The past few weeks have been all about the massive amount of snow hitting our city in the past week, in record levels. 41 inches in total officially, but we probably saw a bit more than that at our house! Something that should definitely excite my children, and yet they hardly even batted an eye at each growing foot! When it gets too deep to play or sled in, I guess it becomes a little less fun. From the adult perspective, driving (and shoveling) is terrible but the atmosphere is absolutely stunning. The last few days turned cold and sunny, creative a beautiful frozen tundra look across the city, with frost capped brush. The frost fairies have been busy!
Breaking city snow records is not our news for the month. So if you need to hear about something other than snow and the fact we are in the very middle of the dark, cold, never-ending winter, then here you go!
The Douglas house now has its SECOND set of triplets! Now you all take a deep breath, because it’s not inspired by me (thank heavens!), but our littlest kitten Molly, who managed to get herself knocked up earlier this fall. She’s still a kitten herself, probably around six months or so, and this past Monday she delivered three tiny kittens. A fitting number for us, don’t you think?
This set is definitely fraternal, with one fully black and two tabby orange striped. None of them look like their mother, who is white/grey with some brown. Mother and babies are doing well and they are already growing like weeds. When she’s not tending to her litter, she adamantly demands affection and snuggling naps, which I’m sure I wanted when the girls were newborns.
It is a funny comparison to watch, remembering the tougher, newborn days years back. She will wander off for hours, snuggling on our bed overnight or sitting on the couch with the girls; but immediately treks back to them at a single kitten shriek. You can’t pet anywhere near her stomach or a vicious attack results, because those nipples are raw. I remember that for sure, even just from pumping. She is constantly whining for more food, pointing out when the food bowl is lower than to her satisfaction. Teen moms, I tell you! 🙂
The girls are excited to share them with visitors, but overall we’ve kept them at a distance until they get a bit older and less fragile! Eyes will open sometime over the next week and then they will become more like triplet toddlers- you know, moving around constantly, wreaking havoc and getting into absolutely everything. After that we will let the girls play more a little more.
Harper is telling people we’ve named them Harper, Emerie and Reagan, and the black one is Harper! She of course claims that one since her favorite color is black and pink. From what we can tell the two tabby’s are boys and the fully black one appears to be a girl. Who knows what names they will end up, but it won’t be duplicates of the first triplets of the house!
Reagan also keeps asking how the babies “got out” of her belly. THAT, is a lesson for another day!!
You better believe there will be some up and coming videos and photos of the girls playing with the furry, newborn triplets, once they are more mobile and wild(er). And for now, we will try to keep our household capped at one set of identical triplets and one set of feline triplets and NO sets of future ones…
We decided this week wasn’t busy enough so after daycare pick up today, we trekked over to the mall and went to get everyone’s ears pierced.
Background, the last few weeks everyone has been very vocal about my earrings, asking when they can have big girl earrings and be like mom. Reagan adamantly decides what I should wear most mornings, including my fancy beaded ones on our hike over the weekend. We talked a bit earlier in the week about a “tiny owie and then it’s over” type piercing, but didn’t go any further than that.
As usual, Craig was much more averse to tackling it while I hesitated and would have waited until they were older (I’m less fun), thinking that Emerie wouldn’t remotely do it and while Reagan thought she wanted to, she might chicken out when it came down to it.
The girls enthusiastically perused the store, checking out all the glitter, nail polish, jewelry cases and everything in between. Claire’s is literally the perfect place for the pink, purple and teal life theme we live; add little girl stuff, and they were in heaven.
They wanted to look like Emie!
Harper chose pink studs, of course, without taking much time to consider other options. Emerie picked multi-colored flowers, and Reagan chose the “teal flower” (she corrected me when I said blue) studs. In birth order, Harper trudged forward into the chair, absolutely confident in her choice to go first. That’s pretty common for her; little did she know it would be a pinch.
Needless to say, the other two watched in horror as she burst into tears after the first one. The employee doing it was so very nice and spent a bunch of time warming her up to it, making sure the impending holes were centered in the exact right spot, and explaining all the steps. Harper didn’t put up much of a fight for the second ear, although she ricochet off it like a bat out of hell and with some tears. A promised lollipop and look in the mirror stopped the tears and she was fine from them on. Thank goodness the girl was fast!
The event went downhill from there. Reagan was out of there at this point, claiming to be shopping around the store and avoiding the scary chair. She also found a wall of panda stuff, her happy place. Craig spent the next few minutes convincing Emerie, until her first ear was done. Waterworks, rage, demands for us to take it out. She yelled for me across the store, then yelled she wanted Grandma Sue. It took at least 20 minutes to convince her to hold still and get the second ear done, and a lot of snuggles afterwards and the purchase of a plush unicorn that she adopted through her tears. That one was rough.
At this point Reagan knew that didn’t look fun and wanted no part in it, and began asking for clip-on earrings and not her fancy teal ones. After some discussion, she was still not onboard, but at least Harper was back to happy and Emerie’s waterworks had stopped. I took the two off to celebrate their big-girl status with an ice cream, also giving Reagan a chance with less chaos for Craig to convince her it wouldn’t be so bad. It’s amazing how claims of pain and suffering vanish when ice cream AND sprinkles becomes an option. Harper and Reagan both picked the sherbert swirl with a load of rainbow sprinkles and waited for the sisters. Luckily we were across the mall at this point, as I assume the rage fire that is my youngest child was likely bubbling to the surface. Ultimately she ran toward us without any tears, excited for her turn at ice cream and to show us her pretty ears. So yes, in truth, we survived the entire event. Ice cream was enjoyed, dinner barely occurred later, and everyone is nearly asleep in their beds as I wrap up the evening’s adventure. Hopefully sleep will come quick and ears will stay clean until they are all healed up. I see more jewelry shopping in our future; that and I may need to start hiding some of my dangles, because I know of three little girls that want to try them on already.
Post evening torture photo. Emerie was over it and reading her book.
It’s been a bit since I posted a blog and thought I’d give a quick update and share some of the latest quirks the girls continue to share with us. Work continues to be incredibly busy for both Craig and I, him on the annual end of year closeout and me helping cover the rest of the grant season for airport development projects, in addition to my standard project management and job duties. We are both very thankful that the allergies and ear infections that hit mid-July last year have not yet reemerged and that the girls have been healthy and able to go to preschool continuously while we stay caught up on work.
As we start drifting toward end of summer activities, such as rain adventures, blueberry picking, and less outdoor water activities, the girls continue their current flower (bouquet) obsessions. Rose, daisy, and my poor front pansy plants now litter the living room and back deck; at least there are enthusiastic children happy to creatively play. Harper and Reagan enjoy picking raspberries from the backyard and eating them before returning inside; Emerie likes to taunt – ahem play – with the ever growing chickens, who now forcibly demand to explore the backyard, outside of their cage.
The toddler cars also reemerged and our neighbors get the honor of enjoying the spectacle of our kids driving down the street and the parents trying to keep them from getting run over by real cars or running into parked ones. Emerie greatly improved on her steering skills this summer, but also forgets the pedal is to the metal and will drive forward while looking backwards or concentrating on something that isn’t driving the car. Harper and Reagan seem to have the steering skills down and both enjoy driving. This picture fully explains everyone’s enthusiasm, Emerie’s face and all!
After last month’s unfortunate pet events, we welcomed a new member into the household, a three month old kitten. Her name started out as Molly until Reagan convinced everyone a more fitting name was Sassafras, which stuck. She’s a wild little thing and demands our attention at two or three in the morning every night, unless we manage to wear her out in the evenings. Good thing our children prepared us for that habit to continue! She really enjoys sleeping on Craig’s pillow, C-PAP and all, but turns into a raging, playful maniac the moment the first kid wakes up mid night, which is usually Reagan. A few nights I’ve caught her cuddling and sleeping in bed with Harper or Emerie; a few other nights I’ve dragged said monster out of their bedroom before the toe biting and playful scratching occurs. Overall, Sassafras fully embraces the busy, kid oriented household that surrounds my life and loves to play with the girls and run around. The girls love using the toy wands and running away from her. The chickens don’t seem incredibly upset with her presence either and simply crowd around when she gets in “their” space; not sure if that means they want to eat her or hide from her. And what does our other kitty think of her? Well he’s not ready to forgive us yet for a new foreigner, hisses when his personal space is in question and will only cuddle with her if asleep and she creeps up and settles.
Age four of the triplet life we lead produces quite the crazy opinions some days, especially when it comes to Miss Harper Anne. Of the three, she often displays the most dramatics over completely irrelevant things and it can be quite hilarious, much to her dismay. For example, the other day she was furious with me at bedtime because the following day wasn’t Christmas, and that winter wasn’t here yet (since she knows Christmas is during the snow season). She huffed and puffed and laid in her bed, with a you’re not my mom anymore response…as if I can control time! One night at bedtime she claimed with a huff that she couldn’t go to bed because I – her loving mother – didn’t make HER bed up that day. And at dinner one night we had pasta and I noted the leftovers would be in their lunch the following day. Harper scolded me for not putting said pasta in her lunch from earlier that day, and insisted that issue should be fixed by yours truly. Time be damned, Mom, go back five hours and make my lunch with pasta like I want. Kids I tell you…
It’s not all chaos and dramatics…well I mean it mostly is, but other moments the girls dole out sound advice. After a preschool fire drill one afternoon, they all reminded me on the way home, don’t be scared, be prepared, and excitedly shared their experience for the day about fire. They also strongly noted their teacher keeps them safe and wouldn’t let fire hurt them, even if she needed a firefighter to help her. True words!
HarperEmerieReagan
Reagan is on a cooking kick this month and I often find her playing by herself and cooking a pretend masterpiece meal or tea party for her sisters. One afternoon she asked, Mom, what is your favorite cake I can make you? My response, of course, was a homemade German chocolate cake, what Craig makes for me every year! She went into her kitchen and then was quietly repeating her recipe out loud to herself. Add a little German, add a little chocolate, and a little more German. Hahaha…it’s the thought that counts.
Emerie continues to live her best life and chase chickens, taunt the kitten, pick flowers whenever possible and avoid major rain puddles that her sisters splash her direction. We learned a couple weeks back that she needs another more significant eye surgery that will couple with adding new ear tubes back in, something planned for the end of this month. She continues to amaze me when you consider she tackles everything her sisters do, but with one eye significantly weaker and often when the strong eye is patched. She’s a rock star.
Next up? A two day preschool closure starting tomorrow and next week, aging up to the four year old classroom at school! I’m not sure who is having the hardest time with that thought, Miss Tawni, the girls, or me!
And just like that, July is nearly over! The month passed quickly being out and about with friends, hitting work deadlines and visiting with both grandmas, Anne and Sue. On Grandma Sue’s last visit the girls talked her into purchasing their first, itty-bitty sized bras, ones that are actually meant for small, preteen girls. All three were exceptionally excited to wear them around the house one afternoon and agitated they couldn’t wear them to dinner in public! Who knew age four be the beginning of that argument?!
Our 4th of July was laid back, we skipped the parade and events around town and just hung out at home, enjoying the nice weekend. The girls played on the water slide, experimented with every form of water imaginable in the back yard, including ice cubes containing secret gems, and made a lot of flower soups. We all went shopping and one afternoon Grandma Sue and I trekked down to Girdwood for a solo afternoon with Harper, while the other two went with Craig on a park date. All the hang out time at home also allowed Craig to get the chicken coop built in the backyard; the girls even occasionally “helped” him build it.
Sunny & warm out!Saturday market
The following weekend resulted in a couple park visits in between rain and some time spent on the Saturday Market rides. The girls all rode with Craig on the big ferris wheel (not my favorite thing to ride-aka heights), and while Reagan was the most nervous of the three, all shared big smiles as they went around. Emerie ended up yelling from the ground that she could see Craig’s leg tattoo when they were at the top, which she thought was exciting. Everyone enjoyed several carousel rides with Grandma Anne in tow and sucked down some shaved ice and lemonade. It will be fun to see how they do with the fair rides next month…I’m betting we will have to pry them off by the end of the day.
Girls night this month meant Grandma Anne creating a smorgasbord of food options and served the children as they demanded (asked?) for more of everything. Dinner and a show with fancy dresses, fancy hair and a picture! in true Douglet style, followed by sparkling apple juice, fruit, veggies and other delectables.
Emerie, Pella and a TBD named chicken
This month Emerie found a new bestie, whom she named Pella (NOT Bella, she insists), and she lives in the form of a chicken. She’s great at spotting her (lightest feathers) and loves to take the darn thing all over the yard, snuggle her in her dress, and scold her for pooping on the deck. She constantly expects this poor chicken to be obedient and listen to instruction. It’s hilarious to listen to a four-year-old complain that her beloved chicken won’t listen to me and inspires frustration….I wonder what that feels like!
Fourth of July fanciness
One afternoon at preschool pickup, I told the girls I wasn’t feeling well (air pressure change headache). On the drive home, all three informed me that I needed to drink more water, I needed a blanket on while I sit on the couch when we get home; then that I need to make them dinner and eat it. After that, I was told I’d feel better if I went to sleep in my bed and didn’t work the next day. Very specific, but well thought out steps from my four-year-old clan!
As the Facebook world already knows, our kitty cat Rafi was hit by a car in front of our house a couple days after the holiday. While this kind of thing happens in life, we weren’t quite ready to share the concept of death and heaven with the girls, opting to do just that after some discussion. Over the past two weeks we still receive the random questions, such as is the black kitty STILL dead? or does Rafi have to be in heaven?!, things of that nature as they try to work out the new concept in their heads. This whole event taught me a couple things as a parent: 1) the girls are resilient and can handle the truth on some, big life things, 2) they ask insightful questions as they learn something new about life, and 3) they can be very sweet when they want to and care for their animals.
Another insightful tip? Flower daisy bouquets are a HUGE hit in this house. The flowers were intended to be grave decorations, but never actually made it that far. Instead, the girls’ good intentions were side tracked by their creativity, taking their bouquets and creating play food, soups and everything you can imagine. I will definitely buy random bouquets in the future, just to take apart and play with.
Sleepyheads IN THEIR BEDS!!!
For the first time in almost 4 1/2 years, the girls ALL slept six nights in a row in their room, without climbing into my bed or the guest room. While six nights in a row doesn’t sound like a massive accomplishment (a thought I would have had pre-parenthood), it’s huge for this house. It’s about as big as a miracle. It’s been such a long time, with lack of consistent sleep a normal reality for the adults for years now. Harper continues as the rock star sleeper, not even batting an eye at six nights, while Emerie and Reagan remain the challenge to keep in their room, a challenge we are hopefully tackling.
The achievement of five days gained the girls an ice cream shop trip and a goodie! Everyone knew the treat came after school and constantly asked when we were going; Harper and Emerie opted for chocolate ice cream and Reagan wanted cotton candy…every wanted sprinkles.
It feels strange walking into the nursery each morning for school, since I’m so used to creeping around the house with one still asleep in my bed, usually Reagan. I’m holding my breath this trend will continue and that we are slowly getting out of the baby/toddler loop of assisted sleeping arrangements.
Another exciting milestone occurred this month…soccer!! The girls started preschool soccer this week for the first time. This month’s torrential downpour paused for the first night of fun and overall the 45 minutes went about as expected. They all participated in the first five minutes of stretching and it went a bit downhill from there. It is quite cute watching them do jumping jacks!
Harper had her good moments of listening and running back-and-forth, Reagan had her good moments of the same, and Emerie was by far the least excited to participate and opted to stay sitting at Craig‘s feet for most of the session. She found entertainment in wearing all of the portable chair bags rather than running around with a soccer ball like the other kids. At one point she was jumping on top of her soccer ball and falling as it slid out from under her, laughing from the ground. Luckily she found her groove the second night and really enjoyed it.
Little bag ladyBefore picture!Opening stretches
It’s still a mystery who will want to pursue the sport, but I hope at least one or two of them find a love for it like I did as a child (and adult). Not only is it less expensive than dance and hockey, but it’s a great sport to learn, promotes healthy movement and fun with friends, and one that Craig or I could help coach in the future. Harper has a love of running and speeding anywhere, making her an easy fit to play forward or midfield as she gets older and into a more organized version of it. Reagan had some fun moments kicking her ball and might be able to find her niche too; the jury is still out on Miss Emerie.
Other notables this month include walks in the (never ending) rain, playing outside with umbrellas, ice cream truck visits, picking fresh raspberries, and painting! Once the weather improves a bit, we will get out and about for fireweed picking, blueberry picking and other late summer outdoor adventures. And we all know fall is around the corner…I will try to hold onto one more month of summer before I get excited for the season change!
Today was an unexpectedly difficult day, with very little warning. I guess life just happens some days and there’s nothing you can do about it but roll with the punches. This is especially true when you have little kids.
In this case, Craig received a phone call from the local pound, informing us that our first pet together, our little grey kitty Rafi, was struck and killed my a car earlier this afternoon. Turns out it was right in front of our house, likely by a speeding driver, since many fly down our residential street, going like forty miles per hour.
Rafi was named after one of my beloved Red Wing players, Rafalski, about a decade ago. He was a rescue that instantly loved having a whole house to himself, having a plentiful amount of food and snuggles, specifically from me. He HATED all the house projects Craig forced him to endure, especially anytime his brother Chris showed up with some power tools, such as new windows and doors in our first house, and when he overcame that obstacle, we got a dog. It took barely any time for him to warm up to our other cat, Rory, and they became fast friends and stayed that way through the years. He was less than impressed at our promotion to triplet parents, even less impressed when that reduced his snuggles and our minimal sitting still for YEARS. Only in the last six months or so have either cat decided it is safe to go near the kids and that sometimes results in petting and snuggles. I’m glad I got a good evening snuggle with him last night, full of purring before I drifted off to sleep.
We decided to be upfront with the girls tonight and tell them the truth. We took them outside with our loved kitty and told them about the accident, that his injury was too bad to fix (even with a bandaid- to their disbelief), and that he was already in heaven. They doubted this until Craig pulled him out and set him on a blanket in a hole in the ground, and then stressed a bit more at a new reality they don’t quite yet understand, especially seeing a bit of blood from the hit. Don’t worry, it wasn’t very graphic or we wouldn’t have shown the girls; and it showed us that it was an instantaneous incident and he didn’t suffer, which is a relief.
Everyone absolutely wanted to put flowers all over him and picked from around the garden (sorry Grandma), laying them gently down and putting handfuls of dirt on him. I have to say, for their age, they did a great job asking questions, trying to understand it and being respectful. Craig did a great job coaching and explaining through it.
The rest of the evening produced a bunch of complicated life questions. Harper keeps repeating that she doesn’t want Rafi to go to heaven; she wants him to stay here. Reagan keeps asking why did my grey kitty die? All three are very concerned about him sleeping outside in the dirt and want him to feel better, questioning why a bandaid can’t fix it. Reagan and Emerie are still asking questions but seem to be okay, while Harper is a bit more sad about the idea and needed a good momma cuddle. At bedtime Reagan kept asking where Rafi went and why. They all want to know where heaven is…and that’s a bit harder to answer off the cuff! When I explained it’s a place full of happiness and no pain, Reagan asked me if it was in Juneau. I’m pretty sure that’s because happiness equals Grandma Sue for her 🙂
It’s a tough reality knowing you can’t permanently protect your kids from some of life’s harsh realities, such as losing a pet or a loved one. Realities no one wants to go through but no one can escape from. I hope we made the right call in our explanations and that the girls will remember our beloved kitty and all our fun times with him.
Prayers for our household tonight as we miss our kitty and learn to work through life without his snuggles and meows.
The Douglets 