Happy Holy Cow Day and Post #1,000!

Today marks the 4th anniversary of the day we got the news that we were expecting triplets AND this is post number 1,000 on this blog!

To celebrate, here's a little glimpse at life then and now.

Oh sure, life is a little noisier and I've swapped out the ice cream for wine, but overall not much has changed. 

We continue to be overwhelmed by all of our blessings!

Thanks for being part of our journey from the initial panic to today's insanity and for reading my little piece of the blogosphere. I wonder what the next 1,000 posts will bring?

Christy

© Trippin' Mama 2012

Are They Sisters?

Almost from the time the boys were born, Amelia has asked for a sister. In fact, more than once she has asked for three!

Well, as it turns out, she doesn't need to ask any more.

That's right.

Wait.

What?

You think I'm...?

Heavens, no!

Turns out these guys are happy to stand in:



P.S. I know they'll hate me for this one day, but I'm just documenting life around here. They are the ones making it up as we go along!

© Trippin' Mama 2012

Christmas Favorites

Christmas with a five-year-old and three three-year-olds was LOUD!
It was magical and fun and crazy, but mostly, loud.

Really, really loud.

All day.

With no nap. (Unless you count the one I took when I laid down on the living room floor for a minute and fell asleep. Santa's elves need their rest the day after Christmas, you know.)

These are the kids' favorite things about Christmas 2011:



I hope your day was as wonderful as ours!

© Trippin' Mama 2011

More Fun with Tupperware

We've had a string of rainy days here lately, keeping us cooped up in the house. So the other day the boys decided to go "skating." It's not the first time they've amused themselves with my Tupperware!



It's a little tough on the Tupperware, but it did keep them busy for a while!

© Trippin' Mama 2011

Green Beans?

I shared before that the Easter Bunny brought "green beans" to our house. Here's the video of the boys with their "green beans."

This past week was a bit crazy, but things are settling down so I should be back to a more regular posting schedule this week.

© Trippin' Mama 2011

Jacuzzi!

Ah, nothing is quite as relaxing as a soak in the Jacuzzi.

Of course, we don't have a Jacuzzi.

Instead we've got this, which I like to call the poor man's Jacuzzi.



It may not be as relaxing as the real thing, but it's a lot more fun!


© Trippin' Mama 2011

Amelia's Hairy Experience

Just after lunch today Amelia, Sam, Isaac and Alex went to the basement to play. About five minutes later Amelia came up the stairs and very calmly said, "Mom, I need a little help here."

A little help?

She had one of the remote control cars stuck to her head!

I had partially untangled the hair here. When Amelia first came upstairs the car was so tangled it was up by her ear.

Since she wasn't upset, I started laughing and tried to untangle her hair from the car axle. About that time one of the boys came to tell me he had to poop, and well, that takes precedence in our house. So I sat Amelia at the table and took care of potty duty. When I came back I got out out the camera.

Amelia tried to explain what happened:

In the end, I had to get out a screwdriver and take the car apart to "unget" the hair.

I could have just cut the last little bit of hair, but then I would have had to give her a haircut, and my hands aren't very steady when I'm laughing.

© Trippin' Mama 2011

Who Is in Charge Here?

There's really no debate about who is in charge around here (Mommy!), but Sam and I had a little discussion about it a few weeks ago anyway.

Isaac's reaction to being told he's in charge cracks me up, and I love Sam's little sly boots smile when he tells me that he's in charge.

They are almost cute enough to make me give in. Almost...

© Trippin' Mama 2011

Two Years and Four Months Old

Today Sam, Isaac and Alex are two years and four months old. Amelia was just a couple weeks older than that when they boys were born. We forget just how little she was!

Two years ago the boys were just rolling over and starting to sleep through the night. (Although sadly that didn't become consistent for quite a while!) Amelia decided that she wanted to move to the big girl bed, and the boys were all still sleeping in the same crib, though that came to an end pretty quickly once they started to roll over on each other.

Here's a reminder of what life was like in our house two years ago.

It's hard to believe how much things have changed!

© Trippin' Mama 2011

Isaac The Daredevil

There is no shortage of hijinks in this house, but it seems that Isaac's still got the widest daredevil streak. He's forever climbing, turning somersaults, leaping off something, or pulling some other trick that either amuses or terrifies me.

Isaac is the only one of the boys to go to the emergency room, but ironically he earned his stitches when he tripped and fell while walking across the room. No great daredevil moves there!

Yesterday I had to call an end to the fort Amelia and I built in the basement. It was a classic kids' fort: a blanket thrown over four chairs. But Isaac kept climbing up on the chairs and bellyflopping into the middle of the blanket. The unsupported middle. Suspended over a concrete floor with a thin layer of flooring over it.

He found it amusing. I found it terrifying. Should I be worried that he did it more than once before I caught him and stopped it? Seriously, that had to hurt!

I figured I'd better catch a few of Isaac's tamer daredevil moves on video so I can show him later why Mommy's hair went gray at such a young age.

Check out his gymnastics moves with Daddy:

And then there's Isaac's own unique way of riding the pony in the basement. He's been pulling this kind of trick for months now. He used to do this on the riding toys in the driveway this summer, but they weren't as much fun because they didn't bounce!

I keep hoping to hear one of his brothers say, "Don't do that, Isaac." No luck so far.

Add another line in the budget for hair color, honey!

© Trippin' Mama 2011

Now Showing...

Ah, that little blogging hiatus felt good, and it was absolutely necessary. My fellow elf and I were up late, late a few too many nights getting ready for Christmas. With the presents to make and wrap, all of the fun to be had while Jeff was on vacation, and then my birthday to celebrate, there just hasn't been time to blog.

We had a great Christmas, and the cause of all the adult sleeplessness was a huge hit. Our big gift to the kids was to reorganize the basement playroom and build a little stage, complete with velvet curtains and a cabinet to house all the dress-up clothes. We also set up a new play area for cars and trucks that included a new-to-us racetrack with two remote-control cars. When the kids started jumping up and down on the stage and singing, we knew it was worth the three days' madness of building, painting, and sewing.

Check out the results:

Pretty spiffy, if I do say so myself. We were able to find mis-mixed paint that almost exactly matched our walls, the cabinet was $10 at the Salvation Army, and I got the already inexpensive "velvet" on sale, so this was a bargain project all the way around. We've decided to finish it off by using chalkboard paint on the wall behind the stage so the kids can draw scenery or anything else they'd like.

Jeff and I have already been treated to a number of shows, and believe me -- they are worth the price of admission, no matter how great the cost! Where else can you get entertainment like this?

Hope you all had a great holiday season, and I wish you all the best for the coming year! I hope you'll continue to join us on our journey. I have no doubt there are many laughs and surprises ahead of us.

© Trippin' Mama 2010

Warning: Helmets May Be Required

A couple weeks ago I heard the boys giggling and giggling as I unloaded the dishwasher, so I went to check it out. They were all sitting side-by-side on one of their little couches doing this:

Further proof that we should wear our bike helmets at ALL times...

Sam and Alex

Isaac

...even when we're hanging out in our jammies!

© Trippin' Mama 2010

He Gets That From YOUR Side Of The Family

Isaac was cracking us up the other day when the boys were having their noisy fun. We laughed and laughed, and then we started pointing fingers at each other. "He must get that from YOUR side of the family!

No matter where Isaac gets it from, (His daddy! It's MY blog!) this is just further evidence that the children should wear their bicycle helmets at ALL times!

© Trippin' Mama 2010

Celebrate Like A Two-Year-Old

You're seeing lots of videos lately because the boys are just so funny right now and talking a blue streak. We know we need to catch this stage before it's gone for good.

We captured this video on the boys' birthday. It really is a glimpse of life with multiples: Whatever one does, another one (or two!) quickly follows. And things that are funny when one kid does it, can become downright hilarious when the others join in! 

I guess it goes to show that you can do what you want on your special day!

© Trippin' Mama 2010

The Perfect Storm

I'm have a great few days with my mom and my sisters while Jeff keeps the home fires burning.

My niece Elyse, Judy, Mary, Mom & me at the Flamingo. (That's a story for another post!)

But I can't say it's all been relaxing. Take, for example, today's scenic boat tour of the Gates of the Mountains on the Missouri. We had a little weather issue:

The pilot, Captain Kyle, did a great job of trying to minimize the wind damage to the boat and the danger to his passengers. I took the video right after all the wind started. It lasted about five minutes, and we did start to worry a little when the metal frame holding up the "roof" started to pull away from the wooden boat frame and the whole roof was pushed to one side of the boat.

 Captain Kyle said it was one of his "most interesting" tours ever. And he's been doing this for a long time.

If that doesn't call for a margarita, I don't know what does!

© Trippin' Mama 2010

Getting Soaked in St. Louis

Yes, still more adventures from St. Louis. I told you you'd get the full scoop. It's just taking me a little time!

Sunday morning our early birds were awake at their usual time, which was 6:00 a.m. in St. Louis. So we fed the kids breakfast in the room and headed out at 8 a.m.

Unfortunately, there's very little open on a Sunday morning at 8 a.m. Fortunately, St. Louis has a great park, Forest Park, home of the St. Louis zoo. Since we were planning to go to the zoo Monday, we decided to explore the park instead. After all, it doesn't take much to make our campers happy. A playground with a few swings and slides will do.

We found a great playground. As my kids played on the slides I watched out of the corner of my eye as some other kids turned on the water fountain. The day was already getting hot and I knew we were headed for the water before we left. Luckily I had thrown a dry change of clothes in the van for everyone, just in case.

We started by getting a drink from the water fountains, which was as entertaining as it was messy. We had a few fights over "HIT DE BUTTON!" But within minutes they were getting soaked and laughing and loving every minute of it!

I just tried to keep myself and the camera dry!

After our fun in the water we had a picnic in the park before heading back to the hotel for naptime. All of the kids fell asleep in the car, which undoubtedly contributed to the less-than-stellar naptime and two boys escaping from their beds!

While the kids were "napping" Jeff joined my sister and her family for the Cubs vs. Cardinals baseball game. By the top of the 8th inning I was ready for a drink. The boys and Amelia had a blast running around the room and going in and out of the closets, but I got tired of trying to keep them out of trouble pretty fast! I couldn't really take them anywhere by myself, but we did OK, thanks to a few videos, some new-to-us toys and our color crayons.

Once Jeff got back we hit the hotel pool. I have no photos of that. To hold my camera would have been to endanger my children's lives. It was all the two of us could do to catch three boys (all wearing life jackets) who had no fear of jumping in the water. Once we got them to take turns, the job got a little easier.

We took the boys out of the pool so we could give them a bath before supper, and Amelia stayed to play a little longer with her cousins. Just about the time we got the boys out of their life jackets, they all made a break for the water. My brother-in-law Kyle was the only one on that end of the pool, and when he looked up and saw what was coming, a look of sheer panic crossed his face. He stretched his arms out as far as possible, but Jeff and I grabbed the boys before they could get back in.

I laughed out loud at Kyle's expression. I recognized that look of panic. I've had it off and on for three years, ever since we discovered we were expecting triplets!

After a bath, a LOT of pizza and time playing with their cousins, the boys went down to sleep without a peep. And they slept all night. I can't say the same for Jeff. Early in the morning I woke up to find he wasn't in the bed. I went out to the sitting area to find him curled up awkwardly on a four-foot sofa. He said he was too sore to sleep. That was no surprise, after he spent almost two hours lifting 26-pound boys plus their wet life jackets out of the pool over and over and over.

Just one more reason this was a trip, not a vacation. Fun, yes, but a lot of work, too!

© Trippin' Mama 2010

Monkey See, Monkey Do

Children are excellent mimics. The emulate our actions and words, both good and bad. It never fails to make me laugh when Amelia or the boys imitate Jeff or me. Well, almost never anyway. They do occasionally pick the wrong thing to mimic. Oops. Surely they got that from television?
One day as Amelia and I were driving home we had to slow way down to squeeze between cars that were parked practically in the street near a neighbor's garage sale. Suddenly Amelia said, in perfect imitation of her father: "Really people?" Her intonation was perfect. I laughed out loud.

Recently the boys have started picking up anything with a handle--buckets, toys, trucks--and putting them on their arms while telling us goodbye. The sneaky little devils often employ this technique outside when they want to head off somewhere they know they aren't supposed to go. Hey, being all cute and saying goodbye doesn't make that OK, mister!

 Here's Isaac heading out with his truck just last week:



Since Jeff doesn't carry a purse, this is proof that I do get out of the house once in a while!

© Trippin' Mama 2010

C'mon, Let's Play!

As Sam, Isaac and Alex get older they are becoming great playmates for Amelia. It's been fun to watch them grow and learn how to play with each other and with her. Lately we've been playing hide-and-go-seek in the yard. Amelia hides and the boys help me find her. Everyone gets a kick out of it.

The other night, Amelia and Alex were playing catch, with a little assistance from Daddy. Here's the video:

Before we know it they won't need any help from us to play this game!

© Trippin' Mama 2010

The Not-Quite-Perfect Mother's Day Video

If you are a long-time reader you might remember that last year on Mother's Day I flew home from my brother's wedding. I arrived home after the kids were all in bed and found this video posted on my blog. 

So this year Jeff tried again. Things didn't go according to his plan, but I think this attempt turned out just perfect. Amelia is valiantly doing what she's been asked to do despite what happens around her. Sam is parroting Amelia. Isaac is disinterested, and Alex is taking the place apart.

Perfectly perfect.

I hope all of you remembered your moms today!

© Trippin' Mama 2010

Look, Mom!

Amelia had a bottle of water in the van today when we were running errands. Suddenly she says, "Mom, can I put water in my mouth and then spit it out like a sprinkler?"

What?!

"No, not in the van, but thank you for asking first. You can do it when we get home."

When I asked Amelia where she got that idea she responded, "Out of my head."

OK, girl, that does worry me a little. Who knows what you'll think up next!

As soon as we got home Amelia was out of the van "sprinkling" the driveway. Check it out:

This was followed by a lengthy discussion about how she was a "jumpy" sprinkler, and not one of those that "goes and goes."

Over-analyze much?

© Trippin' Mama 2010