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

Almost 1 Year Old! Where Has the Time Gone?

I can't believe that Jack and I have survived the first year of triplets. I think that after talking to people, I was prepared for much worse, but then, I don't really remember the first couple months, so maybe they were really bad.

It is a blast now. Not any easier, but different than before. At the beginning, we were worried about them stopping breathing while they ate, or were they getting enough oxygen at night. Now, I'm worried when they are all quiet or they have disappeared.

In the last 2 weeks, they have all learned to climb stairs and as every parent knows, kids learn to go up (pulling to stand, climbing, etc) before they figure out how to get back down.

A couple days ago, all was quiet downstairs and I heard Lily and Ellie laughing with each other. I was feeding Liam and the girls were out of sight, but I heard banging and knew that they were playing on the floor behind the couch. Well, I thought I knew. Within seconds, I heard a huge BANG and then the follow-up cry from Lily. She had fallen off the bottom couple stairs face first onto the hardwood floors. I looked for Ellie and saw her just 2 stairs from the top! She did that fast!!! The gate for the bottom of the stairs has been ordered.

Funny story... I had to take the kids to the allergist so I could get my shots. They do really well there and the nurses love to see them. I had them in the triple stroller, where they sit one behind the other...Liam in front (because he reaches forward and pulls the hair of the sister sitting in front of him) , Ellie in the middle and Lily in the back. Liam had a paci in his mouth and turned sideways to look at the nurses. Ellie looked forward, noticed the paci in her brother's mouth and within seconds had pulled herself forward in her seat with her right hand and reached over the seat with her left hand and snagged the paci out of his mouth. Immediately, she stuck it in his mouth and Liam was left looking aroudn trying to figure out what had just happened.

Bit of advice...We recently returned home from a trip to California to visit my family. We flew and decided to get 4 tickets and hold one baby on our laps. DO NOT DO THIS! Get a seat for your baby. The babies in the carseats did well and actually slept, but it was constant action for both me and Jack with the lap baby. So, just suck it up and get another seat.

This post is getting rather long. I won't wait another month and will post soon.

Christie

The Fun Never Stops

These babies keep getting more fun each day. While ready for them to go to bed every night, I can't wait to see their little faces in the morning.

Everyday, they are noticing each other more and interacting all the time. They will all be crawling on the floor and then two of them will just stop, crawl toward each other and laugh. Then, when they've had enough, they continue on their way. Often, I've seen one apporach another and lick/suck on the forhead. That erupts in laughter on both sides. Funny how such a small little person can understand what is funny to them. Even funnier is when I find something that just cracks them up and then I try again later when Jack is home and they stare at me like I'm crazy.

I found Lily on the third step of our stairs today. I didn't know that she could crawl up there on her own. Time for gate #5, I guess. Ellie today decided that she wanted some Mexican food and grabbed my whole taco and tried to shove it in her face. Good thing she didn't make it because that guac was spicy! I did rip off some small pices of chicken for her and rather than wasting time takin git from my hand, she'd just reach out and shove my fist into her face to get it. She ended up eating more of my chicken from the taco and some of the tortilla. That's my girl!!!
Liam is just a love and lights up when he gets free reign of the downstairs and is able to pull himself wherever he wants to!

My next big step with this crew is moving from three naps to two naps. The girls, I think could do it after a couple of hard days, but Liam loves, and desperately, needs his sleep. Maybe he gets more tired from fending off his sisters all day. Once they are sleeping past 5:30am, I'll begin to push them to stay awake until 9am.

This week, we are planning to have a playdate with three other moms and their triplets. It is always a fun time to chat with each other and watch the kids interact. Hopefully everyone will be able to come. It is hard to schedule 12 infants to get together and not have anyone sick! I'll post a picture or two, if I remember to take one. =)