Lily

Aaaaah, Lily. There is nothing relaxing about this girl. She is a firecracker and the only one I have to keep all 5 of my mommy eyes on. Ellie and Liam will stay close to me when we are out and out of the stroller, but not Lily. She will be gone in a flash and has no problem becoming friendly with anyone, as evidenced today when she was flirting with 6 firemen in Dairy Queen. They were nice looking...she has good taste.

Lily was born the smallest, at 2 lbs. 10 oz. and she has stayed the smallest, at 21.5 lbs at 2 years old. She makes up for her little size in personality though.

Some facts about Lily:

* Her cry sounds like a firetruck (maybe that is the reason for the affinity towards the firemen); so much so

that I once looked out the window because I thought a firetruck was on our street. No joke.

* She is the least picky eater of the 3.

* She just crumples and is a love when she is teething.

* Lily is our ham. She adores the camera and says "cheese" whenever she sees the camera, even if it isn't my

camera.

* While she is the most outgoing, she is the one copletely content to hang out by herself and look at a book.

Lily "cheesing" in her carseat...remembering fun times at the zoo.

I constantly have to watch this child. If we go out without the stroller to a busy place, like the zoo or aquarium, she gets the backpack with the leash. No question about it.

She loves chocolate, like her mommy's daughter should.

She loves to accessorize and has always liked to put things on her head and around her neck. Even as an infant, she'd put ANYTHING around her neck. We've always had to keep an eye on her.

In other news....Liam went pee in the potty tonight. We gave htem a chance before putting on night time diapers and jammies and lo and behold, he peed and then promptly stood up and put his hand in it. No, I'm not beginning potty training, but if they ask, I'll happily put them on the potty to try and pee. They get one M&M for pee and 2 for poo. Since we are being frank, Ellie tried to get an M&M for passing gas on the toilet. I'm proud, no doubt, but no go.

Ellie

Ellie-Belle is a sweet heart, but definitely has the head strong qualities that both her mother and father possess. She is definitely a Momma's girl. Whenever we go somewhere, she and Liam stick close to me.

If this girl could swing all day, she'd be in heaven. Whenever we go to the park, she runs straight to the swings and swings until I have to extract her and refuse to put her back in. Sounds mean, I know, but it is the only way that I can get her to actually get out some energy at the park. Eventually, she gives up and comes to play on the slide or whatever with me, Liam and Lily. On the other hand, Liam and Lily ask to swing and then say "All done swing" about 30 seconds later.

Ellie is a Mommy's helper. She loves to do anything that I do. She copies the way I brush my hair, drink water, put on chapstick, etc. She LOVES to get into my bags, purses and drawers, pull things out and hand them to me with a "Thank you Momma." When we have friends over who have babies, she is insistent upon giving the baby his/her bottle, paci, diaper, bib and whatever else is in the diaper bag. She's a love.

Jack and I are so thankful that we have been given the opportunity to raise this beautiful little girl.

Liam

This is how Liam sits in his car seat, although he is hamming it up a bit in this shot. Whenenver I turn around, if he's not taking something from the girls, he is chillin' in his seat with his hands behind his head.

If we were all this easy to please...shark jammies and "geen cocs" (green crocs). He asks for them as soon as he wakes up.

I just love this little dude and am so thankful that God has entrusted him to me and Jack.

How did I Do That????

It is mornings like these, that I look back and wonder how I survived when the triplets were little.

Liam has been teething and isn't handling it well. Poor little guy. This morning at 4am, he woke up screaming, "Liam wants the book!" He yelled it 4 or 5 times (I lost track in my semi-conscious sleep) and then all was quiet. I was so relieved! Well, it didn't last long. He began yelling for me at 4:17am. Looking back, I should have placed him in the pack n' play that lives in one of our guest rooms; however, he so sweet asked for "Mommy's bed" and I was still delirious from coming out of a great, but bizarre dream, that I brought him into our bed. Jack is on a business trip this week so it is just me here holding down the fort. No one slept at all...I'm tired and I really wonder how I did feedings every 3 hours that took 1 1/2 hours to complete, only to get up and do it all again an hour later. My hat is off to you new multiple Moms.

Some days do you just look back and wonder how you accomplished everything? It doesn't matter if you have triplets, twins, quads or just several children of different ages. Yesterday was one of those for me. We have been really busy lately and the kids have been thrown off their naps, so I decided that yesterday, we'd just hang around the house and play in the water in the afternoon. The only thing we had to do was go to a triplet bday party at 5:30pm. I didn't even have to do dinner!!!

At 11:45am, one of my friends called and asked if I'd watch her 10-month old for a couple hours. A work meeting had been rescheduled and she didn't have anyone who could babysit. No problem! She brought Amelie over at 1:30. I fed my kids, gave Amelie a bottle and put her down for her nap at 2:30, then we all went outside. Amelie was still sleeping at 5pm when her Mom picked her up.

Here's where the day got a bit crazier. That morning, I had decided to wash all 3 car seats. I mean, really wash. I took them completely apart, washed the fabric, the straps, everything. At 4:17pm, we can in from outside, wet, covered in different colors from chalk and I realized that the car seats had yet to be put together. Oops. We had to leave right at 5pm, after Amelie got picked up. That gave me 40 minutes to change 3 toddlers, change myself, re-assemble 3 car seats and install them in the car. Mmmmmm....

I actually accomplished it, threw the kids in the car as soon as Amelie's Mom left and off we went to the party.

Whew!

Today, we have a zoo trip planned after their nap. That's all...hopefully.

This is how we play...Lily has a strainer and pretends it is a hat. Liam takes the opportunity to get up on his knees, slap the handle of the strainer and laugh as the strainer flies across the room. Lily cries and puts her "hat" back on. Liam laughs and repeats and repeats and repeats.

This is a pic from the triplet picnic we went to in June. I just think it is the cutest picture of Lily. She rode around and around on this train in her favorite pink car.

Here's the five of us at the triplet picnic. L-R: Liam, Ellie, Lily

My Little Talkers

Ellie, Lily and Liam will be 2 years old on August 20th. I can't believe that these beautiful children have been in our lives for almost 2 years. How boring life must have been before them. Ha ha ha! Well, I think that my "old" life was boring sometimes, but sometimes I miss having my own things. Now, they eat everything off my plate, even if it is THE EXACT SAME THING that is on their plate. In fact, I try to make mine look EXACTLY like theirs so that I can (maybe) eat a whole meal, but it doesn't work. I constantly hear "Lily bite?" "Ellie bite please?" "Liam bite?" They do the same thing with my drinks..."Ellie/Lily/Liam sip please?" This tactic that they've chosen can actually work to my advantage though. I've been able to get veggies and carrot juice in their little tummies because I play up how delicious my food or drink is and they will inevitably ask for bit after bite after bite after bite.

Anyway, they are talking up a storm. There is constant chatter in our house that is punctuated by screams. Each one has his or her own strengths. It is fascinating to watch them grow. No matter what all the scientists say, boys are definitely wired differently than girls. I have not taught Liam any different behaviors than I've taught the girls, but he takes more risks physically than the girls do and he tackles the girls. Yes, you read that right. Neither Jack nor I taught the act of tackling, but Liam would be a fine addition to any flag football team. He comes up behind the girls, wraps his arms around their waists and holds on until he takes them down. They cry, he laughs, gets up and goes after the next sister. You can't teach that. It hasn't been football season either, so I know he didn't learn it from watching football. It is just innate in boys, I guess. Like I said, it is fascinating watching them grow.

Ellie:

Ellie come work Mommy?

I see you Liam/Lily.

Ellie funny.
Ellie blankie dirty.

Mommy wash blankie.

Ellie is a doll. She loves anything having to do with fine motor actions. She gets so excited when I bring in their car seats so that I can wash the covers. She will sit for up to 30 minutes just putting the buckles together. She asks for help to unbuckle, then she does it all over again. She is in heaven when she gets to help me cook or clean. She picks out the shoes she wants to wear and tries to put them on herself.

Liam

Liam drink chocolate milk.

Daddy sleeping. Wake up Daddy.
Where go?

Liam want more noodles.

Pink cup fall down.

This sweet angel boy is amazing. He can count to 10 without help, name up to 8 letters and colors without help. He even looks out the window and points out letters on the billboards. It was crazy when he first started doing this. He loves to read, wrestle and is generally a happy almost 2-year old. I love this little guy.

Lily

No fighting.
Lily want bite.
Where go bear?
Help! Lily poopies.

Lily is by far the most outgoing of the bunch. She is the one that I have to watch like a hawk whenever we go somewhere. She loves to just wander and follow whatever she finds interesting at the moment. Like today, we were leaving my allergist's office and she turned right and followed another fmaily while we turned left to go to the car. She loves big kids and this family had 4 big kids and she found them to be far more interesting than she did us. I guess I can understand. :) If I had just let her go, she would have been completely happy until she turned around and Mommy wasn't there. I've let her go before and silently followed and she had a grand ol' time for about 3-5 minutes before she looked up and didn't see me. She will say "hi" to anyone and loves attention. Lily is completely content to be on her own but definitely checks in with me when she needs some company.

Sorry about the spacing. I can't figure out what's going on. I'm totally computer challenged. If anyone has any idea why my computer is changing the spacing on its own, I'd love to hear about it.

Blogger and my computer aren't letting me upload pictures. Dang it! I'll try later.

We found the best park near us. It has a little red train that goes around the park, a man-made stream with a nice sandy rock bottom that kids can walk and splash in and a little red barn with a petting zoo that includes pics, cows, goats, chickens, ducks and a turkey. The kids loved being able to pet the cow and play in the dirt with the pigs. Of course, I would rather not have them in the mud with pigs, but if you can't do it when you're a little kid, then when would you be able to take advantage of that opportunity? They had a great time and we, of course, washed our hands well after that activity.

Our 4th of July was pretty mellow around here. We played in the sandbox and pools in our backyard all day, BBQ'd hot dogs for lunch and just hung out as a family. Fireworks don't really start til around 9;30 here, because it is so light, so we knew the kids wouldn't make it. Jack and I put them down around 7, then we rented National Treasure 2, ate pizza and had some wine and beer on our front patio and watched the fireworks show on our street. Surprisingly enough, the fireworks going off right outside the kids' bedroom window didn't wake them up.

I have to get allergy shots twice a week and I take the kids with me. Yesterday, Ellie, Lily and Liam were unusally "verbal" as the nurses said and Lily was the ring leader. A little boy, around 7, came in with his mom. While she checked them in, he kneeled on one of the chairs and watched Ellie, Lily and Liam playing. Lily stood up and yelled "Sit down!" at the poor boy. He got off the chair and ran over to his mom. Talk about a bully. The poor boy was scared off by a 23 month old the size of a 13 month old. That's my girl!!!!

Oh, we also went to a triplet picnic put on by the triplet group here in Denver. We ate lunch and then took some rides on the train. Well, the kids did. Actually Lily stayed on it for an hour going around and around. Liam and Ellie didn't take to it very much but Lily claimed the pink car and loved every minute.



The train at the park.


Lily, Ellie and Liam walking in the stream at the park. They kept getting more and more daring and by the time we left, they were soaking.

Ellie, Liam and Lily, soaking wet after playing in the stream.

The triplet picnic. My kiddos at the table and my friend, Suzi, and her kiddos in the triple jogger.