Emily's First Communion

Our Goddaughter celebrated her first Holy Communion on Sunday. We were able to witness her on her special day. She was beautiful in the dress my mom made for her. Congratulations Emily!

 

Happy Friday!

Anna was so brave today getting her stitches out! No tears. She sat on her own chair like a big girl and the same doctor took them out. I guess she must have read my last post about how bad I felt for her on Monday! The laceration looks good and I think it will heal up without much of a scar, if any. Now, when the black eye goes away she will be in great shape!

The kindergartners sang and read at the mass today. Jack was one of the readers. He read a petition. The teacher sent home his petition to memorize/practice two weeks ago and when I took it out the first day, I read it and told Jack to repeat after me. Well, he asked me to see the paper and he took and...read the petition. OK, I thought, I guess we don't have anything to memorize. I keep forgetting that he reads, and fairly well, too. Today, the whole mass was very well done and he was so proud, and so was I.

Indians Ball Game

John took Jack to an Indians game tonight. It was a cold night and I think the two boys had a lot of fun. The girls and I went to bed (after I finished taking the wallpaper down in the bathroom). Jack experienced cracker Jacks for the first time and also peanuts at a baseball game (plus licorice, soda, a hot dog...)

Milestones

The kids are learning by the day! Kate and Elizabeth both can ride a scooter and tricycle (downhill, not uphill because they are still just not quite tall enough to reach the pedals) and Anna is close on riding the tricycle and she pushed off her foot on the scooter today. All three girls can take off shirts, pants, socks, etc. and any other clothes they are wearing, and they can dress themselves very well, except for their shirts. Elizabeth was the first to be able to put a shirt on today. I don't remember Jack being able to dress himself at their ages, but maybe he could. All three sing their ABCs and count to ten. Elizabeth knows the Angelof God prayer. Jack is no longer wearing a pull-up and Anna was dry last night (realize this could be just a one night thing, but Jack was NEVER dry until about a month ago). I'm down to three bedtime diapers a day!

The girls are getting better at going to bed in their toddler beds. They are no longer napping. They are doing very well on their potty and will go without reminders (inadvertently, they are reminding each other because when one goes, the other two do as well). They love to go on the "big" potty. We have switched from jelly beans and fruit snacks to stickers they pick out and put in their potty book. This has helped with the frequency, but the girls still go a lot! They still have accidents, not every day, but mostly they happen when we are playing outside and they don't want to stop playing to go to the bathroom (I bring a potty seat in the garage).

Anna's stitches. After this picture was taken, she fell again outside and has a scraped up nose and also has two scratches from the rosebush on her cheek, plus she has a little black eye that developed from her original fall on Monday...it looks like she has had a few rough days!

Typical Kate. A climber! Kate also had a rough day outside yesterday. Jack was holding Carter on his leash and walked by Kate and the leash scraped her eyelid...today she woke up with a swollen eyelid and her eye was only half open, plus the scrape looked so much worse! I swear the girls need to be wrapped in bubble wrap!

Grandmom and Granddad fixed the handles on this toy for the girls

Highs and Lows

I had a strange night. I have never felt such strong emotions as a mother. After a crazy busy day on three hours of sleep last night (but all the wall paper is down in my kitchen--such an improvement!), I took the kiddos to play outside. Jack decided he wanted to take off his training wheels and since grandmom and granddad were visiting last weekend until today, I thought it would be cool for one of them to "teach" him to ride. He has been ready to ride for a while, so I knew it would be quite easy for him. The weather was cold all weekend, so today he wanted to learn and since grandmom was working, I helped him. He picked it up and was riding his bike like he had been riding it for years within a few minutes. A few minutes after he was riding up and down the street like a champ, Anna tripped while holding on to a bottle of bubbles and fell face first and cut her eyebrow. I saw the fall and instantly I knew she would need stitches or glue. Thank-goodness my dad was there to watch my kids and I took her to urgent care. Two stitches later, she looks good and hopefully there won't be much of a scar. This brings me back to the beginning of this paragraph. When I took her to the urgent care, I was really hoping for glue, but because of the angle of the cut, stitches were the better choice to leave less of a scar. It is hard to describe the feelings you have for your child when they have to go through something like that. I have experienced stitches in many different patients and many different ages, but when it is your own child and you are watching her go through it and she is looking in your eyes, oh my. I think when it was over, I was sweating, flushed and shaky. Sounds dramatic, I know. And when I write about this, I realize it was just stitches. Just two stitches. Hard to begin to imagine what parents endure when they have a seriously sick child. Anna is fine, she got her band-aid, a few stickers and a sucker and she fell fast asleep tonight when we got home.

My parents were so helpful to stay longer than planned and when Anna and I got home and my mom put the girls in bed, I realized that I didn't get video of Jack on his bike. So, we went outside and as I held up the video camera and watched him speed down the street and I had such strong feelings of pride and happiness. Again, I realize that it is just riding a bike and it is not like he is extremely young to ride a two-wheeler. However, I loved to see him succeed and have so much fun! Since Anna fell so quickly after he started riding, I really had not seen him ride it that much and had not stopped to think about what he had accomplished. What a cool milestone--I still remember riding my bike for the firs time.

Other news:
Like, I mentioned above, over the weekend, my parents came up to baby-sit out kids while we went to Judge Sutton's reunion Saturday night. Being away from the kids hardly ever happens and although John and I were only gone for about 24 hours, it was a nice time. Since Saturday, my mom and I got some projects done, the most important one is the wall paper is ALL off the kitchen walls (thanks to my mom for getting a lot done while we were gone)! I need to get the kids' bathroom wall paper down and then I hope to have it, the kids' rooms and the upstairs bathroom painted in the next few weeks. My dad moved all my plants from the area in my backyard that will become my new garden...I feel like he is always helping me get a garden started. I guess we should stop moving. It was a lot of work, but it was a huge help.

Grandmom brought the kids fruit ka-bobs

These next two pictures of Kate looks like my niece, Sarah

Anna enjoyed a sucker before the traumatizing suturing began

Two stitches and a band-aid later

When I got home with Anna, I was laughing with my dad about his evening. He is such a trooper with not just my kids, but all of his grandchildren. After Anna fell, he told me to leave with her and he would watch the other three, and when I left, I knew he had a hard situation. Jack couldn't decide if he wanted to go with me and was crying when I left (even though he chose to stay home), Kate thought that I took Anna back outside to play and she was upset she was inside. So, after I left, my dad said he decided to take them outside because Kate was very upset. Well, she ran up the street looking for me. I think this is the first time in a long time that I have taken one of the girls and left the others. Meanwhile, he is chasing her, she is crying, Jack is crying because he didn't like to see Kate upset. Did I mention that when I left, the sprinkler system company was at our house getting it set up for the summer? So Elizabeth was running through the sprinklers. I would say it was around 45 degrees outside and the wind has been ridiculous. I left a check so my dad could pay the sprinkler company, but when the man was finished, my dad couldn't get all the kids to go inside (Kate and Jack were crying) so he couldn't write out the check. They man told him he would just bill us and left telling my dad, "good luck." I think after that, my dad got the kids inside and fed them a Popsicle and an entire box of milk duds and I think Kate stopped crying at some point. My mom returned shortly after and things got better once the kids were fed dinner. But, what a good sport to take on our crazy children all the time! Thanks dad!

I am so thankful my mom and dad were here tonight. John is in Arizona so I think I would have had to call a neighbor or take all the kids with me. I guess it is really true that God only gives you what you can handle. I am sad Anna needed stitches on her eye, but honestly, I am glad she needed them today when I had family available to help me.

More Words

Did I mention that all the girls have lisps? I love them!

Hair-ups: The girls call their hair rubber bands this because this is what I often say to them: "Let's get your hair up." It is not uncommon to hear, "Take hair-up out."

Shoes get on. Shirt get on. Instead of get shoes on, get shirt on.

Mrs. Connor!! (However, when they say her name, the 's' gets slurred and it almost sounds like Ms. Scudder): Our Beloved neighbor across the street, Mrs. O'Conner. The girls get so excited to see her in the morning for coffee and when they catch a glimpse of her leaving her house or outside!

Banna = Banana

Back home: This is said when we turn on our street, I guess because I often say we are going "back home."

Locka-ba(r): Granola bar

Bunders: shortened version of under bunders.

Pitty Dess: The girls love their pretty dresses.

Sam mich: Sandwich

StawBees: Strawberries

Plush it: flush it (toilet)

Li-bee: Library

Up ere: up there

Marrow: Tomorrow

Is, is, is, is for marrow: They like to repeat is a few times, then say what they were going to say.

Fink-foo: Swim suits

Die-been: Jelly bean

Dinner

Who doesn't have a few pictures of their kids with spaghetti faces? I made spaghetti pizza pie and John came home early yesterday (in time for Jack to get off the bus!) so we had a family dinner which never happens. We also spent a few hours outside while John mowed the grass and he and I cleaned out the garage. I decided it is nice to have a husband home in the evenings!

No pictures of Jack...he isn't so messy anymore

Potty Training and other Updates

The potty training is going well--or as well as can be expected. After a rough first week, we have had very good days since Monday. I think it finally clicked. Starting last week, Elizabeth was the first of the three to go on the potty, actually first thing Monday morning, with Kate closely following once she saw the jelly bean that Elizabeth got. Since that day, Kate and Elizabeth really understood the reward part of the potty and they would go constantly...when one goes, it would trigger the other one to go. Anna, despite what I initially thought, was not motivated by the candy. The first few days with her were full of "wet unders" and a few of the other on the carpet. It wasn't until I baked cookies on Wednesday that she started to "get it." Tuesday, Elizabeth was brave enough for a pooh-dog and the others followed the next day. Each day has gotten better and better, and a week into this process, we had accident-free days, back to back. Yesterday and today were not perfect, but with only minor episodes. Most of the time it is realizing too late and not making it to the potty earlier enough. Potty training triplets has good things, i.e. the motivation factor is huge. I am finding myself reminding the girls fewer and fewer times during the day to go potty and when one goes to the potty, it triggers the other two to go as well. Potty training triplets has the hard parts too, the clean-up, hand washing and inability to feel like we can go outside the home. I am happy with the girls and the progress we have made. I think by next week, I will switch out the jelly beans (we are on bag three!) for stickers, but keep the fruit snacks for those pooh-dogs.

So, in the past two weeks, we have been playing outside and staying home except for a quick trip to the mall and church last Sunday, neither which were complete successes, but neither were failures either.

Other than potty training, I have been meaning to write some other thoughts here:

Some of the words and the way the girls say things is so funny right now.

"All gum" = all gone
"dolly bean" = jelly bean
"Zizzie" = Lizzie
"p-school" = preschool
There are more, I can't think of them right now. I'll start a list tomorrow and update it on here in a few days.

They can also tell me things about each other, i.e. "Annie upstairs" and I can understand them. Weird to think they are becoming so independent. I found a pacifier in my purse the other day while I was switching over to my summer purse and it made me slightly sad. It seems forever ago that they used these night and day and it was only three months ago when we got rid of them. The girls found it the next day and they didn't remember it or miss it in any way. They did know it was for the "babies."

I have given up on the naps. I still think they could use them, but it was too exhausting trying to get them to lay down each afternoon. I realize how that sounds (the girls are "out of control" as John puts it) but believe me, if there was any way I could get them to nap, I tried it. I also thought that once summer hits, napping them in the afternoon and spending all that time in their rooms to get them to sleep (over the weekend, it was two hours of me in the room telling them to lay down before only two of them finally slept) wasn't that fair to Jack. Again, I realize that it sounds like we should be able to get them to stay in their beds, but we couldn't figure out a way to do it. I took EVERYTHING out of their room except their beds and empty dressers and they found the floor registers to pull up and in one of them they found a few matches they played with, they found a tiny pencil lead that they drew all over the wall, I found them sitting in the empty dresser drawers, climbing the dresser, pulling clothes out of their closet, jumping on the bed, you name it, they did it. I also found the few days of napping with potty training was confusing to put them back in a diaper when they didn't fall asleep. I tried putting all three in my bed and I laid down with them in the afternoon and put on Micky Mouse, but that ended with jumping, and fighting. Currently, I put a movie on and I sit with them on the couch, cover them up and they will sit and watch for ten minutes before they are up. They have yet to fall asleep during the day. They are sure giving us a run with the toddler beds at bedtime for sure. John seems to be better at getting them to stay in bed so the nights he is home, bedtime is much smoother. John and I have been back and forth on other things we could do, like put them back in cribs with tents, separate them, or remove their dressers, but I think ultimately, we have to learn to control them. And being the age they are, it doesn't make much sense to put the cribs up again. So...I am down to three diapers a day (at night) and Jack is still dry each night so we are going to get rid of his pull-ups...no cribs...no pacifiers...

I organized the summer schedule this week. Jack will start off the summer with two weeks of swim lessons, take two weeks off and then have two more weeks of swimming in July. He is also doing a golf camp in July and T-ball in June and July. I have tried to keep our August open for some travel to Indiana and Illinois. The girls are going to summer camp too. After the fiasco with the bedtime, not to mention their behavior in mass, we decided we are going to put them in a Mini Preschool this summer. It is only two hours, two days a week and they will go the entire month of June, skip the first week in July and then go two more weeks in July. John was a big advocate of this and I think it will be good for the girls to get some exposure to structure and hopefully it will help at home. Plus it will get them ready for their preschool in the fall. I don't think I mentioned this, but we did sign them up for two-day preschool in the fall. Doesn't that make them sound old? I struggled with three days vs. two and finally decided two days was better since they are young three year-olds--and maybe part of my motherhood guilt came into play I didn't want them gone from me that extra day.

I am planning on having some quality time with Jack this summer during the girls' mini-preschool. I was reflecting the other day and realized that the girls--in exactly two days-- were the exact same age as Jack was when the girls were born--a few months shy of three. I think about how he was really a baby then and how old he is now. He was forced to grow up very quickly and I think we expected a lot from him (and still do). What a big deal for a little boy to have his mama and daddy all to himself, only to have his world flipped upside-down with THREE sisters taking up space in the house, and time with his parents. A mom that was tired and short with him, a nanny in the house most of his waking time, volunteers coming to help with the girls, a new preschool, a "no we can't do that Jack, because the girls." What a huge shift in life for him and adjustment. I still think about this a lot and as I am writing this, it makes me sad...then I think about conservations with other moms of multiples when I was pregnant and I get some comfort, "Remember you are giving him the best gift: siblings." We tried to pay extra attention to him during those first few months and it helped tremendously that John was home for a month--he and Jack were little buddies. I still took him to his same playgroup each Monday, just he and I, and we left the girls at home with Madeleine. He loves his sisters, he really does, and I hope he is always close to them. They adore him. The squeals and screams I head when he steps off the bus each day is heartwarming.

Finally, here are a few picture of the kids before church last Sunday. The dresses are from their Great Aunt Anne and they are adorable. I had to snap a few pictures of the kids.

Ball State Hall of Fame: Professional Pictures

Ball State send me a DVD with some pictures from the ceremony in February. A family picture with everyone looking!

Under Bunders!

This is going to take a while...Day one and Kate didn't have a single accident, Elizabeth had two and Anna only made it to the potty three times. It will be a process. Potty training Jack was much easier!  Here are a few pictures of the girls showing off their under-bunders.

Anna was tired after the long morning!