Life is never boring!

Welcome to our day. The girls are just a few days shy of 20 months old. I simply cannot believe that in just four short little months, we'll be celebrating their second birthday! They have grown so much. It's unbelievable. In the Spring, I was going through their clothes and put some size 18 month stuff away to use this Fall. I was just SURE they wouldn't be in a bigger size even though they would be older than 18 months. The girls have always just seemed small to me. Imagine my shock when I pulled these clothes out and realized there was no way any of them would fit. Not even Rachel! The girls are so tall now! I cannot believe I've been buying clothes in the 24 month and 2T sizes. 

Anyway... Just wanted to share some cute pics of the girls that I snapped a few days ago. Here are Rachel and Sophia fighting over their new laugh and learn chair. My dad picked this up at a yard sale and gave it to the girls. They LOVE it and fight over it all day. It's too funny.

Morgan offering me some juice from her sippy.

 Our happy little Rachel

Sophia playin with the pig and cow puppets and making a silly face

I tried to get a pic of all three looking at me. They were out of "position" as soon as I backed up to try and take the picture. *sigh*

I know I write about our hard days more often than not. I tend to use this blog as an outlet for me as well as a journal about the girls. I like to keep it real and write about the raw truth and not just the peaches and creme part. The truth is, there are days when I want to pull all of my hair out and run away. That's real life.

The truth is, whenever I am away from my girls for just a few hours, I miss them like crazy. I love seeing their smiling little faces. I love it when I lay down on the couch, they all climb on me and we snuggle up and watch one of their shows together. I love it when I open the door when they wake up in the morning or after nap and they start running back and forth in their cribs with excitement and hold their arms up for me. Even though this is the hardest job I've ever had, I wouldn't trade it for the world. My girls ARE my world!

How do you think high chair boot camp is going?

Yeah.... It's not going so well. We really did give it our "all" for quite some time. This pic shows an excessive amount of food on the floor. We had a rough day today. lol... They did learn a little from the boot camp. Usually, they only toss about a quarter of what you see here.

They know not to throw food. Sometimes it's a lot. Sometimes it's a little. Once in a while, it's none at all. It depends on whether I'm trying to get them to taste a new food or not. Either way, we just stopped taking them out of their chairs. We're almost done with the initial evaluations for the therapy that they're going to receive. So far, I love the therapists we have met. All three of them are such a good fit for our family. They know about the issues we've had getting the girls to eat and how picky they are, and they are excited to help us. I'm going to hang on until we can get some advice that applies to where my girls are with their development. I think we'll be more successful that way!

Stay tuned.... One of these days, I'm going to post a pic of clean NEW tile floor!

I smell like curry and other stuff

I really do smell like curry.

I just returned from a fabulous girls night out with some of my friends. We sat in an Indian restaurant for over 2 hours. I really should change my clothes. I can still smell my dinner. Maybe it's my breath haha. Oh well. I had such a great time, it's worth it to reek of curry.

So much has been going on over the past week. I don't know where to begin. 

I just realized I never did an "18 month update" about the girls' recent well baby (or um technically well toddler) appointment. For every check up, I fill out a questionnaire for each one of the girls regarding their development. There's always a list of questions like, "Does your child stack at least 3 blocks," and "Does your child say more than 5 words?" You know, developmental questions. For the first time at one of these check ups, I had to answer "no" to a lot of the questions. I've been around other little ones their age, so I knew we were a little behind. I was so happy when their pediatrician decided to refer us to the county development program to be evaluated in ALL aspects of development. I've been trying to get the girls into this program for months, but I was told that because our insurance covered certain therapies, they couldn't see the girls without a referral. Well, we GOT the referral! 

So last week,we had a couple of days of evaluations on the girls (just two hours in the mornings). The therapists came to our house, which was awesome. I can't imagine trying to get them all somewhere for something like this without meltdowns. The speech evaluation was cancelled because the therapist was sick, so we'll be rescheduling that one. 

The first day was pretty rough for me. I had to watch my sweet little girls pretty much fail most of the tests the therapist did. The tests were pretty simple. For example, she had three coffee cups and hid a ball underneath one of them. They were supposed to lift the cup and find the ball. Rachel grabbed two cups and ran off into the corner and banged them together. Morgan picked up a cup and tried to eat it, and Sophia copied Rachel and took two cups and banged them together. Another task was to put these round pegs into a hole. Rachel took the peg and ran off. Morgan kept handing the peg to Amy, our therapist, in her "you do it" motion. Sophia just took the peg and banged it against the piece of wood that the holes were cut in. They did pass some of the tests, like being able to get into a toddler chair and sit down. Sophia almost scribbled with a pencil. I thought they didn't pass most of the tests because I haven't shown them how to do these things before. However, Amy told me that these are all tasks that a 19 month should be able to pick up and do after being shown once. There were other skills tested that I'm not going to list. The girls scored so much lower than I thought they would. 

I thought we were only 3-4 months behind. Turns out it's much more than that. For fine motor skills, Rachel is at a 10 month old level and Sophia and Morgan are at an 11 month old level. They scored around 15 and 17 months in other areas, but I can't remember what the name of those areas are. I didn't write anything down and I was too busy trying to hold back tears because I felt like I've failed my children by not teaching them more. I'm over that now though. I know this isn't my fault. I know that it's very common for multiples to need therapy in certain areas. Besides, the fact that we are so far behind gets us 100 percent approved for the therapy. I'm so thankful that this is finally happening for us. I've known we've needed some help for quite some time. I feel incredibly blessed to know that we're going to have so much support. I have several friends who have gone through this program and give it rave reviews. I'm so thankful that we're in the process of getting started. I just feel at peace now knowing that the girls are in such good hands. I know we'll catch up soon. 

Other than all the development stuff this week, I've still been trying to find the right contractor for the right price to do the work in our bathrooms and kitchen. One of our friends who does tile is hopefully coming soon to put a bid in. I had one contractor come on Thursday last week. He took a bunch of measurements, but hasn't gotten back to me on the price yet. I just want to get this work done. Shopping for someone to do it has not been fun at all. 

School has also been keeping me on my toes. I am kicking myself for taking two classes while trying to take care of the girls too. I didn't realize that even though I don't work full time outside the home, I still work full time (you know....running my own day care! haha).  So this has been like working full time and going to school!  My Anthropology class is kicking my butt. It's boring to me so I really have no interest. I have a test next week and I'm totally freaked out over it. I spent almost 5 hours at the library today studying, which I must say........was pretty awesome. I got to sit in a quiet room for hours! Today was my first time going to our local library and I absolutely loved it!  I did feel super old though. They have several "quiet study rooms" that are separated with glass windows. I can honestly say I was the only one over 30 who was using one of the rooms to study. I think everyone else was 19 haha! Oh well. When I was 19, I was the worst student ever. Sometimes I get frustrated that I didn't go to college when I was younger, but that was no one's fault but my own. I'm proud of myself for going back now! Anyway, I think I'm going to enjoy my Saturdays at the library. I spend the entire other 6 days a week with the girls. It's not going to hurt them if Mommy goes to the library for 5 hours on the weekends! 

With all that said.....wow, it's getting late. Time to get some much needed sleep. Oh and I must admit that I had to stop and take a shower before finishing this entry because.....even my hair smelled funky! Who can sleep if they stink? I can't!

Our Sweet New Ride

We did it. We bought a Chevy Tahoe. At first, I thought the inside wasn't much bigger than the cargo space of our van. But then I realized that the whole reason we wanted an SUV was so that we could have other passengers with us from time to time. We're not expecting to go anywhere too far for at least another year, so this didn't need to be big enough to fit either of our triple strollers. Our girls will be out of the stroller stage when that time rolls around. It will fit 3 umbrella strollers just fine if we really must use strollers. (The triple stroller would fit if we removed the back row of seats too.)

I usually do NOT like driving bigger vehicles. I used to run over curbs and such when I would drive Bob's old Dodge truck. (I can't tell you how many times I almost backed into things!) This Tahoe handles so much better than that truck did though. I drove it around a lot this afternoon when I went to the other side of town to buy some climbing structures off of Craigslist for the girls. I totally fell in love with this SUV. In fact, I secretly want this to be MINE! However, I will still happily drive my minivan. I am much more comfortable driving a smaller vehicle anyway. 

We already have one extra carseat that I got from a friend. We're not sure if we'll get two more or just switch out the carseats when we want to take the Tahoe somewhere. The Tahoe is really meant for Bob right now. He's going to enjoy it during his upcoming camping trip. I'm glad he was able to get what he wanted. He's been talking about this since May!

I can't believe how excited I am over this purchase! I will really miss our old car. It was meant to be our family car, but having triplets certainly changed that plan! I'm glad that both of our vehicles are now perfect for our family! Plus, this is just one sweet ride!

Busy isn't busy enough....apparently.

I thought I was busy before I started school. Now the word busy means that I can't see straight. It's all doable though. My class deadlines are on Sunday and Monday nights, which is great for me because I've been doing most of the reading during the week. Then I do the assignments, discussion boards, and everything else that is due on the weekends when Bob is home.

Bob's been working a lot too. On top of his full time job, he's also working hard on a video game he's creating with a partner.  Get ready Facebook, you're about to get a whole new game. Well, in about two more months. Since it's hard to get any work done at home, he's rented a small office space a few minutes from our house to get work done during his spare time. It's an investment for sure, but the game could eventually be the start of something that could be big for our family. I'm super proud of him. 

So he's trying to get extra work done and I'm trying to find quiet time for school work. I'm going to go the library every weekend for about 4 hours.....at least that is the plan. I'm keeping up okay. I just may lose my "A" status on my transcript, which is fine with me if I can just finish the classes! 

Is that all? Nope! We're also getting ready to finish our kitchen makeover that we started last June. I've had a couple of quotes to replace the floor in the kitchen and our three bathrooms. I am so over the carpet in our bathrooms. The carpet in the girls' bathroom has been both pooped and pee'd on. (By the girls of course.......Aren't you glad I shared that info?) When we start potting training, we simply cannot have carpet in our bathrooms. Plus, carpet in bathrooms is icky. So yeah, in the next couple of weeks, our current floors are going to be ripped out and new ones installed. It's gonna get messy!

If that's not enough..... We're also planning on buying a "new to us" SUV. Our teeny minivan just isn't cutting it and Bob doesn't want to drive his car anymore. We want both of our vehicles to fit the whole family. The minivan only fits us. We'd like the SUV to be big enough that we can fit the whole family plus a couple of other passengers. We're planning trips to the zoo, future vacations, and other outings where we'd like to have someone come with us to help with the girls. It's just not possible with either vehicle right now. I'm so tired of buying vehicles though. Bob and I were laughing tonight. We've been together for a little over 5 years and this will be the 4th vehicle we will buy together. We're not picky, our circumstances just keep changing. Also, one of the cars we bought right before we got married was a crappy VW Passat that broke down all time even though it was less than 3 years old! So yeah, this weekend we will start our search for the perfect family SUV so we don't have to buy any more cars for several years!

Even though we're super busy, it's totally worth it. I don't love that I've chosen now as the time to continue school, but now just makes sense. Unless Bob's video game makes us some big bucks and leads him to other projects, I'll be going back to work some day. So it just feels right to finish what I started years ago. 

High Chair Boot Camp

Because yeah… boot camp is hard….. or so I hear. Really, I'm told it sucks, um grass minus the g and the r. (See? I'm doing really well with this not cussing thing.)

As I complain about constantly, the girls throw so much food on the floor at meal times. I think it's just become a habit. They even throw food they like, just to watch it fall to the floor. Especially Sophia! She likes to make sure I'm watching before tossing her cheerios or whatever she is eating. Then she laughs at me when I tell her not to do it. It's awesome! Morgan likes to pretend she's going to take a bite and then she tosses it over her shoulder and doesn't look back. She's even got this arm thing going on where her head will be facing toward me and I see her little arm just fly up into the air to the side…. then there goes her cracker, or egg, or whatever she doesn't want. She does it with such grace and style too! She's going to be a dancer for sure!

Then there is Rachel. She pretty much only throws food she isn't going to eat. If it's something she likes, it usually stays on her tray until it enters her mouth. However, we all know she is the picky eater anyway. Did you hear she's also a food therapy drop out? That's right! She refuses to go. Haha… okay kidding, I have decided to ditch her therapist. Frankly, I don't like the woman and she's completely not understanding of the fact that I have more than one toddler to feed. I'm not convinced anymore that Rachel has issues that I can't fix myself. I think she's just picky.

Okay, so back to my point. The food war continues. They're still winning, but I think I'm gaining some ground. This past Saturday, Bob and I implemented "High chair bootcamp."

Dum, da, da, daaaaaaaa.............

What is high char bootcamp? Well, it's a made up name for us to get the girls to stop throwing their food. My friend, and fellow triplet mom, has been coaching me on what to do. If one of the girls throws any piece of food off of their tray, we take them out of the high chair and put them in the "pack in play" play pen on time out for one minute. We tell them they are on time out because they threw their food on the floor. After their minute is up, we put them back in their high chair and we say we're going to try again. We say, "eat your food, do not throw it on the floor." (Cheerfully, of couse.) If they throw something on the floor again, we take them back out of their chair. Yeah….it's made for some very long meals around here, but they are starting to get the point.

We started on Saturday morning, and much to my surprise, not one of them threw food during breakfast. It was a first. I started to wonder if they heard us talking about our master plan the day before. hahahaha….. At dinner time that night, Sophia was taken out of her chair 3 times. When put back in her chair after her third time out, she didn't throw a single thing for the rest of the meal. We've also given them less pieces of food to lower the temptation and break the habit. Morgan has been put on time out a few times too. We decided that we're not doing this with Rachel yet. She's still not eating many finger foods anyway so she really doesn't throw that much at all. We'll work on her later if it is a problem. Anyway, today was the third day and I'm happy to say that our floor is much cleaner. They still forget and toss some over the side, but then I can tell they know they've done it! They look at me like… "Okay mom, take me out of my chair." Sophia has also caught herself pre-throw and then stopped herself from doing it. She's utilizing the cup holder in the tray now. If she doesn't want something, instead of tossing it over the side of the tray and onto the floor, she's just putting it in the cup holder area. It's fine with me! Less for me to sweep and she's really learning her lesson.

I'm not expecting things to be perfect, but WOW…what a difference a few days makes. We're going to keep doing this until we can sit down and eat like civilized toddlers. (Do civilized toddlers really exist? HA) Seriously though. I've been avoiding play dates recently because the girls' food throwing had gotten so out of control. I just didn't have the energy to deal with it. Now that we've started boot camp, there's no turning back now! We're going to see this through!

My next goal is to get rid of the high chairs and put them at the table using their booster seats. I'm not going to do that until the food throwing stops! Hopefully, it stops soon. I want my kitchen space back!

We're on our way for sure!

Who's bright idea was this?

I just finished week one of school. I have fifteen more weeks to go. It's going to be just a bit more work than I thought it was. I don't know why I got the bright idea to take two classes while taking care of (gasp) 19 month old triplets. (Can you believe the girls will be 19 months old in jus a couple of days?!)

I'm determined though. Well that, and I spent over $500 paying for the classes and the books so I am going to finish these classes no matter what! Too bad I didn't feel that way when my mom was paying for school back when I was 18. Sorry Mommy!

I've been studying or doing homework almost every single night since the first week started. My original plan was to do the school work during nap time, but that quickly fizzled out. I'm too busy doing laundry, washing dishes, eating lunch, folding clothes, or even trying to sneak in a shower while they sleep. I just can't focus during the day. This night time studying thing is really going to cut into my Fall tv line up. HA! Good thing Dancing with the Stars has a terrible cast this season.

As challenging as it may be to do this, I'm happy that I'm doing it!

Hopefully, I'll still be able to say that ten weeks from now when I'm burnt out.