with the girls, so I'm really going to try to start adding things more often. I'm feeling so EXTREMELY blessed to be able to stay home with my little baby girls. They do new things all the time and I get to see EVERY SINGLE BIT OF IT! I really don't think I could have handled going back to work (even with one baby). It would be so hard to miss out on the daily occurences. Believe me, somedays I feel like pulling my ratty hair out, but I really do know how blessed I am.

My mom has made the comment several times that they're very happy babies... smiley, giggly, CONTENT babies. I like to think me staying home with them and keeping them on a schedule has something to do with this. I used to worry so much about not having enough time to bond with each one, but it's really a non-issue now. They do have a habit of seeing their sister on mommy's lap and wanting the same thing, but overall, I get to just give them hugs and kisses throughout the day... loving on one while the other two play, etc. They're very sweet little girls.

They love their daddy so much too! Most of the time, they're in their high chairs when he comes home and, from where they sit, they can usually see him before I even know he's home. I can always tell when he's home by the looks on their faces. When he walks in the door, their faces just light up! Sometimes they let out little giggles too. If they're not in the high chairs, they'll crawl to him and want some hugs and loves. Very sweet. Here's a pic of them swarming him once he changed and sat in the floor.



Here's a look at our current schedule (not sure it's changed much since last time I posted it):

• 7:30/8:00 Wake up. Often, they'll wake up at 7 and just talk to themselves or each other until I decide to get up. I leave a few soft toys in their cribs, so it keeps them busy for a little while.


• 8:00 Change 3 diapers and put in high chairs for Breakfast. I usually give them Cheerios to munch on while I finish making my bed, opening the blinds, turning on Good Morning America, etc. They eat rice or oatmeal cereal followed by a 4 oz bottle and possibly more Cheerios. At this point, I usually start laundry, load the dishwasher, get ready (by get ready I mean put on a bra and brush my teeth... that's now my "get ready" routine).


• 9:00-10:30 Play with toys in the living room. I drink coffee and watch them play. Usually all 3 babies need a diaper change. (It's funny how since they all eat at the same times, they're pretty much on the same poop schedule).


• 10:30-11:30/12:00 Morning Nap - We have 3 cribs set up in the nursery, but in order to get them to sleep well thru their nap time, I separate them. I put one baby in the nursery, one in a pack-n-play in the guest bedroom and the other in a pack-n-play in our bedroom.


• 12:00 Lunch. We're now eating Table foods - mac & cheese, pasta, peas, carrots, green beans, bread, cheerios, avocado, egg yolk, cheese, peaches and bananas are examples of things we eat. We follow up lunch with about 4 oz of formula.


• 1:00-3:00 Change diapers, then play. On pretty days, we might go for a walk during this time or sit on a blanket outside, but often we just play with toys in the living room. I also give them a 5-6 oz bottle at 2:00.


• 3:00-5:00 Afternoon Nap - Again, putting in separate rooms. During nap times, I usually fold clothes, empty the dishwasher, get on the computer, watch tv, relax etc.


• 5:30 Dinner - Currently, I still give them baby food for dinner. It's easier and a lot less messy. Plus, I know exactly how much they're getting. They also drink 3-4 oz of formula at this time too.


• 6:00-7:30 Play with daddy.


• 7:30 Bath time (every other night)


• 8:00 7 oz. Bottles


• 8:30 Bedtime!!! Hallelujah!! Matt and I pick up toys, clean up and watch tv. We usually have to move Ally into the guest room pack-n-play right away because she's wired and keeps the other babies up. If one of the babies cries in the middle of the night, I make sure they're ok, then move them to another room to cry it out for a few minutes.
  

The next day, we wake up and do the whole thing over again! Ugh! I truly LOVE staying home with them, but often get a little bored with the mundane. I really think I've lost brain cells from lack of using my brain this year. But, it's all worth it. I very much look forward to when Matt is home in the evenings and the weekends. Not that the schedule changes much, but at least I have my best friend to go thru it all with :)

None of the babies are walking yet, but Izzy is SOOOO close! She CAN do it, but still doesn't know she can. It's very strange because she was such a little dare devil when pulling up, bumping her head ALL the time and not knowing her limits, but she acts like a real scaredy-cat when walking. She's taken 2 steps on her own, but then lands firmly on her diaper booty.

The babies have been playing together so cute lately. They giggle at each other all the time, and even chase each other. The other night, Abby chased Ally all over the living room (crawling). Both giggling the whole time. Ally LOVED it! She would get in a groove, crawling really fast with her head down, then she'd go in a circle and look up and would have almost crawled into Abby. Then the whole thing would start over again. I didn't get a video of this particular time, but do have some video of a chase.... here it is:










Abby had tubes put in her ears almost 2 weeks ago. She is doing WONDERFULLY! She was always a very serious baby... some even referred to her as grumpy now and again, but since the tubes, she's been extremely giggly and very involved in playing with her sisters. I think before the tubes, she was kind of stuck in her head... you know how you feel when you're real stopped up? Poor baby probably went for months and months like that. I'm very glad we had the procedure done.

The girls are drinking out of sippy cups pretty good now, and we MIGHT be able to get rid of most, or all, of their bottles once they're a year old... we'll see. I'm not one to do something just because you're "supposed to at this age". If there's ONE thing I've learned during this CRAZY year, it's there is NOT one way to do things, though it seems everyone thinks their way is the only way. It's silly, if you ask me.... who the heck cares if my babies still drink a night bottle at 14 months?! And, if they do care... they might want to get a life! Sorry! I'm getting a little attitude... don't get me started!

A lot of people have asked about Matt's job. He works for Dollar Thrifty's headquarters in Tulsa as an Accounting Manager. Hertz Rental Cars has agreed to a deal to buy Dollar Thrifty. It often takes up to a year for the FDC to approve the change, so at this time, the job is as secure as it ever was. Once the change takes place... who knows?! BUT, we're not going to worry about it at this time. God has proven over and over that He'll take care of us, and we're not going to start doubting Him now. It wouldn't hurt to pray about it, though.

Some news about Matt and me: We're taking our first trip (over nighter) May 21st! I'm excited and scared to death. Don't get me wrong... I'm not scared for the babies... I'm scared for me. I'm afraid I'm going to go into withdrawals being away from them! Dale and Cheryl (Matt's parents) are going to keep 2 of the babies, and my mom is going to keep 1 baby. Matt and I are going to Dallas to watch the Cubs play the Rangers (2 of Matt's favorite teams). We're leaving Saturday morning and coming back Sunday afternoon. Our anniversary is May 27th, so this is our little Anniversary get away. Last year on our anniversary, we had just brought the babies home the night before, and honestly had NO IDEA it was our anniversary until Matt's dad texted us and wished us a Happy Anniversary. At that moment, I started crying, knowing my WHOLE world had changed so much that I didn't even know my own Anniversary anymore! For so many years it was ALL about us and now, we didn't even remember our own Anniversary! I was so afraid of the changes that were coming... I was so afraid, knowing my life was OVER as I knew it. I seriously don't think I'll ever forget that feeling. I digress - anyway, we're getting away this year and taking a little much needed alone time.

This is all I have for now... will post more later. Here are some pics of the girlies from this week:

Izzy... having a Cheerio picnic in the backyard

Abby at the picnic

Ally at the picnic

This pic was supposed to be of these 2 giggling and having fun... I happened to snap the shot just as Abby apparently bit little Izzy.

Abby showing off

A good day for a walk in the park

Izzy, Abby and Ally watching the ducks from their strollers


Izzy swinging

Abby swinging

Izzy, Ally and Abby (left to right)

Ally swinging

One bad week... not for a weak stomach.

Abby's ear tube procedure went great! She was in and out very quickly, with little crying or fussing. Thank you, Lord!

On the other hand, this week has been TERRIBLE!!! We've had a virus going on around this house for 9 days! Abby got it first last week, puking and feeling very bad. No fever though. She laid on me for a few days and we thought it was over, then Izzy started puking Saturday night. It was WAY worse than what we'd seen with Abby. She puked and puked and puked. Probably 12 times on Saturday night. It got so bad, we called Matt's mom to come and help. If you can imagine, an eleven month old baby doesn't give any warning before "going off". She would vomit somewhere, I would take her to clean her up and tend to her, the other babies would try to crawl in it while daddy would try to clean up the mess. It was working ok to detain the other babies quickly, until Izzy did it so frequently we were getting way behind and Abby and Ally were getting very frustrated being "detained". I'd already been through 4 shirts when Cheryl got here to help. Once we had 3 adults here, one person was in charge of holding Izzy, wrapped in a towel, with a bucket ready to catch the mess. The other tended to Abby and Ally, while the other cleaned the mess. Ugh... it was awful. Couldn't get much worse, right? Wrong....

The next day, I woke up with it. So now, I'm vomiting and feeling terrible along with Izzy!!! The worst part of mine only lasted about 12 hours, so I was able to start helping again pretty quickly. I did find out one doesn't get to take a "sick day" when one has triplets... especially sick triplets. Izzy started getting diarrhea on Sunday afternoon, and was just lying on me, completely drained, so we grew worried and took her to the ER. The Dr. looked at her, but said she didn't need an IV, and prescribed some more anti-nausea medicine... (we were out at that point).

Tuesday, Matt became ill with the very same thing... this was the day Abby had to get her tubes, so he was puking at the hospital during her procedure. He came home and rested some after that, but like me, it's tough to take a sick day even when you're the daddy.

Ally has yet to get sick... THANK YOU, LORD!!!! That virus kicked 4 out of 5 of our family's booties though. Izzy just stopped having diarrhea yesterday... poor little baby.

Sorry for anyone with a weak stomach... I'm just telling it like it happened....

We're finally starting to look healthy again, and may even be able to get out and get some fresh air this weekend.

You think this baby gets told "no" often?

Update on Abby

I took Abby to the Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) Dr. on Wednesday. She failed her hearing test, but it's due to fluid in her ears. The Dr. said this has been going on long enough (since she has now failed 4 tempanogram tests over the last 5 months). Abby's primary care Dr. said this particular ENT is very conservative, so if he says she needs tubes, she does. They scheduled the surgery for this Tuesday, April 20th. I'm aware it's a very routine procedure, but she does have to be put under with an anesthetic, so please be sure to pray for her. Poor little Abby...

11 months!!!

As of today, the girlies are 10 months, 3 weeks and 4 days old (thanks to my little birthday ticker for keeping me updated)! Here are a few things that have been going on in our world:

As I said in my last blog post, we have our house up for sale. Since then, we've had a few issues... The day we put it up for sale, we started smelling something putrid coming from under the house. I immediately thought it was plumbing, so I called a plumber. The plumbers charged us $100 to say it wasn't a plumbing problem, and then left the crawl space open that leads to under the house. In the 24 hours it took for us to realize the crawl space was open, a skunk decided to make a new home under there. So, now we have skunk smell AND the original bad smell coming from under the house. At this point, we start thinking the original bad smell may be a dead mouse. We called an animal removal guy to take care of the skunk and crawl under the house to retrieve the mouse. He charges $120 to remove the skunk, but says the rotting carcass under the house a) is most likely bigger than a mouse because of the terrible smell and b) is in a place that is unreachable without tearing out the shower. This is all just great considering we hardly leave the house and are trying to sell the smelly thing! Ugh! I began to wonder if this was God's way of telling us not to sell the house, but multiple wise people have told me they don't think God is working thru the skunk and dead carcass. So... luckily, the skunk is out, the crawl space is covered and the smell is FINALLY diminishing. We got the house cleaned and the yard looking nice for an open house yesterday, but no one came. If we sell this house... I mean ONCE we sell this house, we are looking at possibly building a new home out at Brassfield Estates, Northeast of town. We've met with the builder a couple of times and have even picked a plan and a lot to build on... so I'm praying this will all work out.

As for the babies...

We are now eating table foods on a regular basis. It's an ABSOLUTE mess, but we're doing it. They get food all in their hair, all over the floor and their high chairs... it's a REAL pain to clean. But, I've been told they have to learn to eat sometime! So... we're mananging thru it. They actually really enjoy feeding themselves and smearing food everywhere, but my cleanup routine after they "eat" takes about 30 minutes. Ugh! Thankfully, my mother-in-law bought me a hand vac, which makes the clean up a little more bearable. Here are a few pics of the girls enjoying some mac and cheese and green beans... notice the greasy hair (ugh).

Ally


Izzy


Abby

The floor

They're now all taking big girl baths in the big tub and they have a great time! They splash and play, and it feels like less work than doing one at a time in the sink... though, I haven't and probably won't attempt to give them baths in the tub by myself for a while. Obviously, you can't leave babies in the tub while you get one out, etc.

We're enjoying the beautiful Spring weather... we've been on a few walks and today even went to the park and found some swings!

Izzy and Abby shared one...

Izzy

Ally

As for me and Matt, we're doing ok. We're both cussing this fence we have up around the living room, but it does a pretty good job of keeping the babies from wandering all over the house. We used to step over it, but after both of us bit it pretty badly, we've made a new rule that you must use the gate. Matt fell a few weeks ago, while holding Abby. I was in the kitchen when I heard what sounded like a freight train crashing thru the living room. After the crash, all 3 babies were balling and I ran in to find Matt lying on the floor, the fence broken in pieces and Abby lying on top of him. He turned and truly sacrificed his body to avoid injuring poor little Abber. When I fell this weekend, I was luckily NOT holding a baby, but all 3 babies balled when they saw me topple over too. I hit my head pretty hard, hurt my shoulder and a million other muscles I didn't know I had, but learned a good lesson.

Here is an update on each baby:

The Lil Biter

Izzy isn't walking yet, but is so very close. She can stand without holding onto anything for long periods of time and walks around things nimbly. We try to have her walk to us, but she doesn't have the confidence in herself to do it. She has the ability, but just doesn't know it yet. For example, if we give her a pinky finger, she'll walk easily to us. We bought the babies a walker for Easter and Izzy and Ally go all over the place with it. We're currently going thru a little biting phase with her too... she's got about 5 teeth now, and is biting sisters and adults alike. I really think most of the time she's just exploring, but there may have been a few times she was being ornery. Speaking of being ornery... she's been getting in a lot of trouble with other things too... not minding when mommy says "no", even though she knows what she's doing. We have good days and bad days. She's still a cute little stinker though...

Tiny Dancer

Abby isn't too close to walking, but she is dancing very well! Anytime she hears music, she bobs her little head to the beat. It's so cute! (See the dancing babies video in a previous post for a visual). She's so very sweet and is still the little doe... scared of loud noises and anything crazy, like swinging or swooping in mommy's arms. (The other two love that stuff). She's probably the best eater of table foods and really goes to town eating all of the stuff on her tray. We have our first appointment with the audiologist in two days, so I'm looking forward to seeing what he has to say about her hearing. I'm not nervous though, she responds to sound all the time (for example, the dancing to music). She's still a tiny little thing too, the smallest of the sisters.

Our Little DJ

Ally is our little house DJ. She's very into music and loves to play it for her and her sister, Abby, to dance to. There's a radio on their play house, with four buttons that play four different songs... it's so adorable to watch her stand by leaning on the house, then bend down slowly to push the button on the radio, then stand back up and bop her little head to the beat. When the song's over, she bends back down to play another song. Seriously cute. Ally is really good about minding when I say "no" and immediately backs away from whatever she's not supposed to be doing. Although she's good at minding mommy, she's getting a little attitude when it comes to her sisters. Often, she gets into fights over toys with her sisters. 9 times out of 10, it's her and Izzy, but today her and Abby were crying and tugging on a plastic bowl... yes, a plastic bowl. The living room is a virtual baby playland, but the plastic bowl I took out of the cabinet is a real prize! Ally is still very attached to her paci and we're still waiting for a head of hair.

The big day is approaching....

I've begun planning the girls' first birthday party (I can't believe it)! We contemplated having a huge bash, inviting all of the people that helped with them the first few months, but in the end, I decided to have a small celebration with family and a few close friends. A stress free get together, celebrating the year we've been through... the wonderful, crazy, stressful year we've all been through. And, oh yeah, celebrate the girls' one year birthday!!! Burgers, cake, and the people that love those babies like crazy... and hopefully, a good time!

I'll be sure to post again before the big day! :)

Here's a video of Ally playing her music...

Here's a video of the girls playing before bedtime...