We aren’t big TV watchers, but there are certain shows we really dig – Sesame Street, Baby Signing Time, Super Why and the favorite – Yo Gabba Gabba.
ETC’s first birthday was a pretty big bash despite our fairly strict RSV/flu season lockdown, but I didn’t do a theme, as any good Pinterest user does. Their second birthday was a different story. No more lockdown for us, but with their birthday falling on Thanksgiving and not wanting to host two big things at our house in one week, we opted for one small birthday gathering at home with family. Oh, yeah. I also did the theme thing.
I couldn’t find shirts like they wear on the show, so I made my own using white Garanimals turtle necks, felt from the craft store and free image downloads from the Nickelodeon site as guides.
The very talented Lori Rice, who owns The Sweet Life bakery in Concord, NC, took on the task of creating the most amazing YGG cupcakes. I know when to outsource when my talents can’t do the work justice!
After we put ETC to bed for the night after their YGG birthday extravaganza I saw a tweet – YGG Live tickets on Living Social, coming to Charlotte in February.
You know I bought those right away.
So the time passed, the shirts got washed and demolished (though I was smart enough to cram them into one garment bag to catch all those itty bitty pieces), and finally, it was YGG Live week. I started my planning for the big day a week in advance. Triplets take serious choreography when going to Target, let alone their first live even with hundreds of other toddlers and parents running amok.
ETC just had the best day of their life so far, hands down. Toby and Eleanor sang and danced through the entire show. Callista was the perfect picture of Toddler Awe as the show started, but with the first truly loud crowd reaction, she melted down and needed some cuddles and reassurance persuasion. She calmed down quickly and was all eyes, but she really got into it after the intermission. They pointed out the characters, sang along with the songs, played/danced the games and were generally blown away by those friends on their TV being right there in front of them, LOUD (as they told us the rest of the night) and in person.
On a personal note, my favorite part I about the live show is being able to see the characters dance without video cropping and angles/angle changes. I never realized just how w talented these performers are or how fun the choreography is until I watched the YGG Live DVD. Seeing it in person was even better.
Timing. Our tickets were for 2, and ETC usually wake around 9. I planned to let them sleep as long as they chose, do our normal breakfast and getting-ready-for-the-day routine, then see if there was time for a quick snack or lunch before packing up. I knew we’d be hitting the street around 12:30, so I hoped to have just enough time between waking and leaving before Lunch Hunger hit. We got to the show about 10 minutes before doors opened and 30 minutes before the show started.
Concessions. Toddlers graze. Mine do, at least. We do three meals a day, but they constantly ask for snacks. I planned to skip lunch on YGG day and bring along some filling snacks to get us through the before-show wait, intermission and general tying over until we could leave and have a proper meal. The night before, I made kettle corn and stashed it in a sealed bag. It keeps fresh for a while if no air gets to it. The morning of the show, I sliced bell peppers and carrots and made a toddler-trail-mix bag, which is basically Goldfish, pretzel sticks and Trader Joe’s chocolate cat cookies. We filled their regular water bottles (which they carry around everywhere) with ice and water and packed an extra adult-size bottle with just cold water. We waited till we were seated and had properly looked around before passing out the first round of snacks. I had planned on our regular reusable plastic drinking cups from IKEA as snack containers, but my mom picked up a few YGG goodies last minute the morning of, based on a tweeted tip. They have these great plastic cups with all the YGG characters on them, and they were big enough for a good portion of snacks.
Souvenirs. Dollar Tree – the store with everything for $1 – and Party City helped us there. You know as well as I do that prices for at-show purchases bend you over and say how do you do, and with three to buy for, I couldn’t do that. Research (aka watching the YGG Live DVD) told me that glow bracelets/necklaces/novelties are popular, so I stocked up on jewelry and magic wands for $1 a package (15 bracelets/2 necklaces/1 wand). The big tube of bracelets meant we had enough to share with surrounding kiddos who longingly looked (and shared) ETC’s glow toys before I got smart and handed out extras. Party City had party blowers and clappers as well as balloons. I saved those (and ETC’s stuffed YGG friends) for the car ride home. The glow toys were enough entertainment during the show and breaks, and the extras gave them something to enjoy after we had to say goodbye – leaving something fun is always tricky, so I planned for tears and distraction tactics.
Seating. Because we used Living Social, I couldn’t choose our seats, but we lucked out, probably because there were seven of us and the rows are pretty narrow at Ovens Auditorium. The aisle is awesome for kids to get down and dance in while still being able to see without being held above people in front of you. I initially worried about whathaveyou with them being loose in the aisles, but they did a great job at staying close by while enjoying some freedom. They just wanted to dance! And because we had so many people, we were able to form a barrier at each end of our seats – me and Rob – so they could freely roam through the row and climb up on any of our seven seats. My only regret is that we didn’t have the Party Pack option on Living Social that would have let us meet the characters, but with their age, who knows how that could have gone. We did spring for the closest seats we could get, and I wouldn’t have done that any differently. We were in row N, and the stage was the perfect distance, though closer would have worked, too.
Toddler prep. I know better than to tell toddlers that anything is going to happen until right before it happens (“Is it ‘Next Week’ yet?” “Are we seeing Gabba now?”), so we didn’t mention anything was happening until the night before. Instead, we just increased our YGG-to-other-shows ratio and talked about the show, characters, games and songs as much as we could without driving ourselves crazy. They wore nothing but their YGG shirts (we saved the homemade shirts for the show but have since added two sets of still-a-bit-big 2T shirts to ETC’s closet). They were sufficiently YGG-ready when we walked in the venue.
Yes, I put in some effort with planning, creating and preparation – gone are the days when I buy tickets to something and just show up – but the day went off mostly without a hitch. No one got lost, no one went without anything they wanted, no one had a tantrum, and everyone had an amazing time. We had no clue what we were getting ourselves into, but having everything but toddler reactions planned for meant all we had to do was be there for them to cuddle, reassure and dance with. And, of course, take photos and video.
(Oh, and if this is your first big event with your babies, you may want to wear waterproof mascara if you wear any. I may or may not have cried while watching their faces during the opening song. Yeah, I’m that girl.)
People have asked how we chose to assign beds or if we switch them around to give them time in a different spot or next to someone different.
We joked in NICU that Toby and Eleanor, neighbors from the start while unit configurations meant Callista was in a bed space further away, would be kept separate at home because if one had an alarm-sounding event (Bradycardia, apnea, or other preemie-related episode), the other almost surely followed suit within seconds. They were in sync from the start, and we knew such teamwork would eventually be used against us as parents.
For one reason or the other, we had Eleanor in the middle when they first came home, but we later switched Callista into that middle spot, but not because of troublemaking. They were too young at that point for such shenanigans.
Our reason then was to promote a bond between Toby and Callista. Callista and Toby both played well and frequently with Eleanor, but we rarely saw Callista and Toby playing together without Eleanor. They seemed to butt heads more if their sister wasn’t there, and putting them next to each other during their alone time only made sense.
It made further sense as they slept longer stretches, and we learned that Eleanor and Toby are light sleepers while Callista sleeps like a rock.
Now, with these most recent crib-hopping episodes, our choice has once again proven smart. Callista is the voice of reason, telling her siblings, “No! Get down!” while gently pushing their climbing feet down from crib rungs.
As she turned to dissuade Toby from climbing, I overheard Eleanor say, “Toby! Come on! Come over here!”
No, we won’t be switching bed assignments any time soon.
I’d put my foot in my mouth, if it didn’t hurt so much.
That pesky knee pain didn’t let up, even with rest and ice (RICE, if you include propping my legs up on the couch with a 24.5 lb toddler sitting on my “cold knees.”), so I sucked it up and called the orthopedist. I assumed it’d take me, a new patient at this practice, a few weeks to get scheduled, but they set me up for an appointment on Monday, and I called the Friday before.
I agreed and decided I’d suck it up if he told me my pain was nothing more than overuse and overweight.
It isn’t. Part of me feels validated, but I’m mostly deflated.
My problems begin with biomechanics. That’s no surprise. I have ridiculously high arches and was supposed to start wearing molded orthotics about 10 years ago. I never did. Scheduling, apathy, whatever the reason, it doesn’t matter. What matters is I didn’t take care of myself then, and I’m paying for it now.
My high arches cause me to supinate – to walk/run on the outsides of my feet – which leaves my ankles underused and tight-muscled. My knees feel the effects of poor foot mechanics, and my knee caps also follow a C curve as they bend. The problems continue upward, but I’m thankful they currently stop at the knees (though past hip and back pain is also courtesy of my wonky biomechanics).
To boot, I now have bone bruises on my tibial plateaus on both legs and possible stress fractures, though those didn’t show up on Xray. If the pain doesn’t improve, I’ll go for an MRI for a better look and possible further diagnosis.
The first order of business is orthotics. I’m waiting on insurance approval. Second is rehabilitation exercises to address my biomechanic oddities. Along the way, my bruise/fracture will heal with time and rest, and I may be able to return to an attempt at running in 8-12 weeks, but not on the streets. I need to get further details on that, but seeing at it’s FOREVER away, I’m not concerned. As for now, I can only do the elliptical or stationary bicycle (neither of which I have current access to), or walking on the dreaded treadmill for no longer than 20 minutes every other day at no faster than 4 mph.
BRASSELFRAT, I say. The wind is out of my sails, but I do not want to give up. It’d be so easy to, to just throw up my hands and say I’m meant to read and not run, but human beings were not meant to be sedentary creatures, and I don’t want my children to think physical activity is only good for some people.
So I’m going to put my head down and push forward. I’m going to learn my exercises and figure out an aerobic activity that will help shed these extra pounds, to get me feeling better and stronger without breaking my spirit or my bank account.
And the bitterness over (possibly temporary) losing the efficiency and availability of running for fitness will subside.
I gave birth to triplets. I survived 10 weeks of NICU life with three babies at once. I’ve breastfed three preemies for more than two years. Three things I had no idea how to accomplish, and I somehow did it. I didn’t know what to do, but I knew I needed to do my best despite my fears and doubts, and my best paid off.
I wish I could rewind my life 15 years and learn that lesson at an earlier age. Your best is enough, and it’s worth trying for.
I can’t call myself a Type A or Type B person, but I classically don’t follow through with something unless it’s obvious I’m going to succeed. If I’ve’ struggled, I quit. I wrote it off as my time was better spent on things I did well.
That seems so silly and wasteful now. If I’d only known then, I wonder what else I would have accomplished.
I’m trying to run again, Attempt Who Knows What – something I’ve tried to do since team sports entered extracurriculars in grade school. I never joined a team because I couldn’t run without knee pain. It took years, but I finally spent time in physical therapy and learned ways to work around the pain – stretches, strengthening, proper footwear, etc. Still, the struggling frustrated me to the point of quitting.
I don’t care anymore about struggling. Struggles are nothing more than bumps in the road. I can handle bumps. They’re annoying, and the downright offend me at times, but they’re bumps – not walls.
My knees screamed in protest for nearly a week, from week 2 into week 3 of my Couch to 5K training program (I’m not training for a 5K, per se, but it’s a manageable program that will work me up to a pretty decent distance for regular fitness running). I bought new shoes, I dusted off my old PT exercises, I focused more on stretching, and I realized that requiring ice for my pain doesn’t mean I’m injured – it just means I’m recovering.
With the help of Runtastic Pro and C25K Free on my iPhone, a favorite book on audio and a number of cheerleaders (sometimes it pays to be the fat kid among a group of runner friends), I’m doing this. I’m determined.
Today’s our two-year NICU-homecoming anniversary. I didn’t expect anyone but Rob and I to remember it. I now wonder if Toby, Eleanor and Callista remember somehow.
ETC, on their first night home
For two years now, our first big event of the day has involved breastmilk. In their early days home, it was often a bottle of expressed milk for two while I attempted to breastfeed one. Then it became bottle for one and breast for two. Eventually, all three had their first “meal” of the day direct from the source.
Until this morning, that is.
On most days, my 2-years-and-2-months-old kiddos only nurse when they first wake in the morning, an event that is frantically requested, often leading to tears because diaper changes, teeth brushing and other such things get in the way of what the want rightthissecond. I didn’t see them quitting anytime soon (not that they’re quitting now, but who knows?).
This morning, I freed Eleanor from her bed first and sent her out to the living room closely followed by Callista. Toby lazed in his bed and was slow to stand up for rescue, and by the time the two or so minutes passed between the girls’ departure and our exit from the bedroom, Eleanor and Callista had already climbed into their chairs at the kitchen table and buckled themselves in.
“Eat!” they said, as Toby scrambled up in his chair.
“What about diapers? Don’t you think we should do diapers first?”
“No! EAT!” they said, grinning.
“Well, what about milkies?” That’s what they call breastfeeding.
“No milkies. Eat!”
Well, OK. I made them breakfast (Trader Joe’s Joe’s-O’s and Fruity-O’s, greek yogurt with sprinkles, waffles and a cup of milk each) and pondered the timing of this first refusal, if that’s what it is. Then I knew I needed to record it here while they ate and before I got too busy, just in case this is the first day of the rest of a new life – again.
