Bargain Hunt

Today I went to a local children's resale store for their "bag sale." Everything you could stuff in one bag for $15. I bought two bags, which included three nice lightweight spring jackets. I really tried to get it all in one bag, but with the jackets, there was just too much.

The day's haul.

I saved $143, so it was still a great bargain. My total cost was about $1 per item. That made the 20 minutes I stood in line in the freezing cold waiting for the store to open totally worth it.

My success was due, in part, to the fact that I went to the store just before closing last night and scoped out the sale racks. I may have even put a few things together on the racks to make it easier to get what I wanted. Survival of the fittest, baby...

The bargains continued when I bought three brand new winter jackets for next year on clearance. I got three on sale for less than the regular price of one. And one even came with snow pants.

I've always loved to get something on sale. Now it's just more necessary!

Snow Day

We got more than a foot of snow Tuesday night so by Wednesday morning travel was not advised. Jeff worked from home and Amelia got a snow day with mom and the boys.

Fortunately, it wasn't really cold, so we put on the snow pants and boots and went out to play for a short time.

Amelia checks out the snow.

Cold, but fun!

The snow was up to Amelia's knees, and she had trouble even walking, but she was giggling the whole time. It's good to have a small child to remind you of how much fun snow can be! Somehow it's hard to think fun when you have a snow shovel in your hand.

My sister Mary and her son, Luke, left for home Tuesday night. It took Jeff a while to get them to the airport, and they barely made their connection, but they got home. It's a good thing they left when they did.

Hope you are staying warm wherever you are!

Conferral of Rites

Since we had the boys baptized in the hospital, we took them to the church for Conferral of Rites. They were anointed with chrism (holy oil), received their baptismal candles and were welcomed as members of the church. We were thrilled to share the big day with so many of our friends and neighbors who have helped us with the boys.

I'm still reveling in the smell of chrism on their little heads. Here are photos from the big day. Enjoy!

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Go Grizzlies!

Cousin Luke, Amelia and the boys: Alex, Isaac and Sam, show off their Grizzly (University of Montana) spirit.

We took the boys to church for the Conferral of Rites today. I'll get pictures of the big celebration posted soon. Thanks to everyone who came to be part of this special day.

Ms. Fix-it

Tonight we found a little water on the floor in the kitchen for the second time today, so we sent Grandpa Ernie in to investigate. He got a little help from Amelia in assessing the problem.

Cousin Luke

This is my nephew Luke.

Luke came with his mom, Mary, all the way from Montana to meet his new cousins. He's a great helper with the boys. But he doesn't change diapers!

Luke feeds his cousin Alex.

We can't wait for Luke's brothers, A.J. and Josh, to meet the boys, too.

Finally a Visit from Aunt Mary

Aunt Mary has been waiting and waiting to come from Montana to visit the boys. She came today, though we think she intentionally waited until the boys were sleeping through the night! Mary wasn't too happy to hear that the boys had started waking up again, so she was all for the cereal in the bottles.

Aunt Mary with Sam

Amelia's Cousin Luke, Aunt Judy, Grandma Alice and Grandpa Ernie are also here to help us celebrate the boys' baptism this weekend, so we've got a full house of family doting on the boys.

This is also passing as the annual girls' weekend for my sisters, my mom and I, (also known as Estrogen Fest). So we've got to get a little (ha!) chatting and a glass of wine in here and there. We can do that and feed babies at the same time. However, this will be one of few times the boys are welcome at girls' weekend. Once the little ones (boys OR girls) can talk, they are not allowed!) Unfortunately, we're short a sister this time. Cathy couldn't make it from Des Moines. We miss you, Cathy!

(I had to interrupt the writing of this post when my husband came out of Amelia's room with a, "Your daughter..." So I went to look. Amelia, who is having trouble settling down after all the excitement of having family here, had thrown everything out of her crib. That included her jammies and undies. Jeff and I just had to laugh.]

More pictures of the aunties and grandparents with Amelia, Sam, Isaac and Alex to come, but I'll leave you with this cute one of the boys all dressed and ready for Grandma.

Sam, Isaac and Alex

Feeding Frenzy

For the past four days, these boys have been eating every two to two and a half hours. And, they've started waking up at night again! Saturday night they were up at 4 a.m., and all of them drained a 5-oz. bottle and went back to sleep in 20 minutes. It was a new record, but they shouldn't be waking up at night that hungry!

I gave them a couple days to get the growth spurt out of their systems, but clearly, they need more to eat. So, starting today we are adding a little rice cereal to their bedtime bottles. If they still need to eat voraciously during the day, I'll add some to their daytime bottles, too.

There's hardly time between feedings on a three-hour schedule, and this schedule means we're practically doing feedings back-to-back. And they aren't sleeping enough, so they get fussy. Enough already! Mommy likes her happy boys and her nighttime sleep.

Here are the latest weights:

Sam: 12 lb. 5 oz.
Isaac: 10 lb. 12 oz.
Alex: 12 lb. 12 oz.

At the rate they are going, Alex will crack 15 lbs. by the time they are four months old. And Sam is gaining fast on Alex. He might just catch up! As for little Isaac, watch out. He's been draining those 5 oz. bottles, so he might just surprise us all one of these days!

A Ray of Sunshine

Amelia is two years and seven months old. She lives in a world of princesses, My Little Ponies, and Dora the Explorer and Diego. She has imaginary kitties that get into a lot of trouble, and she is afraid the "croc-o-dye-yills" will get her. (Crocodiles show up in a Dora episode, so that explains that.)

Amelia loves to color, read books, build with her blocks and play tea party. She can do a somersault and enjoys showing off her "dancing ballet" moves. Her favorite song of the moment is "Go Tell It On The Mountain." She likes peas, salmon, red peppers, macaroni and cheese, scrambled eggs, cheese of any kind, raisin bran (without the raisins), cupcakes (especially the frosting, which is sometimes the only part she eats), and she LOVES ice cream.

An independent little girl, Amelia is potty trained, and doesn't even wear a diaper to bed at night anymore. She can get dressed all by herself, and now likes to pick out her own clothes. Sometimes I try to guide her choices a bit, but lots of days I let her wear exactly what she wanted. Today was one of those days.

This morning my beautiful child pulled out her Nemo pajama bottoms and a summer dress that is too short, and not a perfect match for the pants. She added a pair of pink Barbie sandals. When I said those were summer clothes, she simply replied, "Then it can be summer today." If this doesn't bring a ray of sunshine to a dreary January day, I don't know what will.

Amelia - 01/17/09

While her clothes clearly don't need to match, Amelia does like things just so, and is forever lining up books, blocks, juice bottles and more. She likes colored socks and has to take all her underwear out of her drawer to pick a pair to wear for the day. She has several baby dolls that she lavishes with attention, and currently likes to hide under her bed or in her closet. Her giggles always give away her hiding place.

This morning she was awake at 5:30 a.m. She slept in bed with me for about a half hour before prying one of my eyes open to tell me she was done sleeping in my bed. So I put her back in her bed. A half hour later, she was ready to get up "and play." Jeff was sleeping on the couch with one of the boys, so I wanted to keep Amelia occupied in her room for a while.

That is how I found myself sitting on the floor having my hair "fixed" by my two-year-old daughter. She rubbed in a little pretend "purple jelly," gave me some pretend spray (pshh, pshh), and used a torturously painful My Little Pony hairbrush to make my bedhead look even worse than it already did. Then she proudly led me to the mirror to admire her creation. Even though I was tired and was possibly missing a clump of hair where the My Little Pony hairbrush got caught on a snarl, I had to smile.

Then tonight we went to church. (She didn't wear the day's outfit of choice. I told her it was too cold for the sandals and summer dress. For the record, if she had something warm on that didn't match I wouldn't have made her change.) The reading was about God calling Samuel to be his servant. Amelia was playing on the floor when the lector first read, "Samuel, Samuel." I didn't think she was paying any attention, but she looked up when he said it.

Then the lector said again, "Samuel, Samuel." And Amelia said, quite loudly, "Samuel is my brother!" While everyone around us chuckled, I did the mom "Shhh!" thing and explained that this was a story about a different boy named Samuel.

She nodded like she understood what I had told her, but the third time the lector said. "Samuel, Samuel," Amelia shouted, "HE'S AT HOME!" Half the church exploded in laughter.

All I could do was look down at her earnest little face and say, "Yes, he is honey. Thank you."

The Triplet Weight Loss Plan

Perhaps this will be the latest rage in diets. Gain 42 pounds, deliver 16 1/2 pounds of baby. Follow with three months of 24/7 activity feeding babies, nursing babies and walking around carrying babies that are getting heavier and heavier (35 pounds combined now). Add to that limited time to eat or cook anything to eat.

The plan requires enormous stamina, but the results are fantastic. My legs got a great workout carrying all that weight during pregnancy. My arms are getting a great workout now carrying these 10- and 12-pound "weights." And thanks to the many miles I'm putting on walking babies, I'm wearing a pant size that I haven't worn in 10 years. Now if all this extra skin will magically shrink back to my pre-triplet days, I'll be in the best shape of my life!

Heaven knows I'd better be in great shape to keep up with these boys...

Uni-tasking

Women are multi-taskers by nature, and moms are multi-taskers by necessity. Moms of multiples, even more so!

But sometimes I find myself multi-tasking out of habit rather than necessity. I find myself doing two or three or even four things at once, but only doing half a job (or less) at each.

So I'm taking a stand for uni-tasking. Oh, I know it's not always possible, but I am resolving to focus on the task at hand and quit doing several things at once out of habit rather than necessity.

I believe my world will be better, my family and friends happier, if I limit my multi-tasking when I'm interacting with them. When I'm feeding my babies I will feed my babies. When I play with Amelia, I will get down on the floor with her and enjoy our playtime. When I'm talking with a friend on the phone I will focus on the conversation instead of doing 10 other things at the same time. When I ask my husband how his day was, I will listen to his answer and have a real conversation.

Sure, I'll still run a load of laundry and deal with the insurance company's automated telehell while I unload the dishwasher and clean the kitchen. But, when it comes to spending time with my family and enjoying my children, I will not be distracted by my lengthy to-do list.

Multi-tasking may be a necessity, but it can also be a bad habit -- one that gets in the way of enjoying the many little pleasures and moments that make life worth living. We all deserve to enjoy life, so just for today -- even for just an hour -- set aside society's demands to do more, more, more and uni-task. Focus on something important in your life and give it your full attention. Your life will be richer for it.

The Latest Weigh In

Apparently a really cute picture of the boys in their overalls isn't enough for my reading public. Having been chastised for a lack of posts (you all can thank Sarah for that), I'm getting it in gear today. But, hello! Triplet mom here! Sometimes you'll have to give me a little break.

In today's triplet news, the boys slept until 6:30 a.m. Go team! They are settling back into the 3-hour schedule, after a couple days of needing to eat more often to accommodate a growth spurt. Growing is good!

Isaac has apparently decided it's time to catch up with his brothers and has been finishing 5-oz. bottles today. It's been a rarity for him to this point, but he's eaten 5 oz. or darn close to it at every feeding today. C'mon little guy, you can do it!

At last week's weigh-in we had:

Sam - 12 lb. 2 oz.
Isaac - 10 lb. 7 oz.
Alex - 12 lb. 7 oz.

Everyone has now doubled his birth weight, and Sam's catching up to Alex fast!

Isaac is the most verbal of the group now. Perhaps he's compensating for his size? He pulls his giggle out on a regular basis, too. Alex will laugh when you work on him, though he'll smile at the drop of a hat. Sam has gotten to be a big smiler now, but we're still really working him for a laugh.

More pictures to come soon.

If You're Not Ovulating...

If you're not ovulating, you will be once you see these photos! I almost hate to post them as my sister Mary is the one who sent the overalls, and she'll be here in two weeks and could see the guys in these in person. But the photos are just too cute not to share right now!

The guys hanging out: Sam, Isaac and Alex 01/10/09

Serious Sam

Smiling Isaac

Grinning Alex

Shhhhh....

The house is quiet at last.

Ahhh....

I love the sound of silence.

I think the boys must be having a growth spurt, because they were hollering early for every feeding today. In the midst of all the chaos, I have to laugh, because I know I will often find myself with a hungry gang of boys on my hands as they grow up. It's a good thing all my mom's cookie recipes make 12 dozen, and I grew up helping cook for a crowd in my own family.

I try to remind myself that a growth spurt is a good thing, even though it throws the schedule out of whack and leads to more fussing than usual.

At least we know the problem can't be the chicken pox!

Three Months Old

Today the boys are three months old. The time has passed so quickly -- largely in a sleep-deprived haze. No, honestly, it hasn't been that bad. Thanks to all the family, friends and neighbors we've had pitch in to help, the first three months were not nearly as difficult as I was prepared for them to be.

It's hard to believe how much the boys have grown already. All of them have doubled or nearly doubled their birth weights. They are all smiling, cooing, and flirting like crazy. Isaac has laughed out loud, and Sam and Alex are getting close. Everyone's kicking up a storm, and it's a real race to see who will turn over first. Most importantly, the boys -- ALL of them -- are starting to sleep nice long stretches at night. Whether you have one baby or three, the impact of a full night's sleep on moms and dads is amazing! We never really experienced that with Amelia when she was a baby because of the reflux, so I'm in total awe of having three babies do it all at the same time, even once, let alone more than once.

Sam, Isaac and Alex are still sharing a crib, but it won't be long now and we'll have to split them up. They have grown so much they now take up the whole crib.

Alex, Isaac and Sam - 01/08/09 - 3 months old

Alex, Isaac and Sam (from top) - 10/14/08 - 6 days old

When people learn that the boys are sharing a crib, they almost always ask the question: "Don't they wake each other up crying?" As this little video shows, they've learned to sleep through each other's noises. They almost never wake each other up. In fact, I'm a little afraid they won't sleep as well once we separate them.

Zzzzzzz

Guess who slept ALL night last night. THEIR names are Samuel, Isaac and Alexander. And all three of them slept from their 9:30 feeding (asleep by 11:30) until 6:00 this morning. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, and it's not an approaching train.

Thanks to our marvelous volunteers who do the 9:30 p.m. feeding and put the boys down for us, this schedule -- when it gets consistent -- means full nights of sleep for us. Of course, last night, we didn't hit the sack when our helpers came, but folded laundry, took the decorations off the Christmas tree, wrote out the last few Christmas cards, cleaned the kitchen, and generally tried to get the rest of life outside of the boys taken care of in those could precious hours.

I was up twice last night, getting ready to feed. First, it was Isaac at 2:30 a.m., but I snuggled him up with his warm pack while I went to warm bottles and when I came back he was snoring, so I went back to bed. At 3:30 a.m. it was Alex who was bellering, but I picked him up before I went to warm bottles and he went right back to sleep on my shoulder, so I laid him back down and went back to my warm bed. At 5:30 a.m. I woke with a start, thinking I'd missed a feeding, but everyone was still sleeping peacefully.

Bliss

Pure bliss.

Let's hope it lasts!

Got a New Job

Today I started my new job as stay-at-home-mom. Well, technically, my last day of work was Dec. 29, but with Jeff here all last week it didn't really feel official until today.

When I got up this morning and looked at those three sweet little faces in their crib, I remembered returning to work after Amelia was born. I cried the night before because I didn't want to leave her. We dropped her off at daycare the next morning and I started panicking. I remember telling Jeff I thought I had miscounted and I actually had one more week before I had to return to work. Of course I hadn't miscounted, and Amelia was properly doted on at daycare. So this morning I was grateful to be here with my guys instead of leaving them with someone else. Besides, they are the cutest workmates I've ever had!

So happy together: Alex, Sam, Isaac

Oh, I'm sure there will be days when I will want to eat my children whole or leave them at the curb for someone to pick up, but then over the years there have been days when I've felt that way about some of the people I've worked with, too! Frustrations aside, I know that I will still be glad to be here raising these boys. It won't last forever, and already they are growing so fast. Too soon they'll be waving goodbye as they head off to school.

In the meantime, I'll try to treasure all the fun things, like being here for all the firsts (Isaac was the first to really laugh out loud on Saturday!) and watching my guys interact with each other. It really won't be that different from my career in PR anyway. I'll still do a lot of communicating (in short declarative sentences: "NO!") and still be cleaning up other people's messes. :-)

And I'll take payment in million dollar smiles like this any day.

Isaac

Christmas Card 2008

Tomorrow is the final day of the Christmas season, and our cards are finally in the mail. I'd use the triplets as an excuse, but our past track record shows that we rarely got our cards out before January even before the boys were born.

I've been dying to share this with all of you, but had to get the real thing in the mail first. I think the expression on Amelia's face says it all!

JOY TO THE WORLD!

Alex, Isaac, Amelia & Sam

We had a lot of fun deciding what to have the card say. Some front runners were, "Oh, Holy Crap" and "Santa, I said I wanted three toys for Christmas." The first was funny, but too irreverent, and the second didn't really capture the emotion Amelia was expressing.

The credit for the photo goes to Captured Image studio. If you're interested in their contact info, email me.

Hope you had a joyful season!

Sam's Gold Star

Sam is not our best sleeper. In fact, he sometimes reminds me too much of Amelia in that regard. But after a rough afternoon yesterday where he never really slept -- and certainly not in his crib for any real stretch -- he got the gold star for his sleeping efforts last night.

Because he was fussy and I was afraid he'd exhaust himself before the 9:30 p.m. feeding, we fed Sam at 8:30 p.m. He was so exhausted and went down hard and fast. At 1:30 a.m. when Isaac started squawking, Jeff and I decided that we wouldn't wake the other two if they didn't wake up. Jeff did the 1:30 feeding and I was on call for the next round, whenever that happened.

When Jeff got up with Isaac, Alex woke up too, so he fed them both. Sam slept and slept and slept. Finally at 6:30 a.m. Sam joined his brothers in waking up and hollering for food. That's 10 hours between feedings. Of course, if the trade off is not sleeping from 12:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and being fussy that whole time, I think I'd rather get up with him in the middle of the night! Still, it's exciting to think that they just might sleep through the night some time soon.

Welcome 2009

Jeff and I didn't stay awake long enough to ring in the New Year, and we were grateful our guys let us sleep until 4 a.m. before we had to welcome 2009. When we celebrated the start of 2008 who would have ever guessed what the year had in store for us? I wonder what surprises this year will bring?

There's that old adage that says whatever you do on the first day of the New Year you will do all year long. So, with that in mind, we took time to play with our children and enjoy each and every one of our little people. We ate good food together as a family and spent some time catching up with family and friends. I briefly contemplated cleaning the kitchen floor, but I don't want to spend this year cleaning, so I didn't do it. (Oh, I know I'll have to do lots of cleaning up after these three boys, but still, any port in a storm.)

We're almost done with the Christmas cards. They'll be in the mail tomorrow, so we'll just squeak them in before January 4 when Epiphany marks the end of the Christmas season. Once they are out the door, I'll post it for all to enjoy. Just wait until you see the photo of the kids!

As it's still Christmas, the nativity is still up in church. Last Sunday Jeff came home from church laughing about Amelia's visit with the baby Jesus. After Mass, she asked to go up and see the baby Jesus again. She asked all kinds of questions about who was who, etc... As they got ready to leave, Amelia says, "Bye baby Jesus. Have a good day with your family." I LOVE it!

Hope your New Year got off to a great start.

Christy