Horseback Riding

Today we invited by a fellow mom of multiples to go horseback riding. I've been setting this up for months hoping to get Kaitlyn on the back of a horse. I have loved horses since I was little but never actually get a chance to go. I have been excited about this for weeks :)

And the great news? Kaitlyn loved it! Yea! I'm so happy. Mommy and Daddy loved it too. Caleb did okay and the triplets had a mixed reaction. None of them got on a horse but Julianna wanted to - Alyssa and Rachel wouldn't come anywhere near it! Oh well, I can break them in slowly.

Meeting the horses:







Giving the horses a treat:







As close as Rachel and Alyssa got to wanting to ride - they just liked the helmet :)



Julianna was much more interested but we didn't try putting her on - maybe next time at least for a picture!



Kaitlyn's on the back of her first horse! She's riding Whiskey:



Kirk with Caleb on Tuff - we figured we'd start Caleb out with someone and not by himself:



And me on the back of Bob - Bob is the slow horse :)



Thankfully we had some help with the triplets so we could all go riding together!



Our family (at least the bigger 4):







Caleb's trying it alone.



Kaitlyn was doing great! She really loved Whiskey - rode him for 2 hours!



Her smile says it all! Priceless :)



Kirk and Caleb on Bob (Bob had the more comfy saddle):



Riding as a group down by the pond. Now I'm on Tuff - I think he was everyone's favorite since he was stubborn but responded better to commands.



After the kids were done Kirk took Whiskey and I took Tuff and we rode for another hour. Love it :) Can't wait to go again. Thanks so much Michelle and Sean!

Petshops By Kaitlyn

Today's post is a special request by Kaitlyn! And pretty much written by Kaitlyn and typed up by mom. So, if you know anybody who likes petshops sit down and take a look. And believe me these are the narrowed down photos - meaning narrowed down from 124 to 25. Oh yea, I sat through a whole slideshow of pictures. I will admit some of them are pretty good - I may have a budding photographer here! And if you look close at a lot of the shots you can see a lot of the books that I have read (you know when I had time for reading!)

Way Back When-esday: Just A Favorite

This photo is just one of my favorites of my girls. It was taken in early December 2007 and was the first time my girls really looked like girls!

Also marks when the girls started watching TV. I wish I could say that they still sit in front of it like this but they don't. They have their moments and they will watch but never for very long.

Want to play along? Twinfatuation.

Caleb and Kirk In DC

It's easy to forget just how close we live to Washington, DC. With traffic it can take well, it took Kirk 3 hours to get home due to Metro issues! But driving is a good hour or so each way and with parking like it is we rarely go in. Today though, Kirk decided to take Caleb and brave downtown since Kaitlyn was going out with friends. Yes, it was a nice break for me - home with "just" the triplets :)

Riding on the metro:



National Museum of American History:



Lots of fun stuff for kids to do and learn! Here's Caleb "wind-surfing"



Then they went on to the National Museum of Natural History (lots of dinosaurs).



Caleb and a really big dinosaur head :)



Caleb in DC:



On the mall (It'd heard it was in need of some repair - looks like it is).



Downtown DC.



Looks like they had a lot of fun (except for their long ride home). I'm hoping as the girls get older that we can take them in a little more.

What I've Heard Today

The noise level in my house is often overwhelming. Basically the crying never stops and when it does I get nervous because it means someone is up to something.

So, to give you an idea of what goes on here every day I'll give a short list of what I hear on a regular basis (though some sayings are new):

- I want breakfast
- I want snack
- I want blankie
- I want flashlight
- I want book
- I want more milk
- I want juice
- I want jumpy-jumpy (moonbounce)
- I want in balls
- I want go to
(sensing a theme? If I got a dollar for every time one child or another told me they wanted something I'd be rich!)

- I don't want to nap or no go to nap

- Happy Birthday Mommy! - For the record it is NOT my birthday - won't be for a good 3 weeks (though I am considering it cancelled for this year) but yet they insist on wishing me a Happy Birthday - all day long! Probably for the rest of the month. Kirk says cancelling it is out of the question - the triplets just won't allow it. I think it's because Kaitlyn just had a birthday and daddy keeps telling them who's birthday is next. They are also wishing themselves a Happy Birthday. They don't seem to get yet that they share one!

- if I say "I love you, Alyssa" she will say "I wub you mom" - cutest thing EVER!

- if I ask Alyssa, "are you okay?" she will say "yea, I okay mom" and since she still can't talk very clearly it makes it even cuter!

- we went to the outlet mall tonight and on the way home all I heard from the very back of the van from Julianna was:

"Mommy!"
"Yes, Julianna?"
"It dark in here."
"Yes it is, Julianna."
"Mommy!"
"Yes, Julianna?"
"Where are we?"
"We're on ____ road on our way home."

Repeat entire conversation 10 times.

And speaking of the mall and being out - of course I also heard:

- are those triplets?
- are they all yours?
- wow, look triplets!
- they're all triplets but that one's blond
- that's a really cool wagon (everyone has Step 2 Choo Choo Wagon envy)

We also got tons of points, stares, whispers and smiles. So, to answer, yes, they are all mine, yes they are triplets and yes, even though Rachel is smaller and blonder then the other two she was still born on the same day! I have the scars and photos to prove it :) That and distinct memory of giving birth to three babies on the same day just minutes apart. Believe me, they're triplets!

None of this includes the big kids who also ask me for a thousand things a day but there's questions aren't quite as cute and mostly involve food so I won't take the time to list them here :)

Here's to a peaceful evening now that all the kiddos are in bed!!

As a side note, Kirk did the header using pictures from Kate and I think he did an awesome job! Thanks honey :)

Way Back When-esday: The Moonbounce

Christmas 2007 my brother and sister-in-law bought my kids a moonbounce. At the time the girls were barely 1 but the big kids loved it.

Today things are a little different:



This has been my lifesaver for the past week! The girls are LOVING it!!

And the rest of my day? I think this says it all:





13 kids = chaos :) At least they all agree they like pizza and we all had friends to hang out with.

Play along with Way Back When-esday at Twinfatuation.

Health Update

Okay, so I can't believe it either but it's been a year since I last saw the Hematologist. Yes, I was supposed to see him sooner - sooner as in 6 months ago. I am such the worst patient :)

The recap from last year: HERE

Here's the thing - if the doctor tells me it's probably nothing then to me it's basically nothing. A year ago that's what he said.

Today, that's not what he said.

You know it's bad when the doctor walks in holding my blood test results and says "I'm very glad you came back in to see me." I might be a nice patient but certainly not nice enough for that welcome!

Turns out my platelet counts are still quite low - 64,000 low (normal is between 140,000 and 440,000 - dangerous is 30,000).

So, at this point the doctor believes that something is actually wrong and we have to figure out what it is. He's okay with my levels staying low - maybe that's normal for me - but he has to know how to get my levels back up in case of an emergency or a surgery.

To start off with I'm taking a very strong vitamin for a month - this will increase my iron, B12 and folic acid in case any of those are low and causing the problem (he drew about 14 vials of blood to see if he could pinpoint the cause). In a month I will go back and be re-tested.

If this does not take care of the problem then I will be put on steroids. So help me I do NOT want that! His goal is avoid long-term steroids but if the vitamins don't work he will try a powerful 4-day steroid regimen to see if they will get my platelet count up. Again, if he knows it works then it will be what I have to go through before future surgeries or in case of an emergency.

Just what I need to make my life more interesting! As if having triplets wasn't enough :)

The Trouble With Triplets

Yes, they're cute - oh, they are so cute at this age but this week has been one of those weeks where it seems everything they could possibly do wrong they've done.

Let's see there was glitter everywhere:



Hands and feet.



And the couch...



Then for lunch they had Jell-O which seemed to go everywhere but in their mouths! And yes, that's the rest of the food on their plates that they did NOT eat. I even made them octopus hotdogs - come on! What's a mom got to do??



And then I go to the bathroom and come back to this! I swear I wasn't even gone 5 minutes. The drawings continued on both sides of the stairs and the end table by the couch.



But to top it off night time is getting later and later. Last week 2 of the girls were up until 1 in the morning playing! I've had to remove flash lights and night lights just to get some peace.

Good grief, isn't it a little late for the terrible twos??!!

On a different note (and mostly to hide it at the bottom of this post) I got my hair cut this weekend. It's darker and shorter. Still not sure...

Pictures Are Here!

And I'm over the top excited to share these with you. Should be able to overhaul the blog this weekend (after Kirk makes a magazine deadline) and finally have a new header! All photos taken by Kate Headley.

The new family photo.



My kids. Love them :) And, of course, I think they're totally adorable.



I think this is my favorite picture ever of the girls together.



2nd favorite.



I have no idea what Rachel was laughing about but I just love this shot.



They absolutely loved their glasses!



My favorite of the girls in outfit #2.



My girls.



My boys.



Kaitlyn.



Such a beauty.



Daddy's girl.



Me and my son.



Caleb.



So handsome.



Do you think she looks like me?



Me and Kirk - aaaawww...



My favorite one of Julianna.







This one captures Julianna's personality so well - she is so vibrant and full of life - I love it!



Rachel.



Now this is the definition of cool.



This is so Rachel's personality - mischevious and always into something. It was either this or the clinging to mom photo - I opted for this one.



Alyssa's flying high.



I just love that her glasses are slightly off and she's just cheesin' away.



Super sweet.



Group shots.



Can you see Julianna's little face down the line? Thank God there was a dog jumping in the water right in front of us - kept the girls fascinated :)



This is mama's bunch!



We took the pictures in front of a lighthouse in Alexandria. Beautiful location!



Funny faces.

So Julianna wasn't much into the silly faces.







Kirk.



Me.



And Alyssa saying "bye" and thanks for viewing our new great pictures from Kate!