Innocence of a Two Year Old

At home we have recently started watching 'Sunday Afternoon Movies' with the kids. We were sat watching Lion King for the first time a few weeks ago. Obviously at 2 years old my triplets are too small to grasp the permanence of death.

During the stampede scene our little girl Ayla got visibly distressed saying over and over in a sadder and sadder voice "baby lion....baby lion!!! ... baby lion?" She rallied when Mufasa appear to save Simba but then when Mufasa fell from the cliff she got extremely uncomfortable with what was happening and kept asking us for reassurance while looking like she was about to cry. Then when Simba goes up to his dead father she announced "HE'S HIDING, HE'S SLEEPING" with a huge "everything is okay again" smile on her face....we've banned lion king until she's older....and bambi 

The White Stuff

Recently it snowed. Not enough to build a snowman, but when it did snow it went all out with thundersnow and covered enough of the world to make it seem magical.
It was the first snow my two year old triplets had ever seen, or at least were old enough to notice,.So when it decided to snow during their naptime and then break out into glorious (deceptive) sunshine I decided it was time to play in our first ever snow.

I roused the troops from their beds by flinging the curtains back and exclaiming proudly SNOW!
Some vague excitement started to build as they all crowded the windows to see this 'snow' which they told me was white (well done nursery), and they were even more intrigued when I announced we would put coats and shoes on and actually go outside into the snow.

Ten minutes later all three were finally dressed and ready, I decided not to put a coat on myself so I could gauge when it might be getting too cold for them. I pushed them all out into the garden and popped the 'baby' in the playroom by herself where she could watch from the warm house, (and cry at us as it turns out) through the window.

Let the fun commence!

Ayla picked up some snow and stared at me with a horrified, it's cold and wet, look on her face while I pranced around trying to convince them it was fun to be in the snow, showing them how I was leaving footprints and could ball the snow up into piles.

They were unimpressed.

Determined to salvage this amazing first snow experience I ran inside and returned with the sledge I 'optimistically' purchased the previous year, certain that it would snow in 2014. It didn't.

I proceeded to encourage, beg, bribe and then threaten each child into a sleigh ride. Each ride lasted no more than two steps before they wanted to get off, so still clinging to the idea that perhaps they would like the snow if they I just tried a bit harder I started placing their teddies on the sleigh and dragged that round the garden while saying;

"weeee, oh isn't this fun, weeee, woooah"

When I looked back over at them the 'baby' was leant against the window howling at the fact we were outside and she wasn't, while my triplets, (who hadn't moved since dismounting from the sleigh ride) were all huddled together, shivering.

Wimps.

I asked them if we should go back inside (to which the answer was a firm NO through chattering teeth) and then proceeded to bribe them back indoors with the promise of cake.

So much for our first snow experience, it would appear it's great to watch from inside but not something they want to get actually out in. Maybe next year.

Truths about motherhood

No two people will ever, nor should ever walk the very same path.

I felt it was so important once I had my kids to tell people "i don't like newborns, or babies" once I had the pleasure of three living at home with me. This is me, the one who wanted kids FOREVER. I do not like those first few weeks of a newborn, stretched out by prematurity. But once your kid gets more dialled in, starts smiling and being more aware its fantastic. At age 2 my trio are now how i imagined having kids would be, as in I can actually do stuff WITH them and not just FOR them. Sure we had a lot of fun from 4-24 months but they are learning now, like big thirsty sponges eager to soak up any game, idea, book, word or song they can.

That hit you in the heart love when you meet your kids, never had it, didnt love my trio when I met them. I dutifully cared of them as I was their mother (or so they told me) but thats the end of it. It was different with Quinn, they showed me her the moment she was born and there was this feeling, this strange 'oh, there you are' emotion, this instant recognition - she was mine and I knew it. I never got that with my trio, let's blame it on an upsetting birth and traumatic first few days but some part of me has always felt broken and sad about that fact. Walking into a room not knowing which of the 15 babies were mine, I felt horrible, I felt I should have (but couldn't have) known which children were mine.

I am happy breastfeeding Quinn but really didnt like it when I was breastfeeding my triplets. It was very important to me they had breast milk but the never ending line of another baby needs feeding by you and you alone now was so very, very hard. After the first fortnight of all three babies home I kept thinking, it's someone else's turn now, I don't want to do this anymore, it's got to be someone elses go now. And then just as quickly, I got over it, had learnt to do it so well (and to take care of them better than anyone else) and realized no one else was going to come and do it for me anyway that I just got on with it and soon I didn't mind doing it anymore.
Feeding Quinn is different, she has at moments brought me to my knees with frustration but at 10 months she is once again (hallelujah) consistently sleeping through the night, on a firm routine and has always remained a compete joy. All those sweets she made me crave have definitely made her into a total sweetie.

Motherhood is both hard and glorious, and I cannot stand any mumpetition of "well my baby was already walking at 10 months, I see yours is 11 months and can only drool" which seems to be lurking everywhere. Each kid is unique, each milestone just as special for everyone, no matter when they occur, and each journey and life is so very different they deserve more credit than most give them.

Trio turn two!

Here we are on the cusp of infant hood. They don't toddle as much as they run, jump and leap. Language skills and independence grow day by day. 

I never understand when people say 'it's gone so fast, they grow so quick'.

I can completely believe it has been two years, I remember some of the good, some of the bad and some of the Inbetweens. I could not remember every second of every day, nor would I want to! But I've lived it and that is wonderful enough. 

What I still can't believe is that I was given the gift of carrying, birthing and raising these three nearly two year olds. It has been an absolute pleasure and privilege to be such a key part of their lives. 

So here we go. Two-dom in t-minus 2 days and counting. Presents are wrapped, cakes are ready to be baked, balloons ready to inflate and the next few days to be anticipated. It's going to be one of those truly wonderful times I'll always remember!

Little babies born at 29 weeks, you have become beautiful, caring, funny and intelligent children. I loved you before you were born, I love you beyond words now and I can't wait to witness the next steps of your life. You are amazing human beings! 

Weaning the Quinnster

I can't get over how 'ahead' Quinn is in terms of the trio when it comes to weaning. No wobbly head, no preemie struggle to co-ordinate, no over active gag reflex, no struggle in just holding her own head up. 
In fact she's straight off been trying to feed herself. 
She's either one smart cookie or has figured out I'm busy, and it's either feed yourself or starve.... okay not starve, but be super incredibly patient.

A hilarious story of triplets, provided you're not their parents

So continuing on from my here a poo, there a poo, everywhere a poo, poo post comes a delightfully smelly story, which I'm sure is very funny - as long as you are not their parents.

I'm sat feeding Quinn on the sofa while the hubster is showing me some videos of our trio when they were just starting to roll and crawl on the tv. We are both cooing over how adorable our kids were and how lovely that we still have this to come with Quinn when crying starts from the playroom...
Having finished feeding Quinn, I pop her down to play and walk through to the kitchen to start making dinner and to see what is happening in the playroom.
The ripe stench of poopy hits my nostrils almost immediately and I scream call for backup.
We walk into the playroom where Ayla is crying on the floor by the rocking horse, Zarek is stood nappyless, his nappy is empty in front of me and Gaius is playing quietly in a corner.
 I look to the left and the whole floor is smeared with poopy, yellow, thick poopy, and at the end of the pile is the rest of the solid poopy it had come from. Undigested sweetcorn is scattered around.

It quickly becomes apparent that Ayla is crying because she has been eating this sweetcorn....yes EATING IT and she does not care for it's poopy flavour.
I start to wipe Zarek's hands clean just in case, and remove the toy vaccum cleaner from his death grip. He also starts crying, at which point I realise the vaccum cleaner I am holding is completely covered in poopy.

Perhaps they were trying to clean up the mess with it, but I'm sure they were just delighting in smearing the poopy all around the room. I extract the vaccum cleaner depositing it upstairs in the shower to be cleaned later.

We clean the kids up, redress them, chastise them. The hubster starts washing the whole floor while I exit the room to avoid getting up close and personal with any more poopy, while surrounded by the sobs of the guilty.

Disgusting.

And now I'm supposed to prepare lunch....we were having tuna sweetcorn pasta.....but I think we might now just have toast - YUK!

Citizen Science!

After a group of triplet mums I am friends with, had an on-line session of sharing all our triplet baby bumps and reminiscing about pregnancies and gestation when our children were born, I got very, very interested in whether a mother's age could affect the length of a triplet pregnancy. So with the kind information from a whopping 86 triplet mums, the hubster and I produced these graphs.

What seems to have been gathered is that, for some unknown reason, you are less likely to have an extremely premature birth if you older. It would be interesting to find out whether this is because a) perhaps the older women have had children previously and therefore their bodies have experience carrying children in the past and can carry children for longer. Or b) younger woman give more nutrients to the children quicker so the children grow bigger and faster and are therefore born earlier. On the assumption that the main reason for triplets not being born at full term is because they grow too big.

(of course it could just be down to quality of life or other health factors)