Last Tuesday, I was invited to speak at a kickoff lunch for a new March of Dimes campaign. I know I promised not to nag for donations more than once a year, so I won't be sending out emails this time. But in my defense, I didn't know about this event at the time. It's a big fundraiser at the zoo. They focus on kids helping kids for this one, so they target schools, daycares, etc. Once I figure out how it will work, I'll post more info.
The girls had their 18 month check ups last week. (We got behind at some point, because they're more than 19 months now.). We took Emma and Becca on Tuesday, and they were fine until we walked into the actual exam room, and then they started crying. I kind of thought they were just feeding off each other, but when I took Julie on Thursday, she did the exact same thing. The doctor and nurses said that a lot of it has to do with their age right now, which may also explain why daycare drop offs have gotten so bad again. Of course, I don't think Becca is vey fond of small closed rooms, either. She freaks out whenever I have to take her to the bathroom with me, even before the toilet flushing scares her even more.
But the girls all checked out just fine. Becca's iron level is back up in the normal range so we're out of the woods on anemia for now. I was starting to think her levels were low again, because I think the child would nap all afternoon long if someone didn't wake her up. Heights and weights look good, all in the 50-90% range. Becca is still our tallest, and has about an inch over Emma and closer to 2 over Julie. Head circumferences were high again ... still. Becca and Emma were at least on the chart (though I don't think the girls were still enough to get great readings), but Julie was completely off the chart. Her measurements are leveling out, so the doctor is not worried unless they start accelerating. Big heads just run in the family. I love hats, but have a very hard time finding anything that fits.
Daycare called me on Wednesday and said that Julie had a stomach bug, so I had to go get her. And with the way drop offs have been going in the morning, I decided it would actually be easier to get all three of them. (Who would have thought that would be the easy solution?). Julie was acting just fine and eating just fine, but apparently the rule is that after 3 loose poops, you have to go home. (How have we been in daycare for 16 months without me knowing this was a rule?) So I kept her home on Thursday, but she was totally fine. We already had her checkup scheduled for that day, and the doctor wasn't too concerned at this point either. It's amazing how fast we've gone from "first kid" syndrome to "second and third kid" syndrome. So we sent her back to daycare on Friday and took two cars to work to hedge our bets, but they didn't call.
I took Julie out to lunch after her doctor's appointment. I told her she's going to have to do less dancing and more coughing to get a sick day in the future. (Greg kept calling her "Bueller")
The weather finally seems to be a bit more bearable. It was comfortable up in the mountains last weekend when we were picking apples, and the rest of the week was in the upper 80s to low 90s, and less humid. After Emma and Becca's checkup on Tuesday, we were home early enough to go for a walk before dinner. So nice. I'm really looking forward to being outside more. After picking up all 3 of them when Julie was "sick", I took all 3 of them for a walk in the triple stroller. I did have to call Greg to ask where the pump was since the tires were flat. "Um, I think it's attached to the frame of the stroller.". "Oh yeah. Look at that.". And I honestly think the triple jogging stroller is easier to push than the double regular stroller. I mean, cornering is easier with the double, but going up hill is easier in the triple, even with the extra 25 pounds. Going up hill with the double just makes me feel like I am standing still. And Wednesday was the first day I made it over 10,000 steps on a non-gym day! And that's even without counting my up-hill-both-ways-triplet-stroller-pushing-steps double. :)
Have I mentioned lately that I can't wait for the cooler weather?
We went out to dinner on Friday to a Panera we've been to before only to find out that they are down to two high chairs - they used to have four. The girls were all wound up and extra special crazy on Friday, so it was a really tough call between dragging them out of there and back into and out of the car again, or eating with someone sitting on our lap. We opted to stay, and it wasn't a total catastrophe. Becca sat on Greg's lap and was fine - I think she is the only one of the three that could sit through a meal on someone's lap and not run away. I think I mentioned we've been working on spoons with the girls. Well, we got them mac and cheese and fed them off some plastic spoons. After a bite or two, Emma managed to snap the handle off the spoon. I'm just glad she didn't hurt herself. And we made her use the metal spoon after that.
I took Becca to her last swim lesson on Saturday morning. I'm really going to miss the time out alone with her. And she really seemed to be starting to actually enjoy bein in the pool. She finally started kicking this adorable little frog kick on both her back and her belly, and she's strong! She was also splashing more and just bouncing around. She still loves to sit on the edge of the pool and fall in, but didn't like standing and jumping in. If I stand her up on the edge, she just sits down. At the end, I was laying on my back and pushing off the wall. She loves that, and this week started standing on my belly and "surfing" while I was pushing off the wall. It's really been a lot of fun.
Becca has been waking up at about 5am lately, and then waking Emma up before we can get in there. And at that point, you can't just take Bex and leave Emma. But if we bring both of them to our bed, they think it's play time (or, destroy mommy's book and then scream your head off when she takes it away time). I think we lasted until 5:30 on Saturday morning before I got fed up enough to take them downstairs ... and turn on Nick Jr. Yup. Mom of the Year. And can I just say... for the number of times they've actually watched tv (I think I could count on my fingers), why on earth am I seeing repeats???
I had a Girls Night Out with some coworkers on Saturday night, so Greg kept the girls. It was a good break for me, to talk to other adults, and not talk about work.
Sunday was pretty lazy, but we did get a family walk in. I made a big pan of lasagna with some sauce my mom made while she was here. Well, I thought it was a big pan. I was mind of surprised to see that we put away half of it. At least we'll get one more meal from it. I'm starting to think that precooking the noodles is the way to go. It's not that much more work, and the no-precook noodles were a bit chewy.
