Four Years Old

I truly can't believe that my three babies are 4 years old!?!?! We celebrated with a small group of friends and family over the weekend at a swimming/ water slide party. They had a blast! I'm just in shock..... how did they get so big?

First Trip to Memphis

Another major trip of note from the month of October was Maggie, Kate, and Sarah's first ride in an airplane. Not just any trip in an airplane.... I took the three of them from Atlanta to Memphis and back to visit aunt Kari, BY MYSELF, flying standby no less! I was a bit worried how things would go, but they were great! I actually came away from the experience feeling like standby travel with 3 three year olds (well, at least these three) is completely do-able.

The girls each carried their own back packs, and I limited my bags to a single backpack as well. On the way there we sat across the very back row. Maggie, Kate, and Sarah carried their lovies in their bags and even got to use their pacis for the trip. I had some backup candy stowed away as well.
On the return flight we were in the row behind the business class. I was worried, but for no reason. On both flights the people around us were very complimentary and raved about how much fun the girls were to listen to and how well behaved they were.

*** disgusting mommy bragging ends now**

Once we arrived in Memphis we got straight to the fun stuff! Aunt Kari had collected a bunch of play dough and sidewalk chalk. We played in the yard with Zoe and Lila for hours and hours and got all caught up with Kari.

The sleeping arrangements were a little unconventional. On the first night the girls hogged the full sized bed, 3/4 of the corners at least. Then after spending that night on the couch crushed under the weight of Zoe, I squeezed myself in there with Maggie, Kate, and Sarah the next night.

We took the mandatory trip to the Pee-Potty Hotel (the Peabody) to watch the ducks make their march into the fountain.

We helped Aunt Kari and Uncle James pick out pumpkins for carving with their friends.

Aside from generally spending time with Kari and James and the dogs, the girls had a definite favorite part.... Kari's shoe closets! Maggie, Kate, and Sarah played for hours and hours uninterrupted with her bazillions of pairs of shoes. Come to think of it, I really should invest in tons more shoes for myself if it will bring the same level of contentment, enjoyment, and free time for me here at home!

For our last bit of fun, the girls got to paint pumpkins in the kitchen the evening before we left. It was the messy kind of fun that we don't often indulge in here at home. Maggie, Kate, and Sarah all had a blast!

Thanks a million Kari and James for being such great hosts and allowing us to invade for a couple of days just to see if we were capable of such travels. As long as we haven't worn out our welcome, we'll certainly be back!!

Pweschool

Tomorrow will be Maggie, Kate, and Sarah's second day of pweschool. They are pictured below last Friday as we were headed out for Ella's second day at CCP and their first day at Ms. Dena's. Ms. Dena, one of my lifelong friends, and her youngest son Brody are hosting "preschool" one day a week. This way Dena has a class to hold Brody's attention, and I have a preschool for the girls. So far, so good!

Incidentally, we celebrated back to school last Tuesday evening with peanut butter sandwiches and chocolate shakes for supper per Ella's request, and on Thursday with a home made cookie cake that Maggie, Kate, and Sarah got to help make and decorate. It was super easy... maybe I'll post the recipe sometime soon.

Maggie, Kate, and especially Sarah are thrilled to be going to school this year. We work together at home all the time on little preschool projects, but it really is important to them that they are going to preschool, so thank you Dena! One of my many prayers for our girls is that they love learning, and I think they are off to a great start! Aren't they a motley little crew?!?

Mother's Day 2009

Maggie, Kate, Sarah, and Ella... four little reasons that I celebrate Mother's Day! Thank you to my silly girls for making me a mother. It's by far the hardest and very best job I've ever had!

And thank you to my mom, grandmothers, aunts, and countless other women who have invested in my becoming the mother I am today!

Happy Mother's Day 2009!

Change

If I had written a post yesterday it would most likely have been titled, "Off to the Nut House I Go". The entire day was a real doozie. At one point in the mid afternoon I had two children seated at the table begging for cereal and simultaneously singing two different songs loudly, one standing at my feet with her pants around her ankles demanding assistance, and the fourth little nut trying to climb up the bookshelves to get to her makeup herself after a solid thirty minutes of begging for it and being denied while the two dueling musicians sang. There was a great deal of screaming, crying, whining, and fighting..... and some of it was from the girls.

The funny joke about me heading to the nut house was not so very funny last night after I spent almost an hour getting Sarah off to bed. She screamed at me for a solid 20 minutes about her pajamas, her legs itching, and the fact that it was not snowing outside! In her defense, she was not feeling well, and I could tell that her skin really was itching... I felt miserable for her, but I was completely unable to help her. (She had all the lotion, benadryl, tylenol, etc that she was allowed to have already.) I felt helpless with her writhing in my arms once she finally selected a pair of pjs, settled into my lap, and fell asleep. She was pitiful, and by the end so was I.

Then today, everyone woke up on the right side of the bed. No one was sick so I suppose that was the main contributing factor to all the good cheer. Things went smoothly and with very minor whining. We ran errands, went out to lunch, played hard, and the house wasn't even totally destroyed in the process.

It really makes my head spin to think about how drastically things change from one day to the next here in our household.

We completely forgot to turn on the television for most of today so there was no Inaugural viewing. I never mentioned the changes taking place in our country to the girls so they remain oblivious for now.

I can't help but wonder about the changes that will be taking place in our nation in the days, weeks, and months ahead. I will be praying for our new president and his family as they make the transition and beyond..... praying that these changes will be good ones, that they will be guided and protected by God.

I'll also send up some prayers that tomorrow won't be another one of those days where I sense a trip to the nut house in my immediate future.

A Failed Mission

For the last several months... probably 6 or more, Maggie, Kate, and Sarah have only used their pacifiers when they are in bed. Recently when the 2 year molars were coming through they got into the habit of asking for them more often. In my weakness, I sometimes gave in. I discovered yesterday that two out of three of their pacis were becoming worn out and somewhat dangerous. Hence the mission.

After naps and a stop by the church playground so that we could see Election Day at our precinct and Mimi in action there, we stopped by the dairy barn to give the baby calves all our pacis. We were down, so I thought, to the last 3 in the house and everyone had a favorite. Sarah's was the "purple fower", Kate's was blue, and Maggie's was orange and green. If any of them was ever given the wrong one they would tell you in a hurry, "Eww, that's not my fa-brit".

They each handed their own paci over willingly. I had hoped to take just one last picture with them all together with their beloved pacis, but before I knew it Sarah had thrown hers in.

Maggie and Kate were right behind her, each giving theirs a good toss into the pen.

The cows and random stray chicken looked at them as if to say, "Now, just what are we supposed to do with these things?!?"

Satisfied that our mission was complete, the girls all turned and prepared to leave.

Maggie was the only one to question her decision right in the moment. She hung back after everyone else had turned to go and said she wanted her paci back, but Ella and I convinced her that the baby calves needed it....reeeeeal bad.

Then when bedtime was upon us they all started asking for their fa-brit pacis. I explained that we had given those to the calves... don't you remember, girls?

But after quite a bit of pitiful crying over lost pacis, I remembered a secret stash that I had and decided that if there were enough pacis there to go around I would just tackle this project another day. Very selfish and weak, I suppose, but I was assuming I'd be up with Ella on and off all night with her cough (like last night) and didn't want to add random crying over lost pacis to the evenings' festivities.

We'll get 'em next time... and I'll be sure to have the girls help me search the house for any strays or hidden stashes before we head back to the barn so that they won't t think they can just cry and make new ones appear. For now there are three little gals happily sleeping with pacis somewhere near their heads and one who is already starting to cough so I best go to bed myself!

This is the Face....

... of a Potty Trained Individual!!

I alluded to the fact a while back that Sarah was insisting on wearing panties instead of diapers quite often. I just sort of went with it.... bad timing and all. She has been wearing panties during the day time for a little over a week now and has had only one accident that I can think of. I am not sure exactly how it happened, but I realized yesterday at the pumpkin patch that she was officially day time potty trained.

Several events led up to the realization:

On Sunday night as we were leaving the restaurant where we celebrated my grandmother's birthday Sarah said, after everyone was buckled into their car seats, of course, "Oooh, I need to tinkle. I don't want to get my pity pink panties wet. I need to go potty!" She then HELD IT for approximately 15 minutes until we were safely back at Nanny and Pop's house. She made it!

For the past 3 days she has pooped in the potty.

My epiphany came yesterday morning while we were on a hayride at the pumpkin patch (pictures coming soon, though I don't think they are very good). After about 15 minutes, while sitting in my lap, Sarah looked up and said, "Mommy, I need to tinkle. I don't want to get my pity pink panties wet." The rest of the 45 minute long hay ride would have been completely enjoyable had I not been worried about Sarah's and my pants being wet at every single bump and jostle. But guess what? She made it!! Then she had to use a porta potty and almost decided she could wait until we got home. Can't say as I blame her!! I finally convinced her to go.

I am so proud of her! Maggie is hot on her heels as she caught on a while back to the fact that Sarah was wearing panties. Most days she now asks for a Pull-Up or panties instead of a diaper too. So I'd say she is having moderate success. Some days she does fine, others she wets and ends up in diapers before noon. Kate, on the other hand, is only slightly interested. She does, however, say frequently that she needs to poop on the potty.... sometimes true, sometimes not.

These girls are just growing up way too fast. Poor Daddy... there will quite possibly be no more diapers to change by the time he gets home from Iraq, but I'm sure he'll appreciate the raise we'll be getting when we are a diaper free household.

The Dentist

Believe it or not, I'm about to head to bed at the unheard of hour of ~10:30 pm! Before I do, though, I wanted to post a couple of cute pictures from our adventures today and brag on the girls a little bit. This morning Ella was scheduled for her second visit to the dentist. She was not looking forward to it, but I convinced her that she needed to be a good example for her sisters. She was eager to help. I took all four of the girls by myself... knowing that Mimi would be there with only a moment's notice if things got ugly.



I talked and talked on the way there about what the hygienist would do, how I wanted them to behave, what a big girl Ella is, and how maybe soon when "they are big girls too" they can have their teeth cleaned as well. Upon arrival I asked them to all find a seat in the waiting room, and they quietly did exactly that. Right then I would have given anything to have had my camera on me because I looked up after signing us in to see them all sitting nicely side by side on one great big couch.... like four scared little kids who'd just been caught with their hands in the cookie jar or something.

We were called back almost immediately, and in true Mother Duck and her ducklings fashion, we paraded back to the room where Ms. Wanda was awaiting us. We got the coloring books and crayons out for Maggie, Kate, and Sarah. Then no sooner had I sat in the chair with Ella on my lap than several people peeked into the open doored room to say "hi" to the girls. That was the point that every single one of my 2 year olds started screaming and crying with real tears and everything! It was a mess for about 2 minutes until Ms. Wanda started working her magic with Ella, and the girls became enthralled with what was going on.

Ella did a fantastic job and even let the dentist check out her teeth this time. Last time she wouldn't let him near her mouth! She did such a great job as my little example that Sarah asked to sit in my lap and let the dentist check out her teeth too! Ms. Wanda was fabulous, and I hope we'll get to have her again next time! Maggie, Kate, and Sarah colored a tiny bit, but mostly they watched with a bit of fear mixed with enthusiasm as big sis starred in her very own teeth cleaning show. As a treat for such a glowing report from the exam and their good behavior, we went to Burger King to play on the playground for a while afterward. We ran into several friends there and ended up having a full morning play date. All the above photos were taken there. *Side note: Maggie has figured out how to climb all the way to the top of the play structure at our local Burger King. I wish I knew when Ella first made the summit, but I don't have it written down anywhere, so at least I'll have Maggie's accomplishment recorded.

This afternoon did not go quite as well so I'll be brief in my description. There was no nap for Ella, and the wee three only took a short one. Then when they woke up I stupidly gave them the cupcakes that were left over from Nanny C's birthday party last night. They were here and the girls were begging for them.... I caved. From now on I'm done with those kinds of sugary treats... their behavior was absolutely awful after the sugar had time to invade!! I'm throwing it all out tonight. Until all the sugary, nasty stuff hit their systems they were okay. We all played outside with their cars, bikes, strollers, and other goodies. They even pretended all together that a certain spot on our driveway was their campsite. They hauled chairs, blankets, strollers, and each other to and from the garage to the "campsite" for a good 20 minutes. The photo above is of said "campsite".... nothing special, I don't even think there's a crack in the driveway there.

I think I'll go back and label my previous post as "keeping it real" for when I want to go back and read about the rough times.... there are some of those even though I don't write about them often. I still prefer for the blog to remain our "Happy Place on the Web" for the most part because more than anything this blog is for me, Scott, the girls, and our treasured memories... not the ones we'd just as soon forget! Thank you for all the comments, emails, calls, and suggestions I've received. Things are looking up!

First Day of PreSchool

Almost as difficult as it is for me to believe that the triplets are two, is the fact that Ella has already had her first day of preschool. Where did the time go?? The sweet big sister of the house is now a currently enrolled, 2 half days a week, official preschooler!
When I dropped her off last Wednesday morning for her first day, neither of us shed any tears. She talked the entire way there about what it would be like. She even had it figured that if her book bag became too heavy for her to carry during the course of the day that she could just ask her friend Wyatt to help her with it... she has it all figured out already!


On the way in the door, she did hesitantly ask me not to leave until Wyatt showed up. That turned out to be a piece of cake because Wyatt and Ms. Connie were the second people there... right behind us.

When I picked up Ella and Wyatt on Wednesday they both said that preschool was, in Ella's words, "really just way too much fun, Mom!" When I asked what they did, the only things they could remember to tell me were snack time and potty breaks. Oh, well. Ella did eventually tell Donna that she got to glue, color, and paint on the very first day.

We are living a constant preschool here in our very own house with four girls age 3 and under, but I am glad that Ella gets some time away from the younger three to socialize and spend time with other kids her age. So far, I am very pleased with the school we picked. Things run smoothly there, Ella's teacher is great, and she likes the other kids in her class... after only one day! Oh yeah, and it doesn't hurt that one of her best friends and our neighbors, the aforementioned Wyatt, goes there too!

So, there will likely be much more said on this old blog here about preschool in the weeks and months ahead....

When did all my little gals get so grown up... perhaps I didn't realize they were because they still spend a portion of nearly every day whining and crying to me?!?

Happy Second Birthday

... a Little Late!
Wow, I don't know how I got weeks behind in posting the birthday pictures, but finally here they are... and not a minute too soon, because as I type Scott is working his way home via airplane and rental car for his last few days with the girls and I before heading to Iraq. Needless to say, I will be posting very little once he gets home. I did, however, just spend the last 30 minutes uploading photos and preparing to get all caught up on the blog so that if I have spare time I can do some blogging without the hassle of uploading pictures. For tonight I'll just work until he gets home. And now, without further ado...

Birthday Girl- Maggie, sporting a goose egg on her head

Birthday Girl- Kate

Birthday Girl- Sarah, "Oh no, I got some on my pwetty dwess!"

Last weekend we celebrated Maggie, Kate, and Sarah's 2nd birthday with family members and friends over at Mimi and Pop's house. Thankfully the girls are still too little to know when their actual birthday is or care very much about party preparations because we did it somewhat last minute on the day after Ella and I came home from Hawaii. They had cake and we sang Happy Birthday, and that was all that they cared about. We also had home made ice cream, and that was one of Ella's favorite parts.

She picked her own outfit for the party and was very unhappy when she accidentally spilled some of the chocolate ice cream on her skirt. The picture that I missed was when she lifted her skirt up to lick the ice cream off.... I was too busy laughing to pick up the camera!
Ms. Nancy is working really hard to perfect her mother's icing recipe for the cakes, which she has graciously offered to bake for 2 years in a row now. She suspects that by the time the girls are 18 she'll have that icing down pat, but the girls already thought it was perfect! (As did I, thanks Nancy!!)

Here are a couple of photos of my sweet babies, well, they used to be babies... I can not believe there are already two candles on top of those little cakes!! Kate, Maggie, and Sarah

Sarah working hard to blow out her candles

Kate especially loved the sprinkles on top

The big kids at the party.... sniff, sniff

Even one of the little guys got in on the birthday cake action!

Sweet Noley-Poley as the girls call him... finishing up his cake at Mom's insistence

Just comparing sizes of the two wee ones there- Emma Grace almost looks as big as Noel in the picture, but don't be fooled...she's probably 10 pounds lighter, and they are about the same age.

Miss Kate wearing her tiara, backpack, and new clipity clop shoes

Maggie rockin' the clipity clops

I honestly don't know how they walk in these things, but Sarah has seldom taken hers off since they were given to them Sunday evening.

We were incredibly blessed to have so many friends and family members there to celebrate with us. I took some pictures of the crowd, but they didn't turn out well. Perhaps I'll learn how to take photos of large groups of people one of these days...

Thanks to everyone who helped us make it such a special day for the girls! I still can't believe my babies are TWO?!?