Divine Diaper Cakes...it is official!

I am now in business for myself! I have officially started Divine Diaper Cakes. Please check out my new blog, http://divinediapercakes.blogspot.com. If you are in the Houston area & would like to order, I have set up a new email address for you to contact me at.

I have to admit I am a bit nervous. I have never had my own business before. I hope this is the start of something bigger. I am quite creative & have made many things that people keep telling me I need to sell to others. It's not like I have all the extra time in the world w/ 3 7.5 mth old triplets to care for so I am taking it 1 step at a time. I definitely have the time to get diaper cakes rolling out!

I know this blog is suppose to be about the kids but I want to share some things I have made in the past that has spurred this interest. It all started w/ my best friend's wedding. She asked me to make her invitations. That was the beginning. Then I made everything for our wedding from the invitations to the floral arrangements to the bouquet to the center pieces...EVERYTHING!

This is the program & the invitation.



This is a dry floral arrangement. I think I made 4 total.



These are the corsages I made.





I have made so many things over the years & I really enjoy it. I have dabbles in sewing & hope to start that again once the kids get a little older. Most of this stuff, I try & am able to do such as the flowers w/ not much effort. I guess it is my "gift". I hope that I can expand the diaper cake business one day to include a few other things such as invitations (I love creating those) & wine bottle labels (another passion of mine).

Please spread the word! It would be great to get business moving along & help Todd w/ the bills or extras we need for the kids.

At least we are covered for the flu!

Today we went in for our 2nd flu shot. Infants need 2 flu shots w/i a month of each other. The kids were troopers! No one cried!!! The nurse walked out of there bragging that none of the babies made a peep! Yep, those are *MY* kiddos! Poor things hadn't had a nap either. As a matter of fact, they have been in a rather pleasant mood. Maybe it was the change in scenery?

While we were there, I decided to go ahead & have them weighed. May as well, right? Here are their weights...

Gabi ~ 16lb 12oz, 37th%
Sofi ~ 16lb, 23rd%
Ian ~ 15lb, 14oz, 5th%

Boy, we can't shake that 5th% w/ Ian no matter how hard we try! The good thing is that they are healthy. I still wish we were getting those RSV shots. Oh well, can't knock them for thinking the babies are "too healthy". It's all that breast milk they have been getting! This is more motivation for me to keep pumping/BFing through their 1st birthday b/c they will receive antibodies from me to help protect them against RSV. Mama will do what Mama has got to do to protect her babies. Only 4 mths & 3 wks left & then life will be different.

This weekend I actually got to spend some time w/ another mommy (Susan) that is about to have triplets. It was great to be able to talk to someone that is where I have been & to also get out of the house for a while. I am excited for her & hope that we have a budding friendship. I can't wait to meet her trio! I was also able to pay it forward, not nearly the amount that we received but I will be working on that. It is amazing how many people rally to your help & I hope I can pass that along to another mommy.

On a side note, I am trying to make some extra cash on the side & have begun to make diaper cakes. If you are in the Houston area & need a diaper cake, please think about me! Here are 2 pictures of 2 different cakes, same colors but different.




As always, I am including pics of my adorable kids!

Ian seemed very interested in the computer so Todd sat w/ him & let him "discover" it a bit. I love this picture b/c he seems to be saying, "Dad, what is this all about?"


Here is Sofi & all of her glory...she LOVES her left foot & insists on holding it while she eats!


I couldn't resist capturing this moment. Gabi had fallen asleep in Todd's arms & so he put his head down on the pillow & fell asleep w/ her.

Happy Halloween (napping issues included)!!!

Well, taking the kids out for their 1st Halloween was not an easy feat! 1st, it was 2 against 3, something I think we will probably be dealing w/ for quite some time...like the rest of our lives! The ducky costumes were adorable yet short lived. The kids didn't like being in them very much, especially the hat part. We were able to get a few pictures but boy was that ever a task! Notice there is only 1 where they all have their shoes on. You should have seen Todd & I running around like chickens w/ their heads cut off trying to get those darn booties on! We were going to keep them dressed up for our evening walk but that didn't work out so we had a backup plan. All in all, we hope next year is a bit easier! **Please keep reading...napping issues at the bottom!




This is me w/ the trio after our 1 hr long walk around the subdivision! Yes, I matched the kids!

In other news, we DID NOT get the RSV shots so we are asking that you really be conscious of your health before coming over b/c we now have NO protection from the virus. The insurance company said that our babies were "too healthy". While that is music to our ears, it is also preventing us from getting those antibodies needed to help stave off the virus or at least buffer the effects. What a double edged sword! We are very greatful that our babies are so healthy & that I am able to stay home w/ them as opposed to dealing w/ daycare germs so we know that we are a step ahead in many ways. I was just hoping...

Gabi is now sitting on her own. I was able to get a picture. Doesn't she look like a big girl? Sofi & Ian are sitting but not for long periods of time like Gabi. I will get a picture of them soon enough!

Here is a funny series of photos I captured the other morning. Sofi seems to like to take things from her siblings...toys, pacis, what ever they have, she wants. In this case, it was Ianchito's blankie. This 1st picture I caught her red-handed!

Ianchito looks like he is trying to say, "HEY! That's MY blankie!" His face is priceless & says it all!

In this 1 Sofi seems to be looking at the camera & saying, "Me? I'm innocent! If the blankie don't fit...acquit!"


I think we have also beat daylight savings time by having pushed back their last bottle by 15 minutes every day this week. Last night was the toughest b/c they went to 7:45, 45 minutes later than they are use to but I have been buffering that by making their 4pm bottle later also. The last 15 minutes were the hardest but we made it & the kids didn't wake up until 7:15 this morning so it is working! By Sunday we will have them back on track w/ an hour difference. Today, rather than getting their bottles at 8, 12, 4, & 7 they will get them closer to 9, 1, 5, & 8 but that will only be for today.

Let me also delve in to what I have been having a MAJOR issue with b/c I know there are many triplet mommies out there that are reading this that aren't quite where we are yet & many that have surpassed this issue w/ success. For the past 2 weeks, since dropping their 5th bottle, we have had MAJOR napping issues. I think that there is also another culprit or 2 that has been helping make naptime disasterous...teething & separation anxiety. All 3 babies are teething, the worst w/ Gabi being over so far. Ian has major separation anxiety issues as does Gabi when she wakes up & realizes I'm not there BUT it is getting better. 2 weeks of HELL...trust me when I say that. There isn't a magic solution. I tried EVERYTHING & ANYTHING under the sun to help my little babies out but it didn't work. We had many a day where 1 or 2 of them didn't sleep a wink & were crankmeisters, driving mommy to the brink of insanity. I am going to admit, I contemplated jumping out the window (*wink, wink), or running to the desert & dealing w/ immense thirst b/c ANYTHING was better than dealing w/ crying, cranky, unhappy, sleep-deprived babies! I cried w/ them, screamed w/ them & loved them all the same. I was a cranky woman to my wonderful hubby (sorry Todd...thank you for dealing w/ me). I couldn't get anything done in the house b/c I had a baby attached to the hip.

There was no end in sight until Thursday afternoon when we had a break through. After only 10 minutes of blood curdling screaming from Ian & Gabi, there was silence!
I couldn't believe it so I went upstairs & peeked in. Gabi was asleep & Ian was on his tummy (yes, I had a heart attack) & was out like a light! I went downstairs & did a happy dance in the kitchen & was praising God over & over again! Of course, I was weary so I kept the cooking vent on high & the tv up loud so I couldn't hear them if they started to cry. Yes, I checked on them every 10 minutes b/c I was worried about Ian on his tummy. It is the constant crying that can drive a person insane!

Yesterday was a great nap day. PRAISE THE LORD! I hope today goes as well & we have left that whole issue behind for now. Mommy needs her sanity!

ARG!!!! Teething SUCKS!

I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. Do I need to go any further w/ this? Of course I do b/c otherwise this wouldn't be a blog, tee-hee!

Now, remember that Sofi & Ian have yet to get any "Ikes" so this is all about Gabi. Yesterday was a day from hell. There is no other way to put it b/c it was shear hell. I guess these are the days I have been hearing about. My kids were in a FOUL mood & I couldn't figure out what was going on. My dad suggested that it may be the pears. I thought that was the culprit until today. Gabi wouldn't even let me touch her mouth, especially her upper gums. They are so swollen & white that I know her teeth are about to cut through, it is just a matter of time AND hopefully it will be SOON! Mommy can't take many more days w/o naps or screaming when getting put in the crib. It wears on your nerves like nothing else.

On a brighter note, the kids are doing so many new things. Ianchito is rolling around like a maniac! He LOVES to grab for things & I foresee crawling in the near future for him. Here he is being a crazy boy & going for Checker's tail.


Gabi is sitting up! She surprised us on on Sunday by sitting up w/o support for a good 3 minutes. We were shocked b/c the longest she had gone before that was about 15-30 seconds.


Sofi loves her toes. She can't get enough of them! It doesn't matter that she is eating, she needs to be holding her foot.


Don't laugh too hard! These are the kiddos in the morning now that it is a bit chilly. I bring them to their bouncy chairs & they snuggle w/ their blankies while I finish pumping. Sofi likes to cover her face & we play peek-a-boo.


Gabi was working on keeping her hands warm.


This is Ian trying to get his blankie back from Sofi. Shame on Sofi!


Other than the teething, we are slowly adjusting our schedule for daylight savings time so tonight they got their bottles 15 min later than normal. We will push the last bottle 15 min later until Saturday & by Sunday they won't know the difference! Let's hope it works.

We LOVE sippy cups!

Yes, you read the title right. They LOVE their sippy cups! I have been hesitant to let them "play" w/ them b/c I just thought they were too young. TOO YOUNG...HAHA! Once again mommy is wrong.

This all started w/ the fact that my online community of mommies has been talking about sippy cups & how they were introducing it to their babies. I was like, "HUH? My kids don't even hold their bottles!" Ok, that is a lie. Seriously, Ian is holding the bottle when he gets one. I even used a small preemie Dr. Brown bottle that we kept b/c I couldn't let them go...they are sooooo cute...& he held it all on his own. The small bottle is easier for him to hold although he also holds the big 8oz bottle too, just when it gets to about 2-3oz of milk left. It is still too heavy if it is full.



Anyway, back to the point. I thought for sure that sippy cups wouldn't be successful b/c they didn't hold their bottles BUT I decided to give it a go anyway. I took out their brand new sippy cups, put them in the dishwasher & then the next day, after breakfast, I decided to give them their sippy cups filled w/ some water. Look at my trio!

Gabi isn't interested at all. She doesn't even show any interest in holding her bottle like Sofi does. She is VERY CONTENT w/ someone holding the bottle or sippy cup for her.


Sofi figured out very quickly how to get water out of the cup & LOVES IT! She is such a big girl!


Ian also really enjoys using the sippy cup. He also likes to play w/ it. Of the 3, he is the best at guiding it in his mouth. Such a cutie!


I guess this is the beginning...they are starting to get more independent. I have to say I'm not grooving on this much. I can't believe I am already having to "let go". ARG! No one told me that motherhood would be this hard emotionally!

Oh, we also miss Daddy very much so Daddy if you are reading this...HURRY HOME!!!!!

12 Hour Nights

Well, we finally decided it was time for us to start letting the babies sleep 12 hrs. I know, you are probably thinking "What? LET them sleep 12 hours???" Yeah, LET them sleep 12 hours, you read right. Todd & I have actually been holding on to the 5am feeding for our own selfish reasons. Todd likes to see them awake before he goes to work & I LOVE to BF them all 1st thing in the morning. We both knew the minute we let them sleep longer, they would & sure enough it happened just like that.

We decided that today we would transition them to not eating at 5am. Sofi & Ian never even woke up but we knew this would happen b/c we have been waking them up for the 5am for quite some time now. Gabi woke up a few times at 4:15, 5ish, & 5:45 w/ a squawk or 2 but went right back to sleep. I have a feeling tomorrow she won't wake up at all knowing that she isn't going to get the boob. WAAAAA...I'm so sad! I LOVED to feed them in bed! It just isn't feasible w/o someone here though so I'm back to giving BM in the bottle for the girls. Maybe I can still BF on the weekends w/ Todd's help. So, we now have another "new" schedule...

7am ~ Wake up & play (they are use to playing right after they wake up)
8am ~ BF/Bottles
8:45 ~ Cereal & fruits
10:00 ~ Nap time!
11:30 ~ Wake up & play
12:00 ~ BF/Bottles, play afterwards
12:45 ~ Lunch is coming soon...possibly by the end of the month.
2:00 ~ Nap time!
3:30 ~ Wake up & play
4:00 ~ BF/Bottles
4:45 ~ Veggies
5:30 ~ Family walk
6:45 ~ Bottles (formula w/ a tbs of rice cereal)

I haven't decided whether or not I like this new schedule. I can tell you it was nice getting 8 hrs of continuous sleep although I was up every time Gabi woke up. I think it may work out better this way. We'll see!

When Sofi isn't in the best of moods, she sucks on her paci & puts a burpie cloth over her head. She is very content this way.

Here are Gabi's 2 "Ike's". It was HELL getting this shot, LOL!

I LOVE this picture of Ian b/c he looks like he got caught doing something he shouldn't be.

RSV & what does "sick" mean?

People don't seem to really understand what sick means when we tell them they can't come over if they are "sick". What we mean is if you have the sniffles or the remenents of a cough, DON'T COME OVER! I'm not trying to be rude but the dr specifically told us that you have to be symptom free to come visit. I'm sorry but we are listening to her over anyone else.

Why is this important? Because our babies are preemies. No, they aren't small anymore nor do they look ill. They actually look like any other 6 mth old baby at this point BUT their lungs are still underdeveloped & they still have a compromised immune system. This is very important to know b/c there is a virus called RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) which to us or a full-term baby, would not do anything more than just give us a cough & a runny nose, much like the common cold. For our babies, it can mean DEATH.

Why? Our babies lungs look very different from that of a baby the same age that was born after 37 weeks gestation. Let me show you a picture of what our babies' lungs look like compared to that of a regular full-term baby. The 1st 3 pictures are that of our babies' lungs (not actual but you get the idea). The 4th picture is that of a regular baby. Scary to see how much less our babies have compared to them!


This is another good picture to look at. As you can see, they used trees to explain the difference between a normal infant's lungs (left) & a preemie's (right). WOW!


Finally, this is a photo of the airway when affected by RSV. On the left is a normal infant & on the right, a preemie. You can see how much LESS airway is open in the preemie's picture. SCARY!


Once RSV has been passed to one of our babies, hospital stay is a certainty. Actually, they would probably end up in the PICU (Pediatric ICU). There is NOTHING they can do to help our babies except to give them O2 to help them breathe. Again, something we don't want to experience.

How do we keep our babies healthy? By staying away from sick people! You may not even know you are carrying RSV & if you come over & infect our babies, you would feel very badly afterwards. Sorry if I sound so harsh but I have had to explain over & over again why it is important not to come over.

RSV is contracted through physical contact or vapor droplets in the air. This is why if Todd or I get sick, we will have to wear a mask anytime we are around the babies b/c obviously we can't avoid caring for them. RSV can also live on surfaces for several hours so you better believe I will be Cloroxing all surfaces at least once a day!

We are also hoping that we get the RSV shots but if we don't that means we are really going to be strict about who comes over & where we take the babies. No crowded places is a definite no-no. We will basically be on house arrest which is NO BIG DEAL if we can keep our babies healthy. The shots will buffer the effect, not prevent them from getting it so we are hoping & praying that we are approved!

Mommies, if you have experienced RSV w/ your little one, I would love for you to leave a comment so others can be educated from a 1st hand experience. I do not want my babies in the hospital. They started their lives there & I would like to keep them out as long as possible!

**THANK YOU to all the mommies that have left stories of their experiences w/ RSV. I can't believe how critically ill a full-term baby gets! I can only imagine what it can do to our trio.