Breaking In the New Stroller

Our new triplet stroller came in the mail on Wednesday. I spent a good bit of time on our front porch assembling it, as we just couldn’t fit it into the living room with everything else! I was so excited over it, that when my son suggested taking it for a spin on Thursday, I agreed.

Armed with a well-packed diaper bag and two insulated bottle bags full of sippy cups, we headed out the door for the day. We were feeling ambitious and had decided to try and take the triplets to see their very first movie.

I headed down to the Boardwalk to check it all out, figuring that we could see a movie and maybe even get some lunch if the triplet’s moods stay happy! I had hopes of not having as much trouble there as we do shopping indoors at Wal-mart or even the mall.

Because it was still really early, (we were shooting for an 11:30 movie) we were able to get a good parking spot right next to the elevators in the parking garage. It was looking really positive at this point!

We managed to get the kids strapped into the new stroller and everything loaded pretty quickly and found that we were even a bit earlier than I had planned. This was great, considering I had only ever been down to the Boardwalk once, when I was first pregnant with the triplets, and hadn’t any clue where anything would be.

Our first obstacle came at the movie theater. I managed to get to the movie theater and get the tickets pretty much problem free and without much question. I say this because usually we are stopped every few feet and inundated with questions about the trio (something I don’t mind, but I do have to allocate extra time when trying to get somewhere that has a time constraint!)

It was the concession stand that would be the interesting part. We don’t go to many movies, and it’s a treat for my 12 year old to get to buy things at the snack counter. He had to have a pretzel, a box of skittles and a drink. I also bought a drink and some popcorn for myself, knowing that I would be sharing with my masses.

The trouble came when we discovered that the movie sized drinks just don’t fit into our cup-holders on the stroller, which was over-laden in the first place with baby gear. I ended up balancing the pretzel and candy on top of the diaper bag which was hanging from the handle of the stroller by means of my purse to keep it from sliding down past the backseat. If we didn’t hit any bumps we would be okay.

The drinks and the enormous bag of popcorn that had started to seep butter ended up having to be split between us. I ended up having to hug the drinks in the crook of my arm so I could push the stroller while Bregon juggled the popcorn, a bunch of napkins, and sippy-cup retrieval duty (the babies think it great fun to toss cups to get people’s attention so they can play with them.)

In spite of a volley of sippy cups, we managed to very slowly find our way to the right auditorium for our movie-we had decided on “Shrek the Third” because it would please everyone. Thankfully, this particular theater had a ramp-an uphill one, but a ramp none-the less!

Next, we found ourselves standing in the middle of the theater, left with a dilemma. We could either sit in the handicap seats, and risk offending someone who was truly handicapped, or we could take the second ramp all the way down to the front of the house and risk the babies getting sensory overload by sitting on the very front row.

I made an executive decision, and decided that because there were two handicapped spots, it would be okay for us to occupy one of them, being that we really didn’t fit anywhere else. I managed to park the behemoth stroller at an angle with the front closest to me, and get the kids situated.

They seemed okay at first, overwhelmed with the huge screen and the cartoons playing on it, but still pretty jovial in spite of the new and alien surroundings. I shelled out teddy grahams to keep the peace and waited for the lights to dim.

Once the previews started, we ran into a small problem. The previews were not as kid-friendly as the movie we were there to see. We did okay through the preview for “Bratz the Movie” and “Nancy Drew,” but once “Transformers” boomed across the screen, my trio hit the ceiling.

The “Transformer’s” preview was full of fire-balls and booming sounds and it made my tiny trio cry. The volume on this particular preview was so loud that nobody else could have possibly heard them crying. Thankfully, it was soon over, and the actual movie began.

Almost immediately, Kian started chanting, “Shrek! Shrek! Shrek!” over and over again with much glee. You have to understand that he is an avid fan of the “Shrek” public service commercial about getting up and brushing your teeth and having breakfast. In some effort to try and be courteous to the rest of the audience, my eldest decided that Kian should sit in his lap so he could try and keep him quiet.

Next, Puss made his appearance on the screen and we were rewarded with Vivie screaming in true cheer-leader mode, “A Cat! A Cat! A Cat!” as if the character needed some sort of pep-talk intro to the audience. She was so excited and so happy, I didn’t have the heart to try and quiet her. Luckily, most of the audience was only about a year or two older than we are and didn’t seem bothered by it!

Overall, we did pretty well. All three babies made it through the whole movie. Of course there were times when I had two sitting in my lap, or when the boys decided they wanted their own seat until Kai got a bit too cuddly for Kian’s taste. Then I finally relented and let Kai and Vivie walk around the stroller while they watched the movie. They only had a few melt-downs and most were over the initial noise, or because they were hungry.

After the movie, we headed cruised our new ride over to Carter’s for some new jammies. We checked out the Build-A-Bear workshop, the arcade and headed over to the toy store. There we acquired two new trucks that light up and make engine noises, and a bubble machine!

All in all, it was a very pleasant outing. We didn’t have as much trouble getting around as we normally do in most shopping venues and we weren’t stopped nearly as much either. The only real problem was the heat. Even with the breeze off of the river, it was still too hot for the babies to stay comfy.

The new stroller has now been christened with juice, teddy grahams, and popcorn. The wheels are covered in dust and there is this spot on the front tray where Kai decided to try and teethe a bit. It now stands in the corner of the living room, waiting to take us on our next adventure.

Early Christmas Shopping...Finding the Right Dollie!

I know I seem a bit early, starting my Christmas shopping in June. The new situation, having four kids, demands a bit more planning than starting shopping on the day after Thanksgiving. Last year, I shopped all the summer toy sales and consignment sales for Christmas.

I have since learned that EBay is my friend! I figured this out when, armed with my 20%-off-anything-in-the-store-coupon, I set out to try and buy my baby girl her Christmas dollie. Usually, these come from places like "The White Rabbit" or "Toy Fair"-everyone always gets excited over the red and white striped wrapped presents from "Toy Fair!"

Now, I am very picky when it comes to dollies. My grandmother and mum always made sure Santa remembered to deliver very special dollies under my Christmas tree each year, and I am doing my best to try and stick with tradition.

That day, I scoured the shelves of Toy Fair, hoping that the most wonderful dollie would be there waiting for me. It just wasn't happening. The new "Madame Alexander" collection was out there-I had done my homework on-line before heading out, however none of them seemed just right.

The only one I found that I liked ended up being the same dollie Vivie already has (coincidentally named "Baby") only she was dressed in a christening gown. I was tempted, but I had problems buying the same dollie with a different outfit... (she would know!) So I headed out, sans a Christmas dollie.

The problem wasn't the selection, so much as the fact that the newer dolls just aren't as pretty and nice as the ones we had growing up. I remember my second Christmas (I know what you're thinking-I must be nuts, but seriously I do) and my very own Bye-Lo baby was under my grandmother's Christmas tree in her very own canopied crib.

You have to understand that Bye-Lo is the name of my grandmother's most dearest baby doll (second only to Eloise) and we were all allowed as small children to sit in a chair and carefully hold the 1922 very breakable version of the doll given to my grandmother by her daddy. My grandmother and mum had very carefully helped Santa find one that looked as closely as possible to the original, finding her named as "Madame Alexander's Victoria." This was back around 1975 or so!

Although both my mum, and my grandmother are no longer around to help me, I am doing my best to carry on this tradition...Only "Madame Alexander's Victoria" no longer looks like the original Bye-Lo Baby, or even looks like the ones my sister and I received as children. I have both baby's in my china cabinet to compare them to, and they just aren't the same anymore for some reason.

This left me with a dilemma. How do I find the right baby doll? I finally broke down and got on-line and begin to search. I don't know what we ever did without EBay. There you can find the original breakable Bye-Lo's and I was even lucky enough to find a "Victoria" doll about the same era as the one I had as a child!

It only took about a week total, and I have managed to acquire two baby dolls for Vivie for Christmas- yes, one is a miniature version of my Bye-Lo Baby doll, the more modern "Victoria" circa 1975 and she is in perfect condition, smells like new (yes there is a distinctive new baby doll smell!) and is dressed in her little pink linen dress with her panties and booties still in tact! The other dollie is called "Madame Alexander's Little Sailor Pink Dumpling" and she was only $5.99 + shipping. Both baby's are much prettier and nicer than the current collection available in the area stores.

Funnier still, during my search for Vivie's perfect Christmas dollie, I ran across little sailor boy versions of "Huggums" dolls for my baby boys. Now everyone will have a Christmas dollie! I know that you are probably thinking that little boys shouldn't play with dollies- but when you have a baby girl the same age, it helps for everyone to have something similar to avoid conflict & perpetuate happiness! This Christmas should be very interesting and my shopping has only just begun!

Touchie-Feelie or Please Don't Play With the Babies!

Sometimes I feel like I should write a manual on outings with multiples. I should call it, "The Art of Crowd Control." I know it sounds like some presumptuous celebrity, but truly it’s necessary. Its one of those tiny well kept secrets that nobody tells you when you find out that you are pregnant with triplets.

Sure, people say don’t let anyone near your babies when they are tiny. What they don’t tell you is, that while people like to pinch the cheeks of babies when they are infants (singletons,) people feel the overwhelming need to not only crowd multiples, but touch them, feel them and do things to them that they normally wouldn’t do to even their own children.

I know it sounds mean. I know you want to see my cute adorable children. I understand that we are a novelty and that you have probably never seen a set of triplets before. Don’t get me wrong, I love to hear how precious and adorable and wonderful my kids are, really I do. But you have to understand a few things about us as well.

They are triplets. This means that they were carried together inside my small five foot three inch frame. It doesn’t look like that many babies could possibly fit inside my tummy, does it? You are right, they barely did fit and they didn’t fit for as long as a normal single baby would have fit, either.

This also means that they shared that space normally allocated for one baby to grow and they did it for a tiny bit past eight months. That shared space means that these babies grew at a good rate, but also grew at a rate that was determined by the space they had to grow inside of as well. This means that they are smaller when they are born and consequently are also not as developed as a single baby would be when born at the same time that mine were3.

Their very tiny, very cute bodies cannot fight disease as well as normal kids can because they were born early and smaller than most. This means that if you get too close, you may inadvertently give them something more than a friendly greeting. We know you mean well, and that your intentions are totally good, however they may get the sniffles, or even something worse from you if you touch them.

Its not that we find you diseased, please don’t feel as if we are treating you as if you had the plague. It’s just that when we get the sniffles, they may not go away for months on end and can give us a cough. That can lead to pneumonia or even an ear-ache or worse. They are very susceptible to disease and will remain this way until sometime after they turn two.

This past year, starting in September, we had to have a nurse come to our house and give us the synagis vaccine in hopes that it would prevent us from catching RSV, a respiratory disease that gives most people the sniffles, but could land us in the NICU if we are not careful. Although we have many friends from our month long stay in the NICU, we would rather visit them at the annual Christmas party or run into them at Wal-mart or Target than at their workplace! Luckily, our shots worked for us this year!

We really do enjoy talking to you and hearing about how cute the babies are. But they do sometimes get frightened if you get too close to them and forget that they don’t like loud noises or being crowded. They promise to try and be as cheery as they can be for you when you say, "Hi," but please remember that we get tired and cranky sometimes and cannot always be pleasant and chipper! The babies don't mean anything by it, really.

As long as you speak to them in a soft, pleasant voice, they will most likely respond in turn to you. If you are very lucky, they may even wave hello or bye-bye or even say something to you! Please remember that they are only one and often times will not talk or play with people that they are not familiar with!

I am very sorry if I come across as rude or uncaring sometimes. I don’t mean to at all. It’s often very difficult to answer questions and be friendly while trying to calm and attend to my kid’s needs and still remember what it is that we are out shopping for in the first place! I have a habit of tuning out distraction so that I can focus on the needs of the babies and sometimes it’s people that I am tuning out!

Please don’t take offense with me, I am only trying to take care of my kid’s and I really will try and answer any questions that I can once they are calmed and happy and safe!