Just when you think you have things figured out...

For someone who isn't big on change I am learning to adapt to it right quick lately!  Obviously babies change fast their first year and just when you think you have something figured out, BAM! they are ready for something new.

(Random update to this post, I read a great article this week on what babies can eat http://www.nbcnews.com/id/9646449/  I highly recommend it)

This week, for example, we have gone from being amazing solid food eaters to struggling through a meal of even their favorite foods.  Last night I was doing some research on ideas as to why, other than illness and teething.  Some sites I ran across suggested a developmental change.  The babies may want to be feeding themselves now rather than me feeding them.

Hum, ok, so that changes things.  What can I give them as finger food?  I referred to my two baby cook books quickly and got some ideas and ran to the store this morning.  We have been eating carrots, lots of O's and rice crackers, some fruits and a little meat now and then.  I needed a wider variety.  I grabbed grapes, a red bell pepper, broccolini, qinoa pasta and parmasan and deli turkey.  Came home steamed the broccolini and bell peppers, cut the grapes into pea sized bites and tore the turkey apart.

We started with the broccolini and red bell peppers.  A hit!  Both the stems and the florets of the broccolini were apparently delicious.

Next the turkey, which Emma took bites of that amazed me!  She loved it, all of it, she ate the fastest and most.  Then we moved on to grapes, yummy.  We were slowing down considerably by grapes and when those finished I had some pureed food and yogurt to drink and they seemed glad for mom to feed at that point.

Well, we certainly fixed the not wanting to eat but babies feeding themselves is really slow.  Our meal took over an hour.  At least we didn't cry and complain through the meal like we were earlier this week   We are also coming down off a growth spurt so their intake has dropped.

After lunch we played happily for an hour, giggling lots.  They made a goofy baby pile.  Then Emma squished Alex, which Alex thought was was funny for a while then she got kneed in the gut.

My new mantra has to be change is good, especially when it leads to happy faces like these!!

An update to this post on 2/3/13.  Yep, we are now independent and feed ourselves now.  Doing pretty well, less and less on the floor.  Keeping mommy on her toes to find different things to make since mom and dad eat spicy Chinese food and later than babies eat.  Will be making them a green curry, soy ginger green onion tilapia, and veggie risotto this week.  They like textured and flavored food.  Their favorite-which they will still eat off a spoon- is chunky fruit yogurt that I add cinnamon and coconut to for extra flavor.  Thanks to people who answered my cry for help when trying to decide if this was behavioral.  Independence comes on quick!

PS- I have started a list of what we eat at the bottom of my blog, just in case you are interested.

Visits to the Doctor

We really don't go anywhere, for a couple of reasons.  First because it is insanely hard to take three babies out with our strict schedule.  Second because of the exposure to illness.  Being 9 weeks early earns you quarantine.  Though I'm not terribly upset we can't go anywhere yet because it is so exhausting when we do I will say the quarantine (and I'm convinced their crazy healthy diet) has meant 11 months of very healthy babies!  We have only been sick once with colds over the holidays.  So basically our outings are to the doctors office.

Crazy babies!  Another reason it's difficult to go anywhere, they can't sit still.  

Emma is strapped into that bouncy seat!  She also climbed out of her exersaucer this week!

We qualify for Synagis injections for RSV. (check out what RSV is at this link https://www.synagis.com/)  Every 28 days we make a pilgrimage to a specific doctors office who administers the injection.  It's never fun.  The physician isn't our pediatrician, and even though she has seen us every 28 days for 5 months still walks in the room every time and says "Your kids must eat a lot of orange stuff, their skin is orange."  Yes, lady, they do and you seriously can't remember orange triplets???  Really?  I can't imagine there are a lot of us.  Oh well, the point is they get the shot and are protected.  2 more visits to go.  Oh, and yes, you read right, I have orange babies due to their home made formula - carrot juice and goat milk.  Seriously it's like the cast of Jersey Shore live here.  Again, another post on home made formula to come.

We have extremely limited windows in which the babies aren't eating or sleeping so finding a time to go to the doctor is no fun.  Our best time is right after a solid food meal and before a bottle and a nap.  I normally have to wake them early from a nap to eat early.  I pick only their favorite foods so they eat quickly.  We wash up fast as we can, I run them to the changing table for a quick diaper refresh then to the car.  They are very good car riders, probably because we never go anywhere so it's fun to get out.  We take our tandem triplet stroller which I drive into everything but somehow it actually fits everywhere.  Not sure how much longer it will last us though, there is 60 lbs of babies in it and it seems to be struggling.  We have a heavy duty quad stroller which works great but I can't get it in the car, it's too big and too heavy.

Emma and Ethan, pre shots (11 months)

Alex, Emma, and Ethan pre shots (11 months)  

This was the first time I thought to bring a snack, apple O's.

During their appointments they are really good about sitting on the table and playing with the toys I bring.  Alex is the most wary, she knows doctors usually mean shots.  They do well until the shots happen then it's crazy crying, mommy holding two babies my help holding a third.  They feed off each other.  Then the nurse leaves the room and silence.  Cracks me up.  We are happy again so back into the stroller and we rush home for a bottle and a nap.

We get weighed and measured at our RSV visits so here are their current sizes:
Ethan 23lbs 5oz 30inches long
Alex 19lbs 14oz 28.5inches long
Emma 17lbs 13oz 28.2inches long
Amazing babies!!!  (Our nanny read somewhere yesterday that babies should triple their birth weight by one year... Ha, that would mean Emma should weigh 6lbs 15oz at a year.  Um hum...)  The girls are still well below the 50th percentile on the baby chart but Mr. Ethan is solidly above.

After doctors appointments all I want to do is take bath with a glass of wine and then a nap.  It takes it out of me!

Bottle Madness

Starting out we had no idea how many bottles a single baby would use; forget about how many three would need!  I had planned on nursing but knew I would pump and feed with a bottle too.  Nursing triplets is another story but we clearly did need bottles.

The babies came home using 2 ounce bottles the NICU provided but we had already tried Dr. Brown's and knew they would drink from those.  My mom convinced me we would need a ton.  Boy was she right!  For a long time we went through 10 bottles per baby every 24 hours.  30 bottles every 24 hours!  So we had more than 60 bottles. We started with the 4 ounce ones and moved to 8 ounce ones around 6 or 7 months.  We didn't try any other brand because we just started buying Dr. Brown's and it seemed pointless to mix in a new brand.  They worked great but they are a bit of a pain with so many pieces.  We are used to them but I can see the benefit of a brand like Tommy Tippee with only 2 pieces.

Tips and Advice:
If I had it to do over I would totally purchase used bottles, sterilize them and simply purchase new nipples.  Rookie parent mistake.

Take everything the NICU offers you, tons of bottles, bottle warming containers, breast milk storage containers (they make fabulous home made solid food containers).  NICU 2 oz bottles make great medicine bottles and juice bottles.

Our nanny snapped a shot of her set up one night, this is less than the max amount we used.

Now that we are eating so much solids we are down to 3 bottles each baby a day!!  Of course that means a lot more solid food containers and bowls to wash.  We make our own baby food so we reuse our storage containers, usually 3-5 per meal, 3 solid food meals a day.  And of course water and juice cups.

Our kitchen island has been taken over by baby stuff!

The babies have their own refrigerator.  We use beer 6 pack caddies to hold each babies bottles.  

Yep, the babies are color coded too.  

Now, if only we could convince our munchkins to hold any one of these bottle by themselves!  Yep, that's right, we still have to hold their bottles for them.  I don't have a photo of how I feed them all at once, since I'm feeding them all at once...  But I'll try and get one taken soon to post.

Home Made Wipes

Sometime in July or August of this year, as we were suffering from unexplained diaper rash, my neighbor was over helping.  I was complaining that even the sensitive store bought wipes were still burning the babies tooshies and she said she made her own wipes for her kids.  What the what?  I didn't know you could make your own wipes.  She proceeded to give me the "formula" which I confirmed on the internet and voila, home made wipes!  So easy, SO CHEAP, and so alcohol free - no more burn!!  Everyone in our house agrees they clean better as well.

So here you go, the recipe for home made wipes:

What you need:
Roll of paper towel (we use Kirkland brand from Costco, no need to use an expensive brand, the baby oil softens them)
Serrated knife
Cutting board
4 cup microwavable measuring cup
Baby shampoo - Cetaphil or Johnson's and Johnson's
Baby oil
Container with lid for 1/2 paper towel roll

How to do it:
Heat 2.5 to 3 cups of water in the microwave 2 to 3 minutes and cool to room temperature

Cut a roll of paper towel in half and remove the cardboard

Add approximately 2 Tablespoons of shampoo and 1 Tablespoon baby oil to the container the wipes will be stored in

Pour cooled water into the container then place the 1/2 roll of paper towel in cut side up first.

After the water is all absorbed (approximately 30 seconds) flip the roll, pull the center towel up as the start of the wipe roll.

Store in an air tight container.  I found this great container at Target in the aisle with the rubbermade containers.  The lid is super easy to get off with one hand while holding a baby down!  

I hope if you need baby wipes you will give this a try, we really are very happy with them!  

Tiny but Mighty! Our Fearless Emma

Today is brag day about Emma!  As mentioned before Emma is the first to crawl, last week on Wednesday she crawled for the first time.  Since then she is off like a light.  Today Emma shocked me by pulling herself up onto her knees to play with a toy.  But she didn't stop there, she decided that wasn't high enough so she went ahead and pulled herself up to standing!  She stayed up playing for 5-10 seconds and then mommy got so excited she turned to look at me and promptly lost her balance.

Emma Standing for the first time! January 14, 21013

So our tiny little 2lb 5oz surprise has become the fearless first!  This pretty much catches up her gross motor skills.

Ethan and Alex are not far behind, both are up and rocking trying to figure out crawling.  Ethan loves to be put in standing position and we see him trying to figure out how to get that way himself.  Alex was trying to move her hands last night to crawl but kept chickening out.  Expect a post about their eminent success very soon!

And here is just a funny photo of Emma conquering Alex while playing.  Alex was down there laughing.

Breakfast of Champions!

The Morning Routine

My babies obviously know mom is NOT a morning person.  So, like the good little angels they are, they sleep until 8:15am.  This allows mom to get up at 7:30, shower and eat her breakfast before starting the dragon's day.

Up at 8:15 and we all get dressed before coming down to breakfast.  Emma and Alex ride down together; and yes, picking up two babies at once is a learned skill!  They get strapped into their bouncy seats and I run back up and grab Ethan who is happily playing and waiting his turn.  We all eat our first bottle of the day together.  Emma gets a pillow on top of her to hold her bottle in place and mommy hold's Ethan and Alex's bottles for them.  When will the dragon's ever hold their own bottles you might ask?  NEVER!!!  They show zero interest.  It's crazy.  Oh well.

They get to jump and play for about an hour and then it's time for solids!

I make all of our baby food from scratch as well as our formula (more on home made formula in another post).  A typical breakfast is 1 Avacado, 1 Pear or Apple, a handful of baby spinach or baby kale and around a 1/4 cup frozen mixed berries (raspberry, blackberry and blueberry).

I scoop out the avocado and put it in the Magic Bullet first, then peal the apple or pear and cut that up and on top of the avocado it goes.  Then the spinach or kale is blanched in boiling water to kill germs and soften.  Finally the berries are added.  Blend up and serve!

We call it Healthy Mud!








Now comes the fun part, getting the dragon's ready to eat!  To the triplet high chair we go!

Toys keep us happy while we go through the bibbing process...

Depending on which smock they are wearing there are a total of 3 to 4 bibs.  If in a smock there is a cloth bib put on like a cape to protect their backs.  Next the smock goes on, and another cloth bib is put on the right way in front.  Finally a plastic bib with a food pocket is layered on.  The 3 bib process happens when we wear rain coats instead of smocks.  They don't have a cape bib with raincoats.  This is all because they never leave each other alone during meals and smear each other with food!  The bibbing system only protects their cloths, we are constantly picking food out of their hair, ears and eyebrows!

Emma (10 months)

Ethan (10 months)

Alex (10 months)

Most of the time there are shenanigans afoot!

When we finish our Healthy Mud we get some Kale O's and some H2O.

Sometimes we look pretty good and other times:

And that's breakfast!  Pweh, we made it from 8:15am to 10:30am. 

and I'm back!

Pweh, it's been 10 months since you have heard from me.  I have absolutely no idea how other mother's of multiples manage to blog during the first year.  Seriously, there is NO time and NO energy.  There is a lot of catching up to do and I will tell you now, there is no way I will be posting every day, but I will attempt at least once a week for now.

Let's make this post a quick catch up on the first 10 months of the Triple Dragon's amazing journey.

Ethan Mingrui - At 10 months 22lb 5oz 29"  (he was born 4lbs 3oz and I believe 16")

Ethan is our sweet heart.  He hugs with the best of them.  He's tough enough to tolerate Alex but gentle with Emma.  He has a hilarious giggle and gets tickled about the silliest things.  He prefers his bottle because he still gets held while he eats it but can hold his own at the dinner table.  His core strength is great and he sits to play as often as he can.  He loves music and dancing and has a gorgeous head of soft dark hair.  He doesn't seem inclined to crawl much just yet, but why bother; he has two sisters to get stuff for him!

Alex (Alexandria) Minglei - 10 months 19lbs 28"  (she was born 2lbs 12oz and I believe 14.5")

Alex is our little instigator, no surprise there, she was in utero too!  She loves to untie or un-Velcro everyone's bibs at the table.  She army crawls like a champ and takes off rolling across a room, and a changing table, at lightning speed.  She is our number one solid food eater with insanely good fine motor skills.  She can snatch kale o's off the table in the blink of an eye.  She tells lots of stories and likes to rub Ethan's head.  Her problem solving skills seem to be very advanced in my opinion, watching her play is fascinating.

Emma Mingli - 10 months 17lb 27.5"  (she was born 2lbs 5oz and 14")

Emma is the first to crawl!  And now that she's gotten the hang of it she's off!  Her motivation is mommy's iPad and phone.  She also loves the praise she gets when she crawls, such a preformer.  She is part monkey and likes to be upside down as often as possible.  Her laugh is infectious and she is a total camera ham.  She loves to laugh and is happy almost all of the time.  We like to call her Fruit Fly; her favorite food is any fruit!  

Everyone is nearly caught on their development from being so premature.  It won't take these kiddos 2 years to have the development of a full term baby.  They amaze, impress and astound us every day and crack us up constantly.  They are the happiest babies, constantly smiling, laughing and singing.  We are so incredibly happy and can't imagine having a family any other way.  Don't get us wrong, none of this is easy, but they make it completely worth it!

We Have Babies!

On the morning of 2/24/12 our OB made the decision to deliver the triplets.  There was no emergency but Emma had not grown in 3 weeks and there was no sense in waiting any longer.  At 12:13pm Ethan Mingrui Gao was born followed by Alexandria Minglei Gao at 12:14 and a few minutes later 12:16 Emma Mingli Gao joined her siblings.  Ethan was 4lb 3oz, Alex 2lb 12oz, and tiny Emma was 2lb 5oz.

In the NICU Alex never needed any respiratory assistance, she was strong and healthy.  Emma required a CPAP, which is a little oxygen mask, for less than 24 hours.  Ethan had a little more trouble and was on the CPAP for a couple days then they intubated him for a day and a half and given surfactant.  After that his natural surfactant kicked in he went back to a CPAP for a day then to nasal canula and after 4 days was off everything.  Everyone was amazed at how healthy they all were and are.

Right after the c-section mom had a little trouble, my body temperature dropped to 92 degrees so I required a bear hugger for a couple hours to raise my temp back to normal.  I was in recovery about 3 hours before I was stable enough to go visit the kids.  I was in the hospital the normal 4 days for recovery and then discharged.  However I was doing so poorly that Yuan and I decided to room in for 3 more days.  We didn't have any medical care any more but we could use the room, so I could use the hospital bed, shower with a seat and toilet with bars...  We didn't know how I would do anything at home, I was still in tons of pain and too weak.  It was also nice to be so close to the babies still.  We did finally leave the hospital though, a week after the babies were born.  I made it 3 days, spiked a really high fever and got sent to the ER where they determined I had a huge hematoma on my uterus from internal bleeding.  My hematocrit and hemaglobin were super low, so low the ER doc didn't know how I was still conscious.  So I was admitted to the hospital again.  The Flower Mound ER was great and they transferred me back to Baylor Grapevine to be with the kiddos.  Once there I had 3 or 4 bags of blood and  IV antibiotics.

I spent a week in the hospital anxiously waiting for a sonogram at the end of the week to determine if I got to go home or had to have surgery.  The hematoma had to shrink for me to be able to leave, otherwise I had to have surgical repair.  Thankfully the better outcome prevailed and home I went. Still in a lot of pain and not doing well.

The babies did well throughout their stay, Ethan stayed in the NICU about 3 weeks, Alex 4.5 and Emma 6.  The girls needed longer to grow.  Alex came home on some reflux medicine but that was it.

We weren't sure how we were going to survive with all of them at home.  All my planning and ideas were rapidly being smashed to pieces.  I was sure I wouldn't need help, my husband and I could do it ourselves, we would just do shifts.  HA!  Right.

Continue reading my posts to see how it all turned out!