So, does this mean no more bum-scooting soon?

I can’t tell you how hard it was to capture this video. I probably took a week. She’d walk across the room, so I’d grab the camera to see if she’d do it again, and then she’d have nothing of it. Quite aggravating. This is the best we could do for now. (That’s Jeff and Lili helping me out. KC was in the other room with the boys.) She looks way too old for me.

I think we’ll let Ruby take over story time from now on.

How am I supposed to get any cooking done under these conditions?

It seems like Bennett gets gypped in the video area sometimes, so here’s his little spotlight. This was after I fed them their oatmeal at 6:30 this morning.

Happy Second First Birthday

When the babies were in the NICU, I learned the whole real age vs. adjusted age thing. One nurse told me that until about two years old, they will have two birthdays: their actual birthday, and their due date birthday. A couple months is quite a chunk of time when they are rapidly progressing infants, whereas when they’re older, that time hardly makes a difference.  It’s never bothered me much, and they are in a normal range, even with their early arrival, but it’s still always in the back of my mind that they aren’t doing what typical 14 1/2 month olds do. So that‘s why I like to celebrate their due date, since it justifies any delays they might have. And that date is TODAY! As I’m sure a lot of mothers can relate, this date was tattooed in my mind the entire pregnancy.  I knew they would be early, but I still knew that it would be a very important date. So even though they are already a year old, I want to highlight some of their collective and individual achievements/quirks for the record. I would’ve done this on their real birthday, but I was a bit busy, and now I have something to write about to celebrate this important day. Here are some of my current favorite things about each munchkin.

Alex

*He is definitely the comedian of the group, always doing something to intentionally make us laugh. He’s always been such a fat, happy baby.

*He can crawl like a madman, but I still find him army scooting on occasion, I guess he learned to love it while it was taking him a while to learn how to crawl.

*He talks quite a bit. I could list list his many words, but you get the idea.

*I love when we bring him into the bathroom for bath time. He kicks and squeals with such delight that I nearly drop him. And that’s before he’s even in the water.

*For such a big boy, he has quite a high squeal. Higher than his sister’s!

*During an occasional bad night, I’ll rock him, or lay with him on the couch. A couple times he’s fallen asleep, and I just lay there with him listening to him breath until the other wake up for the day. I never thought I’d do that, with how strict I am with sleep training, but I am so glad I broke the rules a few time to have those quiet moments with my boy.

Bennett

*He is my sensitive boy. He cries like it’s the end of the world when toys are stolen from him. But he cheers up quickly if you find the right thing to distract him

*I often hear him laughing during naptime. Even if he’s the only one awake, he still laughs to himself.

*He likes to snuggle. If I’m sitting on the floor, he’ll come sit in my lap. He also loves his little square blanket he sleeps with. I tried to avoid bringing it out of his crib, but he just loves carrying it (usually by his teeth) around the house. How could I say no?

*He’s a loud crawler, in that he loves smacking his hands on the ground as he moves about. And when he stops and sits up, he loves tapping his feet loudly on the floor. We love when he spins around in circles on his little bum over and over. All he needs is symbols and he looks like one of those show monkeys.

*He learned to give me “kisses” a while ago, and I can’t get enough of those  precious lips. It’s more of a lean, than an actual kiss, but I’ll take it!

Ruby

*Oh man, this girl is a little crazy child. She is everywhere. She needs constant entertainment, and in turn, constantly entertains us. That scoot of hers will never get old.

*She always wants my netbook, cell phone, or remote if she sees me using them. For some reason, she is usually the only one who is interested.

*She loves to read books. Well at least she thinks she is reading them as she speaks mostly gibberish while she looks at each page (video to come.) I love when she points out the “Da” (dog).

*She doesn’t let the boys push her around. She gets what she wants. But she is also pretty easy going. If they want a toy she is playing with, she simply moves along and finds finds something else.

*She WALKS! (More on this later.)

*When she lays her head on my shoulder as I walk her to the nursery, I always have a hard time laying her down. She just molds to me. The best feeling in the entire world.

 

As a whole, they are a very happy, very funny, very enthusiastic bunch. They are constantly making everyone around them chuckle. They play well together, but often get in tiffs over a certain objects (which are usually dumb things like a laundry basket, or a bulb syringe). They laugh at each other multiple times a day, and it often goes for minutes at a time until someone gets distracted a crawls to play with something else. They love their bottle straws, and still think sippy cups are more of a toy thank a drinking device. I am starting to see their necks as their baby bodies become more like toddlers. Even if they do get cuter by the day, watching them grow makes my heart ache a little. They love many different foods, and I love trying new things out on them. I’m not ashamed to say that they love the tv. Our Chicka Chicka Boom Boom dvd (a birthday present from cousins Juju and Gabe) is their latest favorite. No matter their mood, I just pop that in, and they are happy kids, dancing to the music. But don’t worry, the love books too. Unfortunately, they also love to destroy them, but they are always up for reading a story on our laps. They make a complete mess of the house in 10 seconds flat, and find new danger hazards ever day. They really keep me on my toes. Just the other day, the boys figured out that if Ruby held the swinging door to the kitchen (a place I haven’t baby-proofed yet) open long enough, they could squeeze in before it had a chance to close again. They are in cahoots!  Why is it that kids always want what they aren’t supposed to have? They love shopping with me, as long as I’m prepared witch snacks and toys. Some of my favorite moments alone with them are on our outings together.

I could got on forever, but I’ll just say that I absolutely love this stage. It’s hard and exhausting, I’ll admit, but watching them discover new things everyday is amazing and thrilling to me. There are so many little minds turning in this house, it’s hard to keep up with all their new skills. I can’t stop kissing their soft, chubby cheeks. Not one day goes by that I am not so thankful to have them here with me. As scary as it was to have tiny preemies, I almost  feel like I cheated the system, because I got to have little babies a little longer because of it. So this is to celebrate my two and a half months of bonus time I was able to spend with them. Happy due date, my loves!

Who DOESNT love the fall?

We live in a neighborhood completely immersed in old, tall trees. Who knows what these trees have seen over the centuries, being so close to the nation’s capitol. I love how the trees tower over the unique hoses and canopy every street. The colors are still amazingly bright, and have been for a few weeks. We’ve tried to take advantage of this anticipated time of year by spending the nicer days outside.

There is a gorgeous lake nearby, and one afternoon last week, I just needed to get out, so Elise and I took the kids for a brisk walk along the trail that surrounds it. It was just what I needed. I didn’t realize how much I was craving that cool fresh air, and a little exercise as well. It had been cold and wet for a while before that, so beautiful day was a very welcomed change. I enjoyed that walk so much, that the next day I asked some friends if they wanted to join us for a morning stroll. It was the most perfect, brisk day. Sweaters were stripped off with the sun being so warm. I hope there are more days like this before the really cold weather hits.

On Sunday, we found ourselves with another afternoon that needed to be filled with something productive and distracting to avoid fussy babies getting on our nerves. We all made our way to a neighborhood park, and had a blast. All the babies loved the swings for a while, but what they loved the most was being able to roam far and wide on the grass. Luckily there weren’t any acorns for me to swat out of their hands over and over. I could tell they were feeling a bit cooped up at home lately, so they needed this exercise and freedom to reboot. Again, the cool fresh air was so refreshing. I almost felt like a kid again as I was playfully chasing after the babies, and twirling them in the air. I loved their little red noses and cheeks. (And this time Alex is sporting blue. Sorry about the confusion. I’ll try to be more consistent in the future.)

It may look like I’m kicking my sweet Ruby in the face in the picture below, but this is not so. She is a few feet behind us, and we were well aware of her position while shooting this picture.

Thanks to Lili and Jeff for all the great pictures and videos that evening. It’s rare that I’m in pictures with my kiddies. And of course there are more if you want to take a gander.

When in doubt. . .

. . .buy milk. We go through a lot of it. And for some reason, I still find myself standing in front of the hundreds of gallons at the store wondering if I should get more, cause I already have some in the fridge. And then of course, I see that I’m running low on the stuff the next day. Right now I’m feeling somewhat stocked because I have three gallons of whole milk for the kids, and a gallon of skim milk for the parents. Is this really my fridge I’m looking into? I also bought three large bunches of bananas the other day. What? Wasn’t it just yesterday that our half gallon of milk would go sour before we could use it, and it was inevitable that I’d be making banana bread from the few overripe bananas that remained after buying only one small bunch? When will I stop being shocked to discover all these new changes?

I am often hit with moments like this, when I realize I am a real mom, with real kids. That I’m not just babysitting or playing house, but caring for and nurturing three little people. Does everyone have light bulb moments like this? My life has taken some HUGE turns from the childless time it once knew. I absolutely love this new life I’m living, it just takes getting used to, that’s all. And after a year, I have definitely been initiated into the mom club in several ways. The toys on the floor are starting to look like they’ve always been there, changing 12-15 diapers a day (about half of them being rather stinky) doesn’t phase me a bit , and the sink full of dishes, and constant loads of laundry have become normal to me. And really, waking up super early doesn’t seem all that bad anymore either. Kids really know how to train their parents, eh?

I can see some major changes happening in the coming months with walking being frighteningly around the corner (heaven help me, Ruby has already take a few shaky steps!). The mass amounts of bottles on the counters and the dishwasher have turned into colorful sippy cups (that unfortunately disassemble into more pieces than the bottles). Funny how much can change in a matter of weeks when it comes to kids. Bittersweet is definitely the word that comes to mind.

I must be  getting used to this, since I didn’t even have to think twice about buying three jumbo boxes of diapers a couple days ago. Definitely wouldn’t want to run out of those.

A Glimpse

This morning, thanks to the persistent time change confusion, we were up rather early with the boys. While Bennett went back to sleep, Alex would have nothing of it. Instead of letting him cry it out a while to see if there was even a chance of him getting a morning snooze (once he’s up, he likes to stay up), I decided not to fight him and have a nice quiet time with my big boy all to myself. We watched some quiet baby shows cuddled up on the couch, both dozing a little I’m sure. It was so nice to lie there with him without the obligation of changing someone else’s diaper, or filling an empty bottle, or stopping a fight, or preventing a disaster. It was just him and me, and nothing else to worry about. After a while I turned off the TV, hoping maybe he’d stay cuddled with me and we could get a little more sleep, but he just wiggled his way to the floor and proceeded to play as cheerfully as can be. I stayed sprawled on the couch, watching him through half-closed eyes. I just enjoyed observing  my sweet boy as he looked through books, and talked to himself. He’d crawl around the room, looking at books and playing with toys, occasionally stumbling upon his bottle he’d dropped earlier to take a few sips before dropping it again to play with something more interesting. He looked like he was having such a great time with everything all to himself. That doesn’t happen very often around here. I was able to watch him and play with him uninterrupted, and it really made me realize what I miss when I am looking in three different directions. Babies are just fascinating.

And even though I am sure he loved not having anything stolen from him, and having the undivided attention of his mom, he started to  look kinda lonely playing by himself. I was also lonely for my sweet babies sleeping away in the other room. There is definitely an empty feeling when one or two of them aren’t around. They can all be incredibly cute and entertaining on their own, but they do love each other, as anyone can tell, and have a unique bond. As silly as it is to ever wake a baby from a great night’s sleep, I was tempted to get my sweeties up to play with us. Not only because it’s always best when they’re on the same schedule, and we were going on an hour and a half past when Alex woke up, but also because I missed them, and it seemed like Alex did too. I have all this anxiety about eventually putting them in separate rooms, but I know they will have to split up at some point in the years to come. (The party during nap times sounds more fun every day. It’s frightening to think what will be going on in there when they aren’t in cribs anymore.) I just love to hear them laugh at each other, and enjoy each other’s company. It’s weird to think that first children usually don’t have this companionship.

As much as I loved getting a little heavenly glimpse of what it would be like with one baby to snuggle, I was so excited when I heard the little voices coming from the nursery telling me they were awake and ready to join the fun. I guess you could say that this morning, I had the best of both worlds.

So that’s how it feels.

I never knew what if felt like to have kids that occasionally slept in. I had heard it’s just wonderful. And this morning, I found out that it truly is. When I woke up to see the 7:00 looking at me from the nightstand, I really couldn’t believe my eyes. KC and I just laughed as we heard the giggles coming from the nursery. I had actually woken up an hour earlier, and was just as amazed that it was still quiet (it might sound crazy to you that I consider this an accomplishment, but 5 am is usually when they think it’s time to play), so imagine my excitement when I got another hour of sleep! Their nights have been a roller coaster as of late, with Alex waking up around 3 for a few nights in a row, sometimes keeping us up for a couple hours, and sometimes bringing others to the all night party, though they are pretty good at sleeping though each other’s cries for the most part. New teeth have been a part of it, but I also thought it might be time for a later bedtime. So we moved it back a half an hour a few days ago, and it has done wonders for us. They slept a whole extra hour the first day we tried it, and it just keeps getting better. And the night-wakings, have been short and sweet, if any at all. I am so glad to have had that inspiration before I started dropping naps. I need those two naps for as long as possible. I know this sleeping-in thing might not last, but when your three children all decide to sleep in on the same day, it is something to be remembered, and I’m going enjoy it, even if just for today.

And I think this blog is in need of an update:

Elise and I took the kids to Ikea a while ago. They loved the mashed potato and meatball kids meal. We definitely drew some looks from the crowd (remember how my kids can be kind of loud?), and made some friends too. The best part was they were nice and fed when we got home, so they went straight to naptime.

I bought this balloon for their birthday, and it seriously stayed afloat for two months. I wouldn’t have thought the price of $6.99 was that steep, had I known it would last so long. The babies loved playing with it while it was around. It was kind of sad to see it go.

I hosted book group this month. We read The Hunger Games (like every other book group), and I actually had some fun with the food. It’s not too often that I spend more that a few minutes in the kitchen for recreational purposes,  (I’m usually just cutting up grapes, or making oatmeal), so it was refreshing to cook just for the fun of it. There wasn’t as much of a crowd as I had anticipated, but I don’t hear any complaints from certain husbands that live here.  If you’ve read the books, you’d know the significance of the berries, the goat cheese, and the freshly baked bread.

We love our new Costco! Anything to make grocery shopping more exciting, eh?

It’s great that the van can fit everyone when Elise and I want to take the kids somewhere.

Fighting over toys as usual.

We ALL love when daddy comes home.

This picture is to get Elise back for all the ridiculous pictures of me she put on facebook.

Penny, cause she’s such a cute little munchkin.

We found out they love playing with my hat collection. Bennett makes a pretty handsome cowboy, is you ask me.

And why not a few videos:

Sorry Ruby, bum-scootin’ does’t works so well on the grass.

 

One of Elise’s favorite things to do with Alex.

 

They have been saying quite a few words lately, and this is Alex’s latest.

Anticlimactic

That’s how I feel about Halloween as an adult. Even though I have kids now, they go to bed around 6:30, so there wasn’t much of a reason to get too into this once much-anticipated holiday. And it didn’t help that it fell on a Sunday (and unlike Utah, where the state collectively decides to hold the festivities on Saturday, our area celebrated on the Sabbath). We did the best we could, trying to make it memorable, despite the lack of bedtime friendly activities.

We adults did try to get into the Halloween spirit a little. We found out about this jack-o-lantern campfire thing a couple weeks ago. It was pretty fun, but a few minutes was all we needed until we made our way to a diner for milkshakes and pie.

While I was getting over a nasty sinus infection (and still feeling some lingering symptoms), the others went to the ward Halloween party/chili cook-off the Friday before. From what I hear, there were a lot of good chilies, Jeff's being the first gone. Luckily I had a taste test before they took it away to be devoured. It was awesome.  Lili has more details on her blog.

I’ve never been one to get too into dressing up, but it would just be sad if we didn’t do anything with the kids. This is not their first Halloween, but last year they had only been home a couple of days, and really weren’t even supposed to be born yet, so I didn’t have much of anything on my mind but feeding charts, and sleeping any chance I got. I think we did acquire some post-Halloween clearance candy, which was just what we needed. Anyway, you’d think triplets provide the perfect opportunity to make an adorable trio of coordinated costumes, but like I said, we weren’t going anywhere, and I didn’t want to spend money on three costumes that would only be used for picture taking and memories. So I decided to just get them some pajamas they already need, and turn them into costumes. Win, win. I thought monkeys were a good choice, since I found all these cute little footie pjs. H&M had these adorable hats, and we had three little monkeys as cute as can be. I have a million other ideas for Halloweens to come when they can walk and such. It will be so fun when they can enjoy the fun this holiday brings.

A

B

R

On Saturday we all went out to eat at Five Guys. The babies always love new surroundings to make noise in (good thing they have a back room that we had to ourselves). Penny was especially cute in her Halloween attire. That girl has style.  It so great that we get to spend the holidays with the Ribeiras this year. We have a lot of fun in store this season. Bring on Thanksgiving!

Our Dream Team

The babies finally got to meet some of the special people that had a very large role in getting them here. It’s been a long time coming, but we were so happy to visit our fertility clinic last week, and show them the beautiful babies we all worked so hard for. I would have loved to visit sooner, but we were hibernating the first 9 months of their lives, and then there were a couple broken appointments due to sickness or bad timing. So one day I just decided it was the day to make it happen. Luckily the doctor was in, and we were invited to come during their lunch break for our little reunion.

The team welcomed us with open arms, and the babies, though tired, were little sweethearts. Our doctor kept saying how “Tremendous!”they were, and they all loved the stroller too. (I swear, more people notice the stroller now than the children in it. I must say, it is incredible breezing around corners and through doorways like nobody’s business, and that can’t be said for many triple strollers. So worth every penny and annoyance it took to get it.) We talked about the pregnancy, the babies’ development, and a lot of other things. It was kind of a whirlwind with all the questions and babies being passed around.  The doctor mentioned how pleasant it was working with us. I told him that I recalled a few instances where I wasn’t always so pleasant, but he assured me that we weren’t at all high-maintenance compared to some others. Ha! Could’ve fooled me. I thought I was a nightmare.

My oh my, how going to that place brings back memories. I was going back and forth from that building very frequently for over a year. I experienced some of my lowest lows, and highest highs there. As nostalgic as it is to go back and see all those familiar faces, I am glad it’s not part of my daily routine anymore. Even though we had the best outcome I could’ve imagined, I’m easily reminded of the uncertainty and anxiety, and sometimes hopelessness I often felt there. But I am very honored to have been a part of such an amazing process. It still blows my mind what is possible with modern medicine.

We left after a short visit, feeling so grateful that all our hard work has paid off. It was an extremely hard time, but I can truly say that I would do it 100 more times  if it meant I could have these hilarious, smart, darling children in my life. We left with such wonderful feeling of peace, something I never thought I’d feel when leaving that building. But I am so happy to be in this chapter of my life now.