Still no pictures...

I had a request today to post more pictures. We are at my parents' house in CA til the end of February so I am unable to post pictures until then. I will have plenty though to keep you all happy!

No major updates...more words everyday and more teeth for most. I'm wowed by them everyday as they learn new things. I can't imagine learning that much in one day! As for the tooth count...Ellie has 3 on top, 4 on the bottom, one molar with one more pushing through. Liam has 4 coming in on top and 2 firmly established on the bottom. Lily has one beauty of a tooth on the bottom and hopefully several more to come. When? I have no idea. Hopefully before preschool.

A Whole Lotta Words

First of all, my apologies for the previous post. It was just one of those days.

The words have been flying around here! Each day, they come up with new words and new abilities to imitate words. I'm amazed at how much they are able to learn and retain. Without further ado, here are the word tallies so far:

Ellie
Words...dog, car, bus, milk, cracker, water, more, please, thank you, hi, bye, ball, book, up, down, off, no, cup, bowl, all done, scrub (verb), brush (verb), swing (verb), rock (verb), Momma, Dada, Grammie (gigi), bathtime
Animal Sounds....cow, sheep, dog, cat, chicken, duck, horse, elephant, monkey
Environmental Sounds...car, airplane
Signs...more, please, all done, music, touchdown (for Daddy), safe (ump call in baseball...for Uncle Josh)

Lily
Words... dog, bear, milk, cracker, more, please, hi, bye, all done, ball, up, no, sock, brush (verb), swing (verb), Momma, Dada, Papa, Aunt Mollly (Mo), bus, car,
Animal Sounds...cow, sheep, dog, duck, horse, monkey
Environmental Sounds...car, airplane
Signs...more, please, all done, touchdown, safe, airplane

Liam
Words...dog, truck, tractor, car, bus, hi, bye, more, all done, Grammie (gigi), ball, no, up, milk, cracker, please, Momma, Dada, uh-oh
Animal Sounds...dog, cow
Environmental Sounds...car, airplane
Signs...more, please, all done, touchdown, safe

They are showing more and more awareness of each other and how to help each other. For example, this morning, our babygate into the kitchen was closed and Liam couldn't get it open. I told Ellie to "help Liam" and without telling how to help him, she went over to the gate and pushed it open for him. When Lily dropped her milk on the floor, Liam was very concerned that she might still be thirsty so he picked up the milk, worked hard to stand up with it and took it over to her.
They love to give kisses and all you have to do is make a "humming" sound with your lips out and they will stop what they are doing and come over to give a kiss.

This motherhood gig is difficult and trying, but the most wonderful thing in the world. I'd never give it up and am so thankful that my wonderful husband makes is possible for me to stay home with them. I couldn't imagine allowing someone else to be with my beautiful babies all day. On Monday, when we fly to California, I may change my mind about some things, but it is just a strange phenomenon that occurs when we are in flight with 3 17-month olds. Luckily, all wonderful feelings return the minute the wheels hit the runway.

Christie

Things that annoy me...

Sometimes, my nerves just run short and then ordinary not-a-big-deal things really tend to ruin my days. It is not every day, but just once in a while.

1. Why do my triplets wait until 30 minutes into nap time to poop and can then not go back to sleep, thereby shortening my "break time" by at least an hour?

2. Why did grocery stores stop using paper bags? I thought that plastic was hard on the environment. The last thing I want to do, after cleaning up 4 rooms of toys, clothes that have been pulled out of drawers, my tupperware and pots and pans all over my kitchen, 3 bibs and food off the floor that has been dropped by 3 toddlers, is clean up my car of small cans and condiments and everything else that spilled out of the bags when I turned corners.

3. My purse when it falls off the diaper bag and empties itself all over the passendger side of my car.

That's all that's been plaguing my Sunday for now. :)

Harnessing of the Toddlers

Ellie, Lily and Liam are all walking now, so I gave in and purchased "harnesses." Jack doesn't like it when I call them leashes and I understand that, but horses wear harnesses. Oh well. Can't get away from the facts I guess. What brought me to this moment, you ask? The fact that I took them all out of their stroller in a public place wrought with dangers like strangers, moving cars, stores with folded shirts and pants well within the reach of 6 little arms. Within seconds, they were off (fast) in different directions and threatening both their lives and the store displays. I'm not sure why I thought my perfect children would stay near the stroller and just look at all the temptations. Note to self...16 month olds won't listen when the desire to touch and destroy pulls stronger than the force of gravity.





I didn't buy the plain blue harnesses, but I got little animal backpacks. Surely that will take away from the attention. 3 beautiful children running around with cute animals on their backs? Hardly will that dispell the attention. I'm sure I'll get some rude comments, under their breadth, but loud enough to hear. Let me put out my disclaimer before anyone reading this thinks I'm a total control freak and thinks that I can't get my children to obey. I'm harnessing them for their safety. So that they are able to get out of that dang stroller and touch and explore within the safety of Mom's reach. They LOVE to walk and run and they get miserable sitting in their stroller all the time. I, frankly, can't blame them. PLUS, I have THREE toddlers to save from their own destruction. SO, they will be harnesses with their little animal backpacks (dog, horse, monkey) and everyone will be happy and relaxed.

Happy New Year!

I can't believe how much has happened in the past year! It is already 2008 and the babies are 16 months old. Jack and I recently celebrated our 4th anniversary, although "celebrated" has taken up a different meaning. This year, we actually got to go to a restaurant, a nice restaurant for adults. It is different going out now and leaving the kids at home. I never fully relax and enjoy the dinner. Don't get me wrong, I love going out, but in the back of my mind, I wonder if they ate enough dinner, if they had their teeth brushed, if they were in bed on time, if they had a hard time going to sleep, if they wonder where their Mommy and Daddy are... Obviously the people with whom Jack and I leave them are very capable, but the questions are always there. I guess that is part of being a parent though.

We all had a great Christmas in California too. It was nice to get away from the snow and cold temps and actually play outside most of the day. The kids love my parents' dogs, cats and in general, their house. There are more rooms for exploring and much more going on with my siblings coming and going, friends visiting and outings with Mommy and Grammie. They rode the Merry Go Round, walked on the beach, played on lots of playgrounds, went out to lunch and played with their 3 cousins and their aunts and uncles.

They didn't really "get" opening presents, but they did like playing with their new toys and especially all the boxes and tissue paper. It would be relaly quiet, so naturally, I'd go check on them and they'd all be sitting in boxes waving tissue paper around watching it move and crinkle. The wonderment of it all!

The flights were rough. On the way to CA, my mom accompanied us, since we went out a week early and Jack still had to work. We bought a total of 4 seats for me, my Mom and 2 babies and we took on their huge carseats for the flight, thinking that since they were used to them, maybe they'd sit in them and fall asleep. No such luck. One, two or all three were screaming the whole flight. In fact, one fellow passenger "helped" by asking the flight attendant to ask me if it was his ears and what could be done about it. Pretty sure he was really upset about not being able to move and about missing a nap...not his ears. On the way home, we did use some Benadryl and it worked on Liam but not on the girls. I had them in my row with no carseats. It was easier to not have the carseats because the girls were able to fall asleep on my legs and on their seat, after they screamed for about 20 minutes. Again, I had more "help" from other passengers. So, if you are reading this and were on a flight between Denver and Orange County and were ANYWHERE near our seats, I apologize, but there was nothing I could do. It doesn't help me when you stand up in your seat, turn around and stare at me. I'm not hitting them. It doesn't help when you tell me to turn on Nickelodeon on the TV. They don't watch TV and it wouldn't stop their screams. If, however, you have a way for me to get to the airport right when the flight takes off so that they can have their naps at home, then I'm all ears. A private plane would work for us.

We've also been busy playing in the snow and learning abou tthe wetness and the coldness. They love being outside and so far, haven't minded their gloves being on. It doesn't take much for them to figure out that they need gloves in the snow.

We took a walk in the snow around our street the other day. We live on a cul-de-sac so the kids were able to basically walk anywhere without me worrying about a car coming. Lily actually climbed over snow banks to get to our neighbor's Christmas decorations. She would also put her face fully in the snow and eat it. Liam liked picking it off his gloves and eating it and Ellie would have nothing to do with eating snow.

In other news, our fish, Chester, died. Yes, it is sad. We left with our very capable friends while we went to California. Apparently, he died on Christmas Eve day. Oh well. There was always something kind of wierd about him. May he rest in peace. We will get a new fish, to be named Chester2, but we're waiting until March. The kids and I will be in California for a month coming up and I don't want to have to worry about finding another babysitter for our fish.

A Happy 2008 to everyone!!!!!

Christie