Beauties at Play

Papa's Punkins

Papa has the camping and all the necessities out for the week. We went out to grill and play last night. It was relaxing, well I mean as relaxing as it ever gets when we are around. We hammys and hotdoggies, fresh tomatoes and cantaloupe, and of course Papas fav, baked beans (Silvie loves them as much as her Papa.) After dinner, we headed over to the play ground. Papa was in his glory playing with his "little punkins". They were running everywhere. Papa even helped them on the monkey bars and climbing wall. If that isn't the perfect thing for my kids...climbing monkeys! After we played hard we changed into our jammies and went to get an ice cream! Everyone was tuckered out and ready for bed. I am sure we will be spending some time out their this weekend! I hope the weather is as great as it has been. I love Iowa when the weather is like this...

Pannicakes and Airplanes

Sunday morning called for an outing to the airport. It was the annual Sertoma Flying Club Pancake Breakfast. You know how much the girls love the pannicakes! We met Gramma Pam and Papa and Uncle Chad, Aunt Deanna and Molli. The girls and I even made it there before everyone else! I must say that is an accomplishment. Everyone always expects us to be late, and for once, we were not. After we ate,we walked around to look at all of the airplanes. The triplets were mesmerized by them. Pointing and trying to run after them as they headed down to the runway. Molli climbed a rock wall. She did very well! We learned that Farrah is scared of clowns...no I mean really scared of clowns.

Dress Up Beauties

It was a fun Friday at our house. Another day of sleeping until almost 8:30. Loads of laughter and silly willies today. After the girls' nap, we decided to tear apart Chloe's room. We entered the dress-up trunk. For those of you that do not know Chloe...she is the dress up goddess! No...I really mean GODDESS. This child changes her clothes at MINIMUM...TWENTY SEVEN times EVERY SINGLE DAY! Sunday through Saturday, holidays too. She has more clothes than I do! Some of the outfits are pure fashionista and others are pure clownista. With an entire spectrum in between. The triplets had so much fun playing in the princess dresses, jewelry, hula shirts, witch hats, Minnie mouse ears, plastic shoes, purses, mermaid tails, magic wands, crowns, hats, gloves, feather boas...you name it...we got it...We spent over 2 1/2 hours changing and dancing and giggling and taking snapshots. (Please be sure to view the photo show above, if you don't smile...you must be a mean and grouchy person.) I am confident this will become a regular thing at our house...If you need birthday/Christmas ideas...dress up stuff is sure to be a winner. Chloe thinks it great that her sisters love it as much as she does. Just promise next time you drop by...excuse the mess of clothing strung all through out the house...now instead of one fashionista/clownista...I have four...not including myself of course.

Pretty Toesies

Chloe and I had a really GREAT afternoon today. This is quite a change from the last several. It seems that my sweet little "mommy's girl" really likes to keep mommy's nerves at attention these days. Typical four-year-old stuff. But that doesn't make it pleasant. We (by which I mean Chloe) likes to use the phrases "I'm scared", "not by myself" "no I will not" and "I don't want to". Oh and my personal fav..."Daddy is the easy one, you are the hard one." Hmmm, well I guess I have no come back to that one. Daddy IS the easy one. But that is only because he works outside the home full time and not at home full time. Enough said. We spoke with her doc at her 4 year well check, she offered ideas on reward charts, stickers and prizes earned quickly. Given for things such as being a good helper. Eating healthful meals, not whining and the BIG ONE...SLEEPING ALONE! Tried it...not Chloe's bag. She could give a rats patootie about stickers on a chart. We tried rewards after small achievements...example...Nim's Island was just released a few weeks ago (she really loved it in the theater) we said, "let's start small...one night in your own bed and we will get it for you." She agreed, then when the movie came home she told us to take it back because "I guess I do not want it if I have to sleep all by myself." She is a SMART kid. So, back to today, The girls all stayed in bed until almost 8:30! Stop the Press Batman! That never ever happens! (Thanks Beauties.) She was in a fabulous mood. She was Mommy's little helper all day. She earned $2.00 folding washcloths. ($1.00 per four...I know, good rate...we go through a lot of washcloths at our house, so it's worth it to have help). She shared and played nicely with her sisters and even ate all her dinner...even her lost love cantaloupe! She even tried steak and rice! She didn't like it...oh well...at least she tasted it! So after the monkeys were in bed, Chloe and Mommy hit the mall and treated ourselves to pedi! She picked a sparkly pink and even has little flowers on her toes. It was fun and relaxing! A great way to spent time alone with her. I very much enjoy taking my sweet little Chloe to get pampered! She deserved it today. At bedtime...she still didn't fall asleep alone, but she went right down after two stories, and it is 12:30 and she is still in bed by herself. Maybe there is hope...Time will tell I suppose.

Monkeys...

Monkey See...

Monkey Do...

Monkey says..."Get down...or help me up!"

Times Four for Daddy

Matt...husband...father...DADDY. For those who know him...this video is him from head to toes with his four little beauties. When I saw it...first tears came to my eyes and I thought of him immediately. Then I laughed because it really is exactly how he is with his daughters. There is a true difference in a father...a dad...and a DADDY. Matt has the DADDY part running through his heart and soul. Enjoy...

Feeling better...finally

All is much better at our house. It's been almost three weeks of sick kiddos at our house. If I ever figure out where it came from, or who, I will be sure to share how I feel about it with them. I try to be a total germ freak! I have hand sanitiser in EVERY room in EVERY diaper bag, in the car, I even bought some germ wipes to keep in my purse. It has paid off, we are a pretty healthy clan, but when it hits it hits hard. Seems like it takes FOREVER to get everyone healthy. The girls are back to normal and sleeping all night. We did have to go through the two hour "CIO" thing again, but only for one night...thank goodness! I really have a difficult time letting them cry for five minutes, let alone two hours. Matt said it had to be done. It worked, Daddy is always right, well not always, but I will let him think so for today. We had a great day yesterday. Walked to the straight mall (as Chloe calls it), Chloe had her hair cut, had a cookie and walked around in the mall. They were happy little clams. Maybe just excited to be out of the house. Here are the girls having fun with their new water bottle toppers. Who needs toys when you have a plain old bottle of water?

Update on the Sickies

The week has been a long one. Being sick stinks. I think the girls are feeling better today. They are still a bit on the cranky side, but no one has a fever, knock on wood. We have had 3 nights this week, when all 4 have been up the majority of the night. Silvie and Jocelyn both took a turn crying for an entire night. The third night I guess everyone just felt like partying! Chloe and Farrah just didn't want to miss out on the "party". The triplets can sense when one of the others is not in the room or is crying or not feeling well. They give one another lots of sympathy. I am so glad that the four of them are normally healthy kids. Having one sick is so difficult. Having 4 sick is horrible! Mostly because it is simply impossible to comfort all of them at the same time. Makes me feel so bad. We are truly fortunate that they have only had a couple illnesses. A couple ear infections and that nasty flu bug. I cannot imagine this being a regular occurrence. I would seriously jump! I am looking forward to a better week this week! I am confident that the girls are too!

Update...

It's been a few months since I pulled an "all-nighter." I can honestly say, Thank heavens the girls sleep all night now. I have been questioning how on earth I went on such tiny amounts of sleep for 15 months straight! Seriously, I am not sure how I did it, or if I could do it again.
Silvie Mae is not feeling better at all. She went to sleep about 8pm and was awake and screaming at 10:30. She literally cried from 10:30 until about 5:30 this morning. Matt and I both took a turn in the car, driving around with her (which was the only way we could get her to stop screaming). Then at 4:00 am we loaded all four girls (everyone was awake and crying again) and drove around the county. Boy, we haven't done that since Chloe was a tot. Good thing too gas is too expensive these days. We arrived back home, Jocelyn and Farrah were asleep. We put the triplets back in bed and Silvie began crying again. We were loaded up 2 different times in the night to take her to the ER. We even had to call Gma Pam to come over at 5 because she was crying so hard. Then she calmed down and laid next to Chloe on the couch and watched the Doodle-bops. We decided to wait until 7 when the Peds Clinic opened. She finally fell asleep at 6:30ish and slept for about 2 hours. We talked to the nurse this morning, who then consulted a doc. They feel that her ear drum/drums may have ruptured, which causes severe pain. We are on the look out for draining from one or possibly both of her ears. They said that when the ear drum is bulging (which hers was yesterday) that the pressure builds so much that it can rip or burst. Ouchy! Poor little Silvie! They said that it can take 48-72 hrs before they show significant relief. We are keeping her on Motrin every 6 and Tylenol every 4. I hope she feels better soon. I just feel so bad when they cannot tell me what's wrong. When the cuddles and snuggles do not work with my girls, you know they really, really do not feel well.

Grumpy Girls

An update on the girls...since we arrived home from the fair we have had 3 very grumpy toddlers on our hands. Farrah has been on antibiotics for a week for double ear infection. Silvie and Jocelyn have been running fevers since Monday night. We made a trip to the Peds Clinic today, Farrah's ears are looking better, although she has hives. We suspect she is allergic to amoxicillin. Jocelyn and Silvie have joined ear infection status. So they are now taking antibiotics. Weights today: Jocelyn-21lbs, Farrah-18 lbs 2 oz, Silvie-19 lbs 4 oz. Hopefully tomorrow will be better than today...because today has been a very challenging one. Poor little sweeties...it stinks not feeling well...

We didn't see the Butter Cow

We spent the day at the State Fair yesterday. We had a great time being together, however, we did learn the girls are not quite ready to take the trip we planned to Chicago next month. Or maybe it would be better described as Mommy and Daddy are not ready for that! Maybe we will go somewhere alone. Haha. We departed from home about 10:30. Packed and ready to conquer the day! We only stopped twice on the way there. Pretty good for a 2 hour drive with 4 kids. When we arrived a very nice gentleman gave us 2 tickets on his way out. Nice $20.00 savings for us! We walked towards the games and rides, a "carnie" stopped me and handed me a dart. Here was his line: "Are those triplets? We have to win something for them." He hands me a dart, I miss, hands me another I make it. "For $5.00 I will give you 4 prizes, even if you miss." I thought, it's been a long time since I played darts, why not, I know I'll miss. Well, I hit all 3! Yeah me! The girls were awarded a plush rose. ooh aah! We walked on and Chloe spotted the rides and so we checked those out. Wow! They made a killing on the price to ride them! Chloe finally decided on the boats. Basically they are rafts with steering wheels and they spin in circles. For $4.00 she was able to ride for five minutes. Money well spent. After that Chloe and I rode on the sky glider. You know the one that takes you across the grounds in a ski lift type contraption. She loved that too. Again money well spent. We checked out the DNR building. We visited Fun Forest. Chloe made a fan and tossed some beanbags and have a balloon made into a fish and fishing pole. After that we ventured to "Perry's Exotic Petting Zoo". All 4 of the girls agreed this was their favorite part of the day! Chloe had a pony ride, more money well spent. Then we fed some animals. Goats, Llamas, a Zebra, an African Cow, Camels and Mommy's favorite, Kangaroos! Jocelyn loved the goats...she wasn't afraid of them like the last time. She even pet them! Silvie and Farrah just sat back and took it all in. They seemed to like the entire experience. We decided to attempt dinner time. Which was kind of when things went from great to a bit ugly. They all wanted down...They ate a little and when we tried to put Jocelyn back into the stroller, yeah, she wasn't having it. She spent the rest of the fair in the hip carrier, attached to Mommy. Chloe wanted one last ride on the ski glider. She Jocelyn was able to ride too, since she was attached to Mommy. When we were grounded we decided it was time to load em up. All in all it was good day. I did tell 3 different women on 3 different occasions "it's not nice to point". As they pointed at us from me to the computer screen away. We met 4 different triplet families. All whose kids were much older 4-16. They said oh, how they remembered when. Also adding that we were brave. None had ever taken their triplets anywhere when they were little. That made us feel good, or maybe nuts. I'm sure we will go again next year. Maybe make it tradition. I must say I am a bit disappointed that we ate nothing deep fried (which is good when I really think about it) and I didn't get to see the "butter cow". That's the goal for next year!

A monkey named Jocelyn

I am positive Jocelyn is going to be the first of the triplets to go to the ER. For those of you that have not been to our home, we live in a "gated community" for this reason. We have a huge gate that blocks of the kitchen, one at the top of the stairs, one at the bottom of the stairs, and one in the hallway. We also keep the bathroom door closed at ALL times (they climb on top of the potty). Our home is child-proofed and beyond. However, I am learning that child-proof, does not mean triplet proof, or more specifically Baby A (Jocelyn) proof. We have caught some on camera, and some where there was no time for the camera. Some of the stunts our sweet little Jocelyn performs: using Farrah and or Silvie to climb on top of Chloe's bed. Hanging from the stove (pictured above), climbing on to the bathroom counter (via the toilet), she can even get the toothbrush abd turn on the water by herself. Getting into the reclining chair using her unbelievable arm strength, standing on the kitchen table, hanging from the refrigerator door. Let us not forget, attempting to climb the hall gate (she was almost over), attempting to climb dresser drawers and closet shelves. I am positive there are more that I am forgetting. But that gives you a clear idea of what I mean when I say she will be the first to the ER. Also keep in mind, that I do not leave the girls unattended, not ever! Jocelyn is just a really really great climber, she is faster than the speed of sound. She usually goes for it when I am tending one of her sisters' needs. All the while she is looking at me with those sweet little eyes that are saying "I'm gonna do it Mommy". When I shower they are either in the bathroom (yep, all 4) with me (this is so relaxing, if you would like to borrow them to try it, I'll sign you up, there's a waiting list you know), sound asleep with Chloe on guard, or another adult is here with us. (Daddy or one of our Grams). The last is the most used, hence the reason I usually look like I have not showered during the day. She keeps me on the move, well they all do, I just have to be quicker with our little monkey-girl.

I want to be a Dentist

I know you are all familiar with the Christmas special, Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer, right? Well, remember the little elf kid who wanted to be a dentist? He didn't like to make toys. I think his name was Hermie, but I can't remember for sure. You know the one who runs away with Rudolph and fights the Snow Monster. Well, tell me Jocelyn doesn't look like him! Little curl and all. "I want to be a dentist."