Our First Trip Out As a Family!

Brent and I have been discussing taking the girls out to a few public places to be around large groups of people before his sister's wedding in March. We want to make sure they are prepared for the hustle and bustle of the ceremony and reception. Today, we decided just to go for it. The girls have really only been to the doctor's office, Grammy and Pop's house, Gran and Grandaddy's house and Aunt Missy and Uncle Clark's house. We wanted to limit their exposure to a lot of people during flu and RSV season. Next week they will be 6 months old, and it will be March! Yeay! So we decided this would be a good time to test them out. I ran a few of my ideas of public places by Brent, the indoor mall or the outdoor mall :). He nixed both. :( Which now that I think about it, I am glad we didn't do for our first time out all together.
I finally said, "Fine...where would you like to go?" His answer, similar to most men on the weekend, "Home Depot." Now, I don't usually like to accompany Brent to Home Depot, because he likes to peruse the isles, much like I do while shopping at the mall. It is not my favorite thing to check out new power tools on a Sunday. But if it got me out of the house today with Brent and the girls, fine, I would have said yes to most anything.
We decided the best time to go would be during their afternoon awake time. They are usually in the best moods during this time of the day and we could logistically get them fed and out the door in 30 minutes after their nap, leaving us an hour and a half to keep them occupied before we needed to get home for their evening catnap.
Many of you that know me well, know that I am not the type to draw a lot of attention to myself from strangers, and our triplets draw a lot of attention, so I have had a little bit of a hard time adjusting to all of the attention we get from strangers. So we had to have the stroller talk. Do we go ALL OUT with the triplet stroller and not try to be inconspicuous. Or do we take the single stroller and double stroller and leave some distance between us when we walk through the store. I said, "You know, I am proud we have our girls, I think we should just DO IT and if we turn heads, we turn heads. Gotta get used to the attention at some point."
We loaded the girls up and were on our way. We had a great car ride to The Depot and a very nice afternoon trip out of the house.
Our first encounter with onlookers was in the parking lot of The Depot as we got everyone loaded into the Peg Perego Triplet Stroller and were on our way into the store. A very sweet man stopped his walk, waited for us to pass by and then looked back and counted, "One, two, three...Congratulations!" That made me smile and in great spirits for whatever we may have encountered the rest of our outing. We turned heads, how can you not? People are fascinated with multiples.
Brent said, "I don't see what the big deal is, it's just three babies." I laughed and said, "I know! If we just had one baby no one would bat an eye or come up to us to see if it was a boy or girl or ask what their name is." We laughed about it together. :)
We got a lot of, "Oh my goodness, triplets!" and "You have your hands full." A lot of smiles and looks inside the stroller seats. And, I actually had a young lady come up to us in the parking lot and tell me she was jealous because she had recently given birth to just one baby. Really? Okay, hadn't heard that one yet.
The girls did so well at The Depot we decided to go ahead and go over to Lowe's to price shop an item Brent was looking at to purchase.
They did great at Lowe's as well. It was at this point I was glad we hadn't gone to the mall, because everyone wants to stop and talk and ask you all kinds of personal questions. :) So I was glad we went to a public, but not so populated place.
Overall, we had just a great day! I can't wait for our next trip out in the public....I think. :)
We didn't get any pictures of our outing today, because that would have just drawn more attention...so here is some video of Baylee and Reagan laughing tonight before bedtime...Addie wasn't in a giggly mood, hopefully I can get her good on camera soon and share her sweet smile and laugh with you then. Enjoy!

Our Awesome Feeding Table!

How cute are they?!

Yes, we LOVE our new feeding table. It was so fun to watch them sit up in their seats and have Mommy and Daddy feed them their lunch today. I LOVE these bibs too! My great friend Pam's mom, Mrs. Graves, made these bibs for the girls. They cover a large area so it reduces the amount of mess on the girls and everywhere else.

Feet dangling!

Reagan, honey....soooo sweet!

Baylee Boo Bear...

Addie, my sweetheart...

Our Triplet Feeding Table!

Look what our girls get to wake up to tomorrow!

Brent did such a great job on our triplet feeding table! Check out the before! We found this table for sale on Craigslist...

Working hard in the garage, cutting holes for the seats...

Safety glasses...CHECK! Dust Mask...CHECK! Ear plugs...CHECK! Safety first!

With the seats in, before the new paint job on the legs and new finish on the top of the table...

Placemats in front of each seat...

Our little table for 5....So CUTE! I LOVE IT!

The Choo Choo Wagon

I am putting this out there in the universe in hope that it pays off for us somehow. I know we have many, many people who love us that read this blog and I am hoping that you can help us locate something we really want by keeping your eyes open for us as you are out and about.

The Choo Choo Wagon (manufactured by Step 2) is a coveted item in the triplet community. Step 2 quit manufacturing these in late 2008, and since then, the price for one of these gems has skyrocketed (supply and demand, my folks). Step 2 sold these for $150. You would get all three cars for that price. Lately, these USED wagons have been going for $300, $350 or I have even seen one listed for $800 on ebay!!!

They are VERY hard to find for the following reasons:

1. Triplet families don't want to give them up because they use them SO MUCH! And they start using them as soon as their babies can sit up on their own all the way through toddlerhood.

2. The wagon is so large, many people selling them won't ship them because of the hassle and people buying them also don't want to pay an arm and a leg in shipping to get it (on top of what you would be paying for the wagon itself). So you are pretty much limited to searching in your local area or within driving distance for one of these.

I would really like to have one of these because it would be so much fun for the girls to be able to ride around in it and get a full 360-view instead of being limited by what is out in front of them in a stroller. I can just see us taking them to the zoo, the park, WestFest and even their cousin's t-ball games in the wagon.

We would be willing to purchase a wagon with just the three cars, as seen above, or with the extra storage wagon you can attach to haul all of your "stuff" so you don't have to carry it, as seen below, which would be awesome! Or if they are selling more than three cars and a storage car, such as 5 cars, we would take that too, for the right price, and we would just hang on to the other cars for when we get ready to sell it.

We would be willing to drive pretty much anywhere in Texas or maybe even Oklahoma for one of these if it is in pretty good shape and for a decent price. Or if we can find one in any city where we have friends or family, that would work too.

We have heard stories of triplet families just happening upon the choo choo wagon at a garage sale, or at a children's resale shop, or one family saw one sitting outside of a house with a bunch of toys in the cars with a sign that said "Free - take whatever you would like"...they emptied out all the toys on the grass and took the wagon :).

We have contacted a few sellers on craigslist in Texas (Houston and New Braunfels) and both had JUST sold theirs! Dang!!!

If anyone could help us obtain a choo choo wagon, I would be your very best-friend and owe you BIG TIME!

E-mail me at michelleannhuse@gmail.com or leave me a comment here. Thanks everyone!

2nd Shot at Solids...

Christy is here helping me get Baylee down to zero feeds a night and get the girls on a 4-hour routine during the day. Baylee is our strong-willed, stubborn, dear daughter so we were forced, as a last ditch effort, to let her cry it out (CIO) last night when she woke at midnight to be fed. She gets plenty of calories during her daytime feedings and at this point her weight is where it needs to be for her to sleep ALL THE WAY through the night. She just didn't really want to. :)

Last night, Baylee woke at midnight and Christy let Baylee CIO until she fell back to sleep after 33 minutes of crying, non-stop. (So glad Christy was here because I would have totally given in after about 12 minutes.) Then Baylee woke up 45 minutes later and CIO'd for about 15 minutes. She fell asleep and woke up another 45 minutes later and CIO'd for another 15-20 minutes and then around 4 am she finally fell asleep for good and woke up again at 7 am. This morning she was just as happy as she could be even after a rough night, which made me feel a little better about what we were putting her through. :) We will see what she does tonight, but so far, things are looking great!

OH! AND WE HAVE TEETHING BABIES! I knew Addie had been a little more fussy than usual a few days last week, but never imagined she already had a few teeth about to poke through her gums. Christy and I inspected the girls last night and Reagan has two top teeth that should cut through VERY soon, Addie has one top tooth that we could see about to cut through soon, and Baylee definitely has some teething going on but we can't see any close to the surface just yet. So we have been applying baby orajel to their gums before bedtime and naps and they seem to be completely fine.

We also decided to try solids again this week and get on a more consistent schedule with the solids. Today we tried sweet potatoes in with baby oatmeal and here are the pictures. :)

Getting Nakey Before Solids

Baylee in her Bumbo

Addie in her Bumbo

Reagan in her Bumbo

All the girls waiting for solids, Yeay!

First taste of her solids..."What the...!?"

Not sure if Addie is a fan...

Reagan says, "Mmmmm, yummy!"

Everyone in their bumbos

Baylee

Reagan

Baylee again

Addie, sweetheart!

Reagan

Naked playtime after solids!

Reagan

Baylee

Addie

Baylee

We LOVE Valentine's Day!...and Solids?

Well, I wasn't feeling well at all last week. I got a terrible cold and was under the weather all weekend but I finally feel better today. It's tough, to say the least, to take care of three 5 month-olds when you feel TERRIBLE. But we made it through it and now I know, I can do it, even when it gets really, really difficult.
Brent and I had plans to go to dinner and a movie Friday night for our Valentine's Day date, but that was cancelled because there was no way I could make it. Thank you, Pam, for offering to come take care of the girls so we could go out. I promise I will take you up on it again soon. And, thank you, David, for offering to give up your wife for a night so she could watch our little girls. You guys are really the best!
Instead of a Valentine's Day date, Brent made Valentine's Day breakfast burritos at home on Sunday and we spent the morning taking pictures of our little lovelies. Here is how they came out!

And here are some out-takes...just for fun! :)

My bow is falling Mommy!

Here comes my lunch! Watch out!
What? You want me to look where? Oh look, there's a pony!

We have also started some solids this week. Until Brent gets out triplet feeding table done (a post on that to come as soon as it has been completed), we are using Bumbo seats to feed the girls solids. We started with a little rice cereal Saturday and that didn't go very well...but try, try again. So today, after speaking to my expert-Mommy sister, Missy, I tried the girls on mixed cereal (rice and baby oatmeal) and added a little squash veggie in for some tastiness. Baylee LOVED it...she ate it up. Addie and Reagan, not so much. They kept spitting everything out. They are either not fans of squash or rice cereal or the mixture all together. So tonight, I gave Addie and Reagan a little rice cereal in with their bottles and a Y-cut nipple and they ate it up. After speaking with Christy, we believe the reason Addie and Reagan are starting to wake up around 5:30 am each morning hungry is because they are digesting their calories a lot faster now and need some solids to help sustain them through the entire night. We shall see what tomorrow brings after the solids today.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I love 8 pm! and Pics

Don't get me wrong...I LOVE that I am a full-time SAHM (stay-at-home-mom). And I LOVE my girls with all of my heart, but after a long day of naps not going well, spit-ups, throw-ups, fussiness and just an overall not so great day, 8 o'clock is music to my ears. Since Christy came to put us on the right track, our girls go down for bedtime somewhere between 7:15 and 8:00 pm. So that is the time of night when I get to relax for more than a few minutes and spend some quality time with Brent and enjoy the silence :). Addison and Reagan are sleeping through the entire night at 3 months adjusted age and Baylee had a few setbacks so I am still getting up once, sometimes twice a night to feed her...but she will get there in her own time.

Something I also LOVE is seeing the smiling faces of my girls when I go in to get them up each morning. It brings tears to my eyes each time they look at me and smile so big because they know, "There's my mommy!"

Speaking of waking the girls up in the morning, Saturday morning Brent went in to get the girls feeding started for me so we could get on the road to McKinney early for CJ's birthday party and this is what he found...

Sweet sleeping Addie with both arms out of her swaddle and over her head :)

And speaking of CJ's 4th birthday party, Brent and I had toyed with the idea for a few weeks on if we were going to be able to go and take the girls with us. A few days before the party I decided I really wanted to go, not so much that CJ would necessarily miss us if we weren't there, but that we would miss being there for him.
We woke up at 5:30 am Saturday morning to pack the car and get ready to get the girls up at 6:30 am. The ride up to McKinney went great, not much screaming. :) But it seems that the girls still can't handle large crowds of people and screaming kids...who can, right? :) So we spent the majority of our time at The Millers' house in the master bedroom where the girls had set up camp. We had a great time seeing our nephews and the rest of my family but the ride back to Waco was, in a word, dreadful. I remembered in those moments why we don't travel with the girls much. I told Brent I guess it takes me about a month to forget how bad it is and then it all comes back rather quickly as we are on the interstate with three screaming babies.

Birthday Boy, CJ, dressed as Darth Vadar and Mark Robert dressed as Chubaka checkin out their cousins while they eat

The girls' Aunt Missy holding Reagan
Pop talking to Addie

We had the greatest time with the boys while we were in McKinney...I'm sad we didn't get a picture of cutie pie Peyton, but here are some that we did get while we were there.

When the party was almost over, Grammy and Missy were cleaning up the leftover cake and pizza while the older kids played on the bounce house outside. Marky was walkin' around in his diaper, minding his own business, when he came upon the kitchen table where someone had left a plate FULL of leftover cake just sitting there. Brent watched this event unfold right before his eyes. Marky, noticing the cake was unguarded, pulled over a kitchen chair, climbed on top, threw both arms out to the air and prepared to dive head first into those pieces of cake. At the last second Grammy snatched the plate from Marky and his plan to eat himself into oblivion was thwarted once again.

Marky, sans costume, cleaning up the kitchen table for his Mommy

Uncle Brent and CJ with one of his new favorite toys

Here are just a few pics from the past week or so.

Baylee all dressed and ready to go to her follow-up ENT appointment

Baylee loving her Exersaucer
Addie Bear smiling at Mommy

Reagan Baby - Such a cutie!

Here are some pictures of the girls before bathtime one night. They got these adorable, handmade robes from Grammy and Pop's neighbor, Charlotte, in Gunter.

Baylee's robe from the back

Baylee in her robe before bathtime :)

Addie in her robe from the back

Addie before bathtime

Reagan before bathtime, smiling at Daddy

Reagan's robe from the back