AND THE RACE BEGINS!!!!

All I can say is that its been busy busy busy! The kids are now 10 months and over the past two weeks we've been running on our toes to check that Noah and Kayla haven't rolled down the staircase or bumped their heads on the floor or hit their heads on the wall.....yes, they both have started crawling! With Noah its been more of a bum crawl, but is pretty quick to get where he needs to. He uses his left hand to push himself to his destination. Kayla on the other hand crawls on all fours. Just over the past few days has she been able to pull herself up to stand and is quite steady. If you're wondering about Evan, his trying to brave the fall and tumbles but just can't seem to do it. He manages to get fall forward to get on all fours but then does this rocking thing and falls back onto his butt! But he's really trying :) The top everything, they're all teething. Both Noah's bottom teeth have popped out; Kayla and Evan's teeth is peaking, but if you see the picture of Evan, he can't really seem to decide what expression to pull but you can definitely see that his teeth is bothering him. All is going well otherwise. The kids have definitely settled into school now. Just a few more weeks until they're on holiday and I have to decide what to do with them while I'm still at work; I guess I have time to decide as long as I know there's help. Darren's parents and sister flew up to Joburg last weekend and it was great having them around. At least this time they had a decent sized room to sleep in including a nice sleeper couch for Deidre, but also a bigger house and kitchen to move around. They really enjoyed the kids, more so since they've started crawling and interacting. This past Sunday we also went to Christopher's 5th birthday party. Our family alone with the kids took up the whole sandpit! It was my trio, their cousins Ethan and Connor and their friend Luke. Seemed like they had fun in the sandpit, and quite honestly, I'm quite happy that they're getting used to the outdoors and seeing lots of people. I think school definitely has helped them in terms of noise, screaming kids and lots of people around. Their cousin Ethan really loves them and stayed with them the whole time. Next visit is Christmas! Can you believe that Christmas is just in 7 weeks?! So much to look forward to - our first Christmas as a family, Darren's family flying up to spend Christmas with us, their first meeting with their Aunt Mel from Oz and mostly, their 1st birthday in January! Can't wait for that and Mel's looking so forward to meeting them for the second time. I just wish my whole family were together for the kids first Christmas! We'll be thinking of Cliff and Cyn! Miss you guys and mostly my Mom.... During feed times, we've been teaching them to "chew" properly with all the actions that you can imagine. So far so good! Its so cute the way Evan and Noah do it and Kayla just does it in her feminine way. If they gag on their food at a later stage, then we know that they don't fully understand "chew"!

01st October 2010

Finally we have moved into our new home. I feel bad that the kids have been through a lot in one week - first their start to daycare and now the move. It took them awhile to get settled the first night. I think with all the helpers, boxes and their Mom stressing out because she couldn't find their clothes and bedding in the boxes, didn't help with the situation. I felt so terrible that night thinking that I should have kept aside clothing and toiletries for us all. Even funnier that Darren and I had to rummage through all the boxes that night looking for clothes to wear for work the next day!

Most of our packing has been done, just our clothing left to do. Thanks to all the helpers that we had, otherwise I'd be going crazy trying to figure out what goes where! I felt lost when I did some packing, not used to all the space! Its also amazing to see how much stuff I had in our small little house and how I managed to fit it in. I think I did a really good job of hiding things.

We have a few things to sort out like connecting up pipes for my washing machine (I have a toploader and the space in the kitchen is only frontloader friendly) and the alarm system. Yesterday I was quite surprised that Darren had gone through the night without watching any TV - apparently the previous owner had taken out the satellite dish. We've been too tired to argue with the estate agent regarding this. As a result, I was wondering how long Darren would be able to go on without any TV. To my dismay, I heard him making an appointment with the TV guy to come and reconnect our DSTV and install a new satellite! So last night, I gotto watch Brothers & Sisters, so I shouldn't really complain :)

Yesterday afternoon, the principle from the school that the kids go to called to raise her concerns about Kayla. According to her her temperature was slightly high, although I wasn't too concerned about her temperature being 36.5. Also, she'd been crying the whole day and scratching her left ear. I dashed off to fetch them from school and went straight home. The first thing I did was call our GP to see if she could do a housecall. She didn't sound keen, but since she didn't have anything planned for the night, she was prepared to help out.

When I went to fetch them and got into the car, Kayla seemed fine. In actual fact, she started laughing and talking! Bugger! I said she probably didn't like school and just wanted to come home! I wonder who she takes after! I cancelled the appointment with our GP as I decided that I would try to monitor her myself and dose her up with Calpol if necessary. This morning she was fine as well, although has a bit of a runny nose too. I blame teething for all of this, so will see. If she gets worse, then I'll definitely take her to see the doc. I was contemplating to send her to school today, and decided to. So far no phone call from the school :)

Its almost end of my work day now and I have to fetch the kids from school as we head into the weekend! Looking forward to the weekend as well in our new home! Apparently its going to be 30 deg tomorrow, so I'm sure we'll be having our first dip in the swimming pool!

Will post some pictures soon!!!

Tuesday, 21st September 2010

I know I've been terrible for not updating my blog for such a long time. Things have been so crazy recently both at work and at home so I haven't really had much time to write and update anything.

In just a few weeks, my little one's will be 9 months! Can you believe it? Today they had their measle shots; they were champs although I think it helped that my midwife gave them their first chocolate to bite into while she jabbed them! Poor boys, squealed for a bit, then stopped! As for Kayla, she was totally oblivious to what was happening and continued biting on her chocolate and probably didn't even realise that she was getting a shot! Maybe its because she's got chubby legs :)

The kids start their first day at nursery school next week. Its going to be a freebie week and I'll be able to send Mary, their nanny, with just so she can see what's happening and hopefully to see that they're ok and that there won't be any serious problems at the school. I've been speaking to quite a few people who sent their kids early to daycare and they've said nothing can go wrong, and that its quite beneficial for them in the long run. I'm feeling a bit excited about it but at the same time sad that they're going to be away from me for the whole day! Absolutely a normal feeling for a working Mom I hear!

At the same time, we're making our move into our new home next weekend and we're quite excited about it! I think its more the space the I'm looking forward as well as the reduced amount of travelling between home and work! Traffic's been crazy recently, that on some days it takes me over an hour to get home. Not too fun when you have three crying babies in the car and you're sitting in traffic! I think sometimes it gets so loud that the car next to us can hear them! Thank goodness for tinted windows! :)

The kids are growing at such a fast pace - they're sitting on their own with no support and seem quite comfortable that way. It helps me a lot that I don't have to pay full attention to them all the time, so it gives time to go into the kitchen to make supper while they play on their playmat with all their toys. A lot of people have said that they should start crawling soon, but quite honestly, I'm in no hurry for that to happen (can you imagine how busy it would be at home; nevermind that, what will happen once they start walking?!).

You can definitely see their different personalities now and definitely are aware of familiar people and strangers.

Anyway, its a long weekend coming up and Darren and I are looking forward to our trip away. My inlaws are flying in and will be babysitting for the whole weekend! So definitely excited about the break!

Family time

Its come to our realisation that my brother Cliff and his wife Cynthia will be leaving our shores so soon. They've set their date for the 07th August 2010 and we won't be here to see them off. They've gotten so attached to the kids recently and they felt that it would be too hard to say goodbye to them on the day, so knowing that we'll be away for the weekend, they decided that they would say their goodbyes before then. Its going to be so hard on them to say goodbye to everyone else as well...The kids have grown to love their Kowfoo and Kumoo, and is going to be so difficult to see them go.

We've recently spent time with Aunty Jenny and its the first time in a few weeks that she could hold them and see how much fun they really are. She said that Kayla has part of her Por Por's looks and I agree with her, especially when she smiles.

They've become so much fun but really busy! When they smile and start talking, it just makes up your day!

Going to miss you guys!

Growing up....

People always ask us what new things the kids are doing now. We've definitely noticed changes and new things that they've started doing. Just the other day I had Kayla sitting on my lap and starting playing "Baby Einstein" on my iphone and she started rocking back and forth! It was so cute. I was so mad though that I didn't get a chance to video it as Darren wasn't home to see it. Hopefully I'll get her to do it again!

They've all started grabbing things and managing to hold onto soft toys and keeping themselves busy with it. I have to start investing on new toys for them to help develop their "motor" skills, etc. I have some ideas, its just a matter of getting to doing it!

They've recently started enjoying their playgym, more so now. We could put all 3 under it and they'd enjoy it, provided Kayla doesn't grab either of her brothers nose, arms, lips or bib. She's quite the bully! Jerry the giraffe and Tim the caterpillar definitely keep them well entertained!

Their grandaunt Barbara and granduncle Joey have helping to decorate their nursery at the office by buying pictures, etc. They bought these soft rubbery bouncy toys that look like porcupines, and when you bounce them they light up. The kids get so excited when they see it.

Story books with lots of pictures is my next project! Will see how that goes!

16th July, Friday - Missing you.....

Today serves the 3rd anniversary since my Mom tragically passed away. For all of us, its been an emotional few weeks leading to today. Some people say it gets easier as the years go by, but for us its started getting harder. I think with so many exciting things happening to us, that the one person we want around us the most is Mom.

Recently I've had this empty space in my heart just thinking of her. Its my first time being a Mom without my Mom, something she would have looked forward to as a Grandmother. We speak of her everyday, how she would have loved and spoilt the kids but deep down inside, I know she's watching them. Sometimes I wonder if they can "secretly" see her and we can't......

I constantly talk of her to the kids so they'll know who she is as they grow up and I'll constantly remind them of her too. Lots of wonderful memories of her.

Just recently we've noticed how Kayla reminds us of her :)

The past 3 years have definitely gone by so quickly, it just seems like yesterday.

We love you Mom, always and forever!

We miss you........

10th July, Saturday - Haircut time!

Since the boys got their first haircut two weeks, I decided that I would try cutting Kayla's hair. Not so much cutting more trimming. I must admit it was difficult as she's so fidgety, so I only managed to cut her sides and front. Her hair on the top is still quite long, so when I get a chance again, I'll trim the top. As you can see by the pics, I'm clearly not a hairstylist!

09th July 2010, Friday - 26 weeks and counting!

The kids are exactly 26 weeks today, and if you take their "corrected" age, they're now 5 months! Wow! Its been amazing to see them grow! We've already forgotten how tiny they were when they were born. Last week when we took them for their 6 month check up, we saw a newborn baby and Darren asked whether our kids were that small, where in actual fact, they were even smaller!

The kids are now on 3 solid feeds a day. I've been starting them off with rice cereal in the mornings, then fruit as lunch and veggies for dinner. On some days its been difficult trying to figure out what meals to make for them no matter how "simple and basic"the meals actually are. I'll be honest to say that I'd like for them to try as much different things as possible as they're growing up, which just means more work for me! I guess its more practise for me when they get bigger :)

So far they've had avocado's, bananas, butternut, baby marrows, carrots, gem squash, pumpkin and sweet potato. Just recently I've started adding chicken in the veggies for dinner. It didn't go down so well with the sweet potato because I added in too much chicken that instead of it tasting like sweet potato, it tasted more like chicken! They've already started their "fussiness" on foods - they didn't really like my fresh homemade carrots, but the minute I gave them carrot purity, they couldn't get enough! I've now resorted to a few bottles of purity in my cupboard as well as fresh veggies for the few lazy days where I don't feel like cooking dinner!

Earlier this afternoon our neighbour came to visit the kids as it would have been the first time she'd see them since they came home. She brought along her 1.5year old daughter, Petra who is so adorable! Petra's first target.....Kayla! As Petra's the smallest and youngest in her group of friends, Kayla was her first playmate whose smaller than her. Needless to say, she got a bit rough with Kayla and she didn't like it! Petra was really sweet though, sharing her toys and books with Kayla, and trying to give her as much love as possible, but it looked more like a rugby tackle! Cute though! Poor Yvonne, Petra's Mom, felt so bad!

26th June 2010, Saturday

Noah and Evan had their first haircut! Their hair has been growing so unevenly that we decided to shave their heads in the hope that it will grow evenly! They were pretty good when it came to using the electric hair razor. They did although start geting niggly towards the end of the cut, but with their Dad chatting away to them, they soon stopped.

There's a possbility of cutting Kayla's hair too and the front part of her hair is quite thick, but with minimal hair at the back :) I think I'll have to accept that my little girl may look like a little boy for awhile! I pray that her hair will grow back quickly! But I'm still deciding......its pretty cold for a little girl to be bald right now! Will keep you posted once I've made a decision!

25th June 2010, Friday

Can you believe that Noah, Kayla and Evan are 24 weeks! Just to think that it was just over a year ago that we announced the exciting news that we were pregnant with not just one baby, but three! Its been an amazing year so far and just to think how far we've come after month's of fertility treatment. Thinking back on those busy mornings of going for scans to see how we were progressing, blood tests and all the procedures involved with in-vitro. If there's anybody else out there whose been through what we went through, you'll know the amazing feeling when everything works out.

The babies have been doing well otherwise. I started their solids again with rice/maize cereal in the morning and a portion of veggies in the evenings. I've decided to alternate giving them fresh veggies and purity. Evan for some reason seems to have gotten an allergic reaction and I'm not really too sure if its from the purity or the rice cereal? I've bought "gluten free" cereals which should give low allergic reactions, so the only thing that I can't think of is the purity together with all the preservatives that's in the making. So I've opted for fresh veggies! They've already had butternut and carrots - next up, gem squash! Will see how that goes during the week.

Its such an overwhelming experience seeing our babies progress and how strong they're getting day by day. It was just the other day that Evan struggled to lift his head when it was tummy time, but now he's able to do it without any hassles. Kayla is managing to lift herself up now and Noah is getting to that too. Their hands have been really busy, touching and pulling anything their hands can get hold of. Kayla has developed this new thing of grabbing her spoon during feed time too! It was quite cool watching Noah hold a toy rattle on his own too! Kayla and Noah are definitely happy and content babies - they've started laughing now and you just want to continue making them laugh because its so cute! We're just waiting for Evan to make his laughter debut!

Noah's developed this new sleeping routine - when his really tired and at the stage of crying and moaning (like when babies are overtired), the only thing that makes him quiet and fall asleep is to play music! Mary, one of our day nannies, started this and its been working so far, although it seems that its just not any music, its Ronan Keating's "Tomorrow will never come"! I've tried the likes of Chris Brown, to Mary J Blige, Michael Buble even Baby Mozart, but they're only temporary relievers! Ronan is the man! Here's the link to show you what we mean: www.youtube.com/watch?/v=8yRPOsYJgAE

More to come................

Father's day, 20th June 2010

Today was Darren's first Father's day. Not much of a start when he was awaken by the cries of Evan! We decided on going to our favourite roadhouse in Edenvale and opted for the "Sunday Lunch" meal which was great! I think Darren enjoyed the last bit of the meal with a small portion of jelly and custard! For a winters day, the weather was perfect and it was great taking the kids out for a drive out since they've been indoors for two weeks due to the cold winter that we've been experiencing.

We're not too sure what's been happening with the kids though. They've been having quite a few restless nights and I'm not too sure if teething has anything to do with it. Kayla unusually has been restless too - she usually doesn't have any problems sleeping, but recently has been waking up in between her sleeps so the only thing that I can think of is teething especially since they've been drooling so much recently.

Today, I stopped giving them any forms of solid foods to see if it affected their sleeping habits. I was very anxious in starting them with solids which they seemed to have taken to quite easily, but with them being so restless, I thought that maybe they aren't ready for solids and was affecting them in some way or another. It didn't seem to make much of a difference, although their appetites have definitely increased, but that's probably because we stopped the solids! Noah's been finishing his bottles, so with that in mind and them eating well, I'm not too sure if its teething? I dunno.....so much to think about when you have three babies in mind! So I'm going to try giving them a portion of solids for dinner tonight and see if it makes any difference. Since they've increased their feeds, they've dropped from 6 feeds to 5, making it 5 hourly in between feeds. Their eating routine is way out of sync, so have to find a new way to get everything back to normal. I'm also not too sure if this has anything to do with them not been able to sleep through the night? Any suggestions?

Anyway, it was a nice relaxing day. We also spent the evening with our families having everyone's favourite home meal, braai and watched a few soccer games to end the evening off.

The beginning of our new lives

Since the day our triplets were born, its been a life changing process for us. It's been an amazing experience so far and definitely we have no regrets. After much convincing by friends and family, we finally decided on creating our blog for all our family who aren't living close by to see how the kids are growing up.