NEXT National Triplet Connection Convention July 9 - 11, 2010

Kree Lindsay, long-time director of the Triplet Connection Convention, and the mother of eight, including triplets, has announced that the next national Triplet Connection Convention has been scheduled for July 9 - 11, 2010 in the Philadelphia area.

"Let Threedom Ring," the three day family convention for those with triplets, quadruplets, and higher order multiples, is set to take place at the Crown Plaza Valley Forge in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania just a short drive from Philadelphia.

Families that are raising multiples who wish to attend should watch the convention website for in depth information and downloadable registration forms which will be available soon.

Media queries, as well as those seeking information on family-friendly corporate sponsorship, goody bag and auction opportunities for the 2010 Triplet Connection Convention should be directed to Janis Brett Elspas, convention media relations director, at janis@janiselspas.com   A list of 2009 sponsors is listed here .

Vacation Safety for Kids

Watch for my blog story I'll be posting on the important topic of safety for families on vacation. Post will be going up on Friday, July 31st

Hope you and your family are having a safe summer so far!

FLYING ADVICE With Children: One, Twins or Triplets!

FLYING WITH KIDS Doesn't Have to STRESS You Out

Just ask me. I have triplets plus an older child all born within one year and I have not only flown with one or more children under 6 months of age domestically, but have also taken older 3- and 4-year olds on multiple transcontinental flights in the U.S. and have been happily flying ever since with our four children, two girls and two boys ever since, both with my husband and alone.

YES, believe it or not, you CAN fly even with young children without losing your sanity! And where there is a goal in mind, if you think you can do it, you will accomplish it. I know because for the last seven years I've taken my kids to The Triplet Connection Convention in Chicago, St. Louis, Orlando, Washington, D.C., Phoenix and other cities in the U.S. http://www.tripletconnectionconvention.com

Maybe I should write a book about my secrets of flying success with my kids so the world so doesn't just take my word for it that it can be done. But the good news, is I don't have to publish a book, since luckily, there is a great guide that already exists for families flying in a post-September 11 world with children titled, "Jet With Kids," by Anya Clowers, RN, and traveling mom http://www.jetwithkids.com

How I wish this book had been around when I started taking my own children on plane trips a few years back to help smooth the travel experience for my family. Perhaps, I would have decided to have more kids (maybe even another set of triplets) after having my first four in such quick succession.

I couldn't agree with Clowers more, this book really will take the fear out of flying with your kids and the chapters inside cover it all. Traveling by plane during pregnancy or with a newborn, for example? That would have come in handy for sure, when I was pregnant with my triplets and the first time we took a commercial plane trip for the day from Los Angeles to San Francisco for a family celebration and we had to buy an extra adult plane ticket just so we could bring our nanny to hold one of our triplets, while my husband and I held the other two on our laps since they weren't old enough to sit in their own seats yet. Good thing our our "older" son, born just a year before the triplets, did get his own seat on that flight!

But, I digress. "Jet With Kids" also gives great advice for dealing with toddlers teething, booster seats, and all the other things you need to know for children for which airlines do require you to buy a seat. It even gives tips on breast feeding on flights when you may find yourself sitting next to a lucky not-so-friendly stranger who is already irritated that your child is climbing over him to look out the window since this unhappy adult wasn't smart enough to ask for an aisle seat when he found out that your child would be in the same row.

Traveling with kids on American Airlines, US Air or any other commercial airline doesn't have to be a trip you wish you had not taken. Without a doubt, this handy guide will be a life saver and is worth far more than you will pay for it. You might even be able to sell copies to other passengers with kids during the flight to offset the cost of your own copy, so you might want to buy extra books to sell and give as gifts to others.

After all, what price can you put on piece of mind while traveling on a long flight with kids?

Enjoy the Friendly Skies WITH YOUR CHILDREN!

A Four-Year Old’s Perspective of Being a Triplet

Being a Triplet Through the Eyes of a Four Year Old
Since I was only four when I attended my first national multiples gathering, I can’t remember not going to this event. I look forward to it every year, whether we drive or fly there, it’s always different, fun, and exciting and one of the things I love to do most with my family. I’m 12 now and I still am just as excited!

Now that I am older I can really appreciate how it has affected my life as a triplet. The moms and dads get to attend boring (yawn!) multiples parenting workshops for every age of babies, kids, and teens on how to conquer and divide our three-person corporations (and our singleton siblings who want to get in on the family funny business). Meanwhile, us kids get to have all the fun (and none of the work), playing with other kids, joining organized games and enjoying entertainment for especially for multiples like the one-and-only four-legged race (three leg race triplet-style) and a parade of hundreds of Triplets, Quads and Quints all in costumes or look-alike clothes. My big brother, who is a surviving twin, and one year older than us triplets gets to hang out with other oldest children who have to deal with a trio as energetic as we are!

When you’re a triplet, it is so easy to make new friends constantly during the convention because there are so many others like us in the same age range. We've met triplets from all over the U.S., Puerto Rico, and even a few European families this way. And we see our old triplet and up friends from past years and can't believe how much they grow each year (they say the same thing about us). In fact, my mom denies it, but I think I must be related to lots of these other multiples since this feels like a family reunion each year and I consider them all my cousins!

I just get excited playing all the games that they have at the triplet convention. And there is always something new and something old each year -- more different kinds of entertainment than you can imagine and whatever we do it's always a HUGE hit. There are plenty more reasons why I love the Triplet Convention. My siblings even say that they are the happiest when they make new friends here.

Oh, and we also get to go to all of these cool places across America like St. Louis, Phoenix, Arizona, Chicago, Washington D.C., Florida, and many more places (Sorry, I've been to so many conventions, I just can’t remember them all).

Every year, these television camera people follow us everywhere during the convention and I feel like a celebrity like Hannah Montana or one of the stars from High School Musical!!!! Me and my family have also had our picture in newspapers and magazine (not because we robbed a bank, mind you, but because we are "just" a garden variety family with triplets) and we've gotten interviewed for live TV talk shows and network news broadcasts, both us kids and our parents.

My mom, who has been part of Triplet Connection since we were born, even created a new game in 2002 for the Triplet Convention. It's called the four-legged-race. Instead of the usual 3-legged race, all three of the triplets can participate in this race. It is really hilarious, because unlike a three-leg race where only two kids have to cooperate, all three triplets have to work together to make sure the kid in the middle doesn’t trip because both of his legs are tied to a different kid and he has no free movement without them. My siblings always practice for the Big Race for the weeks leading up to convention, so we can defend our winning title in our age group (which increases every year, since we keep getting older). YES, without a doubt The Triplet Convention is the coolest ever!!!!

I hope more kids who have been to multiples gatherings, both locally and nationally will comment on this story and share your own adventures with me!

These Breast Pumping Bras That Are SO Hip

I remember the days when I felt like I was on life support with a bunch of wires and equipment attached whenever I was hooked up to my breast pump to extract milk for my triplets, all who were born with huge appetites because they were born healthy and weighing in at 17 lbs combined (an average of 5+ pounds each).

How I wish the pumping bras sold by Snugabell Mom & Baby Gear had existed then. They are so amazingly hip for today's breast feeding ladies, it almost makes me want to get pregnant with another set of multiples, maybe even quadruplets! These fashion statements, available online at http://www.pumpease.com won't scare your husband away, either, as they make pumping Mommies look rather pretty on the job.

I know it's been more than a decade since I last used my breast pump round the clock to make sure I had enough breast milk for my triplets and older child (all born within a year and whom I breast fed and pumped milk simultaneously for almost 2 years). I remember feeling like a cow in a dairy-go-round facility as I spent so much time pumping milk.

Pumping bras with the proper support just weren't available then, and even the most progressive nursing bras of the past were so "old lady", both in fit and design. These stylish bras provide pumping support with comfort, something else I would have appreciated since pumping both sides at once wasn't the most comfortable experience for me. Not only are these bras truly functional, they come in great colors, styles, and designs in a HUGE range of sizes. I wish this company been around, in the 1990s, because I would have ordered one in every design they have in my size.

MORE Products Making Parenting Easy & FUN!

The Internet has got to be the number one source for learning about resources (and great products) so we can be better parents, whether we have newborns or our kids are college-age. And no one appreciates making parenting easier than parents who have triplets (like me), quads, or even just twins or two children born within a year.

Recently, while working as a volunteer gathering Goody Bag and Auction items for the upcoming National Triplet Convention in July, I have come across a number of generous businesses, large and small, who are contributing their products to our non-profit's effort. The pumping bras sold by Snugabell Mom & Baby Gear are amazingly hip for today's breast feeding ladies. These fashion statements are pictured and available at http://www.pumpease.com It's been more than a decade since I last used my Medela high volume breast pump to make sure I had enough breast milk for my triplets and older child, all born within a year and whom I breast fed and pumped milk for simultaneously. I remember it, I felt like a cow in a dairy-go-round facility as I spent so much time pumping. Pumping bras with the proper support just weren't available then, and even the nursing bras were so "old lady." These stylish bras provide pumping support with comfort, functionality, and come in great colors, styles, and designs in a HUGE range of sizes -- they are so ahead of their time! Had this company been around, then, I would have ordered one in every design they have in my size.

Another convention sponsor who is providing an outstanding product for us is Baby Banz, Inc. Their UV protective swimsuit, hat/glass combo, sunscreen kit, and sunglass case for children all feature fine workmanship that is colorful and practical. You can buy these online in various little kid sizes at usa.babybanz.com Makes me almost want to have ANOTHER set of triplets just so I can put little ones into these darling swimsuit outfits.

Please feel free to comment on this post as well as add to the must-have list of products that make parenting so much easier and fun!

Products Simplifying Multiple Pregnancy & Parenting

My own triplets just turned 12, but I cease to be amazed by all the helpful new products and services that keep coming out to make the lives of new parents easier. I am particularly enthralled by the apparent creative genius of inventions that continue to roll out to benefit parents with children born close together, and even more important, to help multiple parents who's children were born REALLY close together, usually just a minute or two apart.

Again and again, I think why can't I be the one to come up with these great ideas that help both expectant mothers of multiples as well as parents raising twins, triplets, quads and higher order multiples? After all, when I was pregnant with triplets, as well as after my trio was born I realized I had three newborns but there were only two parents to take care of them all. In fact, during those exhausting Halcyon days (an oxymoron for sure), I thought of plenty of needs that we had as new multiple parents that weren't being met with solutions by any of the products and services available at our local ToysRUs back then.*

*BTW, I'm not sure about now, but between 1997-2000 I think ToysRUs was the BEST place to buy discounted disposable diapers (premie to toddler size) by the case without having to clip $1.50 off coupons during late night feedings to buy the single diaper packages sold in supermarkets. I can even remember the image of the "diaper warehouse" clearly in our garage, where we had boxes of ToysRUs diapers stacked 5 boxes high!

Back on Subject: To give you some perspective of life in the "olden days" with multiples, when my own triplets were born in the mid 1990s our brand new Perego Triple Stroller, custom-built in Italy, was so state of the art. Perego and its multiple stroller competitors have continued to reincarnate that product category many times since, improving upon and fine-tuning the features us multiple parents want and need.

Today, multiple-expectant friends I know either pregnant or in their first three years of child-raising keep telling me about these great new gadgets they're using.

Like the Baby Dipper bowl that doesn't tip over and makes feeding a breeze and the Prenatal Dance Fitness DVD by a Jennifer Jimenez, a Prenatal Fitness Specialist. I certainly could have used Jennifer's DVD when I was pregnant with triplets and ordered to gain 25 pounds PER BABY (3 x 25 = 75 lbs). Of course this fitness program had not been developed yet, but neither were those Baby Dipper Bowls when I was feeding FOUR in high chairs. Did I mention that my surviving twin son was only born a year before my triplets? It certainly would have made me happier and the kitchen floor would have been cleaner!

Last, but not least, we now luckily have the Internet that is readily accessible, even someone who is on bed rest expecting triplets might easily be connected via Wi-Fi. How I wish there had been blogs back in my triplet pregnancy days and immediately after, when my DH and I found ourselves home from the hospital having to learn from the ground up how to manage this multiple blessing!

Everyone takes the Internet for granted today, it seems. But, if I really think about it, it would have been such a relief to join a list of other triplet parents such as the Triplet.TV list I have belonged to since it first went live. That's not to mention the useful websites with information on multiples such as Triplet Connection www.tripletconnectionconventon.com, which puts on an informative and fun annual convention for multiples and their parents. Back in my day, you'd find a multiples club by accident (usually because someone told you about it), but today all you have to do is a Google search for twins & triplets local clubs nearby and you can find West Los Angeles Multiples and even a website by a triplet mom www.Tripletsandus.com, where you can find a LIST of all kinds of other resources to help you navigate through the world of multiples.

And to be able to post to Blogs like this one, as well as all to contribute to the other blogs that I read and and always learn something new from. The Internet and it all it offers today is really great and I still wonder what the world would be like right now without it.

Stay tuned for my next post on which companies have special coupons, free merchandise, and discounts for triplet, quad, and higher order multiples. I hope you'll contribute to my list of sources to help new parents out with this. Also please tell me about the products and services that have made your own lives with multiples easier as I will write about those here, too, on this blog shortly.

Goody Bag Items sought for TRIPLET CONVENTION

Janis, the pro bono media director for non-profit The Triplet Connection, STILL seeks consumer product donations for Goody Bags for this years annual convention July 10-12, 2009 in Irvine & Newport Beach, California. All kinds of items needed for both parents of multiples and their triplet, quad and higher order multiple kids ranging in age from newborns through college age. Quantities needed for goody bags vary depending item(s) donated so once you let us know the type of item your company (or your client) has to donate we'll be able to tell you how many we would need. We also need products and services donated for our auctions and raffles at the event since this is our only fund raiser of the year. By helping the Triplet Connection Convention (which is widely covered by the media) you'll be getting something in return from our non-profit: more visibility via a link we will post on the convention site www.tripletconnectionconvention.com to your company's own site acknowledging your donations. Email me direct at janis@janiselspas.com and I'll send you a donation form to complete if interested. Triple Thanks!

Triplet Connection Convention July 10-12, 2009

The world's largest annual gathering of families with triplets, quadruplets and higher order multiples will take place July 10-12, 2009 in Irvine and Newport Beach, California. This is the only national meeting of its type providing support, friendship, and resources to parents and their multiple families. For more info on the convention and to register go to http://www.tripletconnectionconvention.com