Remember Us?

You know, the parents of triplets? The ones with the fresh wrinkles and tired eyes? The ones behind the camera, behind the scenes of all the chaos?

We're certainly not as exciting as three toddlers but yeah, we're still here. Sometimes we lose ourselves a bit in the shadow of the trio. We go out in public looking somewhat disheveled knowing that no one will be looking at us anyway. Everyone's eyes go straight to the trio...which is expected. Mine would too. But the most embarrassing part of all is that the second place their eyes go is to my stomach. To check out the damage that carrying three babies can do. It's awkward.

Anyway, we had a fancy night a while back and just got our hands on the evidence. A night with just the two of us and no babies for anyone to look at. We tried to smooth out our wrinkles and catch a nap that day so we didn't look so tattered. Last Christmas we opted out of Clark's company party due to the strict feeding demands of three new babies. This year was obviously different so we got a babysitter and headed out. The party was Downtown at the Ritz and we were able to enjoy some good food and I was able to put some faces with names finally. The people that Clark spends far more time with during the day. I always like meeting people and being surprised with reality vs. my expectations. Sometimes I'm spot on and sometimes I'm so off with the look I've imagined for someone. That next Monday I even had Clark take a picture of his audit room so I could have that straightened out mentally as well.

We had a fun time and headed home after I had eaten way to many gingersnap cookies. On our way out we spotted the free photo area so we slipped inside for a quick shot. Unfortunately we had to pick up the prints downtown and Clark doesn't ever go down there. Due to a flood at his current client, however, he had to work from downtown for a few days. While there he searched through the hundreds of pictures and found our gem.

So here we are. In all our glory...


Triplets and 6 1/2 years of marriage hasn't aged us too terribly right? :) Clark is just as young and handsome as he was the first time we met so I think I made the right choice.

I just couldn't end a post without a few pics from tripletville. I took this picture because all three mouths were stuffed with cantaloupe and COMPLETELY silent. It was a wonderful moment.


I took this one because it was equally as wonderful. All three sitting peacefully and unrestrained. They had a picnic dinner and didn't give any protesting, crying, or food throwing. Not only that, it was just so dang cute to see them all at their picnic table chatting away about sidewalk chalk and the taste of mandarin oranges.


It was a beautiful weekend and we spent it all outside. Picnics, parks, and lots of playing. I love the spring!

Whatever Makes Them Happy...

Last Sunday around 10pm Leah was whining/whimpering. She often does this during the night when she loses her pacifier. However, she kept doing it for about 30 minutes so I decided to go in to see if she threw her pacifier out or something. When I approached the door, a terrible smell was coming from it. It wasn't the smell of a dirty diaper either. I hurried in and flipped on the light since I knew something was wrong and there she was....covered in her dinner from head to toe. Dinner happened to be spaghetti, carrots, and grapes so unfortunately it looked just the same as it did going down. It was the saddest thing I've ever seen. I would've sat and cried but knew she'd rather me clean her up instead. I just felt so bad because I'm sure she didn't know what was going on and tried to go back to sleep. As a result, she rubbed her whole body and face in the mess. Seriously so sad.

Clark jumped to help strip the bed and get the clean up going. We finally got the smell of puke out of Leah's hair after a nice shower and gave her some juice. She threw that up immediately. She was exhausted so we put her to bed in our closet and Clark slept on the couch so he could actually get some rest. Let's just say it was a rough night for all.

The next morning we got all the kids up and I got the milk for the boys. When Clark brought Caleb in, Caleb had dried puke ALL over him. Second saddest thing I've ever seen. What's sad is that he didn't even cry and just slept right in his mess. Poor guy. Again, Clark started the clean up and we began our fifth load of laundry before 7am. I think we did a total of 14 loads in two days. Caleb liked to time his puking for about 4-5 hours after he'd gone to bed which resulted in a lot of clean up for a couple nights.

Caleb and Leah were very sick that first day and didn't eat hardly anything. Zachary seemed as if he was in the clear and actually was such a good boy that day. Then the next morning came. He woke up gagging and screaming around 4:50am. We both ran in there thinking there would be puke on the walls but all he was getting up was mucus since his stomach was totally empty. He had his nausea/heaving/gagging-up-whatever-he-could spells about every 8-10 minutes for nearly 3 1/2 hours. Third saddest thing I've ever seen.

Thankfully, after a blessing from Clark right before Clark left for work, Zachary's heaving slowed to about every 30 minutes. He was able to relax and fall asleep next to me while the other two read books. When he woke up 30 minutes later, he was a new man. Of course no appetite but he was finally smiling and drinking some juice. Whew! What a relief.

The rest of the week was dedicated to recovery and getting these guys better. It definitely wasn't the 24 flu and will probably be almost 1 1/2 weeks before everyone is back to normal again. Clark and I haven't had the flu in a loooooooooooooooooooong time. Long enough that we can't really empathize at all. My only empathy came from pregnancy nausea and I knew all I could stomach for a couple weeks was baked potatoes. So the kids have been eating a lot of mashed sweet potatoes, oatmeal, and applesauce. We've been feeding them whatever they feel like eating and entertaining them with whatever makes them happy. It doesn't take much...

Car rides...



Getting pushed around in an empty diaper box. Clark claimed he was sore the next morning from this activity...


Organizing the recycling bin IN the recycling bin...


Lastly, watching their favorite video about cars, trucks, planes, trains, and buses while I get them ready for bed....

BEFORE

AFTER

No crying, wrestling, or fighting. Just pure happiness. Thank you Baby Einstein.

It has been a sad week and we hated not being able to do much for them except for wait it out. I was so hopeful last October that we'd make it through this flu/RSV season without getting sick. This year we got BOTH!! Oh the irony. Everyone seems to be on the mend though. So for now, we'll just continue doing whatever makes them happy.

What 18-Month Olds Do...

The kids are always busy. I'm surprised they have any time to hang out with me at all with all the other things they've got to do. I mean, they're excellent time managers because aside from napping, eating, changing, and playing with toys, they still manage to find time to empty 200 napkins from the pantry, throw cars/drumsticks/airplanes into the garbage, tear the dryer vent off the house, bang on the TV screen, taste test a slug (found one in Zachary's mouth the other day...either a slug or a very fat worm), chew through books, fall off the couch, and slobber all over newly-cleaned windows.

Other tasks on their lengthy to-do list include:

Grow grow grow...

(seven months ago)

(18 months old)

Sing songs and clap hands...


Give lots of kisses...


Create masterpieces on the back fence...


Help with the yardwork...


Sit and smile for pictures (ya right)...


and be the sweetest little munchkins ever. Caleb looks a bit scared here but 18 months can be scary. Believe me, I'm scared everyday about what the next adventure will be. Let's see if we survive.


We sure are thankful for our trio and love this age so much. It's challenging but a ton of fun. They get their 18-month shots next week and the doctor will evaluate how they are doing in their speech development. Leah is by far the best with words and identifying objects. The boys say about half of what she does (6-10 words) but they are moving right along. They all use a couple signs like 'more' and 'hungry' and LOVE to shout 'BUH' when they see buses drive by. Leah still only has three teeth. Not only has her teething been late but the teeth come in SOOOOO slow. We still have a lot of teething ahead of us unfortunately. They are learning how to jump, twist, shake, kick, push, climb, wave, and spin and realizing how capable their little bodies are. They love to give loves, hugs, and kisses to me and Clark (rarely to each other). They love the park and I'm always searching for a good one that has a safe structure and is enclosed. Parks like that are hard to come by. With six little legs scurrying around it's hard to keep track of all the places they could fall out of and get hurt. Luckily we've not had any ER trips yet.

Let's hope by the time 18 more months pass by they will all be potty trained!

18-Month Stats:

Caleb
Height: 34 inches (90th)
Weight: 25 lbs (40th)


Zachary
Height: 31 3/4 inches (25th)
Weight: 20.6 lbs (less than 3rd)


Leah
Height: 31 inches (45th)
Weight: 24.8 lbs (55th)