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!

ARTICLES

EVENTS

GUIDES

🌸 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!

#followme #blogger #MomSquad #MacKidSBMoms #SBMoms #Parenting #Trio #Triplets #TripletLife #TripletMom #Kids #MacKid #newblogpost #mommylife #daddylife #parentlife #mommybloggers #parentingreality #dailyparenting #familylife #Shreveport #Bossier #Caddo #Kids #MacKidSBMoms #MacKid #KidsActivities #MomLife #Parenting #ShreveportKidsActivities #BossierKidsActivities

 

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

HTTP://MIMIRANKINWEBB.BRANDYOURSELF.COM/

Tales From the NICU

 After they were born, the triplets were put into their own little isolette’s in the NICU.

Vivienne and Kian shared an area and Kai was right across the walkway. It was observed on many occasions, that when one would cry, the others would answer. 

That was just the beginning.

Once testing began, if one baby seemed to be getting “Special” treatment, then the other baby’s would find ways to mimic their symptoms so that they would also get special treatment as well.

This behavior held true and seemed more predominant with the boys than with Baby Vivienne because she was always babied more than they were and received FAR more attention from literally everybody else's nursies including their own.

When Kian started looking a little yellow, he managed to blow his I.V. and they had to put it in the vein in his head. 

This meant that he ended up with a huge gauze hat looking contraption that sort of resembled a dunce cap.

This ALSO meant that he also got to sun himself under the jaundice lamp for a day much like a trip to the tanning bed, which meant he got to wear these really cool shades (they looked like tiny baby sunglasses made of foam that were sticky-taped to his head.)

WELL then, the very next day, wouldn't ya know it, Kai, as not to be out-done by his brother, decided that he, too, wanted a very spiffy hat and shades.

Sure enough, when I came in for the morning after "Lock-out time" had ended (ie shift change) he had the EXACT same set up as his brother.

Kian only had to have his for a day. Kai, on the other had, ended his treatment a day afterward, BUT refused to let anyone remove his uber-cool-dude shades.

He fought everyone and anyone who tried to wash his face and remove those shades. 

This meant that Kai wore those spiffy shades for nearly three whole days before the sticky-tape finally became un-sticky and the foam shades finally fell off.

He was so ornery and outright MAD over this, that the nurse finally gave up on the sticky-tape removal and had my husband try and do it. We took a bunch of pictures of him because he was so very proud of himself.

We would discover that the boys had sibling rivalry down to an art form. Soon, the boys were sharing a bed which would lead to fighting. Kai would steal Kian’s pacifier and toss it down into the well of the isolette where NEITHER of them could reach it.

Kian would wrap up in Kai’s wubby (a half blanket/half doll that was used to put over their heads like a tent to keep their heads warm and shade them from the bright lights of the NICU.) 

This would inspire them both to slap at each other much like “Laverne and Shirley” or rather "Larry, Moe & Curly" from The Three Stooges would do.

Then somebody thought it would be cute and sweet & helpful if both were co-bedded with their sister for the first time since birth thinking a reunion would be most welcome.

That was when they figured out that, although they got bottles and sister didn’t, she was getting something that they were not-MEDICINE-and it looked and smelled super sweet and yummy.

It only took them a few days of sleeping with their heads on her chest to mimic what it was that they believed won her all the extras.

Kian was the first to get the “Royal” treatment. Apparently, Kai believed (or rather his brother had told him stories) that his brother was escorted from their bed in his very own little bed with wheels full of fresh-out-of-the-dryer warm blankies down to a place where he was given an extra-special bottle to drink over & beyond their regularly scheduled ones and then they took pictures of him because he was so cute and handsome and debonair.

So the very next day, Kai came down mysteriously with similar symptoms and was also escorted with the same fan-fare to that special portrait room where it was reported later that the techs found him extremely cute and funny and had played with him for quite some time.

It would seem that he basically sang for his supper down there and felt that he had to earn that extra bottle which he drank with such gusto that he didn’t even notice that it was full of barium until he started feeling funny.

He had taken it all in so very fast that it came back up even faster, much to the chagrin of the techs. Yep, he spewed EVERYWHERE like a regular fountain...more likened to the force of a fire hose actually...

Apparently NOBODY ever gets sick on their table….except Kai, and he had done it so very well.

All's well that ends well of course...So everyone ended up with the same formula and the SAME special medicine. And all seemed peaceful, for a time.

Originally published THURSDAY, MAY 10, 2007

Originally published THURSDAY, MAY 10, 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/

Finally, Something I Can Relate to!

 

Today, I made a startling discovery. I was making a run through the Target Toy aisle, looking for any bargains on baby toys, when I ran across the end cap for the new “Shrek the Third” movie.

We are “Puss” people, so it’s required that I look for new and better “Puss” toys whenever I see the “Shrek” display. They happened to have several new ones, which is what initially caught my eye.

I had seen the trailer and knew that Shrek & Fiona were expecting. Target had baby Shrek toys. I picked up one to check the back to see what all they were coming out with, when I saw IT.

The word “Triplet” was there in huge letters, emblazoned across the front of the package. Surely not, I thought.

But most assuredly so! Shrek and Fiona are having triplets, hence the “Third” portion of the title! Better yet, they appear to be having two boys and a baby girl just like I have!

How nifty is that? My kids will finally have something they can watch that emulates their life! I know what you’re thinking; it’s a cartoon for cryin’ out loud!

Seriously, you’ve no idea how different growing up with 2 other siblings your own age must be. I can’t even fully understand it, but I see the way they play together, share together and treat each other when one is sad.

I have some inkling that they know they are different. After all, everyone tells us so each day we go on an outing. My job is to ensure that they understand that they are different in a very special way that most people will never be able to understand, and help them relish meeting the many sets of triplets that we run into so that they know that they are not alone.

I have even talked with some elderly triplets who were very helpful in telling me what it was like growing up as a triplet sibling, advice that I cherish and appreciate more than these ladies will ever know.

So maybe now you can understand just how having movie characters just like my kids will help out enormously in making them feel “Normal” in society.

They even have traits much like my baby’s do, according to the pictures. I am so very excited that someone is tackling a portrayal of life with triplets even if it is animated and a fairy-tale.

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

HTTP://MIMIRANKINWEBB.BRANDYOURSELF.COM/

Four Months of Freedom In Shreveport, LA

 Most people celebrate the First of May in the “Camelot” fashion seeing it as the whole, “It’s May! It’s May! That lusty month of May…That lovely month when everyone goes blissfully astray” concept. 

In my household, however, the first of May is a day I celebrate by loading up my trio and going out. Where, might you ask? It really doesn’t matter to us where we go, just that we do!

You have to understand, that my trio was born six week early and that was as far as I was allowed to carry them. 

So for us, they were “Full term triplets” but to the rest of the world and medically they received a very large “Preemie” label.

Now, being a preemie means a lot of things, but being a “Multiple Preemie” means ever so much more.

First of all, being born six weeks early means that my babies were about 4 pounds each (Vivie @ 3lbs 15 oz. ,Kian & Kai each at 4 pounds 15oz) actually large considering that the trio shared a very cramped space for a very long time.

Although they were large to me, their tiny body’s still were just not developed as much as a full-termed singleton baby would be. 

This meant that they are more susceptible to catching colds or even worse diseases really easily. 

I was given explicit instructions on keeping them AWAY from large crowds and to keep prying hands away from them. 

This was to be much easier said than done, as I was soon to find out!

Being that my trio was born in March, they received their RSV shots in the hospital prior to discharge. 

I was under strict orders to avoid places like the mall and grocery store if at all possible. Yes this included daycare as well. 

They remain at risk for this disease that can land them back in the NICU until after they turn two. 

Lucky for me, RSV season lasts from September through April and the kids were discharged from the NICU right after Easter last year.

As I don’t really have anybody who can go shopping for me, so I had to be very careful whenever I went out! 

This was easy during the summer months because my twelve year old would sit in the car with the air conditioning on while I would run in & buy what we needed or I could just go at night after the kids were in bed.

The problem began when RSV season hit in September. It was really interesting to find out from my doctor’s office that the risk for this disease is so great that I actually qualified for a home health nurse that would come to my home to administer the vaccines for the babies each month starting in September and lasting through April. 

The insurance covers this because in theory it keeps us from having to sit in the waiting room at the doctor’s office just to have the shots administered, thus exposing the kids to goodness knows what types of diseases.

Oddly enough, I found that once September rolled around, the trio became suddenly very popular whenever we went out in public. 

People would seem enthralled by them and for some reason were compelled to TOUCH them- or at least attempt it- I would intervene as much as humanly possible, trying desperately not to be rude in the interim….

Alas, somebody always seemed upset over my “Please don’t touch the babies-they were born very small and get sick really easily” speech.

Adults did it, children did it, and they really were offended that I couldn’t have their kids touching and crowding around mine for fear of getting sick. 

Scarier still, some kids actually were so rambunctious and crowding that they frightened my babies into crying. 

Did my kids really get sick? You bet they did. We couldn’t even go over to visit my own father without picking up a case of the seemingly never-ending sniffles. 

But thanks to our wonderful home-health nurse, we were lucky enough to avoid getting seriously sick and never did get diagnosed with RSV.

So I quickly learned that outings were a thing of the past and would just have to resume May first, the magic day that marks the beginning of our “Free season” where we can go to the park and go shopping at the grocery store and maybe even check out the Boardwalk finally.

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

HTTP://MIMIRANKINWEBB.BRANDYOURSELF.COM/

This is a "Potty Emergency!"

 We’ve covered the fact that our triplet stroller is unusually long and very super-huge, making public appearances very awkward.

We decided to try an outing to the museum last summer while in New Orleans visiting family. 

Being babies, of course the need arises to have to change them at some point and of course it's never in a convenient and appropriate place. 

This time it was smack dab in the dividing line between the Ansel Adams exhibit and the Hurricane Katrina Photography exhibit. 

Now there was this very nice leather-looking chaise-lounge piece of furniture in the middle area that looked very inviting. 

But, being in a part of the museum that was as quiet as a church sanctuary due to the content and seriousness of the subject matter, I had decided that this was NOT the place to change our panties and britches.My aunt and I decided to demurely head for the nearest restroom. NOMA appears to have been built quite a long time ago, as the handicap allocations are mostly out of place (they are there, but hard to access) and the bathrooms would reflect this, unfortunately. 


Now, I have three tiny five month olds that look like newborns all screeching because their tiny hiney’s were being chaffed by their diaper contents in a very nice museum in City Park. 


I turned the corner, heading into the door to the lady’s room, following my aunt, only to feel like I was in the larger part of a hallway that appears to get narrower the further you walk down it. 


My aunt very graciously tried to hold the door to the bathroom open for us, but it involved a turn, and what appeared to be ANOTHER door just to get inside. 


I had to make her move so that I wouldn’t run her over with my over three foot long stroller while attempting to negotiate this latest gauntlet.

After much scooching and scraping and squeaking my rubber wheels, I managed to finagle the stroller into the bathroom only to find that once inside, we couldn’t move. 


There just wasn’t enough room for the stroller, my aunt and myself inside the bathroom, much less the poor innocent bystander lady who had just exited the stall as we entered, thus blocking her into the back corner of the bathroom. 


Puzzles, puzzles, puzzles… We managed to get the stroller at an angle as to free the poor trapped lady stuck in the corner, however it forced my aunt into a stall. 


I very quickly changed the perfectly synchronized dirty diapers (triplets tend to do EVERYTHING together) and set out to try and exit the restroom before some poor souls tried to fit in with us.


I haven’t any clue how a handicapped person would get in much less out of there.

I decided that the next diaper change would just have to be out in the open, for all to see. I tried to be discreet, I wanted to be nice, but it just wasn’t possible. 


Coincidentally, our next diaper change would occur in the presence of the museum’s Salvador Dali piece and Picasso painting. 


It’s nice to have a little culture with our fresh panties and breeches!

Please don’t think ill of me. Yes, I am guilty of having to make use of the handicap ramps and entrances to many places out of necessity, even though I am not handicapped. 


I also can be found in the handicap stall of the bathroom at the mall or toy- store. If it’s any consolation, we don’t fit in the handicap stall any better than we fit into that tiny bathroom in the New Orleans Museum of Art. 


Its very difficult for me to go potty anywhere out and about because of that super huge extra-long stroller. 


So if you’re handicapped, and have to wait in line in the bathroom for your stall only to find it occupied by four very un-handicapped people, please excuse us as the higher order multiple stall has yet to be built!

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

HTTP://MIMIRANKINWEBB.BRANDYOURSELF.COM/