Boys Among Us

On my side of the tracks it seems there are only girls. With the exception of my friend Kristy who is currently on bed rest with what is probably her third boy all of my friends have girls. In fact, tomorrow night I am getting together with all the other triplet moms in my multiples club (there are 4 of us) and between us we have 11 girls and one boy - in the triplets - I obviously have an additional girl and boy and one other mom has another girl so that makes it 13 girls and 2 boys. Get the picture?

But today I found the boys!

Thanks to Kelly with Christian, Jordan and Hunter; to Jeannie with Mason, Tyler and Ryan and Cherie with Christian, Jack and Tommy for letting some girls crash your party! We had a great time :)

I'm Not Ready

I am loving the fall feeling in the air. I am loving that the nights are cooler and we will soon be wearing pretty sweaters and more figure-flattering jeans but for the first time ever I'm not ready for the kids clothes to change! My girls are NOT big enough yet :) I buy a size bigger so they can grow but apparantly they have just not grown enough.

This is a video I took trying to get Alyssa dancing by herself since I got the other girls but as you can see my efforts have failed. Wonder why? Be sure to check out their clothes - is that sad or what??

Today I Went To A Concert

More Triplets

A while ago we were out in public and someone commented upon seeing us, "There's something you don't see every day!"

Kirk quickly responded, "well, we do!"

While multiples continue to be fascinating to many and somewhat uncommon (to the point that many people have said to me, "I've never seen real live triplets before!" - meaning they had on TV) those of us that have triplets begin to realize just how many of us there really are.

I must admit before I had the girls I knew my friend Ute with triplets and then my friend JoRonda. Of course I had heard of other sets but never gave a second thought to how many sets of triplets there were. Even while pregnant I knew very few other triplet moms.

Since giving birth to the girls the list of triplet moms I know continues to grow. Thus the addition of more triplet blog links. Just under a year ago we were finally done with our triple decker stroller so we put it on Craigslist for sale.

We quickly got a reply and a girl named Jackie who also had triplets was on her way out to buy it. Amazingly she also has triplet girls. And as it is with many other moms of triplets or higher an immediate bond was formed. After all, how many of you get together for dinner with the people you sold/bought things to/from on Craiglist?

But that's just what we did tonight. Unfortunately, Jackie and family have moved on to Chicago but they were back in town for a week and took time out of their schedule to come over and eat dinner with us! We had a wonderful evening and I was so excited to see them and their girls: Sophie, Katie and Juliette again :)

Because of the large size of our group we chose to eat outside on our new table and it worked great! The large benches accomodated our families very well and I can't wait to entertain more before the weather gets frigid. And Jackie and Sebastian were gracious enough to bring us all KFC to share. It was great!



All of our girls together. Look how sweet their girls look? And mine are fighting... Don't worry, those sweet faces will be fighting soon enough! Yes, we warned them...



Their girls L to R: Sophie and identical sisters, Katie and Juliette



Our girls. By now everyone should know this but just in case from L to R: Julianna, Alyssa and Rachel.



The whole family playing on the floor. Remember those days? I certainly do! Recognize their clothes? Yep, the girls wore those last year :)

Family Photo

A new family photo from home! A rare occasion. Wondering how all the girls are looking forward? They are watching Hi-5 of course. The first thing Julianna asks for every morning and every time we are in the family room.

Why the family photo? My friend Joanna - who is having her third girl if you haven't already heard - found out yesterday. "Best friend" Lauren will soon be a big sister. Hopefully to Alyssa Jane. Yea, another Alyssa!! Anyway, Joanna has nominated me for a show on TLC called Home Made Simple. They contacted her back and we are in the process of sending in photos to determine if our family and our crazy house could be on the show. Who knows, it's quite a process but I'll let you know if anything comes of it. The hope is to get some organizing help as well as some triplet room help! After the swap between Kaitlyn and the girls we have yet to finish the girl's room...

Twins??

(Yes, it's a new "do" - shorter and straighter!)

Prayers, Praises and Updates

I have realized lately that I never gave you the good news about Ellie!

My post from 6/18:

I would like to ask you all to pray for my very good friend, Laura. Today Laura had her third daughter. While this is a joyous time for their family little Ellie is just about 2 pounds since she was born at 28.4 weeks after Laura's water broke 4 weeks ago. We praise God that she was able to carrie Ellie for as long as she did but they both have a long road ahead of them. I don't know more details but I know she needs prayer!!

Ellie has now been home from the hospital for two weeks! Yea!! Praise God!! She is doing amazingly well and is already over 6 pounds! Such a fighter.

At birth:





Today a chunkie preemie :)




Now I have a new friend to pray for! What is up with all these difficult pregnancies? Anyway, my friend Kristy is now on bed rest with baby #3. Did I mention that baby #1 is just barely 2?? I think she's trying to keep up with me :)

The problem is that Kristy has been bleeding and now suffers from subchorionic bleeding which is a bleed in the folds of the outer fetal membrane next to the placenta. These bleeds, or clots, can cause the placenta to separate from the uterine wall if they get too large, if they develop in a bad spot, or if they aren’t eventually reabsorbed. The bad news is if this bleed spot is not reabsorbed by the next appt. Kristy has a 25% chance of losing this precious little baby (probably her third boy!!). So, please, please add Kristy and her family to your prayers! She is on bed rest with two very small boys running around. Many of us know how very hard that is.

This is Kristy pregnant. Hmmm, yea I think I see it :) Truth is I'd like to look this good!!



And an update on the babies. Julianna is talking in complete sentences which I find amazing. Today she said while holding the remote to me "want Hi-5" which is their new absolute favorite TV show (they still love Elmo). Hi-5 is kind of, sort of like the Wiggles but way better. Lots of singing and costumes. Adults dressed up in fun costumes acting like kids. They love it. Then she looked at me and said "I want up" meaning up into my lap.

Rachel has been very busy coloring on EVERYTHING. The walls, the chairs, the windows, the floor, my computer, the couch, blankets - she will seriously try coloring on anything. Alyssa decided to join her today and color happily on the slide in the living room (current play room).

Other then all the coloring the girls have been very good playing together and running around everywhere. They have also adjusted to the new school schedule pretty well and I am soo happy about that! Hopefully Rachel and Alyssa will be talking as much as Julianna soon!

T-Ball

I am the proud mama of a baseball player! Technically T-ball but I'm so excited that he is doing something for boys :) I grew up watching my younger brothers play and have looked forward to the day I too would be on the ball field watching my own son play. And since I only have one son I am all the more thrilled to watch him be a boy :)



The good news is that he really likes it. He just has fun getting out there and playing. His favorite part? When they slap hi-fives at the end and say "good job" to each other. The bad news? He's not that good or at least he's not a natural. I have no idea what that would look like at 4 years old but right now we have to yell at him repeatedly to pay attention and to run the bases. But I can see significant improvement since he first got out there at a practice a few weeks ago.



Tonight he was first at bat and actually did pretty well - he got a hit and made it to first base :) Of course, all the kids stood there till they hit and while some of the kids were already very good at hitting the ball no one had the whole idea of baseball down yet. They played three innings which meant until every kid had batted and run the bases. No one kept track of the score or the outs.



Caleb got to play catcher and third base this time - he will rotate through every position. Hopefully by Saturday he'll catch on a little more. It's still cute to watch all these little boys (and some girls) play baseball (t-ball).



This is his "ready stance" - he really has been practicing - I think he'll do so much better as he gets older. I just hope he has fun doing it!



And the girls:









The boy in the picture with Rachel is my friend, Kathy's son, Jesse. Jesse's big brother, Liam is on the team with Caleb and their dad, Bill is the coach.

This is the only picture I got of Rachel by herself:

Yearly Trip To Six Flags

Today was Kirk's work's yearly picnic at Six Flags and as always we were very excited about it. I LOVE Six Flags - mostly the Superman ride - it's my all-time favorite ride. And Kirk's company buys out the park for the day and we pay just $10 (per person) for the entire day including food and drinks around the park - seriously no better deal!!

It started out as a great day - we had the triplets covered by bigger triplets :) Well, two of three bigger triplets and their mom and we even got to the park before the gates opened. That has never happened before! We headed to the back of the park to ride the good rides but we made one fatal mistake.

We decided to ride the Penguin's Blizzard River - we've never ridden it before. Made me horribly sick. I do not handle turning in circles well at all! I spent the rest of the day fighting a headache and nausea. Despite my misery the rest of the family had fun and I did manage to ride Superman twice (though it's not as fun when you feel horrible). Pictures from the day (roll over pictures if you want to read the captions):

And while we were gone it seems the girls didn't miss us a bit!! They got tons of attention, played outside and inside - went on a walk, watched TV, played on the swings and read books. What more could three girls want on a Saturday? They even got a nice bath :)

Rene and Rebekah are 9 years old and everything I know about triplets I learned from them and their mom (brother Ryan was on a camping trip with his dad). I knew their mom, Ute, before, during and obviously since her pregnancy with the triplets. Knowing her great outcome helped me be a lot less scared of my own triplet pregnancy. Obviously she hasn't lost her touch (of course, having two 9-year-olds who love babies and help out with everything helps too!!). Thanks Ute and girls...

So, for next year I'll just remember NOT to ride the horrible twisting ride AND to bring myself some Advil! It seems to have made things a lot better. Despite my physical difficulties I am already looking forward to next year...

New Frames

I had the funnest time tonight. It was kind of a girl's night out. Except the girl I went out with was my very own daughter, Kaitlyn. It is a rare moment that I actually get to hang out with her by myself. We had a great time :) The real reason we went out was to have Kaitlyn's eyes checked. She's been in glasses for a year but lately her eyes seemed to be getting worse and I was right. New glasses it is.

Okay, seriously, how cute is she?



Above is the before picture - pink glasses.



And this is the after picture - it may be a tad hard to tell but they are now gold frames.



How cool is she? These glasses have magnets to hold sunglasses on over the lenses so she only has to have one RX pair. The doctor said she needs the sunglasses so we got both in one. That and the coolness factor.

While we waited for her glasses we shared a pretzel and browsed at the bookstore. We had a lot of fun together. I think I'm liking this age :) And then, I have to wonder what in the world will this be like when I have three girls this age??!!

1st Playgroup

I guess this is a week of firsts! This morning we had 4 moms and 9 kids 2 years old and under. Three sets of twins and one set of triplets from the moms of multiples club I belong to. And my triplets and two of sets of the twins were born November 15, 16, and 17th respectively! So, in a way we had Septuplets! How crazy is that?!

The kids interacted really well. There was lots of pushing and toy and snack stealing but of course, that's normal :) I did notice a lot of the same behaviors in some of the other twins, pushing each other off their mom's lap! I experience a thousand times a day no matter how big my lap is. On the plus side, Rachel really seems to like the boys :) She gets right up to them and talks to them till they smile at her. She's working it! Strangely she seems most attraced to boys that are also blond. I have to laugh at her preference. So cute.

This isn't a close-up so you can't see that well but Connor was totally cheesing the camera - how funny is he! He and his twin brother Cole are one day older then my girls.



These are the oldest twins and the only boy/girl set:



Kristin and Reagan. Reagan's twin brother Keenan was Rachel's favorite - they are one day younger then my girls. Apparantly November 2006 was a VERY busy month for multiples everywhere :)









I think my girls had a lot of fun and I know they are looking forward to playing with all those twins again! Maybe someday they'll actually interact and play quietly with each other. Well, I can dream...

1st Haircut!

We did it! We cut the girl's hair tonight. Okay, not me. We took the kids to Cartoon Cuts and they did a great job. While Rachel and Alyssa's hair wasn't that bad, Julianna's bangs were in her eyes and she couldn't see! Not to mention her poor hair in the back that looked more like a mullet. Now it's so nice and even.















Somehow I didn't get an after shot of Alyssa or Caleb though he gets his hair cut all the time. Don't worry Alyssa still has all her curls - I made sure they didn't cut them out!! They all did great. No one hated it or cried much. Julianna LOVES having her hair done so she thought it was great. Now I have their first locks and little certificates for each of them! They're getting so big :(