3kids5cats.com

Game Boys

2009-12-12T13:21:00.002-05:00

Greg now has someone to watch all the UK games with - Zach. Zach absolutely loves watching the UK football and basketball games with his dad. He's picking up on his dad's cues to shout at the refs, cheer when UK scores, and fuss when a play doesn't go UK's way. He's watched enough games now that he knows when it's appropriate to say the different things. Like father, like son!

The girls have watched a few games with Greg, but Zach is the only one who will sit the entire game to root for UK with his daddy.

Santa's Coming, Mommy!

2009-12-09T23:22:00.002-05:00

The other morning we woke to see a little bit of snow covering everything outside our house. It wasn't much, but it was enough to turn everything white. As soon as the kids saw it, they just knew that Santa was coming -- that day! I tried to explain to them that Santa was coming but not for a few more days, but they wouldn't hear it. They just knew that Santa was going to show up that day!

They've talked a lot about Santa this year. They've wanted to send him letters, and they've wanted to give him a call. They've talked a little about going to see Santa, but we haven't made plans to do it just yet. We have discussed it. It will be interesting to see if they sit on his lap and talk to him this year!

They are really getting into Christmas this year. They started fussing at me the week before Thanksgiving to get the house decorated. Now that it's decorated, they fuss at me to get some presents under the tree. They will make excellent drill sergeants one of these days!

Still, though, every day they tell me Santa is coming, and every day I tell them that as long as they're being good, Santa will definitely be here.

The Push to Finish the Playroom

2009-12-09T23:04:00.002-05:00

Over the last six months, we've been working on converting the finished side of our basement into a kids play room and office area. The downstairs is divided into two large rooms: one finished and the other unfinished. We did the project ourselves, which is why it took so long to get it done. It's hard to come up with opportunities to work on a project like that when you have three little ones to take care of and spend time with.

Greg built a half wall to separate the two areas. We talked about a full wall with a door, a full wall with french doors, and half wall with a door, and a half wall with no door. We settled on a half wall with no door. In hindsight, Greg's wishes he built a full wall with a door -- too hard for him to work from home when the kids can see him on the other side of the wall!

It really is hard to get motivated to work on a room remodel project when you can't start until the kids are in bed! By October, the room was ready for me to paint, and most nights it was easier to put it off than find the extra energy to paint. Those put-offs haunted me by the first of November when I was facing my Christmas decorating deadline! I usually start decorating the house for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. I vowed I would not decorate until the playroom was done. Too many toys!

Over the course of two and a half weeks, we got the room painted, carpet tiles laid, trim work completed, and toys moved in. There were a lot of late nights, but the room is now functional. Decorating the play area and finishing our office will happen later! Hopefully sooner vs. later! Lol!

The kids absolutely love their space! They have a huge blackboard wall, a dress-up corner complete with a mirror that used to be in my bathroom, cubicles (some with pull out bins) to hold most of their toys, and plenty of floor space to hold all their toys that were too big to get out before now. They have their rocking horse back, a kitchen that grandma and grandpa Wilkins got them last year for Christmas, and a smart cycle that grandma and grandpa got them for their birthday last year. I got a great deal on a nice size table and four chairs, so they have a table where they can have tea parties, color, or play with their play doh. They can spread out on the floor and play with toys or color, or they can just dump all their toys on the floor and not have me swooping through every hour picking toys up. Now I swoop through every 2-3 hours!

Is it Halloween Time Yet?

2009-10-14T23:06:00.003-04:00

I've been getting that question every day, several times a day, for the last couple of weeks. It hasn't helped that Halloween decorations have been sitting out for a couple of weeks.

We took the kids to the Louisville Zoo's Halloween party the first Saturday it was open. Pop Pop and Mom Mom went with us this year. I think we went the first weekend last year, too, but last year we were wearing shorts. This year, we had on jackets and warm clothes under the kids costumes.

Zach dressed as a pirate this year, and the girls dressed as fairy princesses. They went back and forth between being Tinkerbell and a princess, so I compromised and put them in princess dresses and added wings and a wand. They were happy!

I'm not sure why, but his year's party didn't seem as good as last year's. The only thing I can figure is that it's because the train wasn't running. The kids also didn't seem to get as much loot as last year, either. This year the zoo was going to charge it's members admission on the last two weekends, so I guess they cut back a little or didn't get as much in sponsorships as the last couple of years. The kids still had a good time, though, and that's what counts!

Zach wasn't up for any photo ops with the characters this year, and neither was Hannah for the most part. Jessie didn't miss too many cheesing opportunities. Zach did almost get into a sword fight with Davy Jones from Pirates of the Caribbean, but once he saw what ol' Davy looked like up close, Zach changed his mind! It was pretty funny.

As we've done for the last couple of years, we're going to take the kids trick or treating in Covered Bridge. The kids have done really well with walking through a part of it, and they've come home with a lot of treats, too!

Our New Puppy

2009-10-14T22:54:00.003-04:00

Yes, you read it correctly! We have a puppy now. Greg adopted Meg on September 11. She's an Australian Shepherd/some sort of terrier mix. She was 2 1/2 months old when he brought her home, and the kids and I instantly fell in love with her.

She's a very smart dog, and after a month of being a part of our family, she's already crate trained and is well on her way to being house trained. I'm hoping she starts doing a little better with her potty cues because I don't pick up on them as often and I'd like.

When she first came home, she was about 3/4 the size of Scooter, our smallest cat. Now she's taller than all of them. Scooter tolerates her the best, Spaz and Tony avoid her at all costs, and Durango still tries to boss her around. I'm not sure how that situation is going to play out, but 'Rango isn't backing down!

After three weeks with us, she gained 3 lbs. Meg goes back for another puppy check up on 10/23, and I'm anxious to see how much bigger she's gotten. She, like the kids, is growing up so fast!!

Meg loves playing with the kids, but unfortunately she gets so excited she jumps on them and bites at them quite a lot. We're working with the kids to teach them how to teach her, but that isn't going so well. After the first week, if we had taken the kids anywhere, there probably would've been wondering if we were abusing the kids. They were pretty scratched up!! She's starting to lose her puppy teeth, so hopefully the biting will start to cease.

We haven't taken her to any obedience training yet, but she's been doing a pretty good job learning to leash walk, and we've been able to teach her how to sit, sit up, and lay down. Stay is going to take some time!

Potty Training: All Three are Day Trained; Yipee!!

2009-10-14T22:41:00.002-04:00

Guess the title says it all!

Jessie finally stopped having her daily pooping accidents in August. One day, she and Hannah went to poop on their potties at the same time, and from then on, Jessie never had another accident! Whatever fears she had were overcome that day she and Hannah shared their poopy experience.

Zach took a little more work. All summer long we coaxed him, reasoned with him, threatened to put him back in diapers (pull-ups are way too expensive if your child isn't serious about learning to potty!), and we even recruited the girls to help persuade him to go. Nothing! No way. Uh uh. Forget it! I showed him his new underwear, and he screamed if I suggested wearing it. Finally, on September 13, the stars must have been in the correct alignment, because we were able to convince him to go, but not without some bribery.

One pair of Zach's new underwear was red with a black waistband and crossed racing flags in front. I explained to Zach that these were corvette racing flags and that all vettes had crossed flags. He didn't believe me, so I asked Greg to show him the crossed flags on his vette. They took Zach's underwear to compare. They were gone for several minutes, and when they came back in, that boy couldn't wait to put on his corvette underwear! Half way there!!

Now we needed to get him to use the potty. I sneaked into the kitchen and grabbed a handful of Cheerios and put them in a container. When I showed the container of Cheerios to Zach, I explained to him that they were special potty Cheerios. I told him he needed to sprinkle a few into the potty and then try to hit them with his pee. Would you believe that he knew how to go to the potty all along!?!?! He stood and sat to pee, and he pooped on the potty with no problem. He had way fewer accidents than either of his sisters -- even to this day. Just goes to show you that boys will go when they are ready and not a minute before!

Highlights of Our Summer

2009-10-14T22:19:00.004-04:00

Wow! I've really been remiss in keeping my blog updated, and I really don't know where the time has gone! Can you believe it's October already?!?!?!

Just to catch things up, I'll highlight the rest of our summer.

We spent a couple of days with mom, and did, in fact, make it to the water park. The girls had an absolute blast. Zach, the ever cautious one, needed quite a bit of time to warm up to the idea. The water park was pretty busy and had kids of all ages running around. The girls wasted no time in getting wet, and at times it was difficult to keep up with them. If we go again next year, I'm wearing my swimsuit and getting in there with them!

We were supposed to go to the Cincinnati Zoo while we were up at mom's, but Cincy was getting a torrential downpour on the day we were going to go. Instead, we opted for the children's museum at the train station. The children's museum there is like Kidzone at the Louisville Science Center, but the entire museum is nothing but kid-sized activities. It was pretty crowded -- especially for a weekday, but the kids had a great time. They played in a kitchen, a grocery, a bus, car garage, vet clinic, construction zone and many other play areas. You could fit about 10 Kidzones into this museum space. It was really neat!!

We went to the zoo quite a bit this summer thanks to the cooler temperatures we had. The train never came back this year, so we doubled up on our carousel rides each time we went. The girls wasted no time in showing no fear to ride the horses that go up and down. Zach, Mr. Cautious, needed to work up to them. At first, he sat in one of the "carriages." He finally got brave enough to start riding one of the stationary animals, and then on our last trip, he too rode on of the horses that move up and down. He was soooo proud of himself! My babies are growing up so quickly!

Since it was so cool and rainy, we didn't get to swim in Pop Pop's pool that much, but the kids gained a lot of confidence about being in the pool during those few dips. They were still able to wear their water wings and sit in their floats from last year, but the floats didn't get much water time. Zach usually preferred to stay on the steps, but the girls wanted to be out in the water "swimming". We adults got some upper body workouts!

Jessie blazed the trail in the pool when it came to learning new things. She's definitely our fish! She loved jumping into the pool from the sides, and she had Hannah joining her fairly quickly. Zach eventually started jumping in, but he wasn't up for letting go of our hands. They all three also started "swimming" on their own. They were doing pretty good at maneuvering themselves around. Even though we didn't swim often, I hope they will retain what they learned so we can continue to progress next year.

Busy, Busy, Busy!

2009-07-15T16:53:00.002-04:00

The last couple of weeks have been really busy for us. It all started on Friday, July 3, when we took the kids to see some fireworks. We received an invite from one of Greg's co-workers to come to his house to watch some fireworks, and all we had to bring was ourselves and a blanket or chairs to sit on. Fortunately, the kids took a great nap that day, so after dinner, we all piled into the Commander and headed out to Taylorsville Road near the Jefferson County line.

Frank, Greg's co-worker, has a large piece of land on which fireworks could be set off at a safe distance. Several other people with their kids were there, and a former co-worker of Greg's from Humana, Paul, had purchased some kid-friendly fireworks to set off before the big show.

Zach, Hannah and Jessie were mesmerized watching the snakes, speeding/flaming fire engines and race cars, spinning pagodas, and neon-colored fountain-type fireworks. Paul also set off several colored smoke bombs for the kids to run through. Zach and Hannah didn't care for the smell of the smoke bombs, but Jessie had no problem with running through all the different colors of smoke. Eventually, Hannah ran through some too, but I was with her holding her hand.

After it was dark, Paul and another guy ventured out into the field to set off fireworks. It was a very impressive show, and I'm sure it was a costly show as well. These fireworks had to have been a commercial grade that was approved for home use. The kids absolutely loved watching them go off, and after each firework ended, Zach shouted, "Good job, Paul," or "How about another one, Paul!" Paul was a very popular guy with the kids that night!

On Tuesday, July 7, we picked up Lindsey from Mimi's workplace so that she could spend a couple of days with us. We headed out to the zoo where we saw all kinds of animals (yes, even more than what we were able to see when the kids and I went the week before), and we had another picnic lunch. It was a hotter trip than the week before, too, so I made sure the kids stayed well hydrated. They didn't get much playing time in the Islands play area because it was just too hot. They were overheating quickly, so we went as fast as we could to the Herp Aquarium where we could cool down and get out of the sun for a while. We haven't been in the Herp Aquarium for a long time, so it was neat taking them there now that they were old enough to look into the various window displays and comprehend what they were seeing. We also visited the Gheens Room again, and happily, the penguins were much more active than the last time. Since the train still isn't running, we rode the carousel twice again: once when we first got there and again before we left.

After leaving the zoo, we came back home where Lindsey and the kids enjoyed a chocolate chip cookie snack before taking a nap. Lindsey and Hannah were the only ones that slept. Lindsey was battling allergies, so between the heat and the decongestants, she was ready for a nap! Unfortunately, the cookies were enough to re-energize Zach and Jessie. How Hannah and Lindsey slept through their noise is a mystery to me!

The next day, we headed over to Pop Pop's to go swimming. Pop Pop took a day off from work to join us, and we all enjoyed a great afternoon in the pool. Mom Mom Sue and Becky were back from their vacation and joined us later in the day. Sue's nephew Kyle is staying with her for a while this summer, and the kids had a lot of fun playing with him. Kyle is 11 but has three younger siblings around Zach, Hannah and Jessie's age. You could tell he could relate to them. He had them laughing so hard at one point that I was concerned the girls would wet their pants!

The kids got a lot of swim time that afternoon. Zach preferred to be out in the water in a float, and Hannah preferred to play on the steps of the pool. Usually, it's the other way around! Jessie, as usual, wanted no part of a float and wanted to be out in the water with someone so she could swim. Lindsey was Jessie's assistant of choice, so Lindsey didn't get much time to swim on her own until Mom Mom got there. Mommy got a workout swimming the length of the pool several times while pushing Zach back and forth! Mimi came over after getting off work, and we all enjoyed grilled hamburgers and hot dogs for dinner.

On Monday the 13th, the kids went to see Dr Kim for their 6-month dental checkup. Within the last month, Hannah fell and hit her mouth, so like Zach, she had a tooth darken, which required an x-ray while we were there. Fortunately, it's lightened back up, but I had already talked with Dr Kim about taking a closer look at it.

Jessie was the first up to get her teeth cleaned, and even though she sat in the chair all by herself the last time, she needed mom to sit with her this time. While Jessie and I were in the chair, Hannah sat for her x-ray all by herself. I was really impressed, especially since she's not had a dental x-ray yet. She was really proud of herself, too!

Jessie sat really well for her checkup and made it all the way through the polishing before announcing she was done. Hannah still wanted no part of the big chair, so we again sat her in my lap and leaned her back into Dr Kim's lap for a tooth count and quick inspection. Dr Kim said she could see where Hannah's tooth had been hit, so we go back in six weeks for another x-ray.

Zach was the man! He sat in the big chair all by himself, and he sat really well for the entire checkup! He even made it through the flossing. We all applauded him, and he was bashfully proud of himself! All the kids were rewarded with extra prizes for being so good!

The busy times keep a-coming! This Saturday we're going to Mimi and Jon's to celebrate Lindsey's birthday, and then next week, the kids and I are heading to my mom's in Cincinnati for a couple of days to go to the Cincinnati Zoo and a water park. Greg and I are thinking of taking the kids to the Louisville Zoo on Monday since the weather is going to be cooler than normal. Busy, busy, busy!

The Morris Family Reunion and Another Trip to the Zoo

2009-07-01T23:11:00.002-04:00

The kids and I attended the Morris family reunion last Sunday, and it was quite the turnout! My cousin Kelly and her husband made it to this reunion, and it was great seeing them again. They live in Canada, so the opportunities for them to come home are few and far between. My cousin Robin arranged for the reunion to take place at a shelter house in Community Park, and it seemed to work out for us really well. Even the weather cooperated! Robin said there were about 60 of us there (and that wasn't the entire family!).

The kids were a little overwhelmed by all the people there, but as usual, that eventually didn't seem to matter. They were so good. They sat at the picnic tables with everyone else and ate pretty well (as well as you can expect a 3 year old to eat!), and they were really good about staying within my eyesight or with Mimi, Jon or Pop Pop. There really wasn't much there for them to do in terms of play (we were in a shelter house that wasn't near a play area), but they kept themselves occupied. Eventually, they began playing with Robin's granddaughter, Callie, who is around 1 1/2 years. They were so good with her. I received several compliments on how well behaved the kids were and how well they played with Callie.

Today we packed a picnic lunch and went to the zoo. I was a little apprehensive about taking them by myself since they've outgrown their wagon, which meant we'd all be on foot, but it all worked out okay. The zoo was extremely busy today. We arrived at 11:00 and ended up parking closer to the road than to the zoo. After I saw how far out we had to park, I set some ground rules with the kids before getting out of the car. I told them that there were a lot of people at the zoo today, so they needed to either stick really close to me or hold my hand or each other's hand. I also told them that if they got too far ahead of me and I told them to wait up, that they had to do just that. The best part about that pep talk is that they followed those rules for the most part -- at least until they started getting tired and grumpy and realized they had to walk themselves back out of the park and to the car!

Since we've been letting the kids play at the playground next to Lorikeet Landing, that's all Zach talked about doing. It was hard getting him to be patient and enjoy seeing the animals until we got to that playground! We rode the carousel twice, once at the beginning of our day and then again before we left, and the girls sat on their own horses (the ones that moved up and down) and did very well! Zach, the cautious one, stood with me between the girls and held on to me -- both times.

Since Zach was on a playground mission, it was a struggle to stop and see any of the animal exhibits today. We managed to see the baby giraffe, the rhinos, the gazelles, the attax, the bongos, and Scotty the elephant before having our picnic lunch. We shared some of our cheetos with a squirrel, and he seemed to like them as much as the kids do!

After lunch, we hit the restroom (it's so nice having at least the girls potty trained!), and then we stopped by to see the pygmy hippo and the gorillas. The water in the hippo exhibit had been recently changed, so it was very clear and we were able to get a good view of the hippo down in the water. The last time we were there, the water was so cloudy that the hippo was barely visible. We got a nice surprise at the gorilla exhibit. As soon as we walked indoors, one of the silver backs was sitting in his enclosure right next to the glass eating his lunch. The kids went eye to eye with him -- the best view of the gorillas they've had yet!

From there, we went straight to the playground. It was a long walk, but the kids didn't complain since they knew what was coming up next. Before turning them loose, I gave them another rule talk. That is a very busy playground, so I told them they needed to try to stick together so that I could keep an eye on them. They did pretty good about sticking together, and when one would get out of another's sight, they'd call for each other or ask me if I knew where the other was. I let them play for about 45 minutes, and then we made our way over to the Islands so we could see the penguins and the orangutan. Again, we had some really good viewing opportunities.

All three kids were absolutely exhausted by the time we got back home. They had no trouble laying down for a short nap! I wish I could've!!!!!

Oh The Cute Things They Do!

2009-06-25T21:59:00.007-04:00

All three kids have been doing some really cute things lately. I've got to get them down "on paper" or I'll forget some of what they're doing.

Zach

Zach has his own workbench with his own tools to use, and he has thanked me almost every day for getting it out for him. It was a Christmas present from grandma and grandpa, but due to space constraints, it sat in the basement for a few months before I got it out. He loves his tools and tool bench and doesn't like it when his sisters start messing around on it.

Greg has finally been able to get started on building the wall to separate the finished side of our basement into two rooms. One side will be the kids' playroom, and the other will be mine and Greg's office. The other night, Greg was using his drill to screw some 2 x 4s together, and Zach had his drill out and ready to help his dad. Zach positioned himself as a mirror image to Greg and mimicked every move Greg made to drill the wall supports together. It was so cute! While Greg's at work, Zach takes his tools into his bedroom and works on building a playroom in there.

Greg traded the Jeep Liberty we owned in on a 2006 Dodge Ram 1500 4x4 back in January. He made the mistake of telling Zach that he was going to buy Zach a truck. The next morning, Zach rushed into the living room and was heartbroken when he didn't see a truck. I told Zach that his daddy bought a real truck and took him to look at it through our bedroom window. Ever since he laid eyes on it, that has been Zach's truck. Every morning that he sees Greg before Greg leaves for work, he reminds his daddy to take good care of his truck and bring it back home safely. A few weeks ago, Greg wasn't parking the truck in the garage because of having the riding mower and trailer in there. Zach was getting very upset with his daddy for not putting the truck in the garage. Finally, Greg had to take Zach down to the garage to show him why the truck couldn't go into the garage. Greg also need to straighten the truck in the driveway so I could get the Commander out of the garage. Before I knew it, Zach was driving the truck in the driveway, and doing a very good job of re-parking the truck! He's a natural-born driver, and no, I'm not bragging or saying that. Zach has also driven the corvette into the garage. He sits in his dad's lap, and with the exception of a couple of corrections by Greg, Zach does all the steering. It really is something to see!

I have a habit of telling the kids how sweet they are when they do something nice for each other. Zach has picked up this habit now, and it makes me smile and laugh every time I hear him tell Hannah or Jessie that they are so sweet. A couple of nights ago he told his daddy that he was so sweet for buying us some candy on his way home from work. That got a laugh from both Greg and I.

Zach is now dressing himself every morning, and on some mornings he even picks out his own clothes. He is still wearing diapers (and sometimes pull-ups), so as soon as he gets changed, he grabs his clothes and takes off running so I can't dress him. Some mornings he feels especially mischievous and puts his shorts on his head (the waistband forms a headband so the legs of his shorts are flopping on top of his head). This usually last for several hours or until he realizes it's no longer funny.

Jessie

Well, it only stands to reason that if Zach "owns" the corvette and truck that Jessie should own the Commander. Within the last couple of weeks, it has gone from mommy's Jeep to Jessie's Jeep. She reminds me of this every time we go somewhere.

Here lately I've been making the girls and Zach some necklaces and bracelets. I've bought a bunch of beads and have made them several pieces. Zach has his own special-made necklaces and bracelets so as not to get confused with the girls'. The morning after I had made the girls each three necklaces and two bracelets, Jessie put all of her jewelry on and wore it for the entire day and the next couple of days. The only time the jewelry came off was for nap time and bed time. She still wears them a lot, so I've started calling her Bling Baby. She just smiles.

Jessie has been singing a lot lately. As a matter of fact, they all three have been singing a lot lately. Thankfully, they are all on key! Once one starts, they all start. It usually ends up in a shouting match because they each sing a little louder trying to drown out the others. When they realize they can't sing any louder, they start shouting at each other to be quiet. We have some very noisy days around our house! Jessie probably sings the most, and she usually ends up dancing as she sings. She makes up her own songs as well as singing a variety of nursery rhyme songs we've taught them. Zach has stepped his singing up a notch -- he's learned how to step down his notes while singing a single syllable. I have no idea where he picked that up, but it is really cute to listen to!

Now that Jessie is dressing herself, she's made it pretty clear that she has to have on something pink or something with pink in it. Sometimes we have disagreements on what she wears, especially on her strong pink days. I usually give in -- there is usually a more important battle to have with her later in the day. If she gets clothes for Christmas or her birthday, I bet there will be a lot of pink!

The other morning as we were finishing up breakfast, Greg was making kissing rounds with the kids. Jessie jumped up in my lap and told Greg to kiss mommy. As soon as he leaned over to kiss me, she grabbed my head and faced me to her and she gave me a big kiss. She thought it was funny that she stole his opportunity to kiss me and took it instead. It became a game for several rounds, and it had all of us laughing. We don't know where she came up with that game, but it's the best game I've ever played!

Today, we all three went to the zoo. Towards the end, the kids were getting really tired and started to trip over their own feet. On one of Zach's trips where he went all the way down, Jessie shouted, "Wipe out!". I just started laughing.

Hannah

Hannah has been doing a lot of role playing with her toys. On the same night I unboxed Zach's workbench, I also unboxed a dollhouse the girls got for Christmas. I went to the store and bought some extra furniture and family members for it, and it was an instant hit. The way it opens up, the girls can both play with it at the same time on separate sides. We learned a lot about taking turns the first few days the dollhouse was out -- I had to set time limits and tell the girls to swap sides so they felt like they were getting equal playing time. It wasn't long after that Hannah started acting out family situations with the dolls. It's really been cute to watch. Sometimes she re-enacts something that has happened in our day, and sometimes she makes it up. She was starting to do a little of that before I got the dollhouse out, but she has really taken off with the role playing. She basically has taught the other two how to role play. I didn't really notice Zach and Jess doing it until they were all three acting out parts of different people. Right now it's usually family (and not just within our immediate family). Hannah usually tells everybody who they are when they get started.

Hannah does a lot of role playing even without the dolls. Sometimes she grabs her Dora purse, wraps her baby blanket around her like it's a coat, puts on her sun glasses, and goes grocery shopping (like me) or to get a haircut. When she "comes home" she tells me about all the things she bought. She and I have also played beauty shop. The problem for me is that when it's her turn to fix my hair, I start getting sleepy from having to sit still for so long!!

All three kids really love to dance, but Hannah seems to be a natural. We usually turn on 80s dance music for them, and they all take off. Here lately, Hannah has been choreographing her dance moves. You can see her thinking ahead about how the song's rhythm or beat or sound will be changing and then she adjusts her dance moves to the change. Some of her dance moves includes putting her hands on her hips and shaking her hips from side to side, holding on to a table and doing a one-leg lift stretched out behind her (and yes, she has the cupped hands moving with the left life!), or jumping up and landing on her knees and shins (ouch!). You really never know what she's going to do, and it never seems to be the same moves for the same song. She gets embarrassed though, so it's hard to get her to dance for anyone other than us.

There are so many things that the kids are doing now that are really cute, but these are some of my favorites. They are growing up waaaaay too fast!

Celebrating Father's Day

2009-06-25T21:37:00.002-04:00

We celebrated a fun-filled Father's Day this year that began as any other Sunday with the kids jumping into bed with dad after getting out of their own. The kids love the weekends and curling up with their dad to watch TV while he continues to sleep and I go about getting breakfast ready.

I fixed their favorite breakfast (Pillsbury Grands Cinnamon rolls with cream cheese icing and a bowl of fruit), and then we started getting ready to go to Pop Pop's for some swimming and a cookout. We called grandpa and wished him a Happy Father's Day. They are talking so clearly now on the phone -- they had grandpa laughing the whole time!

We got to my dad's around 1:30, and we all immediately began munching on pretzels and Pop Pop's ham dip. The kids love pretzels and that dip -- they get that honestly!! If dad hadn't had that dip set out, I would have had a hard time keeping them out of the pool! At least it's getting easier to get everyone ready to go swimming now.

This was the kids first time swimming this year. They still have the water wings and floats they used last year, but the floats didn't see a whole lot of action. The girls wanted to be out in the water with us. Zach was still content to hang out on the steps, but he did much better this year about getting out into the deeper water with someone.

Greg and I think Jessie is going to be our fish. She has no fear of the water. She was kicking while "floating" in the water, and we even had her jumping into the pool from the side. She got a little braver with each jump. She started out holding onto the hands of whoever was in front of her, then we'd start to move a little further away so she had to jump toward us. One time I let her go under the water to see what she would do. She did great! She blew out her nose as she rose to the surface and wasn't upset by it; although, I had to stand a little closer to the side of the pool for her next few jumps.

Hannah wasn't quite as brave as Jessie, but she did her darnedest to try to imitate everything Jessie did. She also jumped into the pool but she never wanted us far from her when she did.

Zach, Mr. Cautious, even jumped into the pool. He'd never let go of our hands to do it, but that's okay. I was very surprised that he wanted to jump in. I'm so proud of all of them.

As usual, Pop grilled a couple of very juicy and very delicious pork tenderloins. Amy and I pitched in on the dinner, and everyone ate their fill. We still had a lot of leftovers, though!

By the time we got back home, the kids were exhausted! Zach was asleep within minutes of his head hitting the pillow. I don't think we've ever seen him fall asleep so quickly!

It was great spending the day with Greg, the kids, Amy and Jon, and Dad. Nothing like spending the day with some of my favorite dads!

Potty Training: Two Down and One to Go!

2009-06-18T22:11:00.002-04:00

Well, Jessie is finally day-trained with the exception of the daily pooping accident. She's pretty good now at getting to the potty in time to pee, but pooping is another story. She can do it -- she's pooped on the potty several times, but for some reason she just doesn't do it. She knows it's wrong to poop in her underwear, and she knows she's supposed to poop on the potty. She's even wearing big girl underwear now, but that still isn't enough incentive to keep her underwear clean. It's so frustrating!!

Hannah is doing really well. She uses the potty like a pro! Sometimes we still have to call daddy at work to let him know she peed and pooped on the potty, and she's happy with a neat sticker as her reward. For the last three days, Hannah's had nap time accidents, but I'm hoping this isn't the start of a backslide. She has been staying dry during her naps. I've already warned her that I'd put her back in her pull-ups during nap time if she keeps having accidents.

Both girls have had several dry nights in the last week. I've cut down on how much I let the kids have to drink after their naps. When the girls have woke up dry, they get lots of praise. I'll just keep a watch on this for now before trying to night train them.

Now for Zach. I don't know what I'm going to do with him. He's still not really showing a consistent interest in using the potty even though both his sisters are way ahead of him. One day during one of our you-have-to-learn-how-to-use-the-potty talks, I showed him his big boy underwear. Before we started our second round of potty training, I got way ahead of the game and bought all three kids their big kid underwear. Now it looks like Zach will outgrow his before ever getting the chance to wear it!! So, on the day of our talk, I showed him the three pair of Cars underwear he had sitting in his drawer. He got so excited that he insisted on wearing his Lightning McQueen underwear. I warned him that he couldn't pee or poop in them because he'd get all wet and messy and that he'd have to go to the potty to keep them dry. He said okay and took off. I was surprised that he kept them dry for a couple of hours before he finally had his "accident." They didn't stay dry because of using the potty -- he just didn't go for that period of time! When he finally went, he came walking up to me like he'd just gotten out of the saddle and said, "Mom, my underwear's all wet!" Back to the diapers we went.

I'm really debating on how to proceed with him. Do I just wait for him to finally say he's ready, or do I put him through a crash course using big boy underwear and just forgo the training pants? If I tell him it's potty time, he refuses to go, and yet he wants to wear his big boy underwear. Hmmmm! I think I need to think about this a little more.

Potty Training Success: One Down, Two to Go

2009-06-04T16:56:00.002-04:00

It's official -- Hannah is day trained and is wearing big girl underwear! Whew!!

I finally made good on my vow a couple of weeks ago to transition Hannah to regular underwear to complete her potty training process. She and Jessie were both getting very lazy about pottying (Jessie still is), so I finally mentally prepared myself for Hannah's transition to big girl underwear and went for it. It went much better than I expected!

Her first day, she had several accidents and went through several pairs of underwear AND shorts (so much so that I bought a couple more pairs of shorts for fear of running out before I could get the dirty ones washed!), but the second day was considerably less, and third even more so. After three days, she got the hang of peeing on the potty with only minor accidents. After five days, she was only having pooping accidents. Finally, a few days ago, we had a long talk after one of her accidents, and I made her dump her poop out of her diaper into the potty. We did that again the next day, too. Yesterday, she finally pooped on the potty and was accident free the whole day! It wasn't a fluke, because she did it again today. I'm so proud of my little girl!!!!! Of course, we called all the grandparents last night to share the good news.

Next up: Jessie. I have a feeling she's going to be more difficult to train. Here lately, she hasn't really even tried to use the potty, so I'm not sure if this will go well. Either she gets it or she goes back into diapers -- pull-ups are way too expensive to be using as a diaper!

Zach still has potty moments, but I'm just letting him go when he feels like it. So far, he hasn't had any success, but he has all the motions down -- even the hand washing! Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised when I finally focus my training efforts on him!

To celebrate Hannah's success, we all went to Wal-Mart with the intention of buying Hannah a toy as a reward. Unfortunately, Greg and I had to cave into the other two and buy them toys just so he and I could get back home with our sanity intact! They were also treated to homemade chocolate shakes. Today, Hannah got a special sticker for her effort.

So next is Jessie. I only hope I am pleasantly surprised when I start putting her in big girl underwear!

Our First Trip to the Zoo in 2009

2009-05-20T11:16:00.002-04:00

We finally made it to the zoo for the first time this year on Monday. Greg took off from work so we could all go together for the first time. It was perfect day for the zoo: the sun was shining without a cloud in the sky, there was a slight breeze, and the temperature was around 70. We left the wagon at home since the kids are getting a little too big for all three to ride in it together. The kids didn't miss it at all. Thankfully, the zoo wasn't too crowded. There were a few school groups there, but it was really nice to get up close to the exhibits without having to compete for a good viewing spot.

Unfortunatley, we got a late start, so as soon as we got there, we headed straight for the African Outpost to get some lunch. We only stopped to see Scotty and the two adult elephants along the way. After we ate, Greg and I got to experience what it was like to take toddlers to the potty. It was nice for me that he was able to take Zach. We're still potty training, but I'm about to push Hannah and Jessie into getting their training wrapped up. Then I can focus on Zach.

Anyway, after lunch, we headed into Gorilla forrest. We saw only one of the pygmy hippos completely submerged in the water. I'm not sure where the other one was -- he may not have come back from his winter home. All the gorillas were in their enclosures, so the kids were able to see all of them. I think Zach was most impressed with the automatic doors. All he had to do was say "Open!" and they automatically opened for him. He got a kick out of those doors!

We also saw the tiger. Fortunately for us, it was next to the new viewing structure, so the kids got a great view of it. Usually, it's on the opposite side of it's enclosure, which makes it hard for the kids to see it. The one exhibit that held Zach's attention the most was the new polar bear exhibit under construction! He loved watching all the big equipment moving dirt and rocks around. I think we spent more time there than at any other exhibit!

We also stopped by the play area by the splash park. It was a busy place when we arrived! I marveled at how much my kids had grown since we were there last summer and fall. It was much easier for them to climb around, and they also played a little more with some of the other kids. It was neat watching them try something new that they were still a little to small to try last year. Just another reminder of how quickly they grow!

On our way out of Glacier Bay, we stopped by the pond to see the ducks and geese. I had packed some Goldfish crackers, so we let the kids throw some over the fence to all the starving birds. They got a kick out of that!

Before calling it a day, we saw the flamingos, some baby ducks with their mommy and daddy, the bald eagles, the jaguar, and the maned wolf. We rode the carousel before heading over to the train. Jessie and Zach each sat on the stationary animals, but Hannah braved it and rode one of the horses that move up and down. She did great! She rode it like she's always ridden one when on the carousel. We were so proud of her!

The highlight of going to the zoo is still riding the train. Zach remembered where every tunnel was, and Hannah yelled with everyone else when we entered one. Greg and I laughed -- it was funny to watch!

We went to the gift shop on the way out, and the kids were good about sticking to the rule of picking out only one thing. Once they each had their one item, they walked right up to the cashier without fighting us. What a relief!

Mother's Day: Just Another Day

2009-05-20T10:44:00.003-04:00

Mother's Day came and went like any other day. I can't wait for the day when my kids will surprise me with a card they made or bought or with a present they made. A day off or a day made a little easier would be nice, too. Oh wait! How about breakfast in bed? Even better, how about a day to just sleep in?

Maybe one day in the future. This year I got a lot of little hugs and kisses all day long from my three little wonders. I also know that I have some stepping stones for my flower beds that daddy will be making for me with the kids.

I also received a Mother's Day card from my dad, and he also called and wished me a Happy Mother's Day. I received a Mother's Day kiss and hug from my hubby. I also received an e-card from Mom-Mom. I was not acknowledged in any way by my mom, and that was pretty disappointing.

I loved the card and phone call from my dad, and it meant a lot to me receiving the e-card from Sue. The fact that Greg and I were able to find a couple minutes in the day where we could hug and kiss is treasured because it's not often that those little moments happen anymore. And most important of all, I loved all the little hugs and kisses from my three little ones. I just can't get enough of those!

Our day was a day like every other day. The kids were a little tired and grumpy since we'd traveled the day before to Amy's house to celebrate mom's birthday and mother's day with her and grandma, but we made the most of it. They took a great nap, which allowed me time outdoors to fill our bird feeders, finish planting annuals in my container pots on the deck and patio, and to finish up laundry. The sun was shining, the weather was nice enough to have the windows open, and we were all home together being a family.

Even though I may have to wait a few more years for Zach, Hannah and Jessie to "get" Mother's Day, I take great pride in being their mom and hope that I am doing the best that I can for them.

Getting Back into the Routine

2009-05-04T13:11:00.003-04:00

I took a much needed day off last Thursday when I joined my former volleyball buds for our annual Dawn at the Downs day. It's been since 2004 that I've been able to attend, and it was good to know that things with the girls haven't changed all that much. We're all just a little older! Greg took the day off to take care of the kids. Knowing they were in good hands, I let myself thoroughly enjoy the day without worry.

Us girls have had a tradition of getting together the Wednesday or Thursday of Derby week for well over 20 years now. I can't remember exactly what year we started, but we have always toughed it out -- rain or shine. When we first started getting together, we actually went to the breakfast. For the last five years (starting with the last year I was able to attend), my federal law enforcement friends in the group have gotten us in backside. We sit in the third turn on some picnic tables that are reserved for the jockey's families on Oaks and Derby day. We pack some breakfast food and drinks, and have a great time being a little closer to the horses and jockeys during the morning workout.

After we leave Dawn at the Downs, we head back to one of the girls' house and begin Margaritaville. This year, we skipped the margaritas and switched over to beer. After eating a little and refilling coolers, we headed back to the track to make some donations to Churchill Downs.

After losing a few races, we left the track and met up with the guys that comprise the rest of our group. It was just as great seeing the guys again as the girls!

I hated for the day to end, but I had made a very important dinner date with the cutest little guy and his beautiful sisters. I think daddy was relieved and ready to hand over the reins back to me!

Wazzzup?

2009-04-24T17:31:00.005-04:00

Wow! It's been a while since my last blog entry! I didn't realize just how long it had been until today.

Easter was a busy day for us. So were the days leading up to Easter! Usually, I do all my errands on Saturday and laundry on Sunday. The Thursday and Friday before Easter were also my housecleaning days. A lot had to be adjusted for me to afford the time away from home on Easter. I crammed all my cleaning into Thursday, which is a feat with three toddlers demanding attention, potty time, meals, etc., etc. Friday, the kids ran some errands with me, which they thoroughly enjoyed. It was nice having them along, but I almost regretted getting out with them. Our last stop of the day was Costco, and I was literally racing black storm clouds into the store. As I was getting the kids out of the car, big rain drops started to fall. I grabbed a bascart, put the kids in it, opened an oversized umbrella and gave it to Zach to hold over them while I ran with them in the cart into the store. He did a great job -- he held the umbrella so low over them that the sides of the cart were pushing into the umbrella! There was no way they were going to get wet. We killed some time in Costco by eating at their food court and hitting the restrooms. By the time we filled our cart and checked out, the rain had cleared. The kids were disappointed to be going home after that, but I was ready!

We finally got all the storm debris cleaned up in the back yard. We finished that chore on the Saturday before Easter. The kids helped for a little while but couldn't resist playing on their swingset instead. During their nap I did a thorough pickup of sticks around their swingset so they could run and play without getting hurt. The kids have also helped me some in cleaning up my flower beds, but I tend to be more distracted from that chore than making any progress. As with the debris pickup, they quickly lost interest in cleaning my flowerbeds.

On Easter, the kids and I went to church (a first), so we had an early start to the day. The girls absolutely loved their Easter dresses -- to the point that they insisted being called Princess Hannah and Princess Jessie! Zach was ever the little stud wearing his button-down oxford shirt, khaki pants and loafers. He knew he looked handsome, too! During the church service, the kids played in the nursery with several other toddlers. Hannah told me afterwards that she really liked church!

After church, we headed over to my grandma's for pictures and to change clothes before eating lunch at my aunt's. That was a late lunch for the kids, but fortunately they had a snack while at church. They were having such a good time being out and about that they didn't really notice how late lunch was. Needless to say, we breezed through lunch so we could hurry and get outside for an Easter egg hunt. Jessie was quite the little egg hunter! Of the three, she had found the most eggs, but all three were joined in the hunt by a couple of cousins.

After spending a couple of hours at my aunt's house, we headed over to Pop Pop's house for another egg hunt and to celebrate Mimi's birthday. By then, the kids were pros at finding eggs and wasted no time collecting all the eggs Pop Pop and Mom Mom had hid. We ended the day eating Pop Pop's marble cake that he baked for Mimi. Hannah told me on the way home that she really liked Pop Pop's marble cake.

Last weekend we got the bouncy house out, and the kids had a blast jumping in it and going back and forth between it and their swingset. I got in it a few times with them. They have trouble jumping in it when I'm jumping, so they just fall down and let my jumping bounce them around. I laughed so hard at Hannah flopping around that I had to stop a couple of times. Of course, I think she was adding a little to exaggerate how much she was being bounced around. She was laughing as hard as I was!

Greg and I are amazed at the end of each day what the new logic, words, understanding, and comprehension the kids display. Just today Hannah sang every word of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star as clearly and as in tune as if she'd been singing it for years. It seems like only a few days ago she was mumbling through parts of the song. Jessie has also gone through a vocabulary explosion. Zach does a lot of role playing -- he sees his daddy doing something and he immediately imitates it. For example, Easter weekend when we were cleaning up storm debris, Greg got out his chainsaw and the riding mower with the cart attached to finish cutting up tree limbs and to take down a dead tree so we could haul it off to the woods. Today, Zach got out his toy chainsaw and pretended his dumptruck was a riding mower. He drove his "riding mower" into the kitchen to take out a tree for me. It was pretty cute.

They grow up a little more each day. I do wish I could enjoy it more in the moment as opposed to the end of the day when I can finally think after the kids are in bed!

We're Eating Peanut Butter Again!

2009-04-01T12:08:00.002-04:00

Over the last week, I've been slowly reintroducing peanut butter to the kids. So far, so good! Thank goodness!!! Peanut butter was a huge part of their diet before they started having problems with that intestinal bug. I guess the problems they were having with it before was because their bodies still hadn't recovered from the bug and the peanut butter was aggravating their systems.

On a happier note, the latest viral bug they had ran its course in a week's time. We didn't make the birthday party last Saturday because the bug was making its last hurrah, but that's okay. They were well-rested to go to Pop Pop's the next day.

What's Happening?

2009-03-24T10:11:00.003-04:00

Life has been a little busy around here lately, which is why I haven't had a chance to update my blog. Here's a recap of what's been happening in the Wilkins household.

The girls are still potty training, and Zach still isn't. I'll deal with him once I get the girls moving along again. They're not going on their own now, and they resist me when I tell them it's potty time. Hannah has also stopped showing any interest in trying to poop on the potty. Jessie at times seems to want to, but we've not had any success yet. In other words, they girls have gotten lazy about potty time. Guess it's time to do some research to see what I need to do to get the girls back on track, but I'm tempted to just go ahead and put them in big girl underwear and see what happens after they have to go through a few clothing changes. Hmmmm! Hassle for me, but money back in the bank. Just might have to give it a try...

All three kids are fighting some unnamed virus again. Jessie started this round with a high fever, and within 24 hours, Zach and Hannah were fighting fevers also. That's the only symptom they've had, but luckily we've not had any fever over 103. We're on day 4 now, and all three kids are starting to have periods of time with no fever, but we can't seem to shake it just yet. Hopefully no other symptoms will show up.

This past Saturday, we dressed Zach in his Prince Charming costume and the girls in their princess costumes and went to their cousin Meagan's princess birthday party. All the kids had a great time and looked really cute in their outfits. We have pictures posted on the website, so if you've already been there and wondered what the party was about, now you know. Meagan was a beautiful Cinderella , Veronica was a very pretty Snow White, and Sammie was a very pretty Aurora. Baby Joe got lucky and didn't have to wear any royal attire! A friend of Stephanie's was there as well with her daughters, who were also decked out as princesses, and her son. After cake, games and gifts, all the kids changed clothes and went outside to play. Saturday's weather was a little cool, but it was a great day to be outside!

We've been outside several times now that the weather has warmed up. The kids haven't gotten out into the back yard yet -- we still have to get the rest of the fallen tree and other debris picked up before it's safe for them. So far, they've been content with playing on the deck. I've also had them helping me clean out my flower beds. Hannah has really stuck by me and helped, Jessie has managed to "weed" some of my flowers (hopefully they'll be back next fall!), and Zach is into redistributing sticks that have fallen into the yard. I've bought the girls some gardening gloves, so hopefully that will compel them to be a little more focused. I'm still waiting for Walmart to restock their gloves so I can get Zach a pair.

We've bought a sand box for the kids to play in. Right now, it has no sand, but the kids have had fun playing in it with their sand toys. It'll get moved to the yard once we have the last of the ice storm debris removed.

I have an account on Facebook now, and over the last couple of weeks, I've reunited with several former high school classmates. It's so neat to "see" them again and catch a glimpse of what's been happening in their lives since school. It's hard to believe that next year will be 25 years since I've graduated. It just doesn't seem possible that it's been that long -- I certainly don't feel those years mentally. Physically, well maybe not 25 years, but I certainly do feel some of those years!

We're going to be busy over the next couple of weeks. Here's what's coming up:

This Friday, the kids and I have haircuts so that we'll all be gorgeous for Easter.
This Saturday we're going to another birthday party. This birthday girl is the daughter of a former co-worker of Greg's, and she will also be turning 3.
This Sunday we're going to my dad's for dinner.
Next Thursday, we're going to my eye doctor's for my annual contact lens appointment.
Easter Sunday, we're going to church (hopefully) and to my aunt and uncle's for lunch.

Potty Training: Day 19

2009-03-15T12:42:00.002-04:00

The girls have started using the big potty now with the help of an Elmo kid-sized potty seat. They had no problems using it, much to my relief. I guess those "practice" sessions before we started training again have paid off. We're going to their cousin Meagan's third birthday party this Saturday, and I wanted the girls to start having some big potty time before we go to someone else's house. Hopefully, they will be willing to use a different big potty if I take their Elmo seat along.

Sometimes when we have potty time, the girls have to sit on the big potty AND the pink potty AND the blue potty. They make sure they save up enough to at least dribble in all three. Hey! At least they're using the potty, which is more than what I can say for their brother. The girls have even tried coaxing Zach into the bathroom with them at potty time, and he still refuses.

Hannah is still trying to poop at potty time, and sometimes she's successful but more often than not, she still goes in her training pants. Jessie, on the other hand, isn't willing to try to poop on the potty at all. She's still lagging behind Hannah in that she gets too busy to remember to go potty. Hannah is starting to go to the potty on her own and lets me know that she's going.

We got some good news earlier this week with regard to Zach and Hannah's intestinal bug. It is a virus (the stool test came back negative), and the kids just need a little more time for their systems to calm down and build an immunity. I asked the doctor about the peanut butter, and she thinks its irritating their systems because it's hard to digest. She said to hold off on any peanut butter for about a month and then reintroduce it. I hope she's right because the kids are constantly asking for it!

Potty Training: Day 12

2009-03-08T18:10:00.003-04:00

It's been a rough week for us. Hannah and Zach had another bout of upset tummies and diarrhea that required a visit to the doctor. This is the third time within a month that the kids have gone through this. Their last episode was a couple of weeks ago, and I had hoped we were finally past all of that. I guess not.

I'm still waiting to hear back from the doctor about the results of a tested stool sample, but at least in the meantime we have some medicine they can take to calm their upset tummies. I'm beginning to wonder, though, if Hannah and Zach have developed an intolerance for peanut butter. Since they've been sick this week, we've gone back to the BRAT (bananas, rice, applesauce and toast) diet, but Zach had been feeling better for a couple of days and insisted on a PB&J sandwich. I only fixed him a half sandwich, and it was enough to cause a day of discomfort for him and his dad and me. I think we've had peanut butter within 24-36 hours of the last two bouts as well. The doctor said if it were a food allergy causing all of this that there would be more going on than what I've seen so far. I hope she's right!

Thankfully, Hannah didn't miss a beat in her potty training. While we didn't have as many successes on the potty as we had, she did learn that she could poop on her potty and that it was okay to do so. Jessie, on the other hand, did lose some ground. Since I was so caught up in changing messy diapers/training pants, we didn't get to the potties as often as we had. Now, she's not going as well as what she did. Just a minor setback that we have to work through.

On a happier note, the kids haven't been wearing their bibs at meal times for the last couple of weeks. We decided to go cold turkey on the bibs because they seemed to encourage the kids to spit out their food. They wouldn't spit it out because of not liking what was in their mouths, but rather to clear out their mouths to take a bite of something else or to take a drink. Now they have to swallow their food to clear their mouths. Problem solved! Wish they all were that easy!!!!

Potty Training: Day 6

2009-03-02T23:54:00.003-05:00

It's the end of Day 6 of our potting training adventure, and things are still going extremely well; that is, for the girls. Zach is still in diapers, which are cheaper than pull ups, and still seems to be perfectly content to wear them. Every time I call the girls for potty time, I still ask Zach if he wants to sit on his potty. His response is, "No, not yet!" So for now, I will continue to focus on getting the girls day trained and worry about his training later.

Hannah and Jessie are making me so proud! They are both doing a wonderful job of peeing in their potties. Our only problems seem to be who gets the pink potty and that they're calling their pee the wrong color.

We have three potties: one (the blue potty) was given to us, one is a pink potty and the other is a green potty - both of which we bought. The green potty is Zach's, and it's still sitting out but doing nothing more than being a conversation piece at this time. The girls are fighting over who gets to use the pink potty and who has to use the blue potty. The first time around potty training, Jessie was content to sit on the blue potty and Hannah used the pink potty. This time around, Jessie wants the pink potty, and Hannah wants the pink potty. They fight over who gets to use the pink potty and are even starting to race each other to the bathroom as they're calling out who gets what potty. I try to make the girls take turns, but Jessie does not like having to use the blue potty. When it's Hannah's turn on the pink potty, Jessie sits in protest on the blue potty waiting for Hannah to finish her business. As soon as Hannah announces she's done and gets herself wiped, Jessie shuffles from the blue potty to the pink potty to conduct her business. Hannah gets shoved out of the way if she's blocking Jessie. It's only at the end of the day that I can look back and laugh about it.

When the girls get done peeing, they proudly stand up and announce, "Mommy! It's green!" I correct them every time and then they repeat, "It's yellow!", but they forget from potty time to potty time. We're still working on our colors.

The girls are catching on pretty quickly. Hannah's training pants are staying dry between potty trips, and she's been doing a really good job at letting us know when she has to go. Jessie is about halfway there. Sometimes she tells us, and sometimes she forgets. They're also starting to stay dry during nap time.

We're going to have to work a little harder to get the girls to feel comfortable with pooping in their potties. Today, Hannah had an upset tummy, so I took advantage of her situation and tried to put her on the potty to poop. She wasn't happy about it -- didn't want to mess up her potty, but I kept reassuring her that it was okay. She pooped a little, and I applauded and congratulated her, but it wasn't enough to get her to tell me the next time that she had to poop before she already did so. It'll happen.

So, our potty training adventure continues.

Potty Training: Day 4

2009-02-28T10:23:00.003-05:00

It's the morning of day four of our potty training adventure, and it's going pretty well. Zach decided on the second day that he was too busy to be bothered with sitting on a potty, so he's back in diapers and happily peeing and pooping without interruption.

Hannah and Jessie are doing fantastic! So far, they've been peeing almost every time I sit them on the potties. It's been a combination of them telling me and me telling them when it's time to go, and it's rare when we leave empty potties behind. We've even been waking from naps with dry training pants. We're not pooping in the potties yet, and I've noticed that when one is looming, they stop peeing in the potties, too. But that's okay. It's been a very positive experience so far, and I'm thrilled with how things are going.

For now, I'll focus on the girls and let Zach be content with wearing diapers. When the girls are finally day trained, then I'll concentrate on him.

Potty Training: Day 1

2009-02-25T20:19:00.003-05:00

We started potty training again today, and the kids are definitely ready this time around. We had a great first day!!!!!

All three kids were eager to use their potties. As a matter of fact, I had trouble getting them off their potties -- even after they already peed! I never got a chance to establish set potty times today because the girls came and got me each time they had to go. If one had to go, they all wanted to go. Even if their training pants were wet, the girls still managed to go a little more on their potties. Jessie peed every time but once, and Hannah peed almost every time, too. Zach never had even a dribble, but he was definitely very good about sitting on the potty.

The followup hand-washing went very well also. The hand towel never had a chance to dry out from all the potty trips times three hand washings. I'm going to have to break out an extra towel tomorrow.

I am extremely encouraged about our experience so far. They did fantastic with wearing their training pants, pulling down and up their pants and training pants by themselves, and also helping me clean up. A very positive experience so far!

Catching Up

2009-02-22T23:05:00.003-05:00

I know it's been a while since I've posted a blog entry. It's been a little rough going around here the last few weeks. We're all still adjusting to Babbette's absence (the cats, too), and the kids had a bout with some sort of stomach or intestinal bug that lasted a couple of weeks.

It's been three weeks since Babbette died, and we still look for her every time we go downstairs. Spaz misses her the most since they snuggled together quite a lot while taking naps. He's not napping in the same spots he shared with her, at least most of the time, and he has started doing some things that she always did when Greg would be sitting at his computer and she wanted his attention. All four boys have become very loving and seek attention from not only Greg and I but the kids as well.

We had Babbette cremated, and I was the one designated to go pick her up. All the other pets I've ever had either ran off (the cats) or dad buried (the dogs) at our house on Willis Road. When Li'l Bit died, Greg and Dennis dug a grave for him in our backyard in a spot where Bit loved to sit and laze the afternoon away. Picking up Babbette's remains was a new experience for me, and it was a very difficult experience for me. It took several minutes for me to compose myself enough to drive back home. I sat her remains in my lap for her final ride home from the vet's office. Even still while writing this, I'm crying. We're waiting for a keepsake box to be delivered that will be big enough to store her remains and a few items of hers that we are holding onto. We've ordered another one for Bit; if we ever move from here, we plan on taking him with us and will have his remains cremated as well.

The kids don't quite understand what has happened to Babbette. They sometimes still ask to see her or if I'm going downstairs to feed her. I remind them that she's not here anymore because she went someplace where she'll never be sick again. Sometimes they get upset that they can't see her, but most of the time, they've already moved onto something else before I can remind them of where she's gone.

We have a lot of clean up to do in the back yard courtesy of the ice storm. We were lucky in that we only went for a day (16 hours) without power. All of LaGrange and Crestwood were without power. I think our power getting restored so quickly was due in some part to KU's trimming trees back from power lines last Spring. Greg was able to get a generator that day, and it bought us a few hours of getting the fridge and coffee maker plugged in (we made the coffee extra strong!), and it allowed us to get a TV plugged in to catch the latest newscast. We lost one tree, and happily it landed parallel to the house behind the kids swing set. We also lost tops to several trees. It's hard to tell right now whether or not they completely separated since several and leaning down into the yard. We're hoping we can clean up most of the mess ourselves without having to pay someone to do it. We haven't started yet because our backyard is still such a soggy mess that it would be dangerous operating a chainsaw. It was scary seeing how far over our trees were bent, especially up close to the house. We've decided to hire someone in the spring to take a few of those trees out so we don't tempt fate again. We'll definitely have lots of firewood for next winter!

The kids are finally over some sort of stomach or intestinal bug that they passed around for a couple of weeks. I have absolutely no idea where they picked it up from. Zach started with diarrhea first, then Hannah took it one step further and added vomiting, and Jessie, thankfully, only made me endure one day of messy Jessie diapers. Zach and Hannah cleared up after a few days, but then the bug came back and hit Hannah with a vengeance. Zach's second round wasn't nearly as bad as Hannah's. Hannah required multiple baths, sheet changes, diaper changes, and a trip to the urgent care center before she got better.

By now I was hoping to be well into potty training. The girls are ready, and Zach is pretty close to being ready, so I'm planning to get the training potties out this week. I've also bought a couple of toilet seats for kids that fit inside the regular seat, and we've been sitting them (clothed) on those seats to help get used to that experience. I'll probably train them on both their potties and the big potty so they get used to using their Elmo potty seat.

I think Hannah will be the easiest to train. She's really not liking messy or wet diapers anymore. When she goes, she starts yelling to me that she's peed/pooped and walks into the room where I am like she just got off a horse after several hours or riding! I think Jessie will be the next easiest. Zach is still happy ignoring his messy/wet diapers so he doesn't lose any play time. If it turns out that I can't train all three at the same time, then I'll concentrated on training the one who's most interested and then move onto the next. Stay tuned -- there could be some interesting blogs coming out of this experience!

We've been working with the kids a lot lately on colors, shapes, counting, saying their ABCs, and playing matching games with cards. They got several board games for Christmas, but I decided to try a simple card matching game first to try teaching them about taking turns and learning game rules. You can't get any simpler with game rules than with card matching. I'd like to get the kids enrolled in a preschool this fall, at least for a couple of days a week starting out, so they can start getting used to that type of environment and start having some time away from me and home. It's time.

That's about it for now.

Grandma & Grandpa Celebrate 50 Years

2009-02-09T20:37:00.002-05:00

Grandma and Grandpa Wilkins celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary this past Saturday, February 7. Family and friends gathered at the clubhouse here in our subdivision to honor Clyde and Rose and their 50 years of wedded bliss.

Sharon, Stephanie and I worked together to plan a "Campy Luau" reception. We decorated the clubhouse in a Hawaiian theme using colored lanterns, inflatable palm trees, leis, paper pineapples, a Tiki god, hibiscus and orchid flowers, and grass skirts. There are a few pictures of the clubhouse before everyone showed up that give a good view of how things looked. Kingsleys and Chef Sharon and her husband Chef Mike catered the event.

50s music played to help commemorate the occasion while everyone socialized and ate and watched the kids dance. Stephanie had rounded up several old family photos showing Clyde and Rose in their early days pre-family and then several of all the kids over the years. She compiled all the photos into a slide show which was shown at the reception. It got a lot of laughs and brought back a lot of memories for everyone there. Steph did an excellent job putting the show together.

Dennis gave a warm, heartfelt toast to honor mom and dad, and then it was cake time. Jessie, true to form, ate the icing and left the cake. She's such a sugar-holic!

Congratulations, grandma and grandpa! We love you!!!!

In Loving Memory of Babbette: October 1995 - January 31, 2009

2009-01-31T22:19:00.002-05:00

We had to say goodbye to Babbette tonight. She was 13 years old but had only been with us for 11 of those years. Right now, those seem like the fastest 11 years of mine and Greg's lives.

Eleven years ago, Little Bit and Babbette adopted us. Greg and I weren't living together at the time, and it was at Greg's apartment where they found us. Babbette has never been trusting or a people person, so it was quite some time before she started interacting with us. Little Bit had no problem making himself at home in Greg's apartment. If Babbette came in, it was usually for a short stay.

One of our most favorite memories from that time was when we first gave Little Bit and Babbette cat nip. Not all cats respond to cat nip, but those two certainly did! We had bought a couple of cat nip knots as well as some cat nip flakes, and Greg sprinkled the knots, which already had catnip in them, with the cat nip flakes and gave them to the cats. Babbette got so happy rubbing the knot over her face that she ended up doing a somersault in mid-air.

Another favorite memory is the time when there was a severe thunderstorm moving through the area. It had been a warm and humid evening, and there had been plenty of warning that the storm was coming. We got Little Bit into the apartment with no problem; Babbette required a little additional coaxing. After we finally got her inside, she became agitated and paced around the apartment. She did not like feeling confined. Greg and I had been standing at his screen door watching the storm when all of a sudden we heard this loud crash. We looked down and saw that Babbette ran full speed into the screen door trying to bust out. She hit the door so hard that the screen door had to be replaced -- she'd bent it and knocked it off its track!

In time, Babbette became more comfortable around us. After moving into our house, we'd only let Babbette and Little Bit outside when we were home. Babbette became quite adjusted to being an indoor cat, and soon after moving to our house, she decided that she didn't want to go outside anymore.

Babbette went from being a very stand-offish cat to a pampered princess. She understood exactly how good she had it, and in her own way, she showed us everyday how much she appreciated it. Whenever she wanted our attention, she'd simply walk up to us and head-butt us. To show her appreciation for our petting her, she'd "clean" our hand or give us a love bite. When she was ready to settle down at night, she'd curl up beside you and start flopping her tail on the bed to signal to you she wanted you to stroke her back and tail.

Once the kids became mobile, Babbette spent her days downstairs free of the chaos erupting on the main floor. At night after the kids were in bed, we'd open the gates so that she could come upstairs and retire for the night in our bed. In the mornings, she'd head downstairs for breakfast and prepare for another day of rest and relaxation.

A couple of years ago, all our cats ate some of the melamine-tainted food that was recalled. That was a very tense time for Greg and I. Babbette, because of her age, suffered the most. She was left with some residual kidney disease that required a little bit of medical management on mine and Greg's part. Our vet told us that kidney disease in almost inevitable in older cats, so in Babbette's case, her contracting kidney disease just happened a little sooner. Other than this, all five cats survived with no lingering effects. Periodically, when Babbette's appetite decreased or if she seemed like she wasn't her usual self, Greg and I would administer some subcutaneous fluids, and she would perk right back up. At her annual visit last year, her kidney and liver function tests actually showed improved function, much to our and our vet's delight.

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed a decline in Babbette's appetite. This decline became serious enough for me to call the vet. Dr. Rubsch made room in her schedule for Babbette the next day, and our journey into Babbette's decline began. Initial tests indicated she was fighting a severe infection, so Dr. Rubsch started Babbette on a rigorous course of antibiotics and an appetite stimulant. After a couple of days, we didn't see any improvement, so we took her back for more tests. This time testing showed a slight improvement, but Dr. Rubsch decided to send out for more in-depth lab work to try to find out what exactly Babbette was fighting. Babbette spent the next three days at the hospital receiving IV antibiotics. Lab results indicated Babbette either had an auto immune deficiency or was fighting cancer. More specific lab tests were sent out and Babbette was sent home with a steroid to take with her antibiotic and appetite stimulant.

Babbette started showing signs of her old self again after about five days on the steroids. In the meantime, the lab work results confirmed either auto immune deficiency or cancer. Greg and I decided not to put her through the pain and stress of a bone marrow extract to confirm cancer. We were to have gone back to see Dr. Rubsch this past Thursday for more aggressive antibiotics and blood testing to see if there was in fact improvement, but the winter storm knocked power out to the veterinary hospital. We were on hold for those results until after the power was restored.

Unfortunately, we will never know those results. Babbette started a sudden decline again last night. Greg and I gave her more subcutaneous fluids, but we didn't see any improvement this morning. This evening, when I went to check on her, Babbette was dramatically worse. After a phone call to Dr. Rubsch, she agreed to come to our house to help Babbette pass on.

Based on her swift decline and what she saw in Babbette's lab work, Dr. Rusbch suspects Babbette died of leukemia. She said leukemia is a very swift killer and causes the immune system to go haywire. Babbette is now with Little Bit and is free from her pain and suffering.

It almost feels like an end of an era with her passing. She was a big part of mine and Greg's lives and will be deeply missed.

Surviving the Winter Storm of 2009

2009-01-29T00:18:00.002-05:00

Wow! The last 24 hours around here have been a wild roller coaster ride for us. We were one of the areas that started out with an inch of ice before getting 5 inches of snow and another inch or so of ice and another 2 inches of snow. Greg woke me at 2:00 a.m. this morning with a bad feeling regarding our prospects of keeping power and several of our trees. After waking up enough to understand what he just said and looking out our windows, I agreed.

At 6:30 a.m., we finally lost power, and I could hear large tree limbs falling out of our trees. We heard lots of pops and cracks and limbs or trees falling elsewhere in the woods by our house. Happily, our power wasn't out due to a blown transformer or trees on the power lines. All of La Grange was out, so I felt optimistic that we wouldn't be without power for long. My optimism didn't last long.

I gambled that I could walk into the kids room to make sure they were covered up, but I lost when Zach sat up and started screaming because his room was too dark. I wound up herding all three kids into my bed, but nobody went back to sleep. Thus, the long day of being without power began.

The first battle occurred when I started dressing the kids in layers. Hannah threw an absolute fit for a solid 1/2 hour because she had a shirt on under her sweatshirt that she didn't want to wear. I think that was about the time Greg and I started getting our headaches.

The second battle occurred when Greg began starting a fire in the fireplace. We've not burned a fire in the fireplace since before the kids were born, so this was new to them. For Greg, it became the battle of three-year-old triplet wills. They wanted to help; dad wanted them to keep a safe distance. How he ever got that fire going remains a mystery to me.

The kids really were troopers about the whole situation, but that's not to say that we didn't get told a thousand times to turn on the lights, or turn on the TV or play a movie (the current favorite is Shrek 3 which has been viewed over 100 times in the last week!). They stayed occupied with playdoh, coloring, and fighting with each other. Since we couldn't brew any coffee or even get a cup through the McDonald's drive thru (NOBODY in Oldham county had power), the fights and squabbles really wore on us. It didn't help that they didn't take naps! This was the first time that they've gone an entire day TV-less, and I think it was starting to irritate them. They started asking to watch Shrek 3 a lot towards the end of the day. Greg found our portable DVD player, and it fortunately had enough juice left so that the kids were able to watch Aladdin. What a glorious hour + that was!

Greg was able to track down a used/repaired generator, so it was nice being able to plug the fridge in (and not lose all our food!), plug the coffee maker in for a long-awaited cup of coffee, turn on a TV to catch some news, and to hang a shop light in the dining room to enjoy our peanut butter and jelly sandwich dinner. The bad news is that after a couple of hours, the generator died and Greg wasn't successful in getting it restarted. It was too difficult to keep working on it by flashlight and in the cold, so hopefully it's not a wasted or financially draining investment.

With having a fire going all day, we were able to keep the living room warm. The house stayed about 65 degrees until around 8 p.m. when the temperature dropped a degree. At around 6 or 6:30 p.m., I noticed that La Grange above I-71 was lit up, so I was beginning to be optimistic again that power would soon be restored. We went ahead and pulled out blankets and sleeping bags for the kids to sleep on in the living room so that they would stay warm. When I changed them into their PJ's, they didn't fuss about keeping an extra layer of clothing on underneath. I think they were finally understanding what no electricity meant (or just too tired to care!).

By the time the kids were tucked in, an area south of I-71 across Hwy 53 from us was lit. I could feel my hopes rising. By this time, we'd been without power for about 14 hours. I was able to watch the evening weather forecast, and we will probably be in the low teens by morning. I was dreading how cold the house would be by morning.

With the kids in bed, Greg decided to hit the road again to see what he could find in the way of a cook stove, lantern, and more charcoal. Yes, I was willing to stand out in 32 degree weather to cook a meal if necessary! While he was out, Home Depot called him back to let him know a truckload of 240 generators had just arrived and were available on a first come, first served basis. When he got there, there were already 300 people fighting to get those. While there, though, he was told another truck was due in around midnight to deliver another 120 generators and that they would stay open until midnight. Again, first come, first served. If the truck was late, Home Depot would close but reopen again at 6 a.m. to sell those generators.

Greg decided to stick around for the next shipment. While there, he stopped a store employee to ask her how sure they were the truck would arrive. He told her about our triplets and how difficult our day had been and that he really wanted one of those generators so that we could at least get them a hot meal. Without Greg's knowledge, the store employee relayed his story to a store manager. It just so happened that this manager was holding one of the generators from the earlier shipment for himself and decided to let Greg go ahead and purchase the generator. Luckily, this generator has more power than the one he bought earlier, so I'm hoping we might be able to get the microwave going with this one.

It also just so happened that our power came back on while this wonderful act of generosity was being played out at Home Depot. Greg didn't go looking for special treatment in relaying our situation, but it sure felt great that someone who was in a position to help decided to help us. What a great way to end a difficult and trying day!

We're not out of the woods yet. We still have a lot of trees that are heavily laden with ice. We've lost one tree that luckily fell parallel to the house behind the kids' swingset. It missed all other trees and the detached garage as well. We still have several trees leaning at precarious angles -- some close to a transformer and power lines, some out in the yard, some over the detached garage, and some over the garage end of the house. And we've got a couple more days to go before we're above freezing. For now, though, we get to sleep in a warm house with all our night lights plugged in. I've prayed all day for God to keep us safe and warm, and he has most definitely taken care of us today.

Wellness Exams

2009-01-13T20:33:00.002-05:00

The kids and I all went to the doctor today for our annual wellness exams. I wasn't sure how it would go with all four of us getting our exams, and I wasn't sure if the doctor's staff was ready for what it would take to get us all through the exams. I figured I'd try it once, and if it didn't go well, I'd schedule mine separately from theirs next year. I thought it went well, so I'll probably schedule our appointments the same way next year.

I went first since my exam was a little more extensive than the kids. While the doctor was busy with my checkup, the nurses took the kids out of the room and got their weights, height measurements, temps, etc. I didn't hear any screaming, so I assume all of that went okay.

Hannah stands 38 1/4" tall, and weighed 32 pounds. Zach and Jessie both stand 37 1/2" tall. Zach is the heaviest, weighing 32 1/2 lbs. Jessie weighed 28 lbs. I won't share with you my height and weight. Suffice it to say that I haven't shrunk or grown any and I'm maintaining a healthy weight (the same as before I was pregnant, which thrills me to no end!).

All of us had good exams. The doctor was extremely pleased with the kids' development. The only thing she noticed is that their language skills are not quite where other 3 year olds are, but that is the nature of multiples. Multiples tend to start talking later because of having their own language. We talked about preschool options to help further their language skills and increasing their social skills (e.g., playing with kids other than their siblings). Something else for Greg and I to start thinking about.

Zach has a new girlfriend named Kelly. All three kids adore Kelly, but I think Zach has soft spot for her. Kelly is a nurse at the doctor's office and is really great with the kids. When we were ready to leave, all three kids walked to the front office calling for Kelly. The other nurses and the front desk staff got a kick out of it and started helping the kids call for Kelly. It was really cute!

I received a lot of compliments on how well behaved the kids were this morning. I was told that there have been mom's with one child their age in the office, and that one child made more noise than Zach, Hannah and Jessie combined. Before the doctor saw us, she was surprised to find out we were there because they were being so good and so quiet. Hearing stuff like that really makes me proud of my kids.

Another Visit to the Dentist

2009-01-13T20:05:00.003-05:00

The kids had their 6-month checkup at the dentist on 1/9. The last couple of times we've gone, the kids sat in my lap and were laid back into the dentist's lap so she could examine (count) their teeth. I was hoping that with this visit, we could get them into the big chair for a full exam and cleaning. I got 2/3 of my wish!

Earlier in the week, I discovered that one of the Dora books that Santa brought the kids was about Dora seeing her dentist for her checkup and cleaning. Perfect! In the days leading up to the kids' checkup, we read this book every day. Dora showed the kids different things in her dentist office as well as what happens at a dental checkup. We took our time reading the book and talking about what Dora's dentist did versus what their dentist would do. I felt pretty hopeful that we'd have a good visit with the kids' dentist like Dora did with hers.

The kids like going to the dentist because Dr. Kim has a really cool playroom for them to wait in. It's designed as a bat cave with one wall being a chalkboard wall. There's another room that has video games, but the kids haven't found that room yet.

We didn't get to spend much time in the waiting room, which was fine with me, because they were ready for us. Without any hesitation, Jessie was the first to get into the big chair without any prompting or persuasion. She didn't much like the bib, but once she picked out some sunglasses to wear, she was okay. Dr. Kim has the younger kids wear sunglasses to help keep the bright light out of their eyes. Jessie wasn't too sure about the big chair once Dr. Kim raised and reclined it and was even less sure about having Dr. Kim's dental tools in her mouth. We were able to get Jessie through a quick exam and polished about 1/4 of her teeth before she announced she was done. Dr. Kim and I were pretty pleased with Jessie's exam since this was her first time in the big chair.

Zach went next, and his exam was pretty similar to Jessie's. Dr. Kim was able to get 1/2 of his teeth polished before he announced he was done. Again, I was thrilled with his exam AND the fact that we got through two kids sitting in the big chair.

Hannah was the last to go, and unfortunately, she wasn't ready for the big chair. She was fine about seeing Zach and Hannah in the chair, and she even helped encourage Zach and Jessie to stay in the chair during their exams. When it was her turn, though, she was absolutely not ready. We even tried having her sit on my lap while I sat in the big chair, but Hannah still wasn't having any part of it. We finally had to resort to sitting her in my lap and laying her back into Dr. Kim's lap, and even still it was difficult to get her to open her mouth for a quick exam.

All in all, I'm thrilled with how successful this visit went. When it comes closer to the time of their next appointment, we'll start reading the Dora book again and talk about their last visit and their next visit in the hopes that we can make even more progress.

Check the website for pictures of Zach and Jessie sitting in the big chair at the dentist office.

Their 3rd Birthday

2009-01-07T00:24:00.002-05:00

It's hard to believe that the kids are 3 years old now. I look back and wonder where the time has gone. I used to think, before the kids got here and I was on maternity leave, that time would slow down a little for me because I wouldn't be living by a calendar anymore. Wrong! I may not live by a calendar anymore, but for a long time we lived by a schedule and still sorta do. They are growing up way too fast!!

Their birthday was Friday, January 2, and we had a party for the kids to celebrate with all of the family on Sunday. On their birthday (Friday), we invited all the grandparents over to celebrate so that they could get some special time with the kids. Unfortunately, Greg's dad came down sick and his mom wasn't feeling well, so they were unable to make it. Pop Pop, Mom Mom Sue, and Grandma were there, though, and the kids had a blast opening up presents from them and us. Zach, Hannah and Jessie got some spring and summer clothes, and, yes, some toys! Greg and I gave them each a Little Einsteins learning laptop, and Pop Pop and Mom Mom gave Zach Wall-E binoculars that look just like Wall-E's "eyes". They're really cute!!!

I baked a birthday cake for the kids, and lit three candles each for them to blow out. (In a couple of years I'll have to resort to the number candles instead just so we don't wind up with birthday cake flambe'!) They did a really good job of blowing out their candles! I was impressed. We hadn't practiced it, hadn't talked about it, and the last birthday where there was a cake with candles they helped to blow out was mine back in October. We ate some birthday cake, and the kids rough-housed with their grandparents before finally going to bed. They didn't take naps that day and stayed up extra late, so they were pretty tired by the time we got them into bed. Pop Pop, Mom Mom and Grandma were pretty tired too!

Sunday was the big party that we hosted down at our community's clubhouse. Uncle D couldn't make it but made a special visit on Saturday to spend time with the kids and give them their presents. They love their Uncle D! Grandpa and Grandma felt better and were able to make the party, and Aunt Sharon, Mimi, Jon, Lindsey, Pop Pop, Grandma, Great Grandma, Cynthia and DJ were also there. Uncle Mike stopped by the house later after the party to give the kids their birthday gifts.

The kids received some board games, spring/summer clothes, books, a set of dishes, food for their kitchen, aprons and oven mitts for their kitchen, a kid-tough digital camera (Zach took 150 pictures just at the party!), a Cars racing set, and a Smart Cycle (which, unfortunately stays boxed until I can reclaim some or all of my living room!).

This last week, between Christmas and their birthday, has been a fun and busy week for all of us. Aside from being a little overtired, they've been pretty good and have done a pretty good job of playing with all of the toys that are available for now for them to play with. Thank goodness the holidays and their birthday are over now so that I can get down to business and get Christmas decorations down and this house reorganized!

Toys R Wilkins

2008-12-28T01:28:00.003-05:00

Well, now that the holidays are over and the kids birthday has passed, it's time I get around to updating my blog about those events. First, I'll start with Christmas.

The kids had a great Christmas this year that resulted in lots and lots of toys. I've lost my living and dining rooms and guest bedroom to toys, and that doesn't count the ones stored in the basement because we just don't have any more room!!!!!!!

On Christmas Eve, all of us went to my grandmother's house to exchange presents with her and my Aunt Cynthia. The kids came home with baby doll strollers, a hot wheels racing track, a guitar, keyboard and drum, and three Mickey Mouse DVDs. Not a bad start to the day!

Later that evening, we piled into two cars (we got a heads up that we'd need the cargo room in both jeeps to get everything home!) and headed over to Greg's parents' house. Greg's family celebrates Christmas on Christmas Eve with an informal dinner and gift exchange. Opening gifts usually turns chaotic with there being seven grandkids under the age of seven, and this year didn't disappoint! By the time the gifts were unwrapped, you couldn't see the floor, and everyone was trying to make sure that each kid had the right toys. Not an easy feat!

At one point while we were opening gifts, I noticed Jessie had disappeared from the living room where all the gifts were being opened. I called for her several times before I figured out by her no-I'm-not-coming-in-there response that she was in the kitchen. Since Grandpa was closer to the kitchen than I, I asked him if he could check to see what Jessie was doing. She was being way too quiet and too insistent about not opening any more gifts, and I had no idea how long she'd been in the kitchen. Grandpa came back to the doorway laughing and said that Jessie was helping herself to some sugar cookies that Aunt Sharon had iced and decorated with the kids a little earlier that evening. Jessie demanded that Grandpa sit next to her and join her, and of course, there was no saying no to her. There's no telling how many cookies she ate before she got busted! I'm starting to think her sweet tooth has a homing device in it!

The kids really hit the toy jackpot this year. The girls came home with a kitchen, a Dora vanity table with chair, a dollhouse, some clothes, each a Disney Princess pullman backpack, a wag n walk Pluto, a pink laptop, and a Disney Princess indoor tent. Zach came home with a tool bench, tools, a chainsaw, a talking police helmet with motorcycle handlebar, a Spiderman boxing bop, a hot wheels storage case in the shape of a semi truck and trailer, and a train set. I'm not sure if that's everything, but it's pretty close!

The toys kept coming after Santa's visit on Christmas morning. The kids awoke to find a doctor's medical kit, bath toys, new baby dolls sitting in the strollers that Cynthia and DJ got the girls, Disney Cars and Princess baseball caps, Dora purses, Dora backpacks, hot wheels, a hot wheels rug that cars can be driven on, a remote control bat mobile, a set of 12 Dora storybooks, giant coloring books, and backpacks.

Zach was immediately drawn to the medical kit and his ball cap. We have a picture of him wearing his Pj's, ball cap, and eye glasses from the medical kit. It's really cute. Greg calls him Poindexter when he wears those glasses. At one point, the girls were each wearing their baseball caps, holding their Dora purses and pushing their baby doll strollers around the house. Looks like Santa did a pretty good job this year.

Greg found a final gift from Santa while the kids were eating breakfast: a remote control Wall-E. This is a really not "toy." It dances, talks to you, responds to you, and moves on its own (it can sense when it is too close to something and can move itself away from it), depending on the mode of operation. Wall-E stands about 20 inches tall. The kids absolutely love Wall-E, but unfortunately they crowd him to the point of not being able to move. The kids only play with Wall-E when Greg's around.

Later on Christmas day, we drove to my dad's to celebrate Christmas with him, Mom Mom, Becky, Mimi, Jon, and Lindsey. Jon's mom joined us this year to celebrate Christmas with us. It was really nice having her there.

The toys kept coming at Pop Pop's, and thankfully this was the last celebration where gifts would be exchanged. The kids came home with a giant sized bucket of Lincoln Logs, Fairy and Princess dress up clothes in trunks, a football for Zach, a giant sized fire engine, a set of fire, police, rescue and construction vehicles, and some Little People vehicle sets. Thankfully, the kids also received some warm weather clothes for the Spring.

Now, about a month or so before Christmas, I went through all the kids toys and purged those they weren't playing with that often or had outgrown. The remaining toys were easily stored in their two toy bin organizers and half a toy box. Now, the toy bin organizers are overflowing, the toy box is crammed full, the top of my coffee table is packed pull of toys, half of my living room floor is covered with toys, the large toys from Greg's family are sitting in boxes in the basement, and the dress up trunks, tent and hot wheel racing track are stacked in my guest bedroom. I've put in storage three of the kids Little People playsets to make room for the new toys, but that's still not enough. My house is overrun with toys, and I am helpless to get the situation changed at this point.

Greg and I plan on converting about 2/3 of the finished downstairs space to a playroom for the kids, but there is a lot of work to be done before toys can be moved into it. Until my Christmas decorations are taken down, I don't stand a chance of being able to organize within the space that I have now. Thankfully, taking down the decorations is in process, and I hope that by the end of the week I'll be able to pack up some toys the kids aren't playing with right now to bring back out at a later date.

Yes, I feel like we're living in a toy store. The kids have so many toys, they don't know which ones to play with. What a problem to have!!! Fun for them; a nightmare for mom.

Baking Cookies for Santa

2008-12-21T22:57:00.002-05:00

I tried a first tonight with Zach, Hannah and Jessie -- baking cookies. I don't normally invite the kids into the kitchen to help me bake or cook. It's not that the kids wouldn't help -- they would be more than happy to help me in the kitchen. It's that mom would be quickly overwhelmed by the abundance of help and the situation would soon get out of control. Tonight, I decided that cutting cookies out of sugar cookie dough couldn't be that bad of an experience for any of us, and I was right (thankfully!)!

The worst part of baking cookies was getting the kids to take turns. Taking turns is still a foreign concept to the kids, even though we're constantly trying to get them to take turns. Anytime the kids get to try something new or get an opportunity to help mom or dad, the situation usually escalates out of control because they all want to be first. Tonight, Hannah happened to be in the kitchen first, so I was able to pull a chair up to the counter and get her involved without calling attention to what we were up to. Hannah helped me roll out the dough and press the cookie cutters into the dough until we had our first cookie sheet full. By then, Zach and Jessie were onto us, so Zach helped me with the second cookie sheet full and Jessie helped me finish up. There were a few squabbles, but once the kids finally understood that they'd all get a chance to help me, it started going a little smoother.

Zach discovered he likes cookie dough -- he couldn't stop sampling the dough while I was busy removing cookies to baking racks. He thought it was fun sneaking samples every time I turned my back. The little rascal! They all three sampled the cookies they helped me bake and really enjoyed getting an extra snack in before bedtime.

All in all, it wasn't too bad of an experience. I decided, though, to go ahead and ice and decorate the cookies after they went to bed. I'm not sure I would've handled the mess they would've made with all the sprinkles. Maybe next year! Growing up with triplets means baby steps for mom, too!

Pictures With Santa

2008-12-15T18:06:00.003-05:00

Today was picture day with Santa. Let me begin by saying my kids were sooooooo well behaved!!!! Not only was this their first time visiting Santa, but it was also the first time we've taken them to a big shopping mall. Hard to believe, I know, but as I tell many people, you pick and choose when and where you go with triplets (at least if you hope to maintain some sort of control over the situation you're putting yourself in!).

Over the last several weeks, we've been talking to Zach, Hannah and Jessie about going to see Santa, telling him what they want for Christmas, and then having their picture taken with him. They were all three very excited about going -- especially over the last few days. As I suspected, though, talking and doing became two very different things. As we got closer to being next to seeing Santa, Hannah got quieter and quieter.

I knew Jessie would be the first to approach Santa, and she didn't let me down. Zach surprised me -- once Santa called him by name and asked him for a high five, Zach opened up and started talking to Santa. I'm not sure how many triplets Santa sees while at the mall, but he was very good with the kids. He was very patient and very willing to work with us to gain the kids' trust and take pictures with them. I ended up taking pictures with the kids and Santa because that was the only way we were going to get Hannah in the picture. In the end, only one picture of all that they took was worth purchasing, and the only ones smiling in it are me and Santa. Oh well! At least we're all looking at the camera!

After we left Santa, we hit the food court and got the kids some pizza. Up to this point, the kids had been staying right with us and never tried to run ahead of us, and they continued to be well behaved while we were at the food court. They all three sat in their chairs and happily munched on pizza until it was time to go. There was a lady sitting at a table next to us, and she commented on how well behaved the kids were. I thanked her for her compliment, and I was actually quite glad to hear it. Sometimes I forget to notice when my kids are on good behavior and to let them know that I noticed it.

Before we left the food court, I asked Greg if he wanted to take the kids into the Disney store. At first he wasn't keen on the idea, but I reminded him how well behaved the kids had been and he agreed. Even in the store the kids continued to be on their best behavior. They each picked out a couple of Wall-E toys, and after we paid for them, we headed back home.

Even though we didn't get a great picture with Santa, we came home with a good picture and memories of a great day!

Christmas with Grandma

2008-12-15T17:40:00.003-05:00

We celebrated Christmas with my mom this past Saturday at Mimi and Jon's. The kids were so happy to be opening some presents! I know they're getting Christmas this year, but at least for another year I don't have to worry about explaining why we have an early Christmas with my mom and why Pop Pop and Mom Mom aren't there. The holidays are always the toughest time to get through since my parents are divorced. Hopefully I have a few more years to go before the kids make the connection that mommy's parents aren't married while daddy's are and have to explain that to them. That will be tough -- I've heard other people say that when they try to explain their parents divorce to their kids, their kids become afraid that their mommy and daddy will divorce. I digress.

We had a nice, uneventful drive down to Amy's. Thank God for DVD players -- what a wonderful way for the kids to pass the time. The kids enjoyed Shrek the Halls, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and The Iron Giant while I enjoyed the fight-free drive. Once we arrived at Amy and Jon's, the kids went through a short period of shyness before taking over the place! Lindsey had a friend over to join us for the afternoon, and the poor girl was thoroughly abused within minutes. She was very good-natured about being mobbed by three two-year-olds. Zach, Hannah and Jessie really enjoyed having Lindsey and Emily (her friend) to play with.

The kids got books, Christmas dishes, and games (Cootie, Don't Spill the Beans, and Don't Break the Ice). Zach also got some Transformer figurines while Hannah got a Dora cell phone and Jessie got a Dora music player. Grandma also gave the kids each an ornament, and the next day we hung them on our tree. Since I decorated the tree while they were in bed, they enjoyed picking out the place to hang their ornament and helping me hang it on the tree.

We enjoyed an awesomely prepared smoked ham along with some green beans and mac and cheese. I'm starting to think there isn't much that Jon can't cook on his grill! As usual, Zach, Hannah and Jessie weren't nearly as interested in dinner as they were their presents, but Grandma's brownies were definitely a hit!

Horton Hears a Who kept the kids company on the drive home, but I think Zach watched most of it from behind his eyelids. Believe it or not, Jessie and Hannah both stayed awake the whole drive home. When we did arrive, Zach really didn't wake up. He woke up enough to get in the house and get into bed, and I think he was actually asleep before Greg and I left his room.

One Christmas celebration down, three more to go! I can't believe it's here already!

I Get It!!!

2008-12-15T17:23:00.002-05:00

The kids are getting Christmas this year. I've been burning the midnight oil for the last couple of weeks getting the house and gifts ready for Christmas. The tree was up by the end of Thanksgiving weekend, and the rest of the house was decorated soon afterward. The kids were waking up several mornings wondering what new Christmas decorations they'd see!

It was a tough couple of days getting them to leave the tree alone. Thank goodness we're having a gateless Christmas this year -- the gate around the tree the last couple of years kept it protected but didn't add much to the decorations! Once the kids saw the tree, though, they knew there were supposed to be presents under it and immediately began asking where their presents were!

Some of the other decorations I set out within their reach were at risk for total annihilation, so one night when we were out at Lowe's, we bought a couple of hound dogs dressed like Elvis holding guitars that sing Elvis Christmas songs and a family of reindeer sitting atop a mound of snow that sing White Christmas. The rest of the decorations were instantly saved!

I think this is going to be our best Christmas yet. Zach, Hannah and Jessie know who Santa is and that he brings presents, they know they're supposed to be good to get those presents (boy have we used that a lot this month!), and they talk all the time about going to see Santa to tell him they want more toys. They also know to look for decorated houses when we're out and about. It's neat watching them make new connections.

A Restful Thanksgiving

2008-12-01T20:06:00.002-05:00

We celebrated Thanksgiving this year with Greg's family at his sister Sharon's house. The kids were really excited about seeing their cousins, aunts, uncles, and, of course, grandma and grandpa. I always know when the kids have a good time when we get out because they wake up the next morning and immediately start talking about it and naming everyone they saw. This Thanksgiving was no exception!

While it took a little while to warm up to the aunts and uncles, Zach, Hannah and Jessie immediately hit it off with their cousins. It has been a while since the kids last saw Sammie, Veronica, Meagan and Joseph, but you would've thought it had just been last week. Joseph was born in August, so Hannah was thrilled there was a baby for her to love on. If she rubbed his head once, she did it 20 times!

All the kids had a blast running through the house and playing in an indoor tent that was set up. Zach didn't seem to mind being the only boy running around and that the tent was pink. The kids also had a good time waking grandpa from his nap by throwing pillows at him. All six kids ganged up on poor grandpa -- he didn't stand a chance!

Greg and I really enjoyed this Thanksgiving because we could just let the kids go and know that they'd be good and be okay. Last Thanksgiving was a workout for us -- new house/new things to get into. We ran around the house almost as much as the kids did last year just to make sure they didn't get into something they shouldn't have or get hurt. It's amazing the difference a year can make. Zach, Hannah and Jessie are growing up so fast!

The Santa Talk

2008-11-10T22:26:00.002-05:00

No, we're not trying to convince the kids that Santa is real. Hopefully, we're many years from that discussion!

The talk Greg and I have started with the kids is about who Santa is, what he does, and how they need to tell Santa what they want for Christmas. Greg and I hope were wondering the other day about whether or not we'd be able to get the kids to sit on Santa's lap for a picture. We haven't tried the last couple of years -- just the thought of trying this when they were infants and one-year-olds almost paralyzed us! Greg suggested we start talking to them about it now in the hopes that when Santa arrives in the malls, they'll be brave enough to sit in his lap.

I don't think we'll have to worry about Jessie. She has no fear, and she has no qualms about walking right up to people or making herself at home in someone else's house. Zach is the shiest until he warms up. Sometimes it's hard to tell if Hannah is really shy or if she's just following Zach's act. I think, more often than not, it's a little of both.

To aid in our Santa talks, I hung a Santa window film on the back door. The kids immediately knew who it was. Next, we started talking about how Santa is always watching them, and how they need to visit Santa and sit on his lap for a picture and to tell him want they want for Christmas. This was met with a resounding "Okay!", but I know they don't quite understand the whole sitting in his lap. So, we'll keep talking about it and maybe even practice in the hopes that we can terrorize Santa for the amount of time it takes to get a picture with him!

Another Trip to the Zoo

2008-11-03T20:00:00.002-05:00

Since we're having a really nice Indian Summer right now, Greg and I decided to take the kids to the zoo today. It was hard to pass up getting outside on what may be one of the last 70 degree days we'll have before next spring. This may be the last time we make it to the zoo until then unless we happen upon another warm stretch.

This was the first time I've been to the zoo during its off-season. The photographers out front were gone, train and tram tickets had to be purchased at the admission booth instead of the train/tram ticket station, the carousel was closed, and all but the eatery by Gorilla Forest was closed. The good news is that the zoo was not very busy, and we got to see lots of animals up and about. We also got to see the start of the construction for the next phase of Glacier Run. They're in the process of tearing out the old Polar Bear home and grading all the land areas around it. The picnic area next to the Polar Bear exhibit is gone also. Quite a difference from the last time we were at the zoo.

Greg and I decided to navigate the zoo with the kids on foot rather than with the use of the kids' wagon. The last time we went, they really didn't ride much, and the wagon became more of a hindrance than a help. Besides, the wagon isn't big enough for all three kids anymore. The kids did all right walking. We let them walk some without holding our hands, and with Jessie, that wasn't such a wise decision. She liked to see how far in front of us she could get before we'd have to chase her down. She's our little free spirit :-). Zach was tired and was constantly wanting to be held. He perked up a little after getting some lunch and playing at one of the playgrounds.

As with our last couple of trips, we only made it half way around the zoo before heading back to the entrance. We would've started at the Islands exhibit and worked our way backwards had the Islands Pavilion been open where we would've gotten some lunch.

We started our adventure with a train ride and ended with a train ride. The kids absolutely love riding the train. Next year we'll have to pay for their train rides -- kids two and under ride free, but we'll keep riding it just the same. Riding the train and the carousel have become high points for them when visiting the zoo. We also made a stop in the gift shop. Zach came home with a penguin, Hannah with a polar bear that she's named Q-tip, and Jessie came home with a polar bear squeeze toy that squeaks. A polar bear that squeaks? Go figure!

Our Favorite Movie

2008-11-02T20:43:00.002-05:00

It's nice having a lot of the Disney movies on DVD. When the kids get tired of watching the same shows on TV, I put on a DVD for them to watch. While they're still not watching an entire movie in one sitting, they are watching about the first half before they start to lose interest and start playing with toys again. I know you shouldn't use TV (or DVDs) as a babysitter, but sometimes it's just so darn convenient! I know that I can buy myself at least an hour's time to get something done, and when you're home all day alone with three toddlers, that's an eternity!!!

Lately, a favorite of all our Disney movies has emerged. Their favorite is Aladdin, and in the last week, they've watched it at least twice a day every day. Aladdin is especially Zach's favorite. He even loves the story book and asks to have it read to him and his sisters often. They've watched it enough that they are starting to sing the songs and speak the lines with the characters. Before long, I won't need to worry with the DVD. They'll be able to act out the movie themselves!

Hannah's favorite part is when the Genie is introducing himself to Aladdin. There's a part in the dialogue when the Genie is telling him about how tiring it is to be called from the lamp to grant a wish. His line is "Poof! What do you need? Poof! What do you need? Poof! What do you need?" Hannah speaks it perfectly and just like the Genie. It's pretty comical watching her mimic how he says it, too.

I can only wonder how much longer I have before I'll have to help them find another favorite movie.

Another Barrier Removed

2008-11-02T16:55:00.003-05:00

We've reached another milestone -- the barrier guard we put up on the stairway railing is gone now. While it was just a sheet of plastic anchored to the banister rails, it served as great a purpose as the stairway gate.

Our house was built before the 2 1/2" spacing regulation went into affect. With the kids being so small when they started crawling, we had to block that railing so they wouldn't fall through. Luckily, One Step Ahead (a website that we've purchased a lot of safety items from) sold a 15 ft roll of plastic sheeting that could be cable-tied to each of the spindles. Nice save. It not only saved the kids from falling through, but countless toys as well (that is, until they got tall enough to throw stuff over the rail and over the stairway gate!).

Now, before all that stairway safety was put up, Scooter loved sticking his head between the spindles and dropping his toys down onto the stairs. As many times as he could physically handle it, Scooter would drop one of his catnip toys onto the stairs from between the railing spindles, then run over to the top of the steps and then down the steps to pounce on his "prey."
When we put up the plastic barrier, he couldn't play his game anymore. Instead, though, he learned how to become a "tightrope" walker. He would leap onto the top of the banister from the top step and walk all along it and back.

Tony didn't much care for the plastic barrier either. Durango, Scooter, and Spaz learned to jump over the stairway gate. Babbette is small enough that she can fit herself through the gate. Tony, a.k.a. Mr. Chubbs, never trusted himself to try to jump that gate (or any of the others we've had in the house in other places for that matter). Tony learned to "knock" on the plastic barrier, which made a really annoying sound. Whenever he needed to go downstairs, he would find the place in the plastic barrier that was the loosest and would start pawing at it. If you ignored him, he pawed harder to increase the noise level. When he wanted back up, he would sit on the top step and knock on the plastic barrier. At times, he would be a nuisance about it -- usually when we would literally just sit down to eat.

All the cats are quite happy now that the plastic sheeting is gone. Old habits die hard, though. Durango, Scooter and Spaz are still jumping the gate. Tony happily steps through the spindles onto the steps and back and is thrilled he can get from one floor to the other without assistance. Scooter is spending a large part of the day sticking his head between the spindles and looking down at the stairs as if he his trying to re-familiarize himself with the set up. Spaz does the same thing. I snapped a couple of pictures of him tonight doing that. They'll be out on the website soon.

Trick or Treat

2008-11-02T16:21:00.004-05:00

We went trick or treating this year at Covered Bridge again. Greg, the kids and I met up with Pop Pop and Mom Mom at Pop Pop's house. Zach, Hannah and Jessie couldn't wait to start trick or treating. Pop Pop fixed us a spaghetti dinner, and after we ate it was time for the costumes.

The kids wore the same costumes as they did to the zoo: the girls were scarecrows and Zach was Spiderman. Once they were dressed, we couldn't get moving out the door fast enough!

We walked along Pop Pop's street and down into the next section, and it seemed like there were several more houses open for trick or treaters this year than last. We made the kids walk instead of fighting with their wagon. They've just about reached the point where they're too big for it. The kids were troopers and were pretty good about all that walking. Zach was the only one looking to hitch rides in someone's arms from time-to-time. The girls, on the other hand, gave Mom Mom a workout. The girls like to run and both ganged up on Mom Mom for a Halloween run.

The owners of some houses we visited were sitting outside on their porches waiting for visitors (some were even in costume). Other homeowners waited for the kids to knock. Jessie liked visiting the houses where she could help herself to the candy bowl. Where the homeowners tried to hand it out, Jessie just barged her way into their house to help herself! That got a lot of laughs, thankfully!

Even though we only covered a couple of streets, the kids got a lot of candy. I bought each of the kids a plastic pumpkin to collect all their treats in. By the time we were heading back to Pop Pop's, the kids were struggling to carry them.

The kids were really worn out by the time we got home. They got to bed a little late, and fortunately for me, they slept in the next morning. They usually wake up at the same time regardless of how late or early we put them to bed, so my treat came the day after Halloween.

Trick or Treating at the Zoo Halloween Party

2008-10-14T11:38:00.002-04:00

We took the kids to the Louisville Zoo's Halloween party on Saturday. Uncle D and Uncle Mike came along, which was a huge help for Greg and I and added fun for the kids. Last year when we took the kids, it was just the two of us, but the kids rode along in their wagon. This year, we left the wagon at home and made the kids walk. The kids did really good walking and keeping up (most of it uphill, too). Having Uncle D and Uncle Mike with us made a huge difference, too. We're at a stage right now where we really do need at least a one to one adult/child ratio to take them places like the zoo. They're getting too heavy to push around in their quad stroller but are too active and still a little difficult to manage without some sort of control.

If you've never been to the Zoo's Halloween party, they route you through the zoo starting with the Islands exhibit (to the right of the entrance). Most people start out on the left during normal zoo visits. By going to the right, you get more uphill walks than downhill. Anyway, all along the main path, there are trick or treat stations that are accompanied by different character themes. The first one was Snow White, and we encountered the only wait time in getting to this station. At first, Zach wasn't too sure about trick or treating, but after going through that first station and having his picture taken with Snow White, he quickly got into the party. The girls couldn't get to the first station fast enough. Zach was dressed up as Spider Man (minus the mask), and the girls were dressed up as scarecrows.

The next station was the Superheros, and we saw Superman and Bat Girl, but our little Spider Man wasn't too interested in swapping hero stories. He wanted more candy. Next was the Wizard of Oz, and Dorothy was kind enough to let Zach and Hannah pet Toto (a stuffed dog in her basket) while taking pictures with the kids. There was also a Pirates of the Caribbean station, and the guy dressed up as Captain Jack was a little eerie. I think the kids had the same reaction to him that I did -- run!!!!! Made me feel a little creepy too! We also passed through a Flintstones station, the Jungle Book, and a disco station (yes, they were playing 70s disco music).

At the Alice in Wonderland station, we met Alice and the Mad Hatter. I asked the kids if they wanted to have their picture taken with Alice, and as she knelt down, Zach approached her with puckered lips. She started laughing with the rest of us, and the kiss moment passed, but Alice thought he was very cute and gave him a hug.

Zach has always had a crush on Cinderella. When the girls first got their Cinderella chairs, he used to lay in the one with the big picture of Cinderella and smooch her. Well, to his delight, Cinderella was also at the Zoo. When we got near, I told Zach that Cinderella was here. He looked straight at her and his jaw fell open. It was a very funny moment that I wish I had captured on video. He ran straight to her and tried to shove the kid away that she was posing with. I wrestled him back, and after she finished, she turned to him and he ran right to her. It was really kinda sweet. We got Hannah and Jessie to stand with Zach and Cinderella for a picture, and I think his day was almost perfect.

After we went through all the trick or treat stations, we rode the train. The kids absolutely love riding the train, so it was going to be interesting taking a train ride in the dark. The zoo had either three or four trains running, which was nice because the line for the train moved fairly quickly. The kids didn't mind that it was dark by the time we rode the train. I think it made for a more fun train ride. There were several more character themes along the train tracks, including the headless horseman who jumped out at us and rode along beside us for a short way as we left Gorilla Forrest.

It was a late night for the kids, but they were real troopers. They had an absolute blast going to the zoo with us and their uncles. As soon as they were tucked into bed and the light turned out, though, they were fast asleep.

Another Successful Rescue

2008-09-28T20:43:00.003-04:00

Yesterday morning we discovered that someone left us a present in the form of two kittens on our front porch. Apparently, word has gotten around that we've rescued a lot of kittens/cats in the 11 years we've lived here. It's either that or Li'l Bit still has some neon signs out there in the few wooded areas around our house!

The kittens were both female and roughly about 8 weeks old. We gave them a little bit of food and watched to see what they'd do. They took to our yard, deck and porch like they've lived here all their lives. Their presence was starting to irritate the three feral cats that adopted us last year (with the help of the Humane Society, we trapped them and the HS paid for their spaying and shots).

We were hoping that the kittens weren't dumped here and that they would find their way back home (knowing that it was highly unlikely they would given they are so young). We didn't see them last night, which concerned us because raccoons show up on our deck regularly to clean out the cats' food bowl. The three feral cats have learned how to get along/avoid the raccoons, but we knew the little ones would have no such knowledge.

This morning I saw both kittens sitting in the rockers on our front porch, so I decided it was time to act. We couldn't possibly take them in, and there was a very good chance they could be adopted if we could find some help. Living outdoors without any veterinary care (we are just able to afford our five now!) would've been very unfair to them, especially since they are so sweet and affectionate. Unfortunately, the Humane Society in Oldham County has several cats awaiting adoption, so they advised us to try our vet, who will sometimes take in abandoned kittens/cats and adopt them out. Since that option wasn't looking very promising, I decided to see if we could sucker in (oops! I mean convince) Greg's brother Dennis into taking them in. If he couldn't take them, I still had the option of trying our vet in the morning.

Dennis came over this afternoon to meet the kittens and play with the kids. It was love at first sight, and I'm happy to say that both kittens are going to a great home where they will have three other playmates and a very loving "daddy."

The Veggie Wars

2008-09-24T22:58:00.003-04:00

I used to pride myself on the fact that my kids got that rainbow of food in a day's time back when they were eating baby food. You know, the rainbow that says babies should eat at least one yellow, one green, one red, one blue, and one orange (I think that's how it went). My kids really weren't too picky about foods back then. Zach definitely wouldn't eat peas (he'd spit those back at me), and none of them really cared for the more textured foods like the meats or the 3rd stage foods. But they still did a pretty good job of eating their rainbow variety, and I felt pretty darned proud.

Now I'm tickled to death if I can get them to eat at least one veggie a day. And that rainbow? What rainbow?!

Basically, I have three types of eaters: Hannah will eat just about everything you put in front of her, and she will eat at almost every meal/snack. She is a very good eater, and for the most part, is very well behaved at the dinner table. Jessie is the extreme opposite. She would rather drink her glass of milk and push herself away from the dinner table than try to eat anything on her plate. Breakfast is Jessie's best meal, but only because it has been so long since she last "ate". Zach is somewhere in between. Sometimes he will eat, and sometimes he won't. When the kids first started on solids, he was a very good eater and was pretty consistent about it, but something happened to change that. It could also be the fact that he's 2. Regardless, you never know from day to the next if he will be picky about a food that he's tried and liked before.

To top it all off, with our efforts to try to get the kids to eat, dinnertime was starting to become a very unpleasant experience for all of us.

Feeling rather desperate, I posted a message on a triplet website I belong to seeking help from other triplet moms. I started getting feedback instantly! All of the feedback was extremely helpful. I received tips, reassurances, advice, and book recommendations. The good news is that in just hearing back from those other moms, I felt pretty comfortable that I was already doing a lot of things right. I have always refused to prepare different meals (aka short order cook), and I have always refused to feed the kids at a different time from me and Greg (even though that was getting to be a really tempting idea!).

Once the kids started eating table foods, I took up the philosophy that they could either what was put in front of them or they could go hungry until the next meal. I was a very picky eater as a child, and even as an adult, there are a lot of foods I won't try. I recognized that I couldn't encourage my kids to eat a variety of foods if it wasn't placed in front of them, and articles I have read say it can take up to 25 times before a child will try a food because toddlers' first instinct is to dislike a new food. I also recognized that I needed to eat a greater variety of foods if I expected my kids to eat those same foods. At 41, I am eating the healthiest I have eaten in all of my life! Now if I could just get my kids to say that at age 2!

I have also tried to minimize the amount of high sugar/junk food that sits in our house at any given time. I've been successful so far in getting the kids to eat fruit in lieu of a cookie when both are sitting side by side on the counter. Actually, getting enough fruits into the kids' diet isn't the problem; it's the veggies.

The books that were recommended to me were Jessica Seinfeld's Deceptively Delicious and How to Get Your Kid to Eat but Not Too Much. In the book Deceptively Delicious, which is a cookbook, Jessica Seinfeld created several recipes (breakfast, meals, and desserts) that incorporate pureed veggies, but not so much of the puree that you could taste it in the food. She worked with a nutritionist to make these recipes as healthy as possible (high in veggies, grains and fiber, but low in trans fat, cholesterol and sugars). So far, it's been going well. My kids eat french toast made with sweet potato puree once or twice a week, they eat a variety of breakfast muffins that usually contain carrot and/or banana purees, they've eaten brownies made with spinach and carrot purees, and they've eaten oatmeal raisin cookies made with zucchini puree. The irony here is that Jessie is the best eater of these foods and Hannah is the worst, that is, where the food is a "sweet". Hannah has never been much on sweets. If you set a cookie beside a piece of fruit, she will eat the fruit. Jessie is the junk food junkie. I know that at some point in the future I will have to educate my kids on the differences between mommy's muffins, brownies and cookies and everybody else's, but for now I'm tickled to death that my kids are finally getting the amount of veggies in a day they should be getting.

Now, even though I can get veggies into the kids, my battles aren't quite over. There is still the issue of getting them to eat, which is where the book How to Get Your Kid to Eat but Not Too Much comes in. The author/dietitian reiterates throughout that parents are responsible for what the child eats, and the child is responsible for how much is eaten. This is a tough paradigm shift for those of us who were raised to eat everything on our plate and who were made to try foods no matter how much we detested them. We were starting to go down that forcing path with Zach and Jessie, so hopefully we've changed our tactics in time before any long term damage was done. The author explains that if you respect your and your child's boundaries in the feeding relationship, you are well on your way to encouraging a healthy approach to eating in later years. There's a lot more to this book, such as how eating disorders come about how a child's eating and weight will change over the years, and how establishing a healthy feeding relationship and diet when children are young will help them make good food choices once they are in school. It was a good read and helped to provide me with some insight into helping Zach and Jessie become better eaters.

With the pressure off Jessie, she is starting to eat more than she has. She still prefers to fill up on milk, but I'm encourage by the fact that she doesn't drink it all in one tip of the cup. Zach is also eating better, but I don't think he's eating more quantity-wise than he was before. Dinnertime is still their worst meal; they seem to eat better earlier in the day. That has always been the case. Dinnertime is also still stressful but it's more from the manners and patience perspective than eating. I received some advice on that as well from other triplet moms, but I think that a lot of that behavior just needs some time before the kids can grasp those lessons.

Another Busy Day and a Fond Farewell

2008-09-24T19:55:00.003-04:00

Today was another busy day for us. We started the day off with a visit to the kids' cardiologist. When the kids left the NICU, they each had high blood pressure, a thickened heart muscle, and a valve that wasn't functioning normally. The kids slowly came off their high blood pressure medicines after their first birthday, with Zach was the first. In February this year, Zach went for what turned out to be his final visit with the cardiologist. Today, it was Hannah and Jessie's turn.
As with Zach, Dr. Boone took blood pressure readings (which were beautifully normal), listened to their hearts, and did ultrasounds. I am happy to report that like their brother, all issues with Hannah's and Jessie's hearts are resolved, and they have been released from further care.

It's sad in a way that this was their last visit with Dr. Boone. Dr. Boone and the entire office staff have been absolutely wonderful to us and to the kids. The nurses have always been extra helpful when we've gone for appointments (regardless of how much help I brought along!). He's an excellent doctor that I would recommend to anyone seeking a pediatric cardiologist. He's the kind of doctor who's in this profession for the enjoyment of what he can do to help children.

Pop Pop and Mom Mom Sue met us at the doctor's office to help out, and the kids were really excited about seeing them. Zach got to stay in the waiting room with Pop Pop while the girls went back for the checkup. Mom Mom went with me to help with the girls. Both girls were really well behaved. It's been quite a while since the girls were last in to see Dr. Boone, and at that visit, it was quite a challenge to get their blood pressures and heart rates. Today, it was a piece of cake. We've come full circle -- when the kids were infants, it was relatively easy to get their blood pressures and heart rates. Then the kids became aware of their surroundings, and it wasn't so easy to get them to stay still for the blood pressures or to even get a stethoscope on their chests!

After we got home, we had our lunch and laid down for what I had hoped would be a quiet nap. Unfortunately, the kids didn't think nap time needed to include sleeping. By the time I let got them "up," their room was completely destroyed. Thankfully, they are learning to help me pick up their toys and books.

After supper, Greg took the kids outside to play on the swing set. He got out the inflatable bouncer, which we haven't set up since June. Thankfully, Hannah forgot all about her inhibitions about the bouncer, and all three kids had a blast jumping in and sliding out of it. It was easy to see when it was time for bed -- all three kids just sort of stopped moving, but that didn't make it any easier to get them in the house for bedtime!

Lunch With Dad

2008-09-23T20:02:00.002-04:00

The kids and I went to see their dad at work and to have lunch with him today. It's been a while since we've been to see him for lunch, and even longer since we've been in the office with him. We braved it without a stroller or wagon, and the kids did very well. They had fun meeting all of Greg's coworkers and did a pretty good job of keeping their voices down so that we wouldn't disturb the entire office. On Greg's floor, it's a cubicle setup with a large open space between the tops of cubicle walls and the ceiling, so loud sounds could carry very easily.

Greg works on Fourth Street in Louisville -- about a block from 4th Street Live. We decided to walk down to the food court, and the kids walked that whole distance both to and from 4th St. Zach pointed out all the trucks and buses along the way. He's really interested in cars! The kids did pretty good about holding our hands, but Hannah likes to try to be a big girl sometimes and sometimes it can be difficult to get her hand back into ours.

We had pizza from Rocky Rococo's, which the kids gobbled up. They liked the wide open food court and the way their voices carried, so it was a little noisy at our table until dad showed up with the pizza. After we ate, we went back to Greg's office and walked around to visit with a few more of his coworkers before finally leaving. The kids love going to see their dad at work. It's a nice change of pace for all of us.

Pop Pop's Birthday Party

2008-09-09T12:41:00.003-04:00

On Sunday, Sept. 7, we celebrated Pop Pop's 61st birthday (his birthday is Sept. 6). Pop Pop and Mom Mom Sue invited dad's brothers and sisters over to help celebrate. Dad is the youngest of six, and as the family has gotten bigger and busier, we just don't get together as often as everyone would like. It was really nice to spend the afternoon with Aunt Reba and Uncle Bryce, Uncle Buddy and Aunt Joanne, Uncle Larry, and Aunt Joy. Mimi, Jon and Lindsey were there, too. I enjoyed it even more because it gave my aunts and uncle time to play and talk to Zach, Hannah, and Jessie. It also gave the kids a chance to get to know some people that I have loved and adored all my life. It means a lot to me for kids to know their extended family. I grew up going to many family get togethers with both mom and dad's families, and still I can recall lots of fond memories of those times.

It was a nice, casual afternoon. The kids kept the adults entertained, and Lindsey got quite the workout chasing the kids around and vice-versa. Uncle Bryce rough-housed with Zach, and Zach was laughing and squealing with delight the whole time. Aunt Joanne gave the girls tours around Pop Pop's house, and Pop Pop and Mom Mom got lots and lots of hugs.

Our First Trip to KidZone

2008-09-09T10:59:00.003-04:00

When we renewed our Zoo membership this year, we signed up for the dual membership to the Zoo and the Louisville Science Center. On the first Saturday of each month and on every Tuesday, the Science Center has scheduled members only times in KidZone. KidZone is a place where kids can play, explore, and learn all kinds of things.

This past Saturday, Greg and I took Zach, Hannah and Jessie to KidZone. It was a first for us too. We didn't know what to expect, but it was a lot of fun for all of us. The only thing we learned is to take another adult with us so there's a 1 to 1 ratio adult to kid. It was kind of difficult for the two of us to keep eyes on those three!

KidZone has a planned activity, and on this day, it was making fingerprints using stamp pads on pieces of paper and then turning those fingerprints into things like bugs, butterflies, eyes, or whatever else you can imagine. The kids weren't much into the stamping -- they just wanted to draw and color with the pens. So, before they could make too much of a mess, we convinced them to move on and explore some more.

The first thing they saw was a Tarc bus replica. The bus was made of wood, but it had seats, a steering wheel and dash, and a fare-taker from a real bus in it. Across from the bus was a doctor's office with a phone, lab coat, stethoscope, xrays, and a lighted panel to view the various xrays. There were xrays of frogs, lizards and other small animals.

Behind those were a grocery store equipped with plastic food and grocery carts, a kitchenette, and a puppet theatre complete with puppets, TV screen and camera so you could watch your very own puppet show. There were also various costumes the kids could wear. Zach was a giraffe for a while.

Next was an airplane equipped with a real airplane seats, various flight controls from a real airplane, a galley with food and dishes, and a slide that was a mock emergency chute from the rear of the plane. The kids had so much fun sliding out of the plane that we didn't think we'd get to see the rest of KidZone.

We did finally tear them away from the plane (although they did keep running back to it!), and we found a mock spaceship, a construction area, and a water table where the kids played with various toys to learn how water can make things move. It was a mistake to show Jessie the water table. She loves playing in the bathtub and swimming pools, and I was wishing I had dressed her in water-resistant clothes! Aprons were available for the kids to wear, but Jessie still managed to soak her shirt. Oh well! Live and learn!

The kids had a blast, but were ready to leave at the end of the session. We were ready too! Thank goodness there was a subway next door, because we headed straight there to grab some lunch.

Uncle D's 'Vette

2008-09-02T13:40:00.002-04:00

Zach has fallen in love with cars in general, and corvettes in particular. Every day he talks about daddy's corvette, which has now become Daddy and Zach's corvette.

Zach got a surprise visit from Uncle D last night, who drove his corvette over to show Zach. Zach instantly fell in love with Uncle D's vette and immediately went to work exploring everything within reach of the driver's seat. He knew where to put the key in the ignition, where to shift the gears, and how to turn the steering wheel, much to Dennis' surprise. There are a few photos on the website showing Zach in his natural automotive environment.

Zach also loves jeeps, and every day we have to run down the location of daddy's jeep, daddy's vette, and mommy's jeep. He's also learned how to beep the jeeps by pressing the door lock and panic buttons on both mommy's and daddy's jeep. One day, mommy's jeep stayed in a 4-hour long panic!

Now when we get out and about, we point out corvettes to Zach, and he points out all the jeeps to us! He gets his love of cars, and corvettes in particular, honestly. Both me and daddy have always loved corvettes, and Greg has always taken great pride in his '79 vette. Now daddy has a legacy, and a car, to pass on to his son!

A Visit to Henry's Ark

2008-08-20T09:15:00.002-04:00

Henry's Ark is a privately-owned wildlife reserve in Prospect that is open year-round to the public. I don't know how many years it's been there, but it is really a neat place to take small children. The price of admission is free plus as many baby carrots as you'd like to bring, and donations are accepted.

Grandpa, Greg and I (Grandma wasn't feeling well) took the kids to Henry's Ark this past Sunday, and we were immediately greeted by the ostrich welcoming committee. Did you know that ostriches like baby carrots with a side of finger? Greg found that out for us!

The back-up welcoming committee were the emus. They also like baby carrots. As a matter of fact, they recognize baby carrots by the bag full, so if you don't want to hand out all your baby carrots at the entrance, you need to keep the bag of carrots hidden! Jessie had taken an orange star with her (it's a bath toy that is about the size of her hand), and if you only saw part of it, you would think it looked like a couple of baby carrots. I tired to get her to leave it in the car, but she wouldn't have any part of that. Well, one of the emus spotted that little star in her hand, and yes, he thought it was a couple of baby carrots. He kept trying to get a closer look to see if he could snatch the "baby carrots" out of Jessie's hand. Fortunately, I got the star away from her before he went after it.

Henry's Ark has camels, goats, reindeer, water buffalo, donkeys, ostriches, emus, a wide variety of ducks and chickens, geese, bunnies, hamsters, pot-bellied pigs, and capybaras. The goats used to roam free about the place, but this year they put most of them behind fencing. The goats were getting too bold with people bringing in bags of baby carrots and wouldn't leave them alone. I took Brent and Lindsey there several years ago, and a goat almost knocked Lindsey down to get the bag of carrots. She refused to give me the carrots, so I had to pick her up so the goats would stop mobbing her.

The kids had a lot of fun getting to see the animals up close. Zach fed quite a few of the goats. Hannah and Jessie wanted to but kept dropping the carrots before the goats could take them out of their hands. The goats were extremely gentle, believe it or not. When it comes to taking carrots from visitors, the goats have the reindeer bullied. You either have to distract the goat to feed the reindeer or launch carrots over the fence back to where the reindeer are. If you try to feed a reindeer at the fence and a goat sees you, the goat will chase the reindeer off.

There was so much to see and so many animals to feed that it became a game of musical children. Greg and I were constantly doing a roll-call because all three kids kept switching adults. One minute Grandpa would be holding Zach's hand, and the next he'd have Hannah or Jessie. You would think that it would've been easier with one adult per child, but the kids are at the age of testing their independence so we seem to be on higher alert these days.

After we emptied our bags of carrots and had seen all the animals, Grandpa treated everyone to ice cream at DQ. The kids each got their own milkshake -- their favorite right now.

Zach's 2-yr Molars

2008-08-12T20:47:00.003-04:00

Zach's two-year molars have finally made an appearance. Last week I notice that the bottom two have finally pushed through, and boy am I a happy mama! I haven't seen the top two poke through yet, but hopefully they won't be much longer. I am longing for the days when teething pain is no longer a part of our day!

I am hoping that once they are all through that he will stop, or at least slow down, on how often he sucks his thumb. Right now it's a comfort thing, and I'm hoping that once he's past all the teething that he won't need that type of comforting anymore. Hannah has all her teeth and still falls asleep sucking her thumb, so I'm not sure if he will stop.

Family Day at the Zoo

2008-08-12T20:17:00.003-04:00

We took advantage of the excellent weather today to go to the zoo, and Greg took a day off from work to go with us which made it all the better. Jefferson County kids started back to school today, so it wasn't nearly as crowded as what it could have been. I mean, a sunny day in the low 80s with low humidity in the middle of August is almost unheard of!

We only made it as far as the Tiger Tundra before we called it a day, but we saw a lot of animals and did quite a lot in that stretch of the zoo. The rhinos always seem to be laying in the same spot every time we go to the zoo, but the giraffes were up and about as were the gazelles, bongos, attaks, elephants, camels, lions, zebras, meerkats, and lemurs. The pygmy hippos were happily napping in/by their pond, and the gorillas were in the enclosure lounging around. We let the kids get out of their wagon and walk some. Actually, they were out of their wagon more than in, which helped to tire them out (and us too!).

We rode the carousel twice today. The first time we rode it was shortly after getting there. Zach was a little cautious about it but was happy he rode it when it was over. We took a train ride for the first time with the kids, and they absolutely loved it! When we got back to the train station, Zach saw the top of the carousel and said he wanted to ride it again. So that was our second carousel ride and the end to our day at the zoo.

Happily for their dad and me, they all took short naps when we got home!

A Busy Couple of Weeks

2008-07-27T23:38:00.002-04:00

The last couple of weeks have been busy ones for the kids. They've also been taking naps much better these last couple of weeks because of all the activity!

We've been swimming in our quick-set pool, playing on the swing set, coloring, building with our blocks, and playing in a "fort". I'm quickly learning that the more I can wear them out, the better the chance that they'll take naps. Even just keeping them busy seems to help, but mom has to get rejuvenated too! I don't dare sit too long in one spot or else I'll fall asleep!

Since our last outing at the Zoo, the kids and I went for haircuts. Usually Zach and I are the only ones that get a trim, but this time I scheduled the girls also. This was only the second time the girls' hair has been cut, and I have to say that they sat so well that you'd think they got their hair cut all the time. All three take turns sitting in my lap for their haircuts. Our stylist has tried to get Zach to sit in a booster, but he's not having any part of that.

Last Saturday, while I went out to take care of grocery shopping and other errands, Greg took the kids through McDonald's drive-thru and then headed over to Uncle D's house to eat and play. Afterwards, Greg and the kids headed over to Wal-mart to surprise me when they got there. They surprised me all right! I spotted the Commander in the parking lot and had to call Greg to see if it was them. I didn't think there was another Commander in LaGrange exactly like ours! While in Wal-mart, the kids got to pick out a couple of new toys and each got a book. We also let them play some in the store's arcade. They were having a really good time, and they let everyone in the store know it when we told them it was time to leave! All they talked about the rest of the night, though, was having fun at Uncle D's. Greg told me tonight that Zach thought they were going to Uncle D's again yesterday while I went shopping. He was a little disappointed to find out they weren't going -- I'd already left in the Commander (the vehicle with the car seats) so that I could get it gassed up for our next round of events.

Last Sunday, we drove down to Mimi and Jon's to celebrate Lindsey's birthday. Lindsey is now 12 years old. If we'd have waited another week to go to the zoo, Amy would've had to pay adult admission for her! The kids had a good time playing with the bows from Lindsey's presents and showing off for their audience. Grandma, Great-Grandma, Pop Pop, and some friends of Jon and Amy's were there. I have to say even though we sometimes have some grueling days at home, the kids are almost always very well behaved when we get out and about.

Thankfully, after so many days in a row of having so much to do, the kids took naps most of last week without argument. When they nap, they're usually out for a couple of hours, which lets me get a good workout in followed by a refreshing shower. They were so worn out on Monday that by 10:00 Monday morning, they were asking if it was nap time!

Today, we went to my cousin's daughter's bridal shower. A lot of my dad's family was there, and after a few bashful minutes, the kids felt right at home and proceeded to play and have a good time. Jessie wasn't bashful -- she immediately took over the place as if she owned it. We don't call her mighty mite for nothing! The shower was in the Clark County REMC building, and it was a very nice room for the event. The setup was perfect, and there was plenty of extra room for the kids to run around. They were so exhausted tonight that I think they were asleep before Greg and I got out of their room! I think there might be another good nap in the near future!

This week we're meeting Pop Pop for lunch, and the kids will get a chance to see where Pop Pop works. They've been there one other time, but that was when they were small enough to be carried around in their carriers. This time will be like a first for them -- more people to meet and entertain!

A Trip to the Z00 with Mimi, Bent (aka Toe), and Gingi

2008-07-15T10:20:00.003-04:00

The kids and I went to the zoo yesterday with my sister and her kids, and I think everyone was worn out by the end of the trip. Mimi is Aunt Amy, Bent/Toe is Brent, and Gingi is Lindsey.

It was a great day yesterday -- warm, but no humidity, which I think may have helped the animals be a little more active than usual. We saw the lemurs taking a bath, a camel swimming in a water puddle, the lions sunbathing, the zebras standing around in the shade, the gorillas eating their lunch, the pygmy hippos swimming, the bald eagles napping, the jaguar and the tigers enjoying the sun, the turtles eating lunch, and many other animals. It's nice to go to the zoo and see the animals up and about. We also got to see one of the maned wolves up and walking around. Usually, we can smell them, but we haven't seen them because they're usually high up on the hill napping in the shade.

We went into Lorikeet Landing and the Wallaby Walkout, which are firsts for the kids and I. Amy, Brent, Lindsey and I fed the birds nectar in Lorikeet so the little ones could see the birds up close. That was pretty neat. We hadn't been in there before because strollers aren't allowed, and there usually aren't enough adults with the kids and I to venture in.

We also gave the kids some playtime in the play area by the Wallaby Walkout and Splash Park. The kids don't usually get this opportunity unless we have enough hands and eyes to keep watch on them. All three loved the opportunity to get out of the wagon and play around. It was also nice to be able to get them out of the wagon and let them walk around the zoo some.

We also rode the carousel and talked about taking a train ride. The kids have yet to ride the train, but we were so tired by the time we walked through the zoo that we opted to forgo the train ride. Maybe next time, if there are enough extra hands and eyes with us, the kids will get to ride it.

The New Swing Set

2008-07-08T20:52:00.003-04:00

The kids now have a new swing set in the backyard -- a gift from Papaw and Mamaw. It took Greg a little while to get it together due to his physical therapy, working, and rainy weather. It's still not finished, but it's together enough that they can slide, swing, glide, and hang around on it.

Jessie loves to swing. I think she'd be content to just sit and swing and do nothing else. Zach, who is the cautious one, has yet to get into the swings, but he's become a master at using the slide. Hannah has tried out everything and loves everything.

The swing set comes with a three-seat merry-go-round that Greg still needs to get installed, but right now the kids are none the wiser that it's not there. Once installed, it'll make the whole swing set seem like new all over again. Now if we can just keep the mosquitoes off everyone...

A Trip to the Dentist

2008-07-08T20:45:00.002-04:00

The kids went to see their dentist today for their second visit. All is well -- the dentist was happy to see the kids have been brushing well and have no cavities. Zach still doesn't have his two-year molars yet (both girls do), but the dentist could see that his gums were very swollen. She said we should see his teeth pop through at any time.

Hannah's minimal thumb-sucking has caused her to develop a slight overbite. Zach is still almost a full-time thumb-sucker, so there may be an intervention in his future to get him to break the habit. I know that it's hopeless at least until his molars come in. We are already looking at braces for him, and now probably for Hannah, too.

Jessie's teeth are perfectly aligned and perfectly spaced.

All three kids were very good today for this being their second visit. Hannah tried to lock her jaws to keep the dentist out of her mouth, and Jess and Zach tried to squirm out of her reach. Other than that, they were very well-behaved and entertaining for the dentist and her staff.

Potty Training Has Begun! Not!!!!!

2008-06-24T22:03:00.003-04:00

Update: It's kids 1, mom 0. After just five days, I have temporarily retired the potties, pullups, and all the other potty training paraphenalia. The kids just weren't ready. We started off really well, but once the novelty wore off, the fights began. The kids were refusing to sit on the potty regarless of how much coaxing and reassuring I could provide. That was my sign that it was time to give up, for now! I'll wait a little while and look for a few more signs before I try again. Now, to return those pull-ups and buy more diapers....

Previously: We started our potty training adventure on Sunday, and so far, it's been hit or miss -- literally! Jessie was the first to go in her potty (during our third attempt on Sunday), but she hasn't been much in the mood to try again since. Hannah has been sitting on her potty pretty consistently but we're still waiting for her first time. It's been a struggle to get Zach to sit on his potty even with his clothes on.

I'm not ready to give up yet. All three of them had been giving me enough signs that I felt like it was okay to go ahead and give it a try. I don't think I'll need to worry about giving up. They're slowly starting to come around, but if it's too soon, they'll let me know!

Our New Pool

2008-06-24T21:55:00.002-04:00

We bought the kids an 8' x 30" pool, and tonight was their first time in it. This was one of those purchases where we know it's a hit!

The kids are able to stand up in the pool, and they are also able to get on their knees, so they're pretty happy about that. It's also just deep enough that if they want to "swim," they can. All three kids went under water tonight -- sometimes by accident, but only occasionally on purpose. It'll be fun for us to use for the summer, as long as we can keep the outdoor critters off and out of it!

We took a few pictures tonight, so be sure to check out the website.

Zach's First Brain Freeze

2008-06-23T13:43:00.003-04:00

The kids and I accompanied Greg to his last doctor's appointment before heading back to work, but rather than take the kids into the doctor's office, we went through the drive-thru at McDonalds and picked up a chocolate shake. This was the kids' first chocolate shake, and they absolutely loved it!

I only bought one large shake, and I should've bought each of them their own. I didn't get very much of the shake, and at each turn, I didn't think I was going to be able to wrestle the shake back from each of the kids. Zach wanted to be sure he got his fair share, and he drank so much of the shake at one time that he got his first brain freeze. I know this because he looked at me with a look of pain on his face while squeezing both of his cheeks. Too bad I didn't have a camera with me!

The Cicadas Have Landed

2008-06-08T00:29:00.002-04:00

We have been overtaken by cicadas this year. Our house was built in the year that these cicadas would've last appeared, so we weren't sure how bad we would have them. Well, we have our answer. You can't have a normal conversation outside by mid-afternoon because they are so loud that you have to speak quite loudly. The hotter the day, the louder they get. Everywhere you look, you see hundreds of dead cicadas and even more still flying around.

Jessie made us laugh the other night. We were out on the deck, and when she went into her pirate ship, she saw a live cicada lying inside it. She picked it up, tossed it out and told it to get out. No fear of bugs here!

I was watching Jon Belski's weather forecast the other night, and he mentioned that someone in LaGrange had measured how loud the cicadas were with the result being that they are louder than a semi truck. I believe that! And this is only the beginning of June. We still have another three weeks of this. I can't wait to see how long it takes for all signs of them to disappear. I don't think we have enough ants to cart all of them off. They're already falling way behind!

Dealing with the Terrible Twos x 3

2008-06-08T00:28:00.001-04:00

AAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHHHHH!

Daddy's Boo Boo

2008-05-27T01:15:00.002-04:00

Greg had shoulder surgery last week to repair a tear and remove a couple of bone spurs in his left shoulder, and his recovery has been difficult so far on many fronts. Recovering from the surgery itself has been painful enough, but add to it three toddlers who don't understand and it becomes extremely painful.

The first three days, Greg basically stayed confined to bed, and the kids went on short "visits" to see their daddy. We explained that daddy has a boo boo, and we've shown the kids the incisions, but we still have to limit their exposure to him. One of them invariably hits his shoulder or arm.

Greg has at least four weeks in a sling (possibly six) while his shoulder heals. By the time he gets out of his sling, his right shoulder will either be extremely strong or needing time off.

The Latest Toy

2008-05-04T20:09:00.003-04:00

We've been spending a lot of time outdoors lately, but we've been pretty much confining the kids to the deck. We've taken their pirate ship, a table and chairs, some balls, and their riding toys outside to help keep them occupied. With one person watching three two-year-olds that are very independent, it can be overwhelming turning them loose in a large space such as a backyard.

Daddy took the first step today in turning the wide open backyard into a manageable, yet fun play-yard. The kids now have a Little Tikes Jump 'n' Slide Bouncer. It's an inflatable that has an enclosed area to jump around in and a slide for going up and down into the jumping area. This toy is right up Jessie's alley! She's always tried to use her bed as a trampoline, and now she has a trampoline-like toy that's just perfect for her. It was definitely a hit!

Our First Trip to the Zoo

2008-05-04T20:01:00.003-04:00

The kids and I went to the zoo for the first time this year last Thursday (Parade Day for all you Derby-week fans). It was so nice. The weather was perfect -- not too hot and not too chilly. It was just cool enough to keep most of the animals moving around and active. During the warmer days last year when we would go, most of the animals were hard to see in their enclosures because they were lying down in the shade. It was nice to be able to see them moving around, and their movement help the kids to see them, too.

It wasn't too crowded either. School was still in, and aside from a few field trips, we really didn't see that many kids there. It was nice not to have to fight crowds at the exhibits or in the restaurants.

I pulled the kids around in their wagon, and they liked have a little more room to move around. It was definitely a workout for me -- I pulled around roughly 80 lbs of kids! They were so good, though, that I rewarded them with a trip to the gift shop on the way out. All three came home with some cute hats, which will get a lot of use, and Hannah came home with a stuffed snake named Shippy (at least I think that's what she's calling it!). Jessie and Zach weren't really interested in anything after getting their hats, so at least it wasn't an expensive trip to the gift shop!

Time to Mow the Grass

2008-05-04T19:54:00.002-04:00

Now that grass-cutting season has returned, all three kids can't wait for their turn at the wheel. Last summer, Greg started giving the kids rides with him on the riding mower after he finished mowing. This year, he has to give the rides BEFORE he's finished!

Every time I've been outside with the kids and the hear a mower start up, they think it's dad getting the riding mower out. They really look forward for these rides. Hannah will actually steer the mower around the yard, and she's pretty good at it, too. Greg just hangs onto her, and she does a pretty good job of avoiding trees, the fence, and the deck. Jessie and Zach just started showing an interest in steering the last couple of times out.

A few times, Greg hooked up a wagon to the riding mower, and the kids and I went for wagon rides around the back yard and up and down the cul-de-sac right next to us. They absolutely love those rides. They were usually screaming their heads off (as in no afternoon nap), but once we got rolling in the wagon, it was all peace and quiet. Hannah has even steered us around on those rides. One night she kept going in circles -- enough to start making me a little dizzy! The good news for the kids is that it's just the beginning of the mowing season. The bad news for dad is that it's going to take him a little longer this year to get the yard mowed!

Marco! Polo!

2008-05-02T14:37:00.005-04:00

Remember playing Marco! Polo! as a child? Well, I've had the opportunity to play that game in a slightly different way with Zach, Hannah, and Jessie. Zach (unknowingly) started the game, and Hannah and Jessie have since learned to play.

Whenever I go to a part of the house where they can't follow, and they've noticed that I've gone "missing", they stand at the gates to figure out if I'm downstairs or back in one of the bedrooms. When they hear me moving around, the game starts. Zach starts out by calling "Momma," and if I don't answer, he says it again and again, a little louder each time, until I respond "Zach Zach". Then we just keep going back and forth.

When Hannah joins in, after a couple of rounds, she'll change the sound of her voice to get me to respond the same way. So now, I'll hear "Momma" as a high-pitched tiny voice or a deep, growling voice, and I'll respond "Hannah" the same way.

Jessie just joined in the game a few days ago, and has played in her normal voice and her other voices. She hasn't introduced her spin on the game yet, but I'm sure one is coming!

Slowly Moving Away From the Gated Community

2008-05-02T14:25:00.003-04:00

We've removed another gate in the house. The gate to the kids' room is now gone, so the kids can go in and out of their room as they please. They actually like it, especially since I moved some of their toys and all their books from the living room into their bedroom. They love to read books, and this way they'll be able to do some reading in the morning if they wake up before me.

That's two gates down, two to go. We removed the gate between the kitchen and living room several months ago, and the kids love the extra room to run around, especially now that they can also run in and out of their bedroom.

The last two gates are in the hall just in front of the bathroom and at the top of the basement stairs. I'm expecting we'll be potty training soon, so the hall gate will at least get pushed back a little further down the hall so the kids can get into the bathroom. Time for another safety-proofing sweep!

Time to Catch Up

2008-04-22T21:19:00.005-04:00

Wow! I knew it had been a while since I last posted a blog entry, but I had no idea it's been a couple of months. It's been a crazy, busy, hectic couple of months, too!

Since one of my last entries was about the move to toddler beds, let's start there. It turns out that only the first night was the worst. After a couple of hours, the kids all finally settled down and went to sleep. For the next few nights, the kids took turns sleeping with each other in different beds, but that's pretty much stopped. Why? Because they have stopped taking naps! By the time bedtime rolls around, the kids are too exhausted to move any body part except the eyelids! The kids were already having difficulties taking naps every day, but it appears that naps are now a thing of the past. I tried to "train" them into taking naps in their toddler beds, but they weren't having any of it. Nap time became slumber party time, and by the time I would go to get them, their room would be completely trashed! Sometimes they would eventually fall asleep, but I'm sure that it was only because of boredom -- there wasn't anything left in their room to destroy! I used to use their nap time as my time -- get in a workout and take a nice long, hot, quiet shower. Now the kids are up and about and sometimes do my workout with me (which doesn't always go so well). I do still put them in their room while I take a not-so-long-and-luxurious shower, and I do go ahead and set the scene for a nap. Today was the first day any of them took advantage of that time for a nap. Zach slept for a little while, and it definitely helped his mood. All three get very moody by dinnertime since they're not napping. We have quite a noisy household by then!

The kids went to their cousin's 2nd birthday party on March 21. Meagan was born on the day Zach, Hannah and Jessie were due. Her birthday is one that I won't be able to forget because of that. The kids had a great time playing with their cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles.

We all got to experience what it would be like to have to live without a refrigerator in the kitchen for a week. It wasn't a pleasant experience for Greg or I, but the kids absolutely loved having coolers in the kitchen to play with. As if they needed something else to play with!!!!! I won't bore you with the gory details of why we didn't have a fridge for a week. The good news is that we got a 2nd refrigerator out of the deal that was delivered three days after our other went out, so we at least got to end the cooler torture. We now have a very nice fridge in our kitchen and a 2nd fridge downstairs. I've been wanting a 2nd fridge for quite a while to store all the milk and juice we go through in a week. I think that's the reason our other one died -- it had to work too hard to keep all that milk cold!

This past weekend, the kids and I became road warriors. Greg started installing our new kitchen floor on Friday, so the kids and I were out of the house from Friday morning until Sunday night. We spent the day and night Friday at my dad's. The kids loved being at Pop Pop's and getting to spend so much time with him. On Saturday, we took off for my mom's in Cincinnati to celebrate my sister's birthday. That was about a 2-hour drive from dad's -- a little longer than what they're used to. After spending the day there, I had hoped that we'd be able to go home, but Greg needed another day to get the floor done. We stopped by home on the way back to dad's so the kids could see Greg and I could grab changes of clothes. After spending the entire day at Pop Pop's, we finally headed home Sunday night. For being off routine, in the car so much, and enduring some very long days, the kids did surprisingly well. The last couple of mornings they've slept in some, but they've quickly readjusted and have been behaving pretty well. I think that's why Zach napped today, but I'm not complaining!

All three kids are talking quite a bit now. Jessie is still the least talkative, but at least I know she can. I've said all along that she could talk -- she's just choosing not to. When she does talk, there's no mistaking what she says. She speaks very clearly, even more so than Hannah, who's been talking the longest.

Hannah has all of her two-year molars now. Jessie has both of hers on the bottom, but the top one's are still working their way through. Zach is still working on getting his two-year molars on the bottom, and neither of his have broken through on the top. It figures -- the two that have the most trouble tolerating pain are the two who take the longest to get their two-year molars!

We took the kids to Arby's for the first time last week. I think that's the last time we try that for a while. We thought we could make a quick trip before dinner to return some kitchen flooring that we changed our minds about and pick up/out some new. As with any plan, we should've known that it wouldn't be that quick or that simple of a trip. It wasn't quite dinnertime when we decided to stop at Arby's, but we thought it would be a good idea to go ahead and fill their bellies in the hopes of avoiding catastrophes in the store. Unfortunately, Greg and I didn't apply that thought process to Arby's. It was their first time being in a restaurant, and we didn't put them in boosters (I don't even know if there were any available!). The kids wanted to get down and explore, and Greg and I wanted to eat and get out of there before the tantrums set in. We didn't succeed. Oh well! Live and learn.

I know it doesn't really sound like a whole lot's been going on, but our days are always very busy. With having a routine, every day is pretty much the same with the only difference being that new thing the kids show you. Life in our house is never boring. Everyone is always busy, even long after the kids have gone to bed.

Zach's Final Cardiologist Visit

2008-02-21T17:57:00.003-05:00

Zach and I went to see his cardiologist for what turns out to be the last time. He has been released from any further cardiac care.

Zach had a normal blood pressure reading today (even with throwing a mild tantrum!), and his heart echo showed his heart to be functioning normally. All his preemie issues are resolved.

The doc said Zach shouldn't expect to have any future premature hypertension (unless he doesn't eat healthy or exercise regularly).

The Move to a Toddler Bed

2008-02-20T22:48:00.003-05:00

Unfortunately, we had to graduate the kids to toddler beds tonight. All three have been on the verge of climbing out of their cribs for some time, and I consider us quite lucky that they've stayed in their cribs for this long. Today, though, Jessie decided to flip herself out of her crib during naptime. She's okay -- just a bump on the noggin. But Greg and I decided that we didn't want to trust them in cribs anymore.

Thankfully, all three have the transitional beds, so after spending 1-1/2 hours converting all three beds from cribs to toddler beds, we followed our regular bedtime routine (with a little exploration time with the "new" beds), and finally tucked the kids in at 8:30. Now, 2-1/2 hours later, Zach and Hannah have finally passed out, but Jessie is still going strong. She's been visiting Zach's and Hannah's beds while they're drifting off to sleep, but so far she's not showing any sign of going to sleep herself. If only she'd land someplace and go to sleep I could move her into her bed. Not to mention the fact that I would love to be able to crawl into my own bed right about now!

Oh! They are going to be grumpy tomorrow!!!!!

UPDATE - The next morning:

When I peeked in on the kids this morning, Jessie had finally settled in Zach's bed to sleep. Being the bedhog that she is, he was crammed up against the foot of his bed and she was all sprawled out with her head resting on him. Hopefully he got a good night's sleep.

Right now I hear Jessie back in her own bed. I know this because I'm now listening to the three Care Bears singing. Each of the kids got a talking/singing Care Bear from Pop Pop for Christmas. Jessie has since taken possession of all three and considers them her babies. They go to bed with her every night.

The First Two-year Molar

2008-02-06T10:17:00.000-05:00

Jessie is the first to get her first two-year molar. We noticed last Friday night when brushing her teeth that her lower left two-year molar has pushed through. It came in a little sooner than I expected, but it shouldn't have surprised me. Her teething history has shown her to be the first in getting most of her teeth.

Zach's first two-year molar is working on him also. He and Jessie have been quite the fussers these last couple of weeks. Oh how I can't wait for them to finish getting these teeth!!!!!!!!

The Girls' First Haircuts

2008-01-29T11:04:00.000-05:00

Hannah and Jessie received their first haircuts yesterday. Zach has been getting his hair cut since May of last year.

The girls both did extremely well -- probably because they've watched Zach get his hair cut for so many months. They both sat very still (Hannah more so than Jessie), and they both look really cute. She didn't cut their hair very short; I just had her shape it up since it was all different lengths.

Melissa, our stylist, says Hannah will more than likely keep her curly hair since it has stayed curly this long. She wasn't sure if she'd keep the long, bouncy curls or if it would curl up any tighter. Hannah will probably grow to hate it -- it is difficult to control sometimes, but I love it and I hope I can help her learn to like her curls.

Kentucky Ink

2008-01-25T10:09:00.000-05:00

Zach received Cars temporary tattoos for Christmas, and last night, we "inked" all three kids up. The kids were looking at Greg's tattoos again (they can tell you what/who they are), so I decided to put some of those tattoos on the kids so they could be like dad.

Zach didn't much care for his at first. I ended up with a tattoo myself to show him that it wasn't so bad. The girls were ready for theirs by then. So for the next 3-5 days, we're all sporting Disney Cars tattoos. There are a few pictures on the website showing the kids and their tattoos.

Stick 'Em Up!

2008-01-19T20:57:00.000-05:00

I was sick with a cold last week, so one night Greg picked up dinner from Long John Silvers. This was the kids first experience with Long John Silvers, and surprisingly they loved the entire meal! They ate all their fish fillet, the goldfish crackers, and the Quaker Oatmeal snack bar. The prize in their meal was a small sheet of stickers. They had a lot of fun sticking stickers to their faces, hair and clothes. There are a few pictures on the web site.

I seem to recall my Aunt Cynthia taking a few pictures of Amy and I covered with stickers when we were little. Think it's genetic?

The Two Year Checkup and Their First Dental Appointment

2008-01-09T10:17:00.000-05:00

The kids saw their pediatrician on Friday, January 4th for their two-year checkup. All three are doing extremely well, and the doctor is quite pleased with their growth and development.

Jessie grew three inches in the last three months! Guess that pediasure is really working!!!! She is now 34" tall and weighed 22.7 pounds.

Hannah has passed Zach up in the weight department. She weighed 26.7 pounds and is 33.5" tall.

Zach is the tallest of the tree at 34.5". He weighed 25.10 pounds.

The kids went to see a dentist for the first time on Tuesday, January 8. There is a pediatric dentist in Buckner, and she has a really neat facility. The kids had plenty to play with in the waiting area -- it was a very nicely designed play space in the form of a bat cave. It gave me a lot of ideas for how to decorate their playroom (once we finally have a room we can dedicate to their toys, that is!).

The doctor was impressed with all the teeth they had and was pleased to hear that their teeth arrived right on schedule as if they were full-term babies. She said that preemies sometimes are a little later in getting their teeth. She said we should expect the next molars to start coming in around 2 1/2 years. I can't wait!!!!!

She gave us a heads up that Zach will probably need braces when he's around 10 or 11. She noticed his palate is very high, his front teeth are slightly pushed forward, and his bottom teeth are a little crooked from his thumb sucking. She advised us to try to start breaking this habit now. Hannah sucks her thumb too, but doesn't do it as intently as Zach. She didn't notice any changes in Hannah's teeth.

The kids did pretty well during this visit until it was their turn for the doctor to look at their teeth. I held the kids on my lap and we laid them back into her lap for this exam. Zach is my little protector and had to be next to me during the girls' exams because he thought the doctor was doing something to me. He's so cute! They all survived, and we go back again in six months.

What a Party!

2008-01-09T10:06:00.000-05:00

We celebrated the kids birthday with family on Saturday, the 5th. Just about everyone showed up, and the kids had a wonderful time showing off and performing for such a large, captive audience!

We held the party at the clubhouse here in our subdivision. Unfortunately, with the kids having a winter birthday, there's no way we can hold everyone in our house. And no, not because of all the toys!!! The clubhouse worked out well and easily accommodated everyone.

We served barbecue, potato salad, pickles and chips for dinner. Once everyone had gotten their fill, we opened gifts. I'd like to say that the kids opened their presents, but they were more interested in the tissue paper, boxes, and balloons than gifts. At least Greg and I got to see all the neat stuff they got! Thanks to everyone for the cards and gifts for the kids this year!

The birthday cake was an experience! I baked two sheet cakes, and put two candles for each kid on them. I put the girls' candles on one cake and Zach's on the other. He blew his candles out before I had placed the girls cake in front of them. It was difficult keeping hands out of the cake and flames while coaching the girls to blow out their candles! We finally got that accomplished and then everyone sang happy birthday. The kids applauded everyone when we finished.

All in all, everyone had a good time. The kids didn't calm down enough to go to bed until around 9:30, and then they passed out in no time!

Christmas Catch-up

2008-01-07T20:43:00.000-05:00

Christmas was a very busy time for us. We started the holiday weekend by celebrating Christmas with my mom, grandma, sister and her family here at our house. The kids weren't really into opening their presents -- they maybe each opened one, but they absolutely loved all the toys they received. Greg and I learned that we just aren't able to get their toys out of the packages quick enough!

On Christmas Eve, we celebrated Christmas with Greg's family at his parents' house. Almost the whole family was there, and everyone had a great time. All the little ones enjoyed playing together and with each other's toys. It was a madhouse opening all the presents at one time, and it got a little difficult keeping track of who received what present. The kids had a blast playing with their new toys.

Santa arrived Christmas morning with a picnic table, deluxe rocking horse, and a few other toys. The kids by this point didn't know quite what to make of all the presents they had been receiving. All the presents they'd received so far were in the same room as the presents from Santa and us, and they just couldn't figure out which ones to play with. They tried to play with them all, but that just wasn't possible -- even though they gave it their best shot! Later that day, my dad, his girlfriend and her daughter, and my sister and her husband came over to celebrate, and the kids got even more loot! By this point, I was wondering if everything was going to fit in the house, let alone the living room and the kids' bedroom!

The kids had a really wonderful Christmas. My pre- and post-Christmas toy purge helped tremendously to contain all the new toys to their bedroom, the living room and the dining room. I'm starting to think I'll never see the living room and dining room the way they used to be, but that's okay because I get to play with the toys after the kids go to bed!

Their Latest Achievements

2007-12-18T10:05:00.000-05:00

It's neat to watch the kids growing and how they each are excelling at different things right now.

Hannah's vocabulary has just exploded within the last couple of weeks. She's been calling out names, objects, animal sounds (you ask her the animal and she correctly tells you the sound), and she's been putting together longer sentences. Last night while I was cooking dinner, Greg was rough-housing on the kitchen floor with Zach. Hannah walked into the room and saw Greg lying on the floor. She came running over and said, "Dad, you fall down!", and proceed to start helping him up by lifting up his shoulder! It was so cute and funny.

Zach has been excelling at problem solving. He's learned that he can move the two toy racks I had to move into the kitchen and shape them into a triangle using the back of the bar as the base so he can sit behind them and play. He's also learned, among many things, that he can scoot chairs, boxes, or toy bins to the counter or anything else he can't see so he can climb up and check out the world at a different height.

Jessie still likes to figure out how things work. She's able to buckle her backpack and her booster seat. She can climb into her chair and booster seat on her own without any help and buckle herself in. This comes in handy at dinnertime but can get quite annoying any other time because she hasn't figured out how to unbuckle herself! I've gotten into the habit of buckling all the booster seat straps so she doesn't get herself stuck in one. She's watched me do this, so now after we eat, she goes around to all three chairs and buckles the straps for me.

Our Little Stripper

2007-12-18T09:58:00.000-05:00

Jessie has learned how to take off her socks (which she's been doing for quite a while), her pants and her diaper, and sometimes an arm out of her shirt. She's trying to learn how to dress herself because often she'll try to put her pants and socks back on. The problem with this is you never know when she's going to start taking it all off!

Jessie typically leaves her diaper alone unless she's in bed for a nap or bedtime. She won't keep toys in her bed to play with, so I have to assume she gets bored and has to test herself to see how much she can take off. The other night when I went in to cover them with blankets, I found a naked Jessie from the waist down. Fortunately for me, she hadn't wet the bed since removing her diaper, and I was able to get another diaper on her without waking her. Lesson learned: put her diaper on backwards before going to bed. Thankfully, a NICU nurse shared this tidbit with me while the kids were in the hospital. Who knew then that I'd actually have to use it!

An Apple A Day...

2007-12-12T10:02:00.000-05:00

Zach, Hannah, and Jessie have really surprised us with some of the foods they like to eat. All three kids love to eat apples. They really like the Gala apples and prefer us to just give them the apple to eat (no slicing or peeling). They don't even need us to get biting into the apple started for them.

Over the summer they were eating fresh, sliced tomatoes. Hannah especially liked fresh tomatoes. They all three also like to eat salad -- preferably with a little Thousand Island dressing added!

Time to Catch Up

2007-12-07T23:38:00.000-05:00

It's been a little busy around here the last few weeks, which is why the blog hasn't been updated in a while.

It all started three weeks ago with the Morris family reunion. Every year, the weekend before Thanksgiving, the whole Morris family gets together to eat and catch up with one another. It's always great to see everyone and hear all the latest news. We didn't go last year since the kids were on their synagis shots, so this year's reunion was their first. Hannah and Zach were a little shy at first, but not Jessie! She hit the ground running (literally)! Jessie is very social and has no qualms about checking out people and new surroundings. I don't think there was a square inch in the place missed by her, and she kept everyone very busy and entertained. By the end of the night, Zach and Hannah were ready to perform as well. Hannah found one of the new babies in the family, and proceeded to hug and kiss him, and hug and kiss him, and hug and kiss him some more. Zach and Jessie found a stage to perform on (literally -- there's a stage where we have our reunion), and they were more than happy to perform for their captive audience. Hannah eventually joined in.

Our next big outing was Thanksgiving with Greg's family at his sister Sharon's house. The kids ate pretty well and had a good time playing with their cousins. Jessie found out she likes marshmallows, and was content to spend a little time in her Uncle Mike's lap eating as many marshmallows as he'd give her. Hannah was in a hugging mood again and was happy to hug her cousin Sammie as much as Sammie would allow. Zach found a wooden rocking horse to ride, and we had a difficult time prying him off of it to go home.

We finished up Thanksgiving weekend by going to Pop Pop's house for dinner. The kids enjoy going to Pop Pop's because there is so much room for them to run around, and they have a captive audience to perform for. Pop Pop enjoys sharing his desert with the kids, and the kids happily reciprocate. We've got some cute pictures and video of Pop Pop sharing some yogurt with the kids.

It took me several days to get the house decorated for Christmas. It used to be that I'd go on a decorating marathon starting the day after Thanksgiving, and I wouldn't stop until everything was done. Obviously, that's not the case anymore. The only thing I did this year on the Friday after Thanksgiving was put up the tree (a new pre-lit tree we bought this year). The kids didn't pay it much attention the next day, so I was curious how much attention it would get the next day after I'd finished decorating it. I think the tree was exposed to them for about 15 minutes before the gate went up around it! They still reached for ornaments over the gating, and we did have a casualty or two, but since then they've left it alone.

When I got out the rest of the decorations for the living room, kitchen, and hall bath, I made sure I left some "kid-friendly" decorations out for them to play with. I think that, and the passage of time, have helped to dissuade their interest in the Christmas tree. They've had fun playing with the musical penguins and snowman that mom got me last year from Hallmark. Zach likes to start it, see that you are dancing to the music, and then hit the button again to stop it. He gets an evil little grin on his face while he's starting and stopping it -- he likes watching me have to stop dancing because there's no music.

I had to move a couple of the kids toy racks into the dining room to make room for the Christmas tree. It didn't take them long to figure they could move those around since the floor in the dining room isn't carpeted. Zach likes moving the toy racks into a triangle and sitting and playing on the floor behind them. He's created his own fort, and the girls like to get in there and play with him.

So now that the house is all decorated, I've been able to focus on my Christmas cards, wrapping gifts, Christmas menu/grocery plans, and birthday plans. It's hard to believe our little ones are almost two years old! Where has the time gone?????

Our Little Helpers

2007-11-11T14:25:00.000-05:00

The kids have become very helpful these last few months. At times, they're so eager to help that it becomes overwhelming for us! They are really cute, though, with helping out. Here' are some of the ways they're helping us and each other:

Jessie will pull clothes from the dryer one item at a time, and as she drops it in the laundry basket (or on the floor), she's says, "Done!"
In the mornings, I have the kids' juice waiting for them on the edge of the dining room table. Lately, since Jessie is the last to arrive, Hannah's been handing Jessie her juice.
Zach practically crawls in the dryer to help remove clothes, and as he hands them off to me, he says, "Thank you!"
Zach can't stand to see the dryer door open, so when he's passing by, he closes it -- regardless if I'm in the process of putting something in it or not!
One day I was trying to find Hannah's teddy bear. I kept asking her where it was, and she was getting upset because we couldn't find it. Zach knew where it was, went and got it, and gave it to Hannah. Awwww!
Jessie gives us her plate and cup when she's done eating and says, "Thank you!"
Hannah puts her cup on the counter next to the sink when she's done drinking her milk.
All three kids love to sweep the floor. We're think of sewing some swiffer shoes or knee pads for them!

There are just too many things to list, but these are some of the cutest. They're just growing up way too fast!!

Their First Time Trick or Treating

2007-11-01T17:32:00.000-04:00

We took the kids trick or treating for the first time this year, and they seemed to have a really good time. Zach was a scarecrow (without the hat), Hannah was a good witch (also without the hat), and Jessie was a 50's sock hop dancer. I think she was the only one who really liked her costume!

We took the kids around Covered Bridge in Sellersburg. Pop Pop, Grandma Sue, Aunt Amy, some ghoul girl (also known as their cousin Lindsey), Becky (Sue's daughter), Greg and I all accompanied the kids. Greg and Pop Pop each pulled them around in their wagon, and once the candy started filling their pumpkins, you could see the kids enjoying themselves even more. We weren't a very fast caravan -- we had to unload kids and pumpkins at each house and walk up steps to the doors. Believe it or not, the kids did a great job of walking up to the doors, of course one of us adults usually had to hold the pumpkins and say trick or treat for them. I don't think anyone minded!

Their Expanding Vocabulary

2007-10-29T21:59:00.000-04:00

All three kids are talking now. Jessie started saying a few words a couple of months ago, but she didn't start babbling coherent consonants until a couple of weeks ago. She is saying "thank you," "bye bye," "done," and "Daddy." She doesn't say these words clearly, but she's definitely trying!

Zach's vocabulary is increasing as is Hannah's. They both say "I see you", "thank you", "bye bye", "Daddy", and "Hi". Zach also says "yeah," "I don't know," "I know", and "love you". Hannah is starting to say everyone's names.

The only word I haven't heard yet that I'm really waiting to hear is mommy. Maybe I'll hear it soon. They are all babbling quite a bit, but I'm not really hearing much babbling with m sounds.

While the kids are learning to talk, they have definitely come a long way in understanding what we say to them. Sometimes I can ask them yes/no questions and get a yes or no answer -- pretty cool (for now!). Zach already says no to some of our suggestions, although right now he's doing it for the laugh as opposed to being defiant. I can also ask them where they've let things (like their sippy cups or toys), and they will go find it and bring it to me -- most of the time. That's pretty cool too. Now I can seek help when trying to find these things!!!!!

An Evening at the Zoo

2007-10-20T20:58:00.000-04:00

We took the kids to the Zoo's Halloween Party tonight. They were pretty good about wearing their costumes and not fighting to take them off (except the hats!), but they weren't too sure about all the people at the zoo. Once they started getting candy, though, they immediately perked up!

Obviously this was the first time we've been to the Zoo's Halloween party. We pulled the kids around in their wagon. It was really cute with the way things were set up. The kids, though, were more interested in playing with their pumpkins and treats than looking at all the Halloween exhibits. I'm sure next year will be more fun for them (and us!).

A "New" Room

2007-10-14T21:12:00.000-04:00

The kids have a "new" room now. Grandma Morris came over Friday to watch the kids while I set about to repainting the kids' room. I never really took the time to decorate it in any way because we thought we were moving to New York. They had various Disney pictures hanging on their walls, and that was about the extent of the decorating. Now their room is in vivid full color. Hannah's bed is against a wall that has been painted a bubblegum pink color. Jessie's bed is against a wall that has been painted lavender, and Zach's bed is against a wall that has been painted blue. All three colors blend together pretty well (same base tone), so it doesn't look as bad as it may sound. The fourth wall has three stripes: blue, pink and lavender.

Zach also got a new bed. His bed was starting to become a safety hazard with all the jumping around he does. All three kids treat their beds as trampolines; so needless to say, while their beds were apart, all screws were checked and tightened! Over the last year, they've all gotten new cribs, and I made sure we purchased convertible cribs. All three beds will convert to toddler beds, daybeds, and headboards for regular beds (twin or full -- can't remember which right now). All three are still in cribs. We've been fortunate that they haven't learned to climb out of them yet. I read that you should keep them in cribs for as long as possible, and I think we've been able to keep them in cribs this long because they're still not quite as tall as a full term 21 month old would be. They're definitely as active, energetic and creative as any other 21 month old is!

So, new colors, new picture placements, new furniture placements, and the kids absolutely love their room!

A Busy Couple of Days

2007-10-04T19:53:00.000-04:00

The last couple of days have been really busy for us. We started the day off yesterday morning with a trip to the hair salon where Zach and I got our hair cut. Zach sits really still during his haircut. The stylist has him sit on my lap while she cuts his hair, and she gives him her spray bottle to play with. He's quite content studying the spray bottle and flirting with all the women while she snips away!

After we left the salon, we rode downtown to meet daddy for lunch. We visited with a few of Greg's coworkers before heading out to eat. The kids love getting out and showing off for an audience! They did extremely well at lunch. Since it was so busy in the restaurant, we left them in their stroller and fed slices of pizza to them. Given that this place is only open during the day, there weren't any highchairs or booster seats available.

After lunch, we strolled down through 4Th Street Live. Place hasn't changed much since I was last there about two years ago -- just not that many familiar faces anymore.

When we left Greg, we headed back to La Grange to go see my doctor for a flu shot. Last year I switched doctors and started seeing the one Greg has been going to for the last several years. That was the first time our doctors and all the nurses got to see the kids in person.

Once we left there we headed home. It had already been an incredibly long day for the kids, so they immediately went down for naps and the day ended much as every other day -- snack, play, dinner, play, bedtime.

Today, we all headed over to the pediatrician's office. Jessie had a 21 month checkup appointment. The doctor wanted to check up on Jessie to see if the pediasure was improving her weight gain. Zach and Hannah went along for the ride. The doctor was quite pleased with Jessie's weight gain. She'd gained enough weight to show "catch-up" weight gain. Jessie had pretty much been staying on a consistent curve -- normal weight gain, but since she is a preemie she needs to do more than stay on one curve. She needs to gain extra weight to put her closer to the average weight full-term babies' are at this stage.

While we were there, they all three got their flu shots. If my sore arm is any indication of the soreness they'll be feeling, it's going to be a rough couple of days!

Since all three got their shots, all three were weighed today. Hannah finally outweighs Zach, but that really doesn't surprise me. She remains such a healthy eater, and he continues to pick. Zach weighed 25 lbs 8 oz, Hannah weighed 25 lbs 11 oz, and Jessie is up to a whopping 21 lbs 2 oz.

It's A Girl! It's A Girl! It's A Girl! It's A Girl!

2007-10-03T20:54:00.001-04:00

I was able to trap the last of the four kittens this morning (Patches), so Greg dropped Patches off at the vet on his way to work. I picked up all four kittens this afternoon where I found out that all four were girls! I am sooooooo relieved that we were able to trap them and have them neutered before going into heat. What a mess that would've been! Our deck would've been torn to shreds, the house and deck would've reeked of male markings, and we probably would've been thanked by those four with the delivery of their 4-5 cat litters!

We still haven't been successful at catching Sugar, but we'll keep trying to trap her to get her fixed. I have a feeling she's already been catting around for her next suitor!

3Kids10Cats5Racoons1Possum.com???

2007-10-02T21:45:00.000-04:00

Late last fall a stray female cat showed up at our door with a litter of four kittens. We rescued those kittens but were unable to trap the mom. The mom, who we've named Sugar, decided to stick around, so we've provided food, water and shelter for her to help her survive the elements. She thanked us by bringing another litter of four kittens to the house this past spring. Needless to say, she was extra careful with this litter and didn't let us get close to them at all. This litter was a little older than the last before Sugar brought them around. We have a few pictures of them on the website (taken late September).

Sugar and her family seem pretty comfortable in our backyard, but they stay leery of us. They've gotten close, but we've yet to pet them. Even though we don't know their sexes, we've named the kittens Smokey, Coal, Motley, and Patches. Smokey and Coal are almost identical. Motley is a short hair version of Sugar, and Patches, well I think that name is self-explanatory.

Over the last few weeks, raccoons and a possum have been coming around not long after darkness falls to clean out what's left of the cats' dinner. They don't bother the cats, even when the kittens sometimes start batting the possum's tail around. It's really strange to watch because it goes against everything you'd expect. One night, Greg looked out the back door to see the possum and a young raccoon eating out of the cats' food bowl at the same time. Strange!

We've been able to trap three of the kittens. They'll be spay/neutered tomorrow courtesy of the Oldham County Humane Society. They'll come back here, and we'll continue to feed and shelter them, but that's all we can do for them now.

The Terrible Twos Are Here

2007-09-26T12:56:00.000-04:00

The Terrible Twos have taken over Zach, Hannah and Jessie. Our little sweethearts started becoming tantrum machines about a month ago -- all three at the same time. Hannah doesn't throw as many tantrums as Zach and Jessie. Zach and Jessie have a tendency to feed off one another. If one starts a tantrum, the other will start at a much louder volume trying to outdo the first. Then the first gets a little louder, so the second has to get a little louder. And on it goes. Some days I join in just to vent my frustration! Sometimes it's so hard to keep your cool and diffuse all three of them. We definitely need a good night's sleep these days!

Zach Masters the Sit n Spin

2007-09-16T22:18:00.000-04:00

Greg bought each of the kids their own sit n spin a couple of weeks ago. We sat the kids on them and showed them how to make them go, but up until today they had been a toy that just played music. Zach sat on his sit n spin this morning and started spinning himself on it without any coaching or prompting. Of course, the round of applause from mom and dad kept him going!

Pop Pop's 60th Birthday Party

2007-09-16T22:05:00.000-04:00

We attended a party today to celebrate Pop Pop's 60th birthday with his brothers and sisters, in-laws, Grandma Sue, Becky, Aunt Amy, Uncle Jon, Lindsey and Brent. Zach, Hannah and Jessie hadn't met all of their great aunts and uncles until today, so today was a big day for them, too. Zach, as usual, flirted with all his aunts, and all three kids loved having such a large audience to show off for. Jessie decided Uncle Bryce was a pretty cool playmate, especially after he shared some of his dinner with her.

It was nice seeing all the brothers and sisters together, and I know Aunt Jean, Uncle Victor and Grandma were there with us in spirit.

A Brief Update on Their Latest Achievements

2007-09-12T21:18:00.001-04:00

The kids seem to be achieving new milestones everyday now. Zach and Jessie are starting to use their spoons to eat with now. Hannah is practicing a little more every mealtime with hers. More food misses their mouths than make it in with the spoons, but at least they are finally using them to eat with instead of banging out "tunes".

All three have become quite little dancers. They all love dancing to 80s music, and Zach seems to prefer the 80s rock bands like Guns and Roses. We've been dancing just about everyday. It's funny to watch Zach when he sometimes starts dancing (or just bobbing his head) when there's no music playing. He's not humming or singing yet, so we're not sure what song is playing in his head. I've even got him dancing to different children's songs that I sing to them.

All three kids are talking a little more now. They still speak a lot of gibberish, but they're using more words than a few weeks ago. Hannah and Zach say thank you now, and say it at the appropriate times. Zach also likes to say "yeah" and "oh yeah" when he's talking on the phone. Jessie said "bye bye" to Amy and Lindsey the other day, and she said it very clearly. I knew she could talk and was just biding her time before she'd let the rest of us know it!

Jessie has almost all her teeth now -- just waiting for her lower canines to pop through. Her gums are almost white in those spots, so it's just a matter of time.

Good News at the Cardiologist's!

2007-09-07T20:44:00.000-04:00

We received good news Thursday at the Cardiologist's office -- the girls have normal blood pressures and don't need to continue taking blood pressure medicine. What a huge relief!!! The nurses and office staff were a little disappointed, though, that we won't be coming by again for awhile. The doc doesn't want to see all three of them again until September of next year.

Our Little Einsteins

2007-09-02T20:21:00.000-04:00

For those of you who know who Little Einsteins are, you can skip ahead to the next paragraph. For those of you who don't, Little Einsteins are a cartoon that airs morning on the Disney Channel. It is an interactive cartoon that invites its viewers to "help" the characters carry out tasks.

Hannah, within the past week, has started interacting with the Little Einsteins. She's getting very good at helping rocket to take off and pick up speed. We haven't prompted her to do this, and we haven't been doing it either to help show her. One day she was watching an episode and all of a sudden starting patting her lap and belly to help Rocket take off.

Zach recently help them count to 18. They said the number and then he "repeated" it. I'm not sure what he was really saying -- it was the same sound after each number, but at least he was responding.

Jessie still sits glued in place and watches the show. Since she's such the little analyst, there's no telling what she'll start doing and when. We're not fooled -- she's quietly taking it all in and will one day just wow us. That's usually the way she operates.

An Evening at the Park

2007-09-01T19:58:00.000-04:00

Behind the clubhouse in our subdivision is a small park-like setting with a couple of swing sets and a couple of other play sets. On our walk this evening, we went down to the clubhouse and decided to let the kids play. They had a couple of baby-safe swings, so we had the kids take turns swinging, and they absolutely loved it! We had difficulty getting them to take turn in the swings. None of the other play sets were good enough since they didn't have swings. Guess we'll have to make sure that when we buy a swing set that it has three swings!

Their Favorite Dinner

2007-09-01T19:53:00.000-04:00

We've discovered that the kids like a lot of different foods. Hannah continues to be our best, eat-anything-you-put-in-front-of-her eater (seriously! we haven't found a food she doesn't like yet), Jessie continues to eat a good variety but just not a lot of it, and Zach continues to be our picky eater. There is one dinner combination, however, that all three absolutely love: salmon patties, pork and beans, and butter flavor noodles. This is the one dinner combination that keeps them quiet, keeps them from playing with their plates and place mats, and gets a clean plate.

Hannah's Using Her Spoon

2007-08-26T20:00:00.000-04:00

Hannah is finally starting to use her spoon to eat instead of banging it on her plate and the table as a toy. She used it to eat her lunch yesterday for the first time, and she did it again today at lunch. She's not consistent yet from meal to meal, but it's a start. Hopefully the other two will start soon, especially if they see her eating with her spoon. We applauded her today when she took her first bite with her spoon, so every spooned bite after that required applause as well. And if we forgot to applaud, she quickly reminded us by applauding herself.

The Pediasure is Working!!

2007-08-23T10:46:00.000-04:00

Well, the daily bottle of Pediasure Jessie is drinking is paying off. Since her 18 month checkup on July 4, Jessie has gained about 2 pounds. This is the biggest weight gain in this shortest period of time she's had in a while! Looks like I'll be exchanging those size 3 diapers I purchased last week for a size 4!!!