23 May 2001

Just stirring the pot

I know you folks are craving triplet news but life brings different priorities.
For those who don't have frequent access to the babies here are the latest pictures.
When time and energy merge to allow an update, I'll get back to work.
 

23 June 2000

What on Earth has happened to the time?
 

Reflections of a Webmaster
Each time I take on the task of updating the website, I spend a little time
reading the update from the last effort.  This way I can hopefully refresh
where the reader was left off and bring him/her up to date on what we've
been doing since then.  It's fun to see how much things have changed and
figure out how I'm going to squash all of the babies accomplishments into
something as brief as this.

Well, I just went back and re-read several updates from months past
and I'm really shocked.  I consider myself an articulate man with fair to
good English skills.  When I read some of the text that I wrote in the
past (even as a late as February), I just shook my head in wonder.  How
could I have missed all of the grammar and spelling errors when I'm
the first to point out other people's mistakes.  And then it hit me, "Oh
yeah, my wife had tripets."  I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize
to all of my previous English teachers and let them know that I really do
know better, but there were extenuating circumstances.  Honest.
 

Boy's Heart Monitor Long Gone
In my last update, I talked about Ian's heart monitor being ordered for
removal.  It happened the week after the update so don't think he's been
hooked up to that gadget for all these months.  Since it's June, it feels silly
to talk about the heart monitor because it's been gone so long but I thought
I would state that fact for the record.
 

Girls Crawling, Boy Rolling, Parents Reeling
We now have full-fledged toddler "wannabes" roaming among us as the
girls have gone from rolling over, to rocking to crawling.  They spent most
of the month of March rolling, April was rocking on knees and hands, May
was when they started crawling and June they've used to perfect the art
and gain speed.  Believe me when I say, they are fast.  Ian spent all those
months smiling and laughing at the girls as they rolled over.  When they
got up and crawled away, he realized that there was something he forgot
to do.  He rolled over for the first time at the end of May and spent most
of June getting very good at rolling and using his hands to spin like a
helicopter blade.  While he's interested in crawling, the whole reach and
pull or kneel and kick coordination thing just hasn't dawned on him yet.
We've seen him edge backwards a few times (which is a good sign) but
actual forward locomotion hasn't happened yet.  He's very close.  For
now, he spends his time rolling front to back to front, like an out of
control pumpkin going everywhere he wants, thank you.

Katherine and Rebecca have used their new found abilities to
explore the den, living room, kitchen, dining room, foyer, master bedroom,
office, bonus room and parts of the upstairs hall.  The child-proofing
has begun but isn't complete yet.  We might make everything entirely
safe before they manage to graduate high school, but the stairs are gated
and cabinets have begun to see child locks.

The girls are also starting to pull up and stand.  They'll crawl over to
a chair leg, a table, a tall toy, a stereo cabinet, a parent's knee,
a box of wipes and an unfortunate cocker spaniel to pull themselves to
their feet.  Once they're there, the new dimension of height can be
explored and newspapers, remote controls and coasters can be
examined with great interest.  As I've mentioned in the past, Rebecca
figured this part out first and Katherine followed days later.  We simple
parents knew this drill from previous baby visits and everything just
went inconveniently higher.  Any slip in the discipline and one of the
girls will quickly point it out to you with a remote in her mouth as she
giggles and falls over.

Katherine has already had two memorable incidents where she
regretted her abilities for a little while.  The first was in a wagon that
was transporting the triplets around the yard.  Katherine tried to stand
up and did.  Unfortunately, she then tried to see over the side of the
wagon and went head-first into the grass.  She cried more out of surprise
than pain, but when it was all over her face was red and splotched where
the grass blades offended her sensitive skin.  The second incident
was during a nap where she woke up early and tried our her ability
to stand.  She leaned too far over the railing and the next thing her
mother downstairs heard was a "whump" and a "Waa Haa Haa Haa!"
It was then that Katherine's slow witted parents lowered the cribs and
began falling counter-strategies.

Learning to Swim
In May, we went to Atlanta to visit my sister and her family when we
had the opportunity to go swimming.  Our neighborhood pool wasn't due
to open for a few weeks, so we took advantage of theirs.  Rachel, my
sister, her husband and I went to the kiddie pool with all of the neighbors
watching on and plopped the babies in their first summer delight.  It was
a little cool and they were a little unsure at first, but it didn't take long
before everyone was splashing and having a good time.  It wasn't a
drawn out experiment since everyone was tired and hungry but it was
a fun first step.  Now that our pool is open (and across the street), we
have been visiting it irregularly armed with baby floats.

If you've never encountered a baby float, it basically looks like a donut
with a seat in the middle and cartoon characters on the outside instead
of a nice sugary glaze.  It lets you give your baby some freedom to
be on their own while you hold on to the side and convince them that
this is fun.  As usual, everyone has their own "style" of swimming.

Katherine likes to have daddy bounce the float and play with the water
that sits inside the donut.  Rebecca enjoys dipping her nose and mouth
into the water just to see what it tastes and smells like.  You would think
she has the idea by now, but she does it over and over again.  After
about 20-30 minutes in the float, she's ready to climb out and start
crawling.  We haven't been able to convince her that leaving the float is
bad idea, but she may learn it on her own sometime soon.  Ian is much
more laid-back about the whole swimming issue and likes to recline in
his float and enjoy the fresh air and sunshine.  He reminds me of someone
who needs a bag of chips, soda and a TV remote.

The good news is that we're no longer some bizarre oddity at the pool
anymore.  Our neighbors are rather used to seeing us now and only
stare when they come over with "Aunt Jean" is visiting from Kentucky
and wants to see these babies she's heard so much about.
 

...but they're so good?!
In June, the babies attended their first wedding.  One of Rachel's
long time friends asked her to be a bridesmaid so we packed up
everyone and went to Columbia for a weekend in June.  They
stayed with Grandma and Grandpa for the festivities before the
wedding.  When it came time for the bride to walk the aisle, they
were all in attendence by the back door.  I just knew that when
those big church organ pipes started that someone would be
startled into a crying fit, but it didn't happen.  They watched with
interest, they played with the toys in their stroller, they made
eyes with another little girl in the row ahead of them.  Not a
squeal or a cry or a shriek throughout the whole wedding.

What I didn't realize going into the church was that after the wedding
began, I was stuck until the church emptied.  I couldn't sneak out
ahead of the bride and the wedding party and the crowd followed
the ushers closely.  So I sat there with Rachel's mother and
watched as about 200 people filed out of the church and
gawked at my kids.  You get the top 10 questions over and
over, lots of smiles and the occassional band of grannies that
you have to beat off with a stick.  However, one woman just
stunned me when she looked at them asked if they were
triplets (question #1 of 10), asked the sexes (#2), asked the
age (#4) and then looked confused.  "Nine month old triplets?
But they're so good?!"  All of the babies were smiling at this
grey-haired woman and she just couldn't fathom how everyone
was in a good mood with all of the strange faces staring at them.

I make it sound like I hate crowds and answering the 10 questions
but it's actually a secret passion of mine.  One day they'll stop
asking and I'll miss it.  A lot.  Rachel and I are very proud of
these babies and we really do love to show them off.  It can
be painful sometimes when you're in a Wal-mart and you're in
a hurry and you've played this game four times already in the last
aisle.  I wouldn't trade it for the day when it stops, though.  It's
very much like being the managing agent for a movie star and
getting to handle all of their press.  One day the star will fade
and we'll be plain old parents and they'll be plain old kids.

Yeah.  Right.  Sure.
 

Conversation
The girls are very good at saying, "DaDa" and "MaMa."
Of course, that's when THEY want to say it.  They don't say
anything most of the time and coos and shrieks are still the
mainstay of their tones.  Ian likes to laugh and coo, sometimes
he teases us with "D--D--" but he's holding out on speech too.
I recorded one of my sessions with Katherine while I was trying
to get her to say MAMA.  She had just started saying it and we
were doing our best to capture it on tape.  It was MaMa this and
MaMa that... until the tape started rolling.  You can find that
exchange in the Sound Gallery.

Katherine has just learned to say something very close to but
not entirely like "baaby."  It hasn't happened much and comes
out of her like BigFoot comes out of the woods.  When it
happens you know you were witness to something but you're
not sure what.

Rebecca has endeared herself to her father by learning to
say DaDa when she's happy and playing.  She hasn't earned
any points with Mom since she says MaMa when she's
crying, hungry and irritated.

Both girls love to laugh and do an odd noise by saying
"Oooooo" while drawing a breath.  Try it.
 

Feeding and Stuff
Solid foods started in February and have progressed to the
point now where they're getting three solid meals a day.  The
mix of formula to solids is still high and we're still on four feeds
a day, but they love table food.  Any unused peas, bread, beans
and other squishy stuff is ripe for the taking.  The girls have
learned to come and beg right next to Molly.  Don't think Molly
isn't insulted when these late comers get something and she doesn't.

7:00am
8oz Bottle (per baby)
1 Jar of Solid (shared)

11:00am
5oz Bottle (per baby)
3 Jars of Solids (shared)

4:00pm
5oz Bottle (per baby)

7:00pm
5oz Bottle (per baby)
3 Jars of Solids (shared)

They have a doctor's appointment at the end of June where he
decides whether we continue on with formula or switch slowly
over to whole milk.  Cross your fingers that we get the go
ahead for milk.  Formula costs us about $7.00 a gallon and
milk is closer to $2.00.  We go through a gallon a day (if not
more) so that would be an extra $150 a month to go back in
the family budget.  Baby food isn't cheap either, but we can
substitute table food for it soon enough.  On a side note,
we are using seven jars of food a day which comes to about
49 a week.  Just imagine being Rachel at the grocery store
when you start dropping 100 jars of baby food on the
counter.  Oh, the looks you get. <grin>

I'll do my best to update you.

Some Multiples Resources, you might like to review.

 Triplet Connection        Mothers of SuperTwins        National Online Fathers of Twins Club

InterNational Council on Infertility Information Dissemination