Oh Oh

Occasionally, a behaviour surfaces that, while hilarious, doesn't bode too well for the years to come. In this scene, our protagonist, Colin, tries to bait Edward with the promise of a minute piece of fish and the words "Da Da". In this case, he doesn't mean Edward. Rather, that's Colin-speak for "Ta Ta", which we use in this house when goods exchange hands.

What happens next is classic Imp (aka Colin)

Snow Babies

It was a bit chilly for major outdoor adventures this morning (-24 including windchill), but the fresh blanket of snow in the backyard proved too tempting, so we bundled everyone up and brought out the new-to-us sled for an inaugural ride. We lasted about 15 minutes - long enough to pull the babies around the backyard a few times and to take some pictures of their first face-to-face introduction to snow!


All of our snow babies






Slipping n sliding in our sled. Colin, in true Monkey fashion, has already wiggled out of his double mitt - he MUST get his hands on some of this white stuff...and that ball!

Christmas Photos

Colin sees the tree...


Keith: I think there's something with my name on it waaay back here!
Evelyn: Um... Keith, get off the presents.


Colin thinks this is a lot of fun!

Christmas Photos, Part Deux

Edward Claus


Colin wearing a gorgeous cowl knit by Grammy (a gift for me!)


Evelyn (PS - this might seem frivolous, but the debate on Evelyn's eye colour has yet to be resolved, and this picture is pretty true to how they look in person... thoughts?!)


The babies and I in the nursery trying out a super cool toy courtesy of Santa, by way of Nana and Opa, on Christmas morning.


Typical Keith: knees dirty from crawling, one slipper and as happy as a clam. Sitting in the wee rocking chair (we now have four rocking chairs in the house... and we use every single one!)

Sometimes...

We have a (good) Bad Hair Day. At least it's funny now... give Evelyn another decade and a half, and a coif like this will elicit an entirely different reaction; either from me if it's intentional, or from her if it's not. Her hair may be baby-fine in comparison to her brothers, whose hair is like fishing line (my contribution), but it can retain the most gravity-defying poses!

"Randy Lay There Like A Slug....

... it was his only defence...." Colin, in his snowsuit, channeling Randy in A Christmas Story.


The babies enjoying the latest of Opa's Value Village finds, a Dora-themed car. Who needs to be good for a whole year to get a few gifts from Santa, when you have an Opa?


Evelyn manages to wriggle/roll/drag herself over to the book shelf while waiting for Daddy to set her free.

We're (In)Famous!

We're picture number 11, and the lead picture for the on-line article:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/holiday/kids-and-the-claus-your-hilarious-santa-photos/article2264861/

Poor Santa

So, after warding off the most recent baby-generated cold, which included two rounds of pinkeye, I managed to come down with strep throat yesterday. While waiting hours to be seen this morning, Edward was at home alone with the babies. In a moment of.... let's call it "bravery".... he decided to bring the babies to see Santa anyways. I had made plans to do the same with my mother this morning, but cancelled.

This was the result:



As expected, Colin would have chatted with Santa for a good long time - they were best chums. But Keith started to howl the moment he came near to Santa, and Evelyn took her cues from him. Of course.

Christmas Photos... This Year and Last Year!

A few weeks ago, when Edward's family was visiting, we took the babies to get their Christmas photos taken at Loblaws. It took me, Edward's mother, Ann, and his aunt Pinie to accomplish this mission, which was a lot like herding cats.

It actually went quite well, all things considered. The photographer was young, energetic, and most importantly, patient. The babies can scatter with alarming speed, so she came up with the idea of putting them in baskets. At one point, the boys were in one basket, and Evelyn in another. Those pictures didn't turn out as well, because the babies do NOT like being confined. Out of close to 60 shots, only three turned out. And one of the three (see below) was only of Keith. It turns out that he likes hamming it up for the camera. The others... well... not so much.

My mother and I are going to try to take them to see Santa at the mall tomorrow morning, so we might have a few more pictures to share. We've passed Santa for weeks, waving hello and checking out his sled in a (potentially vain) attempt to desensitize the babies to the Jolly Old Elf. I can only imagine what might transpire tomorrow, but I suspect it will be very, very loud.


Keith, enjoying his moment in the limelight with a "bow" (Keith-speak for "ball"). There were a myriad of these Christmas ornaments in the studio, and the babies were enthralled by them.


Keith looking resigned, Evelyn looking unsure and Colin looking suspicious. At least they were all looking up, unlike the majority of the photos...

All in all, a totally worthwhile experience!

As a comparison, last year's Christmas photo, which was taken by us at home:


Keith, Colin and Evelyn, at about 2 months

A Little Off the Top...

Today was The Big Day... the babies had their first official hair cuts. Grammy came with us, as it was bound to be traumatic.

There were tears and melodrama:



But in the end, we all emerged unscathed. And, most importantly, we can actually *see* the babies' eyes and ears again. And they can see their cookies. Everyone wins:

(Sick) Babies Playing at 13 months

This video starts off with a short clip of the babies wearing their poppy stickers yesterday. We took them to a Remembrance Day ceremony at the local mall and the boys pretty much slept through it all. Evelyn, on the other hand, was full of beans and ambled around hanging onto my hands, visiting the crowd and licking shop display windows.

The rest of the video shows the babies playing, although it is rather subdued because they were (sigh... and still are) sick with colds when it was taken. You'll see a few chapped and runny noses. In any case, they're more dynamic these days because I think they are finally feeling a little better. Well, except for poor Keith who projectile-vomited his lunch down my back, onto the floor, himself and my socks this afternoon. We now do one nap a day in the afternoon. Great idea in theory. But as you can imagine, being that we have three little individuals, we have three differing opinions on the need for one or two naps. One nap is often not enough, and two is too many. I think Keith got overtired today after going to playgroup this morning and felt "off" as a result. Hopefully it's not the stomach flu!!

Reading With Daddy

This book is a current favrouite, meaning we get to read it consecutively. If you ask any of the three to go get "Big! Fire! Engine!!", off they crawl to comply.

Keith will often lie in the book corner of the playroom and flip through the impressive stack that migrates from the shelves to the floor several times a day. The others also love their books and stories, but Keith takes it that extra mile, and actually entertains himself with his books.

Anyone who knows Edward and I will know that he comes by this honestly!

Ummm... about Halloween....

We had every intention to get the babies dressed up for their first official Halloween. We had a stellar idea (Neapolitan ice cream) courtesy of their Aunt Jane, and most of the clothing assembled...

And then we were struck with another cold. Evelyn and I got it last night, and the boys started theirs over the weekend. We knew Evelyn was next because she was up needing comfort and rocking until past 3 am this morning. Needless to say, Edward and I are a little more tired than usual today. Happily, Nana was here as she is 6 out of 7 days of the week to help us out, and Opa also came by to lend a hand. We were really proactive with Colin's asthma medications, so hopefully it will spare us another trip to the hospital should the cold migrate to his chest.

We (ie. Edward) did carve a pumpkin and we did give out treats to over 40 kids, so it wasn't a total write-off. Evelyn thoroughly enjoyed catching a glimpse of a few ghosts and goblins at the front door, and they ALL got a huge kick out of Daddy's mustachioed masterpiece:



Although we are happy to share pictures of my adorable niece (Siobhan) and nephew (Liam), taken last night in Edmonton. According to my sister, they loved trick-or-treating, although Siobhan couldn't quite figure out why they were getting goodies from people's houses. Not like she was complaining!

Liam (3 years old) as Buzz Lightyear - he was so excited about his costume that he couldn't eat his dinner!


Siobhan (16 months old) as a Fairy Princess

We'll try again next year!

More Messy Eating!

I promise to limit my proof of just how messy three babies can be... but I had to share these, taken tonight. It was my mom's birthday dinner and Edward's lasagna was her special request. The babies loved it, too!

Colin

Keith

Evelyn

Onto something completely different for the next post!

Welcome to the table!

For the past few nights, we've fed the babies a modified version of our own dinner at the table. They are SO excited to sit with us. Tonight was their first sampling of tomato sauce... which, as you can see, necessitated a communal bath.

Colin is doing much better. Thanks for everyone's emails and best wishes! We've stopped the prednisone and the ventolin every four hours, and his nose isn't running anymore either. I guess it's no surprise that as soon as my allergies improved, his did too. We're watching him closely, but he certainly seems to be feeling good and everyone is sleeping better at night!

Trials And Tribulations

Regular readers of our blog will know that for the past three months, we've struggled to identify and treat Colin's breathing issues. We've been back and forth to the pediatrician's, but we usually return pretty promptly to square one: 2am ventolin and saline treatments and a lot of runny noses, huffing and puffing throughout the day.

Possibly exacerbated by a small cold he may have caught from me, Colin's breathing issues got dramatically worse over Monday night. He started to wheeze heavily and his breathing was laboured. At 2am Tuesday morning, I brought him to the Emergency at the closest hospital. A chest x-ray revealed that his left lung was murky, so he was diagnosed with pneumonia, given a ventolin mask and antibiotics and we were home by 6am.

But later yesterday afternoon, his breathing got much worse. His chest and ribs were heaving with every breath and he looked panicked and was very agitated - symptoms I know all too well. His wheezing was audible across the room. I rushed him to the Children's Hospital and they treated him for acute respiratory distress. We had six more ventolin masks and two rounds of inhalers over the course of the next ten hours as well as a dose of prednisone. His breathing and wheezing showed a slow but steady improvement while he was in the hospital, and we're doing another four days of prednisone at home along with his ventolin and a "maintenance" inhaler to get his lungs in better shape. Another x-ray showed atelectasis , which is pretty common for asthmatics. The maintenance inhaler should help reduce the problem, and hopefully keep it at bay. It could take three weeks for that inhaler to take effect, so we were told that we might end up back at Emergency before then.

Colin had a very peaceful night (FINALLY!!), but this morning he was extremely wheezy and laboured in his breathing, so back we went. They gave him more ventolin and monitored him for two hours. We were home in time for lunch :) His appetite over the past few days was poor, but this was compounded by his inability to eat because he couldn't breath.

But I am so proud of my little guy... though the three nose and throat suctioning episodes, the near-constant breathing checks and monitoring, the various masks, the serious lack of sleep, the two chest x-rays (in a contraption like this) he was still all smiles and charmed everyone he met. I even got him to raise his little arms and pump his fists in the air during the x-ray while doing his favourite "Go Colin!" chant.

Here's hoping we nipped this in the bud, and he'll continue to improve. Now, we have to figure out what's triggering his asthma. Edward and I have the devastating thought that it could be a little four legged pup.... Sigh.

Babies Dancing

Taken last week :)

Birth Story - A Year Overdue...

I realized that I never posted our birth story, and I figured it would fitting to do so on their 1st birthday. Sleep deprivation and the general daily grind may mean that I can barely string together two intelligible words, but I will never forget the day they were born.

I went to bed at around 11pm on Friday, September 24th, feeling pretty good. I was 31 weeks and 4 days pregnant. Two days prior, I had a very routine prenatal appointment, and I was feeling very confident - as were they - that I'd make it to my c-section date of October 15th. I was so confident, that I didn't even pack our hospital bag. This was a mistake.

At 2am, I woke to a lot of sharp pain. In fact, I was already dragging myself out of bed while I was still partially asleep; a pretty major undertaking at that point of my pregnancy. I remember standing beside the bed, wobbly and groggy, trying to figure out what was going on. Suddenly, my water broke. I yelled for Edward, who literally jumped out of bed, and we both stood there, wide-eyed and mouths agape as we tried to process the situation. Every movement I made created more of a mess, so Edward grabbed a huge towel, and, thusly "diapered", we began a somewhat reasonable conversation about what to do next. Well, Edward was being reasonable. I couldn't decide if I was nervous, excited or terrified, so I settled on all three.

He asked about the contents of the woefully empty hospital bag: "What do we need?". "We need the three little stuffed monkeys for their incubators and the camera," I said, helpfully. "Don't you need, like, underwear and a toothbrush?" he replied. Um, right. Thank God he's on the payroll!

With a few necessities assembled and a garbage bag spread over the front passenger's seat, we drove the 10 minutes to the hospital. I gingerly waddled into the Emergency, looking for a wheelchair as Edward parked the car. It was early Saturday morning in late September, and the Emergency was full of university kids in various stages of inebriation and recovery. The room went silent as I slowly approached the triage nurse and informed her of my predicament. Then, the room erupted in mayhem. The kids were pushing their intoxicated friends out of wheelchairs which were careening madly in my direction. I found myself sitting in one, rescued from the exuberant crowd by a nurse who was just going off duty. She pushed me to Labour and Delivery just minutes ahead of Edward, who couldn't understand why he got a standing ovation, and cries of "Go Daddy!" when he entered the Emergency Room in search of me.

I was put on monitors and the babies were located. I wasn't dilated, and was having random contractions, so they decided they would wait to see if they could hold off labour for a few hours or even days to give the babies more time to mature. I sent Edward home, and tried to sleep. Deep down, I was a little disappointed that I'd have to wait a little longer to meet them. But of course, I wanted them to be as healthy as possible, so I mentally prepared myself to hunker down for a longer haul. At 8am, the High Risk OB materialized at my bedside to inform me that they were, in fact, going to go ahead with an emergency c-section. Baby A's ruptured sac wasn't replentishing its amniotic fluid and she thought it was only a matter of time until I went into full blown labour. I called Edward to come in, and he joined me moments before I was prepped for surgery.

I was wheeled into Labour and Delivery for my spinal epidural. It involved a resident anesthetist who had a REALLY hard time finding the right spot, so he tried many spots without success. Finally, the senior anesthetist pushed him out of the way with quite a cutting remark and finished the job within a matter of minutes. I was really emotional by this point, and was so relieved when Edward joined me and took my hand. We waited a few minutes while the teams of nurses, obstetricians, respiration techs and neonatologists assembled, and then without much fanfare, I heard the indignant cries of Baby A, followed by Babies B & C. It was the most beautiful sound in the world. They whisked the babies away, and got to work stitching me up. At one point, the OB asked us if we knew the genders of our babies. We didn't, so she announced that we had two boys and a girl.

Edward had the camera, and he was allowed to see the babies almost right away and take their pictures, which we have shared before:


Colin

Keith

Evelyn

These pictures were the first time I'd laid eyes on our babies, and I couldn't believe how tiny and still they looked - well, except for Keith, who looked MIGHTY unhappy at having been turfed off his gravy train, where he had spent the previous seven months lolling about while the other two fought over the scraps. Everyone was congratulating us, but as I waited for a chance to catch a glimpse of our babies as they rolled by on their way to the NICU, I didn't feel at all celebratory. The nurse who was with us kept anxiously scanning the hall, telling us she was sure the babies would be by any minute. Edward was allowed to see them, and reported that they were "working on them" in the delivery room because they had more space there than in the NICU. These are not things one wants to hear about one's children. But eventually, after several stressful hours, I finally got to see them as they came by, one by one. Under their masks, hats and wires I couldn't see too much, but what I did see of them looked tiny, yes... but perfect.


Edward at Colin's bedside on September 26

Despite some initial breathing issues, primarily with Keith, once the babies began to thrive, their improvement was astounding. They gained weight, started to eat their feeds, breastfed like champions and charmed all the nurses. Looking at the babies around us in the hospital, we knew how lucky we were.

Before we knew it, they went from being in the excellent care of the nurses, to being in our nervous, sleep-deprived and wholly inexperienced care. Somehow, we all managed to survive this first year. Somehow we managed to wade through the mountains of dirty diapers, clothes and bottles. The 3am groggy feeds, the hours spent cuddling a colicky baby, cleaning up after yet another bad reflux episode and kissing bumped heads and bruised knees. We made it because our friends and family shared all those moments with us: the good, the bad and the downright ugly. Because those desperate and tearful late-night phonecalls always brought sympathy, advice and help. And because we have always viewed our babies as an incredible gift, no matter what the time of night or the issue at hand.

We are so very, very lucky.

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY, BABIES A, B AND C!!!

Birthday Party!!

Evelyn strikes a pose in her ladybug birthday shirt

Keith = MORE!

Colin spies the cake

Thanks to everyone for coming and making the babies' first birthday party such a fun time! The babies were absolutely wonderful, and happily mingled with all their well-wishers. There is no doubt that these guys LOVE a party :)

More pictures to come - these were the first ones off our camera.

....And We Found Our Nap

Flexibility is key in this whole baby business! The babies are snoring quietly as I type. Except for poor Colin, who is snuffling and gasping. I think this is why they've decided to nap - Colin is now coughing a lot of the night, and is keeping everyone up. They're exhausted, and so are we :( I took him to the doctor yesterday, who proclaimed him "a mess". With his persistent and spreading eczema, his perpetually runny nose and his wheezing, he certainly looks worse for wear. So, the doctor sent us home with a stronger medication for his skin and a Ventolin inhaler, and diagnosed him with asthma. As an asthmatic myself, this is a hard thing to hear. Hopefully, it will clear up as he gets older.

We raised his crib even higher, and last night at 12:30 gave him saline nasal spray and then again at 2:30 and tried out his inhaler. I'm not sure if any of this is helping, as his allergies seem to come and go in waves. I'm currently battling through a small cold, so here's hoping everyone is healthy for Saturday, and that we get a little rest in between!

Holy Crap... We Lost a Nap!

My apologies for another photo-less post, but as the bottles cool for their 4pm feed I wanted to pop in to say that we have officially lost our morning nap. I could tell last week that we were at a crossroads, because every day a baby (or two) would decide to forego their morning slumber. But as of Saturday, they went on (nap) strike, and no amount of negotiating would sway them. The turning point seemed to be Evelyn's ability to pull herself up in her crib. Colin and she would spend a good chunk of time chatting to each other across the room, while Keith rolled around in his crib, chiming in every now and again loudly.

So, this morning, after trying unsuccessfully to get them to settle, I dressed them and took everyone to the nearest Early Years Centre with a drop-in play group. They met a 6 month old baby, and crawled around looking for things and people to pull up on. It was pretty busy for me, but all the other parents were very helpful and kept an eye out for Colin and/or Evelyn when my hands were full. They seemed to enjoy the story circle!

I have playgroups all week that I can go to, so we'll see how we do tomorrow morning. Keith is the least enthusiastic about dropping his nap, but as is often the case with my Pumpkin, he kinda gets taken along for the ride. Perhaps tomorrow we'll go to the park and visit the baby swings. They are a hit with my daredevil Evelyn and her accomplice, Keith. Colin isn't so sure... he's yet to figure out the laws of gravity and finds the whole scenario a little dangerous. He spends most of his time staring up at the swing mechanism, no doubt wondering if it will hold :P

Another Mouth to Feed at 3am!

Yesterday afternoon, Edward, the babies, Sprocket and I were out for our daily walk along a busy street in our neighbourhood, when we noticed a small squirrel coming toward us... and he kept coming. He wasn't at all afraid of Sprocket; in fact, it soon became clear that he wanted to join our motley crew by climbing up my leg. We tried to shoo him off to no avail. He was VERY persistent and taunted me by playing chicken with passing cars. I picked him up in a fabric shopping bag and took him to the nearest house. The squirrel was SO tame that I asked the man who answered the door wether he had raised it. He said he hadn't, but noted that the squirrel had approached him hours earlier on the sidewalk. He gave me a box, and Sherbourne (the name of the street we found him on) came home with us.

I immediately got on-line, found and called the only wildlife rehabilitation center in the area: The Rideau Valley Wildlife Sanctuary. I had to leave a message. Meanwhile, Sherbourne was hungry. He had curled up against my chest, wrapped his tail around his head and was making soft chucking noises. We put him in his box in the garage, and got the babies to bed. I then rushed out and bought puppy formula as per instructions I found on-line (this turned out to be incorrect and dangerous advice). I tried to syringe-feed him, but he was not interested. Dismayed and concerned that he would become dehydrated overnight, I reluctantly left him to his own devices. However, in the meantime, I found an on-line squirrel rehab community (?!) and they were very helpful.

Their advice is what led to me sitting on the garage floor at 3am cuddling a groggy squirrel and syringe feeding him a home-made electrolyte mixture. That went over well, and somewhat satiated, he curled up in an old shirt against his hot water bottle and went to sleep. Yes, I am that sucker.

After a long day waiting for several leads to get back to me, when I got home from my dentist appointment this afternoon, the Rideau Valley Wildlife Sanctuary had called. So, after another feed to a now ravenous (and clingy!) Sherbourne, I packed his box in the car as soon as Edward got home from work and drove to North Gower. I was SO impressed with the Sanctuary. They've already cared for 130 orphaned baby squirrels this year! They thought Sherbourne was between 10 and 12 weeks old, and confirmed my suspicion that he had been tamed by someone. They're going to desensitize him to people and if they feel that is successful and he won't endanger himself unduly, they'll release him.

I feel so remiss by not having a picture of a temporary lodger, but trust me, he was cute. Really!

Happy Babies on the Move!

A few more videos - taken yesterday - of the babies on the move... my apologies for the shaky camera!

...To Add

Keith would like me to clarify that despite the cinematic "proof" of the preceding video clip, he is NOT stationary. In fact, Keith is officially creeping!

Some of the triplet moms (singletons mom, too!) I know are so keen to have their babies up and mobile. On the contrary, I have been really happy to have my stay-put babies for as long as I have. I know my life will get infinitely more busy now that I have three babies on the move! Perhaps I'll finally be able to shed those extra pounds of baby weight I've been carrying around for the past year and a half...

Crawling x 2

Taken this morning... I think, if you add the pieces together, we got more than 2 hours of sleep; but not much more. I may have to bring Colin back to the doctor because the medication isn't having any effect on his congestion. And, of course, when they are overtired, they don't sleep well during the day. Keith STILL hasn't settled, an hour into his nap. So much for mine!

Triple Whammy

No, I'm actually not referring to the number of children we have, but rather the trifecta of ickiness that is plaguing poor Mister C. You wouldn't know it, based on this sunny face (taken this morning):



And I wouldn't have known either, except that Edward, Colin and I have had a few verrry long nights over the past few days. Colin is extremely congested, and we've been giving him saline drops/spray and trying to aspirate his nose a couple of times a night. He wakes up crying because he can't breathe properly, and the cycle continues. So yesterday, I took him to the doctor because his constant waking just didn't seem right, even for someone with allergies (it is our longstanding belief that this is an underlying issue with Colin). It turns out he has a double ear infection and a sinus infection. And the large patch of eczema behind his left knee, that only seems to weep, scab over and weep again, is also infected. Sigh. And all this with no fever and a great appetite. It really only was our exhausting night routine and the very loud snufflings - which we can hear a room away over two fans and a humidifier - that tipped us off. Poor Mister C!

He's now on antibiotics for the next 10 days, and we're hopeful that this may also address some of his congestion, too.

PS: Yes, those are Colin's 4 pearly whites: Chomper, Bitey, Fang I and Fang II. I've been somewhat remiss in posting about the babies' latest developments and achievements, so more on that soon!

You're Invited!

Colin

Keith

Evelyn

Edward, myself and the babies cordially invite all of our friends and family to celebrate the babies' FIRST BIRTHDAY (aka the "We Survived 8,000 Diaper Changes+500 Loads of Laundry +365 sleepless nights+1 nasty cold?!" shindig) on

Saturday, September 17 at 3:00pm.

If you'd like to come, drop me a line at diagriene @ hotmail.com (no spaces) and we'll make sure there's a cupcake with your name on it!

Best wishes only

Alphabet Soup!

Our new next door neighbours have 3 kids of their own, and passed along a favourite book called Chicka Chicka Boom Boom which details the mayhem that ensues when the entire alphabet tries to climb up to the top of a coconut tree. They also managed to find an accompanying stacking toy that contains plush letters "a", "b" and "c". The babies love the book and the toy, but of course we wasted no time posing the babies with their respective letters. If we thought getting them to all look at the camera was a challenge, it is much more difficult to get them to hold something while looking at the camera. In other words... it proved impossible.



Here is Keith, oblivious to the danger of allowing the deceptively placid-looking-but-actually-Carniverous Letter C to sit on one's head.

The Plague is Upon Us!

Well, we made it more than 10 months without the babies catching anything; which, if you consider that they were born premature during prime flu season is nothing short of amazing. We attribute this to the diligent hand washing all of our visitors and the monthly anti-RSV shots they received. But you know, it was truly a matter of time until our luck ran out. And of course, when it rains it pours!

Colin had been stuffy for quite some time, which we chalked up to allergies. But then a runny nose developed and a fever, so we knew it was morphing into something a little more contagious. That was Wednesday afternoon. By yesterday morning, Colin, Edward and I had barely slept and I came down with the flu. By the afternoon, Keith had a fever and he was miserable. He just wouldn't settle, and screamed and whimpered for two hours at bedtime. His temp was hovering between 38 and 39, and a cool bath and more Advil didn't seem to be working. He was clearly fighting an infection, but he had no runny nose like Colin. So I bit the bullet and took him to the hospital. It was surprisingly quick visit - we were home by 2:30 this morning - and Keith was diagnosed with a double ear infection. By this morning, it was Evelyn's turn to be miserable and restless. I made my 3rd doctor's visit in four days and Evelyn was also diagnosed with an ear infection. Today, Colin is feeling better and I'm on the mend. Hopefully, the antibiotics will kick in for Keith and Evelyn and they'll start to turn the corner within the next day or so. So far, Edward is the only one who hasn't gotten sick, but holding feverish, clingy babies for most of the night is not a recipe for infection prevention.

Anyways, we're hanging in! On a happier note, here are pictures of the trio taken by a dear family friend during our visit to the cottage last week. I packed the babies up and made the drive to Kingston for brief, 24 hour visit. It was a challenge, given that they suddenly took a strong dislike to their Peapods, which they happily slept in for 6 weeks in New Brunswick, and were their very, VERY busy little selves. But it was all worth it, as my father got to spend his birthday with his babies!

Peekaboo Daddy!

The babies had melted cheese on toast today and chopped banana for dessert. In fact, if you look closely at Colin's hand you'll see a tiny piece of toast ready for consumption! This marks the second day of non-pureed food for lunch and I think they're tolerating it quite well... although Colin apparently finds the whole chewing business too much effort to be sustained for more than a few mouthfuls. Happily, we still have the bottle for back-up so everyone goes down for their naps with a full tummy. Tomorrow we might try some well cooked pasta.

Babies In The Pool

It was a sweltering day yesterday, too hot for our daily walk in the stoller, so we bought a wading pool and spent half an hour playing in the water. It was hit, as the pictures will attest!




This week is supposed to have humidexes in the 40s, so I think the pool will come in handy again. We took them to the public wading pool the other day, and they really enjoyed that too, but this was very convenient - no swimming diapers required!