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!