So much has happened with our adorable trio in the last month.
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/All three are supposedly teething and a little WHINEY. They were pretty miserable for several days for a few weeks in July. The doctor said they have 4-6 teeth each ready to come through, and they’ll show up in the next 4-6 weeks. That’s right, weeks. I asked her if she could prescribe ME something for the pain. At least I know not to expect it to end soon. I’ve come to believe that our kids are going to be toothless until they get their permanent teeth. Hope they can gum food well.
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/To add insult to injury. I got a really bad cold. Kimball got it next, followed by Sawyer, Brinlee and Daddy. Poor kids and daddy. Sawyer is so hoarse he can’t really cry. Temps peaked at 103. We are drugging them the best we can and waiting for it to pass. Kimball is mostly over it, but it’s been a loooonnnngggg three weeks with lots of sleepless nights for mommy and daddy.
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/All three are crawling. Kimball was first. He went through the most variations, from launching forward to the inch-worm crawl, the the walrus drag to actual hands and knees cruising. He’s quite a pro. Brinlee rocked on her hands and knees for a long time. Then she started getting up on hands and toes, lifting a leg, lifting an arm and looking around at her admiring audience. She went from that to crawling. At first she only did it when very motivated to get to something. Now she’s working on her speed. She is also pulling up to standing. Sawyer is still doing the walrus drag, but he gets around very well. He gets up on his hands and knees and rocks, and occasionally crawls a few steps on hands and knees before reverting to the walrus. I think it’s just faster. He’s at a disadvantage because he still sleeps on the wedge for his reflux, so he doesn’t get all the crib practice that the other two got. I think he might be ready to sleep flat soon, though, as soon as this cold is over.
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/Brinlee and Sawyer are especially glad that Kimball has moved on from the Walrus flop to real crawling, because he would often flop onto their heads or bellies or backs. If he landed on Brinlee’s torso, she would play dead. I’ve never seen her so still. Maybe she thinks it’s like a bear attack and he’ll go away. Sawyer was not so compliant and would swat and try to get Kimball off. Kimball has progressed from flopping to CPR. He gets up on his knees, rests his hands on their chests and starts bouncing.
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/How do we keep up with 3 crawling babies? With a baby jail, of course. We bought 2 playards and connected them. It covers an 8×8 foot area. We keep all of their toys in there. It’s really pitiful when they come up to the slats and peek out at us. I’m waiting for them to start rattling the bars with their tin cups. Hopefully the primary colors make it seem cheerier in there.
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/Even though there is plenty of space and more than enough toys, they have that instinctual herd mentality. It doesn’t matter how I split them up, they are all in the same corner, climbing all over each other to get to the same toy. If I distract one with another toy, all three heads turn and it’s a race to get to it first. I hope this isn’t a lifelong trend. Can you imagine how many girls could get trampled when Kimball and Sawyer start dating?
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/Kimball made a huge developmental leap in July. He learned to roll over from back to front and pull himself up to standing all in the same day. A little odd that those two would come together, but they have. Now he can even get down from standing and he can balance kneeling. He can go from a lying flat position to sitting up. It’s like he suddenly decided he was ready. When he first started all this crawling and pulling up we had some sleep issues. He was so tired, but his body wouldn’t stop. He would just crawl circles around the crib, crying, like he couldn’t find the brakes. Poor kid. We help him settle down and go to sleep, but it was obvious how frustrated he was. Brinlee made the same connection, rolling back to front and pulling up to standing on the same day. I don’t think that’s normal.
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/Adam was very naughty and gave Kimball his first taste of chocolate ice cream. Those that know me well know that I don’t eat sugar. I’ve never much cared for it, but Adam is a chocolate fiend. Last week he bought an ice cream cake and put a tiny bit on Kimball’s lip and he went berzerk! He started climbing and reaching and trying anything he could to get to that plate! I guess you could say he liked it.
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/Brinlee is incredibly independent. She loves to play by herself and is very content for long periods. She is also her own boss. If she doesn’t want that bottle or medicine, you can’t make her take it. She will fight you the whole way until one of you breaks (and it’s never her). As long as you let her do it on her terms, she is very cooperative. She can go move into a sitting position by herself and is starting to pull herself up to her knees holding on to her crib or the baby jail.
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/Sawyer is just as sweet and cuddly as ever. He loves company and loves to play with the other two (as long as it doesn’t involve Kimball grabbing a handful of his eye). He laughs all the time. His WWE name (should he ever decide to pursue professional wrestling) would be Sawyer the Destroyer. He can’t resist shredding or toppling anything. We got him to work on crawling by building block towers juuuussssttt out of his reach. He loves to knock them down. No paper is safe in his grasp. He loves to rip them to shreds.
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/We had their 9-month appointment August 1, and the stats are:
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/Kimball 19 pounds 9 ounces (40%) and 28 inches long (60%)
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/Sawyer 18 pounds 12 ounces (25%) and 27 inches long (10%), which means he is techically obese now. I’m sure he’ll outgrow it soon
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/Brinlee 16 pounds 10 ounces (25%) and 26 3/7 inches long (25%)
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/Sawyer has really closed the gap in weight with Kimball. He loves solid foods and has been sucking down his bottles. He has become the best eater, but that will change again, I’m sure. People always ask who is the easiest, but it constantly changes. They’ve all had their turns at being the easiest and the hardest.
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/Since the kids were getting so close to the weight and height limits of their car seats, we went ahead and graduated to the convertible car seats. When I went to buy the seats, a group of store employees was flocking around us when one of them said, “Yo baby daddy mus gotta job to pay fa this!” I replied, “Yes, in fact, my husband is employed, thankfully.”
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/Probably the best compliment I’ve gotten was while I was out to lunch with Nicki, Sam and Leo. We were loading them up to leave when a man asked if they were triplets. I replied that they were, and he said, “They’re cool.” And he’s right! Our kids are cool.
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/The most backended compliment I get is, “Wow! You look really great for having triplets!” Does that mean if I didn’t have triplets I wouldn’t look great? I say thank you and try to accept it as the compliment (I think) it was intended to be.
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/My sister, Nicki, and her husband, Sam, visited my parents the last week of July, so the kids and I went to see them. I drove 3 hours with 3 teething kids ALONE. We survived. We had to stop once to administer some orajel. It was great to see them. They visited over Christmas when the kids were so tiny, so it was fun to show them how much they have changed and grown. They laugh and play and wiggle and crawl. Nicki and Kimball had a raspberry blowing contest. It was so cute.
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/While we were in town we had a play date with some new triplet friends we met in our triplet forum. They live near my parents, so we got together to play. Kate’s kids are just 2 months older than ours. They had a great time playing, and the mommies did too. We plan to get together again during our trip in August.
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/We had their first professional pictures taken. I have been avoiding it because by the time we feed, diaper and dress them, then travel to a studio, happy time is over. This photographer came to our house, which was really helpful.
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/The kids aren’t the only ones who’ve changed. Mommy cut off her hair. It didn’t matter how cute my hair looked after I styled it, it went up in a ponytail or bun. I hated having it in my face, on my neck and constantly being pulled. It was just too hot. I like my new cut. It’s nice to have a style again, instead of the I-gave-up ponytail. It’s also a lot cooler in this heat and humidity.
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/The kids have a new triple stroller. It just came out in the last 6 months, and we like it. It’s the same size and weight as the Graco duoglider we had. It folds up nicely to fit in our minivan and still leave plenty of storage. It’s called the Foundations Trio Stroller.
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/We are starting to introduce new textures in food, which the kids don’t like. So far they’ve had spaghetti, macaroni and rice, in small pieces of course. They always resist new textures and make faces, but once they get used to it, they like it. They are also practicing drinking from sippy cups a few times a day.
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/My Aunt Cheryl and Uncle David visited my parents’ house for the weekend, so we drove up there for a quick visit. The kids have their first real colds, so the nights were interesting (sleepless), but we had a great time. We were really glad to get to visit with everyone. The week before, my sister-in-law, Cheri, and her daughter, Juliette, came for a visit. They have been at my parents’ house waiting for my brother, Mark (Cheri’s husband), to finish his internship at Harvard. Mark flew in Saturday while everyone was visiting my parents. All 12.5 of their grandkids (Mark and Cheri are expecting a son in November) were there, along with 12 adults. The only people missing were Nicki and Sam and my brother Jon. It was a full house, to say the least.
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/Our kids are completely enthralled with Signing Time
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/Somehow Adam always gets to nap with the kids. How do I get on that list?
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/Brinlee and Sawyer playing together in baby jail
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/Kimball can sleep anywhere
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/Baby jail doesn’t look so bad, does it?
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/They love their sunglasses
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/What a diva!
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/Cool like daddy
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/Sleepy Brinlee
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/Brinlee playing dead during a bear Kimball attack
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/Who knew tissure paper could be so fun. Guess what they’re getting for Christmas.
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/Daddy is their favorite victim to gang up on.
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/Uncle Sam was on uphill duty when we went for a walk. That’s our new triple stroller.
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/Kimball digging in to Gran and Grandad’s box o’ toys.
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/Grandad and Brinlee
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/Kimball and Uncle Leo
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/Our playdate with Kate and her trio
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/Sawyer getting a bath in Gran’s sink
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/Eating for Gran
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/My new haircut