Lilypie Third Birthday tickers

Lilypie Third Birthday tickers

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Day 137 of the Newman Food Challenge

The only movie that I have watched since the babies were born is, "Julie and Julia" which planted a little thought in my head about challenges and goals. I watched it a few days after I gave the babies solid food for the first time- avocado. I decided that I would challenge myself and see how long I could make homemade baby food and avoid packaged baby food. It would be a fun little challenge and would encourage me to get back into the habit of cooking again. I thought maybe I could go 2 or 3 months and then pat myself on the back for giving them a good start and move on. I underestimated my liking of a good challenge (like I really need another). I didn't anticipate how wholly I would embrace this concept and how seriously I take it.
I even made up a few rules of the challenge:

1. I can buy juice and teething biscuits and other things that would be just silly to make like tofu, pasta, crackers, dairy products.
2. Infant cereal (rice, oatmeal and multi-grain) is allowed because we had to put it in their bottles for thickener but all infant cereals had to have probiotics and DHA added.
3. Organic and whole grain when possible.

And once I started to think beyond mashed bananas and avocado I thought about the things I wanted to avoid until after their first birthday such as wheat, dairy products from cows, meat, berries, citrus, and peanuts. I had lofty goals of having them avoid refined sugar but that concept was shot with the first teething biscuits, not mention their first sip of formula.

So, it is now Day 137 and they have yet to have one spoonful of jarred, packaged, or frozen "baby food". They eat 3 meals a day plus 1 snack (plus 4 bottles of formula each) most of which is either fresh such as avocados, hummus, cheese, yogurt or I had cooked, pureed and frozen in 1 oz cubes and heat up.

SPINACH with Goat Butter- A Beckett Newman specialty item


Pureed Papaya


My plan of pureeing big batches a few times a week was working perfectly until they decided collectively that they only wanted to eat finger food and reject anything given to them by a utensil. I then had to figure out how to get enough calories in them forgoing most of the normal fingers foods like Cheerios, most teething biscuits, baby puffs and the like because they all have wheat or cow's milk dairy or both. Just this past week they will eat from a spoon again but only if they have have finger food at the same time.

So now both my freezer, fridge and pantry are packed full of "baby only" food that I encourage Rich NOT to eat. Pretty much everything made with rice (pasta, milk, cereal, crackers) or goat or soy products (yogurt, cheese, butter, keifer, cream cheese) he knows to steer clear of. He can never figure out how I can go to the grocery store, spend a ton of money and then we don't have anything to eat. We have things to eat, just not for him.

This is what they had for dinner tonight:
-Tofu rolled in nutritional yeast as an appetizer while I was heating up everything else
-Homemade pureed lentil soup with peas, celery, carrots, green beans and parsnips
-Finger foods of steamed carrot rounds, sweet potato fries and sauteed zucchini
-Rice crackers
-For dessert peach yogurt and a gingersnap cookie (wheat free- don't eat these Rich, they are 3 times the cost of regular cookies)

I know, I go overboard. In fact this whole thing has gotten a little out of control but I'm too far into it to turn back now. The finish line for this challenge is their first birthday or when they are cleared by their pediatrician to start with table food, whichever comes first.

Oh yeah, did I mention what I had for dinner? Their leftovers, ie, scraps of soggy cookies and cold zucchini and a CAN of soup. I am a clear case of not practicing what I preach.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

What is green and short and really scary?

This afternoon it was a glorious day in Dallas so WE took the babies to the park in our community. And by we I mean me and our neighbor, Clarke. When I was pregnant my big plan was that Clarke was going to be my helper but because of RSV restrictions that whole plan was dashed. She has been waiting so patiently to help with the triplets and finally we are free! I didn't plan it so well so we didn't really have any toys but it turned out we really didn't need any because they discovered something that entertained us all- grass and leaves.

I was a little worried that I was going to be chasing Addy all over the park because she would just crawl away. I underestimated the power of new textures. Addy would get to the edge of the blanket, put one hand down and then pick it up like she had just touched something totally disgusting.

It stopped her in her tracks each and every time.

But, she was brave enough to peer over the edge of the blanket and delicately pluck up leaves from the grass. She is showing it to me right before shoving it not so delicately into her mouth.


At the time, hint, hint, Beckett could not crawl so he was rolling all over the blanket and scooting forward the grass would stop him every time. And make him cry.


This is after being rescued from the grass. Recovery of something so terrifying took quite some time.


I don't have any pictures of Eloise, yet again. She doesn't roll, she just pushes herself backwards while on her belly. She ended up about a foot off the blanket on the grass and didn't seem to notice. What a brave little thing. She was covered in grass and didn't make one peep.

Oh yeah, right before his bath tonight, Beckett crawled for the first time.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Mudbugs

If you thought that this post was about our babies playing in the mud, you must live in the North.
How many people does it take to each 20 lbs of CRAWFISH?

Well, maybe we didn't eat the whole 20 lbs, but pretty close. Our friends, Ed and Deborah, don't mess around when it comes to food, especially for a good old fashioned crawfish boil with all the fixings. I'm just sorry I didn't get pictures of the little critters before they were dipped in spicy butter. Hmmm.

They also don't mess around when it comes to toys. Their son, Eddy, who is 2 1/2 was napping when we got there so the triplets had free range of his awesome toys. They were so happy there were like little pigs in mud. They are at the age where a new toy can keep them entertained for about hmm, say 1 pan of crawfish.

Eloise playing a little ditty on the Sesame Street piano.


Basically the same picture but now you can see what she is wearing. When Rich got her dressed this morning he said, "Eloise looks like Strawberry Shortcake."
Really Rich, just how familiar are you with Strawberry Shortcake?

Beckett loved this farm. He really loved that it made animal noises every time the doors opened and closed. Playing so sweetly, until...


This is why we call her "Kong" or "The Animal."
(In her defense, it is really the angle that makes her look so big, Beckett is actually 1 oz heavier than her). She was trying to push it and walk behind it.

I think this picture was shortly before we heard a huge clunk and Addy crying. That Ed is lightening quick because he had scooped her up while I was still trying to figure out if I should wipe all the butter off my hands before picking her up. She took a pretty good tumble because it was enough to draw blood from somewhere in her mouth. It wasn't too much but it was enough to qualify for the first blood draw and lots of attention from Daddy. She was fine in about 5 minutes and ready again to terrorize Beckett.


This is how he gets back at her. Boy germs in her crib. Every morning before getting dressed.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

The Debut- Texas BBQ

The second official outing after coming off RSV restriction was of course to a Texas style BBQ restaurant. We met Rich's family at the restaurant and luckily they were there first so our graceful entrance was captured on film. What you can't see is that we couldn't get the stroller through the tables and we had to take a couple passes at it through different aisles and angles which really caught the attention of everyone in the restaurant. As one triplet mom told me, it is not the babies that attract the attention but the accessories.

You might be able to tell this from the pictures but it was very casual, so casual that rather than plates you get butcher paper, bus your own tables, and there is a gas station attached. Texas BBQ is always better where diesel fuel is sold as well. The babies did not eat BBQ; they had rice crakers, dried mangoes and pear juice while I ate brisket. They are vegetarians, what can I say?
There are not too many pictures of Addy because all of them turned out blurry; probably because that little thing doesn't stop moving. Or talking. I swear today she said "Mama" when I walked into the room. She has been saying it periodically but not purposefully as far as I can tell so this may have been a coincidence. But my heart skipped a beat.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Pugs on Drugs

I won a canine dental cleaning at a raffle at my local multiple MOM's group so Bella was easily the first choice for the prize given her simple chronic halitosis. Also, Pickles only has about 8 teeth and she had her teeth cleaned 2 years ago.

I dropped Bella off at the vet's office understanding that she was going under general anesthesia but she had her teeth cleaned a few years ago with no problems so I didn't think it was a big deal.

About 2 hours later I got a call that went something like this,
"We have Bella under general anesthesia and after examining her it looks like she is going to need to have 22 teeth removed and we need your permission to proceed."

That's right. So my first question was this,
"How many teeth does she actually have?"

And the answer was this,
"Not many more than that."

Rich was sure it was some conspiracy and if I remember correctly said something along the lines of, "We have 10-month old triplets, we don't have time to be spoon feeding a dog." That is actually a good point. I didn't think about that. But after a short discussion about how she will be able to eat normal kibble and dropped baby food in a few days (and I mean short because remember Bella is on a doggie ventilator) we gave the go ahead.

We picked her up later that day and Dr. Grand was telling me which teeth she actually has left but I was so engrossed in gawking at the cup of 22 vile bloody teeth on the counter I could barely pay attention. She said, "Most people don't want them, but do you by any chance want the teeth?" Heck yeh! This would be a cornerstone addition to my weird treasure collection.

She said it was "brutal surgery" and Bella is going to be sore for a few days but the week's worth of pain killers should do the trick. I guess this is very common in pugs because the shape of their mouth and it was exacerbated by the fact that her teeth were only partially erupted above the gums so a majority of the teeth were still below the gums making the surgery more complicated. It also made the surgery much more expensive. Let's just say that if we didn't have the raffle prize we could easily have been in 4 figures. So thank you Dr. Grand and the Animal Care Center at Stonebridge Ranch in McKinney, TX for your donation to the multiples group and taking great care of our Bella.

The good news is that Bella is a tough little pug. Dr. Grand said to call if she needed stronger pain medicine but I think she was fine because the next day she was racing with Pickles to eat food dropped by the babies. The best news is that she won't need any more teeth cleanings!

This is a PUG on DRUGS


Official NEWMAN TOOTH COUNT:
Rich- Full Set
Kate- Full Set
Pickles- About 8 , not exactly sure
Beckett and Bella are tied- 6 (Bella has 6 best I could tell!)
Eloise- 2
Addy- 0

Sunday, April 18, 2010

The Debut

I was going to call this "The Debutantes" because we made our first official venture into society this weekend but since that usually refers to females, I didn't want little Beckett to have to get the short end of the stick just because he has two sisters.

We are officially off of RSV restrictions. Have Triple Decker Stroller, Will Travel should be our new official motto. We got the go ahead to venture out and be normal people a few weeks ago but to take it slow as to not assault them to billions of germs immediately.

Last week I walked to the pharmacy with the babies to pick up their prescription of Prevacid. I had to take a big breath when I walked in the store with them the first time. It was like a big breath welcoming us to a new world of freedom (at least until October) but also a new world of scary germy unknown world. I was talking to a woman at the pharmacy and she was just Lady Gaga over the babies. I told her it was our first outing at 10 months old. She asked how many weeks gestation they were when they were born. She then introduced me to her teenage daughter who was born at 24 weeks, spent 5 months on a ventilator and told me the story of her first outing at the age of 1. She asked me if I had a camera and then took a picture.

It's not the best picture but what a huge step for us. Things could have gone terribly wrong because I don't know if you can see it but for some reason I chose to walk through the floral department. I was like an bull in a china store with that long stroller.

The pharmacy and 3 walks to the local frozen yogurt store were the trial runs for the big weekend. My frappacino addiction has been replaced with an addiction to avocado frozen yogurt. I know, sounds gaggy but it is delish. My brother Isaac was here for our big first event at a local Tex-Mex restaurant. I had a whole bag of sippy cups, snacks, 15 diapers, toys and disinfecting wipes. We had to pick a place that was kid-friendly, likely to have 3 high chairs, no wait and spacious enough for all of our stuff.

This is what cracked me up the most.


At first Beckett and Eloise were a little freaked out by all of the people. Beckett was clinging to Isaac's shirt and Eloise was not going to get put down for the life of her.

The Grip of Death.


But between the combination of playing with real spoons, the music to dance to, snacks and the ducks swimming in the lake, they eventually relaxed.
Of course Addy just hopped into a highchair and immediately started sucking on the table. The spoons were a good diversion that I have to remember to use again.


I never give them utensils in their feeding table for fear of poking out their neighbors' eyeball because they are so close.

The ducks or maybe the water fountain was also a big hit. I'm not sure why Rich has to hang Eloise over the edge- a little too Michael Jackson for my taste.


Eventually we got both Eloise and Beckett to sit in the highchairs. I think for them the music was a huge help; they both like to chair dance which is done better in the highchair than on a lap.


I tried to give them a little rice but I was sure everything else there had all of the evil ingredients I'm trying to keep them away from until they turn 1 so no chips and salsa for Eloise; she's packing dried apples.


This is it- another first. First time eating Tex-Mex without margaritas. Just kidding. First meal in a restaurant.


The next day I took Beckett to my favorite place. No, not Neiman Marcus (yet) but to Central Market grocery shopping. I wiped down the cart until it shined, strapped him in and he rode around wide-eyed for an hour. This kid is a natural; he even read his book in the check out line faking boredom from waiting.


He's a great little shopper and the bell I had hanging from the cart was a big hit with the other shoppers as well. Maybe I'll take both girls with me next time.


That's not the end of the Newman Debut or the news from this weekend but I'm exhausted thinking about the upcoming week so I'm breaking this up into two parts.
Here's a hint about the going ons this weekend- how many teeth do you think a pug has? Rich and I know for sure it is at least 22 and pugs can still eat with no or very few teeth.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Big Girl and Big Boy Pajamas

I was soooo tired of fighting with the babies about their sleepers each night. The snaps were killing me and Beckett is such a wily little character it was a squealing wild pig wrestling match each night. So when Beckett and Addy moved to 12 month pajamas I decided that was it- big people 2 pieces pajamas- in a little size.

Eloise is still in sleepers because she doesn't fight me about getting dressed and she still fits into all of the 9 months.
A rare moment of the girls sharing one of their favorite books.You can see that Beckett was fighting me about putting his bottoms on later and won that battle.


Shortly after this picture I heard a loud ruckus from downstairs and the pugs were going berserk. I went outside and this is what I found...

I let Bella out to scare away the duck because I didn't want it drinking pool water or pooping in the pool. Bella was not too scary and poor little blind Pickles didn't even see the duck so it just kept swimming around.

It finally left after about 30 minutes, not without leaving a few presents for us.

We have new living room furniture! We moved the coffee table out and put down colored foam squares....

Then put up a cage around the entire thing. It's stunning, a real eye pleaser.
But it gives us another place for the babies to play. At this point, we are needing more room because Addy is crawling all over the place, pulling herself up and then toppling down and Beckett is rolling all over and rocking back on forth on all fours- thinking about crawling. It can get a little hairy with the two of them.

"Don't think that I won't fall down with my full diaper and sit on you Beckett." -Addy


And if you really want to hear screaming, let one rest their legs (or actually kick) the other one in passing.


Beckett is really into kicking and bicycling while on his back. He can lay and kick things forever, in this case it looked like he was trying to kick down the gate with those skinny legs. Usually he has a rattle or bell in one hand making all kinds of commotion.

Speaking of the gate, if I am downstairs too long making bottles, this is where I find Addy when I come back up. Either standing against the gate or sitting like this screaming and licking the gate.


Eloise pretty much stays out of the fray with the other two. Probably because she wants nothing to do with moving around too much. She CAN roll from front to back and back to front but she doesn't WANT to. She prefers to sit and play with toys, giving an occasional holler when one of the other two steals something she can't get back because they roll or crawl away. I realized that I haven't posted that many pictures of her. Most likely because she is usually not doing something naughty. Also because she is just the most adorable little thing and most of the pictures I have of her I don't post because she has her eyes closed or eating a toy and don't do her justice.

Like I said, she likes to sit and read- well actually she has been working on trying to pull the rings off this book for about a month now. Very determined.

She is also my most tactile eater- this is a normal meal which is why I'm dreading moving to 3 meals of solid food a day.


This is a new favorite game and toy. Pretending to get a phone call from Grandma in WI.
Also a good shot of my new living room decor.

"Hmmm, that's funny. She said she would call. I'll just catch up on my reading while I'm waiting." -Eloise


"No wonder the phone never rang, it's not even plugged in!" -Eloise


I don't think I have to go into too much detail with this. Addy loves to climb. I have to remove everything that can be used to stand on.

She was biting the top of the gate and then tried to hang from the top when I attempted to get the little monkey off the wipes container. I'm sure she will use her brother or sister next.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

10 Months

I promise, I'm only doing the month by month birthday up until the age of 1!

I bought the very coveted by multiple moms and no longer in production "Choo Choo Wagon" from another triplet family that no longer used it with their beautiful 4 year olds. Thanks Uma! I tried to put Addy in it and she just wanted to stand up and crawl out so we will have to wait another couple months. In the meantime, I found another use for it.


No, I didn't plant flowers in the wagon- that would have been a very expensive pot- but used it to haul flowers from the front to the back.

I went to a garage sale for the local multiples mom group that I belong to and I found a toy that may have to be hidden when there is not an adult around because it caused fights to break out. Eloise threw a good old fashioned temper tantrum when I took her off of it and then Addy tried to pull Eloise off by her diaper. Since Beckett wasn't involved in the catfight, he got to be the first rider at the picnic our friends Ed and Deborah hosted this afternoon.


He rode over to check out the bubble machine- with a little help from Daddy.


Rich was pushing him so fast he looked like he couldn't hold his head up. The faster the better.


"Umm, a little help here." -Addy


I guess I couldn't push as fast as Rich because it didn't look like her head was about to snap backwards and she wasn't catching wind in her cheeks. In fact she looks like she is trying to get me to go faster. I think we ended up bringing in the big guns- Daddy.


Eloise being distracted by Cari while waiting her turn for the most dangerous ride on earth.


You have to blow this picture up to see it but Eloise is barely hanging on and looks like she is about to tip backwards she was going so fast, on cement. Of course screaming the whole time.


The hosts of our first real picnic- Little Man(Eddie)and Deborah- where's Ed? I think Ed was busy flying the kite with the twirly-whirl tail and missed the picture opportunity.


Thanks so much for inviting us to the picnic; this is what we have been waiting for all winter long!


I've heard that the quotes from Rich are a favorite so here is one from today- and I happen to get a picture of it because it was so ridiculously hysterical.

"Hey Kate, did you know that Beckett really likes potato chips." -Rich

How could I be so silly as to not try potato chips yet. But this just proves that Rich really does listen to me, at least with one ear. No cow's milk, no wheat, no nuts, no eggs, no citrus, no honey, no berries, no meat- check. It technically fits into the current diet (if you skip the whole organic, homemade, whole grain thing). Maybe breakfast tomorrow?