On the Road Again...to Monte Vista!

Micah’s dad is building a new garage and he asked Micah to come up to Colorado for the weekend to help. Originally we thought he would go alone and I would have a couple of nights home alone with the babes. We thought this would be best for everyone since the babes don’t enjoy long car rides and they would be a distraction to the project. But as the weekend got closer I realized that I didn’t want to be home alone with the babes for almost three full days and two nights as doing everything by myself is exhausting. Micah and I discussed this and decided that the babes and I should go with him to his parents’ house. We realized that we often “divide and conquer” to make things easier for the babes, but we need to put more effort into staying together so that we experience things as a family.

We all left around 6:15 p.m. on Thursday when Micah got home from work. I altered our schedule a bit during the day so that the babes napped earlier and woke earlier in hopes that they would sleep in the car ride to Monte Vista. It’s less than a 4-hour drive and when we went a few weeks ago it took us 5.5 hours as we stopped for a meal and play break. We were hopeful that if we left in the evening the babes would fall asleep and sleep until we arrived at Micah’s parents.

Well, as I mentioned in my last post about our camping trip, the babes no longer seem to like sleeping in the car! Instead of sleeping they cried….and cried….and cried! If all three were quiet for a few minutes inevitably someone would start crying again and then all three would be at it. We ended up stopping about halfway through the drive to feed the babes bottles in hopes that the snack would help them fall asleep, but again we were wrong! All three were perfectly happy when we stopped, and we didn’t even take them out of their car seats, but as soon as we started driving again the crying continued. About 30 minutes after we stopped I remembered that we used to sing to them when they cried on car rides (I'm not sure why this didn’t occur to me earlier), so we started with their old favorite: Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. It worked!! I then remembered that on our way back from Denver last April we recorded us singing a handful of songs on my phone (to use in situations such as this!) so I spent the next HOUR playing the same songs over and over again from my phone. I was so tired of hearing my own voice singing (I’m not a great singer but like most babies, my babes calm when I sing) and I was tired of the same songs. But every time I stopped playing the songs someone would start crying again, so I endured.

Finally, when we had about 30 minutes remaining in our drive, all three were sound asleep. It was a frustrating drive, especially for Micah as he had to drive through the crying, but we managed. We were so happy to arrive in Monte Vista! Luckily, everyone slept well at night despite the fact that they were in a strange place and we were all sleeping in the same room (last time we visited we split everyone up, but Micah’s parents had another visitor helping with the garage as well so they were low on space).

On Friday Micah started working on the garage with his dad while his mom and I took care of the babes.  We spent time just hanging out inside, we went for a walk, and in the afternoon we went thrift store shopping. I found a few good deals, but the thing I am most excited about is our Halloween costumes. I had an idea, which I will reveal on Halloween, and I thought I would make the babes costumes since I didn’t want to spend a lot, but finding them at a thrift store was awesome since they were inexpensive and it will save me time!

 

The "playpen" that we created last time we visited worked perfectly this time as well! We just pulled the chairs close to the sofa, filled in the opening with a footrest, and the babes had a safe zone.

Grammy playing with the babes in the playpen

In the late afternoon we took the babes outside so they could see what the men were working on, and they were pretty fascinated! There was a lot of loud noise, which made them curious, and they had fun playing in the ladders lying on the ground and exploring Grammy and Grandpa’s property.

Babes in a crock! The were too busy watching the men working to stop and smile for a pic.

There were a lot of loud noises with the nail gun going off every few seconds!

Faith and Jack watching Daddy work on the garage

Jack climbing across the ladder

Fun with the ladder

Jack

Lexi found a cozy spot to watch the action

Faith was walking everywhere!

Lexi relaxing in the chair

Faith

Lexi and Faith in the chair

All three! Again they were too busy watching the men work to smile.

Saturday was much of the same with the men working outside and the women caring for the babes. In the evening we took the babes outside again, and they had a blast. All three are now walking to some extent and it’s amazing watching them navigate the changes in terrain (grass, brick sidewalk, boards in doorways in the new garage, etc.). Of course they all fall and Jack and Alexis still crawl a lot outside, but Faith seems to have mastered the walking thing as she was practically running in circles!

Faith inspecting the construction in the garage

Lexi walking through the wall

Faith walking in circles

Jack

The trio headed outside! Jack and Alexis can walk well now, but crawling is still a little faster in unfamiliar terrain.

Alexis walking!

Little explorers

After playing outside no one was content in their playpen, so instead they spent time climbing on the couch

It took both of us to manage this craziness!

Tomorrow we leave for our drive back to ABQ. We are leaving bright and early and planning on a long stop for food and play as that worked well a few weeks ago, but we are mentally preparing for the worst as the babes since the drive up didn't go as planned.

Camping Trip #2

Last weekend we decided to attempt our second camping trip with the babes, and this time there was climbing involved as well!

Micah left early Saturday morning for El Rito with Dan and his five-year-old (almost six-year-old) and four-year-old boys. While the guys climbed, I stayed home and took care of the babes and finished packing. We decided that it would be better if I went later with the babes so that they could get in a good morning nap and a lot of playtime at home. At 1:30 I left our house, picked up Val, and we headed to El Rito (after a very necessary stop at Starbucks....it's exhausting to take care of three babes, pack, and load up the car by myself!). I was hoping that the babes would nap since they normally nap in the afternoon, but I wasn't so lucky. I don't think anyone napped more than 30 minutes or so during the two plus hour drive, but Val and I were able to carry on a nice conversation despite the protests from the backseat. Although I felt bad about the crying and we made sure there were plenty of pacifiers and some toys available, there wasn't much we could do about it.

We met the guys at the El Rito campground around 4:00 as they were done climbing for the day. After setting up our campsite we made an easy dinner, hung out for a bit, and then put the babes to bed. Although there was a little crying, they all fell asleep pretty easily.

Val hanging out by the kids while the guys set up camp. Did I mention she's 27 weeks pregnant? She's a rockstar pregnant lady: camping and climbing!

Me with the babes while eating dinner (J, F, A)

The night, on the other hand, was a little rough as the babes woke up many times throughout the night and I was very worried about them being cold. It was hard to dress them properly since it was warm when they went to bed and it got much cooler as the night went on. Around 4:00 a.m. Faith woke up and we could not get her back to sleep. We put on more clothes and blankets, we put her on the ground between us, we fed her a bottle, but nothing seemed to work. Around 5:30 a.m. I finally gave up and rocked her, which NEVER works with our babes, and surprisingly she fell right asleep! We were then able to sleep until about 7:00 a.m.

After eating breakfast and loading everyone up, we hiked the five minutes into the climbing area (FYI for our climbing friends, we went to Little River Wall, which is a new area at El Rito, and it was super fun!). The babes loved playing in the long grass among the sticks and rocks, and we let them walk and crawl around for awhile. We also brought a Pack n Play out which we put them in when we needed to contain them.

Breakfast all bundled up (J, A, F)

Getting ready to climb

Faith inspecting the climbing gear

Jack liked the big kids' shovel

Lexi found some bark

They loved the log as it was great for cruising!

Top to bottom: J, A, F

Lexi

Jack wanted to explore!

Faith

Since Micah had a full day of climbing on Saturday, he went back to the campsite with the babes for their morning nap while I continued climbing with Dan and Val. During the early afternoon Micah and Dan climbed for a couple of more hours while Val and I hung out at the campsite with the kids. Although the climbing area was nicer for playing than the campsite, it was in the sun in the afternoon and we were worried about the babes getting hot and sunburned.

Schedules do get a bit thrown off when we travel so the babes drank their bottles right before lunch

Playing in the Pack n Play in the afternoon. Our first camping trip was in late July and we didn't have any walkers yet, so we knew this time would be slightly different. Last time we relied on our Go Pods to contain and help entertain the babes but they no longer tolerate being confined to those, so instead we used a Pack n Play outside. Although the Pack n Play got extremely dirty it was a great solution as everyone could move around (at least a little bit) yet they couldn't crawl in the dirt (and broken glass...not the nicest campground).

Around 3:30 we packed up the car and left for home! Again, the babes had some trouble sleeping even though it was time for their afternoon nap, but both girls got in at least a 30 minute nap during our drive.

Although it was another short camping trip (in July we were gone for 24 hours door-to-door and this time we were gone for about 28 hours door-to-door), we had fun hanging out with our friends, getting in some climbing, and getting our babes out of the house and into the wilderness! We are hopeful that bringing them along on camping and climbing trips will help them enjoy it as the years go on.

Ironically, exactly one year earlier to the day we took our babes on their first climbing day trip. That day was completely different as we were feeding the babes every three hours during the day and they slept most of the time we were climbing. It was also so much colder that day too, which is why the babes are so bundled in this pic. 

Sickies but Still Cuties

We just got back from the doctor as Jack once again has Croup. This is his third bout of it since May! Although we were really good about keeping our babes away from germs last winter, once we started to venture out more in late April they started getting sick and have since suffered through several colds and a few days of high fevers. All three are currently fighting their fifth cold. I've now learned that Jack will most likely get Croup when he gets a cold and we have the steroid pills on hand for next time. Last night was a bit rough as Alexis woke up right when we were going to bed and kept us up until around midnight. And then Faith woke up around 5:00 a.m. Luckily we were able to put Faith in bed with us and she fell back asleep for a little while, but we still didn't get much sleep. And then today I was hoping to squeeze in a nap while the babes napped, but Jack's cough was so bad I couldn't sleep and made a doctor's appointment instead. I know this is all to be expected, but it's definitely the less fun part of being a parent.

Jack got the runny nose first on Sunday morning, Alexis had it yesterday morning, and Faith got it sometime during the day yesterday. I knew that the cold would only get worse before it got better, so since no one was "that sick" yesterday we seized the opportunity and went to the zoo! I thought this would be a good place to go as we could get out of the house without contaminating others. This was the first time I brought the babes to the zoo 100% by myself and we all had a great time. We were only there for about an hour between the morning nap and lunch, but it was great since there were not many people there since it was a Monday morning during the school year. The babes were much more interested in the animals this time than in the past, and I'm sure they will only get more interested as time goes on.

Taking a snack break by the Polar Bear. I wore Faith in the hiking backpack so she would have a view and she seemed to love it! She got the backpack since she had the least runny nose at the time.

Faith looking at the Polar Bear on the rock while snacking.

Faith and me by the giraffe

Despite the super runny noses and sneeze-snot blowouts, all three babes are still super cute. Although we now have three "cars" for the babes to ride around the house (we got a third one after a number of fights broke out over the other two), Jack and Faith decided yesterday to ride together. I came downstairs to find this!

Jack and Faith: proud of their teamwork

Sibling love

Kisses!

I finally made the Family Photo Album that I've been wanting to make for months. I put head shots of the babes' grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, Micah, myself, and the babes themselves. Now I need to make two more as they fight over it constantly.  I'm hoping this will help them know who their family is since they don't see them very often! Jack was enjoying the book this morning while the girls napped (his nap was cut short due to his cough).

He was really looking at Kent and Emily for awhile. I think he knew it was their one month anniversary today :).

Thoughts...I DO have them!

When we first moved to ABQ in October 2010 I started a blog called "Beginning Anew in ABQ" (http://anewabq.blogspot.com/). Okay, I know the name is cheesy but I'm not that creative and it was the truth as we were starting a new life of sorts since Micah had just finished his PhD and we moved from Colorado to New Mexico. Anyway, I was just re-reading some of my old posts and realized that my old blog was sometimes thought-provoking, and this blog is really just a chronicle of Alexis, Jack, and Faith's lives. I am writing my current blog to share what is going on in our lives and also to help me remember events (and the routine stuff) as time goes on, and someday Alexis, Jack, and Faith can read it as well. But I do think about many things throughout the day that I could share here but I never seem to find the time to sit down and do it.


Every situation has it's challenges

One thing I hear almost every day is, "How do you do it with three?!" My answer is usually something like, "You just do it," "We don't know anything different since we never had a singleton," "One day at a time," or "Every situation has its challenges." The last response is now my most common answer as it is SO TRUE! All moms (and dads) work hard regardless of the number of kids they have. Yes, some things are more challenging with triplets, but some things are also easier (built in playmates). There are many circumstances that can make being a parent challenging, but even with "normal" circumstances I truly believe that every situation is challenging and it's amazing anyone makes it out the door with their kids. 


SAHM is the hardest job I've ever had

Lately I've been spending a lot of time thinking about my job as a stay-at-home mom (SAHM). Honestly, if we had a singleton I would at least be working part-time but I love being a stay-at-home mom and I'm glad that having triplets made the decision to stay home an easy one (mostly from a cost standpoint). Yes, there are days I think that it might be easier to go to an office job so I get a break from the food prep, clean-up, diapers, and crying (yes our babes do cry!), but I am so happy that I get to be around for the day-to-day.

Before I had kids, though, I thought being a stay-at-home mom would be much more relaxing than a full-time job outside the home. When I worked full-time I woke up at 6:30 to shower and get ready for the day before commuting to work, working for 8+ hours, coming home and trying to squeeze in a workout before making dinner, doing the dishes, and possibly getting a little time to relax before going to bed. BUT, now that I have experienced 15 months as a SAHM I can tell you that it is MUCH HARDER than working full-time. It is completely and utterly exhausting both physically and emotionally, and sometimes mentally.

My day still starts around 6:30 but as opposed to a nice, relaxing shower I hit the ground running as the babes need me ASAP. And I go non-stop pretty much all day as even nap time is busy with cleaning up the house and trying to get other things done (and hopefully squeezing in a two minute shower!). And my day isn't over at 5:30 like it was when I was working. Nope, my workday now ends around 8:30! Although I did worry about things at my full-time job after leaving work, it is nothing like having kids. As a parent you constantly worry: Are they eating enough, are they developing as they should, will they be too cold tonight, will they sleep through the night, are they getting sick, should I give them something for the teething pain??? And the list of concerns goes on.  This job is no joke. I can't even imagine working outside the home full-time and then coming home to kids as that is like having two jobs! You moms that do that are truly super moms!

Before I had kids I imagined meeting up with other moms and talking over coffee as our kids played quietly. Maybe that is in the future when our babes are older, but right now it's more like trying to squeeze in a conversation while managing the babes (feeding, diapering, keeping them away from unsafe things, etc) which means there isn't much "real" conversation happening. I always thought SAHMs were so lucky since they could just hang out with friends whenever they wanted, but now I know that not only is it not relaxing to have a play date, you also spend most of your time talking about your kids and giving and receiving advice. I now understand that when moms meet for play dates it's the equivalent of co-workers talking in the office. It is a necessary break to keep going with the real work as you are able to vent and help each other out with stuff, but it's definitely not what I thought it would be like.

But even though this is the hardest job I've ever had, it's totally worth it for me. Some days our babes are meeting milestones and some days are just plain frustrating, but I believe I have one of the best jobs around!


Friends change (somewhat) with stages of life

I've realized recently that, although I did not want this to be true, it is much easier to be friends with others that have kids than those that don't when you're a SAHM. When I worked full-time outside the home I had stuff to talk about because I had my job that was somewhat interesting and I interacted with people throughout the day. As a SAHM I find that I really don't have much else to talk about other than my kids and most people without kids find that pretty annoying after awhile. On the other hand, other moms seem to think that's fine as we can give and receive advice or just commiserate with one another. Please don't misunderstand as I appreciate friendships with women in all walks of life, but at this stage in my life I've just realized that I'm a bit boring and I'm okay with that because I'm enjoying this stage.


So there are some of the things that I think about during the day! Hopefully I can continue these kinds of posts in the future as they are just as important as our vacation recaps, daily schedule summaries, and monthly updates, even if this post does lack cute photos.

15 Months

How old? 15 months (13 adjusted)

Our weights:  (I'm not sure how accurate these are since it's hard to weigh babes who don't want to sit still on the baby scale...although they love to play on it!)
Alexis: 18 lbs 13 oz (no change from last month)  
Jack: 17 lbs 12 oz (+ 5.5 oz from last month)  
Faith: 18 lbs 8 oz (+ 1 oz from last month)

Size clothes: Mostly all 12 month...although they are wearing some 12-18 month tops and some 9 month two piece PJ's. They seem to be able to fit into so many sizes because they are long and skinny.

Eating schedule:  Not much change from a month ago except that the afternoon bottle and nap is now 30 minutes later. Bottles are now fed around 9:45, 2:45, and 7:45. Breakfast is around 7:00, lunch around 12:00, and dinner between 5:30 and 6:00. They also sometimes get a small snack before dinner depending on when they get up from their afternoon nap.

Naps: Naps are still going great and they generally nap from 10:00-12:00 and 3:00-5:00. We are starting to wonder if we need to decrease the total hours of sleep during the day, though, as they are starting to wake up earlier and earlier in the morning. They were waking up between 6:30 and 7:00 a.m. but recently there have been days where one or two wake up between 5:30 and 6:00 a.m....which is totally not okay with Mommy and Daddy.

Bedtime: Bedtime is still going very smoothly. Occasionally Jack still cries for a few minutes when we lay him down, but not at all like he used to do. Our nap and bedtime routine is pretty simple: they drink a bottle on their Boppies and then we lay them down in their beds wide awake. Usually they babble for a few minutes and then fall asleep. 

Favorite foods:  Same favorites as last month and a couple of things have been added to the list: salmon burgers and yogurt smoothies. Grammy made salmon patties when we visited them last weekend and all three gobbled them up! I started making yogurt smoothies for breakfast this week (a few spoonfuls of plain whole milk yogurt, some fruit puree, and a little whole milk to thin it out) and Jack and Alexis absolutely love it. Faith isn't quite as excited as the other two, but she'll drink some of it. This has been great since they don't want to be spoon fed anymore but we needed to get more dairy in their diet.

Food dislikes: Same as before. Most veggies are not eaten and it's amazing to me that they seem to know that something is a veggie before they even try it! This week I gave them ravioli with parmesan and spinach in it and Faith thought it was absolutely disgusting. She would take a bite, spit it out, and then throw it on the floor. Very dramatic and frustrating for me, but amusing at the same time.

Likes: In addition to the things they've liked in the past, they love to play on the furniture which we don't normally let them do since they can't climb up themselves yet and they don't know how to get down safely. To make it accessible and safer, we've been taking the couch cushions off and laying them in front of the couch so that they can easily climb up and down (or fall off for fun). This has provided hours of entertainment. 

Faith's reflux sleeping wedge has made a great climbing ramp / slide

Lexi

Lexi and Jack

Jack going down

When I make dinner they always seem to want to be at my feet or they're trying to play with the knobs on the stove so at that time I take out the plastic mixing bowls and large spoons and they all get so excited! This distracts them for awhile so I can finish cooking.

For some reason they all love to brush their teeth! Of course they want to do it themselves and not have me do it, but I get in there and get a few good brushes in and then let them chomp on the toothbrush. 

They all love to watch me vacuum, although I can't do it much when they're around as they chase me and get tangled in the cord. Recently I got a dust buster which they find very exciting, and it's great since I don't have to worry about the cord.

For the most part we don't let them watch TV or play with apps on the phone or iPad, but when everyone is falling apart I do turn this stuff on as a last resort. They love "Baby Babble" on You Tube and the Peekaboo Farm app. At least it's educational!

Watching "Baby Babble" after attempting to play outside by the water table (which is why they are in diapers). All three find everything in the backyard so interesting so after several minutes of chasing them around and pulling rocks out of their mouths we came back inside and turned on the TV for a few minutes. I'm looking forward to the day that time outside is relaxing for me again! Faith is in the box with a stuffed dog, Jack is looking back at the camera, and Lexi is right below the TV.

Stuffed animals are now interesting and fun for them and they like to hug them and carry them around. It's so cute.

Random plastic toys are thoroughly enjoyed as well as all three like to carry these around with them. It doesn't matter if it's a plastic orange, plastic cucumber, a block, or a random plastic lid, they just find it fun. And of course whatever a sibling has is the best toy to have at the moment so they continuously take toys from each other. 

All three with a plastic toy lid. It was passed around all day and carried in the mouth by all.

On the floor with Lexi (left) and Faith (right). Faith loves that plastic orange!

 They also all seem to love dogs. I'm not sure where the dog obsession came from as I'm not a dog person myself, but they all squeal when they see dogs when we're out walking and it's super cute.

They also enjoy:

Swinging! We have been stopping at the park down the street a few times a week for short rides in the swings.

Faith in front and Lexi in back.

Jack

Climbing into and sitting in boxes!

Lexi

Faith, Jack, and Alexis in a box!

I found an inexpensive inflatable pool that we can use outside next year, but for now all are enjoying climbing in and out of it. J, F, A

 

Dislikes: Like I mentioned last month, all three are very opinionated about what they want which has made my days a bit more challenging. Giggles can quickly turn to tears if someone feels they have been wronged or hurt by one of their siblings. 

Our milestones: 

A lot has happened in the last month, but one of the things that I'm most excited about is that we are no longer using our Rock n Plays for bottle feedings and the babes now hold their own bottles! This might sounds ridiculous but up until August 8 the girls would only drink their bottles if they were laying in a Rock n Play with their bottles propped by blankets, and Jack would lay on a Boppy with his bottle propped. We started this set up last December when they were strong enough to have their bottles propped (for awhile all three were in Rock n Plays), but we never expected it to become something that we would have to wean them from! On August 8th we left for MI and we were there for 17 days. While we were there we either held the babes for bottles (because we almost always had two or three adults around, unlike when I'm at home alone with them) or laid them on pillows and held their bottles while they drank. A day or two into the trip Jack began holding his own bottle! Although I was worried about what we would do when we got home since I would be on my own again, we laid all three babes on Boppies, handed them their bottles (instead of putting them in their mouths), and after a few days back home they were successfully drinking their bottles on their own! What a relief! The next step is to wean them from the bottle, but now that they have the bottle holding thing down I'm not as anxious to do it since this is so easy! 

One of our last days of bottle propping. Now they lay on the Boppies and hold their own bottles!!

Faith is WALKING! Since last month she has been practicing by pulling up on furniture and taking some steps on her own, but she was still quite wobbly. But on August 27 she started standing up on her own in middle of the room and walking around! It is amazing to watch her walk around the family room and kitchen while Alexis and Jack crawl as it makes her transition to walking so obvious. She LOVES to walk and is quite proud of herself. 

Faith walking around the house (holding the plastic orange).

Faith has also started climbing on stuff and it won't be long before she figures out how to get on the couch with the cushions still on. This is making me quite anxious as I no longer feel like I can leave the room for a few minutes to go the bathroom or grab the laundry because I'm afraid she'll have climbed up and fallen off of something by the time I get back! I'm sure a lot of parents feel this way but if you only have one babe you can take her with you to the bathroom and that's just not feasible with three. 

Faith thinks it's more fun to stand on the seat...

Faith also has three new teeth this month! They are all on top so she now has two bottom teeth and three top teeth.

Faith is also a talker and the other day she was sitting in her stroller as Micah walked up and she waved and said (what sounded like), "Hi Dada." I think she's also saying "up" and she's trying to say "doggie." Faith babbles constantly and it is very conversational. I'm expecting her to say more words very soon!
 
Lexi is now very good at standing on her own (pulls up on something and lets go) and she has even stood up in middle of the room a couple of times without pulling up on anything. She watches Faith walk around the house and tries very hard to take steps on her own although at this point I've only see her take one before falling. One hurdle Lexi has is that she tries to walk on her toes, but I have been focusing on pushing her back onto her heels when she stands up and she is getting much better at that.

Lexi has one new tooth that has just popped through on top, so she now has two bottom teeth and one on top.

Lexi is also working on her words. She says: yeah, hi, mama, and dada. She also sounds like she is trying to say "doggie." Like Faith, Lexi loves to talk. 

Lexi talking on the phone

Lexi was carrying this spider around in her mouth

Jack has been working on standing up by himself in the middle of the room and for the most part he has conquered it! He is also walking between people and has taken up to four steps! I don't think it will be much longer before he is really walking.

Jack cut three more teeth this month which gives him a total of 8 teeth...four on top and four on bottom!

Jack tries to mimic words which is super cute. If I say "kitty" he says "tee." He can say: mom, dada, up, and he attempts to say doggie as well. 

Mama's boy

Jack trying on his new fleece outfit. We are planning on going on a camping trip soon so we decided to buy some warmer layers. It's pretty big on him but that means we can use it all winter. He looks so cute!