Organization? WHAT Organization? I Do NOT Resemble ANY Such Concept!

 Something happens to a mom when they have multiples. I don’t remember exactly when it happened, or exactly how, but I suddenly found myself an organized mom. 

Not that I wasn’t organized before I had the triplets, I had to have been, or was to a point.

It’s just that now I am super-organized. I have all these folders full of my maternity benefits and leave information, medical insurance and Medicaid benefit forms, middle school application process forms and school related information, and several that are full of nothing but health claim information and medical bills for me and the triplets. 

I save everything related to medical bills and claims and copy those things that I cannot save.

I have even learned to micro-manage our health claim information, something I never dreamed would be necessary. 

I now appear to know more about claim processing than the representatives with my insurance company who have to hear from me almost every Friday to ensure that my triplet’s health claims are processed correctly and don’t slip through those pesky cracks.

At some point, I learned how to schedule my day and that of my triplets, managing to keep them all on the same schedule that they originally came home from the hospital with. 

I am one of those moms who can actually make appointments and lunch dates around that schedule, knowing exactly how my kids will be temperament-wise at a given moment. 

Sometimes I wonder, how did it all come to this? When did this happen? My eldest wasn’t ever on any sort of schedule and it never occurred to me that I would find myself with one now!

I actually bought five sets of three multi-colored bottles each so that we could know which baby had what amount of formula. 

We would know which bottle had which meds measured into them for each baby and I even went as far as to place them in a certain order in the fridge that would make dosage times a no-brainer. 

How in the heck did I manage to come up with that one? I’ll never know because it’s something I just did and luckily, it worked!

Sometimes I look in that mirror and I don’t recognize that Mom even though it’s my own reflection. 

People ask me how I do it, and I never know what to say. The truth is, I don’t really know. I just do whatever it is that I have to do to get my children safely through their day with my sanity in tact (or mostly!) 

I have learned to let things go that I just cannot always get to like the dishes or the vacuuming. 

Hopefully, I will remember to show my twelve-year old how to do some of these things…but I do forget.

I have had to learn that its ok to do things when I can and understand that sometimes things just have to go by the wayside. 

I have had to learn not to care what other people think of me because of this. All I can do is sit back and enjoy this wonderful ride of a lifetime!

originally posted WEDNESDAY, MAY 23, 2007

Originally posted WEDNESDAY, MAY 23, 2007 BY MIMI RANKIN WEBB

HTTP://MIMIRANKINWEBB.BRANDYOURSELF.COM/

Best Places To See Fall Leaves In the Shreveport-Bossier City, LA Area

 November 6, 2020

 

Image Credit: https://www.pexels.com/photo/autumn-autumn-colours-autumn-leaves-background-235767/

Are you looking for the best spots for fall foliage in the Shreveport-Bossier area? We are lucky to have so many great spots for leaf-peeping! 

We've listed our family's favorite places to see autumn leaves in Shreveport, Bossier City and beyond! We love hiking and visiting parks, so we included those in our list of where to see fall leaves as well.

Want to know when fall colors will be at their peak in our Area? Check out this fall foliage prediction map from SmokyMountains.com. 

Simply move the slider at the bottom of the map to get an idea when leaves will be at peak colors in Louisiana and across the United States. 

No map like this can be 100 percent accurate, of course, but it can give you a good idea of when fall colors will peak.

Ready to go find some beautiful fall leaves in our area?

Here are my family's favorite spots for leaf-peeping:

Arthur Ray Teague PKWY

Enjoy exploring this walking/biking trail that runs alongside the Red River In Bossier City, LA. 

Clyde Fant Memorial PKWY

Enjoy this walking/biking trail that runs alongside the Red River on the Shreveport side. You can start down by the Shreveport Aquarium OR along the East Preston side near the BHP YMCA.

Eddie B. Jones Park

Enjoy hiking trails & more at this park out near Chimp Haven.

Red River National Wildlife Refuge

Enjoy exploring trails, the lake and visit the boat landing to go fishing.

R.W. Norton Art Gallery 

While the museum itself is closed to the public, these beautiful botanical gardens are OPEN for exploring and enjoying the beautifuli sculpture gardens and streams that run through out! Just practice social distancing and remember that there are NO public restrooms available before heading out to enjoy the beautiful grounds! 

Walter B. Jacobs Memorial Nature Park

These trails are OPEN during normal park hours.  Forge out and enjoy some fresh air and sunshine! Restrooms can be accessed at the picnic pavilion.

Want more? Check out Macaroni Kid Shreveport-Bossier Moms In the Know where you can find all of our events & MORE posted as well as crafts, area activities, and area resource guides for the Shreveport, LA, Bossier City, LA & surrounding areas!

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🌸 Macaroni Kid Shreveport-Bossier Moms In the Know is a free weekly e-newsletter and website that highlights all of the great things for kids and their families to do in our community. Plus, you can find fun activities, family-focused businesses, book and product reviews, recipes, crafts, and much, MUCH, more! Macaroni Kid Shreveport-Bossier Moms In the Know serves families in Shreveport, Bossier, Haughton, Benton, Vivian, Minden , Stonewall and other surrounding communities.🌸

🌸Is your business, church or group holding a family-friendly event that is not listed?🌸 Submit the event by CLICKING HERE! Thank you!🌸🌸Get a FREE event calendar for the Shreveport-Bossier Area and beyond full of festivals, fairs, activities, events and more! Sign up by clicking HERE!

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Originally posted WEDNESDAY, MAY 23, 2007 BY MIMI RANKIN WEBB

HTTP://MIMIRANKINWEBB.BRANDYOURSELF.COM/

A Triplet Connection

 When I first found out that I was having triplets, I set out to find the “What to Expect When You are Having Triplets” guide to my pregnancy.

I dunno why, but I automatically just assumed that there would be such a book out there, somewhere. There just HAD to be or so I thought.

There are books literally about every other aspect of pregnancy, so naïve little me figured of COURSE this book exists. After all, triplets aren’t all that rare, at least not to me!

My very nearly three month’s pregnant self headed out to begin my search for the perfect triplet owner’s manual. I was very optimistic. I waddled into Barnes and Noble and headed back to the baby section.

I was very excited and ready to learn as much as I could about what I was going to need to prepare for the arrival of my tiny trio. I skimmed through the shelves in the back, ready to pounce on the triplet section once I found it. I ended up skimming and skimming and skimming.

I thought, “This can’t be right.” I wasn’t finding much of anything. There were pregnancy planners and books about regular singleton pregnancies. I even saw a LOT of books on carrying twins.

After about thirty minutes of going back over the selection again & again, I did manage to find ONE book about multiple births, just one.

Of course I purchased it, telling the sales associate behind the counter how surprised I was to find that there wasn’t really anything about higher order multiples in stock. He just stared at me blankly for quite a while.

After a very lengthy pregnant pause, he FINALLY did say that he thought that the subject matter was a bit rare because not very many people ever had multiples. What do you say to that, really?

I just smiled and took my apparently “Rare” book and headed home. Being optimistic, I tried other bookstores around town. I only was able to locate one more book on the subject. My library at home now consisted of literally only two books.

What’s a mom to do? I tried the internet even only to realize that there really just isn’t much out there for people like me.

I had just started going to my specialist and he had recommended that I join the multiple birth mom’s clubs and organizations around town. I was ready to join, so I went home and hit the phone book and searched the internet.

I found a few contacts for local groups and sent them an email. I received ONE response back, just one. That response wasn’t positive. This lady reported that due to lack of interest, this division of the organization was no longer active.

What’s a girl to do? I was to go on mandatory bed rest at five months. I found the triplet forum and was able to get a little information out of that. Then I ran across the many family’s out there who have had triplets and as a service to other mum’s they documented it online for others to read.

I spent the next few months devouring these sites and watching the discovery health channel for anything I could relate to. I later found out that the reason there aren’t many resources out there is that each case is totally different. My pregnancy, too, was unique, especially for a triplet pregnancy. I would just have really liked to have been able to find out a little more than I did before finding out the HARD way!

The funny thing is, once you have multiples, other sets seem to come out of the woodwork to find each other! I hear from people all the time that we are the only set of triplet’s that they have ever met.

Oddly enough, I have now met many sets, young and old. I meet them in the grocery store; I meet them in Wal-Mart, and in the Target parking lot.

I accidentally ran into a set whose mum was selling a stroller in their garage sale-it’s the reason we have our stroller today! In fact, that lady is the lady who taught me how to successfully grocery shop- “Push the stroller, pull the cart,” which is the best advise I have had since the baby’s births!

We run into each other and people who know us all the time now. It’s really neat to know that we aren’t alone in the world!

Originally published THURSDAY, MAY 10, 2007

Originally published THURSDAY, MAY 10, 2007 BY MIMI RANKIN WEBB

HTTP://MIMIRANKINWEBB.BRANDYOURSELF.COM/

The Art of ALL Things "Boingy"

After reading a forum posting about a lady asking for the necessary objects needed to prepare for the arrival of her baby, I began to think back about the things I couldn’t do without: or rather, things that my baby’s couldn’t have done without.There was the usual of course, pajamas, bottles, pacifier selection and diapers. But then I listed IT, the one thing that nobody should be without, the bouncy-seat. 


You can stick your baby in a bouncy-seat almost from the time your bundle of joy arrives. It’s not like the variety that we had when I was little. 


The newer ones recline all the way back and have inserts that can be used to support even the tiniest newborn.

My tiny triplet preemies adored their seats and even used them up until recently. There is one teensy little problem with using them, though. 


They foster of love of all things that go “Boingy.” From the very beginning we place our children in these seats that are set to bouncing by the very tiniest movement of our infants. 


In the beginning this soothes them, and as they grow up, it becomes a source of amusement. After all, it’s a lot of fun to sit in the seat and make it bounce up and down as much as you can plus most come with really neat toy-bars that entice your baby to move thus fostering that love of BOINGY! 


Once they get a bit larger and able to hold their head up, the toy-makers came up with a way to perpetuate your child’s growing addiction of all things boingy by creating the “Johnny Jump Up.” 


Its this contraption that has a sort of springy clamp on one end and what looks like a sort of swing on the other end that is connected by a rather large industrial looking spring. 


You are supposed to be able to hang it in your doorway so baby can continue their love of boingy-ing on into their toddler years. 


Unless of course you live in a very old house with very large door casings, then you are out of luck. Or so I had thought. 


Then one day, we saw IT. Someone out there had figured out that there was a need for free-standing boingy machines and had invented the “Jumperoo” contraption that basically does the same thing only there isn’t any doorway required to function! 


This was a lifesaver for us. Just as soon as my preemies could hold up their heads, they were in that boingy machine. 


They bounced and drifted to and fro at first very lightly because they were so very light. Then, as they gained weight, they took to boingy-ing as hard and as high as their little feet could jump. 


In fact, even though we are a bit too old for it, we still have to have boingy sessions in the jumping machine. It’s just that addictive. 


If we don’t let them jump in their machine, they try & boingy in their walker or boingy in their beds. In fact they do it anyways.

My baby’s boingy in the stroller and standing in the play-yard, clutching the walls for support. They can be found boingy-ing in their exersaucers which thankfully have the good graces to have springs in them just for that reason, although it can get messy if they are having a snack and end up forgetting about it temporarily in a fit of boingy. 


Boingy-ing appears to be so very popular and spreading across the nation that our favorite show, “The Backyardigans” did an entire episode on “Boinga.”

Yes, we have the DVD so we can boingy along with them too! The truth is plane to see, baby’s need to boingy! 

Originally published THURSDAY, MAY 10, 2007 BY MIMI RANKIN WEBB

HTTP://MIMIRANKINWEBB.BRANDYOURSELF.COM/

Triplets & Shopping Do NOT Mesh

 Shopping is a necessary evil that must be done, triplets, or no triplets. Being that I don’t have anyone to leave them with while I go shopping, I have to take them with me.

In the beginning it was different. I didn’t have a stroller until they were five months old, which meant I had to really improvise. 

In theory, I should be able to attach the car seat/baby carrier to the buggy. To do this, I would need no less than three buggies. 

Not a good idea for someone shopping solo. It looked promising at Sams, as they had a double seat in the front of the buggy that would seat two theoretically. 

Note to self: It does NOT seat two car seats. 

I quickly found a solution that would allow me to go out and get the things I would need SANS that stroller. 

The solution was to place two of the seats (usually the boys) facing each other(so that they could entertain each other) side-ways in the container part of the shopping cart and put the other seat in another cart. 

I could have put the third seat in the front and just had one cart, but I wouldn’t have been able to see over or around the car seat and I couldn’t have bought anything which would never do! 

I would shop like this for nearly four months.Eventually, it became necessary for me to have a stroller. I had to make a trip to New Orleans to say good-bye to my Grandfather and I would be going places that did not have shopping carts. 


I had many people looking out for me and one Saturday a friend of a friend who was out garage sale-ing ran across a triplet stroller. 


What luck! I threw on clothes and ran over to buy it sight unseen. Luckily it was in great condition and came with much triplet advice from the triplet mom who sold it to me. 


She gave me a very important piece of advice: Push the stroller, pull the buggy. I felt like Ralph Machio from “The Karate Kid” learning from Mr. Miagi. 


Little did I know that advice would take me very far both figuratively AND literally! It’s not easy pushing something so long and heavy and maneuvering through the angry mob shopping at Wal-mart. 


It takes a lot of coordination and patience to get anywhere with my “Limo” as I affectionately call the stroller; even more-so when I am pulling that buggy along as well. 


People defiantly take notice of us, that’s for certain. I have to be very careful when I go shopping to only buy what will fit into the trunk of my car along with the stroller. 


I know that the stroller doesn’t fit all the way into the trunk of my car(yes I still drive a sedan) and that the trunk must be bungee-ed shut.

I did once forget what I was doing and had a major issue when I had to buy a new TV set and get it home in one piece. 


You cant just leave the babies or your 12 year old in the parking lot while you run the TV home. Luckily, I drive around with a trunk full of various sized bungee cords so I was able to puzzle piece everything into the trunk and literally bungee the TV balanced precariously in the trunk next to the stroller and still get all four kids and the grocery’s home in one piece. 


Now, that was scary!

I have other issues that come up while shopping. I don’t recall having the same problems shopping when I had just one baby. 


One weekend, for example, I made the mistake of running to the Bossier Wal-mart to pick up some baby veggies and Shrek Triplet beanie baby’s (yes they were on my list too!) 


People who shop that Wal-mart are just not used to something like us, I guess. People were running their buggy’s into my stroller which really can hurt my baby’s. 


I can’t really maneuver out of their way like they expect me to because the stroller is so incredibly long plus I am dragging a shopping cart behind us. 


My only recourse is to ask them to please not run into my stroller, something that they apparently find an outlandish request or rude. I honestly don’t know what else to say really. 


If I try and move the stroller sideways, I run the risk of it tipping over which I figure is worse than the buggy impact. This sort of commando shopping behavior really frightens my kids. 


Kian cried when someone decided to back into him on the veggie aisle and that man almost sat on him it was so bad. 


The man in question actually glared at my 1 year old for daring cry in his presence. I haven’t ever had someone almost sit on them before. 


It wasn’t just an isolated incident either was the scary thing. This sort of thing continued to happen the entire Wal-mart run that day. 


The kids were so upset by the run-ins that they were crying by the time I got them to the check-out line. I was only in there for about 30 minutes, but it was 30 minutes too long! 


The funny thing is, I don’t have this problem at the Youree drive area Wal-mart. 


I don’t even have that problem at the mall where the department store racks are so close together that its nearly impossible to shop anywhere but from the main walk-ways. 


I suppose I should just be thankful that I can go out and do these errands all by myself. The struggle IS REAL!

Originally published THURSDAY, MAY 10, 2007 BY MIMI RANKIN WEBB

HTTP://MIMIRANKINWEBB.BRANDYOURSELF.COM/

Triplet Games

 Life with triplets can be really funny. After all, instead of one bouncing baby, I happen to have three. I know there are all sorts of myths out there about multiples.

The funny thing is, a lot of them which seem preposterous are really true. I have found out that they do develop their own language. Yes, I believe that might have been the first thing they ever did…and I have a strong suspicion it occurred in-utero. 'Tis scary, yet true.

Their communication skills in-utero became apparent when it came time for the advanced ultrasounds.

The babies were required to be monitored as breathing so many times for the lab-tech in a given time-frame. It almost seemed as if they knew exactly what it was we were looking for and exactly what the tech wanted them to do...however they soon proved mischievous!

You see, they actually appeared to team up against us on the outside. There were weeks when they were all sorts of moving around inside for the people in the waiting room of the doctor’s office putting on a show for anybody who stared wondering how far past my due date I was inspite of having several more months to go, lol.

But once I got into that huge recliner and they were on “TV” they would clam up and not breathe a bit. I know they had been doing it because they had just gotten over a huge case of the hiccups- yes they can all three have them at the same time- fun to watch, hard to handle for me.

It seemed that they would unanimously agree to either breathe as they were supposed to, or agree not to do it at all. It was usually an all or none situation with them.

Then one day, apparently they forgot to tell Kai that they were going to be good and that the plan was to behave THAT day. Kian & Vivienne both performed their breathing tasks VERY obediently, suspiciously so, even.

HOWEVER, when they got to Kai, he held it and held it and held it. They even hooked me up to the contraction contraption and monitored me for a while then went in and re-checked him.

It was then that we witnessed the funniest thing. They located each of the babies so that they could be sure which was which, then went over to Kai to watch him and waited for him to do his expected baby tricks.

All of the sudden, you could see these two arms come out and hit Kai in the side which made him gasp and start breathing for the tech:  those arms belonged to Vivienne & Kian as if they had planned to get their brother into trouble! We all had a good laugh about that one.

Then there was the night that my husband had been poking my tummy, playing with the boys. He tapped on my tummy three times over Kai. Then we both froze, because Kai tapped back somehow three times to match his daddy. This became a game with him that we would play nightly.

Once they were born, we quickly found out that they had developed a form of sign-language to communicate with the outside world.

Kai seemed to take the lead on this. He seemed to act as their “Spokesperson” of sorts. He showed us their universal sign for bottle which meant that they were hungry. It involved basically a thumbs-up hitch-hiker sort of sign that he would make with his hand and move to it to his mouth.

They also had a sign that would let us know when they were going to spit up so that we could have a towel ready. It was an open hand that they would first place next to their neck at ear level and sort of wave it up in an arc up and over their ear.

I quickly learned that when they made this sign, they meant it. Other people must have found us a bit crazy, but it really helped us communicate with them early on. Kian & Baby Vivienne have since moved on to words like “Hungry” and “Bottle.”

After I got them all home and into their own beddy-bye, I started noticing little things here and there like the uncanny way that Kai seemed to always have three pacifiers.

One day, I caught him crying as I walked into the room. The next thing I know, there are two pacifiers flying through the air only to land right next to his head.

Apparently my children had decided amongst themselves that, since their pacifiers made them happy when they were sad, they would share theirs with whomever needed it the most.

Being that Kai is the greedy one, he had figured out that appearing “Sad” would cause his siblings to share their things with him. He almost always has three of everything.

Another oddity in my house, is that I will find the babies laying in their own beds(they now have one for each baby) with one sock off and one sock on. They are able to communicate enough to agree to remove the same sock each off the same foot or take the same arm out of their pajama’s armhole each. I guess they are getting a head start on setting the latest fashion!

One of their new favorite games is to pick a place in the nursery as a target, and throw the same toy from each bed out and try to hit that target.

I will go in their room and find a pile of Disney World souvenirs in the middle of the floor, or their valentines bears tossed over near the diaper pale.

This game has carried over to their play-yard in a way. Only now, it has evolved into a sort of “Let’s tidy up the Play-yard.” Today, they decided to remove all of the blocks from the play-yard and proceeded to toss them out on all sides.

Only the blocks were tossed today. Yesterday, they sorted out all of the Backyardigan toys. I always marvel at the way they can communicate and carry out their ideas together.

Originally published THURSDAY, MAY 10, 2007 BY MIMI RANKIN WEBB

HTTP://MIMIRANKINWEBB.BRANDYOURSELF.COM/

Organization? WHAT Organization? I Do NOT Resemble ANY Such Concept!

 Something happens to a mom when they have multiples. I don’t remember exactly when it happened, or exactly how, but I suddenly found myself an organized mom. 

Not that I wasn’t organized before I had the triplets, I had to have been, or was to a point.

It’s just that now I am super-organized. I have all these folders full of my maternity benefits and leave information, medical insurance and Medicaid benefit forms, middle school application process forms and school related information, and several that are full of nothing but health claim information and medical bills for me and the triplets. 

I save everything related to medical bills and claims and copy those things that I cannot save.

I have even learned to micro-manage our health claim information, something I never dreamed would be necessary. 

I now appear to know more about claim processing than the representatives with my insurance company who have to hear from me almost every Friday to ensure that my triplet’s health claims are processed correctly and don’t slip through those pesky cracks.

At some point, I learned how to schedule my day and that of my triplets, managing to keep them all on the same schedule that they originally came home from the hospital with. 

I am one of those moms who can actually make appointments and lunch dates around that schedule, knowing exactly how my kids will be temperament-wise at a given moment. 

Sometimes I wonder, how did it all come to this? When did this happen? My eldest wasn’t ever on any sort of schedule and it never occurred to me that I would find myself with one now!

I actually bought five sets of three multi-colored bottles each so that we could know which baby had what amount of formula. 

We would know which bottle had which meds measured into them for each baby and I even went as far as to place them in a certain order in the fridge that would make dosage times a no-brainer. 

How in the heck did I manage to come up with that one? I’ll never know because it’s something I just did and luckily, it worked!

Sometimes I look in that mirror and I don’t recognize that Mom even though it’s my own reflection. 

People ask me how I do it, and I never know what to say. The truth is, I don’t really know. I just do whatever it is that I have to do to get my children safely through their day with my sanity in tact (or mostly!) 

I have learned to let things go that I just cannot always get to like the dishes or the vacuuming. 

Hopefully, I will remember to show my twelve-year old how to do some of these things…but I do forget.

I have had to learn that its ok to do things when I can and understand that sometimes things just have to go by the wayside. 

I have had to learn not to care what other people think of me because of this. All I can do is sit back and enjoy this wonderful ride of a lifetime!

Originally posted WEDNESDAY, MAY 23, 2007 BY MIMI RANKIN WEBB

HTTP://MIMIRANKINWEBB.BRANDYOURSELF.COM/