Sibling Rivalry

Today Betty finally got in her fourth upper tooth. This now takes her to a total mouthful of six. She now occasionally grits her teeth together (the sound of which bothers Erin), and enthusiastically chomps down on her graham crackers. To take the attention off of her, though, Arthur finally agreed to pose for a picture while standing.

For the past week or so, we've caught Arthur randomly standing for a few seconds at a time. Today though, he started doing it consistently. Betty was none too pleased to have the attention taken off of her, and promptly reached over and yanked Arthur to the ground.

Besides this incident though, the two of them did have a good day together. They fell asleep holding hands together in their carseats, and earlier were communicating through blowing raspberries at each other. As for Coraline, though, perhaps tomorrow will be her day of excitement.

Tooth count: A-2, B-6, C-3

Happy Memorial Day

The triplets celebrated their first Memorial Day by spending time with their mom, who didn't have to teach today. Nana and I spent time attacking the weeds in the garden, and trying to get a few more plants in the ground. Someday this summer the garden should be producing enough to turn into baby food for the triplets. We had a barbecue for dinner, which Arthur and Betty tried to stay up for. Luckily though, we were finally able to put them to sleep, and we enjoyed a rare hot meal with the rest of the family.

Strawberry Festival

Today we took the triplets to a strawberry festival in Bedford, breaking in the new car seats on the 80 minute drive. The kids seemed to love them, as Arthur and Betty fell asleep on both legs of the trip. At the festival, we listened to bluegrass music, saw some farm animals, ate strawberry ice cream and strawberry pie, and saw our first tractor pull.

The weather was beautiful, and we were pleased that Grandma Toni and Grandpa Carter was able to meet us there, as the festival was about halfway between our two houses. We walked around the festival with them, and Arthur enjoyed playing with Grandpa's hat.

New Car Seat Boxes!

What is better than getting three new car seats? Getting three new car seat boxes!

Of course, it didn't take Arthur too long to figure out how to topple one of the the boxes by leaning his weight on one side.

New Car Seats!

After the triplets' nine-month appointment, we realized that they were soon to outgrow their car seats. Coraline only had one pound to gain or 1/4" in height to grow before she'd have to get a new seat. So we went online and ordered 3 Britax Marathon convertible car seats for them. While I was unhappy about having to purchase 6 new car seats in less than a year, it is nice to know that we had to do so because the triplets are growing so well.

We took the three seats today to the local police station to have them installed. It ended up taking longer than planned, as the police officer had trouble getting the seats in place. This was either because we were trying to squeeze three large baby seats into our mini-van, or because the large police officer was trying to squeeze himself into the van with the three car seats in order to install them. After over an hour, and a lot of struggling, they were finally secured in place. Now the only issue is learning how to put the babies in the car seats. The best plan we have so far is to load them through the rear of the car, over the seat, and into their car seats.

Baby Food

During the midst of this sickness outbreak, I went into the freezer and found we were down to only 4 tubs of baby food. I use around 2-3 frozen tubs per meal, and supplement it with odds and ends out of the fridge. Thus began the monthly food-making frenzy. I focused on the staples, and reused over 100 of the plastic tubs that gerber food comes in. I made 13 tubs of carrots, 20 of potatoes, 19 of peas, 10 of broccoli (their new food this week), and 43 of a three-bean salad (garbanzo, navy, and white beans). Also, the other day the triplets had their first taste of table food. I had made stuffed peppers, and quickly realized that the babies had had all of the ingredients already. So into the food processor it went, and they enjoyed a tasty meal for a change.

We had great weather today, and as the kids were starting to feel better, Erin took all three for a mile walk to the main street in our little town. She was surprised to run into an antique car show, and quickly called the rest of us to meet her downtown. We all enjoyed walking around looking at the cars and eating barbecue sandwiches for dinner.

And Then There Were Three

Arthur had a miserable night. After crying hysterically for a few hours, I finally got him to go to sleep. But each hour he woke up crying, and I had to hold him until he fell asleep again on my shoulder. So needless to say, we called the pediatrician this morning. And after the previous consecutive visits with the girls, the doctor's office just phoned in a prescription for Arthur without needing to see him. Do they make a gallon-sized bottle of amoxicillin? So we've got three sick kids, but at least the girls are starting to show some improvement, and Coraline pulled herself up to a standing position for the first time this afternoon.

My Sick Girls

We had a rough night last night. Only Arthur and I remained in the bedroom. Erin had taken sick Betty into the guest room, and I found Nana sleeping on the couch with a sick Coraline. And Erin has a cold now as well. She skipped school, and spent the day between the doctor's office in Blacksburg and the pediatrician's office at the hospital. While they couldn't do anything for Erin's cold, we did put Coraline on amoxicillin too. Betty's teething process is still quite painful, and she now has a large blood blister on one side of her upper gums. Between the antibiotics, the eye drops, the liquid tylenol, the teething tablets, and the baby orajel, we worry that the girls are going to spend the day crawling around in a drugged daze. However, they haven't let their colds (and our remedies) slow them down, as the girls have been exploring all areas of the living room, and have become quite mobile. And when I went to check on Betty during one of her naps, I even found her standing up in her crib for the first time. Hopefully their colds will pass soon, but we are also a bit worried that Arthur seems to now have a runny nose.

Sick and Teething

It has been a difficult few days here. Betty is miserable! She has evidently decided to get her teething over with in one fell swoop, and it seems as if she is currently working on all of her six upper teeth. No more have cut through yet, but she is drooling a ton, and has a constant runny nose. And because of this, and because she constantly rubs her nose and eyes, she soon developed a case of conjunctivitis. And then because of her congestion, she soon got a cough. Oh, and an ear infection. So she's on amoxicillin and eye drops. Unfortunately, it looks like Coraline is only a few days behind Betty. She's teething as well, and has a new left lateral incisor.

Tooth count: 10

The Eye Doctor

Coraline had her appointment at the eye doctor today. Back when she was around two months old, we took her to the eye doctor to check to see if the hemangiomas near her left eye would affect her vision at all. The doctor wasn't too concerned about them then, but wanted to double-check later on to make sure they hadn't grown any. So today we had her eye rechecked, and everything went well. The doctor asked us to take her back when she's three years old, but their appointment calendar did not go that far into the future.

Happy Mother's Day

We had a dreary Mother's Day today. Buckets of rain came down all day long. We were upset that we couldn't take the triplets outside for a walk, which they would have enjoyed on a nicer day. So instead, we were cooped up indoors.

So for some excitement, we decided to give the kids their first taste of cherrios. We had been avoiding them due to their wheat content, but we realized it was probably better for them to work on finger foods. Coraline, again, is at the top of her game when it comes to her dexterity.

When Mom's Away...

Erin had to drive up to Fredericksburg Friday night, in order to attend Uncle Matt's graduation from college this morning. It was her first night away from the babies, and we tried to make do with out her.

For us, it seemed like a weekday that never ended, as we tried to make it so that there was no change in the care of the triplets while she was gone. And there wasn't too much of a difference. Except for the fact that it required three people at 3:30am to spend an hour getting the babies back to sleep. Oh, and we dropped Arthur. But luckily he landed well, has a hard head, and hopefully has learned not to springboard off of people's laps. So needless to say, as soon as Erin walked in the door tonight, Betty and Coraline burst into tears. She was missed.

Two New Teeth + Too Much Trouble

Last night Betty got her fourth tooth, her left lateral incisor. That means there was a gap between the new tooth, and her right central incisor. We were worried about how awkward this might look, but then this morning we noticed that her left central incisor had come in as well. So now she has 5 teeth! We hope that with the new teeth she will finally be able to eat well, as she is just skin and bones these days :)

In addition to the excitement from Betty's dentition, Arthur has been keeping us on our toes like normal. In the past 24 hours, he managed to kick a bowl of cereal off of Erin's lap, grab Nana's full wine glass off of the counter (which then shattered to the floor), and he learned how to turn the lever to raise the footrest on the recliner. We're now wondering how long it will be before Arthur can convince one of his sisters to sit in front of the chair while he shows them something....

Tooth Count: 9

9 Month Appointment

Today we had the triplets' nine month appointment. Things went as expected. We knew who was the heaviest, and who was the smallest, just from picking up and putting them down a thousand times a day. When the nurse tried measuring Betty's head, but then had to take out more tape from her reel and try again, it was expected. They have big heads (95th percentile). Arthur indeed was the smallest, at 19 lbs 10 oz (41st percentile), and the shortest at 28.5" (62nd percentile).

Betty was by far the largest, at 21 lbs, 10 oz (90th percentile), and the tallest, at 29.5" (95th percentile).

Coraline was right in the middle, weighing 20 lbs, 12 oz (82nd percentile), and 28.75" (91st percentile). The kids though, wore their paper diapers on the scale, so in actuality they probably weighed 21.5, 20.5, and 19.5 pounds.

Afterwards we took all of them to the Birth Center, where they were born and stayed for a few days. We were eager to finally see the portrait of them that the staff bought for the wall opposite the nursery (we were their first set of triplets). It was strange though to see the area from the perspective of nine months later.

Finger Foods

We've been working on finger foods for quite a while, but the kids really haven't been able to grasp anything smaller than a rice cake. However, today Coraline showed her mastery of the pincher grasp, by perfectly eating her bowl of banana bites and yogurt drops! She was quite content to sit and feed herself. Arthur, on the other hand, was quite content stealing his sisters' bowls. He didn't seem too interested in feeding himself, knowing that eventually someone would do it for him. Betty had a difficult time with the slippery bananas, but she does really well feeding herself shredded cheese.

Crawling and Cruising

Last night Betty finally crawled! For some reason, Coraline's discarded striped "Smee" pants caught her eye, and Betty crawled six feet over to them. We knew that she had been working on practicing a few steps at a time over the past week, but we're so proud that she finally put them all together for a distance crawl. However, like her sister, Betty is quite content and mobile enough to get the toys around her that she needs. For some reason, the girls just don't have Arthur's exploring bug. It may be some time before they get used to crawling around regularly.

Today though, it was Arthur's turn for mischief. He started the day by crawling over to the couch, standing up against it, and then (for the first time), inched his way down to the opposite side of the couch to get the mug that I was holding. We have our first cruiser! Then, tonight he got into more trouble. The dogs always go a bit wild in the evenings, as they eagerly await being fed (which often comes once the kids are finally asleep), and they often rough house and play with each other in the meantime. Arthur decided to watch the show this time, and crawled over to the wall of pillows blocking off the living room from the kitchen. The dogs came over to him, and tried to get him to play with them. At that point, I had get some baby bottles washed, so I turned away from the scene. After a bit, the dogs returned to the other side of the kitchen, and their barking got my attention once more. When I turned to look, Arthur was there with them. Evidently he had scaled the pillows, crawled across the kitchen, under the table, and was in the process of standing up against the metal tin containing the dog food. It actually seemed as if he was thinking about how to get the lid off the container. For the life of me I can't figure how the dogs managed to convince Arthur to help them out in their never-ending quest for an early dinner. But I guess this will be one of Arthur's chores when he gets old enough. A boy and his dogs - and one more room to baby proof.

Nine Months Old!

Today we celebrated the triplets' nine month birthday. We took them to Virginia Tech's Infant Perception Lab to participate in an auditory-visual speech integration study. Each of them had three electrodes attached to them, measuring their heart rate, while they watched a 10 minute video of a woman saying phonemes like "ba," "ga," and "da." They all did wonderfully on the test, and were quite well-behaved during the whole visit.

Afterwards we took them over to the duck pond for their lunch. They enjoyed watching all the geese and ducks (and ducklings!), and we took their 9-month-old portrait. Erin had the day off from work, so everyone was happy to spend such a nice spring day with mommy.

Oh, and Coraline learned a life lesson about sticking things up her nose.

Crawling Cora

It's official, Coraline has learned how to crawl. Over the past several days, she's been steadily lengthening her crawling distance, from a few steps at a time, to a handful, pausing to rest, and then a handful more, and now she's able to crawl across the room. That is, if she wants to. She has yet to find a need to regularly practice this new-found ability, as she is often content playing with the toys in her immediate area, or within rolling distance. Adding to this is her new insecurity in wanting to be held all the time. So while I have yet to capture it on video, and while she hasn't done it often, she is, in fact, a crawler.