Zoo!

We took advantage of perhaps our last summer like day and went to the zoo! The boys have been doing pretty good staying close and since it's becoming more and more difficult to push these guys around we decided to try going stroller free, they did pretty good!

TEC

being silly or perhaps tired : )

Eli was modeling for us all day : )

they weren't being very cooperative with group shots

We really should have run a wet comb through T's hair, sometimes those small details elude you when you have triplets : )

another group pic with no smiles, ETC

The boys did lots of running (they never walk) so we brought the ergo just in case they tired out 

We had to carry them the last little bit but that's after three hours of running for these little dudes!

I'm becoming more and more annoyed with strollers and other child transportation devices. Maybe because they weigh a combined almost 75lbs! I can smell the freedom just ahead of us when we won't have to lug those stupid things around anymore! With two adults and no cars to worry about I think we can go stroller free but by myself or near streets I still can't quite trust these guys yet. I don't think it will be too long though, next summer for sure : ) 

dj Pitts! somehow he turned the music off but with that one click it came back on! 

Pre Preschool

E with a rice beard

What is mom to think when all three boys pull up a chair and sit quietly while looking at books for 20 minutes straight...this is awesome but is this normal?!

C

When he hears a siren, Eli points into the air and says very excitedly 'oye, oye' (listen, listen). It's exactly what I do : )

T playing peek a boo

E lining up his cars

eyebrows fully raised, yes it's Thomas : )

Eli with a cheeky smile

Tractor!

milk delivery boy

Fearing a monumental mess I haven't brought out the paint sets at home so I was very happy when they had painting this day at the kids museum.

All I had to do was wash their hands!

C and T

Here is a very puzzling update. I made kale chips (kale + salt + olive oil + oven) and Phil and I thought they were phenomenal. I pretty much can predict what the boys won't like correctly 99% of the time but that doesn't stop me from getting them try new stuff. I was sure they'd take one bite and go running in the opposite direction. Boy was I wrong, Eli liked them ok, Caleb was pretty into them, but Thomas couldn't get enough of them! Go figure : )

As the title implies I enrolled the boys in pre-preschool. It is a home based program where we have a teacher come once a week for about 1-2hrs depending on the boys attention spans and mood. The boys teacher is more like mom's teacher meaning she helps me come up with goals and age appropriate activities to do with the boys so that they can learn all that they are capable of. I am no early childhood development expert so this is a HUGE help for me. A few goals I have set for us are: 

1) is to learn our basic shapes 

2) start letter recognition, the boys can all make and repeat the 'c' 'e' and 't' sound so I'd like to start with these three letters since it's the boys initials : )

3) get better at taking turns 

Their teacher did an ASQ (we've done like a million of these already) and of course the only delay they show is in speech (more on that later, I don't think they are too far behind). All the boys got a perfect score on their fine motor skills : ) I'm not surprised since the boys build some pretty cool looking structures with their duplo-legos, are constantly buckling things, they like to line up their cars, and they can drink from a cup without spilling (but I'm not ready to let go of sippy cups yet). Their teacher was impressed at how well the boys know their colors (we have been working on that for a while now). I did some color sorting activities with the boys to test them. Using their duplos the boys were correct most of the time identifying red, yellow, orange, blue, green, white, and black.  

We are on week three and the first two sessions were lots of formalities so really we've only had one day of real pre preschool. The boys drew and we attempted to get them to trace a circle. Then we bowled with empty coffee cans that their teacher brought us and we tried to nicely take turns playing. The rest of the week we try to repeat these activities a few times.  

Here is a video of the boys at the meeting being not so good, they are worse at times and they are better at times but for the most part this is what it's like for us. I don't get mad at them for this since it's not in a two year olds nature to sit quietly for 1.5hrs. But we leave each meeting feeling exhausted! Anyways, this is why we sit in the B school...notice the constant hum of whining.

We bring them books and cheerios, what more can we do short of bringing a dvd player?!

Fall Memory 2012

Several years back with my friend K and her son Oz we headed out to a pumpkin patch when we passed a cheesy Burgerville billboard of someone drinking a pumpkin milkshake and the caption read 'make a fall memory.' We all laughed about how dumb it was and from then on we called our yearly pilgrimage to the pumpkin patches our Fall Memory : )

This year we went to one hosted by our local multiples group...

I like Oscar's expression in this one : )

T could barely touch the ground but he managed to move that thing forward

Only two bikes and everyone wanted to ride!

with E

T and pops on the hay ride

C

TCE, looking at a tractor

I do not need to label this picture since this expression belongs to Caleb and only Caleb 

Going into the corn maze

With supposedly 4 exits and 20 minutes of going around in circles we back tracked out of there through the entrance!

Eli is saying 'all done' (Oz, CET)

 Since we made it to our goal of junk food free till two and since it's part of every fall memory we stopped in at Burgerville for the boys' first dose of junk food! Of course I wouldn't take the boys to any old fast food chain, it had to be BV. For those unfamiliar with it, it's a local NW chain that promotes sustainable practices like only serving food that comes from local farms and using eco-friendly packaging that decomposes. They have super yummy cheeseburgers and I'm a sucker for their fried asparagus when it's in season : )

That was the one and only bite anyone took of the cheeseburgers 

but they ate oodles of french fries

After drinking the ketchup Eli moves on to ice cubes : )

TWO!

I don't think they are very excited that they are big boys now!

I woke up that Tuesday morning feeling like I would be pregnant forever. I pretty much felt the same as I had been, meaning all my aches and pains were a little worse with each and every day that I remained pregnant. I was miserable, I don't want to forget that, miserable! I guess at least I could be miserable at home and not stuck in a hospital, I am thankful for that. I had already stopped driving because everyone kept telling me to stop and I finally listened one or so weeks back. My in laws were already in town so they drove me to my fetal monitoring appointment I had that morning. The nurse that hooked me up mentioned that she didn't think I would last much longer, I was so relieved to hear those words but then was frightened by my next thought. "How does she really know that" since there were still no signs at all! Just like all my other fetal monitorings the nurse sent me on my way and told me a doctor would analyze the results and give me a call if anything looked wrong. As I walked down the halls of the clinic I never once even got 'are you expecting twins?' I was at least twice as big as I would have been with a full term singleton, I'm only 5'2" and I was huge! It would take my breath away if I tried to roll over from one side to the other, I had to sit up and then turn. For the longest time afterward I would forget that I wasn't pregnant anymore and hold on to something before sitting down to pee since it was too much weight for my knees to support. Anyways, so we drove back home and before I got into my comfortable clothes I had mama Sue snap a picture of me since today I was exactly 34 weeks pregnant with triplets! (see pic on right side bar)

Around 3:30pm I got a call from the hospital to tell me that it wasn't a real big concern but baby A's  (my sweet Caleb) heart beat was fluctuating a little more than normal. They'd like to repeat the non-stress test just to make sure it wasn't anything more than a fluke. I could take my time and come in within the next two hours. I really thought they'd just do the test and we'd be home for dinner. Worst case I'd be admitted into the hospital for bed rest or observation. Since it was late enough I called Phil at work and told him to come home a little early so he could take me in. I took a shower and finished packing my hospital bag. We arrive at labor & delivery sometime after 5pm and I get hooked up. Baby A is checking out great! They tell me I should be able to leave here pretty soon. Of course I was the talk of L&D, who is this woman that is 34 weeks pregnant with triplets and not yet admitted for hospital bed rest! Funny thing is, as I was laying there strapped to all the machines I started getting real contractions. Everyone starts to realize I might be in labor, I call my mom around 6pm to tell her that I can't say 100% for sure but this might be it and that she should see about getting the next flight here. Thankfully my doctor was on call, around 8:30pm and only 1cm dialated they finally tell us that I'll be going in for my c-section in the next hour or so. At that point all I could do was stare blankly at the walls during contractions and my weak aspirations for a vaginal delivery went out the door (actually I gave them a little kick). Get me some drugs now! It wasn't that they hurt that bad, it's just that I wasn't mentally prepared to deal with that and just wanted them gone and to be done with the c-section. I wasn't at all scared, I just wanted relief from being pregnant. On the other side of things, Phil was very nervous but not showing it. At 10pm, I get a spinal shot, and it feels oh so good! I can finally relax and get excited to meet my boys! At 10:35pm cut, rip, and pull! Out comes Caleb, then Eli (baby A and C). At 10:36 out comes Thomas (baby B). Screaming like crazy, and as Phil noted, he couldn't believe how wide they could open their mouths to belt it out : ) As they begin to sew me up Phil leaves me to go check on the babies and take oodles of pictures of them.

A little while later I'm wheeled to a waiting/recovery room. Next thing I know they bring in my babies one by one. I expect them to take a baby and then hand me the next one but instead they plop all three babies on me, 'oh yeah that's a much better idea' I think to myself. As I'm handed each baby I give them a kiss on the cheek, the kiss feels clammy and a little strange. I get my picture taken with them and I over hear one of the nurses tearfully say, 'this is the most amazing/best/greatest (can't remember the exact adjective used but something to that effect) thing I've ever witnessed in my whole life." Then off they go to the NICU. A little while later my mom walks in, just a half an hour after the birth! In only three and a half hours she bought a ticket, packed, drove from SJ to SF airport, flew to Portland and drove to OHSU (a friend picked her up). She barely made the last flight of the day to Portland!

I was so naive back then even though I spent hours reading about triplet pregnancies I was sure that 34 weeks meant perfectly healthy babies. Now I know that even at 35 weeks some babies have trouble breathing or other issues. Thankfully, my boys were indeed perfectly healthy! They didn't even need the bili lights for jaundice which most 34 weekers seem to need. Of course babies at 34 weeks do not have the energy to sufficiently nourish themselves by bottle so they spent two weeks  in the NICU without a single set back till they caught up developmentally. The rest is history!

Where did my tiny preemies go?

CET at 1 month, Caleb is so small that his shoulder is coming out of his preemie sized onesie!

kangaroo care is especially beneficial to preemies : )

Last Few Days as Babies!

I took these pictures a couple weeks ago, can't get away with dressing them like this when they are no longer babies anymore! In a couple of days you can call them toddlers, boys, dudes, guys but not babies, Enjoy : )

CET

C

E

T

CET (sorry some of the pictures are overly yellowed, took me a while to realize it and change the settings)

Oh no, I messed up my hair (C)

E

Thomas you are gorgeous!

But they will always be MY babies...