What Happened, Mr. Sandman?

For the past couple of nights, sleeping has not been what it used to be. Starting about 30 minutes after we put the kids down, and lasting for about 4 hours, either Blondie or Little Man wake up about every 30 minutes and start to cry. We usually go to them and replace a lost pacifier and this solves the problem, but why has it started? Possible teething pain? Changes in sleepwear due to warmer weather? We don't know why, but it would be nice if it would stop.

For Parents of Multiples

This quote was in an email from my "Mothers of Multiples" group a few months ago. Surely all parents of multiples can relate to it.

"I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much. " - Mother Teresa

"Ma Ma"

Blondie has added "ma ma" to the sounds she's making. So far, she's the most vocal of all three. Maybe that's because she's the smallest and she's trying to make her voice heard.

Squeaky's Doing It Now

This morning, as if turning on a light switch, Squeaky has started using "ah" sounds and words just like Little Man and Blondie.

Father Friday - I'm Addicted

This week, we were given a container of Gerber Fruit Puffs for the kids. We're not sure if they like them or not. Sometimes they'll eat a few and sometimes they won't. I tried one after we opened the container, and let me tell you, I'm addicted to them. These are the strawberry-apple flavor and they remind me of Boo Berry cereal. I could eat them with milk for breakfast. The mother keeps telling me I need to stop eating them so the kids will have some. Don't tell her, I'm eating some while typing this.

Blah, Blah, Blah

That's one of the new sounds coming from Little Man and Blondie. They have started using "ah" sounds and words - blah, lah, dah. Squeaky makes plenty of sounds too, but not those yet.

9 Month Doctor Visit

Yesterday we went to the 9 month check-up. The doctor was pleased with the way the babies were growing. It was time for more immunizations and no one enjoyed those.

New Weights -
Little Man - 17 lbs 3 oz
Squeaky - 17 lbs 15 oz
Blondie - 14 lbs 11 oz

Cavities?!?!

Yesterday we noticed dark spots on the back of Squeaky and Blondie's lower teeth. Our first thought was "Oh no! They have cavities!" We tried to figure out what we had done wrong. We started brushing their gums and teeth at 6 months. We didn't let them go to sleep with a bottle. Any fruit juices were watered down before they received it. We had been following all the rules that we knew. How had this happened?

We called the pediatrician's office and they recommended a pediatric dentist. We called and made an appointment for today. Our fears were put to rest when the dentist looked at their teeth and told us the spots were from all the iron in the formula. Whew! What a relief. Then we started wondering why someone hadn't mentioned this to us before. It would have been nice to know that the iron-rich formula could have been the problem instead of jumping to the conclusion that they had cavities.

Boot Camp - One Week

Things seem to be going well with the all-at-one-time feedings. We have to sit with them and help them keep the nipples in their mouths. They like to pull them out and wave them around like lassos. The real trick is getting solids in all three of them at the same time. We need a long-handled, three headed spoon.

Photos Added

Developmentally Speaking

There's lots of information available about kids and what they should be doing at a certain age (sitting up, crawling, etc). When it comes to babies that are born early, can you really use those charts? If babies are born early at 34 1/2 weeks, like ours, how can you measure what they should be doing? Do you say they are 9 months old, but only 8 months old developmentally? Once they are born, do you start the developmental counter or do you factor in the prematurity of the child?

Boot Camp - Day 2

Things are going great. They are really taking to eating at the same time. We usually finish feeding all three in about one hour instead of taking almost 2 hours with the staggered times we were using.

Boot Camp For Everyone

We're all in training starting today. We've been feeding the kids at staggered times (about 40 minutes apart) just to make it easier for one person to feed them. That kind of worked, but it sure caused havoc with the nap times. One wanted to sleep and two didn't or two wanted to sleep and one didn't. It was very stressful. This morning, everyone was up and in their high chairs at the same time to start simultaneous feedings. We just moved from one kid to the next, spooning in food. When they finished with the solids, we gave them their Podee bottles and helped them keep the nipples in their mouths while they drank. It went okay this morning. They all finished at about the same time and were napping at the same time. Keep reading. We'll keep you updated.

More Teeth

Squeaky's top front teeth are starting to break through the gum. Way to go, Squeaky!

Candle Heads

We're just amazed at the amount of earwax that makes its way from the inner ear to the outer ear on our kids. You clean their ears and the next day, there's more wax in there. It's amazing. The father has started calling them "Candle Heads".

Making Headway

We're down to only two that have the sniffles.

Is Anything More Precious Than...

a sleeping baby (x3)? (Sorry, no photo. We can't seem to get all 3 to nap at the same time yet.)

Last Man Standing

Everybody is sick now, except for the father. That's good because we need him to keep going while the rest of us recover from a bad cold.

Spray 'n Wash, You're My Best Friend

When you have a baby, or in our case three, you always have items with spit-up on them. We were given some Spray 'n Wash at a baby shower and told to use it to help clean things we wash. Let me tell you, we've gone through a lot of it and it seems to get out all the baby-related stains we've encountered. If only they sold it in a larger bottle...

Little Man and Sitting

Little Man seems to have mastered his sitting skills. He only has the occasional fall over. Now if only he could learn to get into the sitting position on his own.