The Pranksters

Way back in July, we told you about a prank that Dave did on one of co-workers involving a stapler and some jello. (I want to state that no school property was harmed in the making of that prank.) It's a friend of his, Jessica, whom he has known since childhood and helped him to get his current teaching job.  Well, to repay Jessica for his new job (8 years later), he left her the above-mentioned present for the first day of her new job as an assistant principal at another school. Here is a picture of Jessica last summer, helping us with the kiddos when the little guys were just a year old. See how comfortable she looks with triplets? That's because her sister had twins and triplets! You can't get more experienced help than that!

Jessica decided to make Dave's first day of school just as wonderful and fun-filled as hers was (I know I am a little late posting this, but you wouldn't believe what I went through to get this web friendly!)

As I said above, Dave and Jessica have known each other from childhood. So one weekend, Jessica went back home and met up with Dave's mom. From what I hear, she was only too happy to help Jessica out. So, Jessica found (with some help from his mom) some pictures of Dave as a youngster, made a flier, photocopied it, and put one in each of the teacher's mailboxes on the first day of school. That day, people kept coming up to Dave and saying things like "Thanks for the mail" or "I like your stuffed animal collection" or "You look cute laying on that couch." Dave just looked at each person like they had the wrong person, because he had no idea what they were talking about. During a break he went down to the mailboxes and this is what he found.  Nice job, Jessica!

 

 

Dave and my Mom have also had some little jokes that they play on each other, especially when it comes to politics. My mom takes the Democratic side, and Dave the Republican side. Over the years, this little battle has shown up through everything from birthday cards to bumper stickers mysteriously appearing on a certain beloved Chevy Caprice - Lord rest her soul. (They also do things like leaving the radio in each other's car tuned to an undesirable station on a very loud volume.) So, I think about 10 years ago, we made a contribution to the Republican National Party, and we have been on their mailing list ever since. We got a picture from the McCains, and I put it on the fridge to see what would happen. Sure enough, after the next time that Grammy babysat for us, this is what we found:

When Alyssa saw this the next morning, she said, "Mommy, who put those funny ears on that man?"

But all joking aside, I hope that everyone gets out there and votes, no matter what you believe about the candidates. It's going to be a historical year, no matter who wins.  I hope you will be a part of it.

God bless,

Amanda

http://four-and-no-more.blogspot.com/

Drew's First Haircut

I took Drew to get his first haircut today. We are having the trio dedicated (similar to an infant baptism) in a couple of weeks, so we wanted to get him all spiffed up. If it weren't for that, we probably would have waited a little longer (because I love his curls), but his hair was getting a bit unmanageable. I enjoyed getting to spend some time with just him and me. It was fun to have a little date together.

He wasn't too sure about the "Superman cape" and someone he didn't know touching him, but Pamela (my hairdresser) was great with him and the tears soon dried up. After that, he did a great job and sat still the whole time. Here's the before pictures, where you can tell he wasn't too sure about this whole operation. (He wouldn't even take his jacket off.)

Here he is with wet hair all ready to go.

The first cut......

Pamela saving his first curls in an envelope.

Still not real excited about this, but tolerating it.....

I thought the razor would freak him out, but he just wanted to know where that noise was coming from.

Drew and Pamela checking out his new 'do in the mirror.

I think he looks so cute, but I hate that he doesn't look like a baby at all anymore. He's definitely a little boy now. This was much harder on me than it was on him. It's a rite of passage that I am so glad I don't have to go through again for a while! I will be a wreck when I have to go through the last first haircut. It's sad to see their baby hair go and tough to accept that I won't have any babies anymore. But then again, when you don't have babies, you do get to sleep at night (for the most part).

When we got home, Jack and Lauren were already in their cribs for their nap. Alyssa met us on the stairs and told Drew how she liked his new haircut. Dave just laughed at what a little boy he looked like. I think he enjoyed his little adventures today. But I think it also wore him out, as he fell asleep before Lauren and Jack did.

Thanks, Pamela, for doing such a great job! He looks adorable.

God bless,

Amanda

http://four-and-no-more.blogspot.com/

Snippets

Here are a few snippets from our life that don't particularly have anything to do with each other, but I have to record them somewhere so I can look back someday and laugh. You, on the other hand, can laugh about them today.

 

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We've known for a while that Lauren doesn't need as much sleep as the boys. Occasionally on the monitor, we will hear her wake up first and say, "Dack, wake up!" or "Dewww, wake up." We figure she gets bored and wants someone to play with. But Dave and I were cracking up when last weekend we heard her yelling "STAY AWAKE! STAY AWAKE!" at the top of her lungs. She may be little, but she sure can yell. The boys must have been out cold, because we didn't hear a response.

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I've told you already about the problems we had finding childproof knobs that Jack couldn't open. (Click here for Part I and here for Part II.) Now he has figured out how to climb over the baby gate at the bottom of the stairs, how to turn on a lamp (that bugged him for a whole day) and how to open the big sliding door on the van. Eye yi YI! This picture is of him working on the gate over a year ago.

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Drew, the big goofball, has now decided that it is fun to run around with his pants around his ankles. So out of the blue, he will just pull his pants down and start running around our yard until he trips and falls. I'm sure our neighbors probably wonder why we say "Drew, pull your pants up!" all the time.

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Alyssa had just taken some medicine when she realized she needed to use the facilities. She came to me to double check that this was ok. She was afraid she would wash the medicine out. I guess she thought there was a direct line from from her stomach to her bladder.

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This week, we were going through Alyssa's candy stash, trying to get rid of some things before Halloween. I was chewing a couple of pieces of bubble gum at the table while the kids finished up their dinner. Without even thinking about, I started blowing some bubbles. The kids were ooo-ing and aaaahh-ing at them and saying more and do it again. It never even crossed my mind that this would be something new and fascinating to them. So after about a dozen tries, I was able to get a really good bubble going. It was about the size of my head. Then all of a sudden it popped, as bubbles do. A ton of it stuck to my glasses (which I still haven't gotten off all the way - will peanut butter work on that?) and all over my cheek. As soon as the kids saw their Mommy with bubble gum all over her face, they broke into immediate hysterical tears. I guess I was a frightening sight. All Dave and I could do was laugh, and Dave is still walking around saying "That was awesome."

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One of the cutest things I get to watch is how Lauren just idolizes her big sister. She follows her around everywhere and tries to be just like her by putting her spoon in the sink like she does, putting her sippy cup of milk in the fridge like big sis and they even like to dress alike. One day in the back yard I noticed that Lauren was acting as Alyssa's little lackey by bringing sand back and forth between the sandbox and the treehouse on the top of their playset. That at least explained where all the sand was coming from. I love watching them play with their dolls together, though. It is too cute.

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Jack is by far my favorite to kid to clean up at the table. First of all, he is almost always the cleanest. He doesn't like to be dirty, and I can even tell when I am doing laundry which clothes were his. But I also love it when I wipe his face. He makes this "buh ba buh ba" sound as I wipe his mouth. I'll have to get a video of it sometime. It cracks me up!

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Drew is our ball fanatic. He sees balls everywhere he looks, be it a rock, cantaloupe or bald guy on the newspaper. One day in the backyard I was kind of bored and hit one of our balls with a bat. Drew looked at me as if to say "Mom, you've been holding out on me? I never knew you do that with a bat!" So I taught him how to hold the bat and swung a few times. Then I threw a ball straight up and we hit it. He got the sweetest smile on his face, like that was one of the neatest things he has ever done. So now every time we are in the backyard, he always brings me a bat and a ball. If I pitch him a beach ball, he can hit it back to me. See Mom and Dad, all those years of playing softball did help me later in life.

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Here's a conversation that Alyssa and I had recently:

A: Mommy, are you going to have any more new kids?

Me: No honey, I think I am done.

A: [Looks very disappointed and gets very upset.]

Me: Where would we put another baby?

A: Put it in the room with the rest of them.

Me: Where would we put its things?

A: In the room with the rest of their stuff.

Me: Well, how many more kids did you want me to have?

A: Five! I really like babies.

Me: I guess so! 

Once I got over the shock of this conversation, it made me feel better that she wasn't too scarred from having triplets join the family or she wouldn't be asking for another baby!

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Lately at our house, it seems like we have been having themes to our meals. One lunch became Knock Knock Joke Day. Of course, the jokes were only funny to the under 5 crowd, but the little kids at least got the jist of when to say "Who's there?" Another meal became Walrus Dinner Night. Just feed your kids sausage links and French fries, and you, too, can have Walrus Night at your house!

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Alyssa is now asking deep questions before she goes to bed at night. One night she asked me "Is Santa Claus real?" I started explaining about a man named Kris Kringle, and then she asked more questions. To one of them I answered, "Well, let's see what Daddy thinks." Then I ran downstairs, grabbed Dave by the hand, and said, "Help, she is asking questions about Santa Claus!" Tonight she was asking me all kinds of questions about how the sun comes up and down. The nerd in me couldn't resist talking about the rotation of the earth. She said she claims she understood it. We'll see. But who says you can't use a Biology degree when you are a full-time mom!

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Mondays are always tough days for me, as I am missing the help of my amazing husband as well as facing the prospect of me and the kids for the week. This Monday was particularly awful, though. The kids all had colds, and two of them were throwing up the day before, so a playdate was out. I'm not brave enough to take them many places by myself, so that meant another day at home. I happened to look outside as I was getting the kids breakfast, and my eye was drawn to a fluffy white tail. As I looked closer, it turned out to be a dead rabbit in our backyard. We do have a rabbit that visits us occasionally, and I wondered if it was him (that's him a while ago under the swingset like he owns it).

But I thought we were on good terms! How could he up and die on me with no husband around to rescue me, especially on a day when I needed the kids to run around in the back yard for all of our sanity? So after two hours, I decided I couldn't let it stop us from going out. So I approached it with a shovel. It took me two tries (with coming back in the house in between) before I could get within two feet of it. Then I got the idea to try to shove it into a box so I wouldn't have to look at it. The flaps got in the way, though. I tore those off and tried again, but ended up shoving the thing halfway under the fence. I screamed like a girl, I jumped up and down, and I ran away several times, but finally went at it with a shovel. I got it back from beneath the fence, but flipped it over. At least the eye on that side wasn't staring at me. Then I got it almost in the box (after more girl screaming, parading and the kids asking what I was doing), and then when I went to lift the box upright, it fell out again. It was one of those moments that I am sure would have cracked everyone up if I really was on a reality show. I was so girly it was unreal! Finally, I got it into the box and dragged it just outside the fence and ran inside and scoured my hands (even though I didn't touch the thing). Yes, I have a biology degree and did research for 9 years, but I never dissected anything  and I never killed anything that had eyes that could look at me (that was my rule). But I conquered my fear and it seemed like everywhere I looked the rest of the day were toys or books with bunnies on them. What a terrible Monday. That's not all that happened, but it was the worst of it. Am I imagining it, or did stuff like this start happening to me when I had triplets?

 

Hope your Monday was better than mine!

God bless,

Amanda

http://four-and-no-more.blogspot.com/

A Blast From the Past

One of the best parts of having kids is that you get to relive parts of your childhood. Alyssa has many of the toys that I wanted growing up but never got like a Sit 'n Spin and a Care Bear (don't worry I had plenty of toys, though!). Recently, I went to the library with Alyssa and there was a book that my sister and I used to read all the time. It was so fun to take it home and read the same stories to Alyssa that I had read as a child.

Over Labor Day weekend, we got to experience another blast from the past. Our friend Lucy invited us over for a cookout and to celebrate the revival of my Grandma Ruth's old patio chairs. She went to all kinds of trouble and had them sandblasted to remove 7 coats of paint, repainted them and had all new cushions made for them. They looked brand new, and it was fun to remember the many hours I had spent on Grandma's porch in them, just sitting and talking to her (or listening to the drive in movie across the street). Don't they look great now?

We also got to catch up with our dear friend, Estelle, who is Lucy's neighbor. She came over once a week for over a year to hold our babies. I always looked forward to their visits.There were some days that I forgot what blessings my kiddos were, and they always helped me to get my perspective back into the right place. Now matter how bad of a week I was having, I was always in a good mood after Lucy and Estelle came over, just by them being there and being themselves.

 

Lucy made us a great feast to eat, and I still can't believe she was brave enough to have us all over. Not many people are up for having our crazy clan at their house. The little kids loved that they got to try a juice box for the first time, too. We had a wonderful visit. Here's a few more pictures from our day. I regret that I didn't get a better picture of our hostess, though! She was very gracious when the kids started picking her flowers and bringing them to her, too, as you can see.

Thanks so much, Lucy! We had a great time!

God bless,

Amanda

http://four-and-no-more.blogspot.com/

The Crib Wars

It all started one Wednesday morning, when I found all 3 little kids out of their cribs, still in their jammies and sleep sacks. Lauren and Drew were cuddling teddy bears, and Jack was holding a toy cell phone and trying to fix it. They were standing there shoulder to shoulder in front of one of the cribs waiting for me. You know something is up when you see 2 year olds standing still like that (I wish I had a picture of it). I think they were huddled together in hopes that they were safer that way. They were sitting perfectly still and not moving a muscle. I asked them why they were out of their beds, and not surprisingly, they didn't have a good answer. They looked so cute, though, it was all I could do to keep from laughing.

Fast forward to nap time, and I put them back in their cribs and went to read Alyssa a story. After I left Alyssa's room, I heard something that told me to check on the trio. I opened the door, and no kids were anywhere to be seen! I had just heard Lauren say "Shut the door." All 3 of them were enclosed in the closet and boy was I mad when they came out! I put them in different cribs to try to mix things up. I was hoping against hope that they would stay put.

I've been holding off and hoping it wouldn't come to this, but during nap time I finally ordered 3 crib tents. My friend Linda is a genius who found a site to order them from that is buy 2 get one free! Too bad I couldn't "beam them up" instead of waiting for UPS, though.

After their nap (which is a misnomer, because I don't think they slept at all) I found Jack and Lauren out of their cribs again. This time they had destroyed the closet and thrown everything on the floor. They got into a box of cards I had saved, safety/childproofing devices, they threw a picture frame on the floor, Lauren's party dress was on the floor and they barely looked up at me when I came in, because they were so busy going through their loot. Needless to say, sweet Drew, who stayed in his crib, got lots of attention and got to go first at everything that day. He was my favorite of the day. (Whoever is easiest to take care of is always my favorite.)

The next morning, I found all 3 kids out of their crib again. Lauren was by the reading chair, Jack was in the closet, and Drew was climbing the outside of his crib. No fear whatsoever! Well, Grammy had spent the night, because there was a bat in her house (that's a long story) so I had to usher them quickly downstairs so we didn't wake her up. It was tough to think of a way to discipline them quietly, but I told them their day was coming! 

Later, it was time to put the kids down for a nap again. I told them sternly to stay in their cribs or I would get out the crib tents. Well, after I got done with Alyssa, I heard the squeaking of the chair again. I went upstairs, and sure enough, they were all out, running free. So I got out the portable tents, set them up in the toy room and ushered their little mischievous bodies them into them.

A little bit later, Alyssa came and got me and said that Lauren was running around everywhere. The little stinker had figured out how to open the zipper! Not only that, but Jack was in his tent, but flipped completely upside down, and Drew was starting to crawl out of his. I remember Linda the genius saying that she used safety pins to keep the zippers together. I couldn't think for the life of me where the safety pins are these days though (we have moved so many sharp things like that up high, that I can't remember where they landed). I finally remembered they were in the sewing kit, way up high in our closet. So, I crammed them back in their tents, pinned all the zippers together, and left. The kids may have won the first two battles that nap time, but I was about to win the war!

After Jack flipped his tent over (sorry I don't have a picture of that one), we put the portable beds into their cribs. That worked out pretty well, but I think the tents get a little hot. Then a couple of days later the crib tents arrived. I have never tracked a package and watched for it's arrival like I have for that one! It killed me to see that it sat all weekend. I almost went and got it. They arrived late in the afternoon, so I only had time to wash them and set up one. It took a while, but it was so worth it! We figured if anyone would get out of it, it would be Jack. So he got to sleep in it the first night to test it out. It worked great! I love these things. They even have a loop on the end of the zipper that you can attach to one of the latches on the side to keep the kids from unzipping it.

Now, the crib tents are all in place, and the kids are used to them. The first few days, they actually slept more, too, (probably catching up from the nap that they missed). They think it's kind of a fun game to help us zip them shut. Drew is able to zip it shut all by himself now. I also like how they allow us to arrange the cribs however we want, without having to worry about them jerking the blinds down or ripping the border off the walls. If only I had bought them sooner, it might still look like a cute nursery with safari animals on the walls. Live and learn! At least I can claim victory in keeping them safe in their cribs during nap time!

 

 

Stay turned for the next saga: from nursery to nudist colony!

 

God bless,

Amanda

http://four-and-no-more.blogspot.com/

Boring Old Health Updates

Let's see. I think where I last left off, Jack had come home from his night at the hospital. He recovered nicely from that cold, and the other two never got sick enough to go to the hospital. We went to our pediatrician, as instructed, 10 days later and the cold was completely gone. But, our pediatrician said that we would probably have to be cautious with the next few colds that Jack got.

Sure enough, a few weeks later, Jack got another cold. We tried breathing treatments at home, but he was wheezing again an hour before he was due for his next one. So Dave took him to the ER again. The X-rays were fine (and not nearly as traumatic to take this time), so they gave him more breathing treatments and steroids and advised that we see our pediatrician again in a few days.

So when we saw the pediatrician, he didn't like that Jack had now had 3 visits to the ER and an overnight stay in a month. So Jack is now on a preventative medicine called Pulmicort. We give it to him once a day just like his regular breathing treatments, and we'll try it for the next 3 months. We also extended how long he is on his regular breathing treatments. So after 2 weeks on breathing treatments, plus his preventative medicine, he recovered just fine from his 2nd cold.

Last week, Jack came down with his 3rd cold since he stayed at the hospital. After 3 days he started wheezing again, so we started his breathing treatments 4 times a day again. We will do that for a week, and then go down to 2 times a day for another week. Does anyone have any ideas of how to keep a 2 year old still for 4 times a day for 15 minutes at a time? Right now we are watching movies. He loves the Baby Einstein ones. The other kids like it, too, as they get to watch a movie. At least we are learning our shapes and numbers!

So far, I guess the preventative medicine is helping, as we haven't been to the doctor yet. I thought for sure that Jack would wake up the first night he started wheezing. It always gets worse at night and on the weekends! Why is that? Anyway, we are almost through the weekend and he is doing much better. All 4 kids got this cold and Wednesday was not a fun day at our house, especially with Daddy being gone at a tennis match. But, I am hopeful that the worst is over but dreading this winter!

As for me, I think I last mentioned that I had just about recovered from my surgery. I enjoyed very much being able to pick up the kids again, but it was also nice to take it easy as we went to New York a few days later. Well, about a week after that, Dave went back to school. Wouldn't you know it, I threw my back out my second full day back on the job. I couldn't even stand up straight! It was awful. It was the same feeling I had right after I had the triplets, but not as bad. So after much stretching and doing the physical therapy exercises that they taught me back then, I was able to get back to my old self.

I have had a couple of scares from my surgery incision hurting (especially when the kids hit it), but the nurse assures me that this is a normal part of the healing process. So I have been back to doing situps again, and I am starting to get a waist back. Yeah! The situps are also helping my lower back, too, which honestly has never fully recovered from having triplets.

So I am on to what I hope is my last health problem. I am not sure if I have even mentioned this (sometimes I think people get sick of hearing my health woes), but I was rearended in November and injured my upper back. They told me that because of the physical nature of my job, that it would take a while to heal. So I went back to the doctor in March, and after some tests, they sent me back to physical therapy. After several months of physical therapy, things got better, but not completely healed. One thing that was good about my surgery and not lifting was that it also helped heal my upper back. But, as soon as I went back to lifting again, the pain started up again.

So, my physical therapist referred me to a pain doctor. He did a full exam and determined that one of my shoulders is stronger than the other. So he sent me for an MRI to make sure that my back was ok. That all came back fine (except for some signs of aging - yikes!). Then when I saw him again, he put me on a new medicine to help with my pain. Then he sent me for a shoulder MRI, which I just did on Friday, so I don't know the results yet. But he said it could be something as simple as I hold a kid on my left side , so I can get things done with my right hand. I guess they see that a lot with parents who have 18 month olds. So, I will next go to an orthopedic shoulder specialist to get checked out, but probably will get sent back to physical therapy. Whew! It's a lot of hassle for me to get to all these appointments, as you might guess, but it will be worth it to get healthy again! At least this new pain medicine seems to be helping. In the meantime, I am allowed to work out my muscles from the waist down, so that is helping me to feel better, too!

Sometimes I wonder if life will seem easy with just triplets plus one, once I have a healthy body. Nah, I will still have three two year olds and a loquacious preschool to deal with! At least it will be EASIER!

Thanks for caring about our health! We'll get there with your help and prayers!

 

God bless,

Amanda

http://four-and-no-more.blogspot.com/