Chugga Chugga Choo Choo

Last weekend, we finally whipped out our Step 2 Choo Choo Wagon! It's the most coveted item in the triplet community. We were lucky to score one from another local triplet family who had outgrown it. The wagon has been sitting in our garage since last Summer. I was so excited to test it out. I have been hesitating for the last couple of months because I was worried that Sophia would throw herself backward out of the thing since she has not been a fan of the sitting position. She has been doing so great and the wagon has seat belts, so I decided to try it out. She did just fine with it. Yay!

The girls LOVE their wagon.

At first they weren't too sure of it and were holding on for dear life, but then they relaxed and giggled and smiled the whole time. The second time we took it out, Rachel said her, "yeah, yeah, yeah." She says that when she is excited about something. It's so cute!

I never understood the hype of the wagon until we took it for spin. This baby handles like a dream. I was afraid it would tip easily like the wagons I had growing up. But this thing is made very well and is super sturdy! I can see us using it all over town!

The best part is that the girls are just so happy riding in it!

Happy toddlers = happy Mommy!

Sippy Cup

Well, that's one way to do it. Here is Sophia..... learning how to use a sippy cup.

People can be so stupid....

This afternoon, Bob and I took the girls to Lowes and a local nursery (plants haha) .

At Lowes, I was pushing the girls in the stroller as Bob was shopping. We were stopped by the paparazzi so many times! We had one woman come up to me and say, "OH MY.. My daughter has one baby that she can barely handle and you have three." Then she touched my arm and leaned into me and said, "Is everything okay?" After I got over my shock, I started laughing and said, "Yes, we are fine."

I mean, what was I supposed to say to that? It was actually pretty funny though.

But then when we were in line, one woman was lucky I didn't smack her upside her head. She looked at the girls in the stroller with a look of disgust on her face. Seriously, how can you look disgusted with three cute toddlers in front of you!? She asked me... Did you do this on your own? I knew she was trying to find out if we used fertility treatments. I wasn't going to answer the way she wanted me to. So I looked at Bob in front of us and pointed to him and said, "I had some help and he's right there." LOL... Then rude no class lady said, "My daughter works at a fertility clinic and I was so afraid she was going to have "that" happen. And when she said the word, "that," she was pointing at my girls again with her ugly rude face.

Thankfully, we were done paying so I just gave her a dirty look, shook my head, and walked away.

She's lucky that I've decided NOT to respond to rude people. There are a million things I could say, but I don't want to get into the habit of snapping at people or saying something that I would later regret saying in front of my children. So I'm just not saying anything!

When we went to the nursery, we got nothing but smiles and nice comments. I love it when the good outnumbers the bad! :)

My little rock star!

Sophia had her second physical therapy session this afternoon. At first I was impressed with the fact that she wasn't afraid of Erin (the therapist) this time. She smiled at her instead of crying like last time. I was relieved and hopeful that I could learn more about the exercises I should be doing with my sweetie.

So I sat Sophia down on her bottom to show Erin how much better she is doing at sitting up. Erin placed a shape sorter toy in front of Sophia to keep her interested and watch her play. After a couple of minutes, Sophia was still sitting up on her own. She was having such a fun time taking the shapes our of the bin and then putting them back in.....over and over. Then Erin would move the little bin to her right side and then her left to see what she would do. She stayed sitting up and kept putting the shapes in and out. She did this for 8 minutes before falling backward. I was absolutely amazed and so was Erin. Her evaluation last week just didn't go well at all. This was total progress! 8 minutes!!!!!

Erin was also able to better evaluate her standing position. We think that she was just uncomfortable last week and that is why she was standing on her tippy toes so much. I had never noticed that before so I have been paying close attention this past week. Standing on her tippy toes isn't something she does often enough to worry. She didn't do it one time during today's session. So for now, no need to go out and spend $42 on Stride Rite shoes that she would wear for one month!

We went over all the stretches that I was uncertain about, and I learned some new exercises to do to help Sophia strengthen her muscles. I left the appointment in tears again, but this time they were tears of joy. Because she made such wonderful progress in just one week, we don't have to go back again for a week and a half. If she continues this progress, she will just go in once every 2 weeks to a month depending on how she is doing.

Erin mentioned that she wants to follow Sophia until she is walking to make sure she does that normally. Also, she did suggest buying chairs for the girls to sit in for practice. Right now, I'm just using their booster seats, but will shop for chairs soon. Might be a good reason to go play at Ikea one of these days!

I couldn't feel better about her progress. It hasn't been easy making the time to work with her, but I've been doing the best I can. I've only done about half the hours that were suggested, but she is doing so well that it's fine. I have three toddlers and meals to cook and clean up and all.... But I've been managing!

One thing I realized today was that I need to give the girls more time to play without being interrupted by each other. I truly believe that is why Sophia was able to just sit and play for so long. Usually, one of her sisters will come up and steal a toy or just interrupt her. She does the same thing to them. I need to figure out a way to separate them for some play time alone. Not sure how I'm going to do that yet, but I'll work it out somehow. I really think it will be good for them.

So.... Whew... I feel like I can breathe a big sigh of relief!

Random Thoughts....yet again.

I'm feeling better about Sophia's need for therapy. I am surprised that I was so upset about it. After watching her and working with her over the weekend, I realized it's not so bad. I'm glad that she is getting the help she needs now rather than later when it could have been too late. I did take the first step with the county program so we'll see if that leads us anywhere. :)

Did you know that milk is nasty? Seriously... We have 24 bottles. We have so many because when the girls were first born, they ate 8 times a day! Anyway, I no longer need to wash bottles every single day. Although, I should!!! I've started to at least rinse them out. On the days I don't rinse them out, they are a nasty gloppy milk curdling mess! Makes me miss formula just a little bit.

Morgan is standing on her own and is so close to taking her first step. Whenever I say, "stand up," to her, she crawls over to me, pulls up to standing and then lets go. She is so proud of herself. I will usually back up a little bit from her to try to get her to take a step. I can see she wants to, but is still a bit afraid. She's so cute.

We've been working on sign language with the girls. Morgan can sign milk, eat, and more. Sophia and Rachel understand the signs, but haven't done them back to me yet. Well, Sophia has signed "more" but I think that is because she was copying what I was doing.

The other day Daddy got home from work and Sophia got so excited. She hurried to the side of the gate and started saying, "Daaaada, Daaada...." while she waited for him to come and pick her up. Morgan likes to wave hi and bye bye to Daddy when he goes to work. Rachel says hiiiiiiiii, hiiiiiiiiii.

We have successfully transitioned to one nap per day. We are on week 2. The time change last week really helped us with the adjustment. They've been much happier in the mornings this week. I hope it stays like that because I want to get back to the mall with them soon. The weather is going to heat up in just a couple of months and it would be great to go walk around an air conditioned building.

Speaking of walking around.... I think our days might over with their little Norfolk triple stroller. It breaks my heart. I LOVE that stroller. It's so easy to push and steer and it has a cup holder for me. It's just that the girls are too squished it in and they tend to kick each other's seats and pull pony tails. It's time to move on to the Peg Triple and possibly even the choo choo wagon that is collecting dust in our garage.

I was in sticker shock this past weekend. I am looking for some 18-24 month light cotton zip up sleepers for the girls. I used to be able to buy them in packages of 3 for $10. Now it's $10 for one stinkin sleeper. I was hoping to pay closer to $5-7. It made me realize that we're going to be spending a bundle on clothes for these kiddos. We really haven't had to buy many clothes so far since so many people gave them to us. I'm looking forward to my mother's of multiples clothing sale that is coming. I'm too cheap to spend a lot of money for something they wear for a few months. And yikes.... I need to get them some shoes stat to match their Easter dresses! (I wasn't going to buy matching dresses, but since the girls got the cutest little dresses for their birthday..... hehehehe...)

I have been feeling like a fat cow named Bessy these days! I've been (semi) on a diet since January, but I kept cheating. I'm doing better now. I'm down 10 pounds and if you combine that with the 4 pounds I lost and have kept off since October... I'm not doing terrible. I just do NOT want to be fat this Summer. I did take the girls out for a nice long walk this morning. I even jogged part of the time. Then I don't know what came over me after the girls' lunch. I was doing floor exercises while I was in their play room with them. They had so much fun trying to poke my eyes out while I was down at their level. :) They make good 20 pound weights to lift though!

Last year at this time.... the girls were between 7-8 weeks old. We were so sleep deprived and we were constantly feeding babies. We weren't able to prop bottles and feed them at the same time until they were 7 weeks old. It's crazy to look back on that time. My mom was living with us and she and Bob would stay up until 1am taking care of the girls. I would go to bed around 7pm and get up at 1am and stay up all night with the girls and feed them. Before we fed them at the same time, I used to sit up and feed one baby after another. When I was done with the third baby, I'd have about 30 minutes before I'd have to start all over again. That time of our lives is such a blur to me. I'm thankful to be where we are today, but I do miss those teeny tiny babies!

Not enough to ever want to get pregnant again though...... HAHA!

Well, Morgan is awake from nap. Bummer... She only slept for about 90 minutes. I usually get 2 hours out of her. But it is nice to have some one on one time with my little stinker.

Dinner at Grandma's house

When the girls woke up from their nap yesterday, I decided to load them up and head to my mom's house for dinner. I want to try and get them out more often. I've always been afraid of feeding them somewhere other than our house. It's just a big hassle that usually makes me nervous. I think I'm finally at a point that I can handle it. The worst that could happen is they all meltdown and don't eat much. In the grand scheme of things, that really isn't a big deal! (haha..see, I'm trying to let go of some of my hang ups!)

I wish I had brought my camera because they were cuter than ever. When we got to Grandma's house, I set up some gates to give them a play area in her living room. They loved it. Rachel and Morgan just took off exploring the new area. As usual, Sophia sat back with me for the first several minutes before she decided it was okay to play. The cutest part was their reaction to my mom's little dog, Tippy. Morgan would follow Tippy wherever she would go. They would all laugh anytime Tippy walked around. They thought she was hilarious for some reason. Even funnier, Tippy.......was afraid of the girls and didn't know what to think. She was trying to hide from them. It was fun to see how the girls reacted to her. I think we might be ready for a trip to the zoo! I think they might like the animals.

I brought the girls' booster seats so we could feed them dinner. They ate pretty good. Of course they threw a large amount of food on the floor as always. The difference? My mom didn't need to sweep it up. Tippy ate it all! Makes me almost want a puppy. (Yeah right!.)

Overall, we had a good time. We'll definitely do it again soon. I know it sounds strange that they haven't been to Grandma's house many times. It's just a lot to get them and all their gear over there! My mom usually just comes to our house. But I think we will start to get over there more often. The change of scenery was good for all of us.

I did have to pack up the house to get them there though. We brought 3 booster seats with trays, 8 panels of the super yard gates, a change of clothes for all just in case, food for them since we still do some baby foods, sippy cups, the small triple stroller...... the diaper bag..bibs... the list goes on! But it was totally worth it. We had such a good time. Plus, my mom has a pool so we'll be swimming a lot this Summer.

Can't wait!

Yowza $$$$$$$$

Sophia's therapist recommended this cube chair to help her develop her muscles and teach her to sit upright. She used it during therapy today and loved it. I just looked online to possibly order the chair. You have got to be kidding me. It's $50 for a piece of PLASTIC! I was going to buy 3 of them because I know they'd all want to sit in it.....at the same time of course! Grrrrr..... I'm sure I can find a similar chair somewhere cheaper that can be used for the same purpose. There is no way I'm spending $150 on a few pieces of PLASTIC!

I'm also supposed to get Sophia some shoes with hard soles. Apparently, the preferred shoes are Stride Rite shoes. Am I the only one who thinks it's ridiculous to spend that much for a shoe that your kid will grow out of in a matter of weeks?

Man... if ever there was a time to jump! Get out your wallet honey! Mama's going shopping! HAHA!

Sophia

Today was Sophia's physical development evaluation. The verdict? She needs physical therapy once a week. As you can probably guess, I am kicking myself for not getting her help sooner when I first had the instinct. I really thought she'd start to sit like Rachel did.

We thought she just skipped a step and preferred not to sit up. Today we learned that her right side is tight and she doesn't use those muscles as she should. We're not sure why it happened, but we can work on it. Her right foot also points inward a bit and when she pulls up to stand, she stands on her toes a lot. It's not comfortable for her to sit on her bottom with her legs out because her back and leg muscles on the right are just too tight. I never noticed it. Her therapist told me not to kick myself because parents just don't notice these details. I'm not a physical therapist! I'm just thankful that we have her in treatment now and can help her.

It's not going to be easy. She doesn't like to be corrected when she sits the way she wants to sit.....which is the dreaded "W" position. I'm somehow supposed to correct her every time she sits like this. There are also several stretches and exercises I learned how to do and am supposed to do them every day a few times a day. She will also be seen by the therapist once a week for treatment and to monitor how she is doing.

It was hard for me to take. I went to the appointment fully expecting to be told that she will need a little help. I just didn't realize that it wasn't minor like I thought. Like I said, we thought she just skipped a step. Well, that's not the case. I didn't think I'd take it as hard as I did. I ended up in tears wondering how I am going to fit all of these exercises in our already busy day. I already feel like I don't have enough one on one time for the girls. Now I need to get her to appointments once a week too. I know I will work all of this out. My initial reaction was just fear. It's all setting in, and now I'm just on a mission to make all of this work and get my baby the help she needs. Everything will work out!

I am looking into option #2 though. I am a member of a local network of triplet moms, and most of them have been through some sort of therapy for at least one of their kiddos. They've mentioned a free county program that is available if your child is referred to therapy. They would come to our home for treatment instead of having to take Sophia somewhere. I'm going to see if we will qualify for that program instead. It would be a huge blessing if I can get someone to come here.

As upsetting as this news was, I am very optimistic about her therapy. I now know how to help her and what we can do. I also got a chance to talk about the fact that Rachel doesn't pull up to standing yet. Rachel also sits in the "W" position, but she sits on her bottom most of the time. Because she sits up just fine, the therapist isn't concerned about Rachel. Of course I am not going to let her sit in the "W" position anymore, but I'm just glad to know that she is doing well. I'm always worried about how far behind my girls are than other toddlers I know their age. The therapist told me that it's completely normal for premature triplets to be behind. In fact, she said mine will likely be 2-3 months behind until around their 2nd birthday. They were 3, 4, and 5 pound triplets. I need to stop comparing them to other toddlers. It's comforting to know that we will catch up. It may not be as soon as I want it to be, but I'm now more comfortable with where they are!

Snack time

Here's Sophia, Rachel, and Morgan enjoying some goldfish crackers and string cheese. They eat the food faster than I can put it on their trays. My cute little sweeties! They wake up from their nap pretty hungry so when they see me with their booster seats, they get so excited. Morgan will even try to climb into the seat on her own. I love that they are really starting to show me that they know what's going on. I just couldn't resist sharing this picture!

Mall Madness

The girls and I are recovering from our week from the dark side. Morgan and Sophia are back to their happy little selves. Rachel is almost there. She is still pretty snot nosed, but her cough is much improved. As for me, I have a leftover cough but am otherwise getting better.

My poor mother came down with our flu today. I was SO hoping she wouldn't catch it. She was so helpful to us when we were all sick. I wish I didn't need her help, but I was useless for a couple of days and in no shape of taking care of three toddlers alone. My mom had planned to come over this morning so we could take the girls out for a walk to the park, but since she came down with our flu, she had to stay home and rest.

I already had the girls dressed when my mom called to say she wasn't coming. I still wanted to get out of the house so I decided to get myself ready too. We've been cooped up for far too long. Not really needing to buy anything specific, I decided to go walk around the mall. I could buy myself a coke and walk around to get a little exercise. The girls usually love to be out and about and the mall is one of the places they love to look around.

Not today!

The first 10 minutes walking around was great. The girls were happy and talking and just looking at everything. I went into JC Penny's to look for some t-shirts and work clothes for Bob. As soon as I stopped the stroller to find Bob's t-shirt size, all shmeckles broke loose! Sophia started to pull on Rachel's pony tail, Rachel started kicking Morgan's seat, and Morgan started trying to escape the front of the stroller. I reached into the diaper bag to grab some cheerios to calm the storm. Within seconds, I had three screaming miserable toddlers and a group of onlookers obviously pitying me. I could either freak out and leave or I could calmly try and soothe the girls (or bribe..) them with food. I handed each one a cheerio or two so I could buy myself a minute to grab some t-shirts. It's not like it is ever easy for me to leave the house so I was going to buy these shirts while I had the chance. I've decided to just get over the fact that people are going to stare. They stare whether the girls are happy or crying so I'm getting used it anyway!

So I grabbed 4 shirts and decided to go buy them. Forget looking at work shirts for now and just buy the t-shirts while I had the chance. So I took them up to the check out and there was an elderly man all pissed off at the clerk for some reason. I waited for about a minute and the girls started their meltdown again. Apparently, I'm not allowed to stop the stroller anymore! Ugh.

When the guy was done with his tantrum..... which was almost louder than my crying kiddos.... I tossed the shirts up on the counter, smiled, and said please go as fast as you can. LOL... I finally got out of the store to walk the mall again, but the girls were only happy for about 5 more minutes. It sucked. I really wanted to walk around for a bit, but they were having none of that!

I was, of course, on the other side of the mall from where I parked. Halfway back to where we came in, they all started the crying again! Rachel was having an all out meltdown screaming fit. I have no idea why other than maybe she was tired. I was walking as fast as I could and getting looks of pity and even some laughter as I'm walking out of the mall. Believe me, I was joining in on some of the laughter. I could have laughed or cried...... so I just laughed! What else was I gonna do?

I got back to the van and started loading the girls back in.

Three. Unhappy. Crying. Toddlers!

What's a mom to do? I started singing and dancing around like an idiot to make them happy again. It pretty much worked. When they were all strapped in, I looked around and there were at least 3 other moms with their kids or babies who were looking at me. Oh well. So I started loading my giant stroller back in the van. I had my keys in my pocket. Somehow, when I lifted the stroller, it pressed on the emergency button on the keypad thingy in my pocket. The alarm on the van started blaring. GREEEAAAATTT! Like I needed MORE attention brought to myself.

I was laughing my butt off at this point. I closed the hatch to the van and then hit the unlock button thinking that would stop the alarm.

Did it?

NOPE!

I didn't know how to stop it so I just kept hitting the unlock button. It wasn't working!

I left the giant stroller behind the van and jumped in the drivers seat to see if starting it up would stop the alarm. FINALLY... that worked!!!. Then I hopped out of the car and went back to load the stroller.....all the while... people were staring at me and watching my every move. When I got the stroller loaded, I wanted to curtsy and wave at everyone for my job well done! After all, I felt like I was putting on a pretty entertaining show!

I was so happy to be able to drive away from my audience! I headed straight to Sonic.... I needed a coke and it was well worth the 3 WW points to drink it!

Next time, I think I'll wear my Kate Gosselin wig I have since I dressed up as her for Halloween last year. I could push the stroller full of unhappy toddlers and yell... Jon, Jon, JONNNNN.... Where are you Jon?

Hardest. Time. Ever.

I know this lovely flu/nasty cold is only the first of many to hit us all at the same time. Thankfully, Bob has the best immune system I've ever known and is the only one who isn't sick.

We are on day 8 of this lovely illness. It all started last Saturday when Rachel and Morgan had the poopers that I thought would never end. Sophia never got that part thank God. The cold, stuffy runny noses, and cough is the worst right now. Morgan is pretty much on the mend. She does have a leftover cough, but is pretty much back to sleeping all night and being mainly happy during the day.

Poor Sophia is having trouble breathing through her nose and has a cough that turns her precious little face red. She has trouble drinking her milk because she sucks the milk down while trying to breathe through her mouth. She keeps coughing milk up and then wants nothing to do with her bottle. She is getting enough though so she'll be fine. It's just so hard to see her miserable.

Rachel had a rough night last night. She had a fever in the middle of the night of 101.4, but by around 5am, her fever broke and she was able to get some sleep. Poor thing had been up about every 20-30 minutes overnight because she was having trouble breathing through her nose and coughing. During the day today, she seemed so much better. She just had the occasional cough. When I put her to bed tonight, she started coughing and ended up throwing up in her crib for the second time this week. Bob had gone out to get us dinner so I changed her sheets, and cleaned her up. She woke up again a little while ago because it's so hard for her to sleep when she can't breathe.

I woke up this morning feeling worse and my right eye is swollen. My first thought was pink eye, but I'm pretty sure it's not. I think it's because my sinuses are miserable and my face just hurts from the pressure. UGH... I just want this plague out of our house!

The past week has been a hard lesson as to what life is like taking care of three sick toddlers while I've been sick myself. It's been nothing short of awful. I think I got worse this weekend because I haven't had any rest or time to get myself better, which is fine. I'm a mommy now and that is how it is. I just didn't know it was this hard. I had to drag my butt out of bed so many times last night so help Rachel and it wasn't the first night this week that I didn't get any sleep. I do have to admit that the only upside (not that it's a good thing at all) to all of this is that my babies have been so cuddly this week and I've really been soaking up all love! :)

I keep wondering when we'll all be better. This week has been so hard on us. My poor mother had to expose herself to this. She was here three days this week to help me with the girls, wash dishes, fold laundry.... go get us groceries! I'm so thankful that she helps us so much whenever we need it. Also, Bob has been so amazing this week. He took a day off of work Wednesday so I could get a little extra rest. Then today, after he worked in the yard for a while (which is much needed right now too) he played with the girls, fed them dinner, cleaned the kitchen....all while I slept for about three hours. I'm so glad he isn't sick too.

Blah... I'm hoping we all get better really soon. The girls and I haven't been out of the house in over a week and I think we all have cabin fever. They've watched Sesame Street and The Wiggles more times than I would like to admit, but they've been so sick that it's the only thing that has kept them from crying all day. I have a whole new respect for my triplet mom friends who have school age children. I really was so naive and didn't think it would be this hard when we all got sick. Dragging a mattress out of a crib to clean up puke while a baby is crying and you feel like you're going to puke yourself....yeah, not a good time.

I keep telling myself....just a few more days and we'll all be better! Please keep those prayers coming!

As soon as we're better I'm going to get the girls out of the house for some better stimulation than our stinking television! UGH!

Is this week over yet?

Ugh, what a crazy week this has been. The girls and I have been so sick. I thought we just had a mild stomach flu, but our stomach flu has turned into a nasty cold. I still have a bit of the stomach flu lingering, but it's mostly better. I just have the cough and a stuffed up nose.

The girls are sort of in the middle of it. Well, Morgan is getting better. She still has the snotty nose, but her cough is a lot better than it was. Last night, Sophia barfed up her milk from coughing. Tonight, it was Rachel's turn for that. They've both got such a nasty cough too. I haven't called their doctor because they are still eating and drinking and having wet diapers. There isn't anything their doctor could do for them anyway. We've just been giving them Tylenol. We're keeping a close eye on them. Since Morgan is getting better, we know Sophia and Rachel have the same thing and will get better too.

So that has been our lovely week. I had to cancel all my helpers this week so they won't catch our lovely bug. Not having them here truly makes me more thankful that they still come after a year. I always get behind on the laundry and the house work when I don't have them. But Mom came to my rescue as always! My mom has been here two days this week helping with the girls and washing dishes and folding laundry. Bob stayed home with us Wednesday so I could sleep. I'm hoping I will be feeling better tomorrow so I can take care of the girls without having to have my mom come over again. I hate exposing her to this, but I haven't been able to care for three sick toddlers alone while being sick myself. UGHHHH... I just want us to get better.

I had to cancel Sophia's appointment with the pediatric physical therapist. I need to call them tomorrow to reschedule. I hope we won't have to wait 2 weeks again, but it will be what it is.

I wish I had better news to report or some fun pictures of the girls to share, but we've had a pretty miserable week here.

We'd love some prayers to be healthy again very soon. :)

Sick babies and a nauseated Mommy

TMI Warning. This post is mainly about POOP.

It all started Saturday morning. Morgan woke up with a surprise for Mommy. She had a major poopy diaper blow out. It was all the way up her back. Poor baby. I had to clean her up as best I could with wipes so she could still drink her bottle that I knew she wanted. As soon as she had her milk, we headed right up to the bath tub.

Then at lunch, Rachel made a poopy mess in her high chair. I usually keep a onesie on them underneath their clothes, but not this time. (lucky us) Poor baby was eating her lunch and then stopped. She grunted at Mommy and then was covered in poo. It went up her shirt, into her belly button and alllllllllllll over the back of the high chair. I had to call Bob from outside (he's turning our backyard into a child proof play area). He came to finish up lunch with Sophia and Morgan while I took Rachel upstairs for her bath.

It was just a messy messy day. Plus, all three of them have had snotty noses for the past several days. Poor Morgan has an icky cough now too.

Then last night, Rachel was up from around midnight to 3am coughing, snotting up, and crying. I had her in bed with me and was trying to calm her. She was in and out of sleep, but I was awake because its not easy to sleep with a snotty restless one year old. I felt so bad for her. By 3am, she was finally good and asleep so I put her in her crib. I got about 3 hours of sleep until 6am when they all woke up. Bob got up with them around 7 and I went back to sleep for another hour.

Sophia is the healthiest one at the moment. Rachel seemed back to her normal self today. Morgan still has a cough and snotty nose. It was a lonnnnnnnng day for this mommy. I don't feel so good myself. I think the girls had some sort of stomach bug that caused all the poopers. I've been having stomach cramps and nausea all day. UGH....

So I hope I feel better in the morning. Sophia and I have her physical development evaluation to go to. She is really in the "if you're not my mommy, I don't want you near me" phase. I'm afraid she's going to cry the whole time. But you never know, maybe she'll surprise me!

I hope this little virus/bug/illness/whatever it is....leaves our house asap! I don't like seeing my babies sick. Ugh!

Food Fight

Welcome to meal time. Sometimes it's a little bit fun (insert sarcasm). Its always hectic, but it's never pretty. Food usually ends up on me, all over them, and definitely all over the floor and their high chairs.

Here they are at dinner last night. I made them some scrambled eggs with cheese, toast (because sometimes all I can get them to eat are eggs and toast), and some peas. Morgan was the only one who ate the peas. Sophia and Rachel just tossed theirs on the floor. Stinkers! I ended up giving them baby food squash so they'd have a veggie.

Here is the aftermath.... I have to wipe 6 hands and 3 faces up after each meal. I even had to take Sophia and Rachel's pants off because they were covered in food. That pile in the bottom right is the pile I had swept up before taking this picture. Oh the insanity. Hahaha...

This was after I spent about 20 minutes cleaning the chairs, floor, and trays. We're all ready for the next day so we can do it all over again.......3 times! I used to laugh when I'd watch (gasp) Jon and Kate +8. Kate used to say she would sweep and mop 3 times a day, and I thought she was crazy. Now I do it too....well, not the mopping part. I only spot mop once a day!

Feeding the girls usually stresses me out a bit. It's hard getting them to try new foods. I feel like we're in a food rut. I feed them the same things over and over because they reject about 95% of anything new. Yesterday, I was out and about at lunch time and I decided to stop and pick up a kids meal from Chick-Fil-A. (Even though I'm not crazy about them eating fast food, but there is a first time for everything and I was desperate.) What kiddo wouldn't like waffle french fries and some chicken nuggets right? That's right! MY kids! Rachel wouldn't touch it (no surprise there really). Sophia ate a bit of one fry and then threw the rest on the floor. Morgan gagged on her fries and spit them out. No one would touch the chicken. I ended up feeding them yogurt, fruit, and cereal. I give up.

So at dinner tonight, I made them a new recipe. Porcupine Meatballs. A week ago, they were eating my meatloaf like it was going out of style, so I thought for sure they would like the meatballs. Plus, they have rice in them so double bonus for a grain as well as protein. Well, as you would guess, Rachel wouldn't touch it and gagged when my mom tried to feed her some. Morgan spit it out... I don't think Morgan likes meat so much yet. Sophia chowed down on them, stuffing so much in her mouth that she freaked me out. She loved it though so I'm a happy Mama.! They also had some green beans to go along with their meatballs. Morgan really liked them as well as Sophia. Rachel.... Well, we ended up feeding her baby food. I gave up! (I think this pay back for all the times my mom had to make me peanut butter and jelly as a child since I pretty much refused anything she would cook...and she is a great cook!)

I'm just glad my mom was here again to help me with dinner. Dinner time has become the hardest part of my day. Bob is still at work when the girls eat. It's almost too much to either cook, heat up, or prepare their dinner when I'm alone. I can do it. I do it by myself most weekdays, it's just not easy at all. Then the mess..... OH THE MESS.... Ugh!

I'm just thankful for implementing TV hour after dinner. It allows me to clean up and it gets me to their bedtime with my sanity still somewhat intact.

Any toddler food suggestions for picky eaters are welcome!

Nap Limbo?

I haven't played Limbo since back in my skating days. I was always too tall for that game.....I never won!

Now we're in nap limbo.... I'm losing this game too. :)

I tried. We tried.... Gave it our all... It was just too early to function on one nap. Tuesday and Wednesday mornings were beyond miserable. The girls literally cried from 10-12:30 when it was nap time. Lunch time was a huge mess with yogurt hair treatments and food all over everything. The girls were just TIRED!

Yesterday and now this morning, morning nap has returned. Yesterday, Rachel didn't sleep during her morning nap, but she played in her crib while I took a shower. Morgan and Sophia were sleeping within 5 minutes. This morning??? They are all sleeping and it didn't take long at all. I don't know what this means or how long it will last, but for now, I'm going to keep letting them sleep in the mornings. If they don't sleep, we'll just have quiet time and then maybe adjust the afternoon nap a bit. I'm going to do what freaks me out the most..... On the days they skip morning nap, I'll wing it with my master schedule. We all know I HATE not being on schedule. I figure I'll see how the next couple of months go. Maybe we'll be ready for one daily nap by the Summer.

I have to honestly say I will miss those long 2-3 hour afternoon naps. It was pure bliss. I got dishes done, laundry folded, and I even got to sit down and eat lunch! (insert gasp here). I liked the idea of being able to have the morning to go out and do things, but we can wait for that. The girls need their beauty sleep and I need my sanity!

Mommmmmmmmmy

Welcome to my day. It was one of those days when the girls all wanted me at the same time...over...and over...and over...and over....again... until bedtime. As I've shared, we are transitioning to one nap, which obviously, isn't going too well. The girls have been super fussy and this mommy doesn't know if she made the right decision to make the switch. I'm trying to stick to it for at least a week, but if you were at my house today....uh... you wouldn't have stayed very long. I thought I was going to lose my mind. All of my tricks didn't work and I had Sophia pretty much attached to my hip for most of the day. It was just an overall exhausting day.

It was a day when I needed MY Mommy! And yes, she delivered!

(Also, this picture was taken for a reason.....which I will explain at a later date!)

Naps, Naps, Naps....

Over the past month, as I have complained about before, the girls' naps are a pretty much off schedule. We all know I hate not having a schedule. I don't think any triplet mom could function without one.

Last week, Sophia and Rachel didn't take a morning nap at least 4 out of 7 days. Morgan's morning nap was about 20 minutes long. It became all too clear to me that it was time to make the switch to one nap. I think I have resisted as long as possible, but it's time now.

We started yesterday. I was determined to make nap time 12:30pm. Bob and I decided to get the girls out of the house after breakfast to keep them entertained, so we took them to Home Depot. We picked out new flooring for the kitchen, checked out some paint samples, and bought a chain saw. (Bob is cutting down the fruit trees so our backyard will be more kid friendly.) The girls did pretty good until we got home around 11am. Morgan started melting down. Rachel and Sophia were okay at that point. I fed them lunch..... then all three of them started the meltdowns. I turned to our trusty friends, "The Wiggles," and let the girls watch TV for a while before I gave them their bottle. At 12:30, it was time for nap and they were all asleep within 5 minutes. They slept almost THREE HOURS, which is like a miracle for naps in this house!

Today....so far, so good. I took them for a walk this morning and then we came home and played until lunch time. When I put them down....5 minutes..and bam....they were OUT! They've been sleeping for an hour and a half now. I think this schedule is going to be good for us. We can start doing more outings in the mornings. Before, I was always limited to only going out between 12-1:30. Now we have a few hours in the morning to do whatever.

I could really get used to these long afternoon naps. We just need to get through the next week or so while we adjust!