Our First Cookie

Okay, so being home by myself with 5 kids has been interesting. More interesting then with 7 kids (the other girls are out of town for a week) because I don't have 3 girls to entertain each other so I have become Kaitlyn's sole source of entertainment :) And Caleb's, and Julianna's and Rachel's and Alyssa's... Well, you get the point.

So, today I decided to try something new with the girls and give them those very messy biter biscuits. But they loved them and it bought me like 20 minutes of quiet!! Woo hoo!! The girls still hate food. Love their bottles, hate food. I think we'll be skipping baby food and going straight to regular food. Julianna would prefer that. Rachel doesn't care and Alyssa is good either way.

Here are the results from today's "experiment" - notice the trays - I don't usually do that either:



Here's Julianna - isn't she a disaster? Pretty much what usually happens with her food - out of the mouth and onto the bib. I guess she feels it's better there!




Rachel was the least impressed with the cookie and barely ate it. In the end it disappeared into thin air and I still can't find it but given her "clean" look I know she didn't eat it!



Alyssa loved it but then again she loves every type of food she can gnaw on. And if there's no food available, mommy's fingers will do just fine! Just try to get that cookie out of her hand - not that you would want to touch it. Ewwww!

It's Official

We have crawling babies! Well, one crawling baby anyway (Julianna) and when Julianna does something Rachel is never far behind. Alyssa, on the other hand, it still her "lazy" self and gets stuck on her belly still. I do think she's sitting up quite a bit longer then the others but that's probably only because she has the patience to do so.

I am still amazed by their personalities. Julianna always asks like the older one and does things far before the other two do. She wants to get down and go. She cries when she can't get a hold of a toy she wants or loses one. She doesn't want to be held.

Rachel is just a funny little girl. She has a lot of heart along with the biggest eyes and mouth I've ever seen! She's a bit less cranky lately and her favorite game is chase brother or sister. Makes her giggle every time. Speaking of big sister - she has become a great helper lately and is doing wonderfully at entertaining the girls. They LOVE her! Caleb entertains them occasionally but would much prefer that I do it as well as take care of him :)

Alyssa is still as cuddly as ever. She loves to just sit on my lap and play with whatever toy she can get in her mouth. She hates to be on her stomach and is stuck there for the time being when she rolls over. She doesn't want to move!

The swings will be coming down. Julianna is just too mobile and today while Rachel was swinging Julianna got herself under there and about got her head knocked off. I caught her so she's fine but now I have to either put all 3 in or none and given Julianna's desire to move. Forget it!

So, enjoy the video of Julianna that Kirk took today. Again, she just cracks us up so I hope you get a laugh out of this too and that you enjoyed your once in a century day - 7/7/07 :)

Celebration Pictures

Here are the pictures as promised. Thanks to Kristy Shepherd for taking them for me. I think she got some good ones :) Hope everyone likes slide shows because I love to make them!

Independence Day

Happy 4th of July! I hope that everyone had a safe and fun holiday. We had a great but extremely busy day. This morning was spent with friend and then it was off to a neighborhood get together. The kids played on the water slide, the babies got passed around and we all ate lots of good food. It was great to meet some neighbors we didn't know before. Unfortunately, we had to leave before the bike parade and the fireworks so we could head to Middleburg and watch "real" fireworks. Have to see those!

We started celebrating early... Sunday the girls wore their new July 4th outfits from Grandma and Grandpa to church. Since it was a skirt outfit it seemed appropriate.



Daddy made the kids their own home made rockets. Not sure if it was for the 4th of July or not but again it seemed to fit :)

Caleb is serious about his rocket.



Kaitlyn strikes a pose.



And our family picture from today. We all wore our Old Navy shirts :) The girls wore red and the boys were in blue.



The girls seemed to enjoy their 1st 4th. We tried to feed them in the van and have them go to sleep during the fireworks but Alyssa and Rachel had other ideas and wanted out of the van to watch the fireworks which they seemed to really enjoy. It was very cute.

It blows my mind that a year ago today we were in Florida celebrating with my parents and I was pregnant with the triplets having no idea what we were having. We haven't been to Florida in a year. I don't think we've ever gone that long without a visit. We miss everyone especially my parents and we can't wait to see them soon!

Hopefully I'll have a few more pictures from today's adventures soon but since I forgot my camera everywhere we went I don't have the pictures yet! You think I would think of these things :)

Multiples, Multiples Everywhere

AKA the Prince William Moms of Multiples Club Picnic. AKA as minivan central. Today was an enormously eventful day. First off was the multiples club picnic and we all had a great time. Lots and lots of twins and two sets of triplets. I'm going to begin working on recruiting some triplets :) The older two got a chance to play in the sand, the sprinkler and on the playground. Mom and Dad got to deal with cranky babies who missed their nap time. But even in a multiples club people love babies so we had many hands eager to help out and hold. We had a great day!

Kaitlyn and Caleb wore their "Sister of Triplets" and "Brother of Triplets" respectively. Seemed so appropriate...



The girls having fun on the blanket:





I've got to tell you that Rachel is one sly dog. She is miss cranky all the time but I break out the camera and who do I get fussing? Alyssa of course! Maybe Alyssa just hates having her picture taken :)



After the picnic it was off to a birthday party. And this on the heels of VBS for the two older kids. It has been a very crazy, busy week! Gotta love it!

Back to Work

So, after 7 months of "slacking" I am back to work taking care of a friend's girls during the day :) We are having a fun summer so far and I just wanted to share photos of my "new" crew (feels like I have 2 sets of triplet girls with poor Caleb in the middle!).

From left to right - top row: Kaitlyn, Julia and Allyson
Bottom row: Rachel, Julianna and Alyssa (sound similar?!)
Caleb is by himself on the right :( He needs some sympathy!



During the day the girls often come in to play with "themselves". We joke because of all the similar names and the girls like to play with their counterparts. They are in charge of the baby with the most similar name :) Kaitlyn is the exception so she is paired with Rachel.

Kaitlyn and Rachel:



Julia and Julianna:



Allyson and Alyssa:



And just some fun pictures of our day. We're on a pretty tight schedule (self-imposed but it keeps me sane) but we do get to let loose sometimes!




The 4th girl is Kaitlyn's friend Emery:

Pool Party

Today was Savannah's birthday party (a church friend of Kaitlyn's) and I packed up my 5 plus Allyson and Julia and went to the pool for the first time this summer. The girls had their first experience in the water and as you will see their reactions varied. We had a great time and we hope that Savannah has a very happy 7th birthday!

Sugar and Spice

And everything not so nice has come out of my girls in the last week. So, everyone knows that last week the girls were sick but what I feel that I must share now is that somehow this has changed their bodies. I don't know what happened - freak of nature maybe - but ever since I have spent every day changing the girls clothes with every diaper change. I can't expain it but all of a sudden a diaper is not enough to hold in what these girls can put out. Every outfit, every time. Even the carseats and my friend's floor - dripped through the carseat and got onto her floor. That was Alyssa. It took two other moms to change Julianna today after her turn. I don't think I'll be invited back :)

So, I'm just wondering if somehow they got the saying wrong for girls because I haven't noticed any sugar or spice. What happened to my babies??!!

Friday will be their first day in a pool (unless they don't let us in for our pooping problem...) so I'll have a happier post then but for today I'm going crazy. I'm very tired of screaming girls and poopy diapers. Who signed me up for this job anyway??

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to my wonderful husband :) And also to my dad who I consider to be the best dad in the world! Love you both.

7 Months Old Today!

This is a 7 month picture of me and the girls (L to R: Alyssa, Rachel, Julianna). It's a little different from our first photos 7 months ago! I can't believe how far we've come.

Things I've learned in 7 Months:

- it's surprisingly easy to tune out a lot of crying - "what did you hear something? Nope, not me!"

- it's surprisingly easy to make a schedule and stick with it - surprisingly it's also very hard to figure out your day when you're off that schedule

- it's easier to go out in public with the babies then for one of us to stay home and deal with thier screaming (so maybe I'm not as good as tuning them out as I'd like to be...).

(Here I must add a notice to everyone: we are not going out in public to try and show off or to make you feel better or worse about your life. It's just our best survival tactic for both of us to date. I'm also aware that other people have twins, triplets and wow, even more than us. I don't need to be reminded - again, I'm not trying to one up you because I had more kids at once than you - this is just my life!)

- entertainers don't entertain very long and no amount of toys is enough - they're bored of all of them in about 20 mintues - now what? We go out! (See above note)

- triplets are a good excuse for anything. "Hey, you're late!" "Yep, I have triplets." "What's with the tummy pooch?" "I have triplets." "Do you need help?" "I have triplets." :) Get the point?!

- our biggest survival secret besides leaving the house is the snugli - Kirk has a double one and without it I don't think I would be sane. Of course, if you ask my friends they already know I'm not!

- while it is really easy to love each of my 5 kids seperately and entirely I still feel guilty about stupid little things - Caleb is the only boy, did I hold each girl enough today? Does said baby feel left out because she's actually being good today? I know it doesn't matter but it's a mom thing!!

- to quote a line from "Jon and Kate plus 8" : "It's a crazy life but it's our life." To add my own sentiment - "I love it!" (if you have cable I encourage you to watch this show - makes us laugh every time and it's great to see someone with more kids at once than us!)

Milestones to Date:

- Alyssa can roll over both ways but not in succession
- Julianna can roll everywhere and can rock on all fours
- Rachel can roll over and rock on all fours - we are getting close to crawling
- They have one tooth between the 3 of them
- They do not eat food very well, still. Alyssa like stuff like breadsticks and crackers - the other two don't care
- No one can sit up but they are all trying

Mom's Milestones:

- Joined a moms of multiples club although my club could also be renamed mom of twins club... Oh well, I'll just hope for more triplets
- Joined a writer's club
- Almost finished reading my first novel in 7 months. This is a big step for me and my reading buddies will be happy although they both read much faster than me...

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Happy Birthday to Daddy from Kaitlyn, Caleb, Julianna, Rachel and Alyssa and of course, Mommy. While I had hoped to put some cute pictures of the kids up for him we have been unable to take any due to everyone being sick. The kids all seem to be doing better and only Caleb has thrown up today. Now we just need Kaitlyn to want to eat!

All 6 of us love Daddy very much and are so thankful that we can celebrate his birthday with him today. We'll be celebrating more this weekend when we can also say Happy Father's Day :)

A Day For The Record Books

If our house doesn't land in the Guiness Book of World Records for most vomit in a household I don't want to be near the one that does!! My day begins just fine other than me breaking out in hives - again - it's been going on for over 2 weeks and I have no idea what I'm allergic to. So, I finally call the doctor to make an appointment because I'm just going crazy.

The girls were cranky yesterday but that's not unusual. This morning they got up at 9:30 (they've been sleeping better lately) and they all ate their breakfast just fine. I put Julianna in the jumper after she was done and she just jumps everywhere - so cute - thus the video yesterday - makes me laugh every time. Then she stops and throws up everywhere. This didn't strike me as odd because the girls sometimes spit up. So, the girls play but seem cranky and tired so my friend, Barb, and I put them down for a nap while all the other kids play. Kaitlyn is telling me she's sick but she says that a lot.

Yep, you got it, she throws up too. And has been throwing up since. When the girls get up from their nap we make them bottles again but Julianna has thrown up in her crib and is dry heaving on herself in her "highchair". Then after they eat, Alyssa throws up everywhere too. I can't believe it! Three puking kids.

But, it gets better, the girls nap for 3 hours because they are sick and exhausted. At their "dinner" bottle they all eat okay but Alyssa is still feeling sick and she's dry heaving and then after dinner throws up on the floor, on herself and on me. While the girls are screaming Rachel decides she can't be left out and she too throws up everywhere.

I have never seen anything so crazy. Oh, yea, and it's raining and we lose electricity for a bit. Thankfully not long.

Anyway, that has been my day and it isn't over yet. Right now I'm just hoping they sleep tonight without throwing up on themselves! Kaitlyn included in that.

P.S. I did make it to the doctor and he gave me some steroids to get rid of the hives. Still have no idea what I could be allergic to but hopefully this will help.

P.P.S. Make that 5 vomiting kids. Not to be left out Caleb joined his sisters a little after 10 this evening. Thank God for washing machines because every cover and bedsheet is in there and I'd be surprised if we got any sleep tonight. Happy Birthday to Kirk!! He turns 32 tomorrow and if there's no post it's because he and/or I are throwing up :) We are terrible with holidays! Look back at Christmas - I was sick then...

Because This Makes Me Laugh...

I thought it would make you laugh too.



Doesn't the cat look intrigued?





All for your personal enjoyment. Sometimes the girls make me laugh so I just had to share. What you can't see in this photo is that Alyssa is screaming her head off. Sometimes it pays to see the other side of things :)

Toothless No More!

It's official - we have a tooth. Well, Julianna has a tooth and she's the first. Her bottom tooth has finally broken through. I'm honestly surprised it's her the way Alyssa has been gnawing on any finger or toy she can grab hold of but it seems that in all things Julianna is the first. Stay tuned to see if the trend continues...

And The School Year Ends...

Wow! This has been a very crazy, busy week. It was Kaitlyn's last week of first grade and after the mess of the past 6 weeks I'm glad to see it go even though I can't believe I now have a 2nd grader.

Last Friday Kaitlyn's school put on a musical and the kids did a great job. Kaitlyn was a little nervous at first but as always she sang her heart out and had a great time:



It was an American musical.



And yesterday was Kaitlyn's last official day so the school had their awards day and Kaitlyn was officially made a 2nd grader and given some awards for being an outstanding student. Afterwards I took Kaitlyn and Caleb to play mini-golf with her "old" teacher.

Kaitlyn accepting her awards.



Kaitlyn's idea of mini-golfing - go as fast as you can and slide the ball into the hole.



Caleb's idea of mini-golfing - carry the ball to the hole, put it down next to the hole, roll it in and yell "I got a score." I have no idea what that means but he seemed to enjoy it.



Looks like perfect form!



Kaitlyn and Mrs. G



Kaitlyn and some of her school friends.

5 Mobile Kids = Massive Chaos

It's official Alyssa is mobile as well. Yesterday for the first time she rolled from her back to her front and today she did it over and over. And Julianna is rolling everywhere. She can make it from side of the room to the other and then she gets stuck and smiles at me. So adorable. Rachel still gets stuck. She looks like Tom Cruise from Mission Impossible - she tries to keep her arms and legs off the floor. She is in amazing shape!

Today is a special day. On the calendar in Kirk's office is last June - it's a dry erase board and I am very behind. On June 5th of last year I have marked "Sono - see babies!" I can't believe it but a year ago today we our 12 week scan to see the babies and I just remember being so nervous that one of them wouldn't be there and I was so relieved when we saw all three heart beats and all the babies just moving around. They were so tiny and we had no idea if they were boys or girls - we just wanted them to be healthy but even if they weren't we just wanted them alive and here to hold and love. And then we had a small scare that maybe Rachel might have Down's but now we all know she doesn't.

And a year ago tomorrow Kirk set up this blog for me to record for everyone my amazing pregnancy. I am shocked that so many people check us out every week to see how our family is and what the babies are up to. Please feel free to leave comments and let me know what you think from time to time :)

For everyone's enjoyment here's my new comment for June 5th, 2007 : Video: See Babies Move: Five Mobile Kids! And stay tuned for the sisterly love at the end.

Alive But Just Barely...

Okay, so it wasn't quite that dramatic but it could have been. It has been one crazy week. Kaitlyn has had a large number of end of school year activities including Field Day and celebrating the summer birthday's in her class and a musical on Friday night.

To top it off we had a yard sale today (we made enough to feed the girls for another 2 weeks!) and then tonight had some friends over for dinner. Well, so as not to bore our friends we almost burned the house down. No lie. Kirk was outside grilling - everyone was out there with him but me and the propane tank springs a leak and then ignites. The grill caught on fire! I mean, big fire.

My friend grabbed all the kids and ran to safety (save one baby who her husband quickly rescued). My husband, meanwhile is trying to put out a huge fire. He runs inside, grabs the fire extinguisher and sprays the whole grill. I thought it was done but the thing just starts shooting flames again. We were very close to calling the fire department. Now wouldn't that have been fun?

Fortunately, Kirk was able to grab the entire grill and basically throw it off the deck (we have a wooden deck - if that had caught fire all bets on the house still standing would've been lost). The thing is still in flames so Kirk grabs the hose and begins to pour water all over it. Thankfully he was able to put out the fire with only a singed arm to show for it. No deep burns, no hurt children or adults and we only had to grill our hotdogs inside on a grill pan rather than outside on the grill.

So, today I am just happy to report that we are all alive! And the girls have all found their toes - so cute. Oh, we have also come up with new nicknames. Due to Rachel's increasingly fussy state we are adding: Cranky, Cuddly and Cute to Leaky, Little and Loud. I know, seems unfair but Rachel is really cranky! Alyssa is really cuddly and well, Julianna is pretty cute :)

Things I Don't Need...

I have come to realize there are a few things I don't need since having triplets. Here are the top ten...

1. I do not need a gym membership. Try running up and down the stairs hefting two babies a couple of times a day. Then there's the one armed pick up of a baby while holding another baby. I have my own weights to lift thank you very much!

2. I do not need to become famous. Everyone already stops, stares, points, and talks about me wherever I go. I've had people tell other people what they just saw after I am gone. This is the truth - I had a lady slow down in her car while we were going through a parking lot, roll down her window and yell out "Congratulations!" At least she didn't say my hands were full :)

3. I do not need both hands. I have discovered how much I can do with one hand - brush Caleb's teeth, put laundry away, clean up the house. No, I don't hold them all the time - they have to rotate!!

4. I do not need to shave my legs (very often) - hey that is a good twenty minutes I could be doing something important, like say showering or blogging.

5. I do not need to wear make-up. If I get out of the house dressed and in one piece you should all be happy. I'll leave my good looks for later.

6. I do not need a scrapbook/baby book. This blog serves for that and all of you get the joy of reading what I write :) On the same note I don't need to work on my novels right now. I am content to work on my very difficult writing course. Which is going quite well, by the way. When I write something good someday I'll use you all as guinea pigs to check it out for me. You may even get to read bits of my new novels early! Still don't need to be famous (see number 2) :)

7. I do not need a "real" date night. On Memorial Day we watched our kids plus 4 more just to get a chance to see the 3rd Pirates movies. We're not picky! The movie was good, by the way.

8. I do not need a perfectly clean house. Okay, so some of you are wondering when I ever had one! But, lately I have really been trying to get the place clean and organized but I am realizing that there are days I will have to deal with what's around me. Something I do need since having triplets: more energy!

9. I do not need another occupation. Caring for triplets is more than a full-time job and while some days I'd love to leave them for someone else to care for I wouldn't trade my crazy life for the world. Just one grin from Julianna from across the room is enough to melt my heart. That child can smile! Just one cuddle from Alyssa and I never want to put her down. And Rachel, well, she is my nut. Screams a lot and mostly just does crunches - if you haven't seen it you're missing out! I can't wait to see her older. I think she will just be so spunky.

And number 10...

10. Lastly I do not need my living room or dining room. Right now they are both in the process of being transformed into a very large "playpen" for the girls. Julianna is now rolling over everywhere and truly she's trying to crawl. Rachel is not far behind her. Alyssa is perfectly happy to lay there and chew on her feet. Oh, and food. Alyssa really seems to like solid food. Unlike the other two.

Enjoy some pictures of our work in progress and some of the best things I see all day every day. The rest of the best things are Kirk, Kaitlyn and Caleb of course!



And because I never get tired of putting up individual pictures of the babies... (please enlarge photos to see their smiles up close - such a treat!)







Sorry Alyssa's picture is a little blurry but I'm a bit OCD on making sure that each baby has the same amount of pictures every time I post - I'm weird but you already knew that!

Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day! Not a holiday we celebrate in any special way but it is a nice day off :) I also want to add that yesterday was my father's birthday and it's my fault that I am late on this but I wanted to say Happy Birthday Dad! We love you :) This is a birthday picture of the girls for Grandpa - at least 2 out of 3 are smiling!

Here's an example of what exhaustion is. On Saturday the girls had one nap and then we were out for the rest of the evening so by their bedtime bottle they were just out.

Julianna couldn't even finish...



Rachel's eating in her sleep...



Alyssa would rather chew on the Podee bottle straw then eat...

Schedules and Follow-Ups

Rachel saw the GI today and she seems to be doing well. If I haven't said it before she has been eating better with the Podee bottle and the Prevacid. The doctor gave us the pill form of the medicine she had been on since she doesn't seem to like the other kind.

In other news I found Kaitlyn's baby book when I was digging myself out of the mess that has become my house (with help from Venzy and Cathryn - thank you!) and as I read what I had written about Kaitlyn I found that she only weighed 14.8 pounds at 6 months. I can't belive that Julianna and Alyssa are both larger than that and they both started out about 3 pounds less then Kaitlyn's birth weight. Caleb, on the other hand, weighed 19.14 pounds. Hmmm... Just fun to compare!

Kirk keeps saying we should put up a daily schedule for our house so here's the norm:

6 AM Kirk gets up - I'm still dead to the world

7:30 AM Kirk gets Kaitlyn up usually one baby has fussed by now and has to be moved to the basement (Alyssa!)

8:30 AM Kirk leaves to take Kaitlyn to school, I'm still trying to sleep, usually it's not working, some baby is fussing or talking or Caleb is opening and closing his bedroom door.

9 AM I get everybody up and make 4 breakfasts (not mine) - 3 bottles and a waffle - after breakfast I change 4 diapers

10 AM Babies are "playing" and/or screaming - I'm trying to eat breakfast, Caleb is playing computer or watching TV or asking me for something - a snack usually - I know, I know, he just ate but tell him that!

10:30 AM Babies are breaking down I'm trying to entertain them and watching the clock

11 AM Naptime - finally :) Now I can do laundry, wash dishes, play with Caleb, clean up the house, swing Caleb on the swing, check my e-mail

1 PM - Babies wake up if they're being good - more bottles and then some rice cereal - still going slowly

2 PM - Girls are already breaking down - they are much fusier in the afternoon - this is the point where everyone's help is so much more helpful

2:30 PM - Go for a walk, play with babies, yell at them from upstairs as I attempt to gather more laundry that mommy has not disappeared and that they are fine

3:30 PM - Naptime - again. Yea! Kaitlyn's home from school - she and Caleb play outside/then inside/then outside/then inside - you get the idea. Some days I get a short break here and work on e-mails/the blog and writing

4:30 PM - Work on dinner, Kirk's on his way home, pray I don't hear an baby crying

5:30 PM - Babies up again - feed dinner - another bottle - they have such a varied menu!

6:30 PM - We eat dinner and give the girls a little bit of fruit or veggies or something - we keep trying!

7:30 PM - The world is breaking down, baths for the older kids, homework with Kaitlyn, errands to the store - our big outings

8:30 PM - Work on getting all 5 kids to bed - Kirk and I take turns putting Kaitlyn and Caleb to bed or bathing the triplets and getting them their bottles. Usually depends on whether or not I want to hear the girls screaming :)

9:30 PM - All 5 kids in bed - Kirk and I finish up stuff around the house and then collapse on the couch. This is when I write, catch up on all my TV - gotta fit it in somewhere!

12:30 AM - I'm in bed.