We had a fabulous Christmas.  Last year the kids were too young to understand what was going on but this year their faces gleamed with excitement as they opened their presents.  Grammy, Grandpa and Uncle Nick came to celebrate the day.  Their big Christmas present from us was a play kitchen.

Josie and Mia seem a little more into the kitchen than Marcus.  They gather all the food in baskets and move the dishes from one cabinet to another.  Marcus has always preferred to be outside exploring or helping his dad with yard work (or watching TV) over playing with toys.  But Aunt Tracey got him a gift that seems to keep his attention.

Other favorites from grammy and grandpa include a picnic table, Mr. Potato Heads, a Little People and a tool bench from Uncle Nick.  Books and puzzles are also always popular.

Unfortunately Marcus had a little tummy bug this Christmas so he was pretty wiped out the whole day.  Here he is taking a rest with Grammy and Chloe.

As for Max and I.  Well, we have been blessed with the best Christmas present of all.  We have 18 month old triplets.  During the first year of their lives, life was a blur.  It was difficult on so many levels.  Now, life is much more manageable and rewarding.  Our children wake up every morning with their best friends.  Their squeals of delight echo through our house from morning till evening.  It truly is a party every day.  Watching them interact and grow together is the most unique and wonderful experience I could imagine.  Sure, life can still be crazy challenging at times but the work is now well worth the payout.  We truly have been given an amazing gift and we are so lucky to be the parents of triplets.

Oh, and for the past several days our kids have slept till nearly 8 AM. This is unheard of since they usually are up by 6:15 EVERY DAY.  Maybe that is why I’ve been  so chipper…

I love the stories about the embarrassing things kids say. Mine don’t talk in complete sentences yet but over the past 1.5 years, we’ve had our “instances”. Here are some of my favorites:

1. When Josie was around 13 months old she came walking into the living room playing peak-a-boo with my bra during a family get-together.

2. A few months back I introduced my kids to stickers. They love them! The especially love to stick them on each other’s backs (because this is where I put their nametags every week at Gymboree). Therefore, I shouldn’t have been too stunned when Marcus recently walked into the kitchen with a pantyliner stuck on his back.

3. I recently pulled out a winter pullover from the back of my closet for someone to borrow and didn’t realize till I handed it to them that it was COVERED in spit-up (I’m not talking a few spots)… I had three 6-month-old refluxers last winter and obviously didn’t get everything washed. Coincidently, the same thing happened a few days later when I pulled out my favorite pair of winter shoes.

4. A few months back, an embarrassing item from “that drawer” ended up sitting in the playroom for days before I remembered to pick it up. We have lots of visitors here so I’m sure someone was over during that time…”kids toys these days”.

5. Today not one but two people stopped me at Super Target to hand me bananas that “I think you dropped.” (umm….more like my kids were chucking them out of the cart)

6. Last week Marcus came walking out of my closet with a pair of my underwear on his head saying “hat”. Ironically, his father did something similar in college.

7. The lovely thing with multiples is both sides of your bathing suit top can be pulled down simultaneously while in the pool. Even better, your choices are bare it all or drop one of your babies into the water to free your hand to cover back up (and unless your baby has passed their survival swim class, this is probably not a great option). Taking multiple toddlers swimming really requires a Speedo, even if you’re not swimming laps.

8. Around the kids first birthday, I thought it would be fun for us all to take a bubble bath together. It was a blast until 5 minutes in, I noticed Mia scooping up a few terds with her stacking cup. Never Again!

C’mon, you know you’ve got some of your own moments to share! Spill the beans!

I’m not getting any perks for my Gymboree plugs.  I just love the place because my kids love it.  Every week Gymboree has a new theme and this is what makes the program so fascinating for my kids.  It is just enough “new” material to keep them interested.  Every week they run into the room searching for the new stuffed animals, hats or gadgets.  My kids eat up this class.  They are always right at the front of the pack (practically in the teacher’s lap) and participate whole-heartedly in every group activity.  This week’s theme was the post office and I finally remembered my camera to take some great pics:

sorting mail

picking up packages

just having fun

weighing packages

ending class with a Gymbo stamp

For some ridiculous reason, I clean the house every night after the kids go to bed.  Lately, I have been taking some tips from Gymboree and setting up some “props” of my own with toys the kids already have stuffed in cubbies.  When the kids come downstairs in the morning they squeal in delight of the “new” discovery.  Here are what my kids will wake up to tomorrow morning:

talking to friends on the phone

stuffed animal mosh pit

This past weekend we traveled to Gramma and Pop-Pop’s for Christmas with the G’s.  It was a fantastic time but a whirlwind, as usual.  The kids were so pooped from all the excitement they slept in past 7 AM both days.  I suppose a house of 7 kids, 8 adults and 3 dogs will do that to you.  Heck,  it is rare I get to sleep past 6 AM, I’m ready to move to Gramma and Pop-Pop’s .

This was their first time the kiddos actually understood the idea of presents.  You tear off the paper and find something fantastic inside!   They had a blast and were in great spirits.  Life with three 1.5 year olds is amazing; it is a party every day.

Aunt Jes and Uncle Luke got the kids a bounce house.  To say the kiddos had fun is an understatement.  Josie by far enjoyed her jump sessions the most.  She has always had an inclination for anything “gymnastics” and the bounce house was no exception.  Here are my three monkeys living it up:

Thanks Jes for all the pictures and video!

Today’s post is just an update.  As usual, the holidays have been a blur of good food, parties, and fun.  We hosted Thanksgiving at our house and my aunt and uncle from California decided to join in on the festivities.  They don’t have kids themselves and I think between the five toddlers present, we gave them a healthy dose of “kid crazies” for awhile.  It was tons of fun and as always, I was so glad to have seen them!

Grandpa and the trio

Uncle Nick and the trio

The following weekend, we took the kids to our local moms of multiples “Milk and Cookies with Santa” event.  I love attending these multiples events because everyone has at least 2 kids but more often 3-4.  No one googles at us and bombards us with questions and everyone’s kids are roaming around sitting on strangers laps and helping themselves to cookies.  It is especially great that when Mia followed Santa into the bathroom, no uptight parents were wondering “where is that child’s parents?”  We keep exposing the kids to Santa in hopes of getting a decent pic but so far, the kids will only shake his hand (and follow him into the bathroom).

Then, we hosted our “Southern Family Christmas Party” this past Sunday.  My mom comes from a family of 9 siblings, most of whom live up North.  But, there are quite a few cousins that have ended up in this area so we all get together for the holidays.  The moment to remember was when my brother Nick set off his rocket/parachute in the “park” across from our house.  It ended up in a neighbors tree and the sweet guy spent 20 min. getting it down.

We hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season as much as we are.  Looking forward to more adventures to come…

I have been meaning to do this post forever.  It is way overdue:

We all know when kids enter the picture, pets tend to take backstage.  No matter what you may have thought before having kids or how awesome your relationship with your pets may be, things change and there is nothing you can do about it.

Like many young couples, our dog Hayden was our first baby.  We used to talk about him over dinner, take vacations with him, and love him…lots.   He was my running buddy for years.  He was an amazing companion through the rough days of my pregnancy and bedrest.

Triplets change a lot of things.  Friends, leisure, perspective, life.  The first few months of raising triplets was so much harder than I could ever have imagined.  People say during the first year with multiples you are in “survival mode”. I’m not exaggerating, that is exactly how it felt to me.  Hayden was far from center stage, he was also just surviving in our household.

Except Hayden was center stage with our amazing neighbors.  I’m not a huge believer in random coincidences and the story of how we ended up with the neighbors we did is no crazy coincidence.  We actually wanted to purchase the house our neighbors now live in.  The timing wasn’t right for us, it was for them, Miss Gail and her husband got the house. A few months later, we randomly (except it wasn’t random) sold our house (that wasn’t even on the market at the time) and saw the house two down from Miss Gail’s house just went on the market.  We swooped in and became neighbors with Miss Gail.

Miss Gail and her husband recently lost a dear dog prior to moving East.  They were dog-less dog lovers. They would come over and walk Hayden, take him to their house to visit, and love on him daily.  Miss Gail’s house became Hayden’s second home and we couldn’t have been more grateful.

Hayden has a very sweet temperament but we had an incident in the past where he showed aggresive behavior to a toddler.  Since this incident, I have always been on my toes with him and kids.  When our kids first began rolling around, we saw Hayden display a few instances of  aggressive behavior with our children.  With one child, I may have been able to make some modifications to keep Hayden and the kids separated.  With three, forget it!  The solution was simple, we would see if Miss Gail would be interested in adopting Hayden.  She welcomed him with open arms.

And so our role in Hayden’s life evolved. On his way to where he was suppose to be, we enjoyed his company immensely.   We still visit with him regularly (he lives two houses down remember) and see the beauty our circumstances with our neighbors has had.  Words can’t describe how thankful we are. Here are a few facebook status updates from Hayden’s new companion:

“How many dogs in the neighborhood get told to get up on mom and dad’s bed and stay there?”

“Hayden passed his dance class with flying colors. His opening move wowwed the instructor. He improvised for his closing move and just stood there and barked at me. He did great considering he pretty much refused to do any training all week. Will post the video of it once we get it!”

Now, just look at the pictures below of Hayden at his new home.  The amazing story of how we ended up with the neighbors we did is certainly no coincidence.

I always wonder about the people who kept their children in a superyard until they were 1+.  Their children must be a different breed than mine.  The corral worked with my children for about 2 weeks when they first started crawling.  After that, they wanted free and wouldn’t settle for anything less .  Therefore, I’m not bothering to put a gate around our Christmas tree.  I’ve found a different solution, I hope it works.