Back in November the moms in my local multiples group who have triplets or quads got together for salsa lessons and dinner. It was featured in this month's issue of PARENTS magazine.

Salsa dancing is really hard when you try to cram your two left feet into heels that you wore BEFORE you were pregnant with triplets. I'm just lucky that I have the correct arm in air for the picture. What a clever title although we followed the dancing with Mediterranean food. Mmmmm, falafel.

This is soooo last season BUT... when we finished with our salsa lesson which was back in November 2009, who should be using the studio next but Michael Irvin getting ready for the Dancing with the Stars season finale. He was very sweet to take a picture with us even though his shirt stated otherwise, "NO PICTURES PLEASE!" Not really being familiar with his Cowboy's fame (hey, I'm from Green Bay, WI- GO PACK!) I was even more interested to check out his dancing partner. Yes, very tan and very fit with a great accent. She's in the white shirt on the left. Just kidding, that's me.

Tiptoe Through the Tulips

On Friday we took the babies to the Dallas Arboretum to see the 500,000 spring-blooming bulbs. This is has been one of those "events" that I've always wanted to do when I had a baby, I mean babies. Because of RSV restrictions we missed quite a few, ummm, all of the other big events (Santa pictures, pumpkin patch, turkey trot, parties....) so I was ecstatic to be able to bring them to the Arboretum for the first time. Being able to take 3 healthy babies to this awesome display was so worth the wait!
We started by eating sunscreen (Beckett) and reading books.

We gave them their noon bottles on our blanket which didn't work too well. They are so used to eating in the same environment on their Boppy's they were a little distracted by being outside and everything going on. Eloise was fine once we put her in her car seat but Addy, of course, just wanted to play.

It was about 70 degrees and sunny so we didn't need jackets but a whole bag of toys and books was essential.

Beckett is wearing shoes! Well one shoe...


The girls love their new hats from Uncle Isaac. They only pulled them off a few times.








After playing and taking pictures for about 20 minutes, Beckett decided he had enough of playing model and threw a minor fit. So we packed everyone back into the stroller and walked around. Beckett and Eloise fell fast asleep and missed the rest. My little curious monkey, Addy, stayed awake the whole time. She kept peering out of the stroller and trying to get out so we ended up carrying her the whole time. All of the rest of the pictures are of Addy at the Arboretum. You snooze, you lose. - just teasing, we will go back to get more pics of Eloise and Beckett.

(view of White Rock Lake)




There were a lot of people there and from the sounds and looks of it, very few had ever seen triplets before. I felt like we were as much of a spectacle as the spring-blooming bulbs. Everyone was very nice and even offered to take family pictures for us. Some people took pictures of us with THEIR cameras which is a little strange. We technically are still on RSV restrictions for a few more weeks so all the people were a little scary for me but it was outdoors and a good gradual introduction into regular activities. I still panic and instinctively step in front of the stroller when people get too close but I'm hoping to wean myself from that mama bear behavior in the next few months.
It was such an unbelievable day and a wonderful introduction of our babies to the world outside of our home, the park by our house and doctor's offices. I want them to believe, at least for now, that the outside world is as lovely, warm and inviting as our first day out.

New Love

Every night before the babies go to bed, I read them 3 books. They can be wailing and fussing and usually the minute I start reading they stop and listen to me read watching me wide-eyed. Rarely do all 3 last through 3 books and I end up with one on my lap crying or Addy has rolled away or someone had their stuffed animal stolen or some other major insult. Anyway, last night after reading the first book I gave it to Addy to "read" while I finished the other two books.
It was the first time that any one of the babies really looked at a book without just trying to eat the pages. She figured what a book was and she picked a favorite, Dr. Seuss's Wet Pet, Dry Pet, Your Pet, My Pet!
This next sentence only makes sense to people who know this book! She was trying to pull the hair (yellow yarn) off the Zeds, petting the yellow fur of the pet Zeep and was scared of the blue hair. While she was looking at the book I put the other 2 babies to bed and finally after about 20 minutes I finally took the book away. She screamed and kicked like I pinched her under the upper arm. I want to encourage her intellectual curiosity but it was 20 minutes past her bedtime and I have tons to do once they go to sleep.
This morning after bottles I brought out the books again to see if last night was some strange fluke.
Apparently not.

This is NOT a staged picture. I'm not kidding, this is what she was doing by herself. I couldn't have posed those hands even if I tried.

I'm not sure Beckett has it figured out. He stole the "it" book from Addy, which is why she was sharing to nicely with her sister previously, and then ate it while doing his morning crunches with his medicine ball.


He was trying to read the book Peter Rabbit but his sister showing off crawling past was too distracting and he threw the book down in disgust.


Right now Beckett prefers presents from his Daddy that are perfect for a 9 month old-a BASEBALL BAT. Now he can protect himself from his pesky sisters.

This morning...

Beckett looked petrified like they had been caught amidst a jail break.

This afternoon...

Okay, so this last one is a staged picture but she will stand there licking the gate like a Popsicle for a very long time. She can't pull herself up quite yet. Give her a day.

What NOT to do with 9 month olds

I'm not sure why we had such a departure from good parent decision making this weekend. It wasn't the worst but after looking at the pictures I took this weekend I realized that we really were encouraging some behavior that I'm just not ready for quite yet.

For example, I caught Rich teaching Beckett to hit the paper lanterns hanging on the window.

I can live with that because he can only do that with help from his Dad.

This is where the real problem started...
This is a normal meal- finger food of rice crackers and watermelon and then a meal of lentils mixed with spinach and carrots and goat yogurt.
I think I was still on a shopping and sugar high from my visit to Central Market so I offered the babies several different kinds of foods and they had a buffet, thus expecting a buffet of foods from that point forward.
This is what they got during one meal:
-herbed goat cheese spread on celery
-rice crackers
-rice noodle coated in goat butter and nutritional yeast
-cantaloupe
-carrots, parsnips and avocado mixed together with goat milk keifer
-goat yogurt
-soy peach yogurt for dessert


And I wonder why they smell like farm animals by the end of the day. Think I need to lay off the goat products?

This was one happy boy.


She was goat greased from head to toe.


All of that followed by barley teething biscuits.


At some point I noticed that Beckett was wearing one of Eloise's socks. I think someone (RICH) was too lazy to find Beckett's socks so he took one off of Eloise figuring that each having one warm foot was better than one baby have two cold ones.


Then we thought it would be funny to try to get the babies to stand in their cribs. Hmm, didn't think that one through too well. Now we have to lower the mattresses in the cribs before they somersault out.

We just introduced her to her new favorite activity. What a grin, like she know how this is going to change her life, and ours.


He looks like such a little boy in these overalls, like he's ready to go dig worms and torture his sisters with his treasures.


The girls looking at the snow, yes, snow in March in TX.


This little pumpkin just melts my heart.


The end of the weekend, right before baths.
Addy is still standing, Eloise still smells like she is hiding some goat cheese in her neck and Beckett is trying to hide embarrassed that he was caught with a pink Boppy, again!

(Nice legs Rich!)

PSEUDO, say it, SUE-DOUGH

When Rich and I lived in DC, there was a pug that lived down the street, but it was half pug, half something else. Rich would call it the pseudo-pug. The best part was that Rich thought that pseudo was pronounced "piss-way-dough." So it was the piss-way-dough-pug. I loved it. That has always been one of my favorite words.

Now I like that word even more because it explains my beautiful little Eloise. She has something called pseudostrabismus.

Stabismus is when the eyes are crossed or not aligned and pseudostabismus is the false appearance of crossed eyes. It appears as if her eyes are not aligned because of the wide bridge of her nose and the epicanthal folds (folds in the inner corner of the eye). As her facial structure matures, her eyes will become uncrossed. I mean, will appear to be aligned.
Really- this is FAKE!


On another note. For some reason the waiting room at the opthamologist was filled with tiny babies, 5 lbs, 6 lbs, 7 lbs, sets of twins, and micro preemies. They all were doing their follow-up after coming home from the NICU. I can relate to the exhausted and worried faces and am so glad we are in a different place now. I was shocked at the small size of the babies and can't even believe that my now healthy active babies once were smaller and more fragile than that!
Eloise was the oldest patient in the room. She had turned on her charm full force and was shrieking and laughing and dancing on my lap the whole time, even after getting her eyes dilated. This girl can put on a show and knows exactly when to turn it on. She turned it on just in time to give a glimmer of hope and some light at the end of the tunnel to those exhausted and scared parents of tiny little babies. That was me last August. How far we have come...

I swear, we do more than just eat!

I don't know why but I always take pictures of the babies when they are at the feeding table. Probably because they are contained in one place and I have a good probability of getting all 3 at once which is not always a given any other time.

All of the babies are insane over rice teething biscuits. When they eat these biscuits for some reason they hum together. It doesn't happen all of the time but it is incredible when it does because it reminds me that how special this journey of raising triplets can be.


Barley biscuits are a favorite also. The best part is they lose interest after about 5 minutes and in that time they have just kind of gummed the end. So I just pass it on to the next baby as long as they don't try to feed it to the pugs first. If I was really crafty, one barley biscuit could last all day but I just have it last one feeding before it becomes pug treats.



I was trying to find new finger foods for the babies that were wheat-free, cow's milk free and free of choking hazards. My solution is rice pasta tossed with goat butter and rolled in nutritional yeast. Also celery stalks.


The pasta helps with fine motor skills and gets them nice and greased up.


Addy is getting really good at cramming food into her mouth and I can even get her to slurp the topping off of the pasta.


I have to pry the pasta out of their slippery hands when it is time to get cleaned up.


Pushing cars is a much cleaner activity.


This is a pretty typical picture. Eloise is eating hers. Beckett just pushed his off the table (you can see the corner of it by Addy) and is about to cry or steal one from his sisters. Addy is making raspberry noises so it appears as if she is making proper car noises. APPEARS is the key.


Not that the feeding table pictures aren't exciting but a little nudity always shakes things up a bit.
This is an example of the wild pig wrestling match that happens every time I have to get this girl dressed (or change her diaper for that matter.)


She's having a blast and thinks making me sweat is a fabulous game.


Addy is not crawling- YET. That is because she is too busy doing yoga to worry about baby activities like crawling.


Again, typical picture. Beckett was so excited about Rich making goofy noises, Eloise was pouting and Addy was pinching my toe.


Beckett, where's the flood? Time to retire those jeans!