Alyssa's Last Dance Class

Since things at our house are definitely weighted towards the 2 year-old crowd, we try to make sure that Alyssa gets to do some big girl things, too. This summer she got to go to her first ever Vacation Bible School, and she really enjoyed it. We also took her to the open house for the new stadium in town, and she got to have Mommy and Daddy and Grammy all to herself!

This summer, we signed her up for an 8-week tap and ballet class at the local parks department. She absolutely loved it and couldn't get enough of wearing her clicky shoes. I loved getting to take her, and watching the girls run around filled with glee when they got to play the "Freeze Game" at the end of class (they were supposed to dance around to the music and freeze when the music stopped). Plus, it is just so cute to see all those 4-year old ballerinas in their ballet outfits! They still have a little squirminess in them at 4, so it was very amusing to watch.

The day after we got back from New York (August 5th), we had an insane day planned (especially in retrospect when Dave got back late at night with all the flight delays). First, we took all 4 kids to the dentist AT ONCE. Grandma and Papo were still here to help, and Grandma enjoyed taking the little kids back. (Jack surprised the dentist by actually answering the doctor's "How are you?" with "Good.") Then we headed over to where the dance class was a little early. We took all the kids up and down the hallways to wear them out before the recital that the class was going to do for us. You need all the help that you can get with trying to keep 3 two year olds quiet and still for 45 minutes!

Here's a picture of Alyssa all decked out in her outfit. She is proudly holding both of her fairies that she picked out of the dentists' treasure chest. (We have since had to superglue the wings back on both fairies.) She picked out all of her accessories all by herself, too.

Here's Alyssa with her teacher, Miss Heather. Alyssa and I took a Mommy and Me ballet class last summer that she also taught, so it was good to see her again this summer!

Here's a picture with Alyssa and her entire class. Aren't they cute little ballerinas!?

Here's a couple of snapshots from the recital. The girl to the right of Alyssa (below) is named Ellie. She would crack me up every week, as I watched their class on the TV in the parents' waiting area. In the middle of class, the girls would take off their tap shoes and put on their ballet shoes. Ellie would always be the first one done and would come out crawling all over the floor on her belly like a worm wiggling all over. No need to let the tights and leotard hold her back!

In the picture below, the little girl on the left in the big fluffy pink tutu is Sophie. Alyssa and Sophie first met buying shoes at the same store right before the first class (yep, I'm a procrastinator!). They were good buddies from that point on. Alyssa even asked to walk out to the parking lot with Sophie, too, after class. Sophie had a little sister who had to dress just like her, too. So it was always fun to see the two pink fluffy tutus every week.

The recital that Miss Heather put together was just adorable,and the girls did a great job. Here's a couple of videos of the girls strutting their stuff. First, here's some tap dance moves across the floor.

And here's a little video of the girls doing some ballet moves. Don't mind that whiny 2 year old in the background.

Overall, the little kids did pretty well. There were a few disturbances and Dave had to retrieve a couple kids at the beginning of class, but they really did better than we thought they would. Having new treasures from the dentist's office sure helped. I'll leave you with my 2 favorite behind the scenes pictures from the morning.

God bless,

Amanda

AAA #1 Answer

OK, so I am long over due for the answer to our Amateur Acting Attempt (AAA) #1. I haven't forgotten, really. If you have no idea what I am talking about, read here first.

When I first thought of this, my first answer was "Sunglasses at Night" by Corey Hart. Actually, the pictures weren't taken at night. But the first time that Dave saw them in the sunglasses, it was a night. He came home from work one day, and walked in the door and saw Jack wearing his glasses. We often joke about how he never knows what he will find when he walks in our door. That night, sunglasses suddenly appeared at our house out of nowhere. My mom gave us the 4 pairs of sunglasses the day before, and I really tried to get a picture of all 4 of them wearing them, but, alas, free sunglasses only last about 30 minutes at our house. And to try to get 4 squirmy kids to sit still while they have something new like that is next to impossible.

One other answer I thought of, though, was "The Future is So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades" by Timbuk3. I guess that is a more kid friendly song anyway. (Did you know you can even look up these songs on Wikipedia!?) A big congratulations to Anna and Sarah W - you nailed it!

One other answer we would have accepted is "Cheap Sunglasses" by ZZ Top, too. Although, I think it might not have technically been an 80's song.

I just taped a couple of videos today, although, I think I may try again for some better footage. So stay tuned for more of these that are in the works.

God bless,

Amanda

Two Year Checkup

So I mentioned already that we went to the pediatrician a couple of weeks ago (Monday August 11th, to be exact). We were originally scheduled to go back in July, but our doctor had a death in the family. So I had to take an appointment on Dave's first day back to school at 3pm (during naptime) or wait another month. There were some issues I really wanted to meet with our doctor about, so I chose the death sentence of an appointment. Not only was this Daddy's first day back at work (after being home all summer), but I would also have to wake the kids up early from their nap to get there on time. As it turned out, Lauren never did sleep. I heard her about 30 minutes before I had to get the little kids up saying "Wake up! Wake up!" I guess she didn't have anyone to play with while she should have been sleeping.

The kids actually did pretty well at getting up and we got out the door on time. My mom was going to meet us there to unload, but we did so well, we got there before she did. I forgot to load the triple stroller into the van before we left, so I decided to be brave and head into the doctor's office without one. Any parent of multiples will tell you, it is a huge milestone to go to any appointment by yourself without a stroller. The kids did great and Alyssa was really helpful with making sure everyone held hands in the parking lot. It was a little crazy signing in at the front desk while the kids were loose, but I at least escaped getting glares from anyone in the waiting room.

The kids did really well with their appointment, except for Drew clamping down on the tongue depressor while the doctor checked him out. (This is not surprising as at their recent dentist appointment, Drew also had the worst teeth, because he clamps down on toothbrushes, too.) Dave got there after his meetings were over and was greeted with huge hugs by all the kids. Alyssa left with Grammy part of the way through, as she was starting to dominate the conversation (Alyssa got ice cream and chocolate milk out of the deal, though, so she was pretty happy).

I have to admit I was pleasantly surprises at how well they did with everything we threw at them that day. I was bracing for the worst and almost canceled our appointment at the last minute. They even did great with their first time being weighed standing up and measuring their height up against the wall - like all of us big people do. We were glad to hear that all is well, and we can't believe we won't see the doctor again for a year - if they all stay healthy. (Except, of course, for a follow up visit on Friday after Jack's little trip to the hospital.)

One thing we mentioned to the doctor was how people are starting to ask if Drew is older, and we are getting more people asking if we have twins lately. The doctor told us that kids this age grow an average of 3 inches and put on 5 lbs a year, so if you notice from their stats below, that's how much Drew has gained on Lauren.  We ended with our flu vaccine, which was just 2 squirts up the nose instead of a shot. Yeah! To leave without tears this visit was a huge bonus! It's been milestones like this all around, Lauren just finished up the last size 3 diaper, so they are all in size 4's. It's been a long time since they all wore the same size. Things that simplify our lives like that mean a lot!

So in case you are curious, here are their stats and what percentile they are in. They don't measure the head anymore, so Lauren doesn't get to be in the 90th percentile for something anymore. She has made headway in her weight percentile and is up from the 10th percentile. If you want to see what they weighed on their last visit, click here.

DREW

Weight: 28 lbs. (50%)

Height: 35 1/4 " (60%)

JACK

Weight: 25.5 lbs (25%)

Height: 33 1/4" (25%)

LAUREN

Weight: 24.5 lbs (40%)

Height: 33 " (25%)

 

Thank God that He has blessed us with healthy kids!

God bless,

Amanda

Wanna See my Vacation Slides?

I remember back in the day, when people would dread it if someone said, "Would you like to see my vacation slides?" I only remember actually seeing some once. It was a former neighbor of ours who went backpacking in Alaska, and I thought it was really cool. The next trip we were going to take (in our pre-parenthood days) was to Alaska, but then we got pregnant with Alyssa, which has taken us on a whole new adventure!

Well, I just can't resist showing you my vacation pictures. Believe it or not, I have taken some out. This is after all, my journal to read someday, so I want to remember this fun trip that we went on. It was our first time in New York City and we had a great time!

We got to do so many things in a few short days! I told you a little bit about our adventures of getting there in a previous entry. We didn't do a lot the first day, but it was fun to walk around 5th Avenue and see the famous shops and Trump Tower. One of workers at a stand off the street tried to convince us that we had just missed Trump himself by 5 minutes. Something tells me he has his own private entrance to that place, though.

We got up early on Friday and headed to Rockefeller Plaza to see the taping of the Today Show. Both of the hosts, Matt Lauer and Meredith Viera have the same birthday that I do. I was going to make a sign about that, but completely forgot. Matt was out-of-town, but we got a nice spot behind Meredith as she was on air. We also got to hear Sheryl Crow play a few songs, too. Then we took a tour of the NBC studios and got to see where Saturday Night Live and the NBC Nightly News are shot, among other things. We also went to the set of Conan O'Brien and got to see the band for the night warming up. (It was so neat to see them on TV later that night.) We then walked in St. Patrick's Cathedral, the largest Gothic style Catholic Church in the country. When you walk in, you can't help but say wow, especially knowing that it's opening was in 1879. How did people build stuff like that back then?

After that, we made our way south. We saw Dave Letterman's TV home and had lunch at the Hello Deli and met Rupert. We saw Times Square had lots of fun people watching, too, especially with the Naked Cowboy being there. That night we had a great Italian dinner at Becco (which a fellow triplet Mom recommended). We sat next to a couple from New York who were nice as can be, as all the New Yorkers were to us. Then we took in a Broadway Show. Do you remember AC Slater from Saved By the Bell? We saw him in A Chorus Line. It was pretty good, but I was disappointed that at the end when they were all dressed up doing the chorus line, they weren't all in sync! It was still a really fun date night, though.

The next day we headed up to Yankee Stadium. We met a quintessential New Yorker on the subway who took us under his wing. He was a Green Beret who did 3 tours of duty in Vietnam, and now he is a CPA. He told us his opinions on the war and where to get a good meal before the game. I had to laugh, because he talked almost the whole way there, but then when we said goodbye, I thanked him for serving our country (something I like to do) and he was speechless! We met some more nice people waiting in line to see if we could get any tickets to the game, but ended up leaving when we guessed what the prices would be. It was fun just to walk around and take in the atmosphere of the place, though. When we were ready to go back, it started pouring rain just as we got on the subway.

Another highlight is that we got to see my college roommate, Kayle, and her family while we were there. She and her husband, Chris, have worked with the poor in Chicago, New York, and Minneapolis. I so respect them and all the sacrifices they have made to help others. They are also so fun to be with, and I was so excited to meet their sweet son, Caden, too. They live up by Harlem and took us around Central Park. Then we picked a random restaurant to eat at, and it turned out to be featured in a free travel magazine that I read later! It was a crazy weekend for them, too, as they were moving and Kayle is pregnant, too. It was so good to see them and catch up on life.

Then we headed off to see the Empire State Building at night. It was funny, because we kept getting turned around in NYC, because we couldn't see the sun to orient ourselves with all the skyscrapers everywhere. We had one of our many debates at to which direction to turn on the way there. I told Dave we should go right. When he asked me how did I know, I quickly won the debate as I pointed to it all lit up at night. When we got there, Dave could not have been happier that we could skip the 2 1/2 hour line to get tickets (we got ours ahead of time online). It was an awesome view to walk around the observation deck and see the city at night. I think that was one of Dave's favorite things we did. I was glad that we didn't go our first night there, too, since we at least knew a few of the buildings that we were looking at by this point.

Riding the subway was definitely part of the experience of being in New York. I actually wish I had taken a picture of one of the beautiful mosaics down there. But at the time, I didn't want to look like a tourist too much. That is such a joke, because it seems like half the people there were tourists, and I'm sure all the locals knew that I was one. (It was a very friendly town to tourists, though.) During one of our subway rides, a lady came into our car and started making this speech. She went on and on about how her husband was blind, they had 3 kids, their house burned down and she wasn't able to find work. I felt like asking her if she had pursued acting, because it was a pretty well done speech. But there were a few inconsistencies in her story, and you could see other people on the train rolling their eyes. It was almost worth it to pay for the performance value, though. Then about 5 minutes later another guy came through. His speech was much shorter and slapped together. I almost started laughing when he started in, because he didn't stand a chance following that lady! I know he had no idea she was in front of him, but I wondered what he would do if he knew about the act he was following.

The next day (Sunday) was probably my favorite day and our most patriotic one. We went to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. The ferry that took us out there was really nice, and even stopped for about 5 minutes for all of us to take advantage of the Kodak moment in front of the Statue of Liberty. It was so neat to finally see this landmark that I had seen so many times in pictures. (It also made me think of the History Day project some friends did on her back in middle school days. It was complete with Neil Diamond singing "We're Coming to America.") When we flew in, she was just a blue dot in the water, but up close she is huge! It was neat to look at her and reflect on what it must have been like to be an immigrant coming to this country and seeing her. The Ellis Island museum did a good job of conveying what is was like for them and the sacrifices they went through. It makes you wonder what our country would be like if all those brave, hard-working people never came here. It really made me think about how good my life is here. It also reminded me how many of the visitors are international in New York. There was this poor little boy who got lost waiting in line for the ferry leaving Liberty Island. He started crying and people asked to help him and all he could say was, "not in English," in between sobs. He was French and eventually he found his people. It just broke our hearts to see him so upset, though.

We also ventured over to see Wall Street and the New York Stock Exchange (or at least the outside of it). We saw Trinity Church and where Alexander Hamilton was buried. We also went to St Paul's Church, which was completed back in 1766! It was amazing to be in a building completed before the Revolutionary War even took place. This little church is also just a couple of blocks away from Ground Zero. They had a very moving exhibit there of how St Paul's became an oasis for the workers at Ground Zero. It was amazing to think how God had preserved this little church from so much falling debris and then used it to comfort so many who were in the recovery efforts.

Then we walked over to see Ground Zero. The exhibit we just saw put us in a somber mood and it was infuriating to have to deal with endless street vendors after that trying to sell us purses, sunglasses and "ice cold water." Because of the construction, you couldn't see much of the old Twin Towers. But in a way, it was good to see life there again. We headed over to the WTC Visitors Center, but missed the last tour by 3 minutes (if we hadn't gone the wrong way again, we would have made it.). We also walked past the FDNY Ladder 10 station, which is right across from Ground Zero. They have been through so much there and still keep on plugging along. They had an awesome monument on the side of the building that I took some pictures of, too.

We ended the night by going to Pier 17 and taking a boatride to see the Waterfalls exhibit. While we were waiting to take our ride, we got some ice cream and sat and looked at the Brooklyn Bridge while we ate. Rumor has it that they took elephants from the circus across the bridge to convince people that it was safe to walk across. It's definitely another marvel of engineering from before our time! But we really enjoyed the boatride, which was gorgeous at sunset. One of the waterfalls wasn't working, but we got to see a rainbow and Steve Forbes' boat, too. Pier 17 was quite a place, too, with its share of street performers and human statues, and we got to watch a ballroom dancing class perform (including a woman who had to have been 9 months pregnant...or maybe she was carrying triplets? She didn't let anything stop her!)

Then on the way home, we completed our subway experience by seeing a rat. I thought it was a squirrel at first, it was so big. Dave commented that he felt like he really saw NYC now! He also loved the concierge at the hotel, and I think he really misses having one. Monday morning was his last time to ask the guy for directions, as we headed to Norma's for an awesome breakfast and some souvenir shopping afterwards.

All in all, we had a great trip and had so much fun seeing all the places we have heard so much about. New York is a fun town with the nicest people, and I hope I get to go back someday! (Our trip back to the airport was even better than our arrival. We got a car service for the same price as the crazy shuttle, and the guy drove nice and calmly the whole way.)

So with out any further delay or descriptions from me, would you like to see my vacation slides?

 

Make a Smilebox slideshow

 

God bless,

Amanda

Jack is Back

Thanks for all your well wishes, everyone! Jack got back home yesterday afternoon. I am so relieved the worst is over. The second drive to the hospital was one of the longest of my life. I was picturing them putting tubes down his throat and hooking him up to IVs, but they didn't have to do any of that. (It was kind of funny, though, that we got there just as the night shift was coming back to work, so we had a lot of the same nurses again. I walked in and said, "We're ba-aack.") He is doing SO much better and slept through the night finally last night. He is taking a pretty good nap right now, too. He was wheezing a little bit this morning, but they sent us home with breathing treatments and some steroids and that all seems to be helping.  Little kids just amaze me. They get sick so fast, but recover just as quickly. In fact, he is feeling so much better that he is doing this. (He flips things over when he gets mad.)

Our night at the hospital was pretty rough. Jack had another one of those inconsolable fits for about 2 hours, starting at about 11:30pm. I almost got him to sleep at 1am, but the respiratory therapist came in and woke him up. He really did need some help breathing, though. I really liked the guy, as he completely explained the medicines to me, and even let me put on the stethoscope and compare my normal breathing (about the only normal thing in my life!) to Jack's wheezing. It was really neat. After that, Jack went to sleep pretty easily, so I think the trouble he had breathing was part of his problem getting to sleep. We made it through, but how did I make it for months with 3 newborns!? Two nights of not much sleep is just killing me!

When I brought Jack home, it was a happy reunion. Dave and Alyssa came out and greeted us at the car. Drew and Lauren were still sleeping. When they woke up, I took Jack upstairs with me. He got sidetracked in the hallway, though, by throwing a tantrum because I wouldn't let him into Alyssa's room. So when I got Lauren, she was pointing down the hall excitedly and said, "Crying. Jackson." When I got her out and told her to give Jackson a hug, she did and told him "miss you" and he said it back. It was so cute seeing two people under 3 feet tall talking like that. Dave said that when Jack was gone they were also pointing to his crib when they went to bed and got up and said, "Crib. Jack." They were also really quiet that night when he was gone, too.

We are doing breathing treatments every 4 hours right now. Drew and Lauren know the mask and the equipment well, and they say, "Jack's medicine," whenever they see it. Then when Jack is all done with his treatments, I have to take turns putting the mask on Drew's face and Lauren's. I'm not sure if they are just curious or jealous of the attention. They were sure fighting over the new sippy cup with Gatorade in it that Jack brought home. Luckily, they haven't fought over his new bear that he got at the hospital. Here he is with his two buddies that got him through the ordeal, his "Baba" and "Bear." (Bear's paw has a nice advertisement for the hospital on it.)

Well, now I am back to life as usual, but appreciating it much more this time. (I did end of up getting maid service in the hospital, though!) I jumped right back into insane mode when I got back home. I literally ran to get into the shower before Jack was even unloaded from the car, because Dave had to leave for tennis practice right away (he is still selecting who will be on the team this year). While I was at the hospital, Dave told me, "Something smells funny in our fridge." I think I found the two fruity-natural-penicillin-making culprits this morning. You gotta love baking soda at times like these. Next, I am off to order some crib tents, as Jack and Lauren were both out of their cribs when I got them this morning. I think you'll agree that we have tried every crib conformation possible. I am also hoping this will contain the books that Drew loves to throw at Lauren's head. Every time I go to get her, it seems like she is pointing to her head and saying, "Drew. Hitting me." Finally, I hope to find the instructions for our DVD player online. Movies are working well at keeping the kids occupied and Jack still during breathing treatments. However, the VCR choices are fewer. I am hoping they can tell me how to navigate through Spanish menus to get back to English. Then I will worry about the sound. I have a feeling they won't nap long enough for me to do all of this, though.

Life is good! Thanks God!

God bless,

Amanda

Pray for Jack

Hey Everyone, I just wanted to give you a quick update on Jack. We are currently in the hospital overnight for observation. He was sick all last week with what we thought was a cold (or a reaction to his FluMist vaccine. Well, yesterday, he took a turn for the worse. He started wheezing and coughing more. By 1:30 am, he was so uncomfortable, he woke up crying. So we gave him a breathing treatment (left over from Drew when he was in the hospital at 5 months!). That helped a little, and we put him back to bed. Then he woke up at 3:30am and was much worse. So we decided to take him into the ER. They gave him a steroid and a breathing treatment. It helped a little, but not too much. Then they did an Xray in this horrible machine that made him sit still with his arms up in the air while I had to go in the other room (it was AWFUL!). They also did an RSV swab, and that turned out to be negative. The Xray also came back negative for pneumonia, so that was good. But it did show a lot of swelling around his voicebox, which was indicative of croup. He didn't have the barky cough, though. So when they gave him a different breathing treatment for the croup and a shot to help with inflammation, he perked right up. We were home by 7am, but the breathing treatment made him so hyper that he couldn't sleep for a while. I wanted so badly just to go back to sleep, but it was so good to see him back to his old self again. For most of today he was doing pretty well, but at naptime he just cried and cried. I really think he was scared to be alone. So we let him take a nap with us, but he seemed to have such a hard time getting comfortable. He was just working so hard to breathe and very raspy. At 4pm, he woke up from his nap and was completely inconsolable for an hour. We force-fed him a little bit and tried all the tricks like taking him in the shower and putting him near a pot of water, but not much helped. So we resorted to our old standby of piling everyone up in the van and taking a drive (we needed to buy a humidifier anyway). When we got home he did ok and seemed to enjoy sitting on the porch and napping for a while. But then when we tried to feed him a little dinner, he just seemed to get worse. So after having the "should we call?" conversation, we finally gave the on call pediatrician a buzz. When she called us back and we told her how he was really struggling to breathe and couldn't talk sometimes because he was so breathless, she told us that we should take him in again. So here we are. Jack has done really well with all of this. Actually, he did better the second time around and was being a real goofball in the ER. When we left to go upstairs, he was telling everyone bye and blowing them kisses. Through all the Xrays, breathing treatments, waking up to a shot in the leg and other poking and prodding (do you know how they take their temperature here?!), he has been such a trooper. One of the doctor's even said how great he did letting someone look at his ears, even though he is only two. He seems to really enjoy the free stuffed animals and the ball that he's gotten, too. We have a very nice room here (it's almost like a hotel). I love the computer monitor right in the room, so I can update you! I don't have a maid, but I do have a secretary! I think that's a fancy way to say that I can bug her anytime to run errands for me. I haven't asked her if she takes dictation yet. But, we are doing well and enjoying the peace and quiet, except for people checking up on the little man. After the rough night he had last night, I am relieved that help is so close by, especially since croup gets worse at night. I guess tomorrow someone will come and see what toys he likes to play with, too, so hopefully we can have some fun one-on-one time together. But, we would sure appreciate your prayers for a quick recovery for the little guy. Drew is sick, too, and I worry that he may take a turn for the worse as well. Poor Dave had to take tomorrow off from work. He usually waits at least until he has seen his students for 5 days before he takes a day off!! So I guess the moral of the story is, don't wish for people to clean up after you, or you just may get what you wish for, but not in the way you intended. (See my "Back at Work" entry if you don't know what I am talking about. I don't know how to link from it using this computer.) We'll keep you posted through the blog. God bless, Amanda

The Grand Opening Day

The sandbox has been an ongoing effort at our house for many months and a long time coming. (Hey, it took me 6 weeks to take down our Easter decorations. You wouldn't expect anything different from us, would you?)

Last fall, I started shopping online for some sandboxes. I found some that I liked, but by the time I got around to selecting one and actually paying for it, they were gone.

At Christmas, Grandpa (my Dad) told the kids he would make them a sandbox for next summer. He finished it in May. It is a whopping 4' X 8' - exactly double the size of the sandbox he made for my sister and I when we were growing up. It has the same corner seats and everything!

Then Grammy stained it with Alyssa's help. (Ignore the junky garage in the background.)

Lucy donated the tarp (can you tell she's an Illini fan?).

Catherine (also known as Caferin) helped Dave put it on. They also propped the sandbox up on some pavers, so that, hopefully, it won't become worm-invested like our last one.

Barry and Trish (affectionately known as Miss Tush) did a Sunday morning drive-by and dropped off sand for us. Uncle Tom donated to the sand fund, too!

Finally, the day after the big birthday party (where they got some new sandbox toys), Dave poured in all the sand and let them at it. It went much better than Alyssa's first experience in the sandbox when she was 17 months old.

 

We finished the day off with letting the kids eat the rest of those yummy cupcakes. I didn't really get to watch them much in the craziness of the big birthday party, so it was fun to watch them devour them the second time around. I loved Lauren with the hill billy teeth from her cupcake. The kids had fun playing with their new toys, especially the giraffe tunnel. Then they were so cute at bedtime, I just had to snap some pictures. It is rare that they all sit next to each other like that. They are usually trying to cover as many square feet as they can before bedtime. They also played this little game where they pretend to sleep and then they "wake up!" Lauren also asked me the next day to take a picture of her for the first time, as she was carrying her new stylish purse. All the 2 year olds are wearing them, I hear.

Enjoy the pictures. Thanks to everyone who contributed to making all of this come together!

 

 

God bless,

Amanda

PS Thanks to everyone for all your encouraging notes about me being "Back to Work". I really meant to come off as sarcastic instead of poor me. It's good to know that I have friends like you who care and know what it's like not to like your job every day.

Back At Work

Well, I am back at work now. After a summer of leisure (sort of), I am back to watching the kids by myself for long stretches now. Last Wednesday, Dave went into school to get some things ready for Monday (his first official day back at school) and he had a coach's meeting afterwards. We kind of split the day and he took the kids to the grocery by himself in the morning (brave man, I know). I got to have lunch with some of my buddies from my previous career. When I got home, the kids were already down for a nap. We usually put them to bed in their sleep sacks (backwards, so they can't get them off). However, we have been having the leftovers of another stomach bug that the kids caught (the poor grandparents and other friends had to deal with sick kids while we were gone). So, the sleep sacks were all in the wash, so Dave put them down for a nap without them. Two little children didn't sleep the whole time naptime. The third, meanwhile, was sound asleep with his hiney hanging out and his diaper on the floor when I walked in to get the other two. And, nope, I wasn't lucky enough to escape cleaning up a mess this time.

While I was changing the sheets, the kids were going nutso. It's almost like Dave gave them mochas before he left or something. So the phone rang, and it was a friend from church asking me to speak at the upcoming women's retreat (pray for me!). During our somewhat deep conversation, I had to interrupt our conversation 3 different times. The first time was to break up a gang hitting incident. The second time was because they had pulled our cheap shades off the wall again. They took the roller the shades were on and were playing tug-of-war with it, having sword fights with it, and hitting each other with it. Then finally, they were fighting because they found two pairs of my shoes. But, since, there were four of them and only two pairs of shoes, a fight ensued. So while I was on the phone, I went into my closet and grabbed two more pairs of sacrificial shoes. I threw them at the kids much like a zookeeper giving raw meat to the lions. 

Afterwards I thought, you know what, I didn't miss having adventurous phone calls like that while I was in New York. I didn't think about wiping off the table and cleaning up food 3 times a day. Other people cleaned up after me! I didn't miss the whining, screaming, fighting, and disciplining that are an integral part of my day. I didn't miss times like on Friday when I was laying on the couch trying to have an adult conversation with my husband and my son came up and headbutted me in the eye. Then drooled on me when his Dad picked him up and made him say sorry. In New York, I would put things down, and no one would move them, except for the maid tidying up! (The maid!!!!) I ate hot meals start to finish, I had lots of adult conversations that weren't interrupted, and I only had to change clothes when I was the one who spilled something on them! And I didn't have to fix 3 different meals due to allergies and picky eaters. Instead, I had people cooking awesome food for me! I would sit and read a chapter or two in a book - non-stop, without interruptions, and without having to re-read a paragraph to remember what I was reading about. Now I am lucky to get an article read in the newspaper. Ahhh, boy did I need a break from all that, I mean this! Now, I get to deal with fun things like our DVD player, which now has no sound and the menus are all in Spanish (after Alyssa messed with the buttons to skip a scene on her movie). Yo hablo Espanol?

Another thing I didn't mess while we were in NYC was the war on ants. We have had a terrible time with them this year. Has anyone else out there? I can't imagine why we they would like our house, with 4 kids living here. Maybe it's because of times like a couple of days ago, when Lauren dragged the Sit 'n Spin over to the counter to use it as a ladder. She had found the grapes, but when I noticed they were way past their expiration date, I grabbed them before they got to her mouth. I know, I am such a mean mommy by not letting my kids eat rotten food. And if Jack hadn't pulled the Sit 'n Spin over earlier to turn the coffee pot on, she probably wouldn't have even known about the grapes. In case you are wondering why our kids don't just climb on the counters using chairs like most kids in America, it's because we put the chairs in the other room. That way they don't climb up and find the remote for the car and honk the horn (not that we don't do that ourselves) and do things like turn the coffee pot on! I will say one thing for the ants, though, at least they were nice enough to let Dave know where the dead rodent was in our garage instead of springing that one on me!

Did I mention how much I enjoyed having a maid clean up after us while we were on vacation. It was wonderful to come back to our room after seeing the sights and sounds and having the bed made, trash dumped, and the bathroom cleaned, including nice little V's folded onto the ends of the toliet paper. Now that I am home, I have decided that not only do my kids have new-dar, but they also have clean-dar. Clean-dar is when an alarm bell goes off in our children's heads to mess up something we have just cleaned. Like when I wipe off the door to the stove, then they come over and get fingerprints all over it. Or when I actually take time to wipe down the walls in the kitchen (this is not very often, I assure you), there are always new food spills on just those walls by the end of the day. Before we left, the kids put some really cheap stickers on the windows on either side of our front door. Well, with my I'm-all-refreshed-from-vacation burst of energy, I decided to get ambitions and scrape them off and get the Windex out. I had wrongly assumed that since these stickers barely stay on a paper for a day that they would come right off my windows. I'm sure the sun baking them on didn't help, but can anyone tell me why cheap sticker adhesive stands up to Windex but not the treacherous likes of a piece of paper?! Lucky for me, I have my trusty Pampered Chef tool, that also works great at taking concrete hardened oatmeal off the crevices of my kitchen table, too. And speaking of stickers, the other day I also found another cheap little sticker behind Lauren's ear that had been there most of the day. When I inquired why (that was my first mistake), I was told that Drew wanted to give her an earring. Again, why can these cheap little stickers stay put behind a triplet toddler's ear all day, and yet I am still left with stickers on my windows? Am I on Candid Camera?

The cribs were in this new formation when we got home from our trip (don't mind that little boy with toliet paper covering his tushy).

Why? Because when my mom went to get the boys up from their nap, and Drew was not only in Jack's crib, but bouncing on Jack's back! Just before we left, he had started doing a superman dive across the cribs, ending with a somersault landing in another crib.We tried another formation (not pictured) that also didn't work. What was my first clue? Dave asked me who was in what crib when I put them to bed after he got them up from their nap. Then we tried to go back to my mom's configuration (above) which would have been fine, except for one crib blocking the closet door. Evidentially, we put them too close, because Drew was landing in Lauren's crib again, and we weren't sure how he got there. I peeked in and saw him lean across (just the corners of their cribs were in the vicinity of each other). Then I heard Lauren grunt, like she was pulling hard on something. Then she said "Excuse us. Excuse us." (I have no idea where that came from. Maybe she thought that's what you say when you are coming through a tight space with something heavy.) Then I heard a thud and they laughed excitedly and started to play together. Mystery solved.

So now we have them in this configuration.

And check out the progress they have made on stripping the border. Jack has even made it down to the paint in one section.

We hire them out for very reasonable rates, if you are interested. I bet some of those home improvement shows could use them.

I don't mean to complain. I've just got the Monday-after-vacation blues. Except for today is Wednesday, and I've been back a week now. But I did start writing this on Sunday. But we had a pediatrician appt Monday (more on that later), and yesterday I threw my back out, and well, that's why I am finishing this on Wednesday. I really do love my kids and enjoy this crazy life we have, but I just wanted to reminisce about the good ole' days of vacation. Thanks for letting me vent!

God bless,

Amanda

PS Have I mentioned that 3 of my 4 kids now have a cold? I hope it's from the shots from Monday.

PPS How about those Olympics. I've gotten in the habit of thinking "Hey, let's watch the Olympics tonight and see Michael Phelps win a gold medal and break a world record!"

Our Three Are Two

Well, since I have 3 baby books that have not had a drop of ink touch them yet (you would think I could at least find the time to write their names in them!), I thought I better record some of the events of Lauren, Drew and Jack's 2nd birthday party. Otherwise, I don't think anything will be recorded anytime, anywhere, any place.

The party kept getting moved back due to illness, so throughout the week, we kept saying "Happy Birthday" to the little kids. I don't think they understood what it meant. Lauren would respond with "Happy tutu, Mommy." Drew's reply was "Hap Bird Day, Momma" And Jack would say "Hop Birt Day, Mama." It was so cute to hear in their little 2-year old voices. I wonder if they thought it was everyone else's birthday, too, since the 3 of them were all born on that day. We let Alyssa blow out a candle, too, so she wouldn't feel left out. That probably confused things even more.

We have just now (in the last few days) gotten the kids to the point where they say "Two!" instead of "One!" when we ask them how old they are. But now they hold up one finger while they say "Two." (I guess that's faster progress than the almost year it took to teach them that a dog says "woof woof" not "quack quack.")

One other thing I meant to tell you about when we went to the 'Ville, was Lauren's birthday party dress. Our friends Mark and Julie had gotten it for her a while ago, and I thought it was such a neat idea. On the bow there is a snap where you can change out the number (1 or 2) to show how old they are. It also came with a heart that you can put on if it's not your birthday. So Lauren got to show off to everyone that she was two (see the sideways yellow 2 on the red bow below).

Before we ate, we let the kids color on the kitchen table. My mom first taped down a big piece of paper and got these awesome crayons that are triangular instead of round, so they don't roll off the table. It worked out really well, especially since the kids didn't have to hold their paper down to keep it from getting away from them. I think the adults had fun coloring, too! It was like we were in a restaurant waiting for our food. (We will definitely be trying this again during the long days of winter.)

All the food allergies that the kids have definitely kept things interesting. See this? It looks like an ordinary cupcake, right?

Well, it turns out that it is a gluten-free, nut-free, dairy-free, strawberry-free, egg-free, fish-free, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink-free cupcake made with egg substitute. The front of the box for the mix was more about what wasn't in it than what was in it! Actually, it wasn't too bad, except for a slight aftertaste. When I was making them, they were originally vanilla, but everything is always better with chocolate in it, right? (As luck would have it, I had some leftover dairy-free cocoa from my low iodine diet days.) I learned a valuable lesson while making these. Don't ever, ever taste the batter from such a creation. Something happens during the baking process (thank goodness), and it tastes much better once it has been cooked. I also found some chocolate chip cookie dough soy ice cream (nut, egg and dairy-free also) to go with it. I know you are drooling at the thought of it! Sorry I couldn't invite all of you over, but we have some ice cream left if you want to try it. Dave also made the kids pizza from a special gluten-free dough mix and just left the cheese off. It turned out to be quite a production, but the birthday kids seemed to like it. They even said, "pizza" when they saw it. I didn't even know they knew what pizza was!

I'm sure as the kids get older, it will be tough to find a "theme" that works for both boys and girls. My mom was in charge of decorations, and went with the Dora and Diego fiesta theme, which worked out great (especially since big sister is such a fan of them, too). She also got a piñata in the shape of a number 2. But what do you stuff it with when your kids can't eat most candy? Well, my mom did find some gummy worms (which you can see them eating in the slideshow below. Be sure to look for the one with Jack where he has chocolate cupcake smeared behind his ear while eating a gummy worm). That was their first time trying them, and they loved them! She also found some little balls (that's all that Drew needs to be happy). We topped it off with a few other things like dried cranberries and blueberries and some bubbles. You should have seen the look on Drew's face when we actually told him he could hit something. He couldn't believe it. As it turned out, the little kids couldn't hit the piñata hard enough to break it open with the plastic bat we gave them. But it's not like we were going to give them something harder to hit it with! They also tried just hitting it with their hands, but that didn't work either. So we called in the big kids and they got the show on the road (or the piñata on the ground, as it was). Here's a glimpse of some of the action for you.

 

We had fun opening the presents in the backyard and making a mess all over the place. It was kind of crazy, and made me realize that Christmas is going to be insane this year if we don't come up with a plan of attack (I don't think opening presents outside will work then). Even though this year's party was nothing like last year's volunteer appreciation gathering (we had about 100 people there), I still was exhausted after it was all over. But I think everyone had a great time, and it was fun to celebrate our 3 special kids: Lauren, Drew and Jack. We deserve to celebrate making it two years, too, right?

Thanks to everyone for your good wishes, cards, emails and gifts to the kids. I save all the cards and print out the emails, and I will definitely show them to them someday. (Maybe I'll even get wild and crazy and put them in their baby book.) We appreciate your thoughtfulness to include Alyssa, too, and she walked away with quite a stash. Thanks, also, to our neighbors Dave, Linda, Anna, Joe, and Schylar for coming over to celebrate with Grandpa, Grammy, Huxley and us!

 

 

God bless,

Amanda

A Walk in the Park

A couple of weeks ago, we celebrated that we were finally over the stomach flu by heading to a new park we had never been to before. It was a perfect day (once we got there).

One funny incident on the way there was that we somehow set off the van's alarm while we were inside it and all loaded up. We couldn't figure out how to turn it off, so we were driving down the street in our neighborhood with the horn blaring and the lights flashing. Talk about embarrassing! I really feel sorry for our neighbors sometimes. Then, when I got out the owner's manual and tried to figure out how the crazy thing worked, I set it off again while we were still driving. Only this time, we were headed into the entrance of the park. It is a gorgeous, peaceful park with these imported clock towers at the entrances that play beautiful bells. Then comes our clan cruising in with "Beep Beep Beep Beep" as the lights flashed. What an entrance. To turn it off, Dave had to stop the car and put the key in the lock. I'm sure people wondered why we stopped right near the entrance, but we wanted to turn it off before they kicked us out. Even when we got out of the car, the kids kept saying "Beep beep beep." I guess a quiet trip to the park was too much to ask!

Here are the pictures for you. I didn't take much time to edit them, but you can see that they have a neat grass maze, vined archways, a village for the kids (including a jail), a tunnel to slide down, and a big hill that is fun to run down. The kids loved it, and it was good for us to go play and just enjoy our kids. With summer slipping away so quickly, I am so glad that we went.

God bless,

Amanda

Band aids, Baggage, and Bad Words

Hello, everyone. Sorry it's been so long since we have written. Thanks to my mom giving us frequent flier points for 2 plane tickets, 4 nights in a hotel and even free parking at the airport (thank you sooooooooooo much, Mom!), Dave and I were able to go to NYC alone! Thanks also to my Mom, my Dad, and Anne & Charlie (Dave's parents) for watching the grandkids for us! We would also like to thank Anne, Trish, Linda, Dave, Anna, Joe, Lucy, Kathi, Miranda and Annelise for helping them out, too! Thanks so so much! After watching our kids, you know how much we needed that break! You all did a great job, and we didn't worry about the kids a bit.

This trip was a celebration that we made it through the last two years. With all my health problems, it turned out to be way harder than we ever thought it would be, even after we knew we were having triplets. So, getting out and having tons of fun was exactly what we needed. It was also a good chance for us to take a break and catch our breath before Dave starts school next week (I know, it is early for summer to be over). This feels like a fresh start for us. The kids can do more for themselves, Humpty Dumpty has been put back together (well, maybe not my back all the way, but we're getting there), and now we can hopefully start enjoy life just as a family with four kids, including triplets.

I don't have time to do our trip justice and sort through pictures, but I will soon. But I wanted to share a few things that we don't have pictures for! One of the things that we laughed about, though, was how many band aids I went through on our trip. One night, I had 10 band aids on my feet, because of all the blisters! (I bet you are glad you don't have to look at a picture of my ugly feet!) This is one area where Alyssa was definitely missed. Putting band aids on our boo boos is one of her specialities. (I love seeing the grandpas leave the house with pink Barbie or Dora band aids on!) So, anyway, if you are planning on going to the Big Apple soon, take tennis shoes and not just sandals!

Another interesting part of our trip was the adventures our baggage had. I was really hoping this would be a smooth trip with no major incidents, but I guess I can't blame the kids for all the things that happen to us. We met my Dad at the place where we were parking, so that we could put the carseat in his car for Lauren (he was brave and took both of the girls for the night for the first time!). So while Dave was doing the installing, I checked the car in and next thing I know there is a shuttle guy grabbing our bags and ready to take me to the airport. I told him I had to say goodbye to my Dad and he brought the shuttle over to watch the installation. Little did I know, there was someone else on the shuttle also waiting on us. I felt bad and apologized, and he was one of those people who says nothing when you say your sorry (don't you hate that?). Same thing when Dave got on and apologized. But the dude also complained that the seats were wet and must have been recently shampooed, so I decided that he must be one of those guys that is always complaining and never happy. Life is too short to be that way, you know?

So the dude got dropped off and then we were off to our gate. Then, as we were about ready to get off, I didn't see my bag anywhere and blurted out "Where's my bag??" I didn't have a heart attack or anything, but I think I completely lost my breath for a second. I had told Dave the night before that I just had this feeling that they might lose my luggage (which has never happened to me), so I packed extra stuff in my carry on. But I didn't think I would lose my bag before I even got to the airport! Well, the shuttle guy uttered some choice words, and took off running for the dude. Well, I guess the dude had figured out this his royal blue bag wasn't black and had turned around by that time to find us. The driver apologized profusely and said this only happens to about 1 out of 1000 passengers. I felt like telling him some of my statistics (like our chances of getting pregnant with triplets or more was 3%; 1 out of 8000 deliveries are triplets; 90-95% of all thyroid tumors are non-cancerous, etc). Yeah, statistics aren't so comforting to me anymore. (I sat by an actuary on the plane ride back. I should have asked her what my chances of having triplets and cancer in less than a year were!)

So after we checked in, things went pretty smoothly and we were glad that we were at the same concourse, despite being on different airlines. Dave left before I did and I got a Jack-got-into-some-food-he-shouldn't-have-and-do-I-need-the-Epipen-or-will-he stop-breathing call. But other than that, things went pretty well. Both my flights went well, and it was fun flying into Reagan National and getting to see some national landmarks. I also sat by some nice people, too. And guess what, when we got to baggage claim, my bag wasn't there. I just had a feeling that would happen. So I headed into the baggage claim office and there it was! Phew, one more obstacle down.

So we had this plan to meet at LaGuardia at the Ground Transportation counter. Yeah, bad idea when each airline has its own building and you have never been to New York City before. Our Plan B was to call my mom as coordinator. So I called my mom and she hadn't heard from Dave (he won't carry a cell phone and his calling card was depleted, so I wasn't too surprised). So I asked the Ground Transportation guy how I got the baggage claim for the other airline. He told me that I needed to take the A or B bus, then go to stop D and walk to terminal C (because the A and B buses don't stop at C). I repeated that back, and the guy congratulated me on being one of the few people who understands all that the first time he explains it to them (yep, still in the low category for statistics!) So off to the bus I went, and luckily my husband was right there at stop D (getting ready to get on the bus and find me).

Our next mission was to get to our hotel. I have to admit, my impression of NYC cab drivers comes mainly from comments made by Dave Letterman. So we took a shuttle along with 8 other brave souls. Our driver was from Bangladesh, and I guess he decided that we needed to begin our trip with a death defying experience. First, he nearly hit a Hertz shuttle while we were still recruiting riders at the airport. We thought the Hertz guy was going to come after him. Then, a mini SUV tried to merger left while we were trying to merge right. Dave thought he could reach in and grab the guy's steering wheel we were so close. Finally, the surgeon sitting next to us said, "Dude, you're right on him" and our driver finally backed off. Then there was another almost collision once we got to Manhattan. I thought the lady in the corner of the van really was going to have a heart attack (good thing we had a surgeon with us). She was freaking out at all the near misses. And I am not exaggerating when I say that everyone in the van was saying "Thank God I am here" when they got to their stop. Even the girl who was from New York "and got to experience this joy all the time" said it. And lucky us, we were the last ones dropped off at our hotel, so we got the full experience.

Next, we went to check in our hotel. I was supposed to turn in the certificate from my mom that gave us the 4 free nights. So I went to get it out of my carry on bag and realized, this is not my carry on! Do you have any idea how big New York City is? Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a bag there!? Not only was I worried about how will we pay for this hotel room, I was also worried because my thyroid medicine was in there. When you don't have your thyroid anymore, it's a very vulnerable feeling that you are dependant upon those pills. Missing one day would make me a slug. So the wonderful lady at the hotel called the shuttle service to find out where else Mario Andretti stopped - with help from Dave remembering that it was #714 (the number of home runs that Babe Ruth hit in his career).

Meanwhile, I called my mom at home to see if anyone had called there. I had grabbed an ID tag in Indy and didn't even put it on my bag until I got to Washington DC (my connecting flight). But, luckily I did, and put our home phone number on it. My mom, who travels all the time, had never heard of our mishap occurring in a shuttle (see what I mean about me getting the short end of the stats?). She had been chasing kids around and had missed some calls, but one was from someone named Goodnight. That also matched a name that the shuttle service had a reservation for. So at least we were getting somewhere. Then I called back to check my voicemail (that wasn't as easy as it sounds, because we have a new service and I had never checked it remotely so that took a few calls). Then while I called my mom back, in walks the surgeon with my bag. He was a little freaked that I knew his last name, because he forgot to put his name on his bag. And it was just luck that he knew where we were. How many times do you know where the person after you is stopping? But we were both at a Marriott, so we had compared notes. So anyway, crisis averted and my vacation wasn't ruined by me being lethargic.

Oh, and did I mention that Dave's luggage hasn't even made it to our house yet? He was supposed to land yesterday at 7:49 pm, but didn't make it home until about 1:30am today. And it's not like the airport is even an hour away from us! The stories from that will have to wait for another time.

Last, but not least, I hope I don't regret sharing this, but on to the bad words part. Before I left, I typed up a 6-page document for our parents. It was all about our contact info, the kids' schedule, what they eat, how to find stuff in our house, and how to work the remote, among other things. It was interesting to start with last year's instructions and see how much easier things are now. But one thing I included this year was a pronunciation guide (below) for some common words that our kids don't say correctly yet. Some of them can really take you off guard when they are coming out of a 2-year old's mouth, and you have no idea what they are trying to say.

Pronunciation Guide

suckup = soymilk
appa juice = open this
appey = airplane
wach dis = watch this (Look at me, I am getting ready to show off for you)
ah gaw = all gone
wake-a-bum = ladybug
sh-- = shirt
ba ba = teddy bear
waiter = later (I'll see you later)
Ooo bah dee = a little game on the swings (say one word per swing and let go after 3 pushes)
wook at me (while pointing) = look at that
pig-a-wit = Piglet
1 more tiiiiime = give me another drink of water

 

God bless,

Amanda

 

P.S. I haven't forgotten the birthday pictures or the grand opening of the sand box. I just haven't had time to get to them yet.

P.P.S. Our friends John and Megan had their triplets on Saturday. They are doing pretty well, but please keep them in your prayers as their babies were almost 11 weeks early. The kids weigh around 2-3 lbs, which is pretty big for 29 weekers.