Feb 21

It’s a Heart-Knock Life

Life over the past month continues to stay very busy! I started writing small notes to myself of the latest with the girls, knowing I will forget what lovely life tidbits to include as I muse about our daily life. Since I last wrote a blog, 10 new Bluey episodes were released in the United States. This is clearly a worthy milestone to mention, since we marathoned them like an adult would for a new season of their own show, and within a few days the girls were already asking for episodes by name. No, we don’t watch television allll the time and yes, we love that the episodes are only a few minutes long and share good, family values.

It took me a couple rewatches to realize one game in our house emerged from a new episode. One night the girls were running wild -literally, as kids do in January in the winter- and circling the living room over and over again, full on running and screaming. Occasionally one would plop down on the ground randomly and pause a moment, until another caught up and yelled flush! and imitated the flushing of a toilet, and said still child would jump up and return to a sprint. I watched this occur for a few minutes and finally asked what they were playing. All three responded with we are playing toilet tag! and explained when someone stopped, you had to flush them to bring them back in the game. Like what? I’m not sure if I’m impressed at the creativity, or mortified, but now it is a standard kid game in our household. Toilet tag. Yep.

We are now in the age of toy cleanup that all three now understand cleaning up does not mean shoving everything under the bed, or in one toy bin, but to try to put things away correctly. I should probably credit Grandma Sue for this transition, and it’s noticeable when we ask them to put things away where they go. I will often randomly fine one cleaning up a room (never all three at once), looking for a reward treat of course, and putting doll accessories or barbies or stuffed animals in the correct bins. Score!! Now, if we can only convince these kids to change their clothes and put anything removed in a laundry bin or by the washer, instead of everywhere. Baby steps!

School continues to go smoothly and all three claim to enjoy it, likely due to the love for their teacher and seeing her each day. I now respond to being called Miss Tawni in the afternoons, especially from Harper, and wonder how many times a day the three actually call her name. It must be about in the millions. Take a look at the picture above. Being mom makes me biased, but I am seriously impressed at how well and creatively all three copied those pictures. Is it just me and this is normal five year old drawing? I am pretty sure all three are already better than I am at drawing. Look at the enhanced detail on Reagan’s cup, or the fingers on Emerie’s hand, or Harper’s color coordinated bear. I can’t help but be impressed!

In January Craig and I took all three to a mid-year reading assessment at our home-school (it’s in addition to their normal daytime curriculum). Each kiddo went back with the teacher for the same assessment, and all three were evaluated right where they should be. She noted everyone understands the difference between the letter name and the sound of a letter, which is the first step toward reading comprehension. All three are still stumped on combined letter sounds creating words, but she assured us they seem close to getting it. We’ve tried a few different ways to explain the concept and so far the light bulb for all three hasn’t clicked on quite yet. I believe Reagan will be the first to catch on; not sure who will be second! By the end of the kindergarten year, I’m betting all three will have it down and we will be working through level one reading books.

In January we continued to practice counting by fives and counting to 100. You can see their brains trying to figure out what comes next in the sequence after a 9 (like 39 to 40), and improvement continues. The end of January also prompted the 100 Days in school party, occurring on January 31st, and I swear the girls were more excited the night before than for Christmas. It took forever to calm them down at bedtime, and everyone happily put on their matching t-shirts (with friends) and let me do fancy hair for the occasion. We counted down the last few days until this milestone- or should I say we counted UP- and everyone excitedly yelled it was day 100 the moment eyes opened that morning. When asked their favorite part of the day, because I know several activities were planned, they all answered the same: the fruit loop necklaces! We might have to make some of those at home one of these days. We finished their fun filled day with a trip to frozen yogurt to commemorate, and I can’t believe everyone is so grown up!

Everyone received mid-year report cards in January, with great marks and then need to practice reading and comprehension more, which Craig and I both agree we need to commit more time to at home in the evenings. I hope all three grow up to love books and reading; so far Emerie seems most inclined to grab a book and hang out by herself while looking through pages. Harper prefers stories relating to princesses or ballerinas and asks someone to read to her on those; Reagan loves to carry books around and add notes and drawings in them, rotating through her favorite book each week or so.

As we all wait for spring to arrive, we maintain indoor entertainment through tons of birthday parties (not an exaggeration!); swimming at the nearby YMCA or Alaska Club, build days, hitting up the indoor climbing playground at a local rec center or running at the jump park, and other at-home activities like kid yoga, makeup and hair styling, playing with dolls or legos, making paper crafts and coloring, and can’t forget toilet tag (haha). The girls discovered yoga at school and asked to watch kid videos everyday one week. I came downstairs to find all three actively participating in the activity, yelling Mom we are exercising! They are surprisingly limber and thrilled to check out different yoga themes (Frozen was a particular favorite, not surprisingly!).

Build days continue to be a fun activity, some kits harder than others. We really like that Lowe’s provides stickers instead of paint, although I’m guessing the girls prefer the Home Depot mess because it’s more fun. They are all getting better at hitting nails and I am getting better at building some of the sets…otherwise I just copy however Craig builds it! I often find the girls at home during quiet times, playing salon with their dolls or each other, making a huge makeuppy mess but haven’t fun while doing it. Harper’s doll Babela continue to look like she’s had a rough night and quite the hangover, and then about 20 hair clips to seal the deal. Reagan finally named her doll Moriah, and constantly reminds me she has a name and is beautiful. During much of these events I will find Emerie in the bathroom, giving her doll or stuffed animal a bath, rather than adding to their makeup. Such girlie girls!

After a handful of swimming birthday parties in the past few weeks, one party highlight is certainly the Taylor Swift themed one, which was about as girly as possible and all three were thrilled. Is that Craig in a pink cowgirl hat? Why yes it is, and he definitely bedazzled those hats for the girls while at the party. I found him hanging out upstairs, bedazzling them with TS music in the background and the kids running around, having fun. He’s definitely a girl dad!

In addition to the usual birthday shenanigans, the crafts were on point. Everyone bedazzled a microphone (yes, they were working and charged…it wasn’t loud in there at all…), Emerie opting for all black while Reagan snagged a teal and Harper a light pink. The girls also added gems to their sunglasses and humored me for a couple cute shots. It was quite the afternoon!

And lastly, since this blog is getting a bit long, I have to mention all the Valentine’s day fun. This time last year we were down in Juneau working and harassing family, and I’m really glad this year we stayed for the girls to participate in their school activities. One day after school everyone wrote out their own Valentine’s Day cards; something I did quickly the night before last year! Some grumbling occurred until we got in the groove; overall they did great writing all classmates names and their own. I overbought options, since last year valentines sold out well before the holiday and couldn’t be found, with Reagan selecting Trolls (Band Together), Emerie choosing Frozen over the Bluey option, and Harper claiming Peppa Pig. I always enjoy watching them to a school type activity at home, such as writing classmates names down, and seeing how they react. Emerie struggled a bit fitting the letters into the small cards, writing bottom to top to finish names, but was able to get over that frustration and actually finished first! Harper and Reagan continued fighting over the pen used to cross completely names off the list; Harper also demanded to only use a yellow marker for all the writing, and Reagan took her time writing out the names. Somehow we made it through and were done by the time Craig came home from work!

Excluding the winter season we are currently in, it feels though time is passing really quickly and my babies are growing up quickly before my eyes. The girls are growing like weeds and I’m internally struggling a bit at how big and independent they are becoming- it really goes by quick! Life has gotten a lot easier for sure, and we can fit so many more activities and outings into a single day, but I certainly have my moments of missing my little tiny humans. I am learning to enjoy them spreading their wings and learning new things.

Cheers to winter…for a little bit longer! ❤

Jan 15

Tooth Be Told

The past month everyone discovered the fun of loose and wiggly teeth. Since classmates began to see new holes in their smiles, specifically one of their besties, everyone continues to ask when theirs will start falling out. The enthusiasm for this life event is strong! We are also receiving questions why teeth brushing remains important, because the threat “your teeth will fall out if you don’t brush them” is exactly the opposite of this situation. Similarly to when their teeth came in as babies, I’m really interested to see the order of loss, with the girls’ identical attributes showing in so many ways in their first five years.

So proud and ready for a tooth fairy visit

Right before Christmas, Reagan was the first of the group to lose one. She spent a while constantly wiggling it with her finger and biting into the evening snack (apples) every night. After a bit she embraced the idea and insisted Craig pull it and get it over with; probably secretly wanting to be the first of the household and before her sisters. She was excited it was so ready that it didn’t hurt in the least and that shocked the other two. It was her front/bottom tooth on the left side, which perfectly lines up with the missing top one from toddler age. To this day she still remembers when that top one was pulled, but not when she initially cracked it in half about six months before that. Harper and Emerie were quite interested to see the gaping hole (and blood) and if there was pain or not. Harper refused to believe Reagan’s claims as her front ones began to loosen.

Why is a tooth fairy so smart?! She has a lot of wisdom teeth!
Unknown

After about a week and a half of torturing Harper about her extremely loose front tooth, the opposite bottom one from Reagan, it finally came out! This was after the entire household volunteered to do it, including both her sisters, and she would either run away or bury her face with her jaw firmly shut. We thought she might agree to Tyler’s volunteering, since he receives special permission to do things the parents can’t, and even that was a no-go. After it finally came out came the proclamation it was painless, like she couldn’t believe that was the case, and she acted like it was no big deal, after allll the back and forth about pulling it.

The following week Harper then lost her bottom left tooth, presumably so she and Reagan could continue their identical look (kidding?). This occurred after a lot of endless wiggling at nighttime, in place of the mild, absent minded nail biting she sometimes does while watching a show. The last straw was biting into a piece of Costco pizza at lunchtime at school, and Miss Tawni did a great job noticing the event and securing the tooth for fairy retrieval that night. After only a few days, one adult tooth is already popping through her gums. That sure happens fast!

Watching both sisters lose one (or more) teeth, poor Emerie was quite displeased at her lack of toothlessness. Luckily this resolved itself only one day after Harper’s pizza excitement, while watching Raya at bedtime. She reluctantly allowed Craig to easily pop it out, her front bottom tooth on the left side, and resulting in one happy girl to join the club.

A stroke of wisdom on my part was ordering customized pink, purple and teal tooth pillows to ensure a visit from the tooth fairy occurred, a few short weeks before the first “event.” Inflation has not occurred yet for the Douglas tooth fairy, and the one dollar bill found each morning was very well received. I’m pretty sure they are just as thrilled to receive a $1 bill versus a $10 bill, so for now we will hold out to the lower amount while the girls don’t have an issue with it. Thank goodness between Craig and I, a few dollars were around the house that we could use and we didn’t forget!

When switching Reagan’s tooth for the gift, I tried to pull the pillow out of her hands and woke her up, so obviously I covered by tucking her in with a hug and handing the dollar off to Craig to try after a few more minutes. Both Harper’s swaps went fine after she followed instructions to leave it propped against her pillow. I can only imagine trying to climb into that top bunk to find the pillow, without waking her up! Her first dollar was folded into a tiny square (not fancy at all) and she carried it around for two days without losing it. Craig did a fancy folding for the second tooth, which she instantly unfolded and added to her wallet, very excitedly!

Next week I’m sure another tooth will make it’s exist, and so far the elusiveness of the tooth fairy is working out. Timing wise everyone appears very close for the front bottoms, which I believe was the case when they first came in; it will be interesting to see if that continues going forward. And for now we will enjoy all the toothless smiles and see if folks can still tell who is who without the easy tell for Reagan! Big girls indeed!

❤

Jan 09

Patching Experiment

While on Christmas break the girls eased into the usual winter cold and corresponding cough, meaning we spent a lot of time at home. With the sub-zero temperatures outside, not being out and about was welcomed (at least in my opinion!), but also meant a lot of energy was present in the household, and not from the adults.

One morning at home we patched all three kids, covering everyone’s right eyes in an attempt to show Reagan and Harper what Emerie goes through every day at school, and five days a week since she was fourteen months old. Unsurprisingly, Harper was instantly asking to take it off while Reagan didn’t seem too bothered by it.

Bonus points if you can tell who is who!

Throughout less than one hour, multiple requests occurred to take it off, mostly from Harper, who complained her eye hurt, it was itchy, or she didn’t like it. It truly goes to show the patience Emerie displays everyday when you look at how often she goes about her daily business with half the eyesight of other kids, and does exceptionally! I hope this experience shows the other two how resilient their sister really is, who can do anything patched that she does unpatched, and that is not an easy feat.

We assume we have another year or two before she will be grown enough for the patching to no longer make an impact on her brain senses. No surgery in 2023 was a great thing, less stress for kiddo as well as parents and no droopy eyelids, something she will start being more aware of at this age. And other kids are now more curious about it; although her class is used the normality of her wearing one each morning. From what we can tell, her eye is staying straight from the last procedure and we are so very thankful for that! All the complaints and questions why she has to do it and her sisters don’t is really worth it!

And now we can remind the other two how they felt when they patched for less than an hour…although Reagan seemed much less impacted by it than Harper. Everyone likes to “help” pick out which patch is worn in the morning, and so far the turtle and panda themed ones are the favorite. Harper also takes it personally that no seal option exists- it would be super cool for Ortopad to let kids make custom orders!

More to come on Emerie’s vision journey soon, after our next check in with Dr. Winkle.

❤

Dec 31

A Very Merry Christmas

Another year down, another successful Christmas weekend with family and first half of Christmas break. Overall things were pretty quiet on activities- not quiet on sound mind you, obviously- and it’s now very evident the girls can entertainment themselves much more than in years past. Other than the massive amount of effort it takes to open toys from their insane packaging; the girls overall enjoyed playing with their new gifts and even let the parents enjoy some down time on the couch. The next sinus cold and cough hit the house a couple days before the big day; luckily it happened after their Christmas show, the Nutcracker event and after school break began.

Knowing the kids would be home this Christmas instead of in preschool child watch, and with Grandma Sue’s arrival after presents were opened and played with, I made a point to wrap a couple boxes every few days before school pickup and stashed them away. It is getting hard to creatively find places for things that won’t be discovered. These preparations made Christmas Eve much more efficient; it only took Craig and I maybe fifteen minutes to set everything out for morning. And it may not look like it, but I definitely have a method to my madness on gift giving procedure. Competition is in full throttle in this household on everything, even more so than in previous years as they mature, so we made a point to get similar gifts for each kiddo to open simultaneously, and one specifically chosen present for each kiddo.

We had a full house on Christmas Eve, with the boys and Keegan and Jenny, Uncle William, and Papa Cliff. Within five minutes of cousins arrival, the living room was a mess of wrapping paper, new toys and clothes, excited children, and general chaos. We all may need hearing aids by the time we are forty at this rate (and that isn’t very far from now for some of us!)! Aunt Jenny’s selections were spot on again this year, gifting everyone cute pink, purple, and blue flower bag clips to signify whose was whose, and lots of girl stuff. The horse set was a hit, as were the Barbies. Everyone paused long enough in the evening to sit and build the Lego Christmas globe ornaments (which are super cool and light up!). Building these is not for the weak, and she did it with all five. The boys were off and running with their Jurassic Park (Corbin) and Minecraft (Elliot) themed slippers and toys. I love that Jenny and I get to swap for Christmas and she can buy all the frilly, girly things while I get to peruse the boys aisle, which I don’t venture down often. Craig made a delicious lamb dish, which the kids even ate (when you call it steak!), and the frozen fruit dessert by Jenny was also a hit. We also forced the children into all matching Christmas pajamas with a less than successful group photo at the end of the night.

The Christmas morning plan involved each kiddo receiving one request from some point over the last month, one big present customized to each, and a few other odds and ends that we knew they would enjoy (or, to be honest, we couldn’t resist buying because they would love it). For the small custom gift, Harper asked for a replacement ballerina jewelry box to replace her broken one, and the new box came with a ballerina necklace she’s worn around the house. Emerie’s small gift was a stuffed turtle notebook I found a while back; and for Reagan, an Ergo-baby doll carrier so she can tote her baby pandas around and be hands free. It’s the cutest thing and a legitimate baby carrier; just in miniature size!

For the big gift, this took more creativity. This is the first year we opted for something specific to each girl’s desires: a doll spa/salon “room” and salon chair for Harper (the chair actually pushes up like at a real hair salon), a gift that remained in the middle of the living room for a week with constant attention. Emerie received a portable Frozen castle set that folds out, and a doll table and chair set, because she kept asking for a doll table and chairs on repeat. Very specific and that was on her mind at least a month, because her answer hasn’t changed. Craig and I found a drivable princess carriage for Reagan and a cute doll bathtub. All three took turns driving their stuffed animals and barbies around the living room and it was one of the more popular choices for the day. They also coordinated a covert op to trash the bathroom and give their dolls baths- you know, or just general drowning of those poor dolls- which resulted in a lovely water mess to clean up. Real life I tell you…at least they were having fun?

Like past years, presents were grouped in threes so similar things were opened at the same time, and then a couple group things to all open together, such as crafts and alphabet magnets. The other highlight was the princess Lego sets, which HAD to be built immediately before opening more. It took us about three days to open everything; we tried to space it out so everything was played with, and that worked pretty well. On day three the kid digital cameras were opened- one green panda, one purple unicorn, and one pink unicorn- and they’ve been running around with them ever since! One can only imagine the images that are saved when we load them on the computer, and Harper figured out how to add mustaches to the screen so we likely all have mustache photos now.

We may be in some hot water with Harper over the lack of her main Santa request, which was apparently a white teddy bear with a pink dress. Either we weren’t listening or I never remotely considered buying more stuffed animals as presents, but I swear I didn’t hear this request until Christmas morning, when she observed several times that Santa didn’t get what she was hoping for. No such luck in making effort on that and I’m hoping she will forget at some point and not be cross with Santa, who doesn’t listen to her. Poor kid.

In the midst of Christmas morning Reagan’s beloved bestie, her “tiny” panda who she calls Pandarina, went missing. After a week of scouring the house, knowing it’s here somewhere, it has not been found. Craig and I -might- have purchased another much cleaner and softer one from the same toy store and replaced it, just to stop hearing the constant stress over its vanishing. I didn’t realize how gross her companion was until I felt the new one…

It’s been a busy week at home since Christmas Day. My house is covered in paper chains, something the girls learned at school this month and forced Papa Cliff to make dozens of. They are now decorating the tree, taped to the toy bins, and hanging from their bunk bed; it’s pretty cute.

The naughtiness remains about the same, with Craig catching all three eating a whole box of apple sauce pouches in the garage one day. We continue to find ground up chalk all over the place too. The cozy pajamas, messy hair buns, dirty aprons, and generally relaxed atmosphere is nice; sometimes I prefer staying home and embracing the kid chaos, knowing in the future I will look back and miss these days. While I may not miss the high volume (or the fighting), I will definitely miss the activities, the coloring together, listening to them sing a song to themselves or focus while decorating cookies, and the requests to help cook.

We also received quick visits from cousins Tyler, Jaren, and Chatum, with the girls displaying the usual level of crazy excitement to see them and then breaking out into fantastic coughing fits. Not having grown up with any family living in the same state, I really enjoy that the girls get the chance to see five of their cousins on the regular. During the visit Chatum decided the level of child giggles and harassment was enough, and much like Uncle Will has done this winter, opted to toss the kids straight out into the snow pile. Watching him pry three wildly giggling and screaming children down the stairs without help from the other laughing adults in the room, and making it to the back deck with a bit of help from Grandma Sue, was definitely the highlight of that day. Well it was, until the aftermath of screaming and crying and cold blooded rage re-entered the room, which I couldn’t help but chuckle at. Such memories in the making.

Baking donuts in their aprons & messy buns

Grandma Sue arrived a few days after Christmas to give Craig and I help to be able to work over the school break, and with that comes craft projects, cleaning activities, delicious homemade meals, baked goods and the girls excitedly assisting with everything as much as possible. Everyone spent an hour creating a hand sewing project with Grandma (how she did three different ones at the same time, I don’t know because I certainly couldn’t) and a 3d princess puzzle, the first big kid puzzle we’ve done. They already want to do it again!

Homemade donuts with sprinkles were also must and everyone was thrilled to participate and share them with a beloved Jessie (and Sara!). Of course we also had to have my favorite chicken fried steak for dinner, with all three asking for seconds! I bet other goodies over the next week will be the highlight of the girls’ time off.

The earrings I ordered for Christmas stockings were too hard to screw on, so we took the girls to the mall to find different ones. Amazingly, we found multiple turtle earrings for Emerie, panda faces for Reagan, AND pink eared koala bears for Harper, since seal earrings probably don’t exist. The little girl earrings look so big on them compared to studs and they are so proud to be big girls, now that they believe it’s not the same piercing experience to change them out.

Not much else to report this week, other than I sold our last triplet stroller to a younger set (and I might go cry in the corner when I think that entire phase is completely over for us!). Now we are ready to bring in 2024 and see what adventures this year will bring us!

❤

Oct 28

One Quarter Down!

Somehow in the blink of an eye, a quarter of the way through the kindergarten school year i complete! How it passed so quickly I am unsure, and definitely not mentally prepared to be on the way to halfway through the school year. The past month was an unpleasant health roller coaster for me, meaning while I was down, driving to and from school, cooking and really doing anything was on Craig to handle. He took the girls to dance, other activities and birthday parties, and let me rest and try to feel better. While that isn’t nearly as hard to do as a couple years back (thank heavens I didn’t catch this when they were toddlers!), it is still quite exhausting, expending energy and mental stamina to solo parent for a time. I’m happy to report I am mostly on the mend and the cracked ribs aren’t as painful and healing up. I will be glad to have this month over!

This week Craig and I attended our first parent teacher conference with three kids in tow, and somehow managed to convince them to sit and color while we chatted with their wonderful teacher. It’s always fun to watch Craig sit in a 5-year-old’s chair and fit his legs against the tiny table!

Miss Tawni showed us each kiddo’s portfolio, including their self portraits, custom colored hand prints (Reagan’s even had nail polish drawn on it!), and paper collages that spelled out their names. All three self portraits boasted blonde hair and each kiddo’s color integrated into the drawing somewhere, which is pretty cute.

Overall nothing crazy to report on the first eight weeks of school; all three are progressing normally for their age and learning and developing on target for their age. As expected, penmanship in the last two months has improved dramatically for all three. While this is a great sign, I very much enjoyed seeing the custom lettering interpretation from each and will miss that short phase. I admit I saved an unreasonable amount of papers boasting their primitive penmanship as it morphed over time, and I’m okay with that. With a name full of letter “e’s”, Emerie made curly cues instead of an actual letter, but it was so cute and understandable to read! Reagan easily wrote her name by the time school started and truly enjoys writing, so her name continues to become clearer and neater each week and her capital “R’s” improving. At home she often carries a notebook and constantly writes notes and pictures. Harper often adds extra vowels in her name and is now spelling it correctly more often. All in all, I’m pretty please with their progress.

Emerie continues to patch most mornings- so half her school day- and Miss Tawni noted she doesn’t see any added frustration or limits from doing it each day. This is GREAT news, as we were unsure if patching would effect the school day and preferred to not patch after a long school day to get the time in. I assume the daily habit helps and she doesn’t question it anymore; Harper and Reagan still occasionally ask why they don’t have to do it. The kindergartners don’t have assigned seating in the classroom- at least not yet- and it sounds like the girls don’t always sit together and spread out, which is good. I can also tell they often sit by a fellow classmate, Nichole, because we see coloring almost every day with everyone’s names side by side and they tell me their favorite part of the day and it often involves her.

School pictures turned out really cute on the first try, and kudos to Craig for the cute outfit selection and pigtails since I was still sick in bed that morning. They all promised to smile big and did just that! And look, no eye patch stuck to a shirt this year- hahaha!

The basic report cards for this age contain a scale from one to ten, with the majority of numbers under 7 since it’s their year one of grade school. This first quarter marks show music the highest for Reagan, followed by PE; Harper the highest for music and PE class; and Emerie highest in music as well. All three reports note continued improvement on writing and understanding their letters and an average rating for all other curriculum. We still need improvement on letter sounds, recognition, and word spelling, and need to actively practice more at home than we have recently. Now that my month long plague is easing up and energy is slowly returning, we will focus on the sounds of each letter and continuing to recognize them. When questioned, Harper claims her favorite subject is writing, Emerie likes gym class with Mr. Ivan the most, and unsurprisingly, Reagan’s choice is coloring, i.e. art class. They all sing the praises of their teacher too, as do us parents.

A few more days until Halloween and the girls are excitedly waiting for a real snowfall. I think they’ve forgotten with snow brings the cold and darkness, but either way they are excited for it.

From our fall photo shoot earlier in the month!

❤

The Douglets

Triplets in Alaska

Uncategorized