What Can You Eat Without Teeth???

I get this question all the time. Although my kids don't have any teeth to speak of (none that help in chewing) they eat quite a bit of food, with the exception of course of crunchy and "chewy" foods. So, in answer to the question, here is what they ate today (between the 3 of them):

Breakfast (7am):
2 eggs
1 whole turkey, spinach and feta sausage
mozzerella cheese
1 banana
Milk (about 5-6 ounces each)
Cheerios

Snack #1 (9:30am)
2 Yogurts
1 Applesauce
Cheese bites
4 Whole Wheat Ritz crackers each
1 jar of diced peaches
2 Nutrigrain bars
Milk

Lunch (11:45am):
2 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
1/4 cup diced chicken
1 jar mandarin oranges
Milk

Snack #2 (2:30pm):
Mac n Cheese
1 yogurt
1/2 banana
1 jar winter squash with vitamins hidden in it
Cheerios
Milk

Dinner (5pm):
Grilled salmon
Peas
Broccoli with cheese (pureed in my food processor with some sour cream)
Noodles with butter
Milk

What's Happening to my sweet baby?

So, Ellie has had 1 time out each day the past couple days. My once sweetest child is entering a new stage. She is pushing the limits to see what is appropriate behavior and what isn't. Let's hope she is learning and taking some notes. Two days ago, she and Lily were playing on the slide inside. Lily was climbing up the slide part and Ellie was standin gon the side of it. She gave Lily a gentle push. Not a bit deal and Jack and I gently corrected her. Then, she looks at Jack and gives Lily a shove...off the side of the slide. I grabbed her, sat her down against the wall and told her that pushing is not okay and she was in time out. Did I think she knows what time-out is? No. Did I think she would actually stay? No. She did. She knew that the look on my face was not playing and she sat there for one minute. No more pushing that day. Coincidence? Maybe.

The next day, she and I were having a great time tickling each other and playing. She goes and whacks me in the face. Again, a gentle correction for no hitting. Then, my angel-devil baby picks up a stacking ring and hauls off and wails me in the face. Time out. Again. She made one move to play with a toy, but a firm, but gentle, replacement had her staying in her time out spot for the full minute.

She is becoming a stubborn, tantrum-prone toddler. Wonder where she gest that stubborn streak?

Lily, to both Jack and my surprise, is taking a sweeter role. The role we thought was going to go to Ellie. She is a love and loves to be held. She laughs all the time at anything. i even caught her laughing at the wall once...always a little unsettling for a parent to see.

The girls fight. Really hit and push fight. Just today, coming back from the zoo, Lily was reaching her arm over onto Ellie's carseat. Ellie, of course, didn't like it and was making sure Jack and I knew it. I asked Lily not to reach over and surprisingly she stopped and pulled her arms into her seat and away from Ellie. Ellie then begins reaching over to get Lily. Aaaagh!!! They are only 1!!!!! They bite too! Luckily there aren't any teeth to speak of. Just yesterday Ellie and Lily were fighting over a cup of all things. Both wanted it and both were pulling at it and then both went toward each other's arms and tried to bite. Trouble is brewing at the McGovern house.

Liam is and has always been sweet and is still a bit sensitive. He doesn't protest too much when Lily or Ellie take something of his. He loves to play with his sisters and I've never seen him purposefully hit or bite them. Sweet boy. He's been very much a Mommy's boy recently and Mommy loves the hugs. He absolutely adores wresting with Jack too. Jack throws him around (in gentle baby-style) and he just laughs and laughs. Sweet little man.

Another Post....Finally

Wow. I have been horrible at keeping this blog updated. Sorry about that. I guess it is a testament to a busy momma! A lot has been going on the past month or so. For one thing, we drove to California to spend some time with my family and to see my new niece!

We decided that to give us the best chance at a peaceful drive, Jack and I would drive all night. Bad, bad decision. We left at 7pm and arrived at my parents' house at 11:30 the following day. Our "plan" (I should know better by now...a "plan" with triplet one year olds will never go as I hope) was that while I drove, Jack would sleep because the babies wouldn't wake up at all. Right. Neither of us got any sleep and we ended up taking a 2 hour snooze at a rest stop. needless to say that the way home, we changed our plan of attack and took the drive in two days with two hotel rooms. Much, much better. Plus, we stopped every 4 hours or so for an hour and let the kids run around. They did great and with Baby Einsteins in the DVD player, it was actually the most pleasant drive we've had with them.

We had their one year appt too. They each got 3 shots. So hard to watch, but necessary. Jack helped the nurses hold them down and then passed them to me after their shots for some comfort. They did great. Stats are as follows:

Ellie.... 24.5 lbs and 30 inches long
Lily.... 18.75 lbs and 27.5 inches long
Liam.... 20.5 lbs and 28.75 inches long

Ellie...She's wlaking around now. Not well and not for too long, but she loves to walk. When she loses her balance and falls, she gets right back up and keeps walking. She has her two bottom teeth and is in the process of getting those 2 top teeth in. When a tooth comes in for her, she has a couple days of high fevers and then it is all over. Yesterday, she woke up with almost 100 degree fever and this morning, I was up for the day with her at 4:30 and a102 degree fever. She seems to wake up, eat, get a dose of Motrin and go back to sleep. Not too much playing for her. Ellie sings "e-i-e-i" and says, "dada, dog, kitty." She signs "all done."

Lily...She is still our "piece of work." Her new "thing" is standing up in her highchair (when mom forgets to strap her in), shaking her head and then saying "no" and "down." Sometimes she waits for me to see her and give her the look and sometimes she corrects herself. She also will do something that she knows she is not supposed to and shakes her head "no" the whole time she is in the process of the act. Smart little thing. She is trying to take steps by herself too! They will be trouble when they are all walking. She says, "no, dog, dada, all done, down" and sometimes she imitates, "up." Lily also signs "all done."

Liam....He is still my sensitive one. He has definitely been attached to Mommy recently. They all have, actually. Poor Jack, he just looks at them and says, "You used to love me." He's just kidding and knows it is a stage, but I do feel badly fo rhim too. I wish there was a little Daddy attachment going on. I don't get too much done. He's not too much into talking or signing though. He understands what's going on and is going to be all boy. He loves being thrown in the air and rough-housed.

In California, the trio had many "firsts." They went to the beach, rode a Merry-Go-Round, rode a train, played with 2 dogs and a cat, learned to climb stairs and go down feet first, lots of shopping, were left with a couple of their Aunt Molly's friends and narrowly escaped getting mascara on (the girls). They loved every minute of all the action!!

If anyone has any doubt that children are born sinners, they haven't raised a baby. Who teaches them to bite and hit by one year old? They continuously complete an act, knowing that they are doing something wrong. Lily or Ellie will take a toy and hide with it. They know! As "they" say, you don't have to teach a child to be bad, you have to work pretty hard to teach them to be good.

We love watching them grow and learn. Everyday they demonstrate a new skill. We are looking forward to seeing them grow.

For those of you wondering, here is our schedule:
6-6:30 Wake and take a 6 oz bottle (sometimes)
7ish Breakfast (They eat mainly finger foods and love French toast!)
8:30-10 Nap (Somtimes this nap is only an hour)
? Snack after nap
11:30/12 Lunch
12:30/1 Nap
3:00 Snack
5ish Dinner
6:00 Bottle (Lily is really the only one who likes her bedtime bottle) and Bed

In between, there are walks, outings, playtime in the backyard, helping Mom with laundry (they pull all the clothes out of the drawers while I try to put things away faster, banging pots in the kitchen, practicing climbing and going down stairs, etc...)

Hopefully, I'll post a litte more often than every 2 months!

Christie