Spring???

Well, this past weekend, we thought we had a glimpse of Spring.  But now today, it's freezing again and gross outside.  We cannot WAIT for summer!!!  The girls (and I) absolutely LOVE being outside.  Seriously, as soon as they wake up they want to go outside.  The other day, we walked all the way to a park, then played there forever, then had a picnic with some friends, and walked back.  It was beautiful and a perfect day!  The girls seem to be done with teething now for a little while so I am SOOO thankful for that.  It makes a HUGE difference when they are just HAPPY and when they all don't want to be held at the same time.  Makes life so much more enjoyable!  

Here we are on a cold day again...trying to get creative with indoor activities.  We are trying to color....they are getting better now in that they don't EAT the crayons as much as they used to. :) 
But somehow they are still getting into their fair share of trouble.  This morning I came downstairs after showering and found their toy kitchen on top of Addison who wasn't even crying!  And Hailey was spraying vinegar (that was on top of the toy kitchen and completely out of their reach) all over herself and the wall.  (We use half water and half vinegar to clean up spills on the carpet) :)  So the room smelled beautifully. :)  And, the other day, I didn't get a picture...but I was showering again, and came downstairs to all 3 of them having drank their sippy cups of milk....but instead SPIT them allllllll over the windowsill, windows, their sleepers, the carpet, EVERYTHING.  It smelled like rotten milk.  They were having a blast smearing the puddles of milk all over the place but ohhh man...trouble trouble.  Trouble. :) 
They have the most fun just walking around outside anywhere....

Emily playing in the water...

So funny watching them look at each other in their sunglasses.  I couldn't believe they actually kept the on!! :) 

Where did it go?

This was about the 40th time we did that! :) 

Easter 2009

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter!  Easter has always been one of my favorite holidays.  I always get goose bumps in church when I think about what God did for me by sending his Son to die for ME for all of my sins...and then the fact that he ROSE from the dead so that he could live IN me.  Wow. We have an incredibly loving God.   

We had a great morning at church celebrating..and then we napped :) , and then went to Grandpa and Grandma's for dinner and an easter egg hunt!  Here are some pics. 

Hailey and Emily - notice how Hailey even let Emily hold her basket! :) 
Addy and Emily.  Check out Addy's face.  She was cracking us up as she was VERY intense looking for these eggs.  We know who is going to be the competitive one! :) 
It's a race!!
Grandpa and Grandma helping Hailey and Addy out.  
There was lots of running and pointing and shouting at all the eggs.  :)
Hailey was randomly into sharing. :)  ..and then they got to tear into the eggs.  Addison and Emily were ALLLL about eating everything in sight.  And Hailey would grab an egg, shake it, bust it open, throw it on the ground, and grab the next egg and do it all over again.   

Addy - my big helper - "helping" me do the dishes one night. :) 

Good Friday

"But he was pierced for our transgressions (premeditated sin), he was crushed for our iniquities (sins we continually commit over and over again); the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed." Is. 53:5

18 month Picture Adventure

Last Saturday, we took the girls in to get their 18 month pics.  Whew!  We were exhausted!  Going anywhere with triplets is an adventure...but trying to take pictures of the three of them is a whole different story. :) It was fun though!!  We didn't even care if the girls were smiling....in fact, we didn't even care if they were LOOKING at the camera.  We were just happy if we were able to get all THREE of them in a picture!  They were running all over the place.  I'd prop one down, Ry would prop the other, then we'd run across the room to get the 3rd and by that time, the 1st one was already on to the lego table and then we'd have to start all over.  It was pretty funny actually.  Addison kept thinking I was going to leave her so she had a rougher time with the pics.  No tears though so that was good.  Then, when I was deciding on the pics, Ry was in charge of watching the girls.  After 15 minutes of chasing them and keeping them out of other customer's business, he just put them in the van and drove around the parking lot for the next 45 minutes.  The girls fell asleep in the van and that was that.    Nothing but fun on an early Saturday morning! ;) 

Here the girls are (Emily, Addy, Hailey) playing Ring around the Rosie.  It was the only way we could get them to semi- stay where they were supposed to be.  They took 140 pics and these are the best of the bunch. :) 

We tried distracting them with flowers so they would stay put.  Didn't work so well.
Where did Emily go?  We often found her in ANOTHER studio with other children.  We were sweating. :) 
Addison just wanted to be by me.  
The Easter eggs don't really belong in the pic...but hey - we don't care!  At least they would sit for a second! :)      Hailey
Emily

The best that we have in these dresses...(emily, addy, hailey)
Addison with goldfish in her mouth. :) 
Emily
Hailey
Addy

Emily
Hailey - this is her saying "Quack Quack" :) 
Hailey

Mastercard Commercial

Oh my goodness.  I just read one of my friends' blogs from my multiples group and let me just set the stage...  She has a 2 year old girl, then triplets (BBG) that are the same age as our girls.  They went through fertility drugs and IVF for both of their pregnancies.  They posted a video like the Mastercard commercials, it was so creative I just have to share.  Fertility drugs - $10,000,  2 IVF procedures - $20,000, 3 babies in the NICU - $800,000, 4 babies in diapers for 1 year - $1760, formula for triplets for one year - $7484,  finding out you CAN conceive naturally afterall...PRICELESS.  She is due in OCTOBER!

WHAATT????  i absolutely flipped out.  In 6 months, she is going to have FIVE kids ages 3 -1-1-1-0.  OHHHH MYYY.  We hope she can have at least one potty trained before the baby comes.  If I ever have a rough day, I'm going to call Kathryn.  CRRAAAZZY!  God's plans always amaze me!!  I am so excited for her and WOW! I guess I just can't imagine what they are going through right now!  I thought I was blown away with having triplets but THAT has got to REALLY shock someone when you think you truly can't have any more!  (She even sold all of her baby stuff AND maternity clothes cuz they were so sure they couldn't have any more!)  Ahh! Soo...

Since you have all been such a huge prayer support to us...I was wondering if you could lift up their family in prayer as well.  Especially because her husband found out that he just got laid off too.  Wow.  A LOT going on over there. (He worked in print sales before so if anyone has any connections..)  Please join me in praying for them.  THANKS so much!! 

18 months Update

Tomorrow the girls will be 18 months.  They are seriously growing up so fast!  They are now saying more words which is fun.  They say things like ball, thank you, mama, dada, car, poo poo, diaper, cookie, more, juice, and they can do lots of animal noises.  What I'm amazed at is that they understand so much!  Every day I am shocked when they do something that I actually told them to do!  Unfortunately though, we have had to start time-outs.  We struggled with where to put the girls for time outs since it seems like they won't stay anywhere.  So...we resorted to putting them in our basement stairwell where we can close the basement door.  It sounds horrible....but it works!  :)  They hate going in there now and fortunately, they haven't figured out that they could just go downstairs and play for a while.  Instead they just sit at the top of the stairs for 2 minutes - Addy cries, and Emily and Hailey don't move.  They just sit there.  It's so cute how whoever ISN'T in a timeout gets so concerned for their sister.  They just stand and look at me, look at the door, try to console their sister by touching their fingers that are underneath the door, etc.  Addison is especially a very good girl now.  :)  All I have to do is say "Do you want to go to Time Out?"  And she instantly stops doing what she was about to do and comes to give me a hug.  So cute. :)  Addy is going through a little attachment phase with me...and hates being left in the nursery and always knows where I'm at.  The girls never really went through the separation anxiety stage..until now.  Emily and Hailey seem to have just gotten over it...and Addison is still mama's little girl.  :)  This past week we had a strange fever epidemic where Addison had a fever one day, then Emily for one day..and then Hailey for one day.  I thought it was odd that it was only ever for one day...but now I realize that somehow, triplets can even go through TEETHING at the same time!  Crazy!  So...we've had a bunch of slobbering, drooling, clingy, sad little girls in our house lately.  Their mouths are feeling better now though which is GREAT because it kills me when one girl only wants me to hold her ALLL day that I can't even pay attention to the other two.  Somedays I look at them having so much fun together and I think "I wish I would have had triplet sisters!  They are going to have SO much fun together!" And then the next minute, while one is clinging to me, and the other 2 want to be held, I tell them "I know I know...it's rough being a triplet" as they have to wait patiently to be held or to get their toy all to themselves. 

As far as sleeping goes, the girls sleep from 7:30 p.m. (ish) to 6:30 a.m. (ish).  They only take one nap that is usually from noon to 2:30ish.  And with eating,...oh man!  These daughters of mine totally take after their father's big appetite.  They eat SOO much.  Sometimes we think we won't get any dinner because they just keep chowing down.  I'm so thankful they like to eat...but every once in a while I'm like "Are they eating TOO much?" :) 

 This parenting thing is such a joy...we really can't remember life before our girls.  They make us laugh so much and are at such a fun stage.  I have really loved every stage so far...each stage has completely different challenges.  My challenge with this stage is just trying to keep them entertained in the house day after day and trying to keep track of them! We try to get out and about at least once a day which is nice...  It is just all going by so fast!  We are trying to savor every moment!!!