triplets

First Birthday Shenanigans

Prep prep prep! The last week was filled with getting ready for the big #1 birthday party, including food, decorations, and outfit shopping (of course).

It is a must to celebrate survival of the first year with triplets (parents AND babies), although a nice nap might have been equally amazing 🙂

We decided to make our own smash cakes and food trays for the party. Grandma Sue created fancy vegetable pizzas, veggie platters, and her delicious spinach dip; William created flower jello molds in the girls’ colors, and we bought all the fixings for sandwiches. Family arrived from out of town and out of state to celebrate with us, as well as a bunch of friends!

It was great to have cousins Jaren, Chatum and Gabe at the party, as well as Uncle Jeff and Aunt Tami, Uncle William and Aunt Sheryl, Grandma Sue and Papa Cliff. It was a bit chaotic to say the least, but great to have extended family around for the occasion.

The girls enjoyed all the extra attention over the weekend, and had a ton of playtime with both the boys and their younger friends. It was great to see our twin friends attend, as well as the valley triplets and all our non multiple friends (yes we love all of you too!!).

Like a rockstar, Tami double fed the girls during the party. I’m pretty sure Harper has a new BFF now.

Family shot!

The day turned out great; very tiring but worth it! Harper woke up incredibly early (she was ready to party?) and Emerie and Reagan followed a bit later; we stalled everyone until about 11:30 and then loaded them up for a driving nap, to ensure they slept at least a bit beforehand. Sue, Jeff, Gabe and I took over the decorations and food and set up and Megan, Alyssa, and Janelle helped us get everything ready.

The girls wore their party dresses with sweaters and tights. The headbands were accepted by Harper and Reagan; Emerie was not having it and kept pulling it down over her face.

Love this picture of Paris and the girls!

There were a TON of kids everywhere, ranging from about four months old to ten. The turnout was wonderful! I’m glad Craig convinced us to rent a big space; I think we used every inch of it.

I was expecting some massive kid meltdowns…I mean it’s a first birthday party full of tiny minions, but everyone seemed pretty good! The foam blocks were quite the hit, with major activity in the middle of the room.

The cake smash went as expected, with Harper a bit more apprehensive and Emerie and Reagan more enthusiastic. After a few minutes they got into it! Thank you to Doug Olson Photography for some fantastics pictures to memorialize the occasion!!

One of my favorite shots. Look at Harper haha

Eventually the icing colors ended up on everyone. Reagan is probably the only one that actually ate any of the cake, but everyone sufficiently sugared up. They also received a unplanned bath in the rec center kitchen.

It was a great day celebrating the girls’ year milestone and sharing it with so many friends! We appreciate all the love and support of everyone who came (and the diapers!!!), and look forward to our kiddos all growing up around each other. The last year has been quite a wild ride, but we wouldn’t have it any other way.

More great shots by Doug. So much cake 🙂

Baby racing? Yes please

Well folks, as promised. Baby racing at its finest!

Clearly my children only see a cell phone…or a dog toy…as incentive to crawl. They will not go toward toys and especially not toward their parents!

This household has gone from only two babies even rolling several weeks ago to three crawlers and one feet balancer with no hands. That moved quick!

Reaction

Yesterday evening was an interesting night. Craig got home about 8 o’clock from taking Emerie to the pediatrician at Providence.

It was a typical day, the kiddos a bit fussy but manageable from teething, with Harper still holding on to her terrible cold cough. We did a good amount of table time, full of snacks, vegetable melts, a beef and vegetable purée (NOT well liked), and some yummy peanut butter.

After the peanut butter we decided on bath time, because well, it was everywhere. Reagan managed to rub it all over her head, Emerie had it absolutely everywhere, and Harper all over her arms and face and binkie!

Everyone enjoys playing in the bath together!

After bath time Craig noticed Emerie had a bunch of little bumps all over her back, arms and legs. I thought it was goosebumps, but it didn’t go away with pajamas. We’ve done peanut butter before, so I didn’t think it was a reaction to that, but wasn’t sure what it was.

After going back and forth with the pediatrician call line about four times, they told us to bring her into verify she wasn’t reacting to peanut butter. At no point was her breathing labored or we obviously would have immediately drove her to the hospital. I’m not aware of any family peanut allergies, but better to be safe than sorry. I definitely don’t enjoy allergic reactions that need Benadryl!

Bedtime routine became a little out of whack without Craig and Emerie, but we survived. Harper went to sleep relatively easily and Reagan fought it to the death, falling asleepu about the time they got back home.

Thankfully, the doctor doesn’t think it is a peanut allergy or reaction. Thank goodness!! She just did a ten day stint of Cefdinir for her latest ear infection and that is probably the culprit. Apparently the reaction takes time to build up while in one’s system, which is why she didn’t breakout until the end of the dosing. She was on this med because she kept fighting and puking up the Amoxicillan, so the next ear infection might get pretty interesting. Or maybe we will not see any for a while, or a cold for that matter. Is it summer yet??

Luckily she doesn’t seem super itchy, which is a definite blessing. I’m very hopeful Emerie will be feeling better and not itchy from all this soon, and that Harper’s cough will subside. It would be nice to enjoy the birthday party and not simply have a grumpy, snot fest. I guess we will see!

Mobility Level: Crawling

And just like that, we have babies on the move.

As predicted, Reagan is the first crawler. Emerie followed about 24 hours later over the weekend. Harper is sticking to her backwards crawl, but pulling up on everything and briefly standing without hands. She’s done a couple paces forward but doesn’t like it.

It might seem a little late to some people since their birthday is in two weeks. Realistically, their adjusted age compensates for this, meaning the crawling started at about 9.5 months developmentally.

Here is Reagan giving forward crawling a try!

She is getting pretty good and it and going from a laying to sitting to standing position. She also refuses to settle in her crib now because there is too much adventure to be had.. she likes to peek over the side of the crib and talk to her sisters.

Emerie is not quite as graceful, but can get from A to B so it works! She is constantly exploring her crib and standing up to chew on the side, you know, with her two bottom teeth…she is also on a mission to explore everything.

Emerie checking out the tv

Harper is really great and pulling herself up to a standing position. A little too good if you ask me.

Harper checking out the lay of the land

She isn’t thrilled to crawl forward yet, but has done a pace or two.

Everyone is obsessed with playing on the piano and getting there by themselves. They push each other over on it, crawl under it, and will lean down to pick up toys while holding onto it.

The house is in definite need of final baby proofing. We might attempt that this weekend! The plan is to create a baby prison in the living room, encompassing the jumpers and hearth area and full of toys. The family room downstairs just needs a little more cleaning out to be mostly kid proofed; we also have to mount the TV higher and on the wall. Overall that room is almost ready for TODDLERS!

I’m curious how fast we will have walkers…and a little terrified.

On an unrelated note, I bought shoes for the girls for the first time. First size guess was a bit small, so I repurchased them bigger and they are so cute (yes also impractical at the pre walking age!), but I couldn’t help it when their colors were available.

When it rains, it pours…

Karma is writing a blog a couple weeks ago about turning a corner, with things getting a bit easier to manage with the girls, and then having a week like we are having.

That backfired, figures.

We are having a “why on earth did we think having kids would be fun” kind of week. Emerie has an ear infection, everyone has a cold and is pouring snot from their noses like Niagra Falls, four teeth are swollen bumps on the top of everyone’s mouth, and we are currently in Leap 7 for another 3 weeks.

We’ve been lucky so far that the majority of cranky baby nights involve one or maybe two babies, here and there. Harper had a super grumpy two weeks in January (that thankfully my mom was here to help with), and Emerie has cranky nights all the time, with Reagan every once in a while.

Well, those days are gone. The “babies sleep all night” seem to be in the past now that the girls have discovered they can be mobile and pull themselves up on their cribs.  Even with sleep training Emerie ended up in our room many nights as she still hasn’t quite solved self soothing.

This week? All three are raging maniacs off and on all night long. Last time I had a night’s sleep in my actual bed? Over a week ago.

Lowering the cribs

I believe this backslide is partly attributed to the leap and partly to the colds/ear infections.  The girls have been uninterested in bottles at bedtime all week because they are stuffy and their incoming teeth hurt.  When they don’t eat 6-8 oz of milk at bedtime, we know we are in for a night of fun… When they drink 0 oz at bedtime, we better buckle down for it.

Reagan and Emerie believe rolling around in their cribs and pulling themselves up on the rails is now a necessary part of bedtime routine. Harper moreorless just settles after a few minutes and goes to sleep without the aerobics fight.

Emerie checking out the quantity of the crib with her teeth

I tried making breast milk popsicles for them to chew…they make quite a mess and I’m not sure the girls quite grasp how to eat them. There was a lot of pounding them around and chipping them against their bouncers.

While Craig and I are tired this week, and I have the girls’ cold (and a annoying cough) too, the silver lining is the progress everyone is making on movement. Everyone crawls backwards and rolls like a pro. They are gaining coordination to pull themselves up on things, especially their play table and play piano, or on our legs.

Emerie just started side stepping. In this video she decided to try to push Reagan off the play table. The problem is that Reagan is stronger and wasn’t so excited about the idea. About 30 seconds before I turned on the camera she inserted herself in front of Harper and pushed her away from the table. Harper just didn’t push back. It cracks me up Emerie is the one crying when she is also the one instigating the move.

Hopefully the colds will wrap up in the very near-term for everyone. The girls judge me every time I cough! Emerie is already friendlier after a few days of medicine but we aren’t out of the woods yet. And this is birthday month! We can’t have everyone sick and have so much to do and so many people to see.

Dr visit!