Pass the chips, please.

On Saturday we introduced solid foods for the first time. We gave them guacamole, umm, I mean avocado. I put it in a food mill and mixed it with formula. Yummmm. I don't have highchairs yet so we lined them up in their Bumbos with a water resistant picnic blanket underneath.

Eloise was first. She was a little apprehensive and seemed a little put out about only getting a small amount of food at a time. As you probably know, more goes on the chin and bib than in the mouth. It was like the paparazzi was out in full force. My mom was snapping pictures and Rich was videotaping.

On Sunday during the second session, she would scream, I would put more in her mouth, she would stop screaming, think for a minute, eat a little, spit some out then scream some more. Do you think it was the jalapenos in the guac?






Look at those cheeks. She sure doesn't look so skinny that she is not even on the weight chart.

Beckett was next. He did pretty well. He got a little more in his mouth and wasn't so mad about the small amounts of food. He was thinking really hard about what was going on and seemed a little confused.
But today he did so much better. Together he and Eloise at 1/2 of an avocado in one session. He didn't eat his 11 am bottle too well today and our nanny Maria kept telling my mom that it was because he wants to eat everything with a spoon now. Umm, I think we'll stick with the bottles at least for now.







I knew Addy would do great because she had been doing well when I was practicing with drops of water. She opens her mouth when the spoon is coming and keeps about 1/2in her mouth. The second time eating she ate about 1/8th of an avocado by herself. I know she is done when she starts to throw herself backwards and try to backflip out of the Bumbo. The others just kind of let it dribble down their chins when they are done. She has no problem telling me. She is also the only who has figured out to put her hands in her mouth while eating(=total mess) and to smear her bib on her face (=even more mess).





She is just about to lose it. See the hands creeping up under the bib?


The leftovers. I left the pit in the mix to keep it from turning brown- not that they care.


Do you think this girl is teething? Look at the drool.
She's wearing a "very hungry caterpillar" velvet jumper. I'm really into putting them in velvet. Beckett has a full red outfit and looks like a total pimp.

Another bath time photo. She has this funny little grimace smile that I keep trying to capture. This is close but not quite it.


Next on the menu- SWEET POTATOES

Doctor, Doctor, Doctor

On Monday I took Addy back to Children's for the plastic surgeon to look at her hemangioma. He said that they grow for the first 6 months and slowly, slowly fade away after that. He thought it would take several years. The good news is that it is totally benign and the type that she has, with a wide base rather than a narrow base, means that it should heal very well with minimal extra skin. It could be treated with steroids but we both thought that was not necessary. We don't need to go back for another 6 months. For the hemangioma anyway.

She was really tired the rest of the day.


Shockingly, she took two long naps. I just had to document that unusual event.
The next day we headed back to Children's with Beckett and Addy to be evaluated for their asymmetrical head shape, also known as plagiocephaly but let me mention a little something about the rice cereal first.We are now eating rice cereal in the bottles 4 times a day. So before they were eating 6 oz 4 times a day, probably 4.5 was formula and the other 1.5 was the non-caloric thickener. I replaced the thickener with the rice but I don't think they have figured out yet that they are getting so many more calories because they still seem to want 6 oz but 6 oz with rice is like 1.5 times more calories. I'll give it to them but I was forecasting an incident like this morning.



Eloise woke up at 7:15, about 45 minutes earlier than normal and was screaming for her bottle. So I her a little 2 oz bottle to hold her over. Then she gulped down another 6 oz with rice in about 10 minutes. About 30 minutes later as I was getting ready to leave for Children's with Addy and Beckett she projectile vomited all over herself, her hair, the play yard and the floor. I thought it was too much food for the little pig.

Part of this was my fault because I'm still trying to work out the correct proportions of formula to rice so it may have been a little too thin. But GEEZ. Talk about throwing off my morning schedule.

So off to Children's with the other two. I was a little out of sorts to start with because Beckett only ate 1 of the normal 6 oz he eats at 8 so I was ready for a meltdown when we got there but I had bottles packed in a little cooler. His head looks much better and I think the mittens at night are helping because he doesn't have scratches on his head anymore.

Children's is a great hospital but of course I'm terrified of germs while we are there. While I was there with Addy, a sweet little girl (with piles of snot coming out of her nose) ran up and tried to look in the infant seat by hanging off the side. I almost died yelling "Don't touch, Don't touch." All she wanted to do was see the baby but it is terrifying to bring them to all of these appointments with so many germs.

Anyway I was out of sorts, on the look out for germs, worried about Beckett not eating. While they were examining his head he startled and scratched his cheek so bad it started to bleed and run down his cheek. I put a band-aid on it because I just wanted it covered, protected from germs.
He refused to eat again while we were there and it finally dawned on me what was going on. Constipation from the rice?(I've since added oatmeal to their diet to combat the constipation)

Turns out that Beckett has something called tortacolis meaning that the neck muscles are tighter/shorter on one side causing him to favor his right. His head is slightly turned to the right most of the time. This is causing flattening on the back right side of his head and is pushing his skull forward only on one side. He has something called moderate plagiocephaly where there is a difference of 8 mm between the right and left side of his skull. They also took x-rays of his head and neck to be sure his skull has not prematurely closed. They called and said the xrays were fuzzy but they "don't think" they have closed but come back in 3 months just to be sure. 3 months? I'm not waiting 3 months.

He is going to need a cranial band, or helmet, as I have been calling it.

Addy has something called

Hers is mild and they don't think she will need a cranial band. The big question is if it is covered by insurance. I've heard that many times it is not and these pieces of plastic are very expensive.

The last visit of the week was back to the pediatric pulmonologist for their 3rd round of Synagis shots. Poor babies had 4 shots in 6 days. Surprisingly, Beckett was the bravest. He only cried for about 30 seconds and was done with it. Poor little Eloise cried and cried and turned red and cried. My nanny's daughter, Jenny, was with me and the more Eloise cried, the more clothes Jenny put on her. By the time we got home, Eloise had about 5 layers on, was red faced, crying and sweating. I forgot that Eloise is a little hot tamale and gets even hotter when she is mad. She stopped crying when I took her clothes off.

Now what you have been waiting for. Pictures from the week.

This is what happens whenever I put any of the babies within striking distance of one another. They are really into biting.




Who do you think has the longer reach?

Looks like Beckett won this round.


Eloise- your brother's arm isn't even near you- close your mouth!


A shot of Beckett's scratched cheek. He kind of looks like an old man in flannel pjs watching tv. He's not watching tv but looking in a propped up mirror.


My strong little ox Addy has figured out how to throw a temper tantrum. Bummer. This is what she looks like the moments before the straightens herself like a board and then throws her head back and screams. Impressive for such a little thing. I'm pretty sure if I don't stop her she can tip herself over.


Action shot of Beckett with his mittens before bed. Not very manly to wear mittens with a rough and tough cowboy sleeper.


Bathtime for Eloise. She has slept through her bath before but this time she woke up. The ECI people asked me if they splash and play in the tub- another developmental milestone. I hope they don't get deducted points because they are groggy or sleep through it.

Next week we have 3 more appointments and Beckett starts his physical therapy.

Also, SHE'S BAAAAACK. My mom came back into town tonight so get ready for the onslaught of pictures. We have big plans (as big as they can be with the RSV restrictions) for the babies such as starting solid food which is really going to give my OCD a run for it's money.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Little Ones

Happy 6 Month Birthday to our babies.
You have come so far in these short 6 months.
Every day is a new adventure with unimaginable new joy.

6 Month Check Up, Immunizations and ECI

Yesterday the babies went for their 6-month check up and immunizations. This normally is crazy on a good day because they now they know when they are getting naked in a strange place it means nothing good is going to come of it. I hope they remember this lesson in the future. Anyway, they start screaming on the scale and periodically until we get back into the car maybe 1.5 hours later.

Eloise and Addy resting up before the big appointment.

So I show up with my nanny, Maria, to our appointment with the trio at 10:00 Friday morning. I made a mistake, our appointment that day was at 1:00. I normally am very good about appointments and I'm very timely even with 3 babies. But, we have 4 doctor appointments in the next 6 days and 3 of the 4 were at 10:00 so I got a little confused. They couldn't see us so we had to pile back into the car and go back home for a few hours. It normally would have just been a hassle except that Maria was supposed to leave at 1:00 and there was no way I could do this appointment by myself. She ended up staying to help thank goodness but this is a perfect example of how things can go downhill very quickly.

We had a couple of hours at home so I decided to give them rice cereal in their bottles in place of the thickener for the first time. I figured we were going to the doctor later that day so if anyone had any reaction, we would be in the perfect place.

I had talked to the speech therapist at the hospital about the proportion of formula to cereal in order to make it the same consistency of the thickener they are used to. I had to grind the cereal in a coffee grinder making it similar to fine flour. Then add 1 1/2 teaspoons of cereal to 1 oz of formula. Simple.

Eloise and Beckett waiting for their bottle. (BTW, my house is not filled with embroidered pug pillows- these are the only two- I promise) I don't know why I thought this picture was so funny.

These kids are scheduled and at 11:30 they are ready to eat. I made up the bottles according to the recipe from the hospital and then something terrible happened. It turned the consistency of pudding and then all the babies started to scream. Didn't I know it was 11:31? It was so thick I couldn't even shake it down into the nipple. More screaming.

I had more bottles in the fridge but it was going to take several minutes to warm them. So I pulled the middle air contraption thing out of the bottles (Dr. Browns bottles with too many parts). More screaming. Then I put nipples on the bottles with a bigger cut and let them have at it to see what they could do.
Turns out, it worked. And the babies were so full they looked like they were drunk. They had their eyes rolled back and tongues hanging out drooling when they were done. In the meantime, I called another triplets mom, Amy-Jo, who I know uses the rice cereal as well to see what the real proportion of formula to rice should be. Turns out it is different for different brands.
We are still experimenting with it and they've had rice 4 times now with no problems. And it seems to hold them longer between feedings.

After the cereal fiasco we packed up to go back to the pediatrician.
Once they were naked and on the scale is when the hysteria started.

BECKETT 11 lbs, 11 oz
ELOISE 11 lbs, 2 oz
ADELINE 12 lbs

So my big girl took over in the weight category. I thought she would. She is solid little rock and has been eating a ton. She particulary likes to try and eat her hands and gets mad when she can't fit both in her mouth at once.

The weight issue has been the biggest concern lately- well, that and not napping. According to the growth charts, all the babies are under the 5th percentile for weight meaning they are not even on the charts. Before they were measured on a preemie growth chart which only went up to a certain age. Now they are on the regular charts, well they don't even make the chart for their weight. Our pediatrician was not concerned because they are steadily gaining weight, even at an impressive rate (ELOISE). As long as they keep gaining weight at their current rate, they should catch up. The rice cereal should make a difference and she said we could start some fruits and vegetables if I wanted. Great! Now if I could just get highchairs to fit into the kitchen...

The weight of the babies is what qualified them for something called Early Childhood Intervention (ECI). This is a program through the county that comes to the house and evaluates children for any needs that they might have such as developmental, devices, or special consults to ensure that they are on track for when they start school. They came to the house the week of Thanksgiving and evaluated the trio on all sorts of measurements. Turns out they are mostly on track for where they should be for their adjusted age- meaning if they had gone to full term. They only issue is that they thought Eloise was a little behind in her "social" development because she was not terribly interested in toys. Addy was ahead of where they expected her by about one month. And Beckett was right on track except for his ability to hold up his head. Like I didn't know that already. They also sounded concerned that the babies didn't scream when I got them dressed. I guess that is another developmental milestone. I told them not to deduct points because my babies like getting dressed because they are into fashion. They babies didn't qualify for services until the weight issue but because they are so small we are going to start working with a nutritionist.

Funny thing about the ECI visit was that our pediatrician thought Eloise was ahead of the other two in her social interaction and disagreed with the ECI results. I don't know, Eloise sure can turn on the charm when she wants to so that may have something to do with it.

And my poor little Beckett. His big head is all scratched up. He mostly scratches it at night and when he wakes up he looks likes he was fighting kitty cats all night. I thought it was cradle-cap and treating with oil and a baby brush. Turns out he does have eczema. It is on his head, cheeks, and torso. I feel terrible. What I was doing to treat the cradle cap was making the eczema worse. So now we are on the right track and using only perfume free, dye free laundry detergent and no fabric softener or dryer sheets. I have to bathe him with special soap and use special lotion for his skin. From what I've heard, eczema is related to diet so after we see how these first changes work we might work on changing his formula. But only one change at a time otherwise we won't know the culprit. So tonight I put mittens on his hands before he went to sleep. We'll see if he fighting kitty cats tonight.

Besides the blood-curdling screams after the shots and lots of peeing on the doctor, everything else checked out fine. I did ask about the limited napping and she thought that since they really do sleep so much at night that maybe they just aren't tired but they do need quiet time. I do have 2 pack n'plays that I just got to separate them at nap time and today it worked great. Eloise slept 2.5 hours this afternoon and Adeline slept 2 hours this morning. Beckett didn't sleep too much today but he was running a fever from the shots and had a rough day.

They were exhausted after our appointment and surprised me and slept for a few minutes in their infant seats when we got home.
Eloise (sorry I don't know how to flip the picture around)

Beckett- the picture is a little blurry but you can see all the scratches on his head


Addy- I don't know how she does it but she rubs her feet together and kicks off her socks all day long which is why in many pictures she has on tights. This is what she looked like when we got home from the doctor in 40-50 degree weather. I still haven't found the socks.


Look at that perfect skin and the split lip (just dry skin).


Later that night. Notice how they are all still in the same clothes from that morning? I think it is a record.


As I mentioned, we have 3 more doctor visits in the next few days. I'm taking Addy to Children's to look at her hemangioma above her eye. Then Beckett and Addy are getting evaluated for the shape of their skull. I'm not sure if you can see it in pictures but their heads are not symmetrical. And then they all go and get their 3rd set of Synagis shots. Two more appointments the following week and then we are done for awhile. When am I going to have time to put up my Christmas decorations with all these appointments?

SNOW in TX, Rain in TX, Cold in TX

It snowed in TX today. When I got up at took the dogs out at 5:30 it was just raining. Addy was up and I played with her until about 6:15 when Beckett woke up. Then I fed both of them a bottle and we all went back to sleep until 8!! That hasn't happened in a LONGGGGG time. And when we woke up, it was snowing.

It was like an early Christmas present to me. Snow, babies sleeping and coffee in the morning. It doesn't get much better. Well it would be better if the babies would nap longer than 45 minutes at a time. Today was our first attempt at "crying it out" when Eloise and Beckett woke up after 45 minutes. I let them cry about 10 minutes before the hysteria started, not to mention the copious amounts of snot on their faces. Meanwhile my big girl Addy was downstairs sleeping in the stroller. I know, that is really bad habit but until I get pack n' plays in a different room for each baby so they can cry without waking up one another, I'll take the naps where I can get it.

Tomorrow I'm going to buy two pack n'plays and then the real "sleep training" starts. I also need a place where I can put Addy at night when she wakes up several times. The other night I think she woke up 5 times and was inconsolable. I was so tired it didn't even occur to me that she might be teething until my Mom mentioned it. That caused a bolt of fear to run through my body. I'm not ready for that yet. They are still too little and it sounds like a total nightmare when they do start teething. Thank goodness it was just one off night for her. No teeth. I checked several times. Just smooth little baby gums. I'm going to be sad when those toothless grins are gone.

The cold weather also limits our walks which turns out to decrease the amount of time the babies sleep during the day.
Won't see this scene in a while (lined up to get put in the stroller)

It took me a few days of hysterical crying to figure out the problem. I tried to get them to nap in the house and not while walking and they didn't like that idea. So, I solved it my pushing the last bottle and bedtime earlier. I'm just hoping they don't get up that much earlier. We'll see.
I did get a few new toys to help keep them entertained but I think I jumped the gun a little bit. Here is Addy in the new exersaucer.

Look that those cute little feet hanging down. I guess we will have to wait a few more months for this entertainment. This is also an excellent picture of her enviable hair line.

The big news is that tomorrow we are starting rice cereal in their bottle. As I've mentioned, currently they get a thickener that has no caloric value which I think is contributing to their ity-bity size. They really don't look terribly skinny but for their age, they are below the 3rd percentile. :( So the plan is to use the rice cereal for the thickener, thus adding more calories to their diet. We are also getting a nutrition consult to see what else I can do to help them gain weight.

Tomorrow is also their 6 month well-baby visit and immunizations. We have a couple of concerns and issues to bring up such as:

-the rash on Beckett's head which we thought was cradle-cap but I'm sure it is something more interesting like eczema.

(his daddy must have dressed him.) You can't see the rash in this picture but you can see where he scratched his head. I think it's itchy because he has all kind of scratches today.

-Addy has a split lip. Well, more like a cracked lip. Does she need Carmex?

-Addy and Beckett are getting evaluated at Children's on Tuesday for their abnormal head shape also called plagiocephaly. We need to check if Eloise needs to as well.

-Beckett does not like to nap or eat anymore. He eats about 7 oz less than Eloise a day. How can I force feed him?

-How can I get them to nap longer than 45 minutes?

That's all I can remember right now but I have a list. I'm really not a pesky mom, it just seems like that because I have to ask about 3.

Here's another attempt at holiday pictures. I took about 50 pictures and this is the best if that gives you an idea of hard it is to get 3 hunched over babies to sit up, not fall over, look at you and not cry.


One final note, our pugs are not having too much fun with the babies yet. They feel a little neglected and are trying all sorts of antics to get our attention.


We still love you pugs, but I may rethink that if I have to wipe down the bouncy seats every morning.

GRANDMA-PART TWO

I thought I better get these pictures up before Grandma comes back again so here we go...
Bath time is really favorite for Grandma. I think for us it is a favorite for all of us because you can really see that the babies are putting on weight and they look so much healthier!
"Tummy time is especially insulting when I'm naked!" -BECKETT
Don't worry about leaving him on the counter where he can fall. I'm actually right next to him but that is my reflection in the mirror.

So much better!

Look at the belly on Eloise, the missing hair, the big cheeks and the ity-bity nose.

Addy looks so pouty, probably because half the time they fall asleep before bath time and I wake them up. I know, I should never wake a sleeping baby but they love their bath and fall back asleep after. And don't they know I have a schedule to keep?
They are all so happy after their bath. I usually don't carry them around naked like this too much because with 3, the odds are that I end getting peed on.


I'm so happy that we have this documented. All three sleeping at the same time after their morning bottle. I'm not sure how much longer they will all fit in the play yard.

Sometimes these babies look so different from one another, if we didn't know better....

Anyway, Addy has this porcelain-pink skin while Eloise is much darker like she just got back from a beach vacation.


And Beckett is the same color as a tan microfiber couch.
Or maybe he is the same color as milk. Who's your daddy little boy?

An example of how 5 month olds solve disputes.

I guess they worked it out between themselves.

Our nannies- Maria and her daughter Jenny. Eloise is obsessed with Jenny. She smiles and laughs the minute Jenny walks in the house and isn't happy until Jenny picks her up.

I know this is random but I was pulling off dead leaves from one of my plants outside and all of the sudden I felt something squishy and then smelled something TERRIBLE. I had grabbed one of these bugs. They must put off a scent when threatened. I'm pretty sure these guys are eating this plant but I'm so curious about them and I think it is funny they smell and look like mold that I let them. They've been there for about 10 days now. Any idea what they are? I'm guessing "stinky caterpillar" isn't an official name.


Eloise browsing the CREWCUTS catalogue for dresses (Grandma's BAD influence). We didn't tell her that she will have to wait a year or so to fit into the clothes.

Here is a PREVIEW of the holiday pictures with the babies in Santa costumes. I'm sure they were screaming about being on their tummies.

I love this pictures because you can tell (by me in the background)how much fun it is to have triplets at the holidays.

GIVING THANKS

We have so much to be thankful for this year I don't even know where to begin.

These children are nourished by the community of family and friends that had and continues to support us through this amazing journey. Every person has given us their unique gift whether it is clothes, time, toys, thoughts, food or prayer.

I continue to be surprised at the outpouring of support and love for our family and these unique little creatures.

A perfect example is about 2 weeks after the babies came home. I was home by myself with the babies and the phone rang. It was the chaplain from the hospital where I work just calling to check and make sure everything was okay. I'd only met the chaplain once and hadn't worked at the hospital in 3 months so the call came as a surprise. After I hung up I went about chatting to the babies like I normally do about who was on the phone and what we talked about and as I was telling them I got choked up. That's when it hit me how extended the community was that was looked after these babies and continues to do so.

I told them how lucky they were to be surrounded by so many people who cared for them and I told them they will probably never know the lengths that so many people have gone to in order to bring them to us and keep them safe and healthy.

We and honored to be the recipients of so much goodwill and love.
Thank you.

Kate, Rich, Beckett, Eloise and Adeline