Baby Evelyn

So, it’s fun when people among your family or close friends has a baby, right? What’s even more fun is when your twin sister has one! Melody gave birth to Evelyn Paige on May 11, and it has been torture ever since that I haven't been able to hold that darling little girl, and give my sister a giant hug for her hard (drug-free) work, and to welcome her in to the families-with-three-children club! Luckily I had already purchased tickets to Utah before she was born, so I was relieved I would see them sooner than later.

This pregnancy has been different for me than her others. I wanted kids desperately the first two times she announced to me her wonderful news. I couldn’t help but we happy for her, but I wanted so badly for us to experience this together as we have with so many other things in our lives. I imagine it was harder on her than she ever let on, and I feel terrible for that. I got pregnant with the triplets about halfway through her second pregnancy, and it seemed like the weight of the world was lifted off of both of our shoulders, and we were at last in the same blessed boat we had longed for. It may have only been a few years, but they felt like long ones. I think I speak for both of us that when she told me she was pregnant this time, there was nothing but unbridled joy all around, and it felt so good. Although I was always so happy for her before, it was clearly different, now that I can truly share what she is going through. I feel so close to that little baby, like Melody’s other children, even though I haven’t even met her yet, because of the closeness Melody and I share. It must be those twin powers at work.

So, I will shortly be on my way to take in all the baby love going on over there in Happy Valley! I’m leaving the kids in the capable hands of KC and his parents who were going to be passing through anyway. Lucky guy.  The kids will be more than thrilled with their undivided, and unexhausted (at least for the first couple of days), attention. And I will be free as a bird. I get to see my other new niece, Stella, too! They will be visiting from Hawaii, and I can’t say how excited I am to a child-free aunt for a few days. If the triplets knew any better, they’d be super jealous that I get to go see “Baby Elevan”, and “Baby Stella” and they don’t. One day all these cousin will unite for a grand union.  I’m sure I’ll miss my kiddies, but I know the time will fly by with all the cute distractions around me. I can’t wait!

Now, I wonder who will be the first twin to add a fourth??

The First Crop

I have always felt like I have the opposite of a green thumb. I never thought I could keep anything alive, or lacked the drive to learn more about what it takes to make plants thrive. But feeling the need to start a new project to give my mommy-brain a rest now and then this summer, I threw all doubt and fear to the side (much like my canning ventures last year), and started a very small garden with Lili. I asked a few questions to those I know have had success, read a few tidbits, and felt it was worth the small investment.  Elise and I started out seedling indoors weeks ago, but when we transplanted, almost none survived, and some were dug up by squirls or something. I didn’t want to give up after all the work we put in already. It was still early enough to plant some seeds right in the box, so I did that with what we had left, and supplemented with some store bought tomatoes, peppers of all kinds, cucumbers, and yellow squash. I read a little and found out cayenne pepper would deter any peaky animals, so I sprinkled in on now and then, and seems to have done the trick so far. Soon enough the seeds peeked up through the soil, and Elise and I were giddy everyday as we saw the rapid progress of the zucchini, cilantro, basil, honeydew melons, more sweet peppers (one pepper plant is the only survivor from our first indoor seedlings!) , and I think I’ve seen an onion in there. I look forward to seeing what has happened over night as I set out for my run very morning. I know we aren’t out of the woods yet, with the many pests we have around here. I am praying that as soon as any vegetation that comes from this isn’t eaten immediately by some unwanted visitors. I better study up on that. Any tips are welcome!

It’s an amateur garden, to say the least, being pretty unorganized (I’ve bought and added plants at different times if I felt a space needed to be filled), and very small. But I didn’t want to be too over my head with my first garden, so I think starting small was the way to go. I can see how gardening is addicting. If I owned my home, I would commit part of the yard to a huge garden, and buy my Aunt’s whole gardening system. (Someday, Aunt Belinda!)

I had my first fresh taste from the garden when I cut some cilantro and added it to my most delicious guacamole for lunch today. I hope this is only the beginning of what is to come from this little endeavor. I’ll keep you posted. Keeping my fingers crossed!

I think I’ll take a break now.

Another weekend, another 5K. And this time Elise to ran it with me! It’s always more fun when you have a partner to go through the pain with. Right now my only other running friends are very pregnant, so I’m usually a loner at these events. Not this time!

The morning was a little rough. I felt like every time I went to get for something, it was nowhere to be found. For a control freak like me, this was maddening. I don’t lose things! Seriously, one of my shoes, my watch, my ipod strap, the kid’s shoes. . . After looking around the house the fourth time over, I was pretty on edge. The kids’ attitude weren’t helping either. It had been a rough week for all of us. I wasn’t sure if the frustration would help of hurt me in the race. Anyway, I took some deep breaths, was finally able to calm my nerves, and we set out around 7:30.

The boys dropped us off and took the kids to a park that was on along the course so they could cheer us on while we were running. It was a very small, kind of unofficial race, but there were some enthusiastic participants, and the course was beautiful, so it was fun all the same. It was pretty hard for me, I won’t lie. I know a 5k isn’t much of a run, but I hate when I already feel the pain coming on in the first half mile. But I pushed through anyway to see if there was any hope of improving my time from the previous weekend.

(Thanks for the action shots, Jeff!)

Things were going well, and I could feel the finish line coming closer, when I felt my shoelace untie. The one with my timing chip tied to it! It was still barely holding on as I tried to give the last half mile everything I had. It was pretty dramatic, as my eyes went back and forth from the blurry finish line in the distance, and the chip as it got closer and closer to the end of my shoe lace. In the last few yards, I just ran hard without any thought my chip. I crossed the finish line at top speed, looked down, and there was no chip. Guess where it fell off. Right on the edge of the finish line. Ha! Drama, I’m telling you! The main reason I didn’t want it to fall off mid-race, was because I didn’t want to have to track it down afterward. They like to have those chips back, so I didn’t want to be the one to lose mine. I didn’t really care about it recording my official time or anything, because I was watching the clock myself (there wasn’t a starting mat). The time I saw on the clock as I crossed the line was 25:10, a whole 45 seconds faster than last week, thanks to the lack of hills, I’m sure. The girl collecting the chips asked me if I had one, and I told her it fell off. I think she was a little miffed, but I found it a moment later, so all was well. But it just figured that it fell off right before the spot where it was to record my time. But it must have been recorded, or no one came in before I found the chip, because I still got first place in my age group! Don’t get too excited, there were only about 7o participants in all, but hey, I got a cute flower pot out of it, so why not be a little excited. The food was awesome. Platters of Panera breads and pastries, little cakes, and fresh fruit. I think the schools have a way of getting the best sponsors. It is for the children, after all.

KC said the kids were a bit of a handful. That is something they know how to do well. But they were adorable as I passed them. Ruby ran after me for a little while with her arms out saying “I wanna huuug!!” And I heard Bennett crying for me, and Alex saying, “It’s mommy!”. They got to play at some fun parks, and enjoy some post-race treats, so I think they had a good time.

I’ve decided it’s time to take a little break from races. I’ve been wiped out too many weekends this past couple of months, and haven’t been able to get much on my long lists done. And I think it will also be a while before I care about setting any new personal records. To keep racing fun, I won’t be pushing myself too hard in the future. So I’ll let this be race it for a while, and maybe start back up after the hot summer months have passed. I’ve still got my boot camp to keep me motivated!

(I have a talent for making jumping pictures pretty dorky. In my defense, I was trying to keep my shirt from revealing my beautiful post-triplet stomach. I think I’d make too many people jealous. (Ha!))

The Crack of Dawn

Before 5:00 am I:

• realized KC wasn’t home from work yet.
• called him and found out he wouldn’t be home anytime soon.
• couldn’t sleep any longer so I started making Banana Crumb Muffins.

Before 6:00 am I:

• got the muffins in the oven, and cleaned the resulting dishes.
• packed some snacks for our outings planned for the day.

Before 7:00 am I:

• got myself somewhat ready.
• got happy babies out of bed, changed diapers, put on shoes and jackets, and loaded everyone in the car.
• took the kids on a morning drive to the lake, stopping briefly at my boot camp class, reassuring them that I was not, in fact, one who attends one day and then quits. (they were just moseying down the path after a jog, so I wasn’t interrupting anything.)
• answered all the regular questions people have when they find out I have triplets.
• let the kids play at the park where my group meets (I had no choice when the saw the fun playground).
• finally arrived at the lake, loaded the stroller, and enjoyed the beautiful sunrise over the water.

Before 8:00 am I:

• let the kids play at another park (again, did I have a choice as we passed it on the path?)
• loaded the car again, and drove home in some traffic.
• turned on Toy Story 3 (Ruby’s request), and tried to have a little down time before we took baths, and got ready for another big outing in an hour.

What happened was, I woke up around 4 to see that KC wasn’t home yet. This has happened many times with a particular project he’s been working on. Once, I didn’t see him until about 9 am. Looks like today will be worse, as it’s the final day for the project and he has to put in every minute he can. Don’t even GET me started on how frustrating this is on the whole family. The kids haven’t been agreeable lately, and my nerves are quite shot. And I’m not sure when KC sleeps. Poor guy. So anyway, after calling him and realizing he wasn’t coming home for a while, I couldn’t sleep. I was disappointed at having to miss my second day of boot camp, and being husbandless for another day, and worrying how he is handling all of this physically. So I decided to just get started with the day to distract myself. I was feeling energized, despite my early wake-up and was primed for a work-out, whether it involved the kids or not. Anyway, the walk around the lake was probably great resistance training for my race on that same course tomorrow. I’ll probably feel light as a feather as I run without pushing an extra 130 lbs! The kids were perfectly pleasant, and I loved the non-stop cheerful chatter. I think they thought it was great getting out first thing in their jammies, with their blankies. They would even chat with people who would stop us as we were walking to tell them about the slide at the park. Maybe they’re happy morning people like their mommy. It was an early, but pleasant morning with my little work-out buddies.

So, here’s to hoping I get my husband back soon, and that  I won’t crash before the day is over!

Let the Boot Camp Begin!

I was just feeling like I needed a little boost in my work-out routine, when Living Social came out with a 30 day boot camp deal. Usually I just delete those because they don’t work with my schedule or are not within reasonable distance. But the more I read about this one, the more I thought it would work out for me. It’s only a 12 minute, or so, drive, and it’s a one hour class that starts at 5:45 am, perfect timing for me to get home with plenty of time for KC to get ready for work. So I took the plunge, and signed myself up, and started classes this morning! I was the most beautiful day. We worked out in a lovely park with a cool breeze blowing the whole time. There were about a dozen people there (probably half of us new as a result of this deal), all very nice, and the instructor was casual, and easy-going, but still made us work until we were begging to stop. There were all fitness levels present, so there was no push to over-work yourself, but they just stressed doing whatever you can. We did a variety of exercises, and I really felt the burn as we focused on upper body (each day it’s something different). I’m already looking forward tomorrow, though I hope it doesn’t wipe me out for my race on Saturday!  

It’s only a month, and I don’t foresee myself signing up for any more classes after it’s over (the deal was hugely discounted from the original price), so I’m just excited for a great few weeks of getting in better shape in preparation for the summer. It’s fun to have somebody tell me what to do for a change, in regards to my workouts. (Although, sometimes I feel like I’m already in a continuous boot camp with all the demand and orders these kids give me all day!) This will be a great way to break things up for a while. I’m just hoping my arms don’t feel like Jell-O the entire time!

A Day of Trucks and A Whirlwind Weekend

I might as well squeeze two weekends into one post. It’s been a pretty eventful few weeks around here. It seems this great weather really brings out all the fun happenings. Here’s what we’ve been up to.

Every year our little town’s nursery school puts on what they call a Truck Touch. It’s all to benefit the school, and always draws a huge crowd. In a big parking lot they bring a bunch of vehicles of every kind for the kids to play on/in and honk the horns, and just have fun. I remember taking the cute kids I used to babysit to it once years ago. Crazy how I had plans to take my three little ones this year. It was a hot day, but it was such a great time. They were in heaven as they sat in driver’s seat of the school bus, or cement truck, and thought playing in someone’s boat was so great. There were so many, we didn’t even make it to them all. The refrigerated Safeway truck was a nice break from the heat. They got some tickets with admission, which we happily used on balloons. Best idea ever. The kids danced around with those for a while, coming back to me now and then for a bite of a snow cone. And they were easy to spot if they wandered off, by just looking for the bouncing balloon. Just before we left, a Chick-fil-a cow wandered in, and Ruby, my used-to-be-deathly-afraid-of-everyone girl, couldn’t get enough of him. She kept going back to say hi, and even demanded a hug. At one point, she kept whining to me that she wanted a hug and kiss! That girl. It was a fun day with our little family.

To keep with our truck theme (really, it was just a coincidence), that same night we went to an awesome food truck festival, held RFK stadium festival Grounds, only about four miles from our house. Probably 30 different, well-known food trucks from around the city were all in one place. It was nearly impossible for us to choose who to eat from. I was pretty giddy. My first stop was the Hula Girl truck for their amazing plate lunch Elise and I shared. That Kalua Pork was insanely good. KC went for this naan-wrapped Indian chicken type thing, that was also beyond delicious. We wished the trucks sold small portions so we could try more things, but most were dinner sized meals so our stomachs were getting too full too fast. We did find a few fun little things to try, like some great empanadas, horchata popsicles, and a milkshake. I wish they’d do this once a month. It was so fun to go with Elise and Jeff for a double date. It was also a beautiful night.

 

Last weekend was another fun one. We had a lot planned, and were able to do it all with a little energy to spare. It started off well with a fun girls night. We ate delicious food, and could’ve talked all night, but made ourselves stop to watch The Vow. I love my girl time. I really look forward to hanging with my great friends.

So anyway, I don’t think it was the best thing for me to eat all that delicious food and stay out until all hours of the night (hey, I wouldn’t have gotten home so late, if it weren’t for the construction on the freeway resulting in a lovely one-hour drive home, not to mention some weird second wind I got at 1 am, resulting in about 3 hrs. of sleep), because I had a 5k bright and early the next morning. I wasn’t expecting much out of myself. I haven’t been training too hard, I’m not feeling in the best shape right now, and it was right here in beautiful, hilly Cheverly, hilly being the operative word. But, I was just looking forward to a fun workout. I mean, how could I NOT do a 5k when it’s in my very own neighborhood? It was a small race. The 5k and 1 mile walk all together had only, maybe, 140 participants. I won’t lie, I felt pretty sluggish from the first quarter-mile on. Like I was running through mud or something. But it was a gorgeous day, and it helped that there were so many residents cheering us on as we weaved through the neighborhoods, including my own family! It was so adorable as I saw them in the distance clapping, and waving at all the runners as they passed. They didn’t even realize it was me as I passed them. I heard them cry for me when I was already down the road, and they realized who I was. Awe, my sweet little cheerleaders. I finished 17th overall (#15 and #16 passed me in the last half mile!) , and actually got my best time yet, which based on how I felt the entire run, I was not expecting at all. My official time was 25:55, but I’m giving myself a few seconds because of some confusion over where the actual finish line was. (I started walking early, and then quickly realized the race wasn’t over yet!) It was a great morning. I’m still awaiting all the pictures they promised to make available. But if you look here, you can see me in my bright green shirt right as the race began. I had so much fun, I just found another one to run next weekend. This race thing is addicting.

Before the race:

And after:

And the busy day continued. We put the kids down for an early nap because of our afternoon plans, which totally backfired. They played, laughed, and whined on and off for a solid two hours, during which I ran some quick errands. We gave up on them sleeping at all and carried out our plans as normal. We made some new friends in the ward, Tyler and Sarah, and have been having fun with them ever since. They just moved here, and bought season passes to Six Flags, just 20 minutes from our house. Last Saturday, they were allowed to bring one person free with each pass. Our original idea was to go on a double date to the park that night, but there were some babysitter complications, so we started toying with the idea of bringing the kids to the park during the day. At first, I dismissed the idea immediately (a habit I’ve gotten in when it comes to most grandiose ideas involving these kids), but then started to wonder if we should give it a try. It was free after all, and so close to home if we decided it was too much and wanted to call it quits. And it worked out that there were enough passes to get the Ribeiras in free as well. So we threw all caution to the wind and decided to give it a try. We all set out around 2:30 pm to our first amusement park adventure with the triplets! And it was better than I would’ve hoped! They were the EXACT height required to ride alone, and I can’t believe how nervous I was to just strap them in and walk away. They were a little tired, and maybe nervous as well, so it took them a while to warm up, but overall, I think they had a great time. And thanks to Lili for being the extra set of hand when we needed her. We were mostly looking forward to the little splash pad, and put them in the swimsuits from the start just for that. I think they were so tired at that point, they weren’t as enthusiastic as I had imagined, but it was great fun, nonetheless. We enjoyed a good couple hours there, and then made our way home, feeding the kids our cooler meal on the way and called it dinner. They were as chipper as ever, and kept talking about “six flags!” They were in bed at 5:45 and were asleep in 10 minutes. Beautiful.

Since we were slightly disappointed about not getting to have our double date, we still made plans to meet up at our friends’ house (we were swapping date nights with the Ribieras and that weekend), and enjoyed delicious Thai take-out, great conversation (turns our Tyler and I were in high school together), and as if I hadn’t had enough exercise that day, worked up a sweat playing Just Dance. Whew. I don’t know how I did it, but I didn’t even feel like I needed to crash until I was in bed at about 1 am. I must’ve been running on fumes at that point.

Then began a beautiful Mother’s Day. When we were all ready for church, I tried to gather everyone for a picture, but was positive it would ruin my day if I tried too hard, so I gave up to salvage any patience I had left to enjoy the day. The kids were angels during church, and didn’t even care that we just pushed them into the nursery (actually they ran into the room themselves), and then just went about our business. We have never done that. Usually we have to stick around to prevent at least one of them from bawling the whole time. We just stared going to nursery regularly with the winter being over, and naps being later, so they must be finally getting used to it, and getting past this clingy stage. It was lovely to attend Sunday School, and Relief Society. And I loved going to pick them up and seeing the huge smiles on their faces as they ran up to me and handed me a picture they colored just for their mommy.  We got to facetime/talk on the phone to our awesome moms we love so much, and ended the day with a delicious meal with the Ribeiras, made by Jeff, and I made cake and homemade ice cream, thanks to my new ice cream maker. That thing might be a problem. Ice cream is too easy to make! I may have thrown a Ninja Kitchen System in my cart while shopping as well (both were steals at Costco). It isn’t Mother’s Day without a good splurge, right?

So that’s all the busy fun we’ve been having, and I have a feeling we’re going to keep our schedule pretty packed as we try to keep these kids entertained, and enjoy the outdoors during this beautiful time of year.