14 Weeks

Max playing hide and seek with Daniel

Caroline taking a nap with Daniel

Caroline, Daniel, Max

and Myrtle

Max and Myrtle

Caroline and Myrtle

Daniel and Myrtle

Caroline says she's in charge

And Caroline makes three!

Back in early November (or late October) I posted that Max had learned to roll over.  A few days later, Daniel repeated the feat, flipping easily from his belly to his back.  We allowed ourselves to get slightly puffed up about our incredibly precocious babies, until mid-November at their 2-month doctor's appointment.  The doctor off-handedly let it slip that it was not uncommon for preemies to roll over earlier than other babies, since they tended to weigh less and thus have less mass to move.

Sure enough, as the babies started packing on the pounds (the boys are probably around 12 pounds now, if not more), they stopped flipping over.  Instead, they lay there like their little sister.  

Miss Caroline had shown absolutely no interest in rolling over.  Unlike many babies, she seemed to really enjoy tummy time.  More often than not, she would find a baby mirror, position her head toward it, sigh, and lie there for what seemed like hours.  Preparing herself for slumber parties, obviously.  Then tonight, while sharing the mat with Max, Caroline was on her tummy doing her nightly pilates routine (a few upward-facing dog/cobra moves from her yoga training, then leg and shoulder lifts to build her core muscles...these complement the crunches she does any time we leave her lying in the boppy for too long) when I stepped out of the room for a second to grab some tape.  When I came back into the room - you guessed it!  Caroline was on her back!

And this time we were able to get her to repeat her "trick" for the camera!

As a side note, Max, determined not to be outdone by his baby sister, flipped over today for the first time in many weeks .  Daniel still hasn't rolled over since becoming a big(ger) boy, or perhaps he's just waiting to make sure he gets his very own blog entry when he does. 

3 months or 13 weeks

On Wednesday the Salvateenies turned 3 months old, which also coincided with them turning 13 weeks old (which makes sense, now that I think about it, since 3 months is 1/4 of one year, and 13 is 1/4 of 52 weeks, but I was impressed by the symmetry of it at the time).  We were really busy this week.  Wednesday we went to Grandma and Grandpa's in Livermore and Thursday we went to Redwood City for the Staff Holiday Luncheon at school so that all my work friends could meet the babies.  And the babies were getting fussier.  Super cute when we were around other folks, but at home they were crying and crying between feedings.  (Turns out they were hungry.  We upped their feeding amounts and it seems to have lowered their crying volume...fingers crossed)  So we didn't get around to taking their "milestone picture" with Myrtle until Friday.

I thought Friday would be a great day to take pictures - we were giving the babies baths and dressing them up in adorable outfits for their Aunt Lee Ann's office holiday party at which they were making a command performance.

But, like the best laid plans often turn out, this seems not to have been the perfect idea:

 Daniel was OK with having the pictures taken, but his hood wasn't cooperating:

Max wasn't sure he liked what was going on:

And Caroline was REALLY unhappy:

 And by the time Caroline was happy about her picture, the boys were bored.

Probably a dynamic that will play out many times in the future.

We went to the party and the babies were the belles of the ball.  They got hugged and cuddled by a variety of people, ate their dinners without making too much of a fuss (luckily, as I had completely forgotten the bibs I meant to pack - including the one that says "My AUNT is Hot and Single" to embarrass Lee Ann), and then slept in their little car seats through all the hustle and bustle of the party.

When we got home, I tried again for some individual pictures, and everyone was in a much better mood:

I cannot believe that Myrtle used to be bigger than these guys!  Look how they've grown!!!!  And they're still only 3 months old!

A page from the Salvateenies' Day-Planner

Thursday, December 16th

6-7am: Wake up (Daniel)
7-8am: Wake up (Max)
8-9am: Wake up (Caroline)

8:30am:  Begin to scream uncontrollably until fed (all)

9am:  Eat breakfast (yummy formula!)

9:30-10:30: Nap until Max has a nightmare (daymare?).  Then nap while Max screams

11:00-11:30: Mommy comes back from the dentist - get ready to go out!  This includes a little screaming, a little crying, and a little smiling - mixed together without regard for what might make any sense to Mommy or Daddy

11:30: Leave the house and head down to Mommy's work to meet everyone there at a PARTY! (they say it's not a party just for us, but we know we're the guests of honor)  Sleep in the car  (all) - except for about 5 minutes of crying (Daniel)

12:15:  Arrive at Mommy's work.  Look adorable for the students we meet in the parking lot.  Look even more adorable for the staff we meet in the building.

1:00:  LUNCH TIME!  Keep looking adorable.

1:00-2:30:  Keep smiling and being generally unbelievably cute for our adoring public.  People think we're the most amazing babies EVER.  Fall asleep in the stroller.

2:30:  Back in the car so Mommy and Daddy can run errands - stay asleep until

3:45:  Start crying inconsolably in the car so that Mommy will risk her rotator cuff and reach back to hold my hand while driving (Daniel)

4:00:  Cry while we're parked outside of Safeway so Daddy will play with me (Daniel)

4:30:  Come home.  Get some cuddle time with Mommy (Daniel) / Sleep in Car Seats (Max & Caroline)

4:50:  Force Mommy and Daddy to feed us 10 minutes early when we all have a melt-down

5:30:  Melt-down #2...after dinner and diaper changes, of course

6:00:  Company!  Time to be adorably well-behaved again.

7:15:  Company's gone - pouty party time!

7:30:  Mommy & Daddy have dinner - we'll let them have this one without incident until

7:50:  Start crying so Mommy will hold you and Daddy will feel bad that he can't because he's sick (Max)

8:00-9:00 keep crying - either individually or in rounds, but rarely in harmony until dinner time (Max & Daniel)  Caroline should chime in with high notes occasionally.

9:00:  DINNER TIME!  Make sure to look content enough that Daniel and Max go first, then start screaming so that they feel badly you've been ignored. (Caroline)

9:30:  Fight the urge to burp (All).  Finally burp and fall immediately asleep. (Max)  Wait long enough that it seems you will never burp, then spit up all over your fresh pajamas (Daniel).  Cry and look frightened, then smile coyly when Mommy comes to attend to you. (Caroline)

9:50-10:00:  Swaddles, hiccups, drooling, and finally...wait for it...sleep.

Gee!  That was fun!  Let's do it all again tomorrow, but this time with BATHS!

Nap Time

Odd realization

On Thursday night I drove to Los Altos for book club.  I hadn't finished the book - hadn't even gotten half-way through even - but I was pretty sure it would be OK if I showed up anyway.

On the way there, driving alone down the highway, I realized something odd.  While I can't say that I've really missed work (I've stayed on top of email enough that I was never truly disconnected from it), there was something I did miss that I couldn't quite put my finger on.  I knew I missed seeing the folks from school, but I was hearing from them via email and a few visits, so that wasn't really it.  I knew I missed the students and sense of purpose and teaching, but having the Salvateenies here has definitely given me a new sense of purpose and they're learning new things all the time.  So, what was it?

About ten minutes down 280, it came to me.  I missed the commute!  That may seem strange, but it was the time alone in the car, listening to whatever I want to on the radio (including audio books, which might've helped me finish the one for this month!), singing along at the top of my lungs, reflecting on the day, decompressing from the day, escaping from the day, or all of the above.

I am incredibly lucky to have had my husband home with me five days a week as we've started to slowly get used to being parents.  But it also means that neither of us has any time alone anymore.  I know, I know - and we'll never have any time alone again now that we have triplets.  But, before, Joe would have time where I wasn't in his hair during the day, and I'd have time at night when he was at the ballpark.  Or, during the off-season, I'd still have that hour and a half in the car every day.

Or maybe I'm just trying to psych myself up to go back to work next month.  That could be it too.

The Last Day of Chanukah

We pulled out Xmas decorations and found a bag of stuff we bought at the big post-Chanukah sale last year (and by that I mean at the Chanukah table at Safeway when things are marked down 1/2 way through the 8-day festival), including a "My First Chanukah" bib we'd bought as a sort of good luck charm knowing we'd be starting our IVF soon.  And we almost got through all of Chanukah without wearing it!
I'm sure there will be plenty of other things that we get "for them to grow into" that we forget to use before they've outgrown them - all the better for their new friends Mikey and Jonah!  Hand-me-downs that have never been worn!

I'll let you try to guess which of the boys is which - do you know them well enough yet?