So glad these things come in seedless

More swimming pictures because it is so darn hot here. As long as were were outside and barely dressed it was a perfect time to introduce watermelon slices. They eat watermelon 2 or 3 times a day at the table but that is usually 1 or 2 1-inch cubes. I wanted to know what they would do with a whole slice. Also I'm tired of cleaning up watermelon and watermelon splashes off my white floor. Tired of hearing about my white floor yet? Maybe I need a new floor.......

We started them off eating watermelon IN the pool. I forgot that Addy likes to suck on food and then spit it so our neighbor Lisa who was holding her kept having to catch and scoop up the watermelon. Sometimes when I pick her up out of the feeding table her entire chair and lap are covered in food.


I guess she prefers the rind.


She went through dropping about 5 slices but figured it out. Still sucking and spitting but at least eating the right section.


Beckett just ate his watermelon in the pool with Clarke. He was more interested in swimming than eating.


They've started to "share" their food and think it is gut-splitting hysterical if you eat something they give you. I've gotten used to eating lots of soggy food. Eloise must have been done and was sharing with me while it looks like Bella was hoping for the leftovers.


The other two are wild about being in the pool, kicking and splashing and screaming while this is Eloise's idea of good pool time.

Big Week at the Newman House

Lots of firsts so I'll just jump right in.
The first big one was on Father's Day...
Eloise started to crawl! At our last pedi visit there was some talk about getting her into therapy because of possible developmental delays. I said I didn't think she needed it and she is going to crawl and do things on her own schedule and we could hold off on therapy as long as she is progressing. I also think it was partially my fault that she wasn't progressing as quickly as the doctors would have liked and I was even warned about it. Because she is the "little one" I was warned that I may have the tendency to do things for her rather than let her figure things out for herself. I'm sure that was happening. The only reason I think she started to crawl was because I purposefully stopped coming to her rescue the minute she fell over or didn't like her positioning.
What do you know, she started to crawl AND pull herself up to standing AND starting to "cruise" or standing and move hold onto furniture this past week.
Prior to that I could tell she would get frustrated because she would cry until you helped her stand and then walk pushing the dump truck until she hit a wall (15 seconds later) and then cry until you turned her around just to hit the opposite wall 15 seconds later. It was kind of funny but entirely exhausting. She is so much happier now and much more interactive with the other two. She also is able to stand up for herself a little better because because she couldn't get away when someone was harassing her or trying to steal a toy. She has always been a very happy baby but now she is just ecstatic and screams with joy to play, to find a new toy, see her siblings, get up in the morning, see the pugs, the list goes on and on.


The new toy that we got today was a shopping cart. They love anything with wheels, anything they can put things into and anything that they can stand playing with. They also love to try to drink out of anything. Here is Eloise trying to drink the maple syrup that came in the shopping cart.

Here is the 2nd big first...
Rich FOUND and USED a screwdriver (see in the background?).

He put the shopping cart together. I was totally impressed. He even put the screwdriver away where he found it. Be still my beating heart.

The 3rd big first...
Addy started to WALK!

Not a great picture but I'll explain more about that in a minute. She had been standing by herself for a few weeks and would get scared when she would take a step. Yesterday she took a few steps without even thinking about it and then today she just kind of took off. And she usually has something in her hand like a washcloth (for cleaning) or her socks or her sippy cup which is really cute. She is still holding on to things most of the time and prefers to crawl but I think her max right now is 8 or 10 steps.


I can't leave out my little boy. Beckett is still being his curious, stubborn and funny little self.

He is crazy about wheels, doors, banana pudding and stealing toys (worst offender). He is so busy all of the time doing stuff like trying to push toys through the gate, opening and closing things (IE, doors, books), and flipping things over and looking underneath or playing with the wheels.

Beckett is also our big hugger. He will crawl past you and stop to snuggle for about 20 seconds and then wiggle back down and go along his merry way.
Another favorite past time is to try to shake down the gate.

This actually was a first for him today. He pushed this from the other side of the room and I think was trying to ram down the gate with the walker. It's a new jailbreak strategy.


And the last big news is that I got a new camera. My mom and brother bought a totally awesome SLR camera for the triplet's birthday. I love getting presents on other people's birthday. For the first time in my life I'm going to sit down and read an owner's manual because I'm so excited to be able to finally take decent pictures. This post was the first with pictures from my new camera. Even without knowing what I'm doing yet and no eye for this kind of thing, I can see a huge difference in the quality of pictures. Like the following picture that I would not have been able to take on my old point and click.
I was taking a picture of Eloise and caught Rich hanging Addy upside down in the background.

Happy First Birthday at OneTrueMedia.com

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Father's Day Weekend

What do you do in TX when it is 90+ degrees for days on end? Eat BBQ and swim.
We started off the Father's Day weekend by checking out a new BBQ restaurant. If you haven't noticed we go to a lot of BBQ- mainly because it is casual, no one cares if the babies make a mess and I like anything with sauce. Not to mention the babies like to eat the free things like pickles, crackers, bread and at this place BEANS! Funny thing is that you put some BBQ sauce on all of that and that is pretty much what I eat too. Originally we were going to sit outside because it was crowded and we weren't sure we could find a place for the stroller/car seats/highchairs but when the thermometer said 100 degrees on the patio, we headed back inside. Like I've said before, it is all of the gear that causes a scene, not the babies themselves. People just kind of watch us gather 3 highchairs, wipe them down, wipe down the table, then strap all 3 in and try to find a place for the stroller/car seats out of the way then finally sit down to eat.
Like I said, totally casual is the best for us.

One if Rich's favorite flavors is banana and Beckett must have gotten the same gene because he got his first taste of banana pudding and loved it. Beckett loved it so much that he howled at the top of his lungs when it was gone. We thought that was funny but I'm sure other people didn't think so.

Our nanny, Maria, gave the babies a baby pool for their birthday and since the only thing you can do outside during the day in this heat is swim, we decided to try it out. First we blew it up in the playroom on Saturday night which they thought was so much fun. Then after lunch on Sunday we had our first family swim.

I'm not sure why this kid is always eating sunscreen. I slathered them in so much sunscreen the water in the baby pool turned cloudy.


We would put two babies in the baby pool and take turns taking a third into the adult pool. We originally put all three in the baby pool but Beckett crawled right out so the boys went into the adult pool while the girls hung out together.
Bella the pug was out with us as well and Bella thought the baby pool was a huge bowl of drinking water but Addy would cry anytime Bella took a drink. It was kind of humorous.

Beckett would scream with joy when Rich would pop up from under the water.


I took Addy the little fish into the big pool while the other two hung out together.

- No pictures of me with Addy because Rich had the camera and I have some great shots of the top of my head.

Eloise

Mr. B

(Forgot to mention that we had our first "Time out" this week. It was Mr. Beckett. What a stubborn and determined little guy.)

Addycakes

This picture is more representative of my kids. Addy is laughing and making faces, Beckett is about to throw a temper tantrum because I wanted him to stay put and not crawl out and Eloise is drinking water. She drank so much water that a few hours later her diaper almost fell off it was so soaked.


A few minutes later I had Addy in the big pool and I kept thinking that something smelled funny. Then I remembered that the "Little Swimmers" are just really for "catching the chunks" as my neighbor Suzanne pointed out to me last week. What a mess.
Do you know impossible it is to get a wet swimsuit back on a wiggling wild beast? It was easier to just leave it off after that. I figured she didn't need another diaper; the damage was already done.

Of course I didn't think to get a Father's Day picture until everyone was tired and hungry and naked so this was not the traditional Father's Day photo but it is typical for us. Babies crying, naked, wiggling and Rich trying to juggle them. He legs look so freakishly long that it reminded me of another picture when the babies first came home. This picture totally cracks me up every time I look at it. Absolutely love it.

We Were Robbed!

There are very few reasons why we would alter our strict daily schedule. World Cup Soccer happens to be one of them.
In order to watch the US vs. Slovenia match this morning we let the babies crawl around in the non-baby-proofed living room and enjoy this once every 4 year event rather than play in their bedroom like normally that time in the morning.
(look at all of the baby hazards just in this one picture)

Since Eloise is not yet crawling I set up a little sock sorting station for her.


I'm not sure they understood the importance of this game because Beckett was more interested in lapping the living room, Addy was petting Pickles and Eloise was taking apart all the pairs of socks.

They totally lost interest when the US was down 0-2 and turned their backs on hopes that the US would have any chance to advance to the next round.

They were so disgusted they took naps around 10 am and missed the very exciting second half where the US came back to tie the match and then were robbed of the game-winning goal by a questionable call by the ref. I promised them they could watch the second half of the next game AND in four years for the next World Cup we would have a party and they can watch the whole game.

The Bottles Are Back

Remember I said we were going to stop the bottle cold turkey? I actually had the nerve to pack them all up except for an emergency stash of 3. No luck, lasted less than a day and the bottles slowly came back. We were still trying the sippy cups on Saturday night before they went to bed and it was a nightmare. Everyone was screaming, crying and carrying on and Rich and I caved. Last week at this time they were getting 4 bottles a day of formula. Now they are getting 3 bottles a day of milk, when they get up, noon and before bed.

Then about 10 on Saturday night Beckett started to scream and cry and writhe around. Nothing could calm him. He would spit out his pacifier, bottle, kick and throw his head back and was drooling so much our shirts were wet from holding him. At his bath that night we noticed he had a few little spots on his torso but he was in the pool for the first time that day so we didn't think too much of it. I ended up paging our pediatrician thinking that maybe he was having an allergic reaction to the amoxicillin we started for all 3 that night for ear infections? Or maybe it was some sort of reaction to the shots he got a few days before? The only other time I paged our pediatrician off hours was when I was scared for their little lungs when I started the toaster on fire and filled the house with smoke. She said it was probably a virus going around and continue the amoxicillin. That night Beckett was up every 20-30 minutes crying and would eventually cry himself back to sleep.

The next day we noticed the rash has spread and was now on his face and Rich took him to an acute children's clinic at noon on Sunday. Turns out he has Hand, Foot, Mouth Disease.
This is a common virus usually found in kids under the age of 10 that causes painful ulcers in their mouth and/or a rash on the body, increased fussiness, drooling, decreased appetite and fever. There is nothing to be done except pain control with Tylenol, ensure they don't become dehydrated and rinse their mouth with a combination of Maalox and Benadryl. But they CAN'T drink the mixture. Yeah right. He totally understands the swish and spit concept.

He did pretty well the rest of the day with occasional fits of crying and now is pretty much back to normal but still drooling a bit. But I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop because this virus is contagious and we were told to expect the other two to get it.

So with all of that going on, the switching to milk, ear infections, and the excitement/cake(s)/cupcakes surrounding their birthday we decided to keep the bottles for a little while longer.

We cut out the late afternoon bottle forcing the sippy cup but you know I can never do things easy. I decided that we are going to practice not spilling, keeping food in bowls and staying away from the very tempting bowl of their neighbor at the same time as forcing the sippy cup issue. I gave them their sippy cups in the playroom with a little bowl of 10 or 15 Cheerios. When they would spill them we would practice picking them up and remind them to stay away from their neighbor's bowl. It went pretty well and they loved their first taste of Cheerios.

(Look at Beckett's shirt from all of the drool.)

The calm lasted a few minutes which is long for us. Then Beckett tried to steal the cover to Eloise's bowl, and Eloise is trying to eat Addy's snack.


Eloise got her way and ate two bowls of Cheerios which at the end was probably a total of 10 or 12 Cheerios. She was so determined. Look at those tiny little fingers grasping the cereal.

It was really a bittersweet scene for me. They looked so old eating snacks and practicing manners. Practice is the key here. We are also practicing sign language. Addy knows "more" and they all know "all done" to some extent but they all do their own form of it. When they start to steal their neighbor's food and repeatedly dump their bowl or feed the pugs their food I sign "all done" and take aways their food. They've started to get it and mealtime has gotten a LITTLE easier. But it still is always a total mess. 3 times a day.

I've noticed that Mini-Me looks like she is cleaning sometimes if she gets her hot little hands on baby wipes. She's nuts about the Swiffer just like me. I'm thrilled, I need all the help I can get.



Our pediatrician told me again that I need to stop the bottles cold turkey but we are going to give it a few more days until everyone is well, ear infections are gone and more importantly I can mentally prepare myself for the transition.

We had a few kids (and adults) on Saturday for a little party and swimming. This was the first time we had other kids over and what do you know, Beckett has a contagious virus that could have been passed on to every other kid under 10 at the party. I had to call the parents and tell them their children were exposed. Luckily it is a relatively mild and common virus that I've heard will hit whole day cares but I will still be utterly mortified if any of the children at our house end up sick. Until everyone is in the clear, I'm waiting on posting the pictures.

Happy First Birthday

It's been one year. Rich and I can't believe how fast this year has gone by. We are in awe of these little creatures who every day make us laugh, cry and remind us what is important. It is too scary to remember how fragile and precarious all of our lives were one year ago so I'd rather recount what we did to celebrate the first year.

Well, this wasn't so much a celebration but a necessity. We had an 8:00 am appointment with the pedi for their 1 year check-up so that meant for me packing the diaper bag with snacks, toys, blankets the night before and getting everyone up, feed, and changed by 7:30 am. I started getting ready around 5:30 which is what time Beckett is getting up anyway. When you take 3 1-year olds to the doctor for a full exam and shots, plan for 2.5 hours and lots of snacks. Big news is that they all have ear infections, no more formula, no more bottles, and they can have table food. I've been waiting for this day since the day they started formula- one of most devastating days for me. Tomorrow they start whole milk and our doctor suggested that we go cold turkey with the bottles. Meaning tonight was the last night my babies had a bottle before going to bed. I was getting choked up just looking at them.

All those tears for nothing. I realized that I don't have any whole milk for the morning. Only Light Vanilla Soy which I'm sure is not what the pedi had in mind. So I made up 3 more sets of bottles because I'm not sure when I will make it to the store and I already know they are not keen on drinking formula from a sippy cup. So much for that.

I wish I had my camera because when the nurse comes in with 12 syringes piled on a tray, it is pretty impressive. I'm sure the babies were not so impressed with getting 3 shots a piece on their birthday. Now for the weights-

Beckett- 17 lbs, 5 oz
Eloise- 16 lbs, 10 oz
Addy- 17 lbs, 6 oz

Still little but consistently gaining and they are on their own little growth curve.

Now on to the more interesting part of the day...
Our nanny, Maria, threw the babies a party with her daughters Jenny (she's back and Eloise couldn't be happier) and Sabrina and the little girl, Matilda, that Sabrina takes care of. When I walked into the house from work, this was the beautiful scene...






(no picture of Addy, she didn't want her hat or cake)


Thanks so much to Maria, Jenny and Sabrina for bringing so much love and joy to our family. See the outfit that Matilda is wearing? Jenny gave the triplets each one of these traditional outfits from Honduras. They are hand-embroidered and just exquisite!

Then we had another cupcake party an hour later with our neighbors- Clarke, Lisa, Chantal and Danica and a mom expecting triplets, JoSue.




Clarke is their rocker-cool-friend. She makes them CD's with the newest music, gives them musical instruments and cool clothes (remember the baby Chuck Taylors?), and best of all, comes over to play with them and help me out a few days a week. They adore her and I can't think of a better role model for our kids. She is also working on how to rig up a saddle on her Great Dane, Mae, so the babies can have pony rides. That would be so awesome. Thanks Clarke and Lisa for everything, especially Lisa for one year ago yesterday driving me to the hospital. We still laugh that I only took my purse, no overnight bag- why would I need that? I was only 30 weeks and 5 days pregnant so there was no way I was going to need to stay...




This time around, Addy went to town on the cupcake. It was all fun and games until she started to fling it on the ground.



Beckett did a pretty good job with his cupcake as well. Eloise was more interested in keeping clean and feeding me the cupcake. I was only too happy to oblige.


I thought all of the sugar would either put them in a coma or make them totally wild before bed. The later happened. Addy is able to stand by herself now so she was standing playing with her new animal puzzle. She then threw a temper tantrum and threw herself forward and got a bloody lip.


After I took Eloise out of the bath, the other two were having a meltdown probably from all of the sugar, so I put Eloise in her favorite place- standing next to the dump truck. She was so mad when I made her put a diaper on and get dressed.


One year ago our darling babies finally found us. For me, celebrating one year of life, love and happiness was so much more emotional than the birth itself. Probably because I was so sick, drugged up and didn't see the babies for 24 hours. Now I appreciate the importance of that day and when I look at their smiling faces, wouldn't have it any other way.