Who's That Knocking At My Door?????

Yesterday, both of my baby boys woke up from their nap on the wrong side of the crib. No matter what Bregon or I did, neither of the baby boys could stop crying. Neither of us could figure out why, either.

I ended up just climbing into the play-yard with them to try and give them some Mummy support and hugs. We had already given them their juice cups thinking that they might feel better after a nice cold sip of something (it usually works.)

Just as Bregon was bringing me my baby girl, who was in a surprisingly good mood, the dog starting going crazy barking. She ran from Bregon’s bedroom all the way to the front door super fast and started jumping up and down almost bouncing off of it.

Meanwhile, the baby boys were crying even harder over the excitement. I couldn’t figure out why everyone was all upset. Well, everyone except for Vivienne, who had tried to come over and give me a hug while sipping on her juice, but had fallen over her brother’s legs which were thrashing around in frustration. Now, she was upset and crying too.

Then it happened. Someone knocked on my front door like they were going to beat down the flimsy thing. It was loud. It was scary, and I was stuck in the play-yard with my triplets crawling all over each other in terror trying to get closer to their Mommy who was suddenly very confused over what to do.

I had to figure out how to pry all three of the babies off of me without hurting anyone, stand up, and actually get out of the play-yard somehow. This task is MUCH easier described than actually executed (it’s rather like finding yourself the only human left in a zombie movie!)

Meanwhile, Bregon went to try and see who was at the front door. He is still a bit too short to be able to look out of the front window, so he had to take the step-stool with him. He reported back that he didn’t recognize any of the people at the door.

Just as he was turning back around, another round of super heavy and hard, persistent knocking occurred. Bregon nearly fell off his little stool, but managed to catch his balance on the curtain enough to see who was knocking this time.

As it turns out, it was a policeman. By this time, I had managed to at least peel the boys off of me, and was working on getting Vivie sat up and happy with a toy. I couldn’t imagine what this man wanted. After all, Bregon is much too young to get into that sort of trouble, yet!

I finally got to the door, about the same time as I realized that the dog was still bouncing off of it (she had been concealed by Bregon and his stool.)

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get outside without the silly genetically challenged poo-huahua coming along for the ride (her daddy was a Chihuahua and her Mother was a Poodle-a very odd combination-she got the worst traits of both breeds.)

I did try and catch the silly bouncing snarling genetically challenged doggie and toss her back inside. Alas, our front door has settled yet again and just will not stay latched unless you dead-bolt the darn thing so the doggie was able to volley her body off of it from the inside to open it to allow her back OUTSIDE.

Meanwhile, I was trying to talk to the policeman and what appeared to be some sort of helper carrying a lot of little plastic filled bags (like the kind you get at exhibitions with pamphlets in them) and what appeared to be a neighbor that I had never really met.

As it turns out, they weren’t here to arrest my not-yet-delinquent 12 year old. They were here as part of the new city-wide program (otherwise known as “Weed & Seed” that has the officer’s walking the streets of neighborhoods to see what the concerns of the inhabitants are.

Of course, we were all distracted by different things. My triplets were by this point screaming even louder than I could have ever thought possible while poor little Bregon tried to calm them all down by himself.

Then there was the errant little over-protective doggie who felt the need to protect her crying babies and her mistress from “Those who would bang down the door” causing doggie-knows-what sort of problems for everyone!

She immediately had commenced to attack in the only form that she knows and is able to do (her teeth are so blunt that she has to have soft doggie food and cannot chew up hard kibble and she has that whole size-doesn’t-matter, I’m a big-ferocious-puppy-hear-me-roar ego problem as well.) This meant that she was now bouncing up and down as much and as hard as she could in some attempt to bounce off of the policeman and run him off. Of course, that’s not the way he saw it.

He immediately told me that I needed to get control of my evil little doggie who had just tried to bite his knee… As I was tossing her repeatedly back inside the doorway, and trying to keep the door from popping open from her re-opening it (more bouncing), he kept calling her “Cujo” and saying that she was ferocious (of course she wasn’t pleased to see him, in her little feeble doggie mind, he had just tried to bang down her front door!).

I didn’t know what to say. Apparently, these people are totally undaunted, and failed to notice the very loud amplified WAILING coming from my house, not to mention the barking…They also failed to realize that it was that scary, loud, banging of a knock that apparently had set the whole thing into motion in the first place.

My neighbor had waived from her front porch and apparently had just finished talking to them herself, hence the reason my kids woke up in the first place on the wrong side of the crib…You can hear everything that happens on the front porch next door in the nursery quite clearly.

I tried desperately to get these folks to politely get on with whatever it is that they wanted, but they just wanted to talk about “Cujo.” Eventually, they did say that they were visiting each house in the neighborhood and were trying to raise awareness and all and asked about any troubles we had been having.

I tried to smile and nod and act interested in what they had to say in spite of the increasingly hysterical crying that was wafting out from my front door, but it was very difficult. (I just knew that I was going to end up getting hauled away for being an inattentive mother or something!)

I tried to tell them my concerns like a good citizen, that we have always had problems with vehicle break-ins in this neighborhood (since I was a little girl,) and that I would be moving very soon so that I was not a very good source of information for them as I had been very VERY pre-occupied with carrying and raising my 17 month-old triplets for the past few years (basically I don’t get out much!)

They were very proud of some arrest in the near-by area that would make everything better in our area…and could not believe that I wasn’t familiar with the details… I couldn’t believe that they just weren’t catching on at this point, either!

I did at least try to explain that for the past few years I had been a bit BUSY and confined to being a Mom which took up most of my efforts…Who knows what they thought about that…

It was difficult to focus on anything but my kids at this point. I don’t think that they believed that I really had triplets and that they were SCREAMING right now and had been for a bit because of them! I did everything I could to try and be polite, but speed them up and get them on their way so I could get back to my kids!!!!

They finally did go away, leaving me with my little white bag of pamphlets and phone numbers to call in the event of some upheaval within our community…oh and I got a pencil, a sticker, and a few magnets too.

Bregon and I finally did manage to quiet the hysterical babies. It took both of us getting in the play-pen with them for a while, and much bribery with teddy grahams, juice and a “Backyardigan’s” marathon, but they did finally quiet down.

I am really glad that the police are out walking around and talking to the people in the neighborhoods and all about their concerns and other things. I just wish that when they were on social calls that they would use a less aggressive approach to knocking.

If they had just knocked normally instead of banging like they were there to arrest someone, my babies wouldn’t have been frightened repeatedly and maybe my silly, genetically challenged doggie would never had gotten so excited and tried to bounce the poor people to death.

Who knows, maybe we all could have communicated and the whole exchange would have been quicker and easier on us all. Ah well, I suppose there has to be a happy medium somewhere, it’s just that it hasn’t been discovered yet! Back to the play-yard for me!

Packing the Bottomless Pit

I don’t think anyone really enjoys packing for a move, but I have at least tried to make it somewhat positive.

I have passed that whole sentimental stage where one is inclined to keep every little memento and have thrown myself body and soul into the “Trash It” stage where anything and everything is getting thrown away.

Then there is my 12 year old. You have to understand, that first of all, he was only 5 when we first moved into our current residence. He has a whole seven years worth of accumulation in his tiny shoe-box of a bedroom and he adores each and every bit of it.

Yes, over the years I have attempted to weed through his stuff and get rid of much of the “Little Kid” things. But somehow, some of these toys found their way mysteriously back into his room.

My husband just shook his head the other day, as he was carrying out one of Bregon’s storage drawers that had a Pooh-Bear something or other inside it.

My child has very stoically announced that he has decided to save much of his stuff to bequeath to his little brothers when they are old enough to have it. In the meantime, I am expected to store all of this stuff where???

Husband was one of the last people to have attempted to downsize that room while I was on bed-rest, so he now completely understands the severity of our seemingly dire situation.

You have to understand that this move has been slowly going on for nearly three weeks now. We really have made a lot of progress, too. It’s just that one room that doesn’t seem to be getting anywhere. It just doesn’t show any signs of progress.

I know that I have seen box after box after bag come out of my son’s room. It just seems that every time I go in there to check on the progress, that things have multiplied and his shelves and closet get even more cluttered.

To combat this, I decided to tackle it myself yesterday afternoon while the babies were napping (cutting me off from finishing cleaning out my own closets, of course!)

I bravely picked my way into Bregon’s bedroom, box of garbage bags and box in tow. I spent only about an hour in there, but I came out with two full garbage bags (more full than I really thought that the plastic could handle) and one filled box of army vehicles, aircraft carriers and various helicopters and planes.

I found all sorts of scary and frightening things in there and I had only tackled the shelf behind his door. I had thought that I would do the one task keeping anyone from getting the currently cleared furniture out of the room.

As it turns out, I ran across puzzles and papers from Bregon’s discovery program from the first grade. I found bits of action figure’s accessories from figures long gone. I ran across the snow-globe that he made in boy scouts in the third grade.

I got rid of most of what was living on those shelves is the frightening part. Yes, there were toys involved, casualties of the move, I suppose. I was a good mum, and did keep all of the medals and ribbons and patches that he has earned over the years.

I know that I should have packed them off to Goodwill or Providence House. It’s just that I figured that those kids might like toys that were actually whole and functioning, as opposed to bits and pieces that don’t really go together.

Nobody should have to play with remote control cars without the remote. A castle toy can be fun, if it stays together while one is trying to play with it. If it continuously insists on falling down during playtime, then it’s time to be retired!

I left that room yesterday thinking that maybe I had managed to accomplish something. Today, I had thoughts on going in there again and taking yet another plunge.

I peered in, garbage bags in hand, and just couldn’t bring myself to do it today. It looked like the stuff had multiplied yet again. The way I figure, it’s husband’s turn to try it out.

Bregon will be home soon, and he will start packing again once his homework is finished. This time, maybe husband can entice him to move a bit faster and actually throw a few things away!

Thankfully, Bregon has decided to either try and have a toy sale or give the surplus toys away, once we can sort through them all, of course!

I have even told him that he can have a small party and invite some of his friends over to help him go through it all. I hope their Mom’s won’t mind them coming home with new booty!

Of course this plan all hinges on the idea that by Saturday, Bregon will have actually managed to pack his room completely up so that we can move it all to the new house (garage!) I suppose only time will tell!

Pantry Moving Revelation

We are currently in the process of moving to a bigger house. Over the course of packing and weeding out the things we really just do not need anymore, I made a startling discovery.

I know it’s a strange thing to start with, but on this particular day I had run out of things to pack up that weren’t in the bedroom near the babies. So, I turned to my kitchen of all places.

I opened my pantry door, and decided to start organizing and boxing the things we just really do not use or need right now. I discovered that I had 8 boxes of Cheerios.

These weren’t ordinary boxes, either. These are the 36oz, double-bagged super-duper extra-huge boxes. I had the equivalent of 16 large-sized boxes of cereal in my pantry (plus one newly opened one on my counter!)

Now, we do go through a lot of cereal each month. We get one huge box per child per month from having the WICC program. I really do not know how the state can possibly expect a toddler to consume that much cereal in one month, but apparently they think it’s very possible.

Don’t get me wrong, I am very grateful for this program. It’s just that I am amazed, knowing how much the kids really do eat and waste from being babies each month, and I am quite certain that we could NEVER possibly eat that much cereal.

Next, I noticed that I had over 25 cans of evaporated milk sitting on my shelf. I don’t normally cook with evaporated milk unless its Christmas time. I can tell you that we will probably be making a LOT of fudge this Christmas!

Then there is the case of the pound of beans or peas we get for each child per month. I know that I have only ever cooked one pound for them. They adored the black-eyed peas, too. In fact, we STILL have some in our freezer from that original pound that I figured out how to cook one weekend.

It made so much food, that I have been hesitant to cook anymore as we STILL have leftovers! A friend of mine who also has quite a collection of dried beans and peas in her pantry has decided that we really should get together and pool them.

We have decided to either put them in a shallow wading pool and put it in the backyard as a make-shift sand box for our kids, or make dried soup mix bags and give it out as Christmas gifts this year.

I haven’t even opened our fridge yet. Then again, I know that since it quit cooling a few weeks ago (in anticipation of our moving I think it just gave up on us) that I had to throw out 8 dozen eggs that had potentially gone bad. I was afraid to test them on anyone to find out if they were any good or not after not knowing how long the fridge had been warming up.

It’s amazing the things we accumulate over time in our pantries. I could open my own grocery store soon if this had kept up. As it is, my fellow WICC recipient Mom’s and I plan on brainstorming for new and innovative uses for our surplus goods.

Our apologies in advance as our closest friends, acquaintances, and maybe even the mail man, will most likely be getting a festively adorned Holiday Gift Basket from us this Holiday Season.

It will come well stocked with some sort of Cheerio/Chex mix adaptation, some yummy fudge made from our evaporated milk, and possible some brownies or cookies from our surplus eggs supply (the babies only eat eggs if husband cooks them & that only happens on weekends)…

We even promise to come up with some nifty soup recipe to include in our very interesting yet oddly alluring dried bean & peas soup-mix included in your gift basket!

‘Till then, I am very creatively going to plan out my new pantry with all of those surplus boxes and bags. If I do it right, I may be able to make extra shelving space if I stack the boxes a certain way…After all, waste not, want not!

How Do We Do It?

“How do we do it?” That is one of the most common questions asked of those of us with multiples. One of my on-line buddies, blessed with their triplets recently, has decided to video-tape exactly how it’s done.

Yep, you guessed it. Right here, online for your viewing pleasure, is a recently filmed video of a proud papa feeding his very new and very tiny trio.

Drum roll please! He is doing it ALL BY HIMSELF!!!! Yes, that’s right, folks, sometimes, just sometimes, we have to feed our multiples ALL BY OURSELVES. Why, might you ask?

We are not always lucky enough to have help each and every minute of the day, in fact some of us do it without any outside assistance at all! So, we learn to improvise. Parents of multiples all over the world have been coming up with different ways to accommodate each child at feeding time.

Each of us has our own preferred method that we have had to develop out of necessity. Some prop the bottle as best as we can, while others find ways to prop the baby and hold the bottle. There are a myriad of ways to do it, actually.

We have been known to use blankets, burp rags, boppy pillows, bouncers and even feather mattresses to help us position our babies to where one adult can feed every baby ALL AT THE SAME TIME.

Yep, you guessed it! We here of the circus world of multiples have many tricks up our sleeves. So, step right up and see exactly how it’s done, folks! Here is the link to my friend’s home movie of how one Dad handles feeding time for his triplet baby girls.

http://my.break.com/media/view.aspx?ContentID=352910

Make sure to appreciate the kindness our friend had when posting this video. He has sped the film up so that you don’t have to watch it for the full 40 or so minutes that it actually takes from start to finish! The time has been cut down to just under a few minutes.

Be sure to leave a comment as a show of support if you appreciate the rarity of being able to witness such a special and intimate moment in this family’s life. He has truly given you a gift by allowing you the chance to catch a glimpse into the wonderful world of multiples.

My...I Meant Our..Okay, Bregon's First Date

Today was the big day. In preparation for his very first date, Bregon had very quietly showered with the extra smelly-good guy-soap and made sure that I knew that he had enough money by giving me back all the extra money from the original bit I had sent for him to buy his dance tickets.

In middle-school 'tween-ese, he was really saying, "Mom, I might need some more money to buy pizza, cokes and nachos for us at the dance." Of course, in my over-bearing know-it-all Mommie state, I had already made sure that I had $10 in ones counted out and set aside just for the big day.

I think I was more nervous about all of this than he was. He was up at the crack of dawn to get ready for school. None of that prodding and having to wake him up a few times today and certainly no running late, even though the dance wouldn't start until the end of the school day.

I had nightmares of Bregon doing anything he could to try and stay home from school today to try and avoid the dance. The image of him in my dream involved him running into my room and striking this super-hero pose, brandishing a wizard's wand made for his fifth birthday from a real tree by his Auntie Kathey, with a silly Zorro style mask around his eyes, and wearing his favourite grey flannel bathrobe.

I distinctly remember chiding him for being well enough to play yet sick enough to stay home from school to miss the dance. Of course, when I woke up I immediately realized that it was all just a dream as the scent of his cologne wafted in waves into my room through the air vent.

Bregon seemed calm, cool, and appeared to have himself quite together. Of course, this mission has only been about a year in the planning in both he & his date's little minds. He had already had plenty of time to be nervous and had long since gotten over it.

I spent my day fretting and worrying for him. I clock-watched, wondering if he would forget and ride the bus home like he used to last year when he would forget his doctor's appointments sometimes. 3:30 came and went, and Bregon never came knocking at my door.

He had planned this out, executed everything perfectly, and had landed this date by the second day of school. He remembered to buy the tickets even though his date very sweetly reminded him just in case (he had already had the tickets to show her at this point) and had set out to have the perfect day.

I don't know what to do. I don't know what to say. My baby is all grown up and quite the gentleman. I, on the other hand, am obviously just NOT ready for all of this!

In a show of support, I made sure that I had the triplets all loaded up and ready to go and pick him up by 4:15. I knew that if I was late, he would run the risk of getting into trouble and not be able to attend the next dance, so I made sure that I was on time.

By 4:20, I was sitting in a very long and dangerous line on Line Avenue waiting to turn on to the street that is designated for the pick-up line. I must have stayed in that line a good 30 minutes. We got lucky, and nobody got into trouble.

I tried to be very sneaky once I picked him up and attempted to get him to talk all about the dance. Of course he is 12 1/2 and has kept basically mum about all the gory details!

I did notice that he had run a bit of water through his hair so that it would spike (he thinks he looks more like the newest Dr. Who that way) and that he was still very smelly-good when he got into the car.

I did manage to pry out of him that he did dance with her and that he had even bought her pizza and a coke. He was very surprised that they do not play slow dances at their school dances. He did admit that if he wanted to slow dance, they would have had to do so to a fast song.

He did NOT, however, ever disclose if they slow danced to the fast music or not, no matter how much I prodded. Bregon was very cute about saying how his date had admitted to him that she had had a crush on him since she had first laid eyes on him at the Fencing Sal and how she had wanted him to ask her out since early last year.

That was the end of the details, though. I am very surprised that I actually was able to get him to tell me that much. He also did say that they had discussed cheating and that he had told her that he wasn't that sort of guy. So, does this mean he is going steady?

He has plans of attending the next dance, and the dance after that. Maybe even with the same date. Oh my! I just do not know what to think or how to act anymore!

Am I really that old that my little boy has started dating? I suppose I had always known that this would be inevitable. My how he has grown into quite a young man, when it was just yesterday that....

(he would have my hide if I gave you the details!)

What They DON'T Tell You About Having Multiples

It's funny. As a Mom expecting multiples, I read up on as much as I could about what life with multiples was going to be like. I found accounts of pregnancy's documented in blog-form on the Internet.

I scoured through the Triplet Connection website and forum and happily read all about which car seats would fit inside which car or minivan and in what ways. I even read all about reports of which stroller type would be best and easiest to drive.

What I didn't run across, however, was information or accounts about experiences mother's of higher order multiples would have with taking their babies out in public to try and achieve mundane every day life-tasks.

Nobody seems to feel it necessary to warn unsuspecting new mothers of exactly what lies ahead for them and their babies. They are all in to telling you about how to dress them, how to feed them, even how to be their advocate while the babies are in the hospital. Apparently, its an off limit's subject to warn them of a few minor yet very relevant points!

It would have made a nice bed-rest past-time to be able to sit and think of responses to all of those questions that well-meaning people are going to ask. It also might have helped prepare me for those not-so-well-meaning people's questions to which I sometimes find it difficult to respond nicely and politely.

It also might have been nice to have been forewarned that once the babies were ready to go on outings in their very large stroller, that people would automatically gravitate to it and sometimes even bump into it with their shopping carts in some attempt to get a look at the babies inside it.

Maybe a defensive-driving stroller class would be a good idea for all of us who really do not have a choice but to use the oversized, cumbersome and very hard to navigate higher order multiples strollers.

Then again, I suppose anger and stress management courses would also make a good supplement to the defensive-driving stroller class so that we know exactly how we should respond to those who insist on getting too close to our very susceptible babies, or those people who have less than stellar shopping cart driving records!

I mean, it's one thing getting mowed over by someone in Wal-mart or the grocery store as you innocently try and shop for your family. But to get mowed over by the same someone who is actually hitting the very cumbersome, very hard to navigate stroller containing your precious babies is quite another scenario altogether.

Especially when that person seems actually surprised that you aren't exactly happy with them running into you and even more surprised when you aren't exactly happy when they tell you that they only ran into you so that they could ask you about your babies because they have never seen higher order multiples before!

It's not as if that stroller can be quickly moved out of the way of the on-coming traffic! It just will not move sideways the way small strollers would. In fact I have tried dodging these carts before only to find that my stroller tends to tip over (luckily I caught it before it went too far.)

Then there is the problem of that oversized stroller not fitting into small places. Some people understand our plight and are kind about helping us get into those areas. Places such as elevators (no, escalators are NOT an option for us,) waiting or reception areas of some doctor's offices, and even the line at the grocery store are difficult for me to maneuver that stroller into.

Other people see our situation as one that can be helped, and that options exist such as my letting my babies walk instead of ride (only one of my babies can walk at 17 months) or buying a wagon and using that instead of my oversized stroller with restraints.

I was even told that I should put my children in some sort of mother's day out or leave them with a relative or at home with my son or husband while I run errands instead of hauling them around in their stroller. I just think that as a Mom, I should be able to run errands WITH my children in tow.

I know these suggestions are meant well, but I just do not understand why I cannot expect to be able to take my children with me and use my stroller to accomplish normal everyday tasks.

This country goes out of its way to establish handicapped regulations to ensure that handicapped people have the same access as those people who aren't, so why doesn't my stroller fit anywhere if it's not as wide as a wheelchair? It's a strange problem, yet so very true.

Something else nobody warns you about is that people honestly do not realize that what they say can be understood by the babies. People can and do often say the meanest, most derogatory things when they see higher order multiples. Don't get me wrong, not everyone is this way, but those who are really do, stand out.

As my kids grow older, they are able to respond more to the people who stop and talk to us. Its very difficult to smile and be nice to someone who looks at my children and says that they are sorry and that it's better me than them.

Especially when I know that my children are getting to the age where they can understand that this is a negative comment made about them. I used to try and explain everything to these sorts of people but quickly found that it was a lost cause trying to.

Another thing that most mom's of multiples are not warned about, is how people are going to expect you to stop what you are doing and talk to them about your babies even when your task is really very important.

I had a lady stop me in a parking lot last week in the 104 degree weather while I was loading my babies into the car and strike up a conversation with me about them. This same lady was also having another conversation on her cell phone with someone over the extreme heat and how hot it was outside in this particular parking lot.

I tried not to come across as rude as I hurriedly tried to get all three of my babies into their car seats and field this lady's questions about them as well. I would have loved to have started up the car while I loaded them into it, but I have this fear of someone stealing the car with the babies in it while I try and get everything loaded up.

Loading up the car is a huge task especially when I have been shopping at a place like Sam's or in this particular case I had just purchased a very large rug for our new house. Luckily, I am good at multi-tasking and had managed to field questions, re-arrange the trunk space enough to fit both the stroller and the rug and still be able to drive without fear of losing something, and get the babies inside.

The problem came when I went on and started the car only to find that the conversation about my babies hadn't ended yet. In fact, it seemed to be just starting and the babies were crying at this point over being hot and almost dinner time. I managed to make excuses and make my get-away, but in retrospect, this really wasn't the first time that something like this had happened.

I just do not understand why some folks just do not understand that babies get hot and hungry just like adults do. It's even harder to convey this to people who do not understand why the babies are crying while they are trying say how cute they are...

Who knows, maybe one day I will make it official and try and make enough time to crank out a book about all the things mother's of multiples really need to know but most are afraid to tell them complete with seminars and how-to classes. 'Til then, I will just have to try and spread the word through my blog!

The Much Awaited Appointment

Today, we had Bregon's ADHD doctor's appointment. The office had so unceremoniously decided to reschedule our back to school appointment for the week after school started.

To make matters worse, they had decided that 3:00 p.m. would give me plenty of time to get him there. This meant that I needed to pick him up after school and bee-line it from Caddo Middle Magnet off of Line Avenue, all the way down to the Youree Drive Extension.

Ha Ha. Ha ha ha ha ha ha hah. Yes it really was funny after the fact. I managed to leave the house with the trio in tow and the car packed about 2 p.m. I should have had just enough time to run by my father's and check on our cat and get the mail.

His house is all of two minutes from mine, but today of all days, they had decided to film on location at the house around the corner. This meant that a normally narrow street was made even smaller and very maze-like to navigate with all of the trailers and eighteen wheeler's and such parked all over and down the street.

They were heralded by the two lone police cars that were strategically placed to suggest to drivers that they might want to alter their route. I actually made it through the maze and to Daddy's house somehow, but it did take quite a bit longer dodging obstacles and all.

I was still basically on time at this point. It was about 2:20 and the school bell would ring at 2:45. I even made it to the school with little or no fanfare. I innocently pulled into the pick-up line and claimed my spot in line.

The bell rang and that line didn't start to move at all. I should have known something was up when the second line next to us was steadily flowing and I was STILL in the same spot. 10 minutes later, that line finally started moving.

For a fleeting second, I had horrible thoughts of Bregon forgetting about the appointment and accidentally riding the bus home. Then, I saw him sitting there talking to his friends, patiently waiting for me to show up. As luck would have it, he had written himself a message in very large very bold print...on his for-arm so that he wouldn't forget to wait for me to pick him up.

It took me until 3:15 to get him to his appointment and make that drive. I was 15 minutes late and it was driving me crazy. As I drove, I had thoughts of the office staff refusing to see him because we were late or maybe they forgot to log this appointment into the appointment system like the past two times. What if they decided that we would have to reschedule, what would happen to Bregon in the meantime?

I was soo frazzled by the time I got him to the office, that I went ahead and sent him inside to let them know that we were here while I unloaded the babies. Some poor, well-meaning lady tried to tell me something from the car parked next to us, but I couldn't really hear what she was saying because of the traffic.

I think she was trying to say something nice about my trio, but I cannot be sure because I was much too focused on trying to get them out of the car and into the stroller in some fashion that would avoid baby conflict (just not going to happen no matter what but in my state of mind I had refused to believe it!)

Bregon met me in the hallway of the office to let me know that everything was okay and that they would see us immediately. As luck would have it, it was a different receptionist lady than we had ever seen before. She was very nice and apologized because she couldn't find some of our paperwork.

The doctor turned out to be a man that I had worked with last year at Bregon's school Renaissance Festival Committee. He is a very nice man, and I really hoped that my tiny three ringed circus didn't get too much in the way.

Poor Bregon seemed to spend more time trying to help me prevent the babies from crying and hair pulling and trying to calm them down than actually fielding his questions for his appointment. We both really did try and answer as much as we could and talk about as many concerns as could be remembered.

I felt really bad about having to have the babies with us for the appointment. They were so loud and silly (which is unusual for them, but they had just spent the past hour and fifteen minutes in the car waiting so they were fussy.)

I had meant to try and leave them with a baby-sitter for the appointment (which had originally been last Monday and would have been after the funeral) but the rescheduled day conflicted with a business trip and work day of my baby-sitters.

Lucky for us, the doctor didn't find us to outlandish. We managed to leave with our prescription for new medicine that promises to last much longer and not have the side effects that had kept Bregon from sleeping and more importantly eating and growing (he has gained about 5 lbs this summer alone while off of the medications!)

I also had a coupon for the medicine. It was in the form of this card that had to be activated by calling a toll-free number. Of course being from a major drug company, it came with many many MANY questions that I had to try and answer while listening to the babies scream from my backseat.

I finally got the thing activated, and bravely headed to target to try and get the medication filled. I was so very grateful to the pharmacy there. This visit was hassle-free and within 30 minutes I was on my way home with my very hungry very fussy trio and my very patient saint of a 12 year old.

All in all, it was a productive day. I was reminded that even if I leave the house very early, I will still most likely find a way to be late. I also really need to remember that there really isn't much I can do about it if the circumstances are beyond my control as they were today.

And finally, after five appointments and three visits to that office later, we finally have the medication that will hopefully help my child have a better school year. Tonight, he asked me for his dance money. He will need to buy his first tickets to his first school dance. He even has a date. I suppose he is off to a pretty good start!

Getting Bigger...

My triplets are officially 17 months old now. They have come quite a long way from the tiny preemies that they were when they were first born. They can talk, cruise, and of course bite and pull hair and blow air kissies.

Along the way, they have reached many milestones, some of which I thought would never come. They learned to drink out of a bottle, they cut their first teeth, and started pulling up. They even finally started getting bigger. In fact, once they started growing, apparently there is no stopping them!

They have outgrown everything from their clothes and toys to the most disconcerting item, their play-yard. It is one of those "Rug-rat's" type play-yards that look like a bunch of baby gates linked together. It even has an extension in it to make it big enough for three, or so I had thought.

With the birth of our triplets, we officially out-grew our 2 bedroom home. We have made it work for much longer than anyone had imagined possible. Since Christmas, we have lived with the humongous play-yard taking up over a 1/4 of our living room. The rest of the living room is cluttered with the jumperoo, 2 exer-saucers, a walker, and three little booster style feeding chairs.

Thankfully, we should be moving very very VERY soon. In fact, I can't seem to get out of here fast enough. For the past few weeks, I have been combating the fact that the three babies just do NOT fit into their play-yard anymore. Well, they do fit technically, and can even have some of their toys in with them to give them some amusement and distraction so that they don't maul each other. Unfortunately, the peace just doesn't last as long as it used to in there!

The problem is, they have taken to fighting something awful over every little thing. It doesn't matter if it's a certain toy that they are fighting over, (chances are Kian is just going to bite or pull your hair over it and toss it over the side to make more room) or if it's over who is going to get to the parent trying to remove a baby for changing,feeding, playing with etc. My play-yard has turned into a war-zone.

Lately, we have been spending a lot of time over at the new house, cleaning everything that can be cleaned and cleaning it again for good measure (it had been empty for a while.) Luckily, I had the foresight to remember to bring a basket of toys over to occupy the babies while I cleaned in other parts of the house.

That's when I really noticed it, I suppose. My children turned into little angels over at the new house. There suddenly wasn't any fighting, biting, pinching or hair pulling. It wasn't for lack of reasons to do so, either. This particular basket of toys consisted of toys they hadn't seen since at least March when the basket was purchased to make room for their birthday toys, so there was plenty of new things to try and not share with your siblings!

Nobody tried to crawl into the fireplace (well not on purpose anyways-there was this one incident when Kian overshot sitting next to me to have a bit of chicken and ended up with his paws in the soot, but it was totally on accident!) They haven't noticed the staircase yet or the laundry room, much less the 2 downstairs pottys (which I am almost certain will end up being the subject of a later post!)

They all go to their little basket, get out what they want, and spread out and play. There is no crying at the new house. Sometimes, they even play together...without any fur flying or teeth being bared. Then I have to take them home for dinner and the inevitable stay in their play-yard. My little angels seem to lose their halo in lieu of tiny horns that pop out the moment their toes touch the floor of that play-yard.

Thankfully, we will soon be totally moved and this problem should resolve itself. They will have plenty of room to roam, and plenty of space to play. In the mean-time, though, I must be vigilant and play Sheriff Mommie and keep the peace in my play-yard.

Okay, It's Daddy's Turn!!!!!

My husband used to joke about how our first-born was a Mama's boy for the first couple of years of his life. It left such a huge impression, that my husband was fully prepared to step aside when the triplets arrived. Lucky for me, my trio just didn't have the chance to be Mama's little babies (they demanded each of us equally and at different times!)

Yesterday, however, it happened. That one tiny spark of an event that signals that my little boy isn't very little anymore. Let me start from the beginning so you have the full story.

Last year, in October, the Physical Education Department at my son's school held a fund-raiser. It involved the parents sending bagged candy so that they could see "Boo-bags" for the students to send each other to celebrate Halloween. Bregon of course was a more than willing participant because if he brought enough candy, he could obtain that prized pass that would get you out of dressing out for a day.

Then it happened, the unthinkable... The B00-bags were passed out and Bregon received one that couldn't be accounted for. It was signed "Secret Admirer." It drove him crazy trying to figure out who had sent it. He must have talked to more girls trying to find out if anyone knew who it was. This quest took up nearly the entire year, too.

Then he thought he had her figured out. The blushing confirmed it. He finally knew. I had told him that once he had it figured out, he should probably ask her to one of the school dances. His response was negative of course as he was a BOY and not quite ready for that just yet.

Fast-forward to this school year and apparently he had taken the entire summer to plot and plan and get over any fears and trepidations that he may have had.

The first day of school, he had run into this pretty little girl. She didn't recognize him at first. After all, he had just cut off his signature very long and shaggy, cool hair and now had glasses. He had hopes that he no longer looked like the new Charlie from "Willie Wonka" as the little girls had all said, and that he must look more like the new "Dr. Who" instead.

He reported that when he took his glasses off, she finally recognized him and blushed. Lucky for him he is only a tiny bit near-sighted or he might have missed it! I don't know if it was the Boo-bag or the blushies that did it, but when he got home after that first day, he had made up his mind.

He was going to finally take the plunge and ask her to the first school dance. He told me all about it mixed in with the reports of who all his teachers are, how much money he needed for class-fees and how the lunch lady didn't need any lunch money from him this year because of last year. He somehow snuck in the news apparently thinking he was being subtle.

Of course the Mommy Warning Bells went off!!!! Uh-oh. It's time for his Daddy to step in and take over. Bregon's report of the second day of school revealed that he had actually approached this pretty little girl, asked her, they actually had discussed it, and have come to the conclusion that they will be attending the first school dance together.

I am not sure at what point it happened, but my little boy has grown up a bit somewhere in between juggling babies and transformers and video games. And it all started with that secret admirer Boo-bag. I suppose the time has come for me to relinquish my Mama's Little Man and hand him over into the capable hands of his Daddy. Boy is Bregon going to kill me for telling you guys all of this!

The First Day of School

Yesterday, Bregon started 7th grade. He had a totally new haircut (we had his luxurious long longs shorn off at his request,) new glasses, and no medication for his ADHD. What a way to have to start the new year.

He seemed to do pretty well. He came home all sorts of happy and full of letters from his teachers telling all about what to expect. He also came home with requests for nearly $35 worth of class fees and more school supplies.

He is so excited. His favourite teacher from last year, his journalism teacher, is now his English teacher. Of course this is the same guy who organized the school trip to Disneyworld last year so of course he adores him!

His electives are beginning French and beginning Piano. Lucky for us, we are about to move and will be getting my mother's baby grand piano out of storage and tuned up and ready to go! I am not sure that I can help him with his French class, though. I was started on French in elementary school and can read it, but have absolutely no idea how to teach it to someone else!

I will need to obtain a box of kleenex, one of those marble notebooks, and "Alfred's Piano Books" from Stan's, I mean Southfield Music. It's funny, I must have several different editions of those books floating around my music library after all these years!

Our day went better than I thought without Bregon to help me with the triplets. I am spoiled during the summer and have him to help me out with everything. Kian did cry a bit, but then again he is busily trying to catch up to his siblings by cutting three teeth (one molar) all at the same time. When Bregon came knocking at our front door at 3:30 that afternoon, I asked the trio, "Who do you think that could be?" Somebody said, "Yay," and another tiny voice said, "My Brother?"

We were all so happy to see him. I had worried about him all day and apparently the babies had missed him as well. Now we have a lot of things to go & pick up for him as well as several checks to write for his class fees. The poor guy did remember to put our new address on his paperwork and even remembered what it is without having to be told!

ADHD Appointment Antics

Yesterday, my eldest was scheduled for his ADHD appointment. We have been trying to get him re-evaluated by this doctor that our pediatrician referred us to back in May.

In July, we were finally able to get the appointment. Our first appointment was basically supposed to be an evaluation. It ended up being muddled and confusing both for me and my son. I filled out paperwork and we were asked the same questions as the ones that I had answered on paper.

We never did see that doctor that we were referred to. Instead, we saw what I assume was some sort of counselor. He was very nice and all, but it did not get us any closer to our goal of getting those meds re-evaluated and re-assessed.

Our second appointment was for some sort of test, or so we were told. I had called to reschedule it because of a schedule conflict. It was a good thing that I did, because they had failed to log us into the appointment book in the first place and we would have been sent away if we had shown up for it.

When we finally did make that second appointment which was three weeks later than the original one had been slated for, we were asked the SAME questions that we were asked the first time we came in and our answers were in writing as well on that initial paperwork. That second appointment took all of fifteen minutes. We didn't seem to be getting anywhere.

We left that second appointment with what we thought and what we were told would be our first appointment with the real doctor that we had been referred to in the first place. Even though an old friend had died and his funeral mass had been scheduled for the same day as our appointment, I was too worried about missing that appointment to reschedule it. The office called to confirm that appointment Friday morning. I had thought we were set and good to go.

Fast-forward to Monday morning. I was busy ironing my shirt for my friend's mass when the phone rang. I had expected it to be another friend of ours calling for directions to the church. As luck would have it, it was that doctor's office.

They were calling to see if we could either come in right then at that moment, or reschedule the appointment with the doctor. I tried to very nicely explain that I had a 10 o'clock funeral mass to attend, and that we had been confirmed as of Friday for the appointment today at 12:15.

The lady then replied that the doctor was in right now and would not be back in until the following Monday. I tried to explain that my son started school in the morning and that the whole purpose of us seeing this doctor was to re-assess my son's diagnosis and to adjust his medication because our pediatrician had taken him off of it for the summer.

The lady from the office then demanded to know why I had taken my son off of his medications. I reiterated that our pediatrician had done so and then referred us to this doctor because the medications were causing extreme behavior side effects such as obsessive compulsive tendencies and severe depression. I also explained to the lady again how we had been coming to this office for a good chunk of the summer trying to get in to see this doctor and how they had kept putting us off repeatedly and that tomorrow was the first day of school.

She didn't seem to understand why we were bothered that my son would have to start school without his medications. She also thought that I should be able to just drop everything and run up to the office right now and see that doctor. I tried explaining that my baby sitters were not here yet and that by the time I loaded up the babies and my son into the car and drove over there that it would be almost 10 o'clock and that I could not reschedule my friend's funeral mass.

We got stuck with another appointment for next Monday. I have severe trepidations about this office and its capabilities. I cannot trust that the appointment for next Monday will be entered into their system and I cannot trust that they will not call and try and put us off yet again. I wonder exactly how early I should have started trying to get in to see these guys if May wasn't early enough for this new school year.

I just do not know what to think. I had to send my son off to middle school sans his medication. He does have new glasses (if he actually will wear them) that may help a little with his school work. The problem is that I am worried he will miss something or get distracted and miss something important. This is not the way I had wanted him to have to start off his new year.

Hopefully, all will be well. I am waiting for him to get home right now so that I can find out how his day went. In the meantime, I am looking for alternatives to this doctor situation. I keep trying to give the actual doctor the benefit of the doubt because this is a satellite office, but I just do not know what to think anymore. I suppose time will tell!

Bregon's First Funeral

Last Thursday, for whatever reason, Bregon and I decided that we needed to go and see a friend of ours who worked at a little hair-care place in the mall in Bossier. We packed up the trio, loaded up the car and made our way to the mall.

Once we got there, we were very surprised as our friend wasn't in the shop. I just figured that he had taken off early as we had a small get-together planned for later that evening. I didn't think anything of it really as my triplets were busy hair pulling and trying to nip at each other's elbows.

Later that day, we waited and waited for him to come by the house. My husband and he were supposed to ride together to the gathering so that Danny didn't have to drive downtown by himself. He never made it to my house.

That night, I received a phone call from a friend of ours who had been working with him at the shop who had found out that Danny had been killed in a car accident late that afternoon. Bregon had been sitting with me on the couch when the phone rang and he had over-heard the entire conversation.

Poor Bregon, he has never really had anyone that he was close to die before. Danny had always been there for as long as Bregon could remember. My poor little guy and I shared a few tears together there on my living room couch.

Then I had to call my husband and let him know what happened so that he could let our friends from out of town know before the gathering broke up for the evening. In a way, I was really glad that they were all together when they found out.

Bregon sat with me while I made a list of all of the people we needed to contact that would want to know what happened. Together, we talked about our fondest memories of our dear friend. He even ran and got us some toilet paper so that we could wipe our tears away.

Over the weekend, we had friends come in from all over the place. We had large group lunches and arranged coffee dates with everyone. We traded stories of our friends over the years and reminisced about how much he had touched all of our lives and the differences that he had made in them.

This morning, Bregon made the decision to attend his first funeral. Our friend was Catholic, so he had mass said for him today. Bregon very carefully picked out what he would wear. He was such a little adult about everything. He even thought to take his hankie (which had been bought as a camp-necessity for boy scouts and had never been used, oddly enough.)

He did very well during the service. He was very discreet for a 12 year old. He even offered to share his hankie with me when I was sad, but I had come prepared as well.

I am not sure what he thought of everything, but he did seem to enjoy seeing all of our old friends. It's odd how people seem to ban together when their friends pass away, but I think it somehow does make us stronger.

The only problem I had with Bregon happened after the funeral when he grew tired of talking to everyone out front afterwards. I looked up, and found that he had taken to climbing a little tree out in front of the church. I suppose if that's the worst of it, I am very fortunate!

He didn't even seem to mind being told that the tree was off limits. He very happily decided to go inside and visit at the reception hall instead. Hopefully, he will not get very much practice at how to behave at funerals!

A Back-To-School Outing With Triplets in Tow

For some reason or another, I thought it would be a good idea to take my eldest and have his eyes checked (at the recommendation of his pediatrician) and have his hair cut today. These seem like normal, everyday and easy tasks, but for us, nothing is ever easy!

I remembered to call yesterday and set up his eye appointment which went swimmingly well. I did forget to ask where the office was located, not realizing that there were more than one optical places in the mall down the street. Ah well, it could have been worse. At least I knew the name of the doctor the appointment was with-that was a start (I know it sounds a bit odd, but the referral was made by phone and no further information was given other than the name and phone number!)

I started about four hours early planning this morning exactly how things should happen for the day. I even was able to get the triplets down for the nap at the right time (lately it's been touch & go because of the teething.)

Bregon got up at a decent hour (no small feat for a tween-ager who is in the midst of his last week before school starting) and he even got dressed without any prodding. He even chose what appeared to be clean clothes to wear (sometimes an issue when dealing with a tween who just hasn't adjusted to the teen-aged world of deodorant and smelly-good products!)

I managed to get all of my make-up on and my hair fixed to where I could at least live with it once the triplets decided to run tiny sticky fingers through it (as of late its a trend!) I even had their lunch ready to go as they were waking up. I remembered to put their laundry into the dryer and even had three tiny clean outfits ready for when they woke up from their nap!

Of course once the babies began to stir, our phone started ringing. I very stupidly answered it. I have know idea what I was thinking at the time. It was about twelve by this point! Only two hours to get everyone diapered, dressed, fed and the car loaded! Eventually I was able to get the kids dressed and into their chairs with a little help from big brother.

While the babies had lunch, Bregon and I took turns fending off the cats and the dog who thought that it might be their lucky day for tasty treats (the babies have a habit of trying to share meals) while I made our usual bottle of apple juice mixed with water (its a 36 oz plastic apple juice container that I take EVERYWHERE with us.) I packed the blue insulated bag with sippy cups and juice, grabbed the teddy grahams, and headed for the car, stroller in tow.

I am not sure how, but we managed to actually get out of the house in our entirety, without the dog trying to tag along, and all three kitty cats still INSIDE the house before ten till one. As I pulled out of the driveway to head for the mall which is all of three minutes away or less, my cell phone rang.

I feel really bad having to cut that conversation short. I really appreciate the help of the person to whom I was speaking to, but I am just not that co-ordinated enough to be able to successfully unload the babies from their car seats into that stroller with only one hand free! However, I did manage to unload and set up the stroller and pack the stroller bag one handed- that wasn't too shabby if I do say so myself!

Once we actually got into the mall, I discovered that the location of the eye doctor was NOT where I had thought it was. As luck would have it, I chose the wrong entrance and ended up at the competitor's office on the opposite end of the mall. Lucky for us, we were early enough to still make it in time for our appointment.

We actually did find the right place and in time too. The problem was, the very tiny waiting area was very full with only one chair free. I don't mind standing, but because all of the seats were basically filled, I wasn't able to fit the stroller into the actual office and was forced to leave it in half in the doorway with over half of it sticking out into the mall in the way of the mall walker zone.

The people waiting were NOT every sympathetic to our plight at all. In fact, we were drawing quite a few stares. I grabbed the sign-in sheet, tried to quickly fill it out (and still do it the right way) and managed to confirm with the receptionist lady that we were there for our appointment, but that we may have to wait outside in the mall on the bench by the doorway because we could not fit inside the waiting area.

Everyone just kept staring at us. I tried to say excuse me, and ask if they would mind at least standing up for a second so that I could get my limo-sized stroller into the actual office and park it in the walk-way into the actual optical store. They just all continued to stare at us as if I was speaking some foreign language.

I finally gave up trying to go in through the actual entrance to the waiting area, and opted to back the stroller out of the doorway, and into the actual store. The people shopping in the actual store were all very nice and stepped out of the way so that I could maneuver past them without mowing anybody down (did I mention that I cannot drive that thing very well?)

Maybe the difference between the staring people who were sitting and the nice ones who were standing is that the sitting ones felt safe in their chairs and the standing ones were afraid of being mowed down by the crazy lady with the triplets! Who knows.

Of course my luck ran out about the time I was able to get the stroller parked and semi out of the way of the basic doctor office flow of traffic. Kian had apparently grown quite bored with his stroller toy and his juice and had taken to trying to grab as much as Kai's hair as he could manage (Kai's barely has any hair).

Kai was busy trying not to screech in pain while trying to get my attention. Vivie was a good baby girl and just sat and had her juice and stared back at all the people who had been so busily staring at her from their seats. Bregon alternated between fetching flying sippy cups and picking up tossed toys and teddy grahams off of the floor while nervously awaiting his name to be called.

Kian was so awful about hair pulling, I ended up having to switch he and Kai so that Kai would have a clear shot at Kian's nice rather shaggy blond hair (he actually managed to eschew pulling it somehow even though nobody would have blamed him much if he had tried!) Kian of course howled over the punishment and NOTHING made him feel any better.

Bregon meanwhile had been called back to have his eyes numbed and dilated. That poor patient lady would get to where she was almost able to get those drops into his eyes and he would pull away and say, "Nope! I'm just not ready yet!" It took her a bit to get those drops in too, poor dear.

As luck would have it, Bregon is just a tad bit near-sighted. Basically it was my choice over whether or not to go ahead and get the glasses or not. Last time, we bypassed them and I just felt we should give them a go and see if it helps him out in school. Time will tell!

In the meantime, we had to pick out frames. Yes, Kian still howled and everyone else was busy lobbing sippy cups and dragon-fly toys and dinosaur toys everywhere in some attempt to make new friends by enticing innocent passer's by to pick up the items and play the "Guess which baby this object belongs to game!"

Meanwhile, Bregon set out to try on every rather large set of frames he could find. Thankfully, this very nice English-sounding lady took pity on our plight and ran over to help him make a decision (did I mention we are not very good with decision making-it's an ADHD thing.) But, tomorrow we should have glasses!!!!!

Next, I got the bright idea that we should cut his hair. It has gotten very long. In fact, it is so long, that he looks like someone from the '70's. Lucky for us, he was in a quick decision making mode and was able to convey to the stylist exactly what he wanted and in under three minutes. He wanted to look like the new Dr. Who. Of course the poor lady hadn't a clue who or what that was!

The hair book thankfully had a picture that would suffice for her to be able to cut all of his hair off and he now is sporting an actual haircut, not just a trim grown out over months and months of cultivation!

Kian screamed most of the way through the haircut too, in spite of a very nice lady talking to him and trying to make him feel better. The only remedy for Kian seemed to be us leaving the mall entirely.

Once we got home, the babies all were very happy to be finally in their play-yard. They immediately set about tossing as many of the toys as they could outside of it. Over all, the day went rather well. We were on time to our appointment in spite of the odds and were even able to fit in an extra task as well!

Multiple's Communities Online!

Shortly after I started blogging on RedRiverMoms.com, I received a comment from a Mom who was in another state but in a similar position as I had once been.

Much like I had done when I was pregnant, this Mom was spending as much of her bed rest scouring the internet to learn more about her unusual pregnancy and what to do with her babies once they arrived.

This lady had run across my blog and had been following it to get information on what to expect when her triplets were born. One day, I received a comment from her thanking me for being one of the ONLY sources out there that even attempted to admit exactly how a triplet mum went about feeding her trio.

You have to understand that for some reason or another, there just isn’t much information out there on what to do with higher order multiples once they are born. If anybody really knows, they seem to be mostly keeping it a big secret. This was one of the main reasons I jumped on the chance to blog about my experience and try and share as much of my experience with other mothers in similar situations.

I kept in touch with this Mother through out her pregnancy. I still read her blog and leave comments with ideas in answer to her posted questions. We have passed ideas on feeding, sleeping arrangements, and even how many diapers you can expect to go through in a given time period.

From our communication, and the lack of good information out there for people in our situation, has sprung a new website created by this lady’s husband.

The name of the new website is www.MultiplesNetwork.com. It is set up very similar to Facebook.com and is designed to create a better sense of community among those of us with higher order multiples!

The website is free to join and allows its users to create their own custom web pages, upload photos and video’s, and maintain a friend’s list. All entries are tagged for reference purposes so that if we are having any problems with our kids, we can easily search for solutions!

I encourage mothers, families, and friends of multiples to join. You can all link together and keep in touch with the goings on of your multiples! Some of us have been using similar set-ups to send out updates about our children and their antics to our friends and families.

Then there are people like me that use sites like this in place of baby books. I tend to write and upload photos into a similar site, then print them out at the end of each week and stick them into a binder that I have set aside for the babies.

There are three binders, one for each of my children. I find this method better than using a baby book because my kids will get to see the funny little day to day things that they did and came up with as opposed to just the amount of teeth they had at a certain age or what order they came in, or which toy was their favorite at age 5 months.

I have record of silly things like the way Vivienne loves to dance to VH-1 videos from the ‘80’s, or the time that Kai decided that he found a way to fly like superman and got side-tracked while balancing on his tummy on the rail of the play-yard and decided to watch his toes wiggle and fell, or how Kian prefers to toss all of the toys outside of the playpen as a game.

These sorts of sites are taking the internet by storm. Sites such as Preemie Connection, Triplet Connection, and the new Multiple's Network are giving us a way to access information not normally presented in printed form and a way to meet people all over the nation (world as well) that are in similar situations as we are. These web sites are allowing us to ban together in ways we never had access to before. I encourage you to try them out and see how they can help you and your family!

Triplet Time Out!

Everything is different when you have multiples. Because they are born early and with their siblings, they develop at a different rate than a single-born baby. This means that they are smaller and do not do the same things at the same time as other babies that are the same “Age” as they are do.

My trio rolled over later, learned to sit up later and didn’t even cut teeth until they were a little over nine months old. Actually, only one of my triplets can even walk and they are currently 16 months old.

I don’t know if it is because they are tinier than normal babies, or if it is because I have babied them too much, but this go-round I have been a bit more lax in the discipline department. My eldest was disciplined from the beginning as I could recognize that he understood what it was that I meant.

My triplets have been different in that I just haven’t thought that they would understand the concepts of right or wrong yet. Don’t get me wrong, I have been teaching them the difference between “Yes” and “No” and what “No-No’s” are. I just haven’t found that they can fully understand what it is that I am trying to convey to them in a situation where one of them is crying.

Recently, because my triplets are teething very badly, they have developed a habit of biting each other. I have caught them biting each other in attempts to get stolen toys back from each other and even when one got into the way of another. I have been in quite a quandary over how to address this with them.

What I have been doing, is making sure to turn my full attention to the child who was bitten or hurt after stating to the other two children that biting is bad, biting hurts, and biting is a no-no etc.

Of course half the time, I can’t even tell who did the biting, or caused the crying, but I sure can tell who lost the fight! Usually I end up consoling the baby who got hurt, leaving the others to watch the bitten sibling get all of the attention.

Saturday, I had to take my eldest son to Dallas to see “Sweet Charity.” This meant that husband had baby duty. After the show, I got a call from a very excited and proud husband.

As luck would have it, there was a biting binge in the play-yard. Kian had decided to pull Kai’s hair and at the same time bite Vivienne’s arm. Apparently he is very adept at multi-tasking for a toddler. Most adults aren’t so coordinated!

My husband had this very bright idea! He decided to try putting him in time out, something which we had thought of before, but hadn’t been able to find a good safe place to implement the punishment that wasn’t a fun place to play!

What he did, was sit him in his little feeding chair, turn it away from the television to where Kian had no choice but to sit there and watch his daddy play with his siblings and have loads of fun. He told him that biting and pulling hair hurt and were both no-no’s.

Husband did not do anything more than buckle him into his little chair and turn it around. He didn’t give him his feeding tray or a snack or a toy, either. He even managed to ignore Kian’s little sniffles and all (which is very difficult for a doting daddy to do!)

Poor biting and hair pulling Kian had to sit and watch his daddy play with his siblings in their play-yard with their toys. He apparently figured out that he was missing out and it made him very sad. After he was allowed back into the play-yard he was even GOOD for a time.

Husband only had one other incident with Kian biting and he went straight back into time out again. Each time, he sniffled and was sad about missing out and each time he was good afterwards.

I am so very proud of husband for solving our discipline dilemma. Now we have a good way to get our point across to the babies when they do something wrong. This way, I can actually separate each of them in a safe manner and where they cannot get to the others or communicate easily.

Hopefully they will get more teeth and the biting will go away and fade in time (and other habits!). If not, our new, modified time-out system may just help us quell our tiny trio problems!

The Wailing Wipies!!!

I have noticed something different about baby wipes in this day and age. It's an odd subject, I know, but really I have.

Once upon a time, when Bregon was a baby, I seem to remember cheerful diaper changes with much laughing and giggling and silliness (not enough to cause an accident of course!) I don't recall any unhappiness or outbursts of the "Owie's" or anything dreary of that sort.

Fast forward to this day and age, and it seems that every time I go to change one of my babies' diapers, there is a sudden downpour of tears and wriggling and "Ouch" noises echoing throughout my house! I just couldn't figure out why this was happening until the other day.

It would seem that I have become one of those trusting consumers that has quite taken for granted that a product designed for something as sensitive as a baby's bottom would actually be soft and gentle. I have been conditioned since I was a child to think that products that include the word "Baby" in its name must take a "No more tears" approach to its very design and composition.

Boy was I wrong! Have any of you actually TRIED a baby wipe? I don't mean take them into the privy with you and replace your Charmin with it or anything, but seriously. Have you ever tried a baby wipe for something other than wiping your hands after a particularly icky and messy diaper?

I know I have used baby wipes to not only clean my trio's tiny hiney's, but I have also used them to clean their faces after dinner (think back to when your baby was just starting solids) and to give them a quick wipe-down after a dusty and hot day in the park prior to loading them into their car seats for the trip home.

The other night, I needed to take my make-up off and found that my husband had already jumped into the shower before I could race him for use of the faucet, so I just grabbed what came natural, a nice, handy dandy baby wipe. We used to use them to remove our stage make-up after a production back before the babies were born. I thought it would be okay.

Well, it DID remove my make-up. It even removed a bit more... Yep, it rubbed little places in my skin on my face. Then to make matters worse, it actually BURNED!!! And I am one of those few people who uses rubbing alcohol and cotton balls to clean my face in the mornings too so I am used to that tingly feeling.

Normally that tingly feeling wouldn't bother me. This time it did, though. This was something that is supposed to be used to clean my baby. If this baby wipe could do this to my 30 something aged skin, what was it really doing to my babies' little behinds?

Is this why my babies have diaper rash so badly sometimes? Could this be why we have more tears than the giggles that I had been used to when my eldest was little? I had thought that maybe my diaper cream wasn't doing it's job. I should have realized that something was different when I would go to wipe their little tushes and there would be tiny spots of blood from little sores that formed on their tiny hiney's.

I don't know what I thought. I suppose I thought it was irritation from them drinking to much juice or my forgetting to remember to cut their juice with enough water to make it not as acidic. I never realized that the wipes that I was using might be the root of the problem.

These wipes are advertised as "Natural," "Soft," "Gentle," and my personal favorite, "Cushiony thick." This is a name brand wipe. This isn't one of the generic ones at all. I don't understand what happened to those wipes of old that didn't seem to cause any problems.

I have several different brands of wipes floating around the house as well. I decided to try them all out and see if the others did anything close to what the ones that burned and scraped did. Most were abrasive in some fashion or another and every one of them burned to some extent.

Be careful when choosing baby products! I am learning the hard way that they just do not make them like they used to! I know that as a Mom, I was accustomed to grabbing a baby wipe to clean little faces when they were grubby from spaghetti and ravioli. I was spoiled into using them as an in-between bath-time solution for not-so-fresh moments.

I will definitely be looking for an alternative for my kids. Sadly, none of my samples that I had floating around the house seemed to be any better than what I had been using. I suppose I could use wash rags, but I seem to remember a similar abrasive problem when having to use them in the hospital with my eldest. Ah well, maybe someone will invent a sort of diaper cream that numbs the bum a bit so we can clean up our babies truly with "No more tears!"

Teething Troubles

It's very quiet right now, considering it's about four in the afternoon. As of late it's been very noisy for some reason or another. My trio are all cutting molars and various other teeth in odd places.

This means that they are teething. Teething means that ANY object that can fit in their mouth must be BITTEN and often! This process has involved chewing on such things as a tiny moose figurine (sorry Tyrone) that apparently is best chewed upon if you insert the antlers into your very wide open mouth and twist it a bit to where you can get those antlers in between the gaps in your teeth so that the missing ones can be enticed to break the skin.

Unfortunately for the moose, that pesky tooth has yet to break the skin yet. Sadly for my teething toddler, that moose's antlers just BARELY fit into his mouth so he has to open super wide to even be able to have the chance to maneuver it into his mouth. The laws of physics just are NOT in either party's favor here.

Kai has quickly discovered that if he isn't careful, those antlers will get stuck in your mouth (keeping it forcibly open) and just will not come out unless a parental unit takes pity in his plight (which often is very hard to do speedily as we are much to busy trying not to laugh at his predicament!)

Then there is the strange case of dental imprints popping up in places they shouldn't be. Poor Vivie has quite a collection running up and down her tiny, apparently very tasty, little baby girl arm. Kai has them on his bicep and even running down one leg. Oddly enough, Kian isn't sporting but a few bruises. I can only guess that it is Kian who has been leaving his dental imprints emblazoned on his siblings for all to see.

I really am at my wit's end with the biting business. It all happens so very quickly so I rarely can catch the actual act occurring. I know that if someone is crying, then someone usually was up to no good. However, in my house, It's the person who is wailing that gets the soothing mommy attention and not the one who may have caused them to cry.

I know that once they are old enough to really understand what they are doing that I will have to really crack down on this behavior. For right now, all I can really do is tell the general onlooking siblings that biting is bad and a no-no and hope that the offender really figures out that they are the one who is in trouble.

I have to take some reassurance in the idea that at least I am not giving them my undivided attention over the situation in that I must comfort the baby who is crying over being most recently mauled. I can only hope that this works out in the end. Either that, or those teeth will hopefully finally come in and the teething/biting urge will fade away along with it.

I am trying to hang in there and be a sweet and nice and loving mom, but it the power's that be are making it so very difficult. None of the babies seem to sleep entirely through the night. Thankfully, they rotate waking up which makes it a tad bit easier to soothe that baby back to sleep. The bad part is, that once I get one back into their beds, another one starts to squirm and cry and needs to be soothed.

This means that usually I don't get much in the way of sleep at night. I try and nap when the babies do so that I am at least tolerable to be around, but as of late that is becoming less possible. Today, they actually tag-teamed crying through-out nap time. They have been doing the same thing for most of the day. In fact, it's odd that it was quiet long enough for me to write this! Those teeth HAVE to come in sometime!

Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining. I know that it will be over in a heartbeat. I even am trying to find ways to find the humor in all of this. Maybe it's some sort of honor to get to sport your sibling's dental imprints on your arm...a sort of baby right of passage maybe? I remember when my baby sister proudly left her dental imprint on my arm. She was always so proud of herself. I must have had that bruise for at least two weeks.

Ah well, it's almost dinner time for babies at my house. I have until "The Backyardigans" ends to have dinner ready and avoid the fussies! Maybe I can find something for them to chew on that is SUPPOSED to actually go in their mouths this time!!!!

Sippy Cup Recall Alert!

Parents be forewarned! There is a recent recall on Playskool sippy cups this week. Here is the link to the site with all of the details and PICTURES of the cups in question.

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml07/07246.html

The reason I am posting this as a warning to all parents is that my children have several different sippy cups that are made in a very similar manner to these cups that ALSO have similar problems yet they have yet to be recalled.

These cups are of the no-spill soft spout variety sold through CVS pharmacy. The children are able to chew through the soft spouts and can potentially swallow and choke on the bits of spout. The recall information states that we should return the cups in question to the CVS stores for a refund.

Parents, I urge you to take a second look at your sippy cup supply. While my cupboard did not have any of the Playskool variety cups in it, we do have a different brand but with a similar soft spout.

Upon closer inspection of our set of cups, I discovered that my trio had been gnawing on the underside of their cups for quite some time now. Because of the consistent coloring through-out the spout, I hadn't noticed the deterioration happening. There are deep grooves in them from where my babies' bottom teeth dragging on that spout. One of them has been chewed in half. I was very fortunate that my child had yet to chew the pieces off of it completely and either swallow or choke on it.

As busy a very busy parent, I know first hand how easy it is to take the safety of our children's cups and utensils for granted. After all, in this day and age we have so many programs and guidelines and tests that are in place to supposedly protect us from accidents such as these from happening. We as parents should take this recall as a warning that these safety precautions are failing us as consumers.

We need to take this recall as a sign that we need to be more vigilant in watching the wear and tear that occurs on our baby cups and other accessories that our children must use. Make sure that you periodically inspect their cups and spoons and even their little plastic bowls and plates to ensure that they aren't wearing out or breaking down from everyday use. Make certain that you replace everything as it starts to break down or become brittle from age.

I know that my family is very rough on their feeding sets and all because it gets three times the normal use than the regular family would. But the fact is, if it can happen to me and the supplies I have purchased for my children, it could very well happen to anyone.

If you do find that any of your accessories are breaking down in ways that could pose a choking hazard, do report it. Here is a link to the form where consumers can report defective products. You can even do so anonymously if you need to.

https://www.cpsc.gov/cgibin/incident.aspx

Please remember to check for cracks or missing bits when you are rinsing out your baby's cups and utensils or putting them into the dishwasher. The recent recall list is peppered with recalls for pacifiers, sippy cups and even baby beds made and sold at very popular and frequented retailers.

Recent recalls for food have awakened us as consumers to the harsh reality of the retail world as studies have shown many recalled items are still out on the shelves for sale. We as parents cannot trust that these retailers will pull the recalled items from the shelf either. We as parents must act as advocates for the safety of our children. Doing so may save your baby's life.