Author: akreba

Like the Movies

Last night was definitely a night to remember.

To the girls’ delight, it started with Cousin Tyler visiting for the night and lots of giggles and playtime.

We went through our normal nightly routine: jumping, baby food time and finger snacks, playtime downstairs, and bedtime feeding. Everyone is starting to get their appetites back as the cold symptoms start to ease back up. Thank goodness!

Everyone was close to finished with their bottles, about 6 oz or so each, and Craig was giving Reagan cough medicine while Emerie and Harper were with me, sitting on the nursery arm chair, playing with their tiny books.

Harper started a flemmy cough because I swear she is filled with snot. She spit up the cough medicine Craig had just given her, something he was commenting when…

Sidebar…I’ve always called BS on the way comedies portray projectile vomit. The straight river like stream that protrudes out of an actors’ mouth, obviously fake, is simply for the delight (or disgust) of TV viewers. Well, I thought that until today.

Harper literally pulled out her own personal movie stunt and emptied her entire 6 oz bottle straight out of her mouth, all over her and the pillow she was sitting on (and I was just about to pick her up at that moment…mommy bath time dodged!). As I’m scrambling to keep her from choking, she’s looking at me all calmly and happy…and wet.

Harper(yes she is in purple) post Project try-to-puke-on-mom

To make matters even better, Emerie, who is playing next to her sister, thinks it’s a perfect time to dive straight into that pile of fresh milk vomit, and try to swish around in it. And she moved fast!

Needless to say, they both received new pajamas, and Reagan and Emerie snuggled in the crib while we cleaned up Harper. Did I mention she had a bath about an hour prior to this?!

It was quite comical. I mean really, look at this face post clothing change. How could I possibly be upset with that??!?

The upside of the whole fountain of milk scenario? It apparently made everyone tired; and EVERYONE slept ALL night in their cribs. I don’t think we’ve accomplished that in 2019.

Everyone asleep IN THEIR BEDS!!

We feel RESTED. Even at 4:30 AM when I started writing this!

sNOT for the weak of heart…

The other day I was looking at a friend holding her two week old baby; he fussed a little so she got out the bottle and fed him. In my mind that seemed weird, but cause what if feeding the baby right away got them off schedule? Then I remembered, some of our baby raising habits are different than those with singletons, although the rigid “must follow the schedule to the exact detail” days are more or less over. We are still following a schedule but it shifts around a little here and there, especially when we are out and about doing things or the girls wake up super early or sleep in late!

Speaking of off schedule…the crud has made its way back into our household, after surviving most of December and January without the girls getting it (I was not so lucky…).

Pretty blue eyes (Reagan) and some great nose snot

Everyone is extra grumpy and nap times and overnight sleeping are a fight to the death. The good news is, each night at least one baby has slept in their own crib, but it alternates who that one is. I think that is the only way Craig and I will survive this, since we can go to “man to man defense” during the night and still get some sleep.

Snack time and nose bubbles from Emerie

Saturday night I had a fussy Harper with me and Craig had a minorly fussy Emerie. The prior night Harper slept without a peep all night while Reagan screamed about her stuffy nose.

Harper’s “beautiful as ever” bib

Last night I was fortunate to end up with Reagan, who was SUPER hyper throughout bedtime and wouldn’t go down until about 9 PM. But once she did, she was out! Craig woke up for a cranky Emerie, who had fallen asleep on her belly in her crib, and awoke to realize that was a detriment to her happiness. From there she fussed a lot.

A little playtime before bed. They were missing their toes (since they are always in fleece sleepers this month)

Different personalities come out when a cold takes over the house. Harper isn’t largely phased by it, although she does fuss a little more overnight if you don’t successfully get her down before she realizes she is stuffy. Reagan mopes- all. Day. Long. Fights naps when she doesn’t usually and has only had one nap each day this weekend. She gets a little more “diva like”, similar to Emerie when she’s grumpy.

“Don’t wipe my nose!!”

Emerie actually thinks you are trying to kill her when you wipe her nose off, even when the boogers are SO LONG and hit her upper lip and bottle. So inconsiderate.

When my nose is stuffy I’m not a big fan of food. The girls are the same! It is an epic cage match to get a bottle down everyone each feed, one that the parents are not winning. To placate that, we try to pump a bunch a baby food and finger snacks down them to help will those less than full bellies.

The girls like the yogurt melts a lot, and other snacks they can pick up with their hands. Harper has to have something in each hand as she eats, and Craig discovered Emerie cooperates much better when she has a clean spoon to bang around.

Avocado was a hit for these snot nosed monsters

We braved two walks this weekend to help clean out those sinuses. Not sure how the girls felt about fifteen degree weather but we sure bundled them up!

Fingers crossed we are over the cold hump and can get back to the normal eating of bottles and sleeping (mostly).

Momma vs Dada

The house is getting more vocal! Harper and Emerie are on Team Craig and like to yell, or quietly whisper, dadadadada…

I think they win for first ones saying it…BUT….

Reagan is on Team Becca and the first to pronounce the “m” sound and say Momma this week!

Harper saying dadada….she’s getting really good at it!

We are also starting the baby wrestling this month.

Harper and Reagan

Everyone is starting to be on the move in one way or another. Em has figured out she can get out of tummy time by rolling… Every. Single. Time!

Reagan now does this cute little shoulder roll when she is happy. It usually pairs with a happy giggle and big smile.

I now can’t turn my back without someone rolling over or moving spots. They aren’t quite crawling yet, but Reagan is super close. Even Harper, who is not a fan of exerting herself unless forced, is pulling herself back to sit right positions and turning onto her stomach, much to her dismay.

This started as sit time…

We broke out the activity table they received from Christmas and all three think it is about as cool as the ceiling fan! In fact, when one is playing on it (assisted by parent), the other two are insanely jealous and let us know it should be their turn ASAP!

Reagan keeps turning onto her tummy and playing and swinging her feet around. I think she will be our first crawler, but the other two won’t be far behind. Here Emerie is doing the butt wiggle. She is trying really hard to beat Reagan to it!

Okay one more video…not only are the girls talking, or should I say babbling, more, but they are also interacting with each other. The secret baby language is not too far away!

So yes, there is a lot going on this month in the Douglas household. And it’s about to get even wilder!

10 Months…Going Bananas!!

The girls hit 10 months this past weekend! Time is passing so quickly to their first birthday; it’ll be here before we realize it and should probably start planning for their (our) party.

We are introducing more table foods to the girls now that we have the fancy triplet table. And it makes it so much easier to wrangle them in!

Everyone is picking food up really quickly and especially like bananas that they can squish and play with…not necessarily eat. They are much happier to have it shoveled into their mouths by Craig or I. They also really like pancakes!

At ten months old, 8.5 adjusted, we are really starting to see some of the big milestones appear. My personal favorite??

Bottle holding. I’ve been waiting MONTHS for this one.

Harper seems to really have it down, but can be lazy about holding it when the bottle is full or if you start to hold it then she “lets” you do it the whole time. Reagan is pretty good at it as well, and likes to swing it around and then correct it back to her mouth. Emerie is great at holding it when starving, but still easily distracted and expects you to pick up the slack!

Everyone is progressing at sitting up. We still use the boppies with all three to minimize the bumps and screaming. Overall, they are all pretty good at it and can turn onto their stomachs, reach for toys, and steal from each other.

Another one? Crawling. It. Is. Coming. My guess is Reagan is going to achieve this one first, followed by Emerie and then Harper. Why? Reagan is already rolling and trying to push herself around. She’s definitely figured out her pushups!

Emerie has the rolling back and forth down, but not quite there on the butt wiggle. Harper, on the other hand, thinks it’s fine to hang out and chill with her toys and not put in any physical activity unless forced to.

The swaddle. We took that battle on at New Years and I am happy to say everyone is out of it for both naps and nighttime! It took four nights and a lot of grumpiness from babies and parents, but we did it!

Harper shifting around in the crib

Harper and Reagan have really mastered self soothing…Emerie…not so much. The past few nights she starts in her crib for a few hours, and then ends up with us after a meltdown. Reagan and Harper are sleeping great overnight!

Reagan is now rolling in her crib ALOT!

Playtime is getting more interesting, not just because the girls can sit up, but because their leg muscles are nearly strong enough to play with things while standing. That is our current strength training, in preparation for crawling.

Reagan at the play table

Emerie loves her jumper

Harper having some piano time

Personalities continue to change:

Harper has a great love for animals already! She loves the pups and kittens, stops what she is doing when they go by and genuinely wants to play with them. She’s the talker still; lots of dadadada and random discussions to herself. She’s very stubborn and doesn’t want to roll or start crawling…she is a great sitter though and really good at taking photos in selfie mode!

Reagan, at the moment, is our music baby and best sleeper. Not only does she love the YouTube singalongs like Trolls, Frozen, and Disney princesses, she also has a new shoulder roll type dance. I haven’t captured it on video yet but it’s soooo cute. She is really close to pronouncing her “m’s” and has said Momma twice this week! I thought I imagined it at first but others heard it too! Yay!

Emerie now cheeses it up for the camera with a huge, teethy grin. It’s adorable and shows off her bottom two teeth. She is saying dadadada and screaming in quite a high tempo now. She fights naps the hardest of the three and hasn’t quite figured out self soothing yet. She still loves to snuggle the most of the three.

We are back to better sleep with all three, with the exception of Emerie in our bed the last few nights. It does make for some pretty cute photos though…

Right before the morning feed at 5:30

I’m excited to start planning their birthday and have their first Valentine’s Day before that. So much to do!

Baby play date

Who is the most…?

Sleepy Reagan unswaddled!

I saw this on Facebook earlier this fall and thought it would be fun. I started filling this post out a couple months ago and I can already see some of the answers have shifted around. As I alluded to in my last post, the girls seem to have flip flopped a little on several personality traits. For example, Harper is no longer our rock sleeper…thankfully Reagan has taken that on and now loves to stretch out and sleep in her crib, pacifier and all.

Random family photo from when I started this post originally. They are so tiny!

So here we go!

Who’s the most stubborn? Emerie when she’s mad, Harper when she’s tired and doesn’t want to be in her crib.

Who’s the most laid back? Harper for the first few months, now that teething has slowed down it’s Reagan.

Who has the worst temper? Emerie!!

Who’s more likely to share? All of them right now, but they also all steal each other toys.

Who eats the most? Reagan. She’ll eat 2 full bottles at bedtime, sometimes more!

  • Playtime
  • Reagan sitting at the new table
  • New table!
  • I love this photo of Emerie – so angry with Miles!

Who is the picky eater? For baby food, Reagan or Harper; both sometimes believe we are poisoning them. For bottles, lately Emerie has been the most fidgety.

Who can sleep the longest? Harper up until last month. Now it’s Reagan!

Who’s the loudest? It depends. Emerie has the highest pitched shriek, but Harper loves to randomly yell and exercise her voice.

Who is the shyest? Reagan

  • Reagan resisting a smile
  • Emerie loves her jumper
  • Harper post afternoon nap

Who has the attitude? All of them lol…although Emerie probably takes the cake on this one.

Who needs the most reassurance? Emerie in general, Reagan when going thru a developmental leap.

Harper helping Mom sort through new clothes

Who is the most dramatic? Emerie for sure. She’s already starting her terrible twos lol

Who’s the clingiest? Emerie is when she is fussy or at bedtime, Reagan when I first get home from work and she demands snuggles. Harper occasionally at bedtime but she’s getting better at self soothing.

Who’s the sneakiest? Emerie. I think she’s going to be the bandleader.

Who giggles the most? Right now all of them on different things. Reagan is the hardest to get to crack a smile, while Harper will give you a big grin pretty easily. Em loves to smile.

Who dislikes tummy time the most? Who likes it the best? Harper definitely dislikes it the most! She will lay there and scream. Emerie dislikes it too but will immediately roll out of it. Reagan is not a fan but will cooperate for a few minutes.

Who enjoys jumping the most? If I have to choose one baby, I think it would be Emerie. When she’s excited to be in the bouncer, she is jumping to the heavens and giggling.

Big girls sitting up!

Who rolls over the most? Lately Emerie rolls the most, but generally that is due to her hatred of tummy time. Otherwise it is Reagan!

Who is the best sitter? Reagan is our strongest kiddo and can sit up really well!

Who holds their bottle the best? No one is great at it yet, but everyone is progressing along nicely.

I plan to fill this out again later this summer and see how different it is once the girls are mobile and better at voicing their opinions.