Chez Perky

Toes!

The problem with having incredibly talented friends is that it makes me very embarrassed to post the lousy photos that I have taken. I mean, seriously... now that I've posted all the crappy photos that I took yesterday, here I go posting all the positively brilliant photos that Jessica took yesterday. At least I didn't post her photos first. I'm smarter than that, you see. I had an absolutely delightful time with Jessica yesterday. She even provided me with a delicious kosher lunch (she's the best!). Every time I visit Jess, I leave wishing I could move to Winchester. Alas, it's not in the cards right now, but gosh do I wish it were!

ANYWHOZIT, the point is... Jessica took some phenomenal photos of my babies. Here's some proof:

My girls are definitely sisters, but definitely not identical twins! Ellie's on the left, my smiley monster. Abby's on the right (process of elimination, you see)...my bald-headed angel. They are so gorgeous! (if I do say so myself!!)

Sam, my stunned little monster! He always has his mouth agape! Jess had to work hard to get pictures of him with his mouth closed, but she did it (I'll post some of those later). Sam was cranky at the beginning of the photo shoot, so there were fewer photos of him, but boy were they cute!

Abby wasn't so happy about being squished into this one, but we tried!

Pictures!

I took an extra day off work today so that the triplets and I could go visit Jessica and her Five Little Monkeys (triplet boys and twin girls). We were supposed to go last week, but I was really sick and didn't want to risk germifying them. Unfortunately, this meant Julian didn't come with us, but at least I got to see Jessica. While we were there, I got some fun pictures of the kiddos:
Abby:

Ellie and Abby:

Sam:

I also have some pictures of the kiddos at the park from several days ago:
Abby in her sunhat:
Sam Snoozing in the Swing:
Ellie and Sam in the Swing:

And finally, no post is complete without some fun with food:
Broccoli-Faced Ellie:

Abby:

Sam:

Believe it or not, broccoli is actually Sam's favorite food, but that was toward the end of his meal, and he was ready for actual milk, which he regards as actual food. This solid food stuff is still just for fun as far as he's concerned, and when he's really hungry, all he wants is MILK! Moo!

A Good Few Days

It's been a good few days. Yesterday, despite the fact that I had no nanny, no husband, and four kids to contend with, I was moderately productive. I got a shower (for the second day in a row! Whoo hoo!). The kids all got clean clothes. Laundry got done. Baby food got made. We even got out of the house. It was still a hard day, but it was a good day.

I had promised J that we WOULD get out of the house. So I started planning first thing in the morning a way to get out of the house. And after the first feeding of the morning, I thought, "Okay, we'll leave soon..." Except, then Abby and Ellie fell asleep and I remembered that whoops! It's naptime. And I put Sam down for his nap, too. Thanks, girls, for reminding me. Also, J needed breakfast, duh. So I made him breakfast and while I was at it, I thought I should take the opportunity to steam some carrots and bake some sweet potatoes for some baby food while J was engrossed in "Walking with Dinosaurs" and the babies were sleeping. SO, I stayed in the kitchen and worked on some baby food.

By the time I was done steaming, baking, and pureeing (hey, that takes a LONG time!), the babies were awake. You'd think we could finally leave the house, except everyone needed to be changed. And J needed socks and shoes. And the phone rang. And then... Oh right, then it was time for the babies to eat again. So I decided, because I'm an idiot, that TODAY would be a good day to experiment with actually FEEDING the babies this new solid food that I made them, because if not now, when? (We haven't really experimented too much with solid food, just occasional tries here and there since our initial experiment, so it wasn't a given that they'd get the food yesterday, but I figured I could live life dangerously)

We're not really good at solid food eating yet, so it takes a really long time. By the time I got to Ellie, my poor girl looked like this:


Not to worry, she DID eventually perk up:


By the time we were done with carrots, it was time to feed actual, you know, MILK, since the carrots weren't actual nutritional substance for the babies (not yet anyway) and they were positively STARVING (did I mention that feeding them solids takes FOREVER?). I fed them and then fed J and never did get around to feeding myself. Then I got emergency back up bottles ready just in case, got the diaper bag together, the stroller in the car, the car sets put in the car (Seth had taken them out when he'd needed more space in the van for something for some reason last weekened), got everyone loaded into the car at at 3pm, 6 HOURS after the thought of leaving my house had first crossed my mind, my four children and I finally left the house.

And I should mention this is the first time that I've taken all four children out of the house all by myself. And it's a big monumental moment, right? So I should be going someplace totally cool and nifty right? But I couldn't think of ANYPLACE interesting to go that could accomodate a big stroller, four kids and a tired mom. So we went, um, to...

Wait for it...

Target.

And now I'm not sorry about our forced quarantine for the last 6 months, because we are a giant walking FREAK SHOW. I can't tell you the number of people who stopped to ask "Oh! Are they triplets? Are they identical? How many girls/boys? Do you have any other children? [please note, J was standing RIGHT THERE NEXT TO THE STROLLER] Isn't it nice that you got it all done at once? [who says I'm done?] Are they natural? [who ever heard of an unnatural baby?] Were you doing fertility treatment? [who's business is this???]" It's unbelievable how many people actually asked such questions. MOST people, thankfully just said, "God bless you, what miracles you have" or something to that effect, but AT LEAST half a dozen people took it a whole lot further than that, which is so not okay. I had an agenda, people. Okay, not really, but I could have had an agenda! What if I'd had things to get done? What if I wasn't just out of the house for the sake of getting out of the house? What if I truly had things I needed to accomplish and you just ruined my ability to do so? Gah!

There's a piece of me that kind of enjoys being special, I'll admit that. But most of me really HATES attention. Particularly from strangers. And I despise being the walking freak show. It's hard enough walking around the neighborhood and getting all sorts of attention from people who KNOW us, but to get all that from people who DON'T know us? Oy.

Anyway, we survived. J got through Target with a new dinosaur, the babies got a couple cute summery outfits and a bunch of new take n' toss bowls for packing up their food. You should see my freezer now:



Quite a contrast to back when my fridge was full of milk. The times they are a-changin'!

Tonight I pureed a bunch of broccoli. I'm on a roll!



We'll see if they like it. I'm betting they won't. Today, they expressed a definite preference for sweet potatoes versus carrots, even though Seth can't tell the difference between the two in a blind taste test! They don't like bananas much (I'm betting it's the texture they don't like), but we'll keep trying it. We'll try broccoli in the next couple days.

Here are a few more feeding pictures, from today:
Sam

Ellie

Abby

An Experiment

We had an experiment today. It wasn't a total disaster or anything, but I thought Abby might deck me a coupla times:

Yeah, I said I wasn't going to have anything to do with solid food until after Passover...and I meant it. But see, I had these avocados and bananas that were not going to last if they hung around too much longer, and well...

Actually what really happened was that I was concerned about Ellie because she's back to not gaining weight particularly well, and I thought the fat from the avocado would be good for her if I could get it into her. She didn't mind the food, but I can't say we got much into her. I also tried some banana, thinking she might like something sweet, but honestly, I think she liked the avocado better. Either way, I gotta say, it was a whole lot of effort for not a lot of success, and the truth is, Ellie was positively STARVING later, so I'm not sure that's really the answer. Ounce for ounce, breastmilk has more concentrated calories than any solid food, and since we fortify her milk to 28 calories per ounce, all the more so. My guess is that solid food is not the magical answer to Ellie's weight gain.

Well, Sam woke up while I was feeding Ellie, so we tried it with him too. He didn't take well to it immediately and at first he just pushed everything right out of his mouth. He didn't seem to mind the taste, but he definitely still had the reflext that causes babies to push things right back out of their mouths when it gets put in there. So I put some bananas on my finger and let him suck on it and then tried the same with avocado. He was all for that, and he also didn't mind sucking down milk served on a spoon, so once he figured all that out, he did a reasonably good job with food on a spoon, though he made a MUCH bigger mess than Ellie did (but all things considered, he also probably consumed a lot more than she did, so I'm not surprised by the difference in mess).

Though my original plan had been only to try Ellie with some avocado and banana today, since I'd ended up with 2 out of 3, it seemed only fair to try Abby with some food also once she woke up from HER nap. After all, she's the only one of the three that's shown ANY signs that she might be getting close to being remotely developmentally ready for solid food (and even then, I still think they're not entirely ready, so there!). Well, Abby wasn't sure just WHAT to think about the experiment, and I have to say, I'm not sure what to think either.

So it wasn't a total disaster, but I have to admit, I'm not eager to repeat the experiment any time soon. It took freaking FOREVER to feed them, and they were all positively STARVING later, especially Ellie (and she's the one I'm worried about). It didn't make as huge a mess as I'd been worried about (but then again, I didn't use the dreaded rice cereal...ick). I contained them in the bumbo seat (with tray, though the tray wasn't strictly necessary)...though Seth just held Ellie in his lap when we fed her, which was easy enough. I think it would have been harder if we'd been trying to deal with high chairs, so I'm not sorry I don't have high chairs yet. For now, I'm okay with it being a one-time experiment that we can play around with some other time in the future, but I don't feel some compelling need to do this again tomorrow. I did freeze a bunch of mushed banana and avocado in an ice cube tray, though, just in case.

And yes, I know I TOTALLY broke that rule about introducing only one food at a time, so don't even worry about telling me that one. Neither banana nor avocado is considered a high-allergy food which is why they're both considered excellent first foods. Plus, we Americans get far too ridiculous about our approach to solid foods. I refuse to make myself any more neurotic about this than I already am. I have no concerns that any of the three is going to have an allergic reaction to either banana or avocado, so I feel absolutely no regret about serving them both on the same day.

And hey, if you have nothing but free time on your hands, here's the whole pile of pictures from the grand experiment, because, well, WHY NOT? Enjoy!

What? THREE babies?

Hey, did you know we've got three babies? Wowie!

Bowing to Public Demand

The people have spoken! The demand is great! I hear your requests! Apparently you, dear readers, want to see pictures of my darling angels! My excuse, other than pure laziness, up until this point has been that the photos I'VE got are sitting on my camera and I haven't had the time to upload them onto my computer, let alone get them into a blog post. But I saw Jess, Jon, and their Five Little Monkeys yesterday and Jess took some absolutely amazing photos of my kids that I simply must share! :)

Yesterday was the first time we've ever tried to pack up all six of us and go anywhere and it was a really fun time. I went out last month with just Ellie to see the incredible Redden family, but I just knew that Seth needed to meet them, too, and I'm so glad that we went. If you've ever been to Jess' blog, you know that she's an amazing photographer and her favorite subjects are her children. So I asked Jess if she would mind taking a photograph of the six of us... since I don't have a single photo of my entire expanded family yet. Jess, being the kind, loving soul that she is, said, "Of course!"

Next thing I knew, she was dragging out bean bag chairs and drapes to cover them and cloth for a backdrop and holy cow she had a whole little studio set up and she just started taking photos of the babies. In clothes, in diapers, by themselves, together, with J, just the girls, and then, of course, all six of us! Seriously, Jess took hundreds, and I'm NOT exaggerating, HUNDREDS of photos yesterday. She sent me about 40 of them and it's just so unbelievably hard to choose which ones to post. So maybe you'll get several posts over the next few days with some of my favorites. But here are a few!

In birth order: Sam, Ellie, Abby. Ellie is SO goofy!

My two boys!

Ellie Bellie!

Abby!

Finally! A picture of the whole expanded family!

Jess,me, and our combined nine children!

Can you believe that we got ALL NINE CHILDREN lined up together in one room long enough to take a picture? It was amazing. Jess and Jon are absolutely incredible, and they were such good sports about putting that picture together. Their kids are so well behaved and such love-bugs. I love them all and I wish we lived a little closer, but I feel so blessed to live as close as I do! (we're about an hour and a half apart)

Maybe more to come!

quick few pictures

I wish I had the energy to make a real post with more actual content, but I don't. Suffice it to say, I'm still mooing, and it's astounding how much energy that takes. Yesterday I produced over a pint of milk and I continued to be disproportionately proud of this accomplishment. I am ridiculously fascinated with my breasts these days, which is slightly embarrassing, but hey, everyone else seems fascinated by them too, so I may as well have some fun, right? The best part is that I've even gotten to actually nurse all three babies since Sunday (actually I didn't start with Abby until Monday), and they're little champs doing really well. I only nurse them once a day, but when I do, my production goes way up afterward, which only adds fuel to the fire of my fascination. Moo, I say proudly. Moo. Anyway, all that pumping and feeding and such keeps me mighty exhausted. And hungry. Like seriously starving. I've never been so hungry in my entire life. After six months of not being able to keep any food down, this is a fascinating (and liberating) turn of events.

The babies are doing great. Ellie is off her TPN and doesn't even have her IV anymore. Little Mr. Smiley will be soon. And even Abby should be off hers by the end of the week. They are all perfect little fighters. There's lots more to say, but like I said, I'm exhausted beyond belief, so I'll leave you with a couple quick pictures. Oh, and to the anonymous commenter who doesn't even have the nerve to identify herself with so much as initials... I'm finding your insight endlessly amusing and my husband finds it to be entirely entertaining, so bring it on. It won't change anything, and I don't know why it should have come as a shock to you or anything. I've never hidden the fact that I'm a sheitel-wearing, halacha-observing, frum, traditional, though admittedly on the modern side, Orthodox Jew. But still, I find your quixotic enthusiasm cute and well, I could use a laugh right now. It helps keep me awake for the endless pumping in the middle of the night. Like I said, Moo.

On to pictures:

This was me two days post-partum, cuddling my beautiful Ellie-bellie. She's such a beauty, even if she does cross her eyes a lot. I find this absolutely endearing, even though I know it's just something preemies do a lot... I crossed my eyes as a kid (and in fact still see double) and had four eye surgeries to correct the muscle disparity between my eyes. While I don't wish that on my child, her crossed eyes still make me smile.



Here's our beautiful Abby-saurus. When she was born she had a ridge in her skull which has already smoothed out, but it was adorable and made her look like a little dinosaur, hence the name, Abby-saurus. Here's Abby snoozing in her father's hands. She's so tiny and delicate. She definitely lives up to her name... her father's joy and comfort. He may not realize it, but my husband is especially protective of her, and I suspect it's entirely subconscious based solely on the fact that she's so tiny. He adores all three and pays lots of attention to all of them, but you can see the way he curls his hands around her that he feels the need to protect her from the world just a tiny bit more. It's neat to watch.




Here are our handsome little man and Ellie together in my lap. They are beautiful, aren't they? And I get that I'm biased, but nurses in the NICU who aren't assigned to our babies make a point to pull us aside just to tell us how beautiful our babies are. I love how our little man can just sleep absolutely anywhere. Nothing was going to disturb his nap that night!



Last, but definitely not least, here's our trio together, for the first time since the OR. They are amazing. It was thrilling to hold all three at once! I can't believe they are ALL MINE! What fun!