Nursery Decor

Clearly we had to go with a gender neutral nursery.  I had been planning a giraffe and learning nursery with our first pregnancy and had already painted an army green bedroom a nice soft yellow.  2 coats of primer and 2 coats of yellow.  Geez, thanks previous owners...  I still liked the theme and had already painted the cornice box my dad built for me.  I expanded the theme a bit by adding elephants and monkeys so each baby had an animal.

I love orange, turquoise and limey chartrusey green together so those became my primary colors.  To keep the room nice and bright we kept the curtains white and chose white cribs.  We purchased a cheap IKEA dresser and painted it orange and made it our changing table and Ethan's dresser.  I have a large antique wood dresser for the girls clothes and a cherry side table (not pictured).  I'm contemplating removing the side table that is normally under the window.  It serves no purpose at this point except to stuff toys in for the babies to remove as a game.  I think I might like more floor space right now.

I painted graphic pictures of monkeys, giraffes and elephants for above their beds.  I wanted to keep the look clean and contemporary so I found mobiles on etsy.com that were delicate paper leaves.  1 mobile above each bed.  They don't take up a lot of visual space but add a little something extra.  I just found some new mobiles on etsy.com that I thought were cool and thought I'd share with you.

Link to shop littlenestbox: Mobile on Etsy.com

I think I could decorate and redecorate a nursery a hundred times over and still have new ideas.  It was tons of fun and I'm looking forward to decorating their rooms as the grow.  I already have area rugs I love for the girls room once Ethan gets a room to himself!  Too much fun!

Finger Foods Recipes

We make 95% of our own baby food from scratch. We only purchase things like lunch meat and green bean starch glass noodles. I try to purchase organic and preservative free items. Our babies eat a WIDE variety of foods and love spices and flavor. Here are some of our finger food recipes. I will continue to post recipes that I've created for the babies. I have a Curry Fish and a Turkey Cheese Burger recipe that I created recently that they love that I will post soon. My husband is Chinese and we primarily eat home cooked Chinese food and have started feeding the kids some of our food. They love it and a lot of what I post will be Chinese. Bok Choi and mushrooms are making them especially happy lately plus chives and eggs!


Baked Cinnamon Apples
Any type of apple, we've used Fugi, Gala and Golden Delicious so far all good
Preheat oven to 400
Peel apple
Cut into bite sized pieces appropriate for your kids age
Place in baking dish and cover bottom of dish with enough water to just cover the bottom
Sprinkle apples with cinnamon
Cover tightly with foil
Place on middle rack and cook softer apples around 20 minutes, harder apples around 30
Test with fork for mushyness
Cool and serve

Chinese Eggplant
The chinese variety of eggplant (long and skinny) is best
Ginger
Green onion
Lite Soy Sauce
Coconut Sugar
Star anise powder

Peel eggplant
Cut into thick rounds
Steam until soft
Cut into bite sized chunks
Cut fresh ginger into tiny pieces
Cut green onion into tiny pieces

Heat a little olive oil in a wok with ginger and green onion
When hot throw in eggplants and stir around
Put in a little soy sauce and sprinkle with sugar and star anise powder
Toss so the eggplant pieces are coated
Remove and cool

I refrigerated it and warmed it to serve. I have not tried freezing any yet, didn't think it would come through that well

Grey Zucchini
Get a zucchini called grey zucchini, it's less bitter - for those of you local to me I've found them at Sprouts and H-mart
Peel, cut into rounds and steam until soft
Cut into bite sized pieces

I have served it just steamed and plain and my kids like it. You can also saute it similar to the eggplant with a little lite soy sauce and coconut sugar

Acorn Squash
Cut in 1/2 from stem to point and scoop out seeds and strings
Place in baking dish cut side down add about 1/4 inch water
Bake at 350 30 to 45 minutes possibly 1 hour - test for softness with fork
Remove and cool until you can touch it, still warm
Peel skin
Cut into bites and refrigerate extra

When serving I sprinkle a little coconut sugar and coconut flakes on it and warm

Turkey, Veggie, Pesto Bites
Preheat oven to 350
Organic ground turkey, around a pound
Spinach and or Kale
Red and Yellow peppers - either bell or sweet baby bell peppers
Steamed carrots

Puree spinach/kale, peppers and carrots with 1 egg and about a tablespoon of basil pesto (we got some at Costco that is good but any brand will do)

Dump in with ground turkey and mix with your hands - I added a second egg but that was really runny so you might try not adding a second egg

Use a large pan with sides, either a baking dish or a cookie sheet. If it's non stick I didn't spray it with Pam or anything, but if it's not non-stick give it a quick coating or some sort of oil. Dump on the turkey mixture and spread it out to between 1/4 and 1/2 inch, closer to 1/4

Place in middle rack and I have no idea how long I cooked it. I just cooked until done, not soft anymore. Let cool. Use a spatula and cut into large squares or rectangles to remove from pan. Place on cutting board and cut into bites. This does freeze well. Warm and serve

Eggs, Eggs, Eggs
You can start with only egg yolks.  The whites are what people have allergies to.  We served egg yolks hard boiled, steamed to a soft tofu texture, and scrambled into yolk omelets.  In the omelets we added a tiny bit of salt, some Parmesan cheese and a veggie like fresh spinach or asparagus.  I don't scramble them as they cook I cook them more like a fried egg then cut them into bites.  So much easier to pick up with less egg waste.  Once the babies showed they weren't allergic to the egg yolks I tried a whole egg.  I buy organic free range Omega 3 eggs.  You can sprinkle the hard boiled eggs with nutmeg or turmeric if you want to try some extra flavor.

Steamed eggs are something I learned from my Chinese family.  Scramble an egg (or yolk) in a heat safe bowl.  Add an equal amount of water as egg.  Put in a drop or two of sesame oil, chinese vinegar and lite soy sauce and mix up.  Place the bowl of egg in a pot on the stove with water that comes up at least 1/2 way up the sides of the bowl.  Cover and cook.  Check and stir a few times.  When it is the texture of soft tofu it is finished.  This is NOT a finger food, must be eaten on a spoon, but it is so yummy!


Other finger foods my kiddos like:
Broccolini- steamed
Regular Broccoli - steamed
Cauliflower - steamed
Bell peppers, red yellow and orange - steamed
Baby carrots - steamed, start with cut bites then move to whole carrots they bite
French green beans -steamed, start with bites then move to whole beans they bite
Squashes, all kinds, but I prefer to prep acorn squash it's easiest
Lunch meats - low sodium, no nitrates, no preservatives, all natural organic. They love all of them but the flavored ones make them happiest. Either jenny-o or healthy-ones makes a rotisserie chicken lunch meat that I think smells awful but they love. Honey ham is yummy. I got an herbed turkey once they liked.
Yams and sweet potatoes - just baked and cut up. You can always sprinkle some coconut flakes on them
All fruits! Berries, grapes, plums, nectarines, peaches, pears, bananas, kiwi, melons, pineapple,
Cuties - we don't do them just yet because of the acid but my friends baby loves them, she started them by cutting the pieces into 2 or 3 bites and the baby was able to mash even with the skin/wrapping whatever it is called on it.  
Prunes and apricots - buy dehydrated and re-hydrate them by boiling them for about 10 minutes covered in water. Ready when you poke them with a fork and they are tender.Watercress - cooked, cut smaller and mixed with "angry mama" sauce, chinese vinegar and sugar

A year already and what a full year it was!

A friend asked me today if it feels like the babies first year flew by, and honestly, it doesn't.  There were some times that may have felt fast but mostly it felt either normal or slow.  It definitely didn't fly by.  I think the only time that stands out was the first 4 months when they weren't allowed or couldn't sleep through the night, that was slow.  Even with a night nanny we still had to cover some nights and we were tired!

So we started like this, day one.

Ethan 4lb  3oz

Alex 2lb 12oz

Emma 2lb 5oz

2 weeks old.  Alex on left, Ethan middle, Emma right in the striped blanket.

And just look at us now!!

Ethan, 11 months, 23lbs 15oz!

Alex, 11 months, 20lbs 6oz!

Emma, 11 months, 18lbs 6oz!

Our First Birthday!!

And Mom and Dad survived!!  Us at a company holiday party 2012.

We have so many people to thank for getting us through this first year!  First I want to thank my husband, who came to the hospital every day for 7 weeks to be with me, brought me food, did my laundry, slept on a miserable couch and got up every 2 hours to help me pump, cooks us dinner every night and provides for our suddenly large family.  Our parents who came initially and took care of us almost more than the babies.  My mom especially who barely slept for 2 or 3 weeks helping me take care of Ethan and Alex when they came home.  My sister Lacey who came right after they were born and took care of all of us while we were in the hospital.  

Our first night nanny Andrea who saved our lives.  I don't see how it is humanly possible to take care of triplets without help and she was amazing as our first help when the babies required special care.  Our second night nanny and current day nanny Ashley who we all love and makes our lives easier so we can have fun!  

An amazing group of women who came in the Spring and Summer to help me during the days; Julie, Teresa, Liz, Debbie, Cheryl, Carolynn, Rachel, Hannah, Julia, Kaitlyn and Whitney (please don't let me have forgotten anyone, if I did I am incredibly sorry and please believe I have triplet mommy brain, I forget a lot these days).  And my friends who helped in the fall, Katie and Lisa.  I can't thank everyone who helped us enough, you made our first year possible!

When people ask how we do it I usually respond that we are lucky, for triplets our babies are on the easier side.  They are VERY happy, always smiling and laughing.  They are rather patient babies, and man do they have to be!  They cry for reasons and I can solve the problem and they stop crying.  They love their schedules and are good about staying on them. They play well together or alone and entertain themselves well so mommy can get things done.  It isn't easy but it is manageable and for the most part enjoyable.  I really can't imagine the amount of time having only one baby is like.  I almost feel like I'd be bored.

I think we are all looking forward to year 2 and all the accomplishments that come with it.  We are all ready to start leaving the house and having adventures.  It's going to be a blast!!