Confessions

So, the truth is I am a very disorganized mother of 5. Or I put too much on my plate. I think the most disorganization is in my home. I know lots of other mothers of triplets whose homes are perfect. I have friends without triplets as well and a lot of them have the same neat home. Apparantly I have misplaced this gene because believe me my mother's home is perfect. Whatever she taught me growing up has apparantly fallen out of my tiny brain. It leaked through all the cracks and floated away.

Lately I have been feeling just a bit overwhelmed by the state of my house. How do I keep it all together?

List of things to do this month:
- write a chapter a week in novel
- complete 2 lessons in writing course
- post responses to discussion questions in Master's course
- finish midterm for Master's course
- tag items for consignment sale (my own)
- tag items for consignment sale (other people's)
- list clothes on Ebay
- do 12 loads of laundry
- make 40 school lunches
- complete science fair project with Kaitlyn
- sign up as moms of multiples treasurer
- sign up as church nursery coordinator
- make 25 dinners - we go out a few times :)
- update blog
- take pictures and video of the kids
- take care of 5 kids 24/7 - thank God they sleep some of those hours!!

So, where to I fit in organizing my house? I clean it - vacuum, dishes, laundry, bathrooms but yet my house feels cluttered all the time. I have NO idea what to do. Any thoughts?

The Grocery Game

With a family of seven the expenses can get quite high. While I know very few things about saving money I've learned a few recently and I thought I'd share. A friend in Florida introduced me to the coolest thing - the grocery game.

Basically if you get the paper you just keep your coupons instead of clipping them and you file them by date. You subscribe to the grocery game and then every week Sunday through Tuesday she tells you what's on sale at your favorite store and then if there's a coupon to go with the sale she'll tell you and you buy that item for really cheap. She highlights the best deals in blue and the free deals in green.

From the website this explains what it is:

What is The Grocery Game?
The Grocery Game is a fun, easy way to save hundreds of dollars on groceries each month. TERI'S LIST reveals the "rock bottom" prices on hundreds of products each week and matches them up with manufacturers' coupons for the best possible savings at your local supermarket. The Grocery Game has exclusive databases that track manufacturers' coupons along with weekly sales and specials, both advertised and UN-advertised. With TERI'S LIST, the days of time consuming work required for effective coupon-ing are over. The Grocery Game does all the hard work and research, presented in a quick reference format on the internet each week, as TERI'S LIST. Members log in, spend a few minutes with a pair of scissors, and they're off to win The Grocery Game!

How Do We Play The Grocery Game?
If you have your Sunday newspaper and TERI'S LIST, you will have everything you need to play The Grocery Game. Each week, TERI'S LIST matches sales to coupons from weeks or months past, along with new coupons from this week's Sunday paper.

You can get started with our $1 TRIAL. This will give you 4 weeks of playing The Grocery Game. You will log in to TERI'S LIST each week, check off the items you want to buy, print your customized list, pull the corresponding coupons and you're off to win like a pro!

You will want to read TERI'S GAME RULES, for all of the best savings strategies and how to get the most out of TERI'S LIST.

I highly encourage you to check it out! Save money on your groceries and have fun doing it. It really works!! If you sign up please include me as a referral - every person helps :)

The Grocery Game

Easter Outfits

I love dressing my kids. It's just fun. And one of the biggest deals for us is Easter. Christmas is also a big picture deal as you all know from the family portraits but Christmas seems easier. The colors are pretty basic and there's not a lot you can do with that :)

And then there's Easter. Do we take the whole family picture? Do we do just the kids? How many family pictures do we need? Not much has changed since Christmas. So, because of that we decided to do just the kids this time. You know some fun pictures. Great. Now which ones? This is so complicated and I'm so picky. There are so many choices and yet not enough. And the price is crazy. I can't win!!! Try dressing five kids to coordinate and match - it's not easy.

After much discussion and fret (on my part) I finally came to something I wanted. I had it all in my cart on-line and what happens? Someone goes and buys all the dresses in size 7!! What? Who did this to me? I'm sure they knew I was ready to check out and took my dress!!! So, now I'm a bit annoyed because I finally came to a decision (and if you want an idea of how much of a decision this was just ask Kirk - I was driving him crazy) and then I couldn't have what I wanted. No fair!

Being that I am older then 2 I have to think through this in an adult manner. So, today we packed everyone up and headed to the mall. A real trip to Gymboree - not a mommy one on-line. Wow!! I am happy to report that everyone did very well. The triplets were a HUGE hit. Everyone stopped, started, pointed, talked about us, asked questions. Yep, that's normal. One man stopped Kirk and asked in earnest whether or not he had a son. Upon finding out that we do indeed have a boy the man patted Kirk on the back and felt good about our lives in general. So glad we could help! I even heard the "I'm glad it's them and not me" remark. Me too.

Beyond that they loved the girls at Gymboree and that was fun. We were their walking advertisement. I would so do that!!

And here are what the kids will be wearing in their pictures. We haven't done that yet but soon. I'm very excited. Caleb will be wearing a tie (probably pink so he can match his sisters). He's going to look so handsome!

Sleeping Beauties

Even though I'm not a very big Disney fan I can't miss the opportunity to reference the Disney Princesses since, after all, some of the most popular princess are Ariel (A), Belle (B) and Cinderella (C). I got great pictures of Julianna sleeping a while ago but Alyssa has been much harder to catch actually sleeping! But finally, I have acheived my goal so I'm going to share some cute pics of the girls at their best.

Julianna's under there somewhere...



Sweet feet :)



Rachel's easier to capture - she sleeps a lot!



Rachel's the only one of the three that does not cover up with blankets when she sleeps - this is probably because Julianna likes to steal Rachel's blankets at night or is it that Rachel enjoys giving them to her?



All previous attempts ended like this...



Finally today :) So cozy - I wish I could trade places!



And just some video I got of the girl's the other day - too funny!

15-Month Check-Up

Just under 15 months ago we walked into our pediatrician's office for the first time with the triplets. Then we were carrying two of them in car seats and I had to carry Alyssa in my arms because she had failed the car seat challenge and had to be transported in a car bed. Times have changed so much since then so today instead of being carried the girls walked into their appointment. They aren't exactly following directions yet so they found it more fun to explore but it was great to see the nurses and doctors who have watched them grow over the past year.

The girls are doing very well. They were all fine and healthy except Rachel who did have a minor ear infection and could (hopefully) explain some of her crankiness and tiredness as of late. She's now on antibiotics. I'll let you know if it helps!

Girl's Stats:

Julianna: 23.10 pounds putting her in the 60th percentile for weight
Rachel: 19.10 pounds putting her in the 10th percentile for weight
Alyssa: 22.12 pounds putting her in the 50th percentile for weight

By height Julianna is almost in the 90th percentile; Rachel is in the 50th and Alyssa is in the 70th. Julianna and Alyssa's heads are huge while Rachel's is still quite small :)

So, my girls are doing great!! This weekend we got a painful reminder of how blessed we are when we found out that a girl's in my on-line multiples club has lost one of her triplet daughters (Zoe). We are so very sad for her loss and ask that you would lift this family up in your prayers:

Tripled Pink

What's Changed in 15 Months?

A lot! Well, of course, we all knew that. But can you believe the girls are 15 months old today? I can't. Today we had the great pleasure of meeting three new little baby girls. These precious girls were born at just 24 weeks and spent 135 days in the NICU before coming home in January. Other then being born early and still being on oxygen they reminded very much of my three little girls so many months ago. To hear them all cry at once. I'm not sure that was the most pleasant of memories...

But they are adorable. Their mom gave me permission to post some pictures of her sweet little girls: Juliette, Katie and Sophie - that's their birth order - Juliette and Katie are identical. Welcome home little ones!! (Remember when my girls were this little?)





Now 15 months later my girls have their own personalities and quirks. I shared video of Rachel's earlier this week. Julianna is just a crazy little girl who loves to give me five, show me her belly and "talk" in a language I don't understand. She has become very vocal about her likes and dislikes.

Rachel can giggle so cutely when she's not screaming. She's also very inquisitive and can play so well by herself - provided I'm nearby.

Alyssa is just cute. She can be silly and interestingly she has turned into my easiest going baby. She can't give five - she can only give ten :) She just gets too excited (I promise to get video of this soon). She also gives the cheesiest of grins.

Today as I met three new triplets it reminded me of just how far we've come. Fifteen months ago the girls barely moved, now they're everywhere. Then we were juggling feeding three babies at once - we're still doing that but it's a tad easier - they do feed themselves pretty well. Rachel can clean her tray of just about anything - go figure huh?

Of course a lot has changed but it's fun to remember. Sometimes :)

Valentine's Day

Anniversary gift for my parents: $50
Food for school Valentine's Day party: $12.50
Triplet's Valentine's "gifts": $26.50
Big Kid's Valentine's "gifts": $25
Take-Out dinner on Valentine's day - whole family: $40

Getting the perfect Valentine picture:

Priceless:



Happy 38th Anniversary Mom and Dad!! And Happy Valentine's Day everybody else!!

The Rachel Switch

Off, on, off, on, off...



Mommy's girl?

Where's Your Belly?

How To Use a Roll of Toilet Paper in Five Minutes

(Taken while I was at my monthly moms of multiples meeting and dad was home alone with all five kids - when they're all giggling it's NOT a good thing)

Embracing Triplets

Thanks to everyone for voting! Seems like most people would vote for dressing the girls alike or at least to coordinate them. After talking to lots of moms of multiples, I have come down to the decision that I love having triplets and I want to embrace that. For now and for the most part I will dress the girls alike or at least coordinating. When they get older I'm sure they will have their own opinions about how they dress. So, until anyone else volunteers to do my laundry and dress my kids in the morning I will be taking the easy way out :)

On the same topic, I want to be able to go out in public and share my girls. I don't have a disease and I don't want to hide in my house. If people wish to point and stare and talk about me, that's fine. I'm proud of my girls. I'm proud of my five kids.

In fact my new license plate came today telling everybody I have 2 kids and triplets. I also ordered my new window sticker for my car:



So if you see me out in public stop by and say hi. Tell me how cute my girls are cause they are. I'm happy to have triplets!! They're not fun and games every day of course but it is a blessing to have three at once. Even now I can hear them upstairs giggling and "talking" to each other. I look forward to more years with them whether they're dressed alike or not :)

Go Giants!!!

I seriously meant to put this up before the game and then time got away from me and I wasn't able to do so. While I was born in New Jersey my parents are from New York and my dad has been a Giants fan for as long as I can remember (Jets too) so in honor of my dad I was rooting for the Giants. On the flip side, if the Patriots had won it would've given them a perfect season and that would have been amazing. But, still I was rooting for the Giants and after an intense 4th quarter it was great to see them pull it off!

That being said, the pictures we took tonight have nothing to do with the game. Instead my good friend, Joanna, and family came over in matching outfits (just the girls to my girls - not the whole family). To add to the voting dilemma about dressing them alike, how cute are they?

The girls in their Sunday best - this is coordinating - different tights :)



Sorry I have to be in the picture but I felt it was the best way to get all 6 girls to sit still.



Don't miss Caleb in the background...



And, finally, all the girls looking cute in their matching outfits! For the record if I dress them alike now doesn't mean I will forever - just while they're little :)



And I just have to add this - this is Julianna and her tiger. He has no name because she's not old enough to name him/her but she LOVES this tiger. If someone else has it she will complain to high heaven to get it back!

Dressing Alike

I know it seems incredibly early to be thinking about spring and summer clothes but trust me, it's not. The girls have enough clothes for winter so if I buy clothes it's now for summer and I am struggling with a dilemma. Should I dress the girls alike or not?

Before they were born I had decided not to dress them alike very often. I had no idea how alike they would look and didn't want to confuse anybody plus I didn't want the extra pain of having to change one girl's clothes just because someone else threw up or pooped and got their clothes dirty.

Since then I have somewhat changed my mind. While it is still a huge pain to change all three if they get their clothes dirty they usually only wear one outfit a day so it's less of a problem. Also, they don't look anything alike so we can tell them apart no matter what they're wearing.

I have also found that grabbing the same outfit for each girl means I only have to think about their clothes for like 5 minutes whereas if I dress them differently I have to carefully examine each outfit to see how it relates to the other. Sound weird? Well, if one girl is wearing pink and the other is wearing red or blue people will assume that the other one is a boy. Not a big deal at home but when we're out - big pain.

To help me answer this question I have created a poll and really want your opinion. Should I embrace that they are triplets and display it to the world that they are or should I make them individuals and dress them differently. I could also coordinate and that is similar outfits but not exactly the same - same shorts, different tops - same clothing line different style. Commenting that it's up to me isn't helpful so you have to vote!! And vote often :)

Laundry Day

The girls are oh, so helpful.



This is what laundry day in our house looks like. I don't even remember how many loads this was but it took me 2 days to wash and fold :) I know I could do a load every day but I hate laundry so I do it all at once every other week (and some in between when needed).



And this is how our house looked tonight when all the power everywhere went out for over an hour. I've never seen my house any blacker! It was freaky. It certainly proved one thing: Alyssa is scared of the dark. I mean petrified. We suspected this when she spent the entire second nap screaming her head off - something she doesn't do any other time that she wakes up. I started putting a night light in which ever room she was in and it seems to have helped. Go figure.

Right now I am just eternally grateful for lights...

Bathtime Fun

After a little protesting by Julianna the girls are out of their bath seats and into the tub. I wanted to capture a little bit of the fun (no obscene pictures I promise) of the girls in the bath along with the older two kids who still enjoy being in their own bath!



So silly! Love the hair Julianna...



The older kids are having fun:

Fun With Balloons

So the girls are always cute (okay, except when they are screaming but you get the point) but yesterday they got balloons from Harris Teeter and just loved them - so I had to grab a few shots.

The balloon is actually stuck to her head - it followed her all around the play room.





Alyssa's looking a little posed but I swear I had nothing to do with it!



After chasing Rachel around forever - I finally got a few good shots. Has to be even! Although I guess I shorted Alyssa with just one good photo :)





These are the outfits the girls wore to Harris Teeter - complete with bow and even a pink jacket. I was still asked if they were two girls and a boy or all girls. What do you think? And please, please tell me which one is the boy?? Also, a cute older couple thought they knew my parents because they knew someone who's daughter had triplets and were shocked to find out that there could be more then one set of triplets in Northern Virginia! So cute :)

"More" Please!

A big first today! At lunch I was feeding the girls these Gerber Graduate Lil Crunchies and they loved them. I actually fed them the Zesty Tomato flavor and I can't believe they devoured them since neither of the older kids like tomatoes. I do keep trying with everyone since I LOVE tomatoes.

But that's not the big first. Today Julianna and Rachel both signed "more" - they loved these things so much they couldn't help but tell me they wanted more :) We're still working on the sign for please but now at least two of them have added "more" to their "all done" - yes, they have that one down quite well. Thanks Gerber for these great snacks...

Uncle Michael Is 30!!

And he's single!! If you know any single girls between 25 and 30ish please let me know. I'd like to marry him off :) Happy Birthday Michael and welcome to your 30's. I hope the next decade is even better then the last.

Over the summer we had a chance to visit him at his house and took some pictures. Doesn't he look so natural holding 3 babies?? I never got these pictures up then but I thought they'd be a great way to wish him a Happy 30th today.





All 5 kids having fun :)

It's All Fun And Games...

Until someone gets hurt! I'm not apologizing for another video because this was just too cute to pass up tonight. But I will apologize for the stuff on the floor - the girls were playing with the empty BJ's boxes and scattered them. That and they're addicted to playing with spoons. Someday I'll get video of Rachel and her spoons. She falls asleep with them and wakes up clutching them... Silly girl!

Snow Babies

Just last week the girls were walking on the grass in the "spring" - today we got about five or so inches of snow which for us is a good amount. I LOVE the snow so we had to take the girls out for their first trip outside in the snow. I hope you don't mind all the pictures and video :)

Hanging out in the snow:



The girls on the sled: