October 2000 Journal



Thursday, October 5, 2000

Lorena was doing scrapbooks for the babies today and one of the things that she added in them was the log from the NICU. It was so wonderful to have a daily log that it was decided that we would start one again. So...here goes.

Andrew had a good day today. His nose is still a little stuffy, but he did not have a fever. He now has this new thing that he has to be held by Mom before he goes to bed at night. Sometimes, he won't even drink his bottle if Mom is not holding him. We hope he grows out of it.

Cassie also has a stuffy nose. She has been doing this fun thing, scooting on her back. When she sees a toy far away, she just uses her legs, while on her back, and tries to reach it. On Sunday we were at Grandma Charlene's and she liked the entertainment center. So, when Mom was turned for about 1 minute, she traveled 3-4 feet where Mom found her with her head bonked on the entertainment center and her arm under it. This morning when we went to get them out of bed, we found Cassie with her head to toe with Elena, which is not how we left them. Not only had she turned, but she was sucking on Elena's foot. When Mom picked Elena up, the legs of her PJ's were wet. Needless to say, we think that Cassie got more than just Elena's foot.

Elena is so fun. She has such extreme personality traits. She can be screaming, but if you pick her up and make her smile, she is fine. She enjoyed laying on the ground with her sister, but Cassie likes to pull on ears, so she is not too fond of her sister when she does that.

Friday, October 6, 2000

Annie, the babies' therapist (developmental) came today and was so happy with their progress. She calls them "The Amazing Triplets". She said that they are doing scattered developmental milestones. Like, some things are 5-month-old things to do, and some are closer to 7 or 8. She indicated that their social skills are way ahead of 5-month-olds (which is their adjusted age, almost). Andrew is really close to sitting and will probably be doing so in the next few weeks. We just have to teach him how to get down from the sitting position and she showed us how. Cassie's scooting on her back is not something that Annie wants a habit to be made of, so we are to limit her doing that. Elena is also really close to sitting, so we are going to work on that this month. Otherwise, it has been a quiet and fun day.

Monday, October 9, 2000

Today the babies woke up an hour later than usual and it really threw us for a loop. It was nice, though, except their naps were all weird as were their eating times. This morning when we went in to get the babies, Andrew and Cassie had turned onto their backs, but Elena was on her tummy, with her head up, and was licking Andrew's cheek. We tried to get a good picture, but are unsure if we were successful. We set up another one of the cribs for Andrew. So, now the girls are sleeping in one crib and Andrew in another. It will be interesting to see how he sleeps. Andrew rolled from his back to his tummy. We don't know yet if it was an accident or if he meant to do it. Cassie is continuing to tell us all many stories. Once we get her started, her chatter can go for hours.

Wednesday, October 11, 2000

Andrew is loving his crib. When we take him out of it he looks over at the girls' crib and gets a confused look on his face, but we think he is adjusting well. Cassie has got this new thing going, she doesn't drink a lot of her bottle before bed and then she gets up a midnight for another one. The way she lets us know is by rolling onto her back in bed and talking. We just can't ignore her! Elena is still the smiler of the bunch. Today she looks like she has rabies because she is blowing bubbles like crazy! Carolyn, one of their old NICU nurses, came over yesterday. She has a friend that has 2-year-old triplets and they gave us a stroller connector. This allows two separate umbrella strollers to be hooked together. We thought it would be great for our double umbrella stroller and our single umbrella stroller. It has looked a little stormy here, but it seemed to subside and Lorena decided to take the kids out for a stroll since they were being so cranky. We were out around 10 minutes when a micro-burst of rain/hail/snow hit. We tried to run home, but the rain was coming in the direction the kids were facing, so Lorena had to run backwards. The kids were soaked! They had little hail stones in their hair. They were screaming, of course. Lorena got them inside, put the space heater on the floor to get them warm, and changed their clothes. Then, to get them cozy, she put them all in Mommy and Daddy's bed. They soon all fell asleep and many pictures were taken. It was quite an adventure. By the way, the connectors worked great!

Saturday, October 14, 2000

The babies sure are changing!! Not only physically, but in their personalities. The change I have most noticed is in Cassie. She has always known what she wanted. She would only cry when she had a reason to, when she wanted something or when something was wrong. Now she has turned that into a feisty personality. When she is playing on the floor with her brother and sister, she will take whatever toy she wants, even one in their hands!! It is really amazing! Her newest thing is in the middle of the night, when she wants to flip over onto her back and explore. We will hear her jabbering at 3 in the morning and she thinks it is so funny when we come in to turn her over. She is quite a character!! Andrew is growing and growing! He looks so big to us and he is big next to his sisters. It is interesting to see how boy and girl bodies are different. He is more chunky and muscular while the girls are leaner with fat rolls. It is really cute! We have been waiting for the babies to flip from back to tummy so that in the middle of the night they can flip themselves back over. All of the babies are really close. They can roll to their sides and even a little further, but they haven't quite mastered the whole rollover. Well, last night we had Andrew on the floor, on his back, and then I looked over and he was on his tummy! I asked Dane if he had rolled Andrew over and he told me he had not. It was quite exciting for us, but I think Drew was just surprised at himself. Elena is usually the recipient of Cassie's toy-taking. She handles it all in stride, though. When she is upset at the theft, she will let us know. She truly loves her Daddy. She has smiles for me, but when Dane is around all she can do is stare at him and smile. She does this thing where she will stare and smile at him and then look away like a shy girl and after a few seconds look back and smile again. It is really cute! She is doing so much better at her eating solids. She makes a face at first, no matter what we are feeding her, but then after she has a taste, she is all smiles. She will even make noises when she is ready for more. These babies were answers to many of our prayers. They are hard work and leave me exhausted every day, but I would not trade this experience for anything. Being a parent to these three babies is a dream come true!

Tuesday, October 17, 2000

As we have found out in the last few months, raising triplets has its good days and bad. Yesterday was not a good day for me. The babies were so cranky, especially Cassie, and it really saddened me to watch her being like that. It had been about a week that her personality had just changed. She was not as smiley and she would kind of yell at us when she didn't like something. I wondered if she was sick, but when we would hold her she would act fine. I decided that she needed attention, but I can only do my best. By the time Dane got home yesterday, I was collapsed on the couch watching the kids play on the floor. I had not given them their afternoon solids and I had not started their baths. I have found that staying on my schedule is key for all of us, but I just couldn't do it yesterday. As always, Dane was wonderful. He could tell that I was extremely overwhelmed so he sent me to our room and closed the door. He then called a friend of his to help him with the kids and bathed and fed them. After an hour I could no longer be away from the babies, so I helped to put them to bed. I felt guilty that I had not been there to give them their baths and feed them. I felt selfish that I had taken time for myself when if I had waited one more hour they would have been in bed and I could have all the time that I wanted. I voiced all of these concerns to Dane and he helped me work through them and realize that I still am a good mother. As if she knew what I needed, this morning Cassie was all-smiles and continued to be "her old self" all day long. I didn't realize how much I had missed her nose-scrunching smile. We went to Sam's Club this morning and the kids were great! We get stopped a lot and get comments or stares. The same thing happens when I take the kids out on a walk. The sentiment voiced the most today was, "You must have your arms full!" Although I never say it, I always think to myself, "Better full than empty!"

Saturday, October 21, 2000

The babies are so much fun! As far as news...we have purchased their new car seats. We were looking for ones that were compatible with our minivan as it comes with enhanced safety features. While researching on the Internet we discovered that Fisher-Price and Ford actually made a car seat together, to fit the features in the van. Needless to say, we were ecstatic. However, the price was much more than we were planning on spending. After a few days, we found out that Babies R Us was offering 20% off all car seats, and with an extra 10% off for a multiples discount, we found the price to be more reasonable. We are expecting them to arrive next week. Yesterday the babies were being really cranky. It was around the time that I usually take them for their walk, but we had left the strollers in the car after visiting the Ortons at the hospital on Thursday. The Ortons are friends of Aunt Stacy's who are also expecting triplets. Liz has been on hospital bed rest for 5 weeks now and still has a long way to go. We decided we would bring the kids up to cheer her up. It was really fun! Anyway, to try and curb the crankiness, I put all three babies in the tub together. I got it on tape and I also took some still pictures. It was pretty chaotic, but it is something that now I know CAN be done, if necessary. Andrew is doing new things everyday. He melted my heart yesterday. He was lying on the floor and I put my arms out as if to pick him up and he put his hands up to meet mine. Dane says that he just wanted to play with my hands, but he did not do the same thing for him, so I think he really did know that I was going to pick him up. Sometimes even though it seems early, I think the babies know more than we think they do. Cassie is still our little sweetheart, after her week of not being so. She still scrunches her nose when she smiles and is a little chatterbox. She is sitting better and is the best at rolling from her tummy to back. Elena made us laugh yesterday. Dane went to check on the girls and she found Cassie on her back and Elena on her tummy. He noticed that Cassie's hair was wet and thought that maybe she spit up, and then, he saw it. Elena was licking Cassie's head. He brought Cassie out for me to see her and when he returned he found Elena, in the same position, licking the air. I guess since her sister was gone she had to lick something! The babies do new things everyday and they make us laugh. Today the Pochmans came to visit. (They are also expecting triplets. They live here in our complex.) It is always fun when they come over. The babies love playing with them! Although we are sometimes sleep-deprived, we still enjoy every moment with our babies!

Tuesday, October 24, 2000

Everyone is doing well. Last night I had a thought that I wanted Dane and I to get up at 6:00 and get ready for the day before the babies get up. We haven't been doing it because we are up so many times during the night putting binkies back in mouths. Well, I felt that if we decided to get up, the babes would be better, and they were! I was able to shower and Dane and I were able to get up and read scriptures before the babies woke up. That is really important to us and we are going to try to continue to do that. This is their schedule:

7:00 - UP.

Bottle and cereal.

8:30 - NAP.

10:00 - UP.

10:30 - BOTTLE.

12:30 - VEGGIES/FRUIT

NAP.

2:00 - UP.

2:30 - BOTTLE.

3:30 - WALK.

4:30 - CEREAL.

5:00 - BATH.

5:30 - NAP.

6:15 - BOTTLE

Story, song, and prayer.

7:00 - BED.

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E-mail us at dls52@email.byu.edu.

(c) Dane Seeley, 2000