Month: July 2008

Weekend in Virginia

Thursday

Dropped Miles and Linus off at George’s parents house. I was seriously teary and sad when I left them there. I wasn’t really expecting that, for some reason.

Friday

Got to the airport bright ‘n’ early with Oliver. Everything went smoothly, though I do wish I’d put him in the Bjorn to go through security. Folding the stroller was a pain, but some nice lady gave me a hand. Oliver was an angel on both flights. He cooed and smiled and charmed everyone. He ate on the takeoffs, so he didn’t seem to have any ear issues.

Kristina came to pick us up, and she got seriously misty-eyed when she first saw Oliver. Aw!

After leaving the airport, we stopped for lunch at a pizza place, and then headed to Woodbridge. We stopped at (her husband) Mike’s work, too. That night, we had barbecue for dinner. Deeeeelish! Jenny and Rob and Emily came over, and we made Emily do tricks…

Saturday

Went for a walk in the woods. It was nice and cool. Oliver enjoyed communing with nature.

Afterwards, we headed to Jenny’s house for a barbecue. Yum. There were lots of people there. Max and Monica; Chris and Alvaro; Anne and Whitman; and of course Jenny, Rob, and my Emmy.

Oliver and Whitman hung out on the deck.

That night, Anne and Whitman spent the night. After the babies went to sleep, Anne, Kristina and I destroyed several bottles of wine over Thai food and our favorite card game ever ever ever, Shithead. We used to play it with our friend Marianne when we lived in London. Ahh, good times!

Sunday

Sunday morning came way too fast, after our 1 am bedtime. But that was okay because we were on our way to a mall so I could meet up with some of my blog mom friends, Karen and Jess. That was awesome. I got to hold some more babies and talk with triplet moms. (And Jess also has twins. Twin girls after triplet boys. Hmm, twin girls after triplet boys…sounds fun!)

Then we went to Anne’s house, which I’d never seen before. And then we went to my sister’s house again so I could spend more quality time with Emily and Jenny and Oliver could bond some more.

That night we had some pizza for dinner (always good, pizza is) and played more cards, this time with Mike instead of Anne. It’s very satisfying to beat Mike at cards. I’m just saying.

Monday

Oliver slept for a loooong time, and so did I! That was nice. But it didn’t leave much time for getting ready and packing and going to the airport. But we made our flight just fine. Oliver was great on the first flight, but a little fussy on the second one. Some German guys thought he was cute, and took a picture of him. Now he will be famous like David Hasslehoff.

I missed my Miles and Linus terribly. I don’t think they shared the sentiment. 😦

Overall, a great trip, and it was so much easier to fly with an infant than I expected. Maybe partially because it was only one infant? Oliver drank up the attention, I’m afraid I may have spoiled him. But then again, Miles and Linus got a ton of attention over the weekend too, so I guess they’re all equally spoiled. Whew!

And because I am lazy, here is a gallery of the pics I took this weekend…

And the winner is….

oh, okay, want a more recent shot?

Well, you’re going to have to watch the video here to find out who that is. Hee hee, please watch the video, it’s awesome! And don’t post in the comments who it is. This is fun, yes?

(For the record, Teresa did the picking while she worked the camera. She didn’t look. She has no stake in who comes with me, so I promise, there was no cheating involved. And I watch the video and worry that I look particularly excited about the RKT that was chosen. I promise, I would have reacted the same way, no matter whose name had come out of the fez.)

Okay…I’ve edited the post so that if you can’t watch the video, if you highlight the text between the arrows below, you will see the winner. (And probably if you’re reading this on google reader or something like that, you won’t even need to do that.)

–>Oliver!<–

Funny conversation with Delta agent

So I called the airline today to see if there was anything I needed to know about flying with an infant. The agent said yes, bring a copy of the birth certificate.

“What is the name of the infant who will be travelling?” she asked.

Oh no! I wasn’t ready for this question! Thinking fast, I answer, “Miles Kocke.” (Why Miles? I dunno. But I did. I said his name.)

She asks me a few more questions, and then I have to ask. “Okay, so, um, what if I don’t bring Miles? What if I bring another baby?”

Silence. I can hear the confusion.

“Um, I have triplets. I don’t know who I’m bringing yet. What if I decide not to bring Miles? What if I want to bring a different baby?”

More silence. I think maybe she starts to understand what I’m saying. She laughs a little and says I can call back later if I decide to bring someone else.

Whew! I can’t deny everyone the pleasure of watching the RKT lottery later on, can I?

Picking the RKT

I’ve been asked quite a few times how I intend to pick RKT (Random Kocke Triplet) for this weekend’s trip to Virginia. I got some good suggestions.

Regan suggested a baby race. “Line them babies up and first one to scoot to you wins a free trip to DC.”

That definitely paints a hilarious mental picture, mostly of babies wriggling in circles and then giving up and just sucking on each other’s feet before falling asleep in puddles of drool. Unfortunately, since only Linus is an adept scooter, I think it would give him an unfair advantage.

Shannon suggests I “place each of them in a swing, bouncy seat, whatever…then blindfold yourself and have George spin you around in circles to disorient you…then turn you loose. Whichever swing/seat you touch first determines the RKT.”

Again, not a bad idea, except that I can see this ending in disaster. Blindfolded and dizzy, I trip and fall on top of one of the triplets, or fall down the stairs. I fear I am not coordinated enough for this method.

Instead, I think I will use Rachael‘s idea, and simply write their names down on pieces of paper, fold them and put them in a hat, and draw a name. I shall have Teresa video this so that you can see just how fair I’m being. Keep your eyes peeled for possibly the most boring video ever made!

In other news, look at these pictures that Chris took of the boys when he was here last week. Awww!

Linus, Oliver, Miles: (click to enlarge)

Four more days!

…until Random Kocke Triplet (RKT) and I venture forth on our journey to the suburbs of the nation’s capital. I have almost been swayed to choose an RKT, thus rendering RKT not random at all, but I don’t know if I can do that. Not that they care, because whoever doesn’t go with me is going to have a grand old time with Grandma and Grandpa (who apparently bought out the toy section of Babies R Us). In fact, they’re probably hoping they DON’T get picked, in which case I’m being unfair to RKT for making him come with me.

That was confusing, wasn’t it? Anyway. We’ll see. Really it’s more about how terribly I’ll miss the other two who don’t come with me. How can I leave behind my sweet Miles, with his huge grins, or my Oliver bear, with his quizzical faces and heart-melting thumb sucking, or my Linus bear, with his chuckles and giggles and chin zit? Sigh. I think I need to get over it. It’s only for a few days, and I’ll be having so much fun that the time will go by quickly. Too quickly.

Goodness knows how I’m going to deal with my Canada trip, away from ALL THREE for three days!

Some pictures from the weekend…

miles

playing

oliver snoozing

The last two pictures remind me – there are some amazing sales going on right now. Holy cow, I bought a ton of stuff at Old Navy for next summer. DIRT CHEAP. We’re talking $1.50 for shirts, $3 for pants, and I got that hoodie that Oliver is wearing for $2.50. For RKT to wear on the plane. It gets chilly on airplanes! The cowboy hat Linus is sporting didn’t get purchased, as it was some ridiculous price (not on sale) at Gymboree. But it’s pretty much the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.

Fun.

You know what I don’t like about this blog? Thinking of post titles. So they are lame, and will continue to be so. Just FYI.

Last night I had dinner with A & S. I could type out their whole names, but I’m too lazy. Instead, I will refer to them as A4 and S3. That way you’ll know I’m talking about Alicia, who has GGGG quads, and Stephanie, who has GGB triplets. The quads were born 12 hours after my boys, and the triplets, 36 hours after the quads. This makes me slightly sad because will they be able to come to the boys’ birthday parties? We’re going to have to work that schedule out in advance.

You know what I love best about A4 and S3? They don’t read my blog! I know, I know, that makes me sound ungrateful for those who do read this. But honestly, I’m not. It’s just nice sometimes to be able to tell someone a story and not have them stop you a few words into it, with “Oh, yeah, I know…I read about it on your blog.” So when I tell them I’m going on a trip with one baby, they gasp and get excited and ask questions. Heh.

We went to Superior, a Mexican place with yummy margaritas. Oh, I love you so, margaritas! And tonight, we have our Moms of Triplets & More (the “& more” was added just for Alicia) meeting, so I’ll be seeing them two nights IN A ROW! Fun.

Last night, the boys slept great – I wonder if it’s because they went to bed a little earlier than usual? In order to get to dinner, the boys went down at around ten to seven instead of 7:30-8 as usual. And we had NO wakeups! It was awesome. We’ll see if tonight’s the same, since they’ll be on the same schedule.

And on the subject of my sweet baby boys, you know what’s the best thing on earth? Going into their room in the morning when they’ve woken up. They’re generally not crying, just kind of playing with their crib mirrors or whatever.  I’ll say “Good morning Linus!” and he’ll turn his head and give me a huge, heart-melting grin. Oliver is usually laying on his back, gazing at his mobile, so I’ll poke my head over the top of his crib and get my big toothless smile, and Miles will look up and squinch up his face and maybe squeak a little at the excitement of seeing Mama in the morning.

That’s the best. 🙂

Going uppppp

I’m so excited…I’m going to Toronto for work! Just a few days, but still! Canada, here I come! I am going to do a site visit for an organization I belong to through work. Oh never mind, the reason isn’t important (except that it means it’s free), I’m just excited to go! Of course, I’ll miss the boys.

Now I have to admit I don’t know much about Toronto. Has anyone been? Or is anyone reading this from there? What’s there to do (besides tour Marriotts, which is definitely on the agenda…)? Oooh, how is shopping?

Now I just need to get my passport renewed, and I’ll be all set. Yay!

7/14/08

Had a pretty good weekend here. Let’s think…

Friday after work we walked down to the pizza place for dinner. I do love pizza.

Saturday afternoon, my friend Erin and I took the boys to run some errands. I think the reason they get crabby sometimes on weekends is they get bored of being at the house. So we went to Babies R Us and Sam’s, and they were so well behaved and in great moods. Oliver was in a particularly charming mood, later determined because he pooped his pants and was happily sitting in it, getting it all over his carseat. Boys.

That night, Dawn and her husband and daughter came by to visit, bringing…pizza. I do love pizza. Never turn it down.

On Sunday, we mostly hung around the house. I went to the gym while the boys were napping, which was awesome. I ran on the treadmill. People, it’s been over a year since I’ve run at all. Of course, I’m sure it wasn’t a pretty sight for the other gym-goers, but whatever. It felt great. I think I’m going to set a goal to run a whole 5K this fall. And faster than I used to do them.

For dinner last night, we walked down to the pizza place. Heh. But on Sundays they do barbecue. So not pizza again. However, my mom and Larry are coming to visit us this afternoon, and guess what we’re going to do for dinner?

Speaking of last night, I let Auntie Steph do something she’s been dying to do, and I promised her she could do first…give the boys a tiny taste of ice cream. Predictably, they loved it, even though it was only vanilla, and not Peanut Butter & Chocolate from Baskin-Robbins.

I think Oliver loved it best, but they all seemed to enjoy it. (Note, they only ate the ice cream part, not the chocolate)

Linus:
Linus

Oliver:
Oliver

Oliver

Miles:
Miles

I do love pizza. But having friends open a pizza place four blocks from my house might not be the greatest weight loss tool ever.

This week is going to be awesome, and go by so fast.

– Mom’s coming tonigh

– Dinner with A & S (quads and triplets moms – you know, the ones from the news) tomorrow night with margaritas, mmmmm!

– Triplet moms group on Wednesday

– Chris is coming in town this week, and Thursday he’s coming to meet the boys and hang out. Yippee!

And then a week from Friday, myself and as-yet-undetermined random triplet are heading to Virginia!

Too much excitment. Now I’ll stop talking and post some pictures I took this weekend…

Linus and Miles:

Miles cocks an eyebrow at me:

Love Oliver’s face (in red) in this. It’s his new expression:

All three:

Well hello there!

Looky how easy that was! Thanks to liz for the tip (and to everyone who agreed with her), this is great! I feel so…rooomy and free over here!

My next step will be to get my domain over here, but for now, this’ll do. I have a redirect set up on pyjammy.com so hopefully people will find me. The one I set up on http://www.pyjammy.com/blog is all messed up, but whatever. It works. I think. Sorta.

Moving…

Thanks for the feedback – I’m thinking seriously about moving over to WordPress. I just need to work on getting my domain issues solved, but until then, I can just do a redirect. I like that, thanks for the tip! The importing is the best part, so I don’t lose my old entries from blogger.

Dilemma…

I have a blog-related dilemma.

I’ve been hosting my blog here for seven years. That’s a long time. But, look, if I put it over on blogspot.com, I can have all sorts of fun stuff like a slideshow and a blogroll and a cute header! But then I’ll be starting a new blog and my archives will be all over here at this one.

Now that I put it that way, it seems like a no-brainer. Abandon seven years worth of blog posts just so I can have a cute header?

But it’s a really cute header!

Go see, and then come back and let me know what you think.

For the record, the archives and old posts from this blog will always be here. That won’t change.

7 month ped visit

Today the boys had their seven month ped visit, and yet again, Linus topped Oliver in the weight category!

Stats are:
Linus: 17#8.5oz (25-50th); 27.5″ long (50-75th); HC 44cm (25-50th)
Oliver: 17#5.5oz (25-50th); 27.5″ long (50-75th); HC 44.25cm (50th)
Miles: 16#13.5oz (10-25th); 27.25″ long (50th); HC 44cm (25-50th)

And last month:

Linus: 16#5.5oz (25-50th); 26.5″ long (50th); HC 43cm (25-50th)
Oliver: 16#9.5oz (25-50th); 27″ long (75th); HC 44cm (50th)
Miles: 15#14oz (25th); 25.5″ long (25th) (actually, this is incorrect, or he shrunk since last month!); HC 43.5cm (25-50th)

So, they really haven’t moved off their growth percentiles much (Miles appears to have shot up in height, but that’s due to a faulty measurement last month.) And to be honest, Linus had a poopy diaper when he was weighed. I changed him and unofficially weighed him again, and he lost 3.5 oz! That’s QUITE a poopy diaper, yes? Ew. Sorry. But Oliver’s diaper was full too (sorry, gross) so I think Linus still weighs more.

Anyhoo. Here’s what they’re doing now…

– Eating between 2-3 solid meals a day, plus 5-6 bottles. Geesh! They like rice cereal, bananas, apples, sweet potatoes, peas, carrots, pears…okay, basically all of the stage 1 foods. I mashed them up an avocado once, but they weren’t impressed. I’ll try it again later. I’m not worried. So far they’re not picky at all.

– Sitting up a little bit, but not great. They can’t make themselves sit up, I have to put them in that position. But they can hold themselves in position for a few seconds (maybe 10-15) before they topple over.

– Babbling a lot, esp Linus and Oliver. Miles is a bit quieter, but he still does his share of chattering.

– They are starting to laugh at things we do, instead of just by being kissed all over or me tickling them with my hair.

– They LOVE to stand.

– They LOVE the taste of hands. Mmmmm, hands. Theirs, yours, mine, whatever hand is available will go right into mouth!

– No teeth yet, but I swear I feel one popping up in Linus’s mouth, but maybe not. We’ll see.

– Drooling like mad. It’s crazy. Like someone turned on a faucet in their head. Nice.

– Starting to get a little separation anxiety? They now outstretch their arms when they want to be picked up. And whine. Fun. But it is kind of sweet, too.

– Love the exersaucers, walker. The swings are about to be gone for good. They love to suck on their feet now, which is looking more and more dangerous is the swing. Not very fond of the Bumbos anymore, either.

– As just mentioned, they found their feet! Love to eat them. Yum, feet.

– STTN is still elusive. They’re good about not eating during the night, but sometimes they’ll wake up and fuss. I think we’ve gotten two solid nights of STTN in a month. Sigh.

I guess that’s it for now, if I remember anything else, I’ll update this entry.

Pics of Oliver and Miles I took today while Linus was hanging out with George. Note the copious amounts of drool…

Miles:

Wide-eyed Oliver:

Miles’s eyelashes:

Brother’s face is fun to play with: