A Little Night Music

Back To Work

Well after weeks and weeks of badgering the human resources department of Erin's school, they finally called this morning at 7:40am to let Erin know that she needs to be at an orientation that starts at 10am. The plan was for Erin to take over for a woman going on a 12 week maternity leave who taught essentially the same subjects Erin taught before the boy's school and the girl's school merged this summer. That was six weeks ago. The lack of communication between the school's administration, the HR office, and the corporate office, was so extreme that they literally gave her two hours notice to start the position. I am not sure how they could expect this of a normal employee, let alone one that has triplets!

So Erin is spending this week going through orientation and training again. New school, new system. Today she filled out tons of paperwork, and was shocked to see that on the Virginia tax forms, rather than claiming a 0 or a 1 (as in previous years), Erin had to claim a 12! She even called over the woman in charge to go over the figures to make sure this was right! On the home-front, the triplets survived a day without their mom, though Nana was a bit worn out from the experience. Send us an email if anyone wants to get in on the pool we are starting to see which of us cracks up first from the stress. :)

Beautiful Dreamer

So Betty has officially broken the record set by her sister. Last night she had her last bottle at 7pm, went to sleep in her crib upstairs, and then woke up again at 7am. That's 12 hours!! Half a day between feedings! Of course, to make up for it, she then ate 15 ounces in the next 4 hours (usually the girls eat around 5 ounces every three hours during the day).

In other news, we took our christmas pictures yesterday. They are too cute, but I won't post them for another month (or perhaps you'll see it sooner on a christmas card).

A Thanksgiving Miracle

Grandma Toni, Grandpa Carter, Aunt Allison, and Uncle Matthew all drove over for Thanksgiving, and brought the meal with them. Now even with their help, what would you imagine would be the odds that we could all sit down together for a peaceful dinner? Bear in mind, this would require having the triplets on the same feeding schedule, for the dinner not to fall during one of their feedings, for them to jointly decide to take a nap, and for those babies who fell asleep while being carried, to continue sleeping once transferred to a bouncy chair.

For some miraculous reason (without planning on our parts) this indeed was the scene when the meal was ready. We ate in the dining room and in the kitchen, and the triplets gave us a silent hour as they slept in the living room. For this we were thankful.

In addition, Grandma Toni brought a section of Arthur's baptismal suit for a fitting. It looks so cute on him, and is extra special because it is made from Nana's wedding dress.

Thanksgiving Cleaning

With Erin's family coming over for the Thanksgiving holiday, we decided to finally clean our house. Our house, that is, that we haven't really lived in for the past six months. We had fully moved over to my parents' house during the last two months of Erin's bed-rest, as she preferred the centrally located futon in the living room (in front of the big screen tv). Other than the first few days home from the hospital, and a few failed attempts to move back in the months afterwards, our house has been the domain of our three cats except for the daily run to pick up the mail. So when we decided to make the place livable again for guests, we had quite a chore ahead of us. We had to throw out the accumulated pile of cat hair we removed from all the furniture, and now I fear our cats will miss their old playmate.

Jefferson National Forest

As the temperatures reached the upper 60's this week, we decided to take the kids for a hike in the Jefferson National Forest. It was a bit of a challenge at times to maneuver the triplet stroller on the trail through the roots and piles of fallen leaves, but we somehow managed it. We had a great afternoon, and later we all had a picnic near Pandapas Pond.

Parental Confession #236

"Sometimes it takes too long to get the ergo carrier set up, that the fussy baby puts herself to sleep on her own. On these occasions, I often feel like the ergo shouldn't go to waste."

Swing Time!

Sleeping Like Babies

For the past few nights, the triplets have actually been sleeping in their cribs! Previously, we had carried them up to bed in their bouncy chairs. Recently though, the girls had not been as easy to put down in their chairs, and Arthur has been requiring more than half an hour of rocking in his before falling asleep. So we decided to bring the crib over from our house. Surprisingly, it turns out that all three can't fit in the crib anymore (we only had tried it the first few days home from the hospital). So the girls have their own crib, and we have Arthur in a separate smaller crib.

Miraculously, they all love the cribs, and have so far (knock on wood) fallen asleep almost instantly upon being set down in them. Arthur luckily has his own crib, as he flails around quite a bit. He rocks to the left, then to the right, arches his back, arches his neck, stretches his arms way out, all in an effort to find the exact softest spot in the bed. We think it's cute, but when he's older and climbing into our bed, he's going to his mom's side.

First Snow

Yesterday we had our very first snow of the season. Though there actually were only a few flakes here and there, these were the first the triplets had ever seen. Erin bundled herself up, put Coraline in the ergo, and I wrapped a big coat around the two of them so that they could enjoy a wintertime walk. Arthur, on the other hand, preferred to take a warm nap indoors. Sabine, our fourth baby, also found a warm spot for herself in a vacant bouncy chair.

In other news, we have confirmed the service for the baptism of the triplets for 10am on December 30th in Richmond.

Rollover Minutes

Arthur learned how to rollover today! It took him a few minutes at first, but soon he was able to rollover moments after we put him on his stomach. We think this may be the end of tummy time.

To celebrate this developmental milestone, we took all the family for a walk on the Huckleberry Trail. We've had a few days in the upper 60's, so we are taking advantage of them while we can.

Baby Tunnel Syndrome

Do you, or a member of your family, suffer from BTS? Do you find yourself having shooting pains in your arm from where you hold your babies? According to a recent scientific study, families of triplets are three times as likely to suffer from some form of Baby Tunnel Syndrome. Nana, whose BTS has flared up in recent days, was quoted as saying, "It is so comforting to now know that my pain has a name." While scientists have yet to find a cure from BTS, they are suggesting to feed babies on the opposite arm until the symptoms subside. For more information contact the specialists at 1-800-BABYPAIN.

Hydrophobia

Grandma Toni came to visit this weekend, and was lucky enough to experience her first Bath Day. So that the rest of you can partake of this special day (it doesn't come around too often), I've uploaded a highlight video for you.

And before you ask:
1) Yes, that is water
2) No, it is not scalding hot
3) Yes, we do bathe them often enough that this is not a novel experience for them
4) No, there is never a good Bath Day
5) And yes, I should have first suggested you turn your speaker volume down

Enjoy! (or not...)

Lazy Fall Day

Today has been a relaxing, if not unproductive, day. Outside the leaves have mostly fallen, and the air has taken on the crisp feel of late autumn. Mugs of hot chocolate have gone around, and a ham is warming up for dinner. The children are all bundled under layers of blankets in their bouncy chairs. A calmness has spread through the house, which may have something to do with the fact that today all three triplets have not been awake at the same time. Where this fall lull came from, we don't know, but it is much appreciated.

Yay Ethan!

The triplet's second cousin Ethan was born today! With the recent additions of Arthur, Betty, Coraline, Adam, and now Ethan, this means that my grandmother has had 5 new great grandchildren in less than 3 1/2 months! We hope to see pictures and visit Ethan soon :)

Happy 1/4 Birthday!

Well, the triplets have officially turned three months old, which means we've gotten through the unofficial "fourth trimester." Hopefully they will now be more aware, cry less, and feed and change themselves. Well, maybe not the others, but at least they are more aware of their surroundings. They all love playing on their mat, spending time playing the kick piano or with the new set of windchimes we installed.

We've also been able to get them to laugh more often (Arthur likes being poked all over....). Nighttimes are still hit and miss, with whether or not the girls decide to scream for no apparent reason. Luckily though, it seems the 8pm-10pm witching hour has reduced to a good (?) 30 minutes.

Adulthood

Erin and I have always tossed around the notion of adulthood. When does one actually become a grownup? Is it when you get a full time job? A mortgage? Marriage? None of these life-changing events were truly life-changing. Life went on like normal, and we could never find a line of demarkation where all of a sudden we felt like we were adults. So now we have children. Surely that should mean that we have grown up.

But then I look at my life. We now live in the playroom above the garage of my parents' house. I am unemployed. And I find that I spend half the day on the couch in my pajamas. To be fair, you could probably attribute these to my having to raise three babies at once, but still, we're waiting to feel like we are grownups.