Liam and the girls

Changes

2009-03-13T05:28:00.003-06:00

I'm behind, I know. We've been hit by this economy and well, blogging hasn't been on my "To Do" list. Jack's had a job change and praise God! He was only out of work for 3 days before he found another job. We saw his lay-off coming, so I started back to work full time at the end of January. Now, we are a double income family, paying childcare, which almost defeats the purpose of me working, but not entirely.

I miss being ith my babies so much it hurts. Neither Jack nor I had ever wanted me to work outside the home, except for maybe a day. At least we are on the same plan to get me back home with the kids as soon as possible. Right now, we have a wonderful woman watching the kids in our home and we are planning on getting an AuPair for the next year or so.

The kids are growing more and more each day. Sometimes I look at them and get a flash of what they will look like in Kindergarten. I'm excited to watch them grow and learn, but at the same time, I want my babies to stay my babies.

They love playing hide-and-seek and will start up a game together at random times throughout the day. The other day, I told Liam to go hide and he said, "But I cannot go hide." Why? "Because Lily can't count." Okay. That actually makes some sense. At that time, Lily was walking around the house covering her eyes and yelling for Liam to go hide.

I'll post again as I can find some time, but for now, here's a picture from December 2008. I have some more, but my computer is getting fixed. I'll post more soon.

(Left-Right): Liam, Ellie, Lily

Tagged

2009-01-26T20:06:00.003-07:00

I was tagged by my internet friend MaryBeth over at: https://foursillysisters.blogspot.com/ She tagged me a looong time ago, and I'm just now sitting down to do this. Sorry MB!! I'm to go to my 5th folder in my pictures file and select the 5th picture and tell you about it. Here it is:

This is my sweet Ellie, around 18 months, when she was just getting into wearing any jewelry she could find. She was so excited to get a necklace and a matching bracelet that she wore them both for days. Looking back over all the pictures was amazing. I can't believe that my little 2 lb babies are 2 1/2 and are doing so well. They never stop talking and making up stories. They love the fort we made this weekend and kept pretending that the Big Bad Wolf or Swiper was coming to chase them. Amazing little minds.

In other news, I will be going back to work full time next week. Jack and I decided that with the nature of this market and with him being in mortgages, that it was best to have some security until (hopefully) this economy sorts itself out. I have two girls who will alternate days taking care of the kids at our house. We are also seriously contemplating getting an aupair, so if any of you have advice about aupairs, please, please, please share!!!

Toddler's Creed

2009-01-07T16:35:00.003-07:00

I cannot take credit for this, but it is sooooo true!

The Toddler’s Creed

If it is on, I must turn it off.
If it is off, I must turn it on.
If it is folded, I must unfold it.
If it is a liquid, it must be shaken, then spilled.
If it a solid, it must be crumbled, chewed or smeared.
If it is high, it must be reached.
If it is shelved, it must be unshelved.
If it is pointed, it must be run with at top speed.
If it has leaves, they must be picked.
If it is plugged, it must be unplugged.
If it is not trash, it must be thrown away.
If it is in the trash, it must be removed, inspected, and thrown on the floor.
If it is closed, it must be opened.
If it does not open, it must be screamed at.
If it has drawers, they must be rifled.
If it is a pencil, it must write on the refrigerator, monitor, or table.
If it is full, it will be more interesting emptied.
If it is empty, it will be more interesting full.
If it is a pile of dirt, it must be laid upon.
If it is stroller, it must under no circumstances be ridden in without protest. It must be pushed by me instead.
If it has a flat surface, it must be banged upon.
If Mommy's hands are full, I must be carried.
If Mommy is in a hurry and wants to carry me, I must walk alone.
If it is paper, it must be torn.
If it has buttons, they must be pressed.
If the volume is low, it must go high.
If it is toilet paper, it must be unrolled on the floor.
If it is a drawer, it must be pulled upon.
If it is a toothbrush, it must be inserted into my mouth.
If it has a faucet, it must be turned on at full force. I
f it is a phone, I must talk to it.
If it is a bug, it must be swallowed.
If it doesn't stay on my spoon, it must be dropped on the floor.
If it is not food, it must be tasted.
If it is food, it must not be tasted.
If it is dry, it must be made wet with drool, milk, or toilet water.
If it is a carseat, it must be protested with an arched back.
If it is Mommy (or Daddy), it must be hugged.
I am toddler!

Pictures will be downloaded tonight or tomorrow and will be posted soon!!!

Diva

2008-12-13T14:05:00.005-07:00

In my last post, I mentioned that Lily seems possessed. She does, but in lieu of the word 'possessed' we are going to use 'diva.' It sounds nicer. She's been getting 4 teeth in and I believe that that is the reason for some of her diva behavior, but by no means am I going to put it all on teething. She doesn't get off the hook that easily.

Once, she woke up at 9:30pm crying. Jack and I were watching TV and I decided to check on her. When I opened the door and went to her, she began screaming like a diva. Hands and legs were flailing and I thought she was going to bust a vocal chord, she was screaming so loudly. I rushed her out of the room so her brother and sister wouldn't wake up. She wriggled out of my arms and fled down the hall like a banchee, I mean, like a diva. She ran screaming all the way down the hall and didn't stop until she ran into a pile of to-be-folded laundry at the end of the hall. She fell into it and then began scratching at the walls. She wouldn't be comforted and nothing I could do would have helped at that point. I've experienced this diva behavior before and know how she works. I stuck her ina pack in play in our spare room and let her get all of her screaming out. Jack and I cracked a bottle of wine and turned up the TV for a while. After about 10-15 minutes, I went back in knowing full well that she'd fall into my arms. I got it right and she cuddled like she hadn't seen me in days. She watched some TV with me and Jack and then we put her down and she fell asleep instantly.

Another diva episode happened about two weeks ago. She wanted a toy that Ellie had and I told her that she needed to wait until Ellie was done with it. Diva Lily came out fast and furious. She ran up to me with "that look." I told her that she needed to be careful lest she hit or scratch me and land herself with a spanking and time out. She controlled herself, but flew over to the table and was getting ready to push everything within reach off of it. I reminded her that she can be mad, but she cannot destroy anything. She let out a diva scream and flew over to the leather footrest and scratched it. The 4 long fingernail scratches will fade over time. I find it hard not to laugh during these episodes because I now that nothing is wrong with her, but she becomes so angry and often hits the point where she just can't even control herself.

She is just a love, but she throws quite a temper tantrum. Don't you just wish that sometimes you could put on a show like that too and just let all the frustrations out without being judged or scaring your young children? I do.

2008-12-09T13:19:00.005-07:00

So, I know I'm behind. I've never been a journaler and in fact, I clearly remember in 5th grade, we had our journal books and each morning when we arrived, we had to sit and write a paragraph about whatever. I hated it. I never knew what to write and if I was thinking about it in my head, then why should I write it down and more to the point, why should the teacher be reading it? I'd love to write a book with helpful hints about triplets because there is nothing out there. Sure, Happiest Baby on the Block and Babywise are great, but how does it work and how is everything different when you have 3 babies instead of 1. Believe you me, there are many differences. The idea of writing a book and getting the profits sounds great, but I'm not a writer.

Anyway, here are some recent pics. By recent, I mean within the past 6 months, since I blogged last. I've actually been busy cleaning tomato out of carpet and sunscreen off pots and pans.

Liam was a frog-turtle. The story behind that new species is that I bought him a turtle costume from Babystyle and he loved it. Later, he changed his mind and decided that he wanted to be a frog. Too late, but luckily he believed me when I told him that he was a frog, but looked like a turtle. He said a "frog-turtle" and it fit perfectly. Lily was a flitting ladybug and Ellie was a bee. They were miserably sick that week, but were so beyond thrilled that thye just had to knock on a door and someone would just give them CANDY! They couldn't believe it. I couldn't deprive them because of a fever.

Lily caught on fast to the whole holiday. We had been on our cul-de-sac and then covered the cul-de-sac behind us. We had hit about 16 homes and on the last one, Lily marches up the door and as soon as the lady opens the door, my well-behaved child yells, "I want candy!" I was so proud.

Look at the look on Lily's face. She still can't believe that she gets to eat candy. She was so excited. I still feel that way when I eat it. Candy makes me happy.

More to come. I promise. I'm into it now. All my pics are downloaded. I've got to tell you how Lily seems possessed when she gets really really mad, our flights to and from CA for Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving and the snow we've been playing in. Oh, and the switch from cribs to toddler beds.

I'm Back

2008-10-23T06:23:00.002-06:00

I know it has been a while. There's been a lot going on around here! For one, I started working. I'm working 3 very part time jobs, but it is keeping me busy. I love them and it is actually nice to get out of the house. Two of my jobs are on weekends or evenings, so Jack is with the kids. My other part-timer is on Wednesdays and I have an awesome sitter who comes and does endless art projects with them. You know, the art projects that you dream about doing when you have kids, but when you actually have kids, the mess and clean-up involved is just too much sometimes. Yesterday, she collected leaves, cut out a tree from a box, painted the tree, had the kids paint the leaves and then hot-glued the leaves to the tree. First of all, I would never have even thought of that and secondly, it wouldn't have turned out as cute as hers did. Oh, she does the art projects and takes wonderful car of my kids even with her 1-year old daughter whom she brings each time. Gotta love it!

Here's how the week has started:

Monday: I had to get to a triplet group meeting (Jack was out of town) so our next door neighbor was coming to babysit. I had 20 minutes til she came. I was making dinner and on the phone making a Dr. appt for Ellie. I took out some ingredients to make a salad for the kids, but when I went to get the 40 grape tomatoes, they were gone. I could have sworn I took them out, but maybe I had put them back in when I was opening and closing the fridge. Oh well. I went to the playroom to get the kids and lo and behold, all 40 of my tomatoes were spread around the playroom CARPET and smooshed. It looked like they stomped to their hearts' content on the tomatoes on my carpet. And, for a bonus, there was pulp and seeds in their hair. I have never been so mad at them! I get frustrated, yes, but never livid, can't-breathe-mad. After a short rant, I told them to get to their kitchen chairs pronto.
I had 15 minutes to clean the floor and at least start dinner with them before the sitter came. I had to pick up all the tomatoes, pulp and seeds and then got out my awesome carpet stain remover and sprayed away. After about 10 minutes, I went back to the kitchen to get them their dinner.
All the time I'd been cleaning, they had been sitting in their chairs, SILENT! To have 3 2-year olds sitting silent is a miracle. I proceeded to give them their dinner and lecture them. They ate for 10 minutes in silence. I'm not kidding!!! A full 20 minutes of silence!
Ellie said she was done so I got her down and knowing that she was the one who pulled the box of tomatoes down, I got down on her cute little 2-year old eye level and told her, "Don't you ever take anything off this counter again. I'm not mad anymore."
She followed up with, "Mommy all done mad?"
"Yes, baby, I'm all done being mad."
Liam pipes up, "Mommy happy!"
"No, baby, I'm not quite happy yet, but I'm not mad."

Tuesday: They were playing happily in the kitchen with all the pots and pans, so I took a few minutes, meaning probably 4 minutes total, to run upstairs and do a load of laundry. Just as I'm coming back down the stairs, Ellie says, "Mommy clean hands?" Uh-oh. There was a white creamy substance all over her hands and as I turn the corner in the kitchen, there is a chair pulled up to a counter and pots and pans all over the floor. Wait....the creamy white substance is all over the pots and pans too, and my cupboards, and Lily and Liam. As a result of my master detective skills, I deduce that they have pulled the sunscreen off the counter, unscrewed it and wiped it everywhere! Note to self: sunscreen does not come out in the dishwasher, nor does it come out if you use scalding hot water and dishsoap. If you're invited to our house for dinner, the dinner you are served may have a slight sunscreen taste. The excess wine that we will be serving will take care of that taste.

Wednesday: I went to work and maybe stayed a little later than usual. :)

I'll work on getting pictures up.

It makes me feel good when....

2008-08-21T12:36:00.003-06:00

We are watching the women's Olympic beach volleyball match and Liam looks up at Kerri Walsh on TV, points and says, "Dere's Mommy!"

I wish Baby, I wish...

My Babies are Almost 2!!!

2008-08-15T06:28:00.006-06:00

My "babies" turn 2 years old tomorrow! In thinking back over the past couple years, I thought I'd write about our struggles with infertility and how our 3 beautiful babies came to be.

I can't belive that time has gone so quickly. I never thought it could be like this. When I think back to when the babies were born or when I was pregnant, it seems like last summer and I have to remember that it was 2 summers ago. If you had told me that by my 5th wedding anniversary (November) I'd have 2-year old triplets, I would have laughed right in your face. Yet, here they are and my life has been changed upside down for the better. What did I do before these babies were here? I must have been bored, but I know that I wasn't. I had an unexplainable longing in my heart for a child and so looked forward to the day that Jack and I would start trying to have a baby. I never thought that infertility would throw a curve ball.

We were married in November 2003 and had talked about having kids since before we were engaged. We knew it was something that both of us desperately wanted, me more than him though. We were both older when we got married (not really, but a little bit in baby-making terms) so on our 1st wedding anniversary, I went off the pill. For some reason I thought that I'd be blessed with two stripes the first month. Nope. Maybe the second? Nope. I allowed myself that 3 month adjustment when you go off the pill after being on it for so long. Still nothing. I began tracking my basal body temps in the morning and noticed after 2 months that it looked like the blade of a saw, not at all what it should look like. I made an appointment with my OB and took her all the evidence. She agreed that I wasn't ovulating and I started on Clomid.

Clomid has a mind of its own. I didn't like that at all. I had severe hot flashes at random times throughout the day and night and I was on edge, emotionally. Hot flashes that would have me violently throwing off the covers in the middle of the night in a sweat or sticking my head in someone else's freezer at a bridal shower because I thought I was going to pass out and because the sweat running down my head was messing up my makeup and getting my clothes wet. Those kind of hot flashes. Jack was doing the laundry one day and instead of being thankful, I cried when he dropped a sock and told him that he just didn't care that much about me if he could drop a sock and not pick it up. Poor guy. He put up with a lot.

Three months of Clomid and a shot to ensure I ovulated did nothing, so my OB handed me a list of names of REs and sent me off. I cried all the way home. How could we have fertility problems? This soooo wasn't in "my plan" and for those of you who know me, I stick to my plans like all Type-A people do. Following testing, we found out that Jack's sperm don't like to swim so we got our heads around the infertility idea and began our journey.

Fortunately (for me) I had a friend who was also going through infertility and I got the name of her RE and we have a family friend who is an OB and she gave me the name of a friend of hers who is an RE. I picked my RE and we met with him in September 2005. He suggested that we start with insemination since it is not as expensive and not as invasive. So, after the battery of tests that I had to go through, I began injections in November 2005 and we had our inseminations in December.

December 2005 was a busy time for us. Jack had decided to take a new job that would move us away from my family and RE in Southern California to Denver, a beautiful city, but a city where we knew no one. We had movers coming December 17th to move all of our things and put it all in an apartment we rented. We were set to go out to Denver in January. I quit my job as a speech therapist in a school and wasn't sure if I'd get a job or not. A lot was depending on the result of our insemination.

On Friday, December 16th, I left my school for the last time and was finishing packing before the movers arrived the next morning. Jack was in Atlanta for a training and the phone rang. "I'm sorry Christie, but the pregnancy test was negative." I was so crushed. My life was packed up in boxes to move to a new state without support, my husband was away and I found out that my newly adjusted infertility plan was squashed. They gave me an appointment for January 5, 2006 to begin IVF. I know that most people try several times with insemination, but with our diagnosis, it would have been a waste of time, so said our RE. It was during all of this that my best friend told me she was pregnant and wouldn't you know it she wasn't even tryign to get pregnant!

After the news, Jack and I decided together that I would stay with my family in SoCal and continue on to IVF and Jack would move to Denver by himself. After spending Christmas with my family, Jack and I drove to Denver and I helped him unpack while he began his job. At that time, we were in a teeny tiny one bedroom apartment. He worked from home and needed an office, so our bed was in what was supposed to be the dining room and his office was in the bedroom where he was able to close a door. Jack drove me to the airport on January 4th.

January 5th, we began the whirlwind of ordering meds and learning how to inject myself. I actually still have all my extra syringes. I'm not sure why I don't throw them out, although it is either because I'm too lazy to find and drive to the disposal area for those kinds of things or because I'm sentimental. Maybe a little of both. I got used to the injections, but definitely had my days where I was ready to inject and just broke down. Why do I have to give myself shots and go through all of this when 15 year olds can get pregnant one time? Why do most of my friends have no problem getting pregnant. When I was going through all of this, one of my friends, who ended up getting pregnant on her honeymoon (accidentally) said that "it (infertility) was better than getting pregnant when your husband looks at you." No, it really isn't. I'd much rather have that "problem." It was a really hard time emotionally.

I had my egg retrieval surgery on January 28th and the transfer on February 1st. The retrieval wasn't as scary or bad as I thought it would be. It was nice to be put to sleep and I didn't have any problems recovering. My RE retrieved 13 eggs and all 13 were fertilized that day. Jack flew in for my surgery but had to go back to work a few days later, so my mom went with me to the transfer. A day or two before the transfer, our RE called me to discuss how many embryos to transfer. He gave me all the stats for my chances of getting pregnant at all, if we put 2 in and if we put 3 in. On a sidenote, I've never won anything, ANYTHING. I just don't have that kind of luck. Oh, I've entered contests and even bought lottery tickets (not that I expected that to go anywhere, but I can hope) and I've never won. So, this track record did have some bearing on my decision regarding the embryos. Anyway, our RE said that I had a 70% chance of pregnant at all, which is good, but not a guarantee by any means. If we put in 2 embryos, I had a 35% chance that both would take. If we put in 3 embryos, I had a 35% chance that we'd get twins and a 5% chance that we'd get triplets. He recommended that we put in 2 or 3. So, rather than go through everything we'd been going through and not get a baby, we decided to put in 3. Our decision was made over the phone. Difficult? Oh yes. I wanted Jack right there so we could talk about it face to face. Instead, we discussed over the phone before the Dr. called back. Three it was.

After the transfer, I just didn't feel that it worked. I laid in bed, like they told me, for 5 days doing nothing. I didn't feel anything. I think I was expecting (hoping) to feel everything the books say you'll feel when you're pregnant, but I felt nothing. About a week after the transfer, I felt a painful pinch in my abdomen area. I chalked it up to left-over cramping from the surgery or transfer or something. Looking back, I think that pinching was one of the embryos latching on, but I don't know for sure.

On February 13, 2006, I had my bloodtest to determine if I was pregnant or not. Jack flew into town to be with me for the test and results. After the test, they told me to go home and not worry. Right. Early that afternoon, I got a call from my favorite nurse and I could tell by her voice that the news was good. She said that I was definitley pregnant and most likely with more than one. Jack and I were thrilled! Then she said my HcG number: 656. I don't totally remember what the "normal" pregnancy number is, I think somewhere around 100. Yes, I was definitely pregnant and would have to wait to find out.

This post is getting really long, but I'm on a roll and the kids are still sleeping. :)

Our first ultrasound revealed 2 well developed fetuses and 1 that was significantly smaller than the other 2. The Dr. said that it looked like that one wasn't going to develop any further and that he didn't expect to see it at the next ultrasound. That was a mixed blessing. Did we want triplets? Not really. Did we want twins? Definitely! But, we were torn...we wanted to root for our little baby but not completely.

The next ultrasound, we saw the first 2 again and then he scanned over to the other side of my uterus. There it was! Bigger than the first 2. Amazing. The room got really quiet and the Dr. and nurse just looked at us. The Dr.'s tone of voice got quieter and he said that in this case he didn't think selective reduction was needed. It wasn't going to be an option, but it was nice to hear a Dr. say that it wasn't needed.

Anyway, this post got a little off track, but thinking that those little fetuses are my healthy beautiful babies who will be 2 years old tomorrow just makes me a little nostalgic.

I'm working on another post to follow this one about their birth and some pictures from their birthday. Also, we flew to CA last night and I have some stories about that flight also. Flying iwth them is definitely getting easier, but it is still A LOT of work.

Christie

Lily

2008-07-30T19:06:00.007-06:00

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

2008-07-27T13:42:00.003-06:00

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

2008-07-24T13:37:00.002-06:00

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????

2008-07-23T06:23:00.007-06:00

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

2008-07-13T14:25:00.005-06:00

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.

2008-07-09T06:27:00.004-06:00

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.

Cameras, Diapers, Talking and Pee

2008-06-22T13:21:00.011-06:00

I've slacked a little on this blog. We've had some wireless internet problems so my computer, with all the pictures and everything was pretty much unusable.

I recently got a new camera! Before the babies were born, Jack and I bought a video recorder that also took still pictures. It was great for the birth and for their time as infants when they just sat there. The problem was there was a slight delay when I tried to take a regular picture. Plus, it was big and difficult to carry around. Now that they are moving at lightning speed, I would aim, press the button and look at the picture. Often it was half of a face, if I was lucky, or more likely, nothing at all. So, I'm pretty happy with this new one that is just a bit bigger than my cell phone.

In other news, they've figured out how to remove their diapers. I'm in a Yahoo support group for women with triplets who are similar in age. Recently, a woman posted asking for advice on how to prevent her triplets from taking their diapers off. I half snickered because "oh, mine haven't done THAT yet. I must be in the clear." Whever you think that, triplets or not, watch out. The other day, I was in the kitchen unloading the dishwasher and Ellie came running in saying something like, "diaper off." No, I thought, but I looked down and sure enough, she was diaperless and elated with herself. We all went on a diaper hunt and Lily came up with the missing diaper. Then, last night, about an hour after Jack and I had said "goodnight," Lily started crying the "hurt cry." I went up and her little leg was stuck in the railings, her diaper was lying on the other side of the crib and there was a big went spot on her crib sheet. Dang! She had taken off her pajama pants, taken off her diaper, peed on her bed and then gotten her leg stuck. I've heard all the tricks...duct tape the diaper on, put the diaper on backward, put zip-up jammies on backward. Anyone have some others? Because it is summer and it is hot, the duct tape diaper may become a reality over here or maybe we'll just potty train and day goodbye to diapers! Right.

Within the past couple months, there has been a total language explosion over here and as a speech therapist (in my past life), I couldn't be happier. Ellie is using 3-4 words, Lily has 2 word phrases pretty solid and Liam has 2 and is even getting in 3words sometimes. I love this age. I've loved them at all ages, of course, but now, I'm getting sleep, they are a little more independent and they can understand and talk.

Jack had a "conversation" last night with Lily. A conversation, to my knowledge, hasn't happened before. Ellie was crying outside with me (well, I wasn't crying) in a time out while Lily and Liam had been cleaned of sand and were inside. Lily walked up to Jack and said, "Ellie crying." Jack acknowledged that yes, Ellie was sad. He asked, "Why is she crying?" Lily responded with, "Hit Mommy, never." Jack affirmed that she was right and she is never to hit Mommy. We are impressed with our children. Seriously though, they haven't been alive 2 years yet and their abilities just amaze me. I'm constantly trying to up the ante with them, so that I don't come to have low expectations with them. We love watching these 3 little people grow into bigger people and are so blessed to be able to see it happen everyday.

We have started to develop an interest in the potty. Every time I go, they run to their potties and ask that their diapers be taken off. So far, Ellie has peed twice, Lily once and I don't think that Liam quite "gets it." He enjoys being "nakie" so he's pretty content when his diaper is off. Ellie does get it. She tries and tries to go pee and her little face gets red with the pressure that she's exerting. After the fact, she jumps up, looks in her toilet and is just tickled to death with her accomplishment. I'm definitely not beginning serious potty training at 22 months, but why not encourage their curiosity? Maybe it will make the whole process easier if it is something that they want to do, rather than something that I'm making them do. My goal is for them to be potty trained by 3. That goal gives me, well, them, 26 months to get used to the potty. Until then, diapers are pretty convenient. I can do anything I need to do, go on errands, go to the park or the zoo, without bringing a potty or constantly scouting out the closest bathroom.

As for our summer plans, we are staying here in Denver until the middle of August, when we take our annual big trip to Southern California to be with my family. We have some visitors coming this summer, so that should break up the coming months a bit.

As always, I will leave you with some pictures.

We went to the zoo with a friend of mine and her daughter, Hannah, who is in the 4th car and only 4 days younger than Ellie, Lily and Liam.

post signature

The Questions Keep on Coming

2008-05-31T06:14:00.009-06:00

I understand the fascination of having 3 babies at once. Just when I think I'm used to looking at 3 beautiful sleeping babies, well, toddlers, in their cribs, I realize that I have THREE sleeping babies for whom I'm responsible (Jack's responsibility is implied, of course). I'm responsible for teaching them to not hit, to listen to directions, to eat their food and not throw it. It is up to me to teach them to love books, to discover bugs and dandelions, to begin instilling a love of learning. While saving for 3 college educations, it is up to me to get them ready for preschool by learning numbers, colors, the alphabet, by teaching them to sit and listen, how to wash their hands and that crayons are for coloring, not eating or drawing on each other. I get it.

When we are out in the world, I get stopped....A LOT! It seems that almost every person who passes us utters a comment. Most of them I hear, but are not directed at me, like "Wow! She's got 3 babies" or "Look at that stroller!" I've learned to ignore most comments. I used to stop and acknowledge a nice comment but now, I put my head down and pretend that it is just me, Ellie, Lily and Liam at the mall, zoo, Costco or wherever

Often I want to make a smart-ass comment back, depending on my mood. I never do. I'm not that kind of person. A lot of times, I wish I could come back with a zinger. I think about it and I usually have one just dying to pop out of my mouth, but the commenter means no harm. It is a curiosity to have 3 babies and this person is different than the 20 previous commenters. I have to remember that. I don't want to hurt feelings.

There are some questions though that just are SO inapporpriate and I'm constantly amazed that people don't find them too personal. Maybe they are embarrassed after we leave. Who knows? When those questions come up, I either make up an answer or I give an ambiguous response that will make them think and hopefully realize that they've crossed the line.

For example, here are some cross-the-line questions/comments:

1. Did you use fertility drugs? I'll tell you if you tell me about you.Let's talk about YOUR last woman visit.

2. I assume you used drugs, why? WHAT?!?!?!?

3. Are they natural? No, actually they are plastic! Can you believe it! They are really doing amazing things with plastic these days.

4. Did you deliver naturally or C-section? Does the way in which my beautiful children came into the world really matter?

5. Are they healthy? Most of the time. How is YOUR health? Really, I do understand the curiosity, but would people really want to know if my child has some devastating health issue? Why would I discuss my children's medical history with a stranger?

6. I'd kill myself if I had 3. I love to hear this one. Seriously, why would you say that to a Mom in front of her children?

7. Do twins or triplets run in your family? They do now, especially when they are in trouble.

SOME DON'Ts:
1. Tell me that I have my hands full. I know that I do. Think of something more creative.

2. Ask me if they are all identical. Look closely...I have a boy in the mix so that narrows the field. For those of you who may not know...boys and girls anatomically CANNOT be identical. Look at my girls...they look completely different. Related? Yes. Identical? No.

3. Ask me if all 3 of them are twins. No further explanation needed on this one.

4. Ask me if I got a lot of sleep. Are you insane? I'm sure that you can figure out this one by yourself.

5. Ask me if they are all mine. Do you want to do errands with 3 toddlers? Sometimes I just want to tell them that I get bored with the same errands with one baby so bringing along another toddler or two makes the day a little more of a challenge for me.

SOME DOs:
1. Ask their names and personalities. They are 3 different little people with completely different personalities. They are not 1 entity, even though they were born a minute apart.

2. Tell me how beautiful they are. Every Mom loves hearing about how beautiful, perfect and talented her children are.

3. Tell me that you are amazed and impressed that I'm out and about with 3 toddlers and that we all are happy. We are and I love beign with them.

I leave you with some pictures...

Ellie is wearing Liam's safety goggles from his tool bench. She loved them and they actually dress up her outfit a bit, huh?

Liam and Ellie eating some "pos-cle" and playing in the pool. Lily was still getting her beauty rest.

She's up and more beautiful than before!

No More Babies

2008-05-22T21:55:00.003-06:00

My baby boy is now becoming a toddler. We cut his hair today. It was hard, but I'm not one to cry about these things. He did have these beautiful curls on the back of his little head. BUT, those curls only showed up when he needed his hair washed, that is, when his hair was getting dirty. They were perfect though and curled around his ears and the nape of his neck all the way to the top of his head. Beautiful. When his hair was clean though, it was a poof ball of fuzz. Not at all attractive, well, always attractive to his Mommy, but it was time for a cut.

When the girls got their hair cut, I decided to take them to the cutesy kiddie salon. That's what first time parents do, right? Make the cute memory. Well, the child (seriously, maybe 18) cutting my baby girls' hair butchered them. They looked horrible. So bad, in fact, that I'm not even putting the pictures up. I'm a little embarrassed. Their hair has since grown out, but I still look at those pictures an dcringe a little. She even put their hair in a pink bow that reminded me of a poodle. Anyway, for Liam's cut, I took him to my hair dresser, whom I love! Look at what she did to my baby:

Before his cut...cute but getting a little shaggy in front

He was so perfect perched on that little riser. Sweet little guy was just perfect.

I LOVE THAT LITTLE DUDE!!!!

Family Day Out

2008-05-22T21:47:00.004-06:00

In the spring and summer, I like to plan Saturday get aways for the 5 of us. Last year, we went up north into Boulder to explore, but now that the kids are older, I want to keep them involved and active outside. Plus, we moved to CO from Southern California when I was pregnant with the trio and sick all day long, so Hubby and I didn't explore our new beautiful state as much as we would have liked.

This past weekend, we took a drive to Evergreen and walked around the Lake. We saw some huge female elk grazing in backyards and this rather odd sign:

Keep gate closed from what?

Here are some more pictures from our day:

What's hard about triplets...in a nutshell

2008-05-07T18:35:00.008-06:00

Someone recently asked a question in my comment section that I thought was a good one, especially for those of you reading who have triplets younger than mine. Plus, I usually get only a few comments, I want to keep all 4 readers happy. :) "What have been the challenges with triplets?"

I have no idea what it is like to have only 1 baby. I was blessed to have 3 at the same time, so that is my "normal." I often look at people with one infant or I hear someone talk about how hard it is with one and I think, "What are you complaining about? One would be a piece of cake." One baby is their "normal" and I'm sure I'd be in the same boat if I had only one.

Challenges are a constant with 3 toddlers. At the beginning, the challenge was feeding. They ate every 3 hours and it took, on average, 1 1/2 hours to feed them from start to finish. After 30 minutes of pumping and cleaning up everything, I had about 45 minutes to "rest" before it all started again. Of my 3, Liam was a horrible eater. Well, he ate enough, but he had such bad gas and reflux that feeding was miserable for me as well as for him. Lily was a super slow eater, but no problems. Ellie would drink her whole bottle in about 5 minutes. She drank it so fast that I had to slow her down and boy did that girl scream when the bottle was taken away.

At 3 months...L-R: Ellie, Liam, Lily. I can't believe how much they've grown so quickly.

Now, I'm trying to figure out how to deal with 3 completely different personalities at the same time while giving each child their own time with me. Ellie is very cautious and needs extra time to feel comfortable in a situation. Liam gets comfortable more quickly than Ellie, but still looks around frequently to make sure I'm still there with him. Lily is the one I have to keep my eye on. She will walk off without a care in the world. A couple weeks ago, I was at the acquarium with all 3. Two were eating a snack and Lily decided to go explore. She walked back into the exhibits without ever looking back at me. She followed some big kids into a tunnel and played in there for about 5 minutes, never calling out for me or even looking. I was standing right near her (she never saw me) and she suddenly realized that she was alone. She panicked and began crying out my name. I was right there and scooped her up, but she pulls this disappearing act all the time. She has no fear of new people and loves to go right up people and say, "Hi." It is hard at times trying to encourage Ellie to go explore, comfort Liam when he needs it and reign in Lily.

Sharing, or not sharing, as the case may be is another challenge. I don't want to zoom in every time there is an argument or everytime a toy is taken. They have to figure that out. Most kids begin to figure that out when they are older or even in preschool. Mine have had to deal with it since they could crawl. For the most part, they are very good at sharing toys and will hand toys to each other to play with.

Attention jealously is something that I'm dealing with as well as the kids. They each need their own individual time with me and with my husband. Right now, they are in a phase when only Mommy will do. Even though this is only a passing phase, I still feel badly for my husband because they pull away from him. He feels badly for me because there is nothing he can do when all 3 want to be held. Ellie often requires the most Mommy-time and she gets very jealous anytime I'm holding Lily or Liam.

On the other hand, I can't imagine life without all 3 of these little people. I love seeing the interaction between them that I wouldn't get of if there was only 1 or even 2. Raising 3 toddlers is non-stop but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Lily who currently has 4 teeth at 21 months.

Liam, who is faring better with 8 teeth.

Ellie, who wins in the tooth contest with 12.

Get out of the house NOW....

2008-04-27T06:10:00.006-06:00

Thank you to those of you who left comments. I found out about some more blogs to read too!

We got our carpets cleaned yesterday! Gone is all the baby vomit in the family room and in the playroom. I scheduled it after their nap time and knew that we wouldn't be able to be on it for 7 hours after. My "plan" was (plan is in quotes because with 3 20-month olds, I "plan" a lot and only half the time is my "plan" able to be completed) to take them outside and play for a couple hours and then come in, have dinner and play upstairs til bedtime. Well, Colorado weather came upon us and decided to snow. It was a cold, blowy day and although there wasn't much snow, it was waaaaay too cold to go outside. After 2 hours of playing upstairs, which included throwing whatever they could over the railing to the carpet cleaning man downstairs, the kids were done with being inside and literally, all 3 had meltdowns. I told Jack that we had to "GET OUT NOW!"

Where else to go but the mall? I thought we would have been the only people in Denver at the mall on a Saturday evening. Nooooooo, it looked like Christmas. Totally packed. We let them walk off some energy and fed them dinner at the food court. I never thought I'd feed my babies at a food court, but we had to abandon ship pretty quickly and I wasn't able to gather some healthy food. They had chicken nuggets, but the real kind where you can actually see the striations in the meat...not that you want to hear about chicken meat striations.

Anyway, they enjoyed getting out. AND, I walked past this lady and immediately recognized her. She was my nurse in the hospital after I had the kids. Kathy M. was my favorite and it was great to see her and talk to her again. We planned for me to take the kids to the hospital when she is there and then go visit the NICU. We haven't seen the NICU in well over a year.

Ellie's new favorite words are: "wishies" for the fishies that she saw at the acquarium and "wuzzy wawa" for the sparkling water that Mommy drinks.

Liam LOVES to point out colors. His favorites are: yellow and green and you can bet that he stopped at every window in the mall to point out the different color clothes. Important distinction...he wasn't pointing out the clothes, just the colors. :)

Lily made me laugh so hard, I cried. With the most recent big snow, a couple weeks ago, we made a snowman. Lily just sat and watched and really looked at it a little blank until I put in the eyes, nose and mouth. She bolted up, walked up really close and said, "HI!" She was waving and laughing and actually talking to this snowman, or "noman" as she calls him. She had found her match and was in love. The next day, she came down the stairs and was calling for "noman." Out the window, she watched him topple over in the morning sun. "OH NO!" "Noman-Noman!" She was distraught. Had I known the trauma watching her snowman would have brought, I would have spared her from seeing him fall over. She began crying. My Mom and I were dying laughing, but we couldn't let her see our laughter in her time of mourning. All day long, she would frequently return to the same dialogue.."Oh no! Noman agone!" That incident was about 2 weeks ago and she still periodically will run to the front windows and remember her friend.

Left Pic...Lily and her accessories
Right Pic...Ellie (sorry it is a fuzzy pic...a new camera is on my bday list)

Left pic...Liam on a tractor at a friend's farm
Right pic...Poking at "noman" with sticks. Why this didn't bring tears to Lily, I'm not sure.

Just Curious.....

2008-04-19T19:21:00.003-06:00

I'm just curious about who is reading this blog. I see people from all different places around the world and I would love to know who you are and how you ended up on this blog. I get a few comments here and there from friends but who else is out there reading?

Summer, then Winter

2008-04-17T18:42:00.006-06:00

The saying in Colorado is, "If you don't like the weather, wait a day." At least, it is something like that. Early this week, temperatures climbed up into the lower 80's. By Wednesday afternoon, it was snowing. Just like that, this morning, we woke up to about 1 1/2 inches on the ground. It gave us some good snowman building time though! Anyway, when temps were warm, we played outside and the kids got their first taste of a popsicle and LOVED it! I included some pics. Please forgive the wild hair on the kids. The cold front was coming and it was super windy outside. :)

First pic...L-R: Liam, Lily and Ellie
Second pic...L-R: Ellie, my Mom, Liam and Lily

First pic...Ellie in her shades.
Second pic...Lily in her shades. She wore them all day, including in the car and all
through Target.

Liam's shades.

Molly and Josh

2008-04-12T06:07:00.003-06:00

Well, it finally happened. My sister, Molly, and her boyfriend, Josh, are engaged!! Wooohooo! Our family has loved Josh since we first met him and are so happy for them.

He had planned with my parents to have a surprise engagement party last night at their house. Nothing huge, just Molly's close friends, our fmaily and Josh's family. He said that he was so excited all week and just hoped that Friday would come quickly. He told Molly that he wanted to go to an Angel's game at first. Then, just to mix it up, he told her that they should leave work a little early and go on a bike ride. My sister lives near the beach, so that was a logical place for a bike ride. She was laughing when she told this story to me last night. She was on her bike in front of Josh and he called for her to stop because something flew off his bike. She didn't belive that something "flew" off his bike, because as she put it, that is random. He confirmed that yes, "a bolt or something flew off my bike." She stopped, got off her bike and was looking on the ground for the mysterious bolt. Then, he asked her. She didn't remember anything he said and asked him, but he couldn't remember either.

I haven't see the ring yet, given that I'm in Denver and my whole family is in Southern California. She said that it is a platinum band with a round diamond and 3 smaller diamonds on the side.

I LOVE weddings and love them so much more when I'm a part of it but not actually planning it. That was a big enough job.

I'll leave you with a picture of the cute litlle couple. This was taken in Hawaii when my whole family went on a vacation. We actually thought he'd propose there...

New Look

2008-04-12T06:04:00.001-06:00

Thanks to Jennisa, this blog got a much needed makeover. She is awesome! Check out her link on the bottom right hand side of my blog.

Out of the Mouths of Babes

2008-03-30T06:19:00.002-06:00

Yesterday, Ellie was sitting on Jack's lap, looked up at his shirtless chest, touched his chest hari with one finger and said, "Dirty." Funny little beings.

I know that people read this blog and lest you think that every day is just fun and laughter, I'll let the cat out of the bag and officially say that yesterday was one of the worst days with the babies that I can remember since I've been sleeping through the night.

They all acted tired at 8:15am, after waking up at 6:30. Way early for toddlers who have been taking one nap a day for the past couple weeks. So, down for a nap they went. Liam didn't sleep, although he's the one who was basically comatose at breakfast. Ellie slept just 30 minutes and Lily took a nice nap for about an hour. After the nap, the day went downhill.

All day, they all fussed, cried and fought. Even when we were outside and playing, they ran on the lawn whining. No one ate; they dumped everything on the floor. Liam found it unacceptable to be in anyone's arms but mine...all day long. Aaaah, you say. How fun to just hold a baby. Yes, but I have 2 more crankies plus, I have the basic things in life to accomplish, like going to the bathroom, eating, cleaning up after their meals, etc. Difficult to do with a child who won't get out of my lap without screaming and difficult to do while 2 ofther crankies are hitting and pushing in an attmept to also get into my lap.

Acting tired again at 11:30. So, down for nap #2. This schedule was reminiscent of when they were a couple months old. Again, Liam slept for 20 minutes, Ellie not at all and Lily for an hour.
The crankies continued.

Acting tired again at 3:30, plus, there was no way that they'd make it to bedtime without a third nap. Ellie didn't sleep, Liam didn't sleep and I woke up Lily at 5. Bedtime was at 7, mainly for Ellie and Liam who hadn't slept and I thought were for sure tired after spending all their energy whining. No go. All were up til about 8:30 and Liam screamed til 9:30 when I went to bed.

Yes, I do feel guilty for going to bed while my baby was crying. You need to understand that the child was so beyond being tired that me being in there with him would have only stimulated him further. He may be teething, but had plenty of medicine to make him comfortable. You also need to understand that I'd been up with him since 5:20 that morning and by 9:30pm and still hearing him cry, I was just spent. He, along with his sisters, wore me out today. The day was totally off schedule, total chaos and noisy to boot.

Hopefully today will be better. I certainly don't want this blog to be one where I release all of my frustrations, but I do want it to be a real look into parenting triplets. Yes, they are so much fun and I love being with them, but it isn't always pleasant.

Lord, please give me strength for another day. Deep breath.

Happy Easter!

2008-03-23T19:48:00.000-06:00

How do you get 3 toddlers to sit and get their picture taken? I guess in this case, you take the first picture and you take it FAST.

Because Why Wouldn't You...

2008-03-23T19:44:00.001-06:00

want to play on fried eggs,

or rest on a waffle with butter,

or climb on a strawberry,

or slide on a piece of bacon?

The Throne

2008-03-16T13:01:00.000-06:00

Recently, we had dinner with friends whose youngest child is approaching 3 years old and is now using the "big" toilet. My friend offered two training toilets to us and how can I refuse that offer? The kids are only 18 months and I'm not seriously thinking of getting into the nitty-gritty potty training, but it would be a good thing to have around and for them to get used to. Ellie has been telling me when she has gone poo-poo and when in the tub, thankfully, she tells me before the fact. I called her bluff two baths in a row and I lost, so now, when she tells me, I immediately pluck her out of the tub and get a diaper on that little bottom. As long as I believe her, there are no messes to clean.

Back to the potties...I decide to put them in our downstairs bathroom, actually, just outside of it because the bathroom gets small with two training toilets in there and even smaller when there is an adult plus 3 curious toddlers. Anyway, the fascination with the toilets began immediately. They pulled them apart and tried to put them back together. Even more funny was when I came downstairs to find Liam and Ellie sitting on the toilets and Ellie flipping through a book.

3 Very Different Little People

2008-03-09T13:17:00.000-06:00

There has been a lot going on at our house. For one, my computer crashed and is trying to get revived. Anyone reading this use a Mac? I think that we are done with Dell and Microsoft and ready for a change.

These kids grow at an alarming rate. I now understand when my parents used to say that watching kids grow really makes you feel old. Today I was able to put pigtails in both of my girls' hair. They looked adorable but because of the way their hair grows and their head shape, I think that piggies favor Lily right now. That may have sounded mean. It isn't meant to be. Ellie has a big round head with a little hair and Lily has a little oval head with a little hair, so when Ellie wears pigtails, her head dwarfs the piggies. She just needs a bit more hair and then the "do" will suit her very well.

Recently, I bought them each a pair of sunglasses from Target. You know how Target has that $1.00 section? What better place to buy sunglasses for 18-month olds than at a $1.00 bin? I bought them because they've learned to say the word "glasses" and are always walking into the room with my sunglasses in hand. No matter where I leave them, they can reach them. So, they now each have their own. Lily took to them immediately! Her glasses are pink with sparkles and look divine on her. She wore them for a better part of an hour, walking around the house with her sunglasses on, collecting valuable items such as: ClearEyes (stolen off Jack's desk), a play cell phone and a rubberband. Liam liked them, but didn't get too attached. Ellie liked hers but was much more concerned that Liam kept dropping his. She walked around the house trying to give Liam back his sunglasses. It went something like this:

Ellie: "Dank u" and handing Liam his glasses.

Liam: "No. Dank u." and refusing to let her put them on him or even hand them to him.

Ellie: "Eeam. Dank u." Following him around holding out his glasses.

Liam: "No."
Ellie: "Eeam Dank you. Aaaah" followed by her whapping him on the head with his sunglasses.

I'm sure that you can guess what ensued...some biting, hitting and tears. All over a pair of sunglasses. They do look mighty cute in them though!

Liam

Lily

Ellie

The babies, well, toddlers are almost 19 months and I've not really listed what their personalities are nor what their likes and dislikes are, so here it is:

Ellie is very similar in personality to her me. She is organized and actually spends a good amount of time in the kitchen stacking bowls and then unstacking them and then restacking and so on. Her favorite activity would be to be left alone with me in the kitchen and have access to the dishwasher, cupboards and silverware. She actually gasps with delight when I open the dishwasher to load or unload. She absolutely adores putting all of the spoons in one container then moving them all one at a time to another silverware holder. She has also developed a mean streak. She enjoys taking blankies and favorite animals belonging to Lily and Liam and then watches in mocked confusion as they cry. When she's told to give them back, she will either run and hide or pretend to give them back only to hold onto them without letting go. She has upwards of 50 words and is beginning to combine them to make 2 words phrases. She is able to walk up and down stairs only holding onto my hand or the railing. She climbs the ladder to the slide by herself adn is able to go down and land on her feet. She loves to climb onto the toychest, walk to the edge and yell out, "Uh, oo, ee!" and jump off. She eats with a spoon and fork and rarely allows anythign to fall off either utensil. She loves drinking from a regular cup and enjoys feeding her food to her brother and sister. She makes me laugh every day and also manages to frustrate me to new levels. She is a frequent visitor to time out but is able to stay in the time out spot until she is calm and completes her sentence. Ellie has 10 teeth and is in the middle of getting her final 2 1-year molars. She loves her pink blankie and her Dog-Dog, a pink poodle from Hanna Andersson (http://www.hannaandersson.com/). To name a few, she loves yogurt, waffles, pancakes, peaches, crackers, chicken, ketchup, BBQ sauce and dislikes veggies, hamburger (except in spaghetti), avocado and blueberries.

Ellie

Lily definitely marches to beat of her own drum. She is a kick in the pants. This child is goofy and loves every minute of it. She reminds me of my sister. Not that my sister is goofy, but my sister was confident in herself and really could care less what anyone thought of her. Lily is similar. She is the most social, initially. When we are out, Lily seeks out people to whom she can say "HI!" She will keep saying "hi" until the person responds or until we are out of view. Lily is content to be on her own and read a book or play by herself while the others are together. She has about 40-50 words and some signs. When we are out in public, Lily is the one I HAVE to watch. She really could care less if I'm around. At the mall, at the park, on the beach, it is Lily who takes off with the wind. She doesn't look back to check where Mommy is, nor does she return to "check in." She just goes. When we were in Hawaii, we usually camped out near the back of the beach and it was a good thing, because it gave us lots of time to catch up to her. She took off for the waves and never looked back. She is a love and gives lots of kisses to her brother and sister. She is gentle, unless a toy is taken from her. I can understand that. Lily hasn't visited time-out but will take toys to Ellie when she is in time out. She loves "Bear" and her pink and brown blankie. Lily has one and a half teeth on the bottom and a half of a tooth on the top. She is getting ready to break through 2 more teeth, which would explain her fussiness recently. She loves to eat blueberries, banana, waffles, pancakes, yogurt, chicken, cheese, , noodles, BBQ sauce and ketchup and dislikes veggies and avocado. Lily may not eat the most, but she definitely eats the most variety.

Liam is a love. No other words to describe him. He is a total sweetheart who loves to roughhouse with Daddy. He is a totaly boy and loves to destroy block towers. He loves to listen to music and flap his hands while dancing. He shows off how he jumps by bending his knees, then straightening them and flinging his head back. He never actually leaves the ground, but in his head he believes he soared. He is hot and cold too. When he's happy, he's definitely happy, but his mood can turn at the frop of a hat, or whenever he doesn't get his way. Instead of just yelling and crying, he goes on a mini tirade. He will quickly turn his back on me and then knocks everything out of his way as he leaves the room to hav a little tantrum. He is the most shy when we are out and about, but will warm up with time. He loves to point out airplanes in the sky and even when we are in the house, he will yell "aaaayyy-pay" if he hears one. he has about 40 words that he uses, although I doubt very much that anyone other than Mommy would know what he was saying. He loves to throw the ball out into the street on our cul-de-sac and watch it roll down the street. He recently began to label each person in our house. He does it when they are in their carseats, during walks, at bedtime or when we are all playing together. He will point at each person and say their name "Momma," "Dadda," "Eyie," "Yeyie." He gets them all right the first time but then starts to mix up his sisters. If he gets too into it or is asked too many questions, he even switches up Momma and Dadda. He loves his "Bay" (bear), Frog and blue blankie. He loves to say prayers at night and yells out "Amen!" throughout the prayer. He loves, loves, loves cheese and likes to eat eggs, waffles, chicken, beans, fruit, crackers, BBQ sauce and ketchup. He dislikes blueberries, veggies and avocado.

I will try to post more stories and pictures, if my computer decides to keep working. As for now, I'm going to go drink some wine and try to catch up on LOST (anyone is welcome to post your thoughts on this very confusing show), unless I decide to use my quiet time to clean the house. I'll let you know what I decide after I finish this glass of "Beaujolais-Villages" Red Burgundy. It is tasty and I highly recommend it.

Done with airplanes!!!

2008-03-01T10:19:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from the past month in California and in Maui. We loved being with my family but it is nice to be home. I'm sure my family is enjoying a break form us too! The kids loved the sand, but it was always a matter of time before they rubbed some sand in their eyes and then the beach time was over. My brother's family was there and his son Brendan is much loved by the trio, especially Lily. Any brown-haired boy they saw, they pointed and yelled, "B!" Liam ended up with a double ear infection in Maui and Lily had a singe ear infection. Luckily the Dr. there gave Liam an antibiotic shot and he felt much better within a day. The girls absolutely loved the ocean and we had to be hypervigilant because they would just take off toward the ocean not caring at all if anyone was behind them. Liam was much more hesitant about the waves and the noise of the crashing waves. He began to feel comfortable a couple days before we left, which was a bummer, but it was nice to see him sitting in the whitewash and splashing.
No more trips for a while.

Our airplanes trips have been so varied with how we've done things to how the kids have done on the planes. We usually buy 4 seats total and have one baby on our lap. We've tried every combination you could imagine: 1) taking both toddler car seats on the plane 2) one toddler car seat, one in a lap and one on a seat 3) no toddler car seats...one on a lap and two in airplane seats 4) bought a seat for each child with 2 car seats in one row and with 2 car seats but in different rows 5) flown early in the morning 6) flown in the middle of the afternoon 7) flown later at night.

For those of you planning an airplane trip, I can't vouch for any one combination. Having 2 car seats is nice because there is a place to put one if you need both your hands for another child. Also, if they happen to fall asleep, it is nice to have a spot for them. If, however, your children don't sleep, then if they are like mine, they won't want to just sit in their car seat and it becomes difficult because you have essentially "lost" a seat. On one of our flights, I sat in a row with 2 car seats and both children would scream until I took them out, but then I was stuck. I had 2 kids crawling on my lap in one seat because their car seats were taking up so much space on the other two seats.

Having one car seat worked because, again, there was a place to put a child and also an empty seat for the kids to sit or play on.

Checking one car seat with baggage and checking 2 car seats at the gate was nice becuase there wasn't anything to lug through the narrow airplane aisle, however, keeping two children in their seats is difficult. For a shorter flight (2 hours), this combination worked. I brought along some new toys, Fruity Cheerios (only used for special occasions) and the key item.....PORTABLE DVD player with Baby Einstein. This worked wonders and kept them occupied or at least slowed them down a little.

The Hawaii flights (5 hours) were the hardest thing I've been through with the triplets, with the exception of the sleepless months when they were little. What do you do with 3 18-month olds on an airplane where they miss a nap and can't move around like they'd like to?? For those of you reading and are maybe nervous about the flight, it can't get any worse than this....Ellie screamed for about 3 1/2 hours of the 4 1/2 hour flight. I knew she was tired, but she couldn't sleep, wouldn't eat, wouldn't play, wouldn't listen to books, wouldn't watch Baby Einstein, wouldn't walk the aisles....nothing. I tried to keep her from kicking the seat, pulling herself up on the seat in front of us and from generally disturbing the passenger in front of us. I believe that the woman in front of us had had too much to drink and was just a mean person anyway. She had finally had enough and screamed at me. Told me to tell my child to "shut the h*** up." She said that she had flown lots of times with babies on flights and had never had this experience and that everyone on the plane was thinking how miserable my child was, she was the only one "brave" enough to say something. Well, my family (Jack, my brother, sister-in-law, sister and sister's boyfriend) stood up and yelled back at her. The flight attendants were on her in a second and told her to calm herself or they'd have someone waiting for her at LAX. Finally, they moved her to another seat up front and I never saw her again. I think her husband told her to get the car while he and her kids (yes, she was a great exampe for her two yong children) got the bags. Anyway, if I can get through that one, you too can laugh in the face of a crazy woman.

We are going to be here in Denver looking forward to some visits by family. Jack's parents are planning a trip in late March, one of my best friends, Casey, is coming in April and my sister, Molly, is also planning a trip in April or May. Can't wait to see everyone!

Enjoy the pictures!

Liam enjoying some sun and sand.

My Dad and Ellie and Me and Liam

(L-R) Ellie, Liam and Lily spacing out to Baby
Einstein.

Lily and Ellie with their cousin, B.

Liam playing ball at Grammie and Papa's

The Disneyland brigade...Kassie (cousin), Ellie, B, Liam,
Lily and Adisyn (cousin).

Disneyland

2008-02-10T09:26:00.000-07:00

Wow. I came out this overstimulating-happiest-place-on-earth with the notion that my kids won't see that place or anyplace like it until they are around 7 years old. I don't know if I'll stick to that or not, but it will definitely be a while.

My sister-in-law called and said that her son was out of school on Friday and she was taking him and her 7-month old to Disneyland. They live here in SoCal and have annual passes, so they can go for a couple hours and not feel like they have to stay all day to get their money's worth. Her sister was also going with her 1 year old. I wanted to try it. The kid in me came out a bit I guess. I talked my mom into going with me (otherwise, it would have been completely impossible) and after their morning nap, we piled 3 17-month olds into the rental minivan to go to Disneyland.

We got there about an hour before my sisters-in-law got there so we headed through Fantasyland and back to the "small World" ride. It was closed, along with Jungle Cruise and the Merry-Go-Round. Bummer.

We changed our plans a bit and decided to sit in the shade and feed the kids. After a turkey sandwich, a pb&j sandwich, applesauce, pears, cheese and countless fishy crackers, we decided to try a ride. We stood in line at the "Storybook" boat cruise. I think that if we had the park to ourselves and could walk on any ride at any time, the kids would have been on some more kiddie fun rides. As it was, 17-month olds don't so much like to stand in lines only to sit in a boat and not touch the water. As usual, we got lots of attention in line and one lady even pointed out, "He's eating something off the ground!!!!" Heavens no! I graciously informed her that my 3 toddlers constantly eat anything off the ground and unless he chokes on moss, it won't kill him. Toddlers explore with their mouths, right? =) Maybe I should have told her what else they've put in their mouths before I've been able to stop them....poop, dirt, gum off the bottom of a chair at the airport, pacis off the street, sticks, rocks, grass, lint, candy wrappers off the ground. There, how's that? All of you out there should be feeling much better about what your kids eat.

After we met up my sisters-in-law, nephew and nieces, we went over to Jungle cruise. Closed. We decided to ry our luck and that of the babies with Pirates of the Carribean. Would I do that one again with infants? No. Probably not, but they did okay.

Ellie, Lily and Liam are faithful afternoon nappers and they have done remarkable well skipping an afternoon nap.

We decided to try Toon Town. Luckily they had a little play area with slides and fun climbing things for the kids. They even had a little house with a piano and chairs that the kids loved climbing on. It was nice for them to get some energy out.

We headed over to Fantasyland again and tried our luck at Pinnochio. What a totally frightening ride!!!! I had forgotten or more likely I just had never ridden that ride with the mindset of a toddler. It is dark, has loud scary voices and the little car heads straight for a wall and then either turns really fast or the wall opens up and they are facing another scary face. Ellie had her eyes covered the whole time. Poor baby. We got off and some older ladies said, "That ride is too dark for babies." Well. Thanks.

Our final ride was the Tea Cups and it was nice to end on a success. We sat in the cup and didn't spin our individual cup. They turn on their own and that was enough. The kids liked that one!

Overall, I think they liked it. It was a little overstimulating for them and they went straight to bed when we got home. If we lived here, I'd be tempted to buy an Annual pass just to go on a random day during the week when it wouldn't be so crowded (we went on a Friday). If it weren't crowded and some of the toddler-friendly rides were open, then it would be worth it.

Our next journey will be on Friday when we leave the house at 4:30 am to drive from Orange County to LAX for a 7am 5-hour flight to Hawaii. Maybe I'll be wishing for Disneyland again.

The Worry is Subsiding

2008-02-04T12:14:00.000-07:00

Finally. I don't know what else to say. To be honest, both Jack and I and most of my relatives were getting a little concerned. My niece, Kassie, is almost 6 months old and has 2 teeth. Another friend of mine has a baby who is 12 months and has 8 teeth. My little Lily is showing signs of tooth #2. Yes, her single bottom tooth will soon have company. We've known, or at least hoped, that it was in there and I can finally feel the sharp little points of a new tooth coming on up. I will miss my little Snaggletooth. She carries a lot of personality in that one tooth, but it is time. She will be 18 months old in 16 days and what better way to celebrate than by announcing tooth #2.

In other tooth news, Ellie has 8 established teeth with 3 coming up...one top front tooth and two molars. Liam still have 4 coming in on top and another one on the bottom. Until recently, he has sported two beauties on the bottom.

On a totally unrelated topic...I've been asked recently, "Do they keep you busy?" Uh...yes. They have changed immensely in the two weeks that we've been in CA. No cabinet, drawer or door is off limits in their mind. If I'm in another room and I notice that 3 minutes of silence have gone by, I know I'm in trouble. Any drawer that isn't glued shut will have been opened and it's contents strewn about the room. Toilet lids will have been pushed up and water will cover the floor and 1, 2 or 3 toddlers, along with wet toilet paper, which as we all know is easy to get off everything. Magazines, plants, folded laundry will adorn the floor and couches. Not only will they have pulled off all the magazines, but they will have pulled out the interesting pages and then shredded them up. A forgotten half empty soda can will be dumped upside down and then licked off the carpet. A TV remote left within arms reach will have had buttons pushed that will take a cable tech to reprogram. Yes, all of this accomplished by 3 17-month old toddlers within 3 minutes.

Christie

Still no pictures...

2008-01-25T19:28:00.000-07:00

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

2008-01-18T14:16:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-01-13T14:45:00.000-07:00

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

2008-01-06T06:22:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-01-01T06:28:00.001-07:00

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

2007-12-11T14:46:00.000-07:00

This photo was taken last year, just before Christmas. I can't believe how they have changed. Ellie (on the right) looks like the "heavy" in the mob. :)

Today it is snowing and we are all stir crazy. The kids are recovering from colds, teething and are very demanding in wanting to be close AT ALL TIMES to me. Right now, I'm hiding in the kitchen and they are contained in the playroom.

2007-12-07T10:04:00.001-07:00

Here's a cookbook recommendation for all of you with young kids: "Superfoods for Babies and Children," by Annabel Karmel. It has great recipes for starting at 6 months and going up to 3+ years. She has a bunch of info in the front on what kids need to grow and how each nutrient helps. Each of her recipes focuses on one ingredient and gives some nutritional information on the side as to how the meal will benefit your child. She also makes food interesting and fun for older kids.

My kids love her chicken balls and I like it because I'm able to sneak some veggies in them. Here's the recipe:

Finger-Picking Chicken Balls

1 TBS light olive oil
1 med. onion, finely chopped
1/2 c grated carrot
1 lg. Granny Smith apple, peeled and grated
2 6-oz boneless skinless chicken breasts (uncooked), cut into chunks
1 TBS chopped fresh parsley
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme or 1/2 dried (optional)
1/2 c fresh white break crumbs
1 chicken bouillon cube, crumbled
salt and freshly ground pepper
all-purpose flour for coating chicken balls
vegetable oil for frying

1. Heat the olive oil in a pan and saute 1/2 the onion and the grated carrot for 3 minutes,
stirring occasionally
2. Using your hands, squeeze out a little excess liquid from the grated apple.
3. Mix together the grated apple, chicken and sauteed onion and carrot along with the raw
chopped onion, parsley, thyme, bread crumbs and stock cube and chop for a few seconds in a
food processor.
4. Season with a little salt and pepper.
5. With your hands, form the mixture into about 20 balls, roll them in flour and fry in a little oil
until lightly golden and cooked through, about 4-5 minutes.

To get a little "extra" calories in them, I add some sour cream on top and they go for it! Jack even likes them and had some for dinner last night. Can't go wrong with a dinner for everyone! I also end up with more than 20 so I freeze half the batch and can pull them out as I need to.

Update

I think that both Lily and Liam will be proficient walkers by Christmas. Liam is doing great! I watched them all walking around the play room this morning and had a vision of the trouble that is about to ensue. Ellie has also figured out how to move obejcts near other objects in order to climb higher. Uh oh!

Little People with Personalities

2007-12-03T14:17:00.000-07:00

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We stayed at home and had some great friends over. John and Stephanie, from church, came as well as our nanny extraodinaire, Ginny, and her boyfriend, Jeff. We had lots to eat and drink and even squeezed in a game before calling it a night.

The babies ate it all...turkey, stuffing, garlic mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and bread. They had to go to bed before dessert was brought out, but the next day, they had some pie and LOVED it! Who doesn't like pumpkin pie, expecially when it is made from a real pumpkin and not Libby's from a can?

Ellie, Lily and Liam are growing in leaps and bounds. I recently looked up online where to get toddler leashes. I know...I always looked down on people who "tied up" their children that way. Well, I'm all about contianing them, especially when we are around a lot of people. Ellie is very much a walker and is working on running. Lily will be walking most of the time by Christmas and Liam will follow soon after. If I take them all out somwhere and they want to walk, not sit in their stroller ( I can't blame them for that!), then I'm not having all 3 toddlers running in different directions? Who to chase after first?

They love kissing each other as well as fighting over toys. I don't buy in 3's anymore, because whether I have one spoon or 30 spoons that are exactly the same, the desirable spoon is always in the hands of another. As you can imagine, that gets old really quickly.

Their personalities are becoming more and more apparent. Ellie is sweet as pie, but will throw a glorious tantrum if things don't go her way. Case in point...I was dressing them for church yesterday. Trying to get out the door. I put on her shoes that matched her dress. She saw her other, worn and ragged sneakers on the table and pointed and yelled. I told her that those shoes are for outside, not church. Well, I guess she isn't able to reason and think logically yet :) and she threw a fit. Yes, she laid on her stomach on the floor and cried and cried and ecen got in a kick or two. Shoe selection, if appropriate for the season, isn't a battle that is worth it for me, so she won that one. She also gives the sweetest hugs and kisses.

Lily is definitely boss-girl of the household. She takes and takes and will yell and scream if an obejct is taken from her. It doesn't have to be an object in her hand. If it is within a 5 foot radius of her, she considers it hers. She is also sweet and knows what "lovie object" belongs to whom. Today, I was looking for Ellie's doggie for naptime and came downstairs to look. Lily crawled into the toybin repeating "da da da." Lo and behold, Lily popped her head out of the toybin with Doggie in her hands. She's a love.

Liam, Mr. Handsome, is the mellowest of the crew. He definitely has his limits, but he has already learned that what a girl wants, a girl gets. For the most part, he allows his sisters to take something from him and he then goes and looks for something else to play with. He rarely gets to play with an obejct for too long, with his two sisters milling around. He is trying to walk, presumably to keep up with his sisters. He loves to be held for a while after he wakes up from a nap...I love it!!!! The others usually just want down to play.

We are headed out to California for Christmas. I'm so excited to take the kids on a walk by the beach in the early morning hours when it is still cold. My mom and I dress them up warmly, drive to the beach, get ourselves a nice hot cup of coffee and stroll around the island in the bay. There are always lots of animals...birds, dogs, cats, seals as well as lots of Christmas decorations up for the kids to look at. It will not be a white Christmas, but it is the next best thing.

Chester

2007-11-24T18:58:00.000-07:00

We want a dog, but we settled for a fish. Chester joined our family today. He is a crest tailed Beta and he's reddish on top and blueish on the bottom. He hasn't eaten yet. Those little balls of fish food are still floating on top and getting more and more puffed up. We'd decided that he's either scared of his new surroundings or he's sleeping. I hope he's still alive. I'm not good at keeping living beings alive. I don't have ANY plants in our house. That's right. We are plantless. I've had plants in the past, but alas, they've died rather quickly. The majority of them end up with bugs flying around, the rest of them dry up and die. This rule has been consistent with both outside and inside plants. I don't do fake plants either. They still need to be dusted and that is just one more thing on my list that would get pushed to the next day and the next and the next and, well, you get it. So, I digress...back to Chester. I think he is still alive. Do fish sleep?

Ellie and I had a mother-daughter outing today. I needed to get new sheets for our bed and decided to take just one baby with me. I took the "walker" so she could get out and about. We went to Bed Bath and Beyond and she was in heaven! She gently touched some displays and loved tying out all the kid-sized chairs that they had on display. Everyone was greeted with "Hi!"

We left the store and I was putting her in the car to go home and she had a fit! I asked if she wanted to walk longer and she quickly signed "more." At home, getting her to sign is like pulling teeth, but apparantly, she really really wanted to walk. So, we walked back to the outdoor mall and went to a coffee shop. Then, we walked down to the other end of the shops and went in Petsmart to see the dogs. She LOVED that!!!

We decided to skip buying a Golden Retriever and bought a fish instead. We'll see how long I can keep this fish alive and then we'll see about a dog. I'd like all 3 amigos to be completely potty-trained before a puppy enters our abode, so I'm thinking a dog will come in about 3 more years. Oh well. Jack will have to wait.

So, my last post was when October was gone and now it is November's turn. Wild. My parents were right...kids make the time go by faster. We stayed in town for Thanskgiving and had some friends over. It was a great time. I cheated a bit and ordered the turkeys so all I had to do what heat them up!!! Check out this website: http://www.pfaelzerbrothers.com/ It will take care of all our party-planning needs. ;)

In other news...Lily finally popped her first tooth!! Woooohoooo! That only took about 7 months. Ellie looks like that Monster puppet on Sesame Street. She has about 7 half-teeth and 2 real teeth. Very cute, actually.

They are doing pretty cute things now too, like kissing each other. TOO CUTE!!!! Love that. Lily and Liam are starting to walk more with Lily taking a slight edge. Ellie is running and beginning to jump off small steps. She is very proud of herself too.

For those of you reading....white lights on the house, or colored??? I grew up with colored, but Jack thinks they are little cheezy. I'd like some more opinions...

What month is it????

2007-11-06T08:35:00.000-07:00

I can't believe October is gone. Just gone. What happened? We had my sister visit for a weekend and then my mom came to visit. It was great to spend some time with them and watch them spend time with the kids. The kids know them and get so excited when they see their Aunt Molly and Grammie.

We played in the leaves, crawled around the backyard and got to go to a farm. Our nanny owns a horse and invited us to see her where she is boarded. The kids got to feed carrots to the horse, ride the horse, see kittens and dogs just roaming around wanting to be pet. They loved seeing the animals and playing in the dirt.

In other news, Lily has taken 6 steps by herself and Liam finally has taken a couple. He still thinks of it as more of a game and will fall forward, expecting to be caught. When do they actually grow out of that trust? When I played tennis in college, one of our team building activities at the beginning of each season was to play that "game" where you stand on a table and fall backwards, trusting your teammates to catch you. What preparation and nerve that took! I hope that Liam is able to hold onto that trust for a long time before he begins doubting.

They got some new "cars" for Christmas too. An early Christmas present from their Grammie and Papa John, but best to get some use out of them now. Thank goodness there are 3 cars, although they still manage to fight and push to all get into the SAME car. Two of the cars have cell phones that ring and beep and the other car is a flatbed truck with construction tools for Liam. So far, Ellie has been the occupant of the flatbed while Liam drives. It's actually pretty cute. She "talks" into her cell phone while Liam is driving her around. Train them up early, right?

Christie

What Can You Eat Without Teeth???

2007-10-11T18:13:00.000-06:00

I get this question all the time. Although my kids don't have any teeth to speak of (none that help in chewing) they eat quite a bit of food, with the exception of course of crunchy and "chewy" foods. So, in answer to the question, here is what they ate today (between the 3 of them):

Breakfast (7am):
2 eggs
1 whole turkey, spinach and feta sausage
mozzerella cheese
1 banana
Milk (about 5-6 ounces each)
Cheerios

Snack #1 (9:30am)
2 Yogurts
1 Applesauce
Cheese bites
4 Whole Wheat Ritz crackers each
1 jar of diced peaches
2 Nutrigrain bars
Milk

Lunch (11:45am):
2 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
1/4 cup diced chicken
1 jar mandarin oranges
Milk

Snack #2 (2:30pm):
Mac n Cheese
1 yogurt
1/2 banana
1 jar winter squash with vitamins hidden in it
Cheerios
Milk

Dinner (5pm):
Grilled salmon
Peas
Broccoli with cheese (pureed in my food processor with some sour cream)
Noodles with butter
Milk

What's Happening to my sweet baby?

2007-10-08T20:14:00.000-06:00

So, Ellie has had 1 time out each day the past couple days. My once sweetest child is entering a new stage. She is pushing the limits to see what is appropriate behavior and what isn't. Let's hope she is learning and taking some notes. Two days ago, she and Lily were playing on the slide inside. Lily was climbing up the slide part and Ellie was standin gon the side of it. She gave Lily a gentle push. Not a bit deal and Jack and I gently corrected her. Then, she looks at Jack and gives Lily a shove...off the side of the slide. I grabbed her, sat her down against the wall and told her that pushing is not okay and she was in time out. Did I think she knows what time-out is? No. Did I think she would actually stay? No. She did. She knew that the look on my face was not playing and she sat there for one minute. No more pushing that day. Coincidence? Maybe.

The next day, she and I were having a great time tickling each other and playing. She goes and whacks me in the face. Again, a gentle correction for no hitting. Then, my angel-devil baby picks up a stacking ring and hauls off and wails me in the face. Time out. Again. She made one move to play with a toy, but a firm, but gentle, replacement had her staying in her time out spot for the full minute.

She is becoming a stubborn, tantrum-prone toddler. Wonder where she gest that stubborn streak?

Lily, to both Jack and my surprise, is taking a sweeter role. The role we thought was going to go to Ellie. She is a love and loves to be held. She laughs all the time at anything. i even caught her laughing at the wall once...always a little unsettling for a parent to see.

The girls fight. Really hit and push fight. Just today, coming back from the zoo, Lily was reaching her arm over onto Ellie's carseat. Ellie, of course, didn't like it and was making sure Jack and I knew it. I asked Lily not to reach over and surprisingly she stopped and pulled her arms into her seat and away from Ellie. Ellie then begins reaching over to get Lily. Aaaagh!!! They are only 1!!!!! They bite too! Luckily there aren't any teeth to speak of. Just yesterday Ellie and Lily were fighting over a cup of all things. Both wanted it and both were pulling at it and then both went toward each other's arms and tried to bite. Trouble is brewing at the McGovern house.

Liam is and has always been sweet and is still a bit sensitive. He doesn't protest too much when Lily or Ellie take something of his. He loves to play with his sisters and I've never seen him purposefully hit or bite them. Sweet boy. He's been very much a Mommy's boy recently and Mommy loves the hugs. He absolutely adores wresting with Jack too. Jack throws him around (in gentle baby-style) and he just laughs and laughs. Sweet little man.

Another Post....Finally

2007-10-01T08:28:00.001-06:00

Wow. I have been horrible at keeping this blog updated. Sorry about that. I guess it is a testament to a busy momma! A lot has been going on the past month or so. For one thing, we drove to California to spend some time with my family and to see my new niece!

We decided that to give us the best chance at a peaceful drive, Jack and I would drive all night. Bad, bad decision. We left at 7pm and arrived at my parents' house at 11:30 the following day. Our "plan" (I should know better by now...a "plan" with triplet one year olds will never go as I hope) was that while I drove, Jack would sleep because the babies wouldn't wake up at all. Right. Neither of us got any sleep and we ended up taking a 2 hour snooze at a rest stop. needless to say that the way home, we changed our plan of attack and took the drive in two days with two hotel rooms. Much, much better. Plus, we stopped every 4 hours or so for an hour and let the kids run around. They did great and with Baby Einsteins in the DVD player, it was actually the most pleasant drive we've had with them.

We had their one year appt too. They each got 3 shots. So hard to watch, but necessary. Jack helped the nurses hold them down and then passed them to me after their shots for some comfort. They did great. Stats are as follows:

Ellie.... 24.5 lbs and 30 inches long
Lily.... 18.75 lbs and 27.5 inches long
Liam.... 20.5 lbs and 28.75 inches long

Ellie...She's wlaking around now. Not well and not for too long, but she loves to walk. When she loses her balance and falls, she gets right back up and keeps walking. She has her two bottom teeth and is in the process of getting those 2 top teeth in. When a tooth comes in for her, she has a couple days of high fevers and then it is all over. Yesterday, she woke up with almost 100 degree fever and this morning, I was up for the day with her at 4:30 and a102 degree fever. She seems to wake up, eat, get a dose of Motrin and go back to sleep. Not too much playing for her. Ellie sings "e-i-e-i" and says, "dada, dog, kitty." She signs "all done."

Lily...She is still our "piece of work." Her new "thing" is standing up in her highchair (when mom forgets to strap her in), shaking her head and then saying "no" and "down." Sometimes she waits for me to see her and give her the look and sometimes she corrects herself. She also will do something that she knows she is not supposed to and shakes her head "no" the whole time she is in the process of the act. Smart little thing. She is trying to take steps by herself too! They will be trouble when they are all walking. She says, "no, dog, dada, all done, down" and sometimes she imitates, "up." Lily also signs "all done."

Liam....He is still my sensitive one. He has definitely been attached to Mommy recently. They all have, actually. Poor Jack, he just looks at them and says, "You used to love me." He's just kidding and knows it is a stage, but I do feel badly fo rhim too. I wish there was a little Daddy attachment going on. I don't get too much done. He's not too much into talking or signing though. He understands what's going on and is going to be all boy. He loves being thrown in the air and rough-housed.

In California, the trio had many "firsts." They went to the beach, rode a Merry-Go-Round, rode a train, played with 2 dogs and a cat, learned to climb stairs and go down feet first, lots of shopping, were left with a couple of their Aunt Molly's friends and narrowly escaped getting mascara on (the girls). They loved every minute of all the action!!

If anyone has any doubt that children are born sinners, they haven't raised a baby. Who teaches them to bite and hit by one year old? They continuously complete an act, knowing that they are doing something wrong. Lily or Ellie will take a toy and hide with it. They know! As "they" say, you don't have to teach a child to be bad, you have to work pretty hard to teach them to be good.

We love watching them grow and learn. Everyday they demonstrate a new skill. We are looking forward to seeing them grow.

For those of you wondering, here is our schedule:
6-6:30 Wake and take a 6 oz bottle (sometimes)
7ish Breakfast (They eat mainly finger foods and love French toast!)
8:30-10 Nap (Somtimes this nap is only an hour)
? Snack after nap
11:30/12 Lunch
12:30/1 Nap
3:00 Snack
5ish Dinner
6:00 Bottle (Lily is really the only one who likes her bedtime bottle) and Bed

In between, there are walks, outings, playtime in the backyard, helping Mom with laundry (they pull all the clothes out of the drawers while I try to put things away faster, banging pots in the kitchen, practicing climbing and going down stairs, etc...)

Hopefully, I'll post a litte more often than every 2 months!

Christie

Almost 1 Year Old! Where Has the Time Gone?

2007-08-03T20:39:00.000-06:00

I can't believe that Jack and I have survived the first year of triplets. I think that after talking to people, I was prepared for much worse, but then, I don't really remember the first couple months, so maybe they were really bad.

It is a blast now. Not any easier, but different than before. At the beginning, we were worried about them stopping breathing while they ate, or were they getting enough oxygen at night. Now, I'm worried when they are all quiet or they have disappeared.

In the last 2 weeks, they have all learned to climb stairs and as every parent knows, kids learn to go up (pulling to stand, climbing, etc) before they figure out how to get back down.

A couple days ago, all was quiet downstairs and I heard Lily and Ellie laughing with each other. I was feeding Liam and the girls were out of sight, but I heard banging and knew that they were playing on the floor behind the couch. Well, I thought I knew. Within seconds, I heard a huge BANG and then the follow-up cry from Lily. She had fallen off the bottom couple stairs face first onto the hardwood floors. I looked for Ellie and saw her just 2 stairs from the top! She did that fast!!! The gate for the bottom of the stairs has been ordered.

Funny story... I had to take the kids to the allergist so I could get my shots. They do really well there and the nurses love to see them. I had them in the triple stroller, where they sit one behind the other...Liam in front (because he reaches forward and pulls the hair of the sister sitting in front of him) , Ellie in the middle and Lily in the back. Liam had a paci in his mouth and turned sideways to look at the nurses. Ellie looked forward, noticed the paci in her brother's mouth and within seconds had pulled herself forward in her seat with her right hand and reached over the seat with her left hand and snagged the paci out of his mouth. Immediately, she stuck it in his mouth and Liam was left looking aroudn trying to figure out what had just happened.

Bit of advice...We recently returned home from a trip to California to visit my family. We flew and decided to get 4 tickets and hold one baby on our laps. DO NOT DO THIS! Get a seat for your baby. The babies in the carseats did well and actually slept, but it was constant action for both me and Jack with the lap baby. So, just suck it up and get another seat.

This post is getting rather long. I won't wait another month and will post soon.

Christie

The Fun Never Stops

2007-07-01T19:16:00.000-06:00

These babies keep getting more fun each day. While ready for them to go to bed every night, I can't wait to see their little faces in the morning.

Everyday, they are noticing each other more and interacting all the time. They will all be crawling on the floor and then two of them will just stop, crawl toward each other and laugh. Then, when they've had enough, they continue on their way. Often, I've seen one apporach another and lick/suck on the forhead. That erupts in laughter on both sides. Funny how such a small little person can understand what is funny to them. Even funnier is when I find something that just cracks them up and then I try again later when Jack is home and they stare at me like I'm crazy.

I found Lily on the third step of our stairs today. I didn't know that she could crawl up there on her own. Time for gate #5, I guess. Ellie today decided that she wanted some Mexican food and grabbed my whole taco and tried to shove it in her face. Good thing she didn't make it because that guac was spicy! I did rip off some small pices of chicken for her and rather than wasting time takin git from my hand, she'd just reach out and shove my fist into her face to get it. She ended up eating more of my chicken from the taco and some of the tortilla. That's my girl!!!
Liam is just a love and lights up when he gets free reign of the downstairs and is able to pull himself wherever he wants to!

My next big step with this crew is moving from three naps to two naps. The girls, I think could do it after a couple of hard days, but Liam loves, and desperately, needs his sleep. Maybe he gets more tired from fending off his sisters all day. Once they are sleeping past 5:30am, I'll begin to push them to stay awake until 9am.

This week, we are planning to have a playdate with three other moms and their triplets. It is always a fun time to chat with each other and watch the kids interact. Hopefully everyone will be able to come. It is hard to schedule 12 infants to get together and not have anyone sick! I'll post a picture or two, if I remember to take one. =)

The Best Sound on Earth

2007-06-23T07:49:00.000-06:00

The other day, I was in the kitchen waiting for the kids to wake up from their naps. Ellie and Liam were sleeping in their cribs and Lily was in the Pack'n'Play in the other room. Don't feel badly for her though. When she wakes up, she rarely just is quiet. She yells and yells and wakes up Ellie and Liam early. So, for naps, she goes in the guest room. She has a nice set up though, so please don't feel that we are punishing her.

While I was waiting for them to wake up, I heard a noise. I thought it was a first yell, but as I listened, it was something else. It was laughter. Not the adult "ha ha ha" laughter, but a deep belly giggle. Then I heard another, different giggle. I turned on the monitor and sure enough it was the belly giggles of Ellie and Liam. They would giggle and giggle and then it was silent. Then as if on cue, they both erupted into belly giggles for a bit and then silence, again.

I took the monitor in to Jack in his office and we both just melted listen to two of our three angels giggling with each other. We crept upstairs and very carefully cracked the door. Ellie was standing in her crib with a pacifier in her mouth looking at Liam. Liam was on his tummy, lying on the crib bumper and looking at Ellie through the crib slats. Both were staring at each other and then would erupt into a fit of giggles. We watched for a while until Ellie noticed us and the game was up.

Later that evening, after the kids were down, Jack and I were getting dinner ready and we heard the belly giggles again. We turned the monitor on again and just sat and listened. We were able to distinguish all 3 giggles. It only went on for a short time and then there was silence. They had fallen asleep...to sleep like babies.

For those of you who are parents, you know it. For those of you who aren't, there is no better sound on earth than hearing your own perfect children giggling with each other and then falling asleep.

They're Moving!!!

2007-06-13T20:51:00.000-06:00

It has been what seems like eternity since I last posted. Yes, eternity is a month when your triplets go from 8 1/2 to 9 1/2 months old.

In the past month, Ellie has gone from rocking on her hands and knees, to pulling herself, to crawling, to pulling herself up on ANYTHING and standing for a while. She gets the best smile on her face when she tackles an object and pulls up with it...like she has conquered the world. She loves to talk and her favorite thing is making a quiet drawn-out sound and gradually getting louder til she is red in the face from yelling. She used to drain an 8 oz. bottle in 7 minutes. Now, she prefers to suck on it, pull it out and study it, talk, check out what Lily and Liam are doing, suck a little more and then want down to play. It has become somewhat difficult to pin her down for the whole bottle.

In the past month, Lily has gone from rocking on her hands and knees, to crawling, to getting into a sitting position by herself. I love walking into their room after a nap and finding her sitting in her crib playing with a toy. Too cute! She is going to be the boss of the group...definitely! What Lily wants, Lily takes. She becomes interested in a toy, but if Ellie or Liam have a toy,s he wants that one. She'll play with it for a second until they pick up another one, then she'll go and take something else from them. Lily often sticks her tongue out and gives a raspberry. While Ellie and Liam may do it because they like the sound they can make, Lily does it with meaning. Lily LOVES the camera and will immediately ham it up when a cell phone camera or a film camera come out. The gummy smile, the cocked head, the goofy grin and the noises. She prefers to have someone hold the bottle in her mouth and lets it drip out of the nipple, rather than actually suck. Oh, the effort involved in that!!! As a result, her feed has been taking upwards of 20 minutes.

In the past month, Liam has gone from learning to sit independently, to rocking on hands and knees, to pulling himself commando-style to get a toy or to get away from one of his sisters. Liam has the sweetest disposition and will whine until someone picks him up. He LOVES being thrown in the air and roughed up a bit. He is extremely ticklish on his upper thighs and will give a full belly giggle. He is a born fish. In water, his facial expressions change and he splashes without fear of water on his face. Baths drench the kitchen with his splashing. He doesn't mind his head going under water. When approached by a sister eager to take his toy, he tries his best to get out of the way, but often gives up his toy and goes in search of an unclaimed one. He is often a climbing object for Ellie and Lily, but as long as they don't pull his hair, eyes, nose, mouth or ears, he is content to help them.

Mom and Dad are doing great with the trio. We look forward to seeing them each morning. Everyday brings something new that they can understand or accomplish. The look in their eyes when they have done something for which they've worked hard, is amazing.

Their one year birthday is coming up and it is unbelievable that a full year has passed. Raising triplets the first year hasn't been the "hell" I was told it would be. It has been one of the best years of my life so far.

Christie

No More Swaddles!!!!

2007-05-10T09:31:00.000-06:00

The babies are almost 9 months old and we've, well, I've decided not to swaddle anymore. They all are WAY too big and can wiggle out of it before I'm out the door. Swaddling has become a hassle for us all. So, as of last night, no swaddle. Ellie fell asleep right away and Liam tried, bless his heart. Princess Lily screamed for 90 minutes and kept Liam up. We took Lily out and put her in the Pack-n-Play in the guest room. Onece she was in there, Liam fell fast asleep and Lily continued to cry for a little bit longer. Then, silence!!!!!! They all slept through the night! Woooohoooo! This first nap today started out great. They all fell asleep within 15 minutes. Then, they all woke up after 1 hour. Lily cried for 30 minutes and Ellie moaned for a little while. Liam, fell right back asleep. I'm trying to keep them on schedule as much as possible, so they can stay in their cribs until nap time is over, which is in about 20 minutes from now. Poor babies. They will be happier not being swaddled in about a week when they are used to it. It is just getting too hot to be wrapped up in a blanket plus PJs.
They all had a speech evaluation yesterday. She wasn't concerned and they are going to get a recheck in 3 months.
Ellie is starting to crawl and Lily isn't too far behind her! Time to babyproof!!!!