Well, two out of three kiddos strutted out of their biannual dentist checkup with shiny new cavity appointments—so what better way to spend spring break than scheduling three separate dental procedures? I can think of plenty of things… but hey, at least we were productive!
Harper was up first, needing two separate appointments for cavities on either side of her bottom molars. To my surprise, she was both excited and a little nervous—though mostly thrilled to have a medical appointment all to herself, without her sisters tagging along. The wonderful dental hygienist explained the entire procedure beforehand and even let her use the light for a tiny practice filling on her hand. That little blip became a prized possession- one I had to keep track of throughout the visit- and is now safely tucked away in the treasure box by her bed.
She followed all directions, held still as the “sugar bugs” were removed, and didn’t peek when told to shut her eyes (for the Novocaine!); she held my hand and didn’t flinch at all, entirely chill. Puppy also joined the event for moral support and snuggled under the blanket the entire time. The laughing gas definitely helped take the edge off, but took a bit to take effect and she was goofy waiting for it to kick in. Harper was mostly concerned about bad tasting stuff like the previous visit’s sealants, and reported the air running through her nose smelled good, like cherries. Overall, fantastic attitude from the youngun the entire time, and lots of thumbs up when asked by the dentist. One down!
While running a few errands after school pickup, Harper suddenly decided it was time for that first wiggly front tooth to vacate the premises. With a dramatic twist (pun intended!!), just as the dentist had mostly jokingly suggested a couple of hours earlier- out it came in the car. Seriously, my kids have a thing with pulling teeth at inopportune times in the car! And no hesitation, just hollering for a tissue and yelling about blood, while this poor driver reminded her not to drop it. Just one quick twist, and boom– tooth gone. The first thing out of her mouth (besides the tooth? Ha.)? Reagan! Now we look like twins! Mon, now I look like Reagan! As if they didn’t already have identical faces. The main, obvious visual difference between the two since middle toddler years was Reagan cracking and losing her top tooth, so it’s fitting the same one came out first to match. And honestly, it’s not like some of the kids they know don’t tell them apart by dental records at this point…but not so much now. Emerie is extremely displeased to not be in the “twin club” (even funnier since she and Harper are technically twins) and really hoping to push out her same top tooth any day now and catch up.
And how did she catch up??? Instead, as if I didn’t have enough dentist visits this month, we scheduled one more unplanned one to assess her sagging front tooth from a toy to the face, a tooth that turned black within a few days, but was still dangling strong from her gum-line. At least, holding strong enough for resistance from an adult trying to yank it out. Emerie was convinced the dentist wanted to take it at the appointment, meaning her face plant and butt in the air on the seat and hiding from him. Superrrr fun. His very short lived assessment after a quick x-ray gave us the green light for the ENT to remove the tooth while under anesthesia the following day.
I should also mention the newest household villain: the Tooth Fairy. Once a magical figure ensuing joy and excitement, she is now viewed as a thief lurking in the night, ready to snatch possessions that don’t belong to her, such as the freshly evicted front tooth. No amount of money was deemed acceptable after much discussion. After taking said tooth and container on a bike ride to show the neighbors down the street (one of our last days before snow returned), this valuable treasure needed a bodyguard and she entrusted me -her ever-reliable mother- with its protection. That was two weeks ago; and the tooth still sits on my nightstand, untouched by distrusted fairy hands, and receiving daily visits from its rightful owner. Harper checks on it like a rare museum artifact, making sure it hasn’t mysteriously disappeared. And at this point, I think I’m more scared of losing it than she is. Yep, #realtalk.
Before surgeryAfter surgery!
Emerie’s tooth eviction followed uneventfully with her tonsillectomy and has secured another safe location to avoid that damn tooth fairy, and now I have a new job to add to my resume- a watcher and protector of random front teeth…
The day after Emerie’s surgery Harper was up again for her second filling and met with continual thumbs up, like it was no big deal for such a grown up six-year-old who hates brushing her teeth. She certainly loves the attention, happily picked out some chap stick afterwards and enjoyed a fruit drink to celebrate good behavior, because nothing says good dental behavior like a sugary treat right?!
The following day Reagan was up for her first filing and my last health related appointment for the week, thankfully. Unlike her “full-speed-ahead” sister, Reagan approached the situation cautiously. She gripped my hand tightly, showing her nerves, and while she didn’t dish out any enthusiastic thumbs-ups, she faced it all with quiet determination. The Novocain part was especially stressing- no dramatic reactions or peeking, but plenty of squeaking and turmoil I could feel through her tiny fingers. Her panda joined for the entire visit and the first request was a sugar free lollipop and chap stick for her trouble. While this visit had no happy thumbs-ups or post-filling happiness, she did exactly what was asked of her, following every direction to the letter- because rules are rule and Reagan is certainly great at following them.
Now I’d like to avoid the dentist for a bit, and keep on those pesky kids to brush, brush, brush! My brain still hasn’t fully caught up to the fact that everyone now sports a holy front smile—not just Reagan. For years, she was the lone gap toothed wonder and now suddenly, it’s all three. Also interesting that Reagan and Harper are rocking identical holes and I can’t help but wonder which tooth Reagan would have lost first naturally, had she not cracked it and needed it pulled. Same goes for Emerie, who probably would’ve followed suit with her sisters… had a toy (and sibling) not intervened and made the decision for her gums. And just when I thought our tooth saga would slow FOR THE WEEK, Harper sprinted up to me at school pickup today, flashing a huge smile; and now missing both front teeth. The second one made its grand exit this afternoon at school (at least it wasn’t the car??). And where, you ask, is that second tooth currently? Oh, you know, safely tucked away in another plastic bag, because the big, bad Tooth Fairy will NOT be sneaking off with it overnight. No amount of bedtime discussion could change her mind. That tooth is HERS and the Tooth Fairy can keep her money.
And with that, the Tooth Fairy remains the enemy in our household—and our house is rapidly becoming a tooth museum -or possibly burial ground- a place where lost teeth aren’t treasures to trade… they’re trophies to keep.
I’ll end on what was a current “holey” triplet photo, until about six hours ago that is…
No excitement for spring break this year, unless you count a plethora of doctor visits. The main event up today? Emerie getting her tonsils and adenoids removed, ear tubes for the third time, and if that wasn’t enough, pulling her top front tooth that met its demise last week against a toy, but isn’t quite committed to removal with her awake.
We were unsure if today was to happen, with a minor bug hitting all three kiddos in the past few days after a fun weekend to Seward. Emerie proceeded to puke all over my boots and the bathroom yesterday, but seemed well enough this morning to brave her procedure as planned. With Grandma Sue here to watch the other two and help the next few days, and school out for the week, this really is the perfect time for Emerie to rest up and recover, hopefully in time for all of next week’s birthday festivities.
At her pre-op appointment she told her life story to the receptionist and continued babbling to the nurse. The only tidbit of information she gleaned from the doctor was the fact bad breath will be present for a few days post procedure. She immediately went to her sisters later that morning to tell them she had to stay away after surgery, because her breath will be so bad. Funny what kids pay attention to!
We got up bright and early to head to the doctor’s office, convincing her that only two stuffed animals could join in on the fun. Only one adult is allowed in pre-op at a time and Emerie chose Craig, since she is predominantly on Team Dad when given the option. We will see how that goes, as she usually flips and wants me to snuggle once she wakes up.
The procedure lasted about 45 minutes and everything went smoothly. Craig returned for her wake up and I followed shortly after with a change of clothes. Everything went smoothly on all three accounts, and she came out of anesthesia pretty well after a short, post procedure nap. We are both interested to see if they return like Craig’s did, or if we are one and done with their removal (hopefully!). The doc noted she had fluid in both ears so the tubes would again help with that. With minimal tears and a purple popsicle later, we headed home to chill for the day.
Holier smile!
Harper and Reagan were happy to see sissy and her freshly removed tooth, and after a little Moana 2 on the iPad, Craig was able to convince her a nap would help. The rest of the day proceeded uneventfully, which is a good thing, and overall she is more chipper than we anticipated. She even played a little while with her sisters, and then continued to relax and watch television and suck down pedialite pops and apple sauce.
Thanks for all the prayers; and hopefully keeping up on her pain meds overnight will allow her to have a restful night of sleep as we ease into day two! I have also been advised the tooth fairy is not welcome to visit tonight and her tooth is safely tucked away on the counter 🙂
This household takes spirit week at school pretty seriously, you know, when the options are easy enough to accommodate. From crazy sock or hat day to favorite character, the girls are always excited to sport something different than their typical day attire.
I don’t always match the girls for school, but they typically complement one another; i.e. all three wear a dress, or all three wear jeans and similar shoes, or in the same style but in their varying colors. They don’t fight me too much on this YET, and I am already sad knowing that day won’t be too far away.
And some spirit days we have a little fun. In other words, on an outfit mismatch day, that is taken in a different way than lopsided clothing. In a triplet house, it means switching colors and trying to look like each other, which includes faces, outfits AND accessories. It seems to be lost on them that they already look the same.
Reagan begged to look like Emerie for a day, eye patch, glasses, and all. Emerie opted less enthusiastically to be Harper, after being told she still had to wear her glasses even though Harper doesn’t have them. Harper luckily was okay being Reagan to round out the trio, likely because the tooth loss earlier in the week meant their smiles are once again exactly matched, years after Reagan’s front tooth debacle and surgical pulling. Harper rocked Reagan’s panda attire, and definitely could be mistaken for her sister in a random glance. Emerie didn’t want to wear anything seal related and opted for all pink.
Everyone trekked into school assuming their teacher wouldn’t be able to tell them apart (which she proved them wrong on). Reagan sported a patch and blue light glasses, after several discussions why Emerie’s prescription spectacles wouldn’t be wearable for her. This caused confusion since they pushed back that they all have the same eyes. Not quite kid!
From the jumbled story told on the car ride home, it sounds like their teacher let them have a little fun with it, sitting on their sisters color spots during the day, and eating out of each other’s lunch boxes. I am unsure how long the patch lasted, but guessing not nearly as long as Emerie has wears it each day.
Don’t they look alike? The correct triplet with the mismatched triplet 🙂
It’s been a while since a blog update so lots of things happening at the Douglets household. We eased back into the school schedule after a fun two weeks off for Christmas break, with an enjoyable Grandma Sue and Auntie Amanda visit, and dove straight into the new year with a family plague. It easily took three weeks before everyone was feeling back to normal, with the croup cough lingering and drifting through each kid, and then returned to Harper for a second round of fun. For how terrible they sounded and all the glaring looks from random strangers, no one had any fevers throughout the entire bout of it. We visited the doctor a couple of times for steroids and instructions to hydrate, continue inhalers, and take it easy, and finally those little bodies were able to fight it off, but not before Craig and I caught a mild version of it.
Harper’s ear tubes presented no issues and she bounced back to normal in no time, and since then we’ve attended various doctor check ups for everyone. So many doctor visits, so little time. We continue the triple dentist appointments and I am still impressed how well they do; ENT visits for all three as well. Our beloved eye surgeon, Doctor Winkle, just retired- much to Emerie’s dismay- and her prognosis is so good we no longer need a surgeon to monitor and can start again with the original doctor who initialized the cataract diagnosis. All the patching is really paying off and no eye surgeries are planned in the near future. Such a big win there! In fact, the doctor told Craig she would love to host a class for parents to hear how we prioritized her patching, something many parents apparently aren’t doing. If triplet parents can make it work; everyone can do it. No excuses! And I genuinely believe all the tears, crying and trying to rip it off during the toddler years equals her ability to see out of her left eye, and it was all worth it! Emerie still questions why she has to continue putting the patch on before school, but ultimately doesn’t fight us too badly on it and has started trying to put it on herself, unassisted. She also carries her “patch book” to school every day and it has grown exponentially with each passing day.
After school and recreational activities are keeping us busy through the winter months. Two build days a month, which typical start a day of fun with “cousins” Oaki and Kaden, start the weekend off to a good start. My lack of building skills are finally improving while Craig is able to master building two sets at different stages at the same time with two of the three kids. And as the second semester of first grade began, after school stays busy with Pokemon club, gymnastics (which they LOVE!), and intramural sports each week, ballet and tap on the weekends, as well as a weekly ice skating class.
The last time we did ice skating the girls were about three, and with COVID in full effect, masks were required along with helmets, which equaled sensory overloaded tiny humans on ice. This time around, especially after some family skating outings with pushers to assist, all three adore their skating time and look forward to it. They excitedly rock leg warmers and skate out to their class spot unassisted while the parents relax from the side lines, and everyone then free skates after each class. It is extremely cute to watch all three learning the skill and how quickly they pick each thing up. The backwards skating is a little tricky; forwards they are confident and faster and believe every skill is a speed race. In mid-February all three graduated from level one and are now in basic 2 and picking up different skills than the first round. Their confidence continues to improve and they ask to skate whenever possible.
One evening excursion to town center to skate was met with great enthusiasm by all, except maybe our toes and fingers. Hockey gear was borrowed and when focusing on a puck their balance improves; they actually skate better. It was cute to watch them hit and chase the pucks and try to score. And, of course, the pushers were blue seals and Harper loved that. It was a cold, but fun night.
Reagan’s weekly speech therapy came to an end after about a year and a half. She adored seeing her teacher each week, and even more so enjoyed no sister participation. Going straight from school to the place, Emerie and Harper read books or watched a show in the car to pass the time. She just graduated and now needs only occasional reminders to correct her “s” sounds; probably just in time for her other front tooth to fall out (haha!). She now casually states I retired from speech. And would really like to go back and keep doing it!
Closer to home and outside of all the hustle and bustle of activities, the girls continue to find new arts and crafts. In addition to the standard coloring, paper creations with scissors (snowflakes are everywhere but outside this year!), and creative freehand drawings, is the new skill of rubber band bracelets. Reagan picked it up effortlessly and became a great demonstrator for both her sisters, who frustrate easily and then shut down on trying. It’s very sweet to watch, once the fighting settles, and cute when Harper finally figures the loops out and gets excited at the progress. Emerie on the other hand, rubber band jewelry may just not be her thing.
Harper finding seal books at the library
Lots of other things to report over here in this active householder, but let’s keep it short and sweet or I will never complete this post! Harper and Emerie are all about fancy, collaborated outfits lately. They appear on the stairs with many accessories, fancy dresses and shoes, ready to do a show. Harper is all about wearing her high heels, which are just ballet flats with a tiny heel bump; asking to wear them to school every morning. She gets away with that request some days, with the lack of snow for this time of year. She often wears her Target dollar section earmuffs and Jordan’s scarf, to ensure those cold days aren’t an issue. Reagan always opts for her calf high black boots, and wears those to school most days, and often with a panda related accessory to compliment. All three continue the fuzzy coat obsession and are vastly disappointed any time we force them to wear real winter jackets. Harper’s pink coat is worn nearly every day, Emerie rocks her purple one when she can find it, and Reagan traded her light blue one for a beige and green one I found at the store a couple weeks back. Fuzzy coats for the win!
Cold school lunches continue to be a struggle, especially after three years at the school where I feel as though I had fantastic eaters, from keeping the variety interesting day to day. All three vary in preference for their sandwiches, with Reagan moderately obsessed with blueberry jelly -NOT raspberry, grape or any other flavor- and no peanut butter on her PB&J-minus the J. I believe Harper is the only one that will eat both peanut butter AND jelly, and that leaves Emerie, who only wants peanut butter. So very complicated to remember. Luckily the fruit and veggie portion of lunch times are easily satisfied and the continue to enjoy that variety.
We have also entered into a more emotional stage of kid development. While it isn’t full tantrums and freakouts (well occasionally), it involves more life questions. After meeting the twins at Christmas time, Reagan is now on a kick of wishing to be a baby again, and get baby snuggles like a baby. January hosted a multitude of bedtime discussions centered around this, and alluding to wanting to go back to that age. Emerie’s emotions are a different direction. The past six months or so, she has really latched on to her Uncle Chris, who passed away when she was about 15 months old. She seems to have a kindred spirit connection with him that I can’t really explain, but I love to watch play out. This includes so many questions about him, his likes and dislikes, and she is extremely sensitive about it. But it’s also very sweet to see her carry around a photo of them together or to see a letter in her backpack that is written to or about him. Sometimes Craig and I might make the cut on a family picture, but he always does and it’s very sweet.
In addition, Emerie now says the “k word”, “d word”, and “h word” and gets upset when she hears anyone else say it. You would think that is damn, hell, or who knows what “k” is supposed to mean, but it’s not from the swear jar. Her concern relates to anything “kill” related, “die or dead” related, and “heaven,” and scolds sisters when they speak. Yes, we are working through these big picture ideas and expressions, how heaven is a happy place and not scary, and talking it out. Man, kids surely keep you on your toes.
Valentines Day was a hit again this year; everyone addressed their own cards. The funniest part of that was the organization. After the mass table mess of cards, stickers, envelopes and class lists, I turned around to Reagan’s neatly stacked in a Ziploc, Harper’s shoved into a bigger bag but still semi in order, and Emerie’s shoved into the bag and all over the place. The distinction matches them each so perfectly. Everyone wore pink and red; Harper was especially excited to rock a stretchy pink skirt and red tights with her pink headband. The massive paper envelopes with all their goodies from the day returned home with great excitement, and some of that candy is still sitting on the kitchen table. We celebrated the evening with dinner at Texas Roadhouse, and a quick family picture.
7th birthday planning always begins in February as we prepare for our annual shindig and I am looking forward to the next blog update all about how my little ladies have grown the past year, and all the amazing milestones we’ve achieved on this triplet journey.
The past six weeks have been full of holiday activities, play dates with friends, and school activities. Staying busy pushes us through the dark, winter season, and helps burn the never ending amount of energy three six-year-olds brings to our household. As the sun sets before four in the afternoon, it seems like that darkness turns into kid energy and wildness, all while cooped up indoors in the evenings.
We kicked off the Christmas season with a Samaritans Purse evening, organizing and filling boxes that would arrive all over the world, to share a little Christmas joy with other kids less fortunate. The girls were great helpers, customizing their boxes for girls aged four to six, and begging to do more than one box. They colored pages and wrote notes to include in their boxes and stacked them up in the big pile. Bonus was the cookie decorating table, which included some eating and some donating plates to others- all in all, it was a productive and fun night with their classmates.
Thanksgiving was late in November this year and nicely didn’t coincide with Craig’s birthday. Aunt Jenny purchased blue plaid, kid onesies that were quite the hit at dinner, with the girls wearing them consistently at night and while playing at home the past month, as we continue through our cold season. After a nice dinner at cousins’ house in Eagle River, we headed to the “real” Nutcracker show in Anchorage later that weekend, hosted by the Eugene Ballet group. Last year the show we attended was performed by a local ballet school and a little more kid friendly for noise; this year we watched the fancier one, meeting up with their friend Ava and practically sitting in the auditorium rafters. I had fancy hairstyles planned to match the Christmas dresses, but canned the idea after realizing we had the day wrong and only an hour notice to get everyone ready and downtown.
There were fewer when is it over complaints from Emerie this year; she seemed happy to sit with Ava and watch the show. Reagan also had a nice conversation with Ava’s dad during the show and Harper insisted on sitting with Craig for the whole thing. After a quick cookie snack at intermission -because everyone was apparently starving after an hour- they enjoyed watching the dances and beautiful sets and costumes, but were ready to run by the ending.
The school Christmas show went off marvelously and all three were strategically placed near each other, but with a non sibling in between each. All three sang their hearts out and did the motions to their songs, all smiles. I always enjoy these events, as it makes me feel more like a parent than other days of the year, and gives me a surreal sense of happiness.
A few other noteworthy, funny moments over the past month:
Harper begged for Mrs. Claus dresses this year, which are harder to find than you might think! Grandma Sue ended up sending Santa and Elf themed sweater dresses from Fred Meyer and the girls continue to wear them at least a couple times a week. They are great for photo ops and warm for winter, not to mention cute!
Emerie continues her goofball comments, with so many silly commentaries about Grandma’s baby boy– meaning Craig- and it’s hilarious. She latches on to an idea and then rolls with it for quite a while, accentuating the baby booooooy when talking about him.
Reagan now creates word and spelling games for sisters. You’ll find two of them with heads together and thick as thieves, doing some kind of spelling categorization or asking how to spell a word. It’s very sweet to watch her guide and explain to her sisters; she is definitely our school kid of the three. Maybe there’s a future teacher in there!
On a sweet note, Harper still starts her conversations with can I tell you something?! I love you. and I hope that lasts forever. Normal conversations often start with that question, and then she waits until you agree before starting her tangent. On the other hand, Emerie goes the opposite direction in the morning and often hollers I told you to stop waking me up! I want to wake up myself; go away! when starting off the morning for school. If you walk away she will get herself up like it was her idea in the first place; funny kid.
Harper now requests music in a new way- the girls recently noticed the car screen shows album covers and it is often completely irrelevant to the playing music. I now receive requests such as can you play the song with the girl in the pink dress? and I’m supposed to know what that is. At least with the customized song names from the toddler days I could interpret it; I definitely don’t know album covers! All three also ask what song names are, as written on the screen, and are getting better at sounding them out.
Emerie now tallies our life scores, whether we agree to participate or not. If I can’t answer a question, then my lack of correct response means she gets a point. I am unsure what these points tally toward, but I sure don’t seem to get any on my side. She asked Grandma Sue the other day how was God born? And the lack of “correct” answer earned Emerie a self proclaimed point, because she didn’t know. This is starting to happen more frequently off all her random questions.
Our girls continue to grow like weeds and no longer boast those baby faces and toddler mannerisms. In addition to sailing through an entire clothing size this summer- our quickest yet- we also rearranged their bedroom this month and removed the sofa chair purchased during my pregnancy. This felt like a mental blow to my mom brain, reminding us how rapidly they grow up, and prepared for the oversized beanbag chair arriving from Santa. That chair holds so many memories; used multiple times a day, every single day, for years: triple bottle feedings every three hours around the clock, quick diaper changes, comforting a crying baby in the middle of the night, calming wild toddlers at bedtime, snuggling for naps after Emerie’s many eye surgeries, or reading a gazillion books. I often found Emerie sitting on it with a stuffy, listening to a Tonie story, or Reagan singing along to one under a blanket. I couldn’t bring myself to rehome it, so its new home is downstairs in the family room, ready for more memories and cuddles to come. To this day, I truly believe it was the best purchase we made in preparation for the girls, and the most used piece of furniture those first few years. In other big kid news, the girls slept in the living room by the Christmas tree a couple different nights, which is another age milestone and something I greatly enjoyed and remember doing as a 90s kid.
In addition to moving furniture to make way for new activities, so begins the arguments and deep discussions related to boy crushes. I thought we’d have more time since they are only six, but exactly that occurred at the end of a school day earlier this month. I arrived with Harper in tears and Emerie mad, and Reagan running up to explain they were fighting because Harper told Emerie her secret crush and Emerie didn’t keep the secret. Emerie told her teacher, who responded they are too young for crushes (which is true!) and Harper lost her mind. Ooof, that was such a fun ride home, believe you me! This is a terrifying preview of the teenage years…SO not ready yet. The girls now intermittently discuss their “crushes” and which boys in their class they will marry someday. Reagan still wants to have twin girls and has their names chosen already, Harper wants triplets (ha!) and Emerie is a no go to having any babies in her belly, at least right now.
Christmas break this year was significantly easier than years past, and not only because of the surprise arrival of Grandma Sue (surprise to me) and Auntie Amanda (to the girls). In addition to all the Christmas arts and crafts and goodie cooking, the girls will now wander off to read a book or write something out with a drawing, which they didn’t independently do last year. Lego building, dolls sets, and a variety of slime related activities help keep the sanity too, in addition to the afternoon parkour gymnastics down the street to burn energy and give me a small break. We watched several movies at the theater, including Moana 2 twice, and had several successful ice skating excursions at the mall. Everyone is excited for skating lessons starting in January, and three impatient girls wanting it to start already.
We visited Santa at Cabela’s, and he asked everyone how old they were. When all three answered six in a row, Santa still didn’t catch on. Instead, he asked them what it was like to be twins; they were not impressed and quickly corrected him. Santa should know better!! Christmas morning did bring one Santa present request; a panda, turtle, and seal onesie, specific to each kid’s favorite animal. Good thing Santa was listening…. 🙂
I took two weeks off work for school break, not knowing that Grandma Sue was coming up for some of the fun. I nearly spilled the beans about Amanda’s visit multiple times but managed to keep that one a surprise. Picking them both up at the airport resulted in three very happy girls, who had no idea why we were driving past Mom’s work to Mom’s airport! So many delicious, Christmas goodies were consumed the past few weeks, and the girls helped Grandma with so much baking. All three liked her fruit dip, or should I say vanilla pudding, and were unimpressed with added spices. They sure did eat all the apples and grapes intended for that dip, but without the dip! Everyone helped me make gingerbread cookies and did great this year cutting out the cookies, including three new custom shapes for our set: a turtle, panda and seal (see the theme here?!). In addition to decorating a couple dozen cookies, everyone was thrilled to display the customized gingerbread house on the table and admire it for a couple weeks over the holiday.
Zoo lights in 15 degrees!
We painted and baked Christmas plates this year and watched a new holiday movie for the first time, Home Alone. The girls didn’t want to watch it at first, but once the story line picked up, they were hooked and giggling at all the torturous activities to keep out the house thieves. A few other new Disney movies prompted some distress and bad dreams, on random things they latched onto; an issue that resolved itself after a few nights and much discussion about life, death, and heaven.
After a quick hour of Christmas Eve prepping after bedtime, which included placing out the already wrapped presents from sneaky wrapping sessions over a few weeks, Craig and Amanda built the new vanity and mirror set and I stuffed stockings. I spaced out all the tasks to prep for the big day, making the night before go much quicker. All three left a cookie out for Santa, Emerie leaving hers on a tiny doll plate after adamantly demanding it had to be that way. Everyone slept well and went to bed discussing Santa’s impending visit.
Emerie and Reagan were up by 6:30, but I managed to contain them until about 7:00, when the excitement was just too much to bear. They dragged a sleepy Harper out of bed to demands of presents, and wandered downstairs to see the big, pink beanbag chair on the floor and presents scattered around the room. After a cup of coffee for the adults, presents were opened in sets of three, just like prior years. It is relatively organized and fast paced, with all three opening similar gifts simultaneously and sharing their excitement. They have different answers to their favorite gifts than I do. For example, I made a princess photo album for our Disney World trip that includes pictures of all the princesses with the girls, and of course the “magic” shots courtesy of the park cameras. I wanted the girls to be able to flip through an album and remember the trip whenever they want, like adults do on their phones. Finding three Precious Moments picture frames was a great find too, and filling them with a picture of each kiddo with their favorite princess; now I just need to find them a home to keep them from getting broken.
While Christmas isn’t all about presents, we still endeavor to make sure to have a fun and magical day. It was fun to share it with Sue and Amanda, and allow Craig to make his fancy beef wellington in peace while everyone checked out their new toys. Each kiddo received something to play with customized to their specific desires, since they aren’t all the same, a few clothing items to wear, and doll sets from both Grandma Sue and Grandma Anne. The girls ran around with their new doll pets and carriers from Grandma Anne and danced with light up animal ballerinas that play music from the Nutcracker from Grandma Sue and Papa Lon. Adults helped opened the toy contraptions and enjoyed laying on the floor playing together, mostly nicely!
Craig found dresses for all three in their favorite animals -not an easy feat- and a princess dress for each was also unwrapped. By mid-morning all three had changed outfits at least three times with no end in sight. Another outfit change was prompted later that evening after opening presents from cousins…wait for it…white wedding dresses and vails! This was met with great excitement, immediately running upstairs to change into “wedding girls.” Not going to lie…they look SUPER cute in those outfits, and had so much fun running around in them.
Wedding girls…so fancy & girly!OF course matching pjs…that were sooo itchy but cute.
When asked what their favorite gift was, Emerie responded the turtle costume and really I just like everything. I like my Elsa photo. Harper responded she liked all her presents and opening them and can’t choose a favorite. Reagan’s response was her stuffed panda from Amanda and the pink mirror (vanity) where we can do our hair.
Only one real hiccup on the big day occurred and kept us on our toes for holiday events with family. I left carpet cleaner spray on the stairs, intending to better clean the carpet where the cat left us his own Christmas gift; Emerie picked it up at some point in the evening and chased everyone with it, ultimately spraying those chemicals into cousin Elliot’s hair and eyes and prompting an unplanned shower and face scrubbing and some red eyes. Can’t say we’ve had that happen before…nothing says holiday cheer like spraying dangerous chemicals at your cousins, right?
The week between Christmas and New Years is a type of no-mans land, where you don’t know what day it is and time is spent doing whatever you want to make it through Christmas break with the kids. The gymnastics afternoons greatly assisted giving Amanda and I short kid breaks, and we filled the mornings with other fun activities like cleaning and organizing the house, painting creations at Color Me Mine, playing outside and with the neighbor kid, building Lego sets and watching Star Wars with Amanda, creating slime and play dough creations, and hitting up jump parks and playgrounds. I was hoping for a few sledding adventures while Amanda was here, but the cold temperatures and lack of snow conditions were less than desirable. Build days at Lowe’s and Home Depot were also a hit, as was Zoo Lights one night.
Having family visit during the break was such a much needed treat. I love being in a central location (by Alaska standards) and getting unplanned (and planned!) drop-ins, something I did t have as a kid with no nearby family. Grandma Sue and Auntie Amanda staying with us not only gave Craig and me a chance to recharge (I even got to sit down and read a book one afternoon!) but also created so many fun memories for the girls. Cousin Jaren flew in for a couple hours one afternoon before returning home; Uncle Will stopped over a few times to enjoy dinner and make glittered slime with the girls. Papa Cliff stopped by with a few presents. Cousin Tyler brought Chatum, Dorian, and Beckham over, and the kids had a blast riding the four wheelers in the freezing dark. It’s amazing how much longer they can endure the cold when they’re having fun! The boys were such good sports about it. At one point, Chatum and Harper came speeding down the street, with Harper at the wheel, laughing and shouting, we won! as they zoomed toward the house. Emerie and Dorian’s four wheeler died at one point in the neighborhood and they required rescue, but no upset kiddos from being out that long in the cold.
The cherry on top of all the visits was getting to meet the newest additions to the family- (second) cousin Amber’s identical twin girls, who made the trek all the way from Kenai just to see us. I believe this was the first time the girls have held babies this small and everyone was eager to participate, Reagan really taking her momming skills up to the next level. In fact, baby Kylan took a nap on her and it was so very sweet to watch her tuck her into her blanket and whisper. Elsie took a nice nap on the new beanbag chair and looked so cozy and happy, and they slept through the noise of our house! Spending a few hours with three month olds is a good reminder at how far we’ve come, and how much easier the day to day is now that the girls are more self sufficient and are out of naps and diapers. I am SO excited for next summer when they are mobile and we can get out and about.
It was a wonderful holiday season, and I tried to treasure every moment, knowing how fleeting they are. We only have a few more years to enjoy the magic of childhood at Christmas and I can’t even believe how fast it’s gone. A meme I saw earlier this month summed it up accurately: remember this is the youngest they’ll ever be at Christmas again. Pretty solid thought! Merry Christmas and happy new year…here we go 2025!
The Douglets 