Our family is complete! We continue the story of growing our littlest members. . .

Thursday, May 26, 2011

The chair is ringing

There is a cordless phone inside our recliner and I cannot find it.  I hear it in there. . . yesterday I stuck my hand into every crevice I could but found no phone.  I did, however,  recover a building block, a keychain, my four-sided nail file, and a fuzzy Cheeto.  Axel must be stashing things in there.

Like any good housewife, I watched the last episode of Oprah.  It was the first time I've ever watched one of her shows all the way through; she's really something.  Kind of wish I'd started earlier, although I think I liked it because it was just her talking, and not Marie Osmond crying or Tom Cruise jumping up and down like a creep.  It was sort of like a great commencement speech, except that I listened the entire time.

The big news here this week is that Magnus is finally done with his monitors.  The doctor who read his data determined he has developed a mature breathing pattern and is no longer taking breathing breaks, so he's gone wireless.  Woohoo!  Now we don't have to drag around that monitor everywhere we go, as if we didn't have enough other crap to bring with us.

Special thanks to my hometown newspaper for changing the name of our baby A in the birth announcement from Eero to Euro.  We did not name him after international currency.  I even emailed them the information, so it's not like they couldn't read my handwriting, which has gotten sloppier as I get older.

We took our whole troop uptown for supper last night and it was a huge success for many reasons. The babies were very well-behaved, Axel ate his food and didn't run around too much, and we got to introduce our littlest boys to more people from town. We liked doing that because we go there often to eat on Wednesday evenings, so it was fun for the other regulars to meet them. Something also happened there that was funny and somewhat of concern at the same time - Axel took Jesse's corn dog stick, put it in his mouth, and told us he was smoking a cigarette. He has never really been around smoking, but we then determined he has gotten this from watching Pinocchio. It surprised me that a 70 year old animated Disney classic would be such a bad influence on my children, but upon deeper consideration they actually contain a lot of inappropriate material by today's standards.

As people got up to peek at our babies in the booth last night, someone commented that we could charge admission. It kind of seems that way sometimes. I've heard from different people that we need to have a shower so people can 'see the babies'. That's not why people have showers, it's for presents. We could maybe set up a tent in our front yard and let the people walk by and 'see the babies'. There might be a misconception about what we actually have here. Eero, Rex, and Magnus (they do have names) are not covered in diamonds. They do not have healing powers in a religious sense. They are just regular babies who happened to come out three at a time. We're having baptism on Sunday, and it's come to my attention that people who don't usually attend our church may come for the baptism. Huh? That's fine, and it's fine if you want to meet Eero, Rex, and Magnus. I just wanted to make sure people were not disappointed when they saw them.

E, Rexy, and Mags, the versions of their names that sometimes come out of my mouth, spent time outside with us last night as we planted in our garden. Rex even got his first ride on the Kubota. Three months is not too early for ATV rides, right? He was buckled, and it was just from the front to the back of the house.


This is our dog Rolfe.  It appears he is trying to eat Axel, but they like to wrestle.  Axel lays down so Rolfe knows it's time to start.  He's such a gentle dog, and Axel loves to play with him. . . probably aren't a lot of thee year olds that want to wrestle with a 200 pound dog.

Each little one is definitely starting to have his own look, even more than before. Eero is a big boy,getting blonder, it seems, and has fair skin like his mama (poor kid). Sexy Rexy, as Kelly called him, is a little shorter and quite plump with dark hair and skin. Magnus is still smaller but filling out nicely, and has a red tinge to his spikey hair. It's awesome.


Sexy Rexy - he has such nice eyebrows for a 3-month old
Mags - always looks concerned about something 
E - took relaxed to care


Ax - dirty, shaggy, troublemaker playing with sticks

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Hello, my name is Alison . . .

and I'm a shopaholic.  Damn that Kohls and their 30% off everything coupon.  That's all I'm going to say about that.

I had to go to bed and get back up again to do this on Wednesday, but by God, I am going to do this on Wednesday this time.  Just before bed as I was changing Eero's diaper on the living room floor, he peed on me while Axel drove a remote control car back and forth across my feet.  Is this my life now?  It's occurred to me that if I want my children to go to bed at a normal time, I need to stop doing all the things I want to do.  I can no longer read the paper, talk on the phone, watch the Twins, eat supper. . .  there simply are not enough hours in the day.  I used to think that occasionally, but I could honestly use an extra 10-12 hours a day, minimum.

We're down in New Richland again.  A friend I've had since elementary school is back home visiting from New Jersey, so the boys and I piled in the Escalade again and rolled south.  The best kind of friends are the ones you don't need to talk to every day, maybe not even every month, but when you get together it was as if you were never apart.  Kelly is that kind of friend.  Today she and my mom joined me and my boys on a lunch and shopping trip to O-town.  We lunched at Buffalo Wild Wings (a super addition to Owatonna), where Axel ate about 13 pieces of celery and none of the chicken strips I ordered for him.  Whose kid is this?  I hate celery.  Kelly and I and the boys arrived at B-dubs before my mom, and as we unloaded the clown car it was decided that we may have appeared to be a lesbian couple out with our children.  Only very comfortable friends can make those kinds of comments.

Axel is a character, and in him I catch glimpses of all the crazy things my future holds.  This morning Kelly let him "dry his hair", which means point the hairdryer at anything but his head. . . today he pointed it in a potted plant and let the dirt fly.  It did not occur to me that he would do that, but I need to try to predict these things if I am to survive the next several years.  Who wouldn't stick a hairdryer in a potted plant?  I did not see that coming.

They gave him a yellow balloon at B-dubs which I let him bring in to Kohls - an excellent way to keep track of a kid who runs away in a store, a yellow balloon bobbing above him.  At one point he was gone and came back modeling a red pleather watch with faux diamonds around the face.  He told me when the big hand gets to here, pointing at a number, we are going to the zoo.  Axel always brings the entertainment.  Tonight I tried on a dress I purchased today and he asked if I put on my jammies, so I guess I'll be taking that back.  Who needs daughters?  Little boys are so honest in a non-judgemental way.

Our littlest boys are doing great!  They're very good shoppers, so that's important.  They still take eating very seriously, and will continue to grow faster than I'd like, I'm sure, although that could lead to more shopping as they grow out of things.  Magnus now has an oxymeter in addition to his apnea monitor, which is a little thing we tape to his foot at night that measures the oxygen in his blood.  A couple nights ago I had gone to bed and Jesse brought Magnus upstairs, hooked him up to all this stuff, and I didn't hear any of it.  Then he went back downstairs and fell asleep in the chair.  Wasn't I surprised to wake up to a beeping monitor on a kid I didn't even know was in the room with me!  The oxymeter wasn't picking up like it should have been, so an alarm went off, but we're supposed to turn off the alarm.  Jesse thought he had done that but apparently did not, and I had no idea what to do when I was half asleep so I just shut the whole thing off as I fumbled in the dark.  It's gone better since then.  Eero continues to be the calm, content one, and Rex is still a "spicy taco", as our pediatrician called him.  Magnus seems to be in the middle somewhere.  Sometimes he's off in la-la land, and sometimes he wants to make his voice heard above all other sounds.  They've got such different personalities already!

The other highlight of the week is that we picked up a new lawnmower.  I've always loved mowing the lawn and we finally have something that I can find and start and get right up close to the trees, plus it has a cupholder.  FYI, though, I would not recommend mowing the lawn in a nursing bra (and a shirt of course); it is not very supportive on our lawn that until recently was an alfalfa field.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

With good reason

That's how a lot of excuses start, isn't it?  Am I late?  Yes, but with good reason. . .

On Tuesday I was all fired up to get this done on time, and then on Wednesday I had no time.  Also, the public health nurse came this morning and weighed the boys, so I wanted to update that as well.

As for yesterday's no time, I took Magnus to Maple Grove for a check-up with a pediatric urologist.  In utero he and Rex had some fluid on their kidneys; Rex's cleared up before he was discharged, and Magnus's went down but not totally away, so I brought him there for an ultrasound and check-up.  Now it has cleared up to the point that the radiologist called it normal, so we will just have to bring him back in a year to make sure that it wasn't a temporary clearing and that he's grown out of it.  Yay!  Eero came along for moral support, and we again draw a crowd.  People like to tell me how brave I am for taking out two babies at one time.  Good grief.   I refuse to stay home always!

I Mapquested directions to Fairview, Maple Grove, and after figuring out a route that did not take me unnecessarily to the freeway, set off on my county roads roadtrip to Maple Grove.  I made it very close, but Mapquest called a road Maple Grove Parkway, and the street signs called it 93rd Ave N, so I missed that turn.  When I got to Brooklyn Park I figured I'd gone too far, and got out the Tom Tom I try not to rely on. . . he got me to the clinic.  However, after a trip through Kohl's (cannot go to the metro area without shopping somewhere), he could not get me back to the county roads and I was uncharacteristically turned around.  So, the truck driver's daughter in me headed west, figuring I'd find something familiar, which I did without Tom.  Unless I'm really lost I vow not to use that thing again.

The public health nurse came again this morning, and I was right - these boys are really getting big!  Magnus is up to 7 lbs 1 oz, which I knew from his appointment yesterday; Eero is 9-2, and Rex is 9-3.  Rex eats all the time and is becoming a little chunk, which is awesome.  Also, I shutter to think about giving birth to them now - Axel was 9 lbs 2 oz at his arrival, and I can't help but wonder how that is physically possible.  I guess that's why I had to sit on a donut for two weeks after he was born.

A lot of people ask me if I am breastfeeding them - yes and no.  The pediatrician had me pumping and fortifying (adding formula to increase calories for weight gain), which I kind of like because then I know how much they're having.  So, I pump several times a day and they also have some bottles of special formula for preemie babies.  I kept up with the three of them for awhile, but now that they eat like horses I can't anymore.  Is this a sign of things to come?  I smiled to myself the other night when making a big tater tot hot dish, thinking how it makes a few days of leftovers now but in a few years will probably barely feed my family at one sitting.  I'm kind of excited about that actually; I love to cook for people who love to eat, and Jesse and Axel are game for just about anything, so hopefully these boys are, too.

Speaking of hot dishes, thank you to everyone who has sent me crockpot recipes; I have yet to put mine on here.  I am going to put on a hot dish one that I make once in awhile and we had for supper a couple of nights ago.  I believe I got it out of the Taste section of the Willmar newspaper when I used to waste too much time reading the newspaper while working at the lumberyard.  If you like chicken alfredo, you will find this delicious.

Chicken Alfredo Bake
8 oz. uncooked pasta
2 c. cooked chicken
2 jars alfredo sauce
1 tsp. poultry seasoning
3 Tbsp. butter, melted
1/2 c. seasoned bread crumbs
1/2 c. parmesan cheese

Simple directions: cook the pasta, drain it, mix in the chicken, sauce, and seasoning.  Melt the butter, and mix with it the bread crumbs and cheese.  Put the noodle stuff in a greased 9 x 13 casserole, crumble the crumb stuff on top.  Bake uncovered for 25 minutes at 400 degrees.  Yum.  The recipe also called for green onions and peas, but I opted out of those.  I've never had peas in chicken alfredo, and I don't usually have green onions.  It's still really good.

Thinking about eating makes me think about losing weight, which has kind of stalled for me.  All said and done I gained about 65 pounds this pregnancy, not terrible if you think of it per baby.  So having twenty pounds still to lose isn't terrible, either, but that doesn't mean I don't feel super chubby all the time!  The medical people I deal with have told me to give my body a year to recover.  I have to feel like this for a year?  Yikes!  I need to eat more than usual to try to keep producing milk, which I know is important, but I also would like to be thinner.  Factor in that I probably have zero metabolism from not moving for 5-6 weeks, and the pounds are slow to drop off.  I want to go outside so badly, but every chance I have it's raining or I've dozed off. 

I may have chased people away before when I said the nurses are calling me nonstop.  They are paid to care.  I've heard from some of you that you don't know if/when you should call, and I say just do it!  I would love to hear from you.  If I can't get to the phone because my arms are full of babies or laundry or Axel, I can hear a message from you and try to call you back!  Please don't hesitate to call if you feel like calling (Staples, I'm talking to you).

I've been approached by the folks at the Kerkhoven newspaper about writing this blog in a weekly newspaper column.  I think I'm up for it, though I don't know if people who don't know me would care about this stuff. . . surely I'll have some good stories as time goes on.  Anyone have any comments?  Is it a good idea?  Jesse has said from the beginning that we could maybe have our own reality show, and I told him I thought we wanted to stay married.  Others have said they should make a TV show about our life, and I said they already did; it's called Everybody Loves Raymond.  Think on that.

Here's a couple of recent pictures - hope to have some birth announcements out by next week.  They'll only be 12 weeks old then, so it's time.  But we've only had them all home for four weeks, so I try to think of it that way.  With good reason. . .


Starting to be silly. . .

Eero

Rex

Magnus

Eero, Rex, Magnus

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Deadlines schmeadlines

Time means just about nothing in this house nowadays.  I gave myself a weekly Wednesday deadline for writing, but I'll have to add it to the growing list of things that don't get done on a timely basis anymore. . .

Every day I make a list of what needs to get done; the next day I often rewrite that list because I did absolutely none of the things I intended to do!  Some days, like yesterday, I'm super productive but still don't get anything done.  Today I felt like all I did was feed babies and yet somehow I completed my list.  I've claimed all along that I will not be someone who has kids and lets herself go (for myself and for Jesse, particularly).  I make a point to put on real clothes and make-up most days. . . sometimes I revert to sweatpants.  Occasionally I'm in a robe until lunchtime (dear God, I am becoming my mom, right down to the used Kleenex in my robe pocket - love you, Ma); today about 1:00 I realized I hadn't washed my face or brushed my teeth yet.  I just flat out forgot.  That's pretty poor, hopefully it gets better.

All our boys are doing well.  They would be two weeks old had they been born on their due date, and are appropriately sized in that respect.  Eero and Rex are each over 8 lbs, while Magnus is over 6.  They've got chubby cheeks and fat little bellies and roly poly legs.  Rex especially would eat nonstop if we let him.  As it is they're all very good eaters and make it known every couple hours that they are hungry.  People have asked me what I do when all three babies are crying at once.  Most of the time I pick up the one who's the maddest (ahem Rex) and the other two cry a little longer.  I calm him down, then switch them out.  Eero, I am sorry to say, gets the shaft because he is the least needy.  Hopefully years from now he doesn't read this and blame emotional problems on my holding him the least.

Magnus has been off his caffeine for a week and has still had no spells - hooray!  Tomorrow the people from the monitor company are coming to download the information that's been collected on his monitor, and teach us how to use another piece of equipment that will keep an eye on him for another week or so.  Everyone involved in his care expects it to go on uneventfully and soon he can be done with all of this and so can we!

We've ventured out of the house a little more. . . we've been down to New Richland the last two weekends and all the boys traveled very well.  It's been wonderful to introduce them to family and friends for the first time, though I'm sometimes to reluctant to go.  We create such a scene everywhere we go and it's never our intent to steal the show or bring attention to ourselves, but it's hard to avoid.  I met my mom at the mall in Mankato Friday night and we visited with all kinds of people who stopped and marveled at the three babies and one Axel we were hauling around.  Everyone is very encouraging and happy for us, but I never really expected that kind of attention.  It's a little overwhelming at times!


Axel is as crazy as ever, but dealing well with not being the only kid in the house.  Every once in awhile he acts out for attention, but is generally good.  If he could go through life wearing no clothes, he'd be happy as a clam.  Someone knocked on our door this evening and he answered it wearing only a shirt and socks.  Luckily this gentleman was understanding as he is a dad.  Earlier today Axel went out on the porch and was yelling like crazy (I'm pretty sure with no pants on) and came back in and shut the door.  He announced to me that he threw his pretzel off the porch and yelled at the birds that they had to eat it.  Just a few minutes ago he told me he liked Oreos because they are milk's favorite cookie.  Always entertaining.

Happy mother's day all you mothers out there.  Have a great weekend!