Billy got some baby videos up on YouTube. Here are the links:
In this clip, they are waking up from naps.
Abby is jumping like crazy and making Marie crack up.
Here's the whole crew playing in their chairs.
This is Marie's reaction to food she does NOT like.
Will and Abby are fighting over toys in this clip.
Will is showing off his crawling abilities here.
By the way, I forgot to post their most recent stats from their 9 month appointment:
Abby-18 lbs , 3 oz (50th percentile) and 29 1/2 inches (90th percentile)
Marie-17 lbs, 4 oz (25th percentile) and 28 inches (55th percentile)
Will-18 lbs, 1 oz (20th percentile) and 28 1/2 inches (75th percentile)
Also, news flash: We had the girls' ears pierced. They look so adorable with their little earrings! If you zoom in on the pictures from the last post, you can see them. Abby has gold hearts and Marie had stars. Each earring has a tiny diamond in it. They have to learn early that diamonds are a girl's best friend!
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Friday, April 24, 2009
It's Picture Time
This is Marie's "rabbit face." She crinkles up her nose and snorts in and out. It's hard to catch her at just the right time to get it in action.
Will looks all comfy and cozy in his crib. I think this is after he woke up from an afternoon nap. Michele took the picture. I love coming home from work and finding new, cute pictures on the camera.
I thought this picture of Abby was so funny. She looks like she's thinking, "I just got up. Why the hell is that camera in my face?"
I was taking pictures of the girls the other day, and will started jumping around like crazy. I turned to see what he was doing, and it was as if he was trying to pose for pictures. He just kept smiling and looking at me. What a little ham!
Here are Abby and Marie in bed together. They like to hang out together in the crib. The newest thing they all do is scoot to the edge of their cribs, push down the bumper pad and yell to each other and laugh. Will is in the middle so he scoots to the right and left of his crib, constantly searching out which sister is awake and can "talk" to him. It's usually Marie, and she dies laughing when she sees him peek over his bumper. It ends up taking them forever to fall asleep at nap and bed times because they have to go through this whole process of looking for each other, talking, laughing, crying, and finally sleeping.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Zeigler Family Medical Day
On Tuesday, almost every member of our family saw a medical professional. I was the only one who wasn't poked or prodded. Abby and Will had to get their eyes checked, and the doctor just looked at Marie's quickly for good measure. Billy had a yearly physical, and Winnie had her knee evaluated.
Will and Abby had to see the opthamologist because it was recommended at their 9 month doctor visit. Apparently, when they looked in Will's eyes at the pediatrician's office, they couldn't see a red reflection, and they are supposed to see both a white and red reflection. They said it could be the start of a lazy eye. Oh crap, Liane gave us a rotten egg! She also had/has a lazy eye, but my sisters and I always referred to it as her "crazy eye." That eye would go off it a totally different direction that the one that was focusing in on you. It was nutty. We would taunt her by having her follow two fingers (one on each hand). First, we would hold them together and move them around, and then, we would separate them and watch her freaky eyes go in 2 directions. She had to wear a patch on her good eye to strengthen her bad one, and she ended up having a couple of eye surgeries to correct it. I told Liane she gave me a faulty egg, and she said I knew what I was getting in to, and I took my chances.
Abby needed a vision check because the physical therapist and nurse at ped's office thought it would be a good idea to rule out any vision issues, since she continues to have a slight head tilt. They just want to make sure that we are doing the right thing by just treating her with physical therapy.
It turned out that they were both farsighted. The opthamologist decided to take a peek at Marie also since there was a pattern. He said he wanted to look at everyone again in 5 months to see how things were going. The farsightedness wasn't a big concern for now-we just need to make sure we follow-up regularly.
From the opthamologist, Billy dashed out to the doctor for his yearly physical. They took his blood pressure as soon as he got there, and it was high. He was running late and had just come from the kids' eye appointment, where they were all screaming their heads off. Can you think of any reasons why his bp might have been elevated? They suggested he modify his diet-low sodium, high fruits and vegetables, limited fat, etc. Basically, it's a healthy diet. There's about a 0% chance Billy will stick to that. In fact, that very afternoon he ate fast food.
Billy also discovered that he has Michael Jackson disease! It's actually called vitiligo. He has white patches developing on his hands and face. He has to see a dermatologist.
Winnie was next to see the vet. I told Cooper that Winnie went to the doctor, and he started laughing and said, "Wasie, you're siwy. Dogs don't go to the doctor."
As I mentioned previously, Winnie blew out her ACL some time ago. There's another term for it in the dog anatomy world, but I don't remember what it is. We had put off having her surgery...mostly because it was going to cost a small fortune, but also because we were quite busy with our trio. Anyway, we wanted to have her evaluated at UGA Vet School and get an estimate on the surgery from them, because they tend to be a little cheaper than other places. Tuesday was her evaluation, but they had a surgery opening Wednesday morning so we decided it was time to get it done.
We weren't mentally prepared for leaving her there. Billy said that he asked to say good-bye to her, and a vet student brought her out. As soon as Winnie spotted Billy, she broke out in a sprint and dragged that poor girl behind her. Billy asked if she had given them any problem during the tests they ran, and they told Billy that any time they did anything to her that hurt-a shot, moved around her sore knee, etc., -she just licked them. That's our Winnie! She'll be home on Saturday, and we have to do a lot of prep work before she arrives. We need runners on our hardwood floors and gates blocking the stairs. This is going to be a rough recovery.
Will and Abby had to see the opthamologist because it was recommended at their 9 month doctor visit. Apparently, when they looked in Will's eyes at the pediatrician's office, they couldn't see a red reflection, and they are supposed to see both a white and red reflection. They said it could be the start of a lazy eye. Oh crap, Liane gave us a rotten egg! She also had/has a lazy eye, but my sisters and I always referred to it as her "crazy eye." That eye would go off it a totally different direction that the one that was focusing in on you. It was nutty. We would taunt her by having her follow two fingers (one on each hand). First, we would hold them together and move them around, and then, we would separate them and watch her freaky eyes go in 2 directions. She had to wear a patch on her good eye to strengthen her bad one, and she ended up having a couple of eye surgeries to correct it. I told Liane she gave me a faulty egg, and she said I knew what I was getting in to, and I took my chances.
Abby needed a vision check because the physical therapist and nurse at ped's office thought it would be a good idea to rule out any vision issues, since she continues to have a slight head tilt. They just want to make sure that we are doing the right thing by just treating her with physical therapy.
It turned out that they were both farsighted. The opthamologist decided to take a peek at Marie also since there was a pattern. He said he wanted to look at everyone again in 5 months to see how things were going. The farsightedness wasn't a big concern for now-we just need to make sure we follow-up regularly.
From the opthamologist, Billy dashed out to the doctor for his yearly physical. They took his blood pressure as soon as he got there, and it was high. He was running late and had just come from the kids' eye appointment, where they were all screaming their heads off. Can you think of any reasons why his bp might have been elevated? They suggested he modify his diet-low sodium, high fruits and vegetables, limited fat, etc. Basically, it's a healthy diet. There's about a 0% chance Billy will stick to that. In fact, that very afternoon he ate fast food.
Billy also discovered that he has Michael Jackson disease! It's actually called vitiligo. He has white patches developing on his hands and face. He has to see a dermatologist.
Winnie was next to see the vet. I told Cooper that Winnie went to the doctor, and he started laughing and said, "Wasie, you're siwy. Dogs don't go to the doctor."
As I mentioned previously, Winnie blew out her ACL some time ago. There's another term for it in the dog anatomy world, but I don't remember what it is. We had put off having her surgery...mostly because it was going to cost a small fortune, but also because we were quite busy with our trio. Anyway, we wanted to have her evaluated at UGA Vet School and get an estimate on the surgery from them, because they tend to be a little cheaper than other places. Tuesday was her evaluation, but they had a surgery opening Wednesday morning so we decided it was time to get it done.
We weren't mentally prepared for leaving her there. Billy said that he asked to say good-bye to her, and a vet student brought her out. As soon as Winnie spotted Billy, she broke out in a sprint and dragged that poor girl behind her. Billy asked if she had given them any problem during the tests they ran, and they told Billy that any time they did anything to her that hurt-a shot, moved around her sore knee, etc., -she just licked them. That's our Winnie! She'll be home on Saturday, and we have to do a lot of prep work before she arrives. We need runners on our hardwood floors and gates blocking the stairs. This is going to be a rough recovery.
Friday, April 17, 2009
All by myself!
This morning I had to take Abby to PT, and Will also needed to be evaluated. Usually, I get some backup support from family when I have to take her to her appointments so that I don't have to haul around the trio, but ty dad is currently out of town, and Billy's dad blew out his back. Therefore, Marie was going to be joining us whether she liked it or not.
Our appointment was at 11, which I was already dreading because that's their usual nap time, and let me tell you, they take after daddy...grouchy, grouchy if they don't get the sleep they need. I used to be that way, but now that I've adjusted to very little sleep and constant interruptions, it's not so bad. If I had not adjusted, Billy and I would probably be divorced right now. Two grumpy, sleepy people would not be able to co-exist.
Anyway, we did our usual morning stuff...change diapers, unload the dishwasher, pump milk, have bottles, change diapers, eat breakfast, change diapers, change clothes, play in the playroom, change diapers, and then at around 9:45 a.m., I started getting us ready to go. We were planning to leave at 10:30, which means that yes, we needed at least 45 minutes to get out the door. Isn't that awful? There's just so much to consider:
-ask Billy to remove the double stroller from the car, dig the triple one out of our garage storage room, and load it into the car
-pack diaper bag-bottles, diapers, change of clothes for boy and girls, in case of blowouts, toys to keep them entertained, etc.
-get 3 babies into car seats while they squirm around and try to jump out
-pull the car out to make it easier to load them
-take babies out to the car in two trips (I do 2 babies first and then 1 plus the diaper bag.)
-lock up the house
-get to appt and have to set up the triplet stroller
-unload each baby and place them in the the triplet stroller in the right order (if you load the top baby first, the thing flips over.)
-grab my diaper bag
-push that monster into the office
....and it's 11:05! I almost got there in time. We have PT, which is fine. Abby is doing great, making progress. Will had to be evaluated because he acted like a big dope at his 9 month doctor's appointment and decided he wasn't going to sit up. They thought he should be sitting, which he is, but they wouldn't believe me, so off he was sent to see Ms. Cindy, our Physical Therapist. He sat just fine for her, and she said he didn't need to come back, although she would welcome him as a spectator.
We get home, and it's time to unload, which is also an ordeal. They were all asleep, and Winnie needed to go out and was at the door barking. I decided to leave them in the car and take Winnie out in the front so that I can listen out for them if they cry. Winnie and I walked around for a bit, and she did her business. I took her inside and started bringing in the babies. When I brought in the last one, Winnie tried to make a break for it again and dashed out the front door. I knew I couldn't go chasing her through the neighborhood and leave the babies inside. Luckily, my lighting fast reflexes allowed me to grab hold of Winnie's tail and reel her back in. Sorry about that Winnie, but I couldn't let you escape. She looked at me like she was highly offended by my tactics, but it worked.
Then, the babies woke up one and by one and started crying. They had bad morning naps, and they were hungry and uncomfortable from being in their seats so long. Total madness breaks out. Now I realize why I don't do this alone very often. However, now that I know I can do, maybe I'll give it a shot more.
I was feeling inspired after the outing so I decided to take the kids for run in the triple jogger in the afternoon. I walked some and ran some, but a little running is better than nothing.
Our appointment was at 11, which I was already dreading because that's their usual nap time, and let me tell you, they take after daddy...grouchy, grouchy if they don't get the sleep they need. I used to be that way, but now that I've adjusted to very little sleep and constant interruptions, it's not so bad. If I had not adjusted, Billy and I would probably be divorced right now. Two grumpy, sleepy people would not be able to co-exist.
Anyway, we did our usual morning stuff...change diapers, unload the dishwasher, pump milk, have bottles, change diapers, eat breakfast, change diapers, change clothes, play in the playroom, change diapers, and then at around 9:45 a.m., I started getting us ready to go. We were planning to leave at 10:30, which means that yes, we needed at least 45 minutes to get out the door. Isn't that awful? There's just so much to consider:
-ask Billy to remove the double stroller from the car, dig the triple one out of our garage storage room, and load it into the car
-pack diaper bag-bottles, diapers, change of clothes for boy and girls, in case of blowouts, toys to keep them entertained, etc.
-get 3 babies into car seats while they squirm around and try to jump out
-pull the car out to make it easier to load them
-take babies out to the car in two trips (I do 2 babies first and then 1 plus the diaper bag.)
-lock up the house
-get to appt and have to set up the triplet stroller
-unload each baby and place them in the the triplet stroller in the right order (if you load the top baby first, the thing flips over.)
-grab my diaper bag
-push that monster into the office
....and it's 11:05! I almost got there in time. We have PT, which is fine. Abby is doing great, making progress. Will had to be evaluated because he acted like a big dope at his 9 month doctor's appointment and decided he wasn't going to sit up. They thought he should be sitting, which he is, but they wouldn't believe me, so off he was sent to see Ms. Cindy, our Physical Therapist. He sat just fine for her, and she said he didn't need to come back, although she would welcome him as a spectator.
We get home, and it's time to unload, which is also an ordeal. They were all asleep, and Winnie needed to go out and was at the door barking. I decided to leave them in the car and take Winnie out in the front so that I can listen out for them if they cry. Winnie and I walked around for a bit, and she did her business. I took her inside and started bringing in the babies. When I brought in the last one, Winnie tried to make a break for it again and dashed out the front door. I knew I couldn't go chasing her through the neighborhood and leave the babies inside. Luckily, my lighting fast reflexes allowed me to grab hold of Winnie's tail and reel her back in. Sorry about that Winnie, but I couldn't let you escape. She looked at me like she was highly offended by my tactics, but it worked.
Then, the babies woke up one and by one and started crying. They had bad morning naps, and they were hungry and uncomfortable from being in their seats so long. Total madness breaks out. Now I realize why I don't do this alone very often. However, now that I know I can do, maybe I'll give it a shot more.
I was feeling inspired after the outing so I decided to take the kids for run in the triple jogger in the afternoon. I walked some and ran some, but a little running is better than nothing.
Friday, April 10, 2009
9 month updates
I haven't written in too long! I've had to travel for work a bunch, the babies have been sick (again!), and I've just been generally busy. I guess there's a lot of catching up to do.
Weaning
I'm now only pumping 2-3 times/day. At first, I was making as much milk in the 3 times as I did when I pumped every 3 hours. I would sometimes pump more than 20 ounces at a time. It was milk craziness. MOO! I think my body has now adjusted, and I usually pump about 12 ounces each time.
The kids now drink less milk and eat more food. They actually just started the meat baby foods last week. We've had chicken and sweet potatoes, turkey and mixed vegetables, and chicken and rice so far. I taste everything, and let me tell you, the meat stuff tastes like ass. It's disgusting. I feel awful feeding it to them, but they seem to like it.
I tried level 3 baby food the other day, which is a little chunkier to get them used to having to chew a little. They did not like that. Marie, in particular, was quite offended and kept making the funniest faces. I have a video of it that I'll post on youtube. Abby just gagged a few times. Will took it in stride. He just swallowed down the chunks without really chewing.
Teeth
Abby finally has 2 coming in! She's been the toothless, hairless wonder until now, but all that is changing. Her hair is growing in and her 2 bottom teeth are poking through. Marie had 8 teeth at last count. Will is up to 5 these days, I think. It's hard to get a good look in their mouths.
Sleeping
Abby is also now the poster child for sleeping. Billy and my dad broke her when I was on one of my business trips. She wakes up every once in a while and cries, but only for a couple of minutes, and then, she's right back to sleep. However, she bunks in the guest room in the pack and play at night...just in case.
Will hasn't been sleeping well lately, though. He's been waking up around 1 or 2 a.m., and he cries until he gets a bottle and gets to go in the big bed with mommy, daddy, and Winnie. Once he's there, he sleeps until 7 a.m.
Health
Will and Marie have colds. We have to do their nebulizers 3 times/day, and it's the pits. They hate that thing. They have a lot of congestion, but Will won't let me suck out his boogers. He is so strong and just fights me. I've given up on it. Will also has an ear infection and has to take Amoxicillin. This might be why he's not sleeping well. I can't wait for the winter to end so we won't have so many illnesses. It's making me crazy. I also have a cold I can't seem to shake.
Abby's torticolis is much better. She has a slight head tilt, but that's about it. We are keeping up with her physical therapy, and she's constantly improving.
Developmental milestones
Will is now our semi-crawler. He does a little army man scoot. I have that on film also, which I'll post on youtube. Marie does this funny thing when she's on her back where she pushes off with her legs and scoots backwards. It's like the 1/2 crab walk. Abby just rolls around from place to place still.
They all sit up on their own for a couple of minutes at a time. They have a little mirror that plays music, and they can sit in front of it and hold on for a long time. They mash the buttons and look at the lights and stay sitting there. I have every song that the mirror plays memorized, and they echo through my head all day and night. It's terribly annoying to have "If you're happy and you know it" playing in your head at 2 a.m.
I think those are the highlights for now. I'll get some more pictures posted and the videos up on youtube shortly.
Weaning
I'm now only pumping 2-3 times/day. At first, I was making as much milk in the 3 times as I did when I pumped every 3 hours. I would sometimes pump more than 20 ounces at a time. It was milk craziness. MOO! I think my body has now adjusted, and I usually pump about 12 ounces each time.
The kids now drink less milk and eat more food. They actually just started the meat baby foods last week. We've had chicken and sweet potatoes, turkey and mixed vegetables, and chicken and rice so far. I taste everything, and let me tell you, the meat stuff tastes like ass. It's disgusting. I feel awful feeding it to them, but they seem to like it.
I tried level 3 baby food the other day, which is a little chunkier to get them used to having to chew a little. They did not like that. Marie, in particular, was quite offended and kept making the funniest faces. I have a video of it that I'll post on youtube. Abby just gagged a few times. Will took it in stride. He just swallowed down the chunks without really chewing.
Teeth
Abby finally has 2 coming in! She's been the toothless, hairless wonder until now, but all that is changing. Her hair is growing in and her 2 bottom teeth are poking through. Marie had 8 teeth at last count. Will is up to 5 these days, I think. It's hard to get a good look in their mouths.
Sleeping
Abby is also now the poster child for sleeping. Billy and my dad broke her when I was on one of my business trips. She wakes up every once in a while and cries, but only for a couple of minutes, and then, she's right back to sleep. However, she bunks in the guest room in the pack and play at night...just in case.
Will hasn't been sleeping well lately, though. He's been waking up around 1 or 2 a.m., and he cries until he gets a bottle and gets to go in the big bed with mommy, daddy, and Winnie. Once he's there, he sleeps until 7 a.m.
Health
Will and Marie have colds. We have to do their nebulizers 3 times/day, and it's the pits. They hate that thing. They have a lot of congestion, but Will won't let me suck out his boogers. He is so strong and just fights me. I've given up on it. Will also has an ear infection and has to take Amoxicillin. This might be why he's not sleeping well. I can't wait for the winter to end so we won't have so many illnesses. It's making me crazy. I also have a cold I can't seem to shake.
Abby's torticolis is much better. She has a slight head tilt, but that's about it. We are keeping up with her physical therapy, and she's constantly improving.
Developmental milestones
Will is now our semi-crawler. He does a little army man scoot. I have that on film also, which I'll post on youtube. Marie does this funny thing when she's on her back where she pushes off with her legs and scoots backwards. It's like the 1/2 crab walk. Abby just rolls around from place to place still.
They all sit up on their own for a couple of minutes at a time. They have a little mirror that plays music, and they can sit in front of it and hold on for a long time. They mash the buttons and look at the lights and stay sitting there. I have every song that the mirror plays memorized, and they echo through my head all day and night. It's terribly annoying to have "If you're happy and you know it" playing in your head at 2 a.m.
I think those are the highlights for now. I'll get some more pictures posted and the videos up on youtube shortly.
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