“The Waterfall”

Scene: I see Lola running into her bathroom with my step-stool and a lid to a storage tub.

Jessica: “Lola, come here please!” (Lola runs into the kitchen) “What are you doing with that lid?”

Lola: “Nothing.” (this answer always means trouble.)

Jessica: “Go put the lid back in your bedroom and come help me with the potatoes.”

Lola: “Okay Mommy.” (runs out of the kitchen.)

Two minutes pass. Lola appears in the kitchen.

Lola: “Mommy, come see what I made!”

Jessica: “Ok, what is it?”

Lola: “It’s a WATERFALL!!!!!!”

I have no idea how her little 3 year old mind came up with this! The water was dripping just enough out of the faucet to make it an actual waterfall! You can see below, it was dripping from the lid, onto the counter, into each drawer and onto the floor.

Ever ask your child, “what did you do at school today?” and get the response, “nothing?”. Rest assured, you are not alone!

Parents often complain that they can’t get their children to tell them much about their day at school. A child’s response to “How was school today?” typically consists of “great!” (often followed by a grunt or sigh). I’m sure a as a parent you can be frustrated with the lack of response, so here are some tips to help you get more valuable information and better details.

1. Simplify the topic. Asking about an entire school day may be difficult for a child to reflect on. However, if you ask about a particular time of day (i.e. “what did you do before lunch that you enjoyed?” or ” what did you learn during circle time? Work time?”) it helps them focus and come up with a more detailed answer. It’s a good idea to ask the teachers what ‘lingo’ they use so it is consistent (i.e. meeting time vs. circle time; work time vs. centers)

2. Ask specific questions that relate to another child in the class. For example: “Did you and Jon play today? What did you do together?” This gives them an additional context to relate to.

3. For younger children, you can ask them to draw a picture about their favorite activity at school and then have them tell you a sentence about it. You can turn this into a little book ‘About School’ that you can share with the whole family.

Other ways to build storytelling: Use these same ideas to talk about other special activities (day at the zoo, trip to the museum, vacation). It’s a great way to start building story-telling/narrative skills and to help share experiences together with your child.

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Of course, breastfeeding isn’t possible for everyone. Often it is an incredibly personal choice a new mother has to make and it is one that needs full support of family and friends. If you choose to go with formula for your multiples’ early needs, there are a lot of wonderful benefits to doing so. But if breastfeeding your multiples is something that you would like to do, it can be done. In fact, I was successfully able to pump for/breastfeed my triplets for 14 ½ months.

After a lot of trial and error in the beginning, I realized some very important things…

1) Invest in a good quality pump, preferably a hospital grade pump. If you cannot afford to purchase a hospital grade pump, they are available to rent through your hospital or other locations such as medical device stores. They are often covered by insurance, so check with your carrier prior to renting or buying one.

2) Pump or nurse regularly (and avoid supplementing as best you can) in the beginning. If you nurse, do so on demand and put the babies to the breast each and every time they are hungry. It will likely be rough with constant feedings, but that is their way of increasing your milk production. If you stick with it, it will be over in a few days! If you pump, do so every 2-3 hours around the clock for the first few weeks, then every 2-3 hours during the day, with 4-5 hour stretches at night. Make sure you vary the times that you pump as well. The body operates on a supply and demand schedule, so the more you pump or nurse the more milk you will make.

3) A baby is far more effective at extracting milk from the breast than a pump, so put the babies to the breast as often as possible!

4) Drink plenty of liquids. Seriously, this is probably one of the most important things you can do. If you are dehydrated, logic would indicate that you will not be able to make as much liquid.

5) Eat plenty of calories. This is also one of the most important things you can do. Your body needs the energy provided by calories (and fat) to make the milk your babies need.

6) Get plenty of rest. I know, something that is so difficult in those first few months, but your body is working hard to make milk so you need to let it rest. Let things go (it is only temporary) and sleep when the babies are sleeping.

7) If someone offers to help, accept it! Let them come cuddle the babies while you get some shut eye or pitch in around the house. Whatever you do, don’t fall into the trap of thinking you can do it all or you will be overwhelmed and exhausted in no time at all!

Preemies can nurse. Although it is usually a more difficult beginning, they will likely eventually get the hang of it around their original due date. Persistence is key! Keep putting your preemies to the breast, starting slowly at first and gradually adding in more sessions as they get stronger. Also, until your babies are nursing like pros, make sure that you pump after each nursing because it is likely that you will need to help stimulate your milk production.

9) Be willing to be flexible. There may come a time when you realize that your body just isn’t able to produce enough milk for your growing babies’ needs. If you reach that point, don’t be discouraged. You can continue to pump and give your baby a mix of breast milk and formula.

10) If you decide to call it quits, there is no shame. Both you and your baby have to enjoy the experience for it to be worthwhile! It was a difficult road at first, and I was armed with a lot of inaccurate and misleading advice, but I stuck with it and the experience turned out to be quite fulfilling to me and my babies. In fact, when my babies stopped nursing and I returned my pump I was sad. It signaled the end of my babies being babies and their transformation into full-fledged toddlers.

By Emma
BBA Contributor

My old pram fell apart and it was the happiest day of my life. We never liked each other – that pram made sure I was miserable every day of my life and I made sure I kicked it at least once in the morning and twice in the evening.

It took me about three months of insisting to get Eric to ride in it and even then I never left the house without the baby sling. Many times he would decide he was fed up with the pram and I had no choice but to pop him into the sling. Otherwise he would scream the whole way home.

That pram had small plastic wheels and they made every little bump feel like a BUMP. It was so difficult to steer – both hands (my rock-climbing hands!) weren’t enough. Getting on and off the sidewalk was a pain. I had to lift the whole damn thing. The hood easily came off, and when it did, it fell right on the babies’ head. If, God forbid, I would put anything in the under-seat basket, the pram would start to behave like a sinking ship.

So thank you, my old pram – you showed me what a real pram needs to look like, what features it must have and what it should and shouldn’t do. Thanks to you, I now own a pram that I love because it makes my life so much easier!

I just had to share pictures of the ride home. On the way to Washington, the main problem that we had with the kids was that Karleigh kept poking the little ones in they eyes. Needless to say, they didn’t like that very much. So…my parents came up with this cardboard divider so that Karleigh couldn’t get to the little kids.

A few hours in to the drive, she heard Savannah and called out, “Savannah, where are you?” It was pretty funny. We thought the drive would be better if the kids were all asleep so, we decided to leave at 8:00 on Thursday night. Unfortunately, Karleigh didn’t get the memo about sleeping all night in the car…so…none of us got any sleep, but we made it home safe and last night I slept from 8:00 at night to 11:00 this morning!!!

We had so much fun in Washington. It made me so grateful (for the millionth time) for the family that I have. My parents bought all of the kids these little toys to take home. They all sang different song so we heard the ABC song at least 100 times on the way home!

We’re past the year mark, and still no hair. I’ve had a few people ask me lately if she is a boy or girl. I just have to laugh and hope her hair grows in soon because the bows aren’t working out anymore.

The weirdest thing happened a few weeks ago and it kind of freaked me out. I was walking out of Walmart with Savannah in the cart. This older – and when I say older I mean much, much older, like I’m hoping that he was somewhat senile – gentleman stopped me by grabbing my arm.

Um…freaky, please…don’t touch. It got weirder though. He started rubbing my back, while he was rubbing his chest (his shirt was unbuttoned a few buttons) with his other hand, and he asked me if Savannah was MY LITTLE BROTHER. Huh? Never got that one before. I was so confused that for a minute I didn’t know what to say. Um, no, this is my DAUGHTER!

Yikes.

By this point, Shera was pulling my arm because she was creeped out by all of the rubbing that was STILL going on. Then, he asked me if Shera was my MOM.

Uh…we gotta go…. We’ve been told all our lives that she looks like the older sister, but wow…wow!

Anyway, this shirt might have come in handy that day, although I’m thinking probably not!

One of the first questions people ask about my one-year-old twin girls is if their personalities alike. The truth is, I’m not sure they could be more different. Lilly is most definitely our diva and has been since birth. Her “fake cough” came when I had a cough and I was noticing that she was faking a sympathy cough. Her grandma started asking how her cough was and this video is what it has turned into. My husband fears this dramatic streak will only get worse as she gets older.

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I just have to share this hilarious story from dinner the other night. First, some background. In the past month, Sarah has picked up a bad habit of stuffing her mouth full of food, gagging, then spitting it all out all over the place (there goes the image of my well-behaved, good-mannered toddlers! Busted!).

We often tell her to take one bite at a time, chew, and swallow before taking another bite. Once in a while, we’ll tell her not to be a piggy or rude. The other night at dinner, both kids were devouring two of their favorite meal items: zucchini and tater tots (OMG! I have to do an entire extra zuc just for them and they usually end up eating more than we do! They love that stuff!).

Sarah had finished her first helping of her veggies and asked for more. Jacob, realizing his sister was getting something he wasn’t, tried Sarah’s approach and shoved what was on his plate in his mouth (picture chipmunk cheeks full of tots and zucchini). Sarah watched him do this, giggled and said something I couldn’t quite understand. As Jacob tried to ask for “more,” but struggled to talk with a mouth full of food, Sarah again said something to Jacob (sounded like what she’d just said, but I still couldn’t understand her) and giggled.

I asked her what she was telling him and she looked at me. She looked at Jacob. And she went “oink oink!” (although they do it as a snort like you imagine a pig sounds). She had called her brother a PIG! Can it get any funnier??

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Did you know that baby teeth have an order of appearance? I sure didn’t, until I found this picture explaining how and when babies get teeth:

First of all the teeth appear in pairs. Pair numbered 1-1 comes first, then the pair numbered 2-2 and so on. There is also a time frame for teeth: the first four pairs erupt in the first year, pairs 5 and 6 from 12 to 18 months, pairs 7 and 8 from 18 to 24 months, and pairs 9 and 10 after the baby is two-years-old.

I think this chart is great! Eric is teething and in so much pain and I find it very hard to comfort him. So naturally it made me wonder if there is light at the end of the tunnel. Well, there is – he is 8-months-old and we’ve got the first three pairs, which means one more to go and we’re done for this year!

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