Our first issues with feeding the triplets began when we brought them home from the hospital. I know what you're thinking ... How hard can it be to feed a newborn when they only drink milk? That is exactly what I thought when I was still a young and naive new mom. Feeding the babies breast milk wasn't that hard, the challenge came when we switched to formula. Our three kids downed a can of formula a day (yes, a day) once they were several months old. Three babies times four feedings a day meant we had to make 12 bottles a day. If you have ever had to painstakingly measure out formula for a baby, you know how annoying making a bottle can be. Much less making 12 bottles while you have three screaming, hungry babies. Right around this time is when we made one of our most important discoveries - The Pampered Chef Family-Size Quick-Stir Pitcher.
I can see the quizzical look on your face, so I will explain. This pitcher was a God-send. Basically, it allows you to mix up your beverage of choice while it is in the pitcher with this plunger-type thing that is part of the lid. Pure genius. I know those smart people at Pampered Chef designed it for things like tea and lemonade, but it was a perfect candidate to fill the role of formula-mixer in our house. No more hours of measuring out scoop upon scoop of formula ... good ole Mr. Quick-Stir did it for us in a matter or seconds! Just pour in the water, dump in the can and watch him work!
Baby food was the next step on the "food chain" (sorry, I had to say it) for us and that was actually the easiest of the food stages. Everything came in nice little jars and there was little to no preparation. All my friends who had babies bragged to me all the time about how their child ate ALL the different kinds of baby food they gave them - green beans, peas, spinach, you name it, their kids ate it. These were the same moms who MADE all their child's baby food as well. Excuse me? Isn't that what the convenient jars of purees with the smiling baby's face on them at the grocery store are for? I have nothing against making your own baby food, but I definitely didn't have time to do that for three at once. I filled my cart with the jars, thank you very much. Of course MY kids didn't want to eat all the nice, healthy green vegetables. This is the look I usually got when serving a spoonful of green veggies ...
No, we only liked the orange veggies. And someone forgot to tell me that when you feed your child a lot of orange veggies, they end up with orange noses! I am not kidding. For about 4-6 months all of the triplets had an orange tint to their noses in any picture I took. When people commented on the pictures, I just pawned it off on something like "bad lighting" or "flash issues." I thought it would be inappropriate to say, "Well, yes, Sam has an orange nose because I fed him 8 jars of carrots yesterday since that is all he will eat."
After baby food, we finally hit real food! Now I was excited! I had visions of all of us sitting down to the table together and eating a family meal. I now now I was living in la la land. We have still yet to sit down and all eat at the same time and I am pretty sure I can count on one hand the amount of times my husband and I have eaten the same meal on the same night as our kids. It is unbelievable how picky kids can be about food preparation. One of my girls refuses to eat a tater tot unless it is sliced in half. Seriously, a tater tot - the toddler's best friend when it comes to food - and she won't go near it unless it's cut in two. I have learned not to question the reasons and just comply. Cutting up a few tater tots is a small penalty to pay in order to prevent the wrath she would rain down if presented with - gasp - whole tots! My son will not eat anything unless it has been dipped into something else first. The funny thing is that what the dip is does not matter in the least. We have dipped carrots into applesauce, hamburger into yogurt ... you name it, we've dipped it. I have no idea what inspired our "Little Dipper" to adopt this fetish. I just know that when I hear the chorus of "dip, dip dip", then I need to come running with some type of dipping sauce in hand.
No, we only liked the orange veggies. And someone forgot to tell me that when you feed your child a lot of orange veggies, they end up with orange noses! I am not kidding. For about 4-6 months all of the triplets had an orange tint to their noses in any picture I took. When people commented on the pictures, I just pawned it off on something like "bad lighting" or "flash issues." I thought it would be inappropriate to say, "Well, yes, Sam has an orange nose because I fed him 8 jars of carrots yesterday since that is all he will eat."
After baby food, we finally hit real food! Now I was excited! I had visions of all of us sitting down to the table together and eating a family meal. I now now I was living in la la land. We have still yet to sit down and all eat at the same time and I am pretty sure I can count on one hand the amount of times my husband and I have eaten the same meal on the same night as our kids. It is unbelievable how picky kids can be about food preparation. One of my girls refuses to eat a tater tot unless it is sliced in half. Seriously, a tater tot - the toddler's best friend when it comes to food - and she won't go near it unless it's cut in two. I have learned not to question the reasons and just comply. Cutting up a few tater tots is a small penalty to pay in order to prevent the wrath she would rain down if presented with - gasp - whole tots! My son will not eat anything unless it has been dipped into something else first. The funny thing is that what the dip is does not matter in the least. We have dipped carrots into applesauce, hamburger into yogurt ... you name it, we've dipped it. I have no idea what inspired our "Little Dipper" to adopt this fetish. I just know that when I hear the chorus of "dip, dip dip", then I need to come running with some type of dipping sauce in hand.
The one thing I have learned from feeding my kids is that its not as easy as it looks. If I had to do it all over again, I would wait as long as possible to introduce them to real food and all the drama that comes along with it! I am currently savoring the time with my youngest who is still only on the bottle. He needs to start baby food soon and I have had several nightmares about his impending orange nose and the green bean puree being spewed back onto my shirt. Yes, I am savoring each time he drinks a bottle because I know once the spoon goes into his mouth, it's all downhill from there.
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Again, you have hit it on the nose. I can back you up on the dipping and pickness of "some" eaters. However they are so cute and such a blessing to all of us.
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