Triplet Monkeys

Just this morning, Sophia stopped ignoring this half of the couch. We've had the couch up against the gate for um.... pretty much the whole time we've had the gate. We knew we'd have to do something about it eventually, we just didn't know it would be this soon. She was trying to pull herself OVER the gate. Yeah...wouldn't have been so good if she landed head first on the tile floor below! Bob was at work, so I had to get creative fast.........Here are some pics of our monkeys and the new look of their playroom.

I had to arrange the pieces of the couch in a weird way. It was the safest way. If I had turned that chaise lounge around, it would have created a little tunnel area that I'm sure they would fight over and get stuck in! Oh joy!

So our living room/playroom will just have to look a little funny until further notice! At least the girls think it's fun to climb all over the couch now. It's a whole new jungle gym for them!

Just call me SUPERMOM.... for moving all that furniture all by my lonesome!

Got Triplets?

I bought another box of diapers at Sam's Club yesterday. When I went to put it in our diaper closet today (aka the closet under the stairs ), I had to laugh when I saw how many boxes of diapers and wipes we have at any given time. I have such a fear of running out that I have to stock up. We go through an average of 20 diapers a day. Two years ago when we were starting the IVF process, I don't think I could have ever pictured this. We are truly blessed!

Big news and randomness......

I got a really great Mother's Day gift yesterday. BIG NEWS..... Sophia is officially a WALKER! She had been taking 2-3 steps here and there, but yesterday she just took off and started walking. She can take up to 10 steps now. She loves it. She was walking all day today. We're so proud. I really thought Morgan was going to walk first. However, as soon as Morgan sees what Sophia is doing, I'm sure she'll do it too.

We did have a nice Mother's Day. I got to sleep in and then went out to lunch with my mom and sister while my hubby stayed with the girls. It's hard to believe that it was my SECOND Mother's Day.

In other news......

I'm having a hard time deciding whether or not to forward face the girls in their car seats. The rule is that they can forward face when they are one year old and 20 pounds. I'm not certain that Rachel is 20 pounds. She's so little to me. Anyway... We have a very small minivan. We certainly didn't think about the whole car seat configuration when we bought this van. The only way we were able to install the Radian 65's rear facing was to remove the middle row of seats and put the girls in the back row. There was just no other way to fit them. Now that the girls are past their first birthday and most likely all at least 20 pounds or more, we do have the option to forward face them. It certainly would make loading and unloading them much easier for me. Right now, I'm actually having to do this from the BACK hatch of the van. Yes, you heard me right. It looks like I am loading the girls through a trunk. It's getting increasingly difficult for me to lift them over the bench seat and then into their seats. Plus, there isn't much cargo space with the seats like this. There are new guidelines out that say it's safer to rear face toddlers until they are at least 18-24 months old. I'm torn.

But then..... last week, we were almost rear ended by a giant U-Haul truck when someone pulled out right in front of me and made a right turn. I had to slam on my breaks to miss hitting them and the truck behind me was following too close. If that truck hit us, I don't know how safe my girls would have been. With where they are seated, they are only about a foot and a half away from the back of the van, which I completely hate. Ugh... See, just talking about that makes me want to forward face them now. We need to get on that... I thought I'd share this pic of how cute the girls are in their seats. I do think that talking this out just now is making me feel ready to make the switch.

So a little over a week ago, I got my DMV license renewal in the mail. I was flabbergasted when I read the form. I have to pay the fee, do a new picture, take an eye exam... and..and... grrr... take a written test!?! WHAT???? Seriously... I have a perfect driving record. I've never been at fault in an accident and I've never ever ever had a ticket or any type of violation...and I have to take a stinkin written test. The triplets card is not going to get me out of this one. I went to their website and took a practice test and felt all smug. Well, it lasted about 3 minutes. I got 8 out of 10 right on the practice test and thought I was set. So I decided to take another practice test...... where I got 2 out of 10 right. Grrrr... That means I have to study for this. Ridiculous! Also, I tried to get an appointment to do this and there is nothing available until 4 days before my birthday. What if I fail? So now I have to get a babysitter and somehow do this on a weekday morning. Ho hum.... So not cool!

Oh... Morgan is climbing up onto the couch now too. See, she is going to be walking soon as well. She watched Sophia climb up and then just copied what she did and she was up there in seconds. The best part you ask? haha...is when they try to climb up at the same time and push each other out of the way and then cry. Sibling rivalry starts sooner that I thought! Rachel doesn't do any pushing yet, but Sophia and Morgan do. If they want Mommy's lap, they will stop at nothing to get it.

I think I'm getting sick. I was feeling fine when I woke up this morning. My sister and I took the girls to Sam's club to shop. By the afternoon, I started feeling more run down than usual. I have been sick every single month except for April. Hopefully, this will just be a short little cold. The girls have had snotty noses for a few days now. So has Bob.. I am blaming him!

So we have to figure out how to baby proof our family room. Right now, we have ten panels of a superyard playard serving as the um....baby jail in the family room. They have the whole front living room as their play room. The family room is just um...it's dangerous. We have a brick fireplace, stairs, cabinets,..... the tv stand, the tv...cable boxes, cords...you get it. Well Sophia is trying to climb out of the play area and Morgan and Rachel are pushing it and pulling it and shaking it... they want OUT! We only have them in here when we watch tv, but that is a few different times a day for limited amounts of time. We know our days are numbered and that we need to take the play yard out and let them have access to the whole room. Bob and I were looking at more options to baby proof and it is going to get expensive. We're going to have to buy more taller metal gate panels like we have in the play room for the stairs. Also need to buy cabinet locks and such. This is all on top of crib tents that I need to order for our monkeys. Sophia needs one NOW... she is literally climbing everything.

And they all love bananas..... go figure!

Our busy week....

Just as I thought, we had another really busy week. I think things might slow down now. The only thing I have planned today is a trip to Sam's club. Then tomorrow night I am going to my MoM's club's board meeting because I'm helping with the convention that our club is hosting next year. Other than that, no plans at all this week. I also got some things mailed out last week that needed to be mailed. I have such a hard time getting to the post office. Anyway.....

I'll just do a quick recap of our week in no particular order.

I went roller skating with my friend Amy. We had such a good time. Great exercise too! I can't wait to go again. Those who know me well, know that I was a competitive roller skater growing up. I went to the National Competition several times. I loved every moment and really miss it sometimes. As soon as the girls are walking well, we're going to start going to a toddler skating class that one of the local rinks hosts each week. It's more like a play date on wheels, but I still can't wait. And don't worry... they tighten the wheels all the way for the kids so they don't roll.

Rachel finally started to pull up to standing all on her own. I had been walking her through the movements for the past week or so, and she finally did it all by herself. I'm so happy too. Her pediatrician had said that if she wasn't doing this by 15 months, he wanted her evaluated for therapy too. She just made the cut. lol.... She has shown such improvement with her balance too.

Sophia learned how to climb up onto the couch all by herself. She can't resist now. Every time we are in their playroom, she can be found sitting on the couch looking at a book or playing with her toy laptop. Also, she sported 2 pigtails for the first time. So cute!

We wore shoes for the first time. As you can see, Morgan was the only one who kept them on. Rachel and Sophia cried when I put them on their feet. They wanted them off immediately. We'll work on it some more. Sophia did let me put them on her for her therapy appointment last week. She even practiced walking in them. But she wanted those suckers off after about 5 minutes. We'll work on it some more this week.



The girls are getting better using sippy cups. I still give them 3 bottles a day. I'm not in a hurry to make the switch fully to sippy cups yet. I think I'll work on that more between 16-18 months old. Right now, we're still playing with them and drinking some watered down juice in them. (Please ignore the mess in the background... I'm trying to organize my house but am failing miserably.)

This was our first triple stroller. It's the good ol' trusy Norfolk triple. I loved this stroller. But since the seats are so close together, the girls were pulling each other's hair and kicking seats. It was just time to start using the Peg Triple instead. I had tried to give this stroller away, but couldn't find a new owner within my multiples club. So I ended up listing this on Craigslist and I sold it for $75. That's what I call "Ikea" money. I need to go to Ikea and get some shelves or bins or something to help organize all the girls clothes and stuff. I am also trying to sell their dresser/changing table. Now that we have 3 cribs in their room, we had to take the dresser out. There is no room for it. I'm going to do a closet organizer thing with drawers instead. So hopefully I can find a new home for the dresser. I wish we could keep it, but it just doesn't make sense. When the girls move to big girl beds in a couple of years, I'll be getting the kind with storage drawers underneath. Anyway, it was so hard to sell this stroller. It was the first one I bought and I was attached to it for some reason. It has a nice new home though.

So that was our week. We're off to Sam's club this morning. I joined yesterday with my sister. You can't beat $20 for the membership fee. Plus, they are so much cheaper than Costco. They have gallons of milk for $2.35. SCORE!

Hopefully, I will find more time this week to blog.

It's official

I'm all registered for school in the Fall. Yay me! I was stressing all day because I was slowly watching several of the online classes fill up and my registration time wasn't until 8pm. But by 8:05 pm, I had registered for my two classes and paid for them! Whew!

I ended up getting Physical Anthropology and Intro to Human Development. The Anthropology class satisfies the last class I need under the "general education" requirements. I'm not excited about taking it, but I read the reviews about the instructor and she got excellent reviews. It was between this class and an Earth Science class. The online Earth Science instructor had about 25 horrid reviews so I thought I'd steer clear from him. However, the Anthro class has a focus on evolution and the apparent science behind it. Well, I flat don't believe in that crap..... so I'll just take it for what it is worth...and that is the credit for the class and nothing more. I'm excited about the Human Development class. It's something I am actually interested in.

I'm happy that I am doing this. I know I am frequently tired and stressed over taking care of 3 toddlers, but I need and want to do this for myself. Now that Rachel is out of our bedroom, we're going to set the extra area in our master bedroom up as an office for me. I can work on my classes and study in there at night. Also, Bob knows that I will be taking some time on the weekends for my school work. He's completely on board with me returning to school! We're not sure when I will be returning work. We know it won't be for several years, so I want to work on my education while I have the chance.

I still need to look into tech schools around here and see what the requirements are for their ultrasound tech programs. I think I will add that to my "to do" list for the next couple weeks. This week is already way too busy!

Where did the week go?

We've had such a busy week. Seems like it's been this way for a couple of weeks now. Things aren't slowing down this week either. I have to pick up a team packet for a cancer walk that I am doing next weekend. Sophia has her therapy appointment on Thursday. I need to register for school tomorrow night..... Hmm... and somehow get to the post office this week. Oh and get to the bank to start a new spending account to try and keep me on my budget..(which is a whole other post in itself.)... I don't even think that is everything on my list. This will just be another busy week. I don't have any of my helpers this week either. Yikes!

Anyway.... I've been taking some random pictures over the last few days that I wanted to share.

A few days ago, we were playing in the play room. I was working with Sophia on some of her stretches (for therapy of course), and I glanced over at Morgan who had made herself a little bed on the floor. The pillows were already there, but she grabbed the blanket and snuggled herself up. She was so happy just chatting away with herself and checking out what was under the blanket...."hey, are those MY legs?" hehehe... I would love to get inside her head for just a minute.

I'm so proud of Sophia. We've been working hard. I think her therapist, Erin, will be so happy with her progress. She is starting to CHOOSE to sit on her bottom and is a pro at it now. Here she is during what I call, "Sesame Hour." (And that's Morgan standing up in the pink.)

Here are the girls a few minutes after drinking their morning bottle. The girls take after Mommy and Daddy and need a little tv and and some "waking up" first thing in the morning. This particular morning, Rachel was playing with their cheerio blanket. Haha... The cheerio blanket is basically their picnic blanket. haha.. I put a pile of cheerios on it while I am changing diapers in the morning. The girls wake up hungry so I let them snack while I get them all ready for breakfast. Anyway.... Rachel put the blanket over her head and then couldn't figure out how to get it off. She was wandering around the play area with it over her head. It was so funny, I had to get a picture.

Got triplets? Mommy made a big trip to the Carters Outlet store last weekend. I bought 12 long sleeve footie sleepers for Summer. (Because Daddy keeps it 70 degrees in the house year round.) Also got them 10 long sleeve onesies for next winter and 25 short sleeve onesies for the summer and next winter. We got some cute matching outfits and socks too! It's crazy how much laundry we go through. I did end up returning 3 of the sleepers and a couple of outfits because a good friend of mine gave us a bag of clothes a couple days after my shopping trip. We LOVE hand-me-downs!

In other random news...... We have officially decided to switch to Huggies diapers. I have been faithfully using the Target store brand diapers for months. They are the best diaper deal out there aside from the Walmart leaky diapers. However, Target changed something about their diapers and the girls started getting horrible TMI warning ...bloody rash. I was going through aquaphor and desitin like it was going out of style and it still wasn't helping them. Poor babies. I got so fed up that we decided to try Huggies since we love their overnight diapers. Well, we've been using the Huggies for 2 weeks now and the girls haven't had a rash since. It's crazy. I never thought it would have anything to do with the type of diaper. So even though it will cost us a little more, we're making the switch!

Sorry we were MIA last week. I'll try to do better this week. But wow... we really do have another busy week ahead of us!

Random Updates...

Tonight is a big night. We finally evicted little Rachel from our bedroom. It was time. She's been sleeping all night consistently for quite some time now. We moved the girls' dresser out of their room and moved Rachel's crib back in. It's a tight fit, but with the dresser out of the room we don't have to put one of the cribs near the window. I know it's just the first night, but I am excited to have our bedroom back. If Rachel's little noises wake Sophia and Morgan, then I'll be buying a sound machine. With her out of our bedroom, I can take bubble baths at night again! Yay!

Our house projects have been delayed. We've been so busy on the weekends lately that I haven't had a chance to start painting the kitchen yet. We want to wait until the room is painted before we get the new floor and the new stove range top. We're still going to do it. I'm hoping that I can start painting this week.

The girls have been taking 2 1/2-3 hour naps lately. It's been pure bliss! I was the mama who was seriously sleep deprived and then to top that off, the girls were not good nappers! I think I put in my time. haha... Now they are really good night sleepers and nappers! So much so that Bob and I now take turns as to who gets up early with the girls. I'm glad I can let him get some extra sleep now too.

This past week was crazy busy. It's amazing how one weekend away set me so far back with laundry and just the general keep up I do with this house. Also, we've scaled back our helpers to only 2 per week. I used to have someone coming for about 2 hours per day every day of the week except Tuesday. As much as I appreciated it and truly needed it during the girls' first year, I was ready to end it. Plus, the girls have gotten so big that they were getting hard to lift. I think we've found the perfect balance now. I have a helper for about 2 hours on Mondays and Thursdays now and I really like it this way. It gives us more freedom for outings and play dates. I miss the ladies that aren't coming anymore, but they love the girls so much so they'll be visiting soon. Anyway, my point was that it is harder to keep the house anywhere near clean without the extra help. I'm doing the best I can though. I just need to get organized! I have stuff literally everywhere and it's driving me nuts!

So with all that said, you all might think I am crazy. I'm going back to school in the Fall. Before I got pregnant I was working toward my associates degree in liberal studies. I'm over halfway there and I refuse to give up now. Long story.... but I didn't go to college when I was younger. I was too busy being an idiot. LOL... I'm not sure when or if I will be going back to work. My job is the girls now. I worked for 8 years in the insurance industry. Part of that time was as a customer service rep and part of that time was as an insurance agent. I don't want to go back to that. If I go back to work someday....and I probably will when the girls are older... I want to do something I will enjoy or um...at least not hate. I've been thinking about it a lot lately. I'm interested in working either in an infertility clinic or becoming an ultrasound tech. Not sure yet. My first step is to just finish the liberal studies degree I started and go from there. It's going to take quite some time since I can only take 1-2 classes per semester. I have re-applied to the local community college that I went to before, but I can't register until the May 3rd. At least I get to register one day before it opens up to the public. I'm hoping I can get my class online and not have to go to the campus. If I have to go to the campus, I'll just go one night per week. So yay me! I'll get to feel like I'm doing something other than just diapers all day!

Oh Sophia's therapy..... I don't remember if I posted about this before so here it is...either way. She is doing so well that she is only going to be monitored once a month until she is running. lol... Erin wants to make sure that she walks without her toes pointing inward so she is going to keep an eye on us until Sophia is zipping around all over. She took 3 steps last week and will now even take one step all on her own without us prompting her. She is also sitting up very well while playing with her toys. I correct her when she is in the "W" position so she is doing it less and less. I keep working with her every day. She's doing so well. I also work with Morgan and Rachel too. I always thought that babies just learn these skills on their own. The girls are doing so much better now that we are going through these exercises.

Well, that's all I can think of at the moment. Time to get some sleep. I wonder how Rachel will do when she wakes up and realizes Mommy isn't right next to her crib. Yikes!