Apr 27

Springtime Fun

The past few weeks have just been business as usual. Craig heads off to work and I pull out the laptop for the day. The girls enjoy their weekdays with the nanny while we work, and we try to come up with fun and exciting new activities to fill all the other moments in between.

Spring is finally here and its presence greatly impacts our day-to-day- in a good way. Hours are filled with playing outside, exploring, climbing in the raspberry patch, digging out rocks and dropping them everywhere, pulling each other in the wagon, “flying” on the teeter totter airplane, and playing on the toy explosion that is now the backyard. There are even moments that the adult can sit down in a lawn recliner…not long moments, but they are there!

Rocks are now in EVERYTHING. Everywhere I turn I find a rock. Could be a big rock, could be a small rock. Could be in the pocket of my jacket or my jeans, in the washer and dryer, under my foot as I step on it barefoot in the living room, or in the mouth of my toddler as they’re polishing one off with their tongue. We are definitely in the rock obsession stage; playing outside mostly consists of shoveling them from one place to another and littering the yard with tiny piles of gravel. I’m pretty sure we will need to refill the base underneath the shed or the hot tub before long! Maybe one day one of them will be an expert dirt worker like their cousins or grandpas! For now, we get to experience the world of tiny little pebbles all over the place and hope that they don’t eat too many of them.

I’ve been jotting down cute or funny things the girls do each day instead of making an effort to come up with larger blog topics. Everyone has their own personality quirks and they are shining more brightly as the days pass. It’s interesting to see how they shift since infancy- for example, we always joked that Emerie was “the diva” as a baby (and she was!), but now that mood has shifted into Harper, who now gives us a little more of an emotional roller coaster some days while Emerie remains more relaxed and independent. Other traits that vanished after a while are back- such as Reagan and her tiny baby smiles, even in the NICU, are now back and in full force, especially if you ask her to say “cheese!” She will give you a big, toothy grin.

My little mimickers now hold doors and baby gates open for me, waiting until I walk through to close them while ushering a few “mommas” my direction. Emerie will insist I pass her before shutting the door and even lectures me when I forget to lock the front door before a walk! Yes, they still slam the door on each other and have epic fights over who should control the back door, but at least they are starting to grow some kind of manners.

Reagan discovered a chore she now does for Craig…it involves harvesting all the leaves off plants and delivering them. Our poor vine plant looks so sad without leaves on half of it and is now relocated higher and out of reach.

The toddler arguing is in full force, and by that, I mean arguing with the parents. When pear slices are provided as an after dinner treat, they insist they are apples and fully disagree when you correct them. At least they eat them!

We’ve pretty much come to terms with the fact that we can’t do everything we want on a day-to-day basis because our children outnumber us; we have learned we cannot let them walk out the front door into the stroller or toward the car yet. The other day this resulted in Harper and Reagan both taking off different directions away from us; Craig followed Harper and I caught up with Reagan before she hit the street. Harper ended up with her first skinned knee and side of her for head as she completely bit it on the neighbors concrete driveway. She took the fall better than I expected and only cried for a few minutes and was then fine. She still points out her “owie” on occasion. It may be the first big scrape but it definitely won’t be the last.

A few days later Harper dropped a metal toy on her foot and sliced it open. We didn’t even notice until the blood was dripping and required a bandaid! While Reagan has done a good job staying away from the upsetting injuries and has the normal bumps and bruises, Emerie has a badly smashed pinkie nail that is completely blue and likely to fall off any day. She tripped over a toy and smashed it against her plastic picnic basket. Poor baby. She also instigated a bite on Reagan’s forearm that is worthy of a photo and caused some major consternation in the moment.

What Emerie’s teeth look like on Reagan…

The only improvement on the injury side of toddlerhood is that they can now tell you where it hurts and point; if they smack you in the face with something you also might get a kiss or a “sowwie” out of them.

In addition to that, the girls try to help out one another a little more. Now yes, they are still beating each other with toys, trying to smother a sibling during a diaper change, and constantly finding ways to irritate each other, but they also have nice moments. When someone falls down, like when Harper or Emerie tripped on a root in the woods, Reagan would stop and pull them into a standing position by their arm. Occasionally one will give the other a kiss when upset, and once or twice I even spotted a hug. The handholding is still a new concept but coming along ADORABLY. Emerie favors it the most and Reagan thinks it’s funny. Harper is still not a fan and would rather be out running in the lead of the group.

They also enjoy chasing each other in the yard and the house and pulling on their hat strings or a piece of ribbon and going back and forth, back and forth. This activity can easily last 30 minutes and provide quite the cardio workout when you participate!

We tried eating at the kitchen table for breakfast once last weekend and it went far better than expected. We’ve had an issue since the girls have been small of keeping them from climbing on the dining table (or anything really), meaning our chairs are always flipped upside down on the table out of reach, end tables are in the garage, and furniture is rearranged to diminish all the “get downs!” we are always yelling. This past weekend we tried leaving dining chairs on the floor and each time a toddler climbed into one, made sure they were sitting on their butt and instructed them chairs are for sitting. I thought this was going to be an epic battle to the death but really they did great and seem to want to sit like big girls like we do. Maybe they’ve seen us do it enough to follow suit. We don’t have booster seats and need to purchase them; instead we are using the portable boosters we take to the park and to restaurants to eat. We also don’t have a dining room table that seats more than four, which is an issue when you have three babies and two adults.

Other random points of interest from the past few weeks…the sight of birds sprouts joy and enthusiasm and a lot of shrieking and pointing. This is also the case for passing airplanes, except for Harper, who now has her first major fear of something and goes running into the house (crying) at the loud sound overhead. We will be working on that because this is an airplane friendly household, in a city that has constant air traffic overhead.

The girls are learning their ABC and 123s quite well for their age. Emerie quoted A through F to me yesterday and then hummed more of the song, Reagan can sing the entire twinkle twinkle little star song in her own little language, and everyone says random blurts of the alphabet or numbers throughout the day. They actually do it better for Nanny Chris than for us! We are also learning the different sounds animals make and the girls are expanding their vocabulary to more than just the basic farm and household animals. For some reason everyone is latched onto monkeys right now and completely obsessed with them. I need to find a couple books that directly relate so that we can continue that enthusiasm.

All in all, bring on summer! As I’m writing this, bright and early, another beautiful day is on its way. As the girls would say, “sunshine!!”

Apr 06

Hunker Down: Week 2

How can those adorable faces be so mischievous?!

This week is all about my toddlers living their best toddler life. And by that, I mean major shenanigans, tiny adventures, learning how to be mischievous, and everything in between.

Harper and Reagan are now talking a lot more and expanding their vocabularies; Emerie continues to mimic all the words you give her. The main word for this week is no and mermaid. Do you a want timeout? No! Do you want more food? No! Do you want to come inside? No! Do you want your diaper changed? No! (but it really means yes but they still want to run from you)

Saying her words!

They now call William Uncle, it’s really cute; and are finally starting to say Grandma after months of coaxing. It has taken much convincing!

Bedtime routine consists of sister chatting, reading the bedtime book while they throw stuff animals at us and then snuggle down in bed, and using the new nightlight from their birthday. It has multiple projector settings with a swirl of colorful stars! Different settings seem to interest them greatly, but we’ve found that settling is more difficult for Reagan when they are shifting around the room in red and blue. White, not-rotating stars seem to be accommodate going to sleep.

I can sum this week up with two words: mischievous and wild. More personality traits are emerging in each and they are maturing into sensitive, high energy, smarty pants toddlers. For example, Emerie is now mischievously sneaking off to places out of sight (like the play castle or caterpillar, and taking the time to pull of her glasses and patch before re-emerging like nothing ever happened. She’s started doing this for just her glasses as well; but is slowly learning if a stern voice threatens her with timeout, she will go find said glasses and try to put them back on. It’s quite a lot of effort to keep track of them (and I don’t mean the kids on this one haha). We’ve also taken to small rewards when she does obey, find the glasses, and put them back on her face. She especially enjoys an M&M or a marshmallow.

On my solo Friday off, mischievous Reagan showed Emerie how to climb out of her crib as I brought Harper downstairs. I found both of them standing on the changing pad area of the crib, looking out the bedroom window and giggling. Luckily she hasn’t tried it again, but I’m sure she’s saving that for another day. On the flip side, a post bath time Reagan climbed back into Emerie’s crib and lost her mind that she was again contained, even when she put herself there. Toddlers…

Mischievous Harper keeps finding the dog food…no matter where we put it! I guess there are some healthy elements in it and, as typical, she goes at it 100%, grabbing full handfuls. On the table, back porch, stairs…she b-lines straight to it at every opportunity.

Other fun mischievous things for the week: climbing out of the bathtub without permission, running out the front door and toward the street, pulling off diapers and running around, and yes, poop… Bolting the front door is now a necessity and we probably need to invest in another lock to add- all three have dashed out the front at one point; luckily a parent was close by or they were running out to welcome Daddy home.

It’s been a while since a poop incident…so I guess we were overdue. While working away on my laptop, upstairs and out of sight of children, I hear some commotion downstairs regarding diapers. Apparently, our almost-ready-to-potty-train Reagan removed her pants and diaper and proceeded to take a nice #2 bathroom break on the floor behind the play castle. The area is out of view and private from most of the room and between the castle and front living room windows, making it the perfect spot to be up to no good! Now, of course, when you have three toddlers and one of them is doing something they shouldn’t, it’s a given that the other two will get in on it. So both Emerie and Harper walked through it; thankfully they had socks on, but gross! Harper also had it all over her hands and kept repeating yucky! And Emerie? Well, she was walking around, repeating oh shit, oh shit later that afternoon. I mean, we knew that would happen eventually…right? I choose to blame that one on Craig. Anyway, it was quite the commotion to get Reagan’s diaper back on. Oh so fun. Poor Nanny.

The girls now try to participate during diaper changes and often point at their sister and repeat yucky. They wish to help facilitate the change, grabbing diapers, any and all accessible wipes, pulling on sisters’ clothes, climbing on the parent, all of it. That help also means taking a diaper, opening it and holding it up to their sister, and giggling. With the changing area open to the whole room now, the girls try to beat on the sister that’s momentarily immobile…or the occasional rare moment where I can convince all three to give kisses. That’s only happened once and I wish I had captured it on film, but I didn’t have my phone handy.

To continue the potty theme, after coloring in the shower for a few that evening, on a whim I put everyone on potty chairs. Knowing ahead of time this usually ends messily, we let them run around in the nursery before pajama time. Two successfully peed on/next to the potty (well kinda- missed mostly but they were sitting on it!) and one went right on the floor…her trend for the day (and I’m sure you can guess who). So yes, enough if that. And I didn’t take any photos…you’re welcome.

We attempted this again another night and had one success! Harper got an M&M for it, wowed her audience (Emerie and Reagan), AND to commemorate the joyous achievement, threw the chair full of pee at Craig. So funny.

For the wild portion of the week, we make it a point to burn as much energy as physically possible during awake hours, especially being at home all the time. This has improved napping for the most part. Reagan has been sleeping on the guest room bed and we’re finding she takes a two hour nap when no one interrupts her in the middle of it. This means she actually likes sleep as long as it’s steady; something that’s been questioned the past year. It’s almost as if she’s flipped with Harper, who is having a harder time settling herself this month, waking up multiple times during a nap and having a hard time going back down. Emerie is a rock star, napping through Harper’s insistence to get up, AND for the most part sleeping all night! If she does awake in the midst of the night, she easily settles with a snuggle and sometimes a bottle, going right back to sleep after. The other night she even laid back down by instruction when we snagged the other (screaming) two.

Finding more ways to enjoy magnets!

My solo Friday went decently and the girls were in jolly moods- we played outside twice in the morning with the fresh, wet (April) snow. They made snowballs, played in their snow covered cars and “helped” me shovel the deck.

For the most part, the day went without a hitch until the mailman rang the doorbell twice, smack in the middle of nap time, waking up Harper. Emerie didn’t nap at all but was in her crib almost an hour and a half, with the doorbell going off the last straw. Very frustrating, since we have a sign that reminds visitors not to wake sleeping babies or ring the doorbell. Our typical mailman (mailwoman?) is great and never wakes the kids. It’s the small things that can have such a big impact on the day, you know? Ruining a nap may seem small, but it’s the only hour of sanity I get in the 12+ hours everyone is awake.

As most moms are, I’ve been scanning the internet for creative crafts and new activities to keep the kids interested and engaged throughout the day. I cooked mac and cheese again with all three colors this time and the girls liked to point out the differences. Emerie commented Harper for the pink noodles, and everyone is improving on repeating the real colors back to you.

I also attempted a Facebook craft video using empty rolls of toilet paper. It lasted all of five minutes before little hands tore it to shreds, but they were definitely entertained well into the afternoon just playing with the ping pong balls and toilet paper rolls. I think we will find a way to reinforce it so they can’t tear it down- that will provide a great deal more entertainment. Who knew gravity was so exciting?!

Other WILD traits for the week including running around the house with doll strollers and the driveway with chalk, riding tricycles, and dragging me around the main floor by my hands, which prompted a good twenty minutes of laughs and lots of steps for me. A few nights consisted of very grumpy toddlers, even after good naps and overall days, and overnight sleep is about the same.

All in all, this week was more chaotic than our first seven days in “hunker down” mode, which went pretty smoothly in terms of triplets, Here’s to hoping week three is calmer than this one; and if not, a few more glasses of wine and batches of no bake cookies should do the trick. We finished off the week with 30+ hours of triple grumpy toddlers, for no major reason that we could tell. Even with decent naps and some decent meals, they were all GRUMPS. So please, let spring show up so we can start spending hours outside in the sun and heat (warmth?!) to burn that energy and have some happier children.

❤

Mar 31

Hunker Down: Week 1

Last week was my first week teleworking, at least since I was six months pregnant with the girls. My prior at-home working experience consisted of a quiet house, comfy armchair, minimal movement and my laptop and was a great two months, minus the lack of comfort of carrying three babies.

My work goal was to stay out of sight of the kiddos while the nanny kept them entertained and alive. All in all, that part went pretty great and was a nice break for me, since I could focus on work from the comfort of my own house!

With a few days warming up over forty degrees, we handled the cabin fever with afternoon walks and a couple stops at one of the hidden gem parks in our neighborhood. It was great to get out of the house and enjoy the sun while letting the girls burn some energy climbing the equipment and digging out the rocks that weren’t frozen. Even with the nice weather, the park was mostly empty of kids, which was great!

I was hopeful the warmth would continue for the weekend, but nope! The girls last about ten minutes outside on Saturday, having insisted they wanted to go by donning their boots and hats and trying unassisted to put on their coats before screaming in frustration. The cold wind won quickly, but not before this ADORABLE video of what I assume will be how Harper drives at age 16. I mean, after all, she is the sprinter of the house.

Other random things from our first week of solitude included toddler crafting, exploring new parts of the house and outside, and continuing to learn new life skills. Everyone is enthusiastically learning to put socks and pants on without help, but until the skill is mastered the frustrated rage continues. The girls saw their first house fly- a big one- and that meant several minutes watching it buzz against the window, with everyone trying to climb the armchair and catch it. Impressively enough, Harper eventually managed to catch grasp it in her hand!

With the living room no longer under toddler blockade, the front windows are now accessible and a whole new world of “ouwsi” (outside) is available to view. This includes the random moose visits, flocks of birds in the trees, people watching and hollering about any and all dog walking. It also apparently includes watching dinosaurs walk by- someone was pushing their kid and fully decked out as a t-Rex. The girls didn’t know how to feel about that one, but encouraged the dogs to whine and bark as it “danced” by.

More outdoor toys warmed up in the house, such as the dormant tricycles from the garage and the play castle from the back porch. With the rug pulled up and the furniture out of the way, the main level gives a decent amount of space for movement. The pedal concept isn’t there quite yet (Emerie is close), but the scooting around and ringing the bells is providing much entertainment. For a while Reagan would only ride them backwards.

The play castle provides hours of entertainment; it has become an enclosed fort, a climbing tool and tower, an area to hide with stuffed animals, and of course contributed to the cycle “run, climb, slide, run, climb, slide.” Queen of the slide is quite the game, with some not-so-nice kicking if one is indeed at the top and defending their territory and kingdom. We are working on courtesy and nicely opening the castle door and letting a sister come in. This still results in the occasional door slamming on fingers and faces, creating total meltdowns; but in the kind moments one will knock on the door, another will open it and they both say “hellloooo!?” with a big smile. It’s ridiculously adorable.

In addition to creative play activities, we continue to rotate the common toys, bringing out unused items for a day or two, or even hour or two, and putting them out of sight. Building blocks sustain interest for a while and then become yet another toy you don’t want to step on in the midst of the mess. The girls took a turns building block towers over the weekend; Emerie putting in some solid effort unassisted, Harper and Reagan took turns sitting in my lap and designing. I can already tell as they grow, Emerie will be building the masterpieces and Harper and Reagan will try to steal them or knock them down.

The doll strollers and baby dolls are brought out for a bit and then re-hidden. There is great enthusiasm in pushing each other around in them, but are starting to get too big for it! In addition, the pushing becomes a way to go as fast as possible and slam straight into a table, or cabinet, or each other. Luckily it is mostly in good fun, and the rider doesn’t seem to mind the bruised knees. Sometimes it’s too girly to simply push the stuffed, singing animals around in the strollers (they are appropriately named Bear, Puppy, and Monkey, according to the girls). Harper started it and Emerie and Reagan followed suite- to push their soccer balls, strapped in mind you (safety first), around the main floor. I’m happy to see the love of soccer starting, even if it’s balls strapped into strollers.

Car racing is another new event. The girls are starting to understand some activities can be done with each other and not necessarily with parents. The wind-up cars provide this type of entertainment and they are starting to sit across from each other, legs spread out, and shoot the cars back and forth at one another. It’s very cute and creates a few minutes of giggles. A couple of times the cars are pointed toward the toddler trying to fling it away, resulting in it constantly returning to them. This is hilarious to watch; they think it’s hilarious.

Working from home results in minimal daily movement so walking in the afternoon is vital to ensuring some exercise. This pushes dinner behind the typical 5 PM the girls are accustomed to. Eating later and unassisted, with spoons/forks (as opposed to hands), seems to greatly improve moods and results in less food thrown on the floor. This week’s obsession is sautéed mushrooms, mac and cheese shapes (colored pasta was a hit!), and heaps of broccoli (it would be blueberries too if the stores had any!). The girls exclaim “all-da” (all done) when they are finished. If the unfinished plate isn’t immediately removed, it usually flies to the floor for the dogs; but sometimes they will nicely hand it to you. Emerie seems to think saying the phrase means she should be allowed to get down and play without delay, and will impatiently yell it at you.

Other random craft activities throughout the week included coloring and trying out play dough again. I’m hoping to get more creative on some crafts over the next week, but am waiting until I have a full list for the store before picking up a few miscellaneous things needed. This time they didn’t spend the whole time eating the play dough (other than a few exploratory licks) and were equally awed that it could transform from a heap of nothing into a ball to play with. We colored with markers in the bath tub, played with water cups in the shower, sat at the kitchen table with crayons and chalked up the driveway (they still suck on the chalk though…yuck). Reagan tried to make Craig’s car more beautiful in that moment, while Harper went for the garage door and Emerie the actual driveway! Harper also enjoyed some wind sprints, up and down the driveway, running at full force.

Everyone wanted to help Dad replace his spark plugs, including shouting at him out the window and running around the garage. That lasted a whopping five minutes before shattered glass ended the fun and herded everyone back inside.

A few cute moments have occurred throughout the week as well- Emerie accidentally smacked me right in the face with a book, stopped, and with a concerned look, gave me a kiss right where she hit me. So sweet! Harper has given a melting-down Reagan several hugs this week, and Emerie kisses the top of her sisters’ heads. In the nice moments they share toys and will bring an extra toy or snack to an upset sibling. Progress.

For the first time ever in the Douglas household, we had a nap time REQUEST. Miss Harper asked the nanny for early nap time with a “nigh night” and pointing upstairs. Crazy thing is, she and Emerie immediate went to sleep after going down a few minutes early. Now that is a first and it only happened once.

The color coding comprehension continues to expand. Harper brought the correct color boots to Reagan and Emerie several times this week while Emerie brought everyone their coats. Last summer’s plastic Adirondack chairs were intensely fought over because Harper took the teal one from Reagan, and then Reagan took the purple one from Emerie. So it seems the color battles are beginning…that should be interesting.

We even had a day with happy, post-nap babies. Typically, as in 100% of the time, all wake up in full rage from their nap and it takes several minutes snuggling to calm the masses. We had one day happy and chill, after TWO hours (for all three at once that’s highly uncommon), giving me time to prep dinner and get it in the oven before they awoke. Pretty amazing and productive! Productive for Craig too…who accidentally took a nice, long nap with Reagan.

We ended the week with a broken kitchen faucet. Craig ran to Lowe’s to grab a new one (it’s essential in this house!) and in the 20 minutes he was gone, all three babies were screaming, trying to strip their poopy diapers, AND I managed to get the faucet stuck turned on, creating a steady stream of water underneath the sink and across the countertop. Well, we survived. And now have a new faucet thanks to our plumber buddy down the street!

I will sum up this week of toddlerhood adventure and quarantine with Craig asking Emerie what color she learned over the weekend. Her response? “Taco!” Okay, so that is a great answer as an adult too…but she was actually trying to say “yellow.”

It feels like a lot happened in the past seven days, when really staying home is pretty normal in this household. We tried to avoid the flu and colds most of the winter, only going out strategically and hoping for the best. Hopefully we can cruise through another week in the same style…which would mean decent naps, busy busy days, lots of fighting and loving… also many requests for “Tay Tay” (Taylor Swift), dance parties, food fights, face-time calls with the grandparents, and everything in between.

❤

Mar 27

The big TWO x 3!

Birthday number two turned out to be greatly different than the last year’s. The original plan was another large party, at the same place as last year, surrounded by visiting family and friends of all ages, to celebrate another birthday milestone.

Well, that did not happen. With impending quarantine in Anchorage, and many other places across the country already implementing the new rules for a couple of weeks, we knew our big birthday party was not only not happening, but probably not the smartest thing to do given current circumstances.

The recreational center canceled the party and closed due to public safety concerns, so we considered doing a smaller scale party at our house. After the passing of another week, even more things are closed and people seem to have more questions than answers relating to the spreading virus.

With any plans outside our little kingdom (house), we tried to make a fun and eventful day, as much as possible, for the girls.

Everyone woke up in good spirits and ready to take on the day. Finally able to give a present, I pulled out their new, Frozen themed hooded blankets. They love to wrap up in blankets and run around and these blankets allow just that. While a big big, they are soft and the girls happily “wore” them until they pulled the next gift off the table, a tiny, metal pot and pan set.

Does anyone else have a hard time not giving presents to their kids as soon as they buy them? It took a great deal of self control to keep those hoods upstairs this past week and not give in and go get them. I feel that this is going to get more difficult as they grow, since new things bring so much excitement and enthusiasm!

The girls played with the pots/pans until breakfast was ready. The set also came with a strainer, whisks, and other realistic kitchen utensils, making their stir stir stir exclamations and motions completely adorable. Any birthday should start out with something delicious, and what better breakfast than some bacon and chocolate chip pancakes with whipped cream topping? I assumed Reagan would scarf everything down immediately but she and Harper remained more skeptical. Emerie, on the other hand, probably ate half a pancake as she repeated chocklat, like she couldn’t believe it was in her breakfast!

After breakfast birthday dresses were dawned, ones that specify the day and say TWOnados, and everyone sported pigtails. Grandma Sue and Papa Lon came by for a visit and we did a couple other presents. The letter magnet boards I’ve been saving were opened without much help from adults! The coloring boards only keep their interest so far and after a while, they need something new to try when everyone is sitting for a few minutes after or before a meal. Reagan ensured her sisters opened everything satisfactorily and ripped her wrapping paper like a pro. Harper and Emerie more daintily pulled on the wrapping paper. It was quite the change from Christmas time, when they couldn’t be bothered to sit for five seconds and open something.

We didn’t go wild on presents this year because we already have so many different things in the house. If I could have predicted the possible quarantine, I might have purchased a few more things to peak their interesting when stuck at home all week and weekends, but for the most part, we can be creative enough to survive.

All in all, the morning was full of new toy exploration, snuggles with Grandma and Papa, and hanging out in the living room, enjoying the sunshine. I finished a batch of triple colored cupcakes (pink, purple, teal of course) that turned out great, and the girls played in the backyard with Grandma for a little while.

It is always nice to have a beautiful, sunny day when stuck at home. I’m spoiled by the amount of sunlight that flows through our windows and it makes the mood cheerier, even when outside boasts huge snow piles and ice. Last year at this time grass was showing; this year the front yard still has four feet of snow.

The warm day prompted an afternoon walk. With Grandma in-tow, we stopped at the playground just off our normal loop and let the girls check it out. Reagan confirmed she still enjoyed collecting handfuls of playground rocks and testing out a few of them for flavor; hopefully this will be over by the time all the snow melts.

They did great at the park, climbing right up and sliding down the slide unassisted. Emerie climbed all the way up and didn’t even wait for Craig to meet her at the bottom. How they have grown! The girls again played out back after a little more ice chipping on the driveway, taking full advantage of the sunny day. I cannot WAIT until spring gets here.

The rest of the day remained uneventful. We face timed Grandma Anne and Papa Cliff simultaneously as we all sang Happy Birthday and the girls enjoyed a cupcake. Everyone devoured the frosting and questioned the cupcake; Harper at most of it, Reagan only a little, and Emerie shared hers with Koda.

All in all, three clothing changes, two hair changes, triple 1.5 hour nap, one toddler escape (Harper) and fun day with Mom, Dad, Grandma Sue and Papa Lon.

Mini Birthday Party

This year’s birthday party consisted of inviting the best friends over for a play date (Paris and Kaden). While it was not as fun and exciting as I hoped it would be (and legally had to stay under the 10 person rule recently implemented), the girls had fun, opened a couple gifts, and played with their friends, nanny and grandparents.

The doctor play set, even after a few days, is still a popular item. Depending on who has stolen which part from the briefcase, the girls will come up to you and “check” your ears, listen to your heart, and give you a shot. Not all ear checks are considered sanitary, as everyone enjoys sucking on the end of it and then shoving it into your ear, saliva and all. Maybe that will give us ear infections for them to “check.”

We opened up the living room for the play date and haven’t closed it back up since. Now that they are in year number two, closing off part of the living room almost seems like more of a hindrance than a help, with their main game plan to figure out how to escape. Luckily the main floor is well blocked off, with the stairs going up and down gated off and impenetrable for the time being.

My spur of the moment cupcakes ended up turning out great! I mixed the batter into their three colors, with pink on the bottom, purple in the middle, and teal at the top. Craig “whipped” up a whipped topping (see what I did there?) that was devoured with requests for more.

Colorful streamers were hung across the living room, out of reach of the tiny hands, and even a fancy tablecloth put out! The girls definitely tried to empty off the table by pulling it, but didn’t knock anything off.

We sang happy birthday and the girls enjoyed a cupcake for their morning snack for the second day in a row! They did not understand blowing out the candles, looking at all the faces smiling their way and wondering what in the world to do. After helping blow them out, Kaden and Paris joined in on the sugar and everyone calmly munched down their treat. It was cute and Janelle captured a little of it on video for all of you to enjoy!

Birthday number two varied from last year’s in a couple ways. Last year they were crawling and just starting to learn to walk; this year they RUN everywhere. Last year the baldness was still real; this year enough hair exists for tiny pony and pig tails (yay!!!). Last year’s party had 25+ pre-toddlers yelling and playing; this year just a handful. Last year the sleep deprivation was real; this year…oh wait. Yeah that’s not that different haha.

The whole birthday felt very laid back- staying home the whole day and spending time together. I feel that we were able to better it and process the fact we’ve made it two years! They played with gifts, dressed up in fancy dresses read new books and spent some time out in the snow. I recognize this will likely be the calmest birthday we will ever have!

Mar 24

2019 Memories

I thought it would be fun to ask those closest to the girls a few questions and document their answers. Here we go!

What is your favorite moment of the girls this past year?

CRAIG: Taking the girls swimming- they all seem to love swimming and being thrown into the water.

BECCA: I really enjoyed some of the random adventures, going to the reindeer farm, taking summer photos, and taking the girls to the toddler swim area at the Juneau rec center.

AUNT JANELLE: I don’t have just one because there are many! I love every dance video I see, every giggle or laugh is just so precious, and every new word they learn is one step closer to arguing with their mama.

GRANDMA ANNE: There are two things I most remember from the last year. Watching the girls jump like crazy in their little jumpy seats in the living room and the joy and excitement as they did it. The other activity was decorating Christmas cookies. Smearing frosting all over their hands and faces as they attempted to “decorate” and eat the cookies was priceless to watch.

GRANDMA SUE: This summer, watching them with all our family out on the deck and how they interacted with each of our family members.

PAPA CLIFF: My favorite was seeing them do their water coloring, all over their bodies. That made me laugh.

NANNY CHRIS: When the girls started crying for “nanny” when I left. They really missed me and that makes me feel loved by them!

What is something that makes Harper, Emerie, and Reagan each unique?

CRAIG: Each of them have their own personality and express themselves in different ways. Harper is a brute and rough houser, but gets very upset if she gets hurt. Emerie plays by herself and enjoys exploring how things work, like puzzles and new toys. Reagan must have all binkies…at all times. She will assign the binkie she doesn’t want to the other girls.

BECCA: The older they get, the more unique they look to me. But excluding looks for this question, they each have little personality quirks individualizing them from each other. It’s fun to watch Emerie sit and try to understand how a toy works, when you can see her mind working hard and focused. It’s entertaining to see Harper’s devious side, when she will pause, smile, and then 1000% commit to whatever shenanigan she puts her mind to. It’s adorable to watch Reagan rockin’ out to a song on YouTube, fully committed to whole body movement without a care in the world.

AUNT JANELLE: Emerie is a bit more of a trickster daredevil compared to her sisters.

GRANDMA ANNE: I think the hardest thing for me when I visit is being sure that I spend individual one-on-one time with each girl. To encourage her own individuality and interests. Although they are identical and still very young, their personalities are different and unique.

GRANDMA SUE: Harper’s little giggle as she looks right at you and teases you or wants you to snuggle with her and read a book. Emerie how she has such a desire to learn and giggles in your face when she accomplishes something. She has done so well with so many words and the girls follow. Reagan has learned so much and I love how she tries to help her sisters.

PAPA CLIFF: Harper hugs. She came up to me and had me pick her up and sit in my lap and cuddle. Emerie is dancing around in a box, showing me where the caterpillar is. Yaba do! Emerie also seems to take more chances than her sisters. Reagan seems to be the calmer one. She will let her sisters do something or start something and then follow their lead. She is good at throwing Papa Cliff kisses.

NANNY CHRIS: Harper is so sweet and funny. She knows what she wants. Emerie rolls with the punches- she’s very loving and forgiving. She reminds me of her Dad- very much like Craig. Reagan is a thinker. She’s cool, calm and collected like her Mom.

What was the hardest thing this year in terms of raising triplets?

CRAIG: Everything we do takes a lot of effort, getting dressed to go outside takes 20 mins, going to the store involves loading and unloading everyone. We need multiple shopping carts to take them out.

BECCA: The lack of sleep, especially when everyone was sick all of January, was very difficult; but I’d say the hardest thing overall is having to go at 110% every single moment of everyday to keep everything going well. Routine, meals, work, house upkeep, activities, all of it.

AUNT JANELLE: All the colds and trips to the doctors, so many ear infections and chipped teeth!

PAPA CLIFF: The hardest thing for me was seeing the two sleep deprived parents!

NANNY CHRIS: December through March- staying inside and keeping them happy and busy. Winter with toddlers.

What was the girls’ biggest milestone?

CRAIG: The girls are becoming more independent and able to help themselves when they are hungry and thirsty.

BECCA: Last year this one was easy! It was learning to hold their own bottles. This year I would say learning to walk (run) and become more coordinated. It completely changes the triplet game and while it makes things harder is one way, it’s also easier than the infancy stage in other ways.

AUNT JANELLE: Learning to climb out of the cribs by themselves hahahaha

GRANDMA ANNE: A huge milestone was graduating from the NICU in just four weeks. They were so tiny but went home before their expected birth date.

PAPA CLIFF: I think the biggest milestone was realizing and recognizing they each have two sisters.

NANNY CHRIS: Talking! The girls can tell me what they need and who hit or bit them.

What’s the funniest thing they did this year?

CRAIG: When they all shit on the floor before bath time…

BECCA: While it isn’t always at the time, it’s enjoyable to see what shenanigans the girls get into, how they plan an escape or climbing onto the table, how one of them will be the bandleader and take the other two with them. The five minutes of no diapers in the living room was pretty hilarious too, except for cleaning it up…

AUNT JANELLE: Most of my favorite funny moments are ones that haven’t gone into the blogs but have been texted to me, usually with an “OMG!” before the story. Those are my favorites because these girls have no shame sometimes!

GRANDMA ANNE: Love Emerie demanding that everyone shut the outside door, or the refrigerator door, or the gate. It wasn’t funny at the time, but watching Harper bonk her sisters repeatedly is funny long after the event. Observing Reagan so easily and quickly climb out of her crib and then explore the nursery makes for a great laugh.

PAPA CLIFF: For Reagan and Harper, it was dancing to Baby Shark while Emerie was at her eye doctor appointment. For Emerie, it was dancing around and showing me Yaba Do.

NANNY CHRIS: Harper- she makes the funniest faces and she knows she does! Emerie- getting in trouble then trying to make me laugh by laughing! Reagan- getting out of her crib and finding her in the living room.

What are you looking forward to this next year?

CRAIG: Hopefully they will be potty trained and we can stop buying diapers!

BECCA: I’m excited to see their skills continue to develop (loving the word explosion and interactions with each other) and greatly looking forward to putting them in ballet or soccer.

AUNT JANELLE: Since age 2 – 3 was my favorite for Paris, I can’t wait to see the girls become even more independent with mobility and conversations. Their little imaginations will grow even more so too which is so fun to watch. Plus they might be able to start new activities like sports, dance, etc. How fun!

GRANDMA ANNE: I look forward to the girls language development so they can express themselves better. Also am curious to see what sort of unique sister language they develop between themselves.

PAPA CLIFF: I am looking forward to just being with my babies and watching them learn to ride their tricycles.

NANNY CHRIS: Them becoming more independent and playing with one another, like play dough, coloring, etc. peace, peace, peace!

What do you miss the most about their first year compared to now?

CRAIG: When they could not climb everything and everywhere. They were lighter and easier to carry then.

BECCA: I will miss the bouncer stage; it was beyond cute. I will also miss the baby giggles…they are different than their laughs now and no sound in the world is as good to hear as when all three just learned to laugh together.

AUNT JANELLE: They were so much easier to catch, now that they’re mobile it’s harder to pin them down.

PAPA CLIFF: I miss the bouncing up and down in their bouncers. They would really go to town!

NANNY CHRIS: I miss the rolly-polly age where they didn’t move much but cuddled and were very happy. They were so cute and weren’t moving so much!

What are your favorite memories to share?

I would love to hear them from this past year, from post infancy to pre-toddler-hood to full on toddler-hood!

❤

The Douglets

Triplets in Alaska

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