We woke up Saturday morning and I realized it's the boys' mirthday, I need to take a picture!
CET, look at that cheesy grin on Caleb's face!
The boys are debuting our Saturday market finds : )
C, we're in Sasquatch territory!
Heading to our neighborhood street fair
I'll keep squeezing them into the wagon as long as I can, I LOVE how little space we take!
discovering sponges
T
CET, they had a little car show
E
After nap we headed out to our congregation picnic...
T is getting pretty good on his balance bike
The third bike is in California waiting for us (they are really hard to find used, but found I did!)
E, Thomas and Eli rode their bikes literally for hours and it was the only time we had to separate them from something while kicking and screaming!
C tends more toward the athletic sports although maybe it's because he's had the least practice on the bikes since his brothers hog them all the time. Yours is coming soon my boy!
goal averted in 1/50th of a second (hehehe! he's actually throwing it, C)
Updates
I still consider the boys babies, by all means they are still babies (they cry, I change diapers, they drink milk to no tomorrow, etc etc). But lately, as best as I can describe it, the boys have been giving me these looks/expressions were they look like such big boys! Ok, so once they turn two I'll stop calling them babies, how's that for a deal : )
They are also becoming really funny, especially Caleb. He does some of the silliest body and facial gestures and he know's he's making you laugh. They are such good entertainment when they aren't fighting!
I've started to notice that the boys are becoming glued to the t.v. when I put kid stuff on for them. It's not like before where they would watch, then play, then watch, then play some more. It's starting to scare me, I want active and creative kids so I need to start strictly regulating their t.v. intake to 30min a day, for now at least. It's very tempting to use t.v. when you need to get something done or when they are melting down and driving you crazy but I don't want couch potato t.v. junkies, so we need to set limits!
I visited another MOM last week that has a 12 year old boy and almost 7 year old BBB triplets (all frat). She was going to give us a few hand me downs but I was most looking forward to picking her brain! There were stories of frequent occurrences of holes in the walls and how potty training was a night mare (great!). At almost 7 they don't like being dressed alike and prefer to chose their own clothes but will match for pictures or for grandma. They could also care less about who was born first second or third. This is something I heard was a big source of contention among twins but maybe it's because they are boys and there's too many of them!
Check out this video of Eli, after his father-son date he's become really good at the balance bike (it's amazing how much they improve on anything with a little one on one time! My poor bugs have to share everything, even mom and dad). A bit more practice and both feet will be leaving the ground!
This past week one rubber frog lives in Eli's mouth and the other lives in Eli's hand (and a lot of the time Roarski too)
How could this angle face bite so hard! (C)
T
Taking advantage that Eli was not feeling good and wanting to snuggle : )
at the kid's museum
T
T loves trains!
ECT
pops teaching the boys all about fishing
Fuzzy visits us frequently and we all love it! So soft and nice : )
taking advantage of the warm weather and getting wet every chance we get
C
E
At the mall someone asked if I had quads! Can you guess which boy is not mine? The little boy was about 3inches taller and Asian! But I can see why someone at first glance might think this, hahaha!
Yogurt strawberry banana smoothies: they drank these in about 2 minutes and kept getting brain freeze!
Just some things I want to record for my own purposes but maybe this will be helpful others too : )
Snacks, I keep my pantry well stocked with these staples:
raisins
graham crackers
gold fish crackers
ritz like crackers from trader joes
veggie chips from trader joes
blueberry or strawberry snack bars from trader joes
rice cakes
granola bars
sugar snap peas (one of the few vegetables I can get them to eat without disguising it)
and of course loads of fruit!
Typical Meals
peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (American children would starve without them)
Plain Yogurt, I add absolutely nothing to it and this continues to be one of their favorite meals!
They really aren't very picky and for the most part will eat whatever mom and dad eat : )
Favorite Foods
Yogurt (as mentioned)
Pesto Pasta (anything with pasta, they are carb junkies)
Quinua (sp?)
Any Mexican food I make
Tamale Pie
Beans
Zucchini bread
tater tots
sweet potato fries (baked)
sourdough pancakes
breakfast sausages
Drinks
Milk
Unsweetened teas (of the mint varieties, or hibiscus flower tea)
Water (I almost think they like it more than milk, they drink it like it's the best most refreshing thing in the world!)
Fruit smoothies on occasion
The Daily Routine
At 21 months our typical day goes like this...
6:30am babies start to wake up around this time...
6:45am Phil and I get up. Phil does diapers and gives Thomas a sippy cup of milk while I nurse the other two one at a time.
7:30am we wave bye-bye to dad
7:30/8am breakfast, usually cold cereal or oatmeal unless it's the weekend
8:30/9am playtime, whether it be at home or elsewhere
10:30am-ish snack, continue with playtime
12/12:30pm Lunch (what mom and dad had for dinner the night before)
1pm diaper changes and nap time (they party for 1/2-1 hour before they fall asleep)
3:30/4pm babies get up but it's not uncommon for them to sleep in till 4:30pm, resume playtime (playing is a full time job for these boys)
4:30pm-ish snack
5:45/6pm Dad comes home
6/6:30pm dinner (something quick just for the boys)
7pm start the bed time routine: diaper changes and pajamas, I nurse Caleb and Thomas and Eli gets a sippy cup of milk
7:30pm bedtime!!!
After the babies go to bed I make dinner for us and bed time for mom and dad is around 10:30pm or a little earlier (we cherish our 8+ hours of sleep!).
For a MOM I'm not super strict with the schedule but probably very strict from a non-MOM stand point. The boys are very flexible now and can nap an hour early or an hour later without melt downs (bed time is different though).
This has been our routine for a few months now and I'm thinking it will stay this way until nap time goes away, hopefully not for a very very long time! We don't do family meals yet because the boys are a lot to handle come the 6 o'clock melt downs so I usually don't cook dinner until after they are in bed, this allows us to spend a little time together as a family each day in the evenings. And also because I would spend the entire time picking up sippy cups, plates and food that have been thrown on the floor between bites (they love to throw everything!). I'm a slow eater and I have trouble as it is keeping a healthy weight. Honestly it gives me heartburn to eat with the boys the way they are now. We do breakfast on the weekends together because they are in much better moods in the mornings. I realize this needs to change soon but for now this is what works and we'll make the effort once the boys are a little older and don't throw things every two seconds.
The boys are thankfully very good sleepers (although they haven't always been) and don't wake up in the middle of the night unless sick or wake up early from their naps. I think they typically need about 14.5 hours of sleep these days (11hrs at night, and 2-3hrs from naps) which I think is pretty typical. I get plenty of time to clean and get what needs to be done at home although many days I don't just because sometimes I just want some me time : ) For example, don't look at my kitchen on the days I put up a new blog post, hehehe!
Here is a cute video of the boys playing at the water feature of a park, notice how they all freak out when the water starts coming out fast (it's at the very beginning and is very subtle).
Caleb surprised me when he went down the slide on his belly head first! So scary to watch my baby do this!
Thomas has recently gotten very attached to his girafa : )
E
T
CET
The boys took care of grocery shopping for me this week!
ECT hanging on the stoop
Without any encouragement the boys all started hugging each other : )
so sweet! wish we could have gotten this pic at a better angle : (
Phil and I were in heaven as this all unfolded before our own eyes, so much LOVE!!!
E and pops
Thomas the Parrot
Updates
As you may have guessed from the title of this post, Thomas is talking! Quite literally this Thursday he started repeating anything I ask him to. On Sunday I took him shopping with me and it was a great idea because I was able to see the depth of what he is capable of. I got Thomas to say the name of everything he pointed at. We counted from 1 to 5 and I got him to say a two word phrase (all done), whether in Spanish or English he said it! I was most worried about Thomas but now he's far in the lead with speaking. I'd say Eli's pronunciation is better but it's probably because he's more choosy about what he wants to repeat. At first I could get Eli to repeat a lot but he's kind of shut that down for now but at least I know he can but just doesn't want to. Even though, Eli and Caleb continue to make steady progress with one or two new words every week but it's nothing like I've just seen with Thomas! Hoping this happens with the other two soon : )
perfectly balanced with three, the best jungle gym feature for triplets!
what was that? oh, so you aren't going to eat your vegetables? Well guess what, that bread that you can't eat fast enough is zucchini bread! Suckers!
I took it off thinking maybe he doesn't want it there, but no he put it right back on
Updates...and there's a lot!
We are having a fantastic summer and I'm amazed how different it is from last year when the babies were still only crawling and taking two naps a day, which meant for the most part we were home bound. We couldn't even go into the backyard last year (we don't have nice soft grass for crawlers)! Now we are all over the place, to the park, to the kids museum, to the science center and to playdates : ) We go out of the house about three times a week (not including weekends) and if we are home and it's not raining we are in the backyard having fun. Last year we never left the house unless we had an appointment! I feel like I have a life again, albeit a very different one : )
The babies have had a seriously long healthy streak, it's literally been months since they have gotten sick. I sure hope they keep it up and we can enjoy our trip to California next month without incidence!
For a while now the boys have refused to be fed and only like to self feed. The only way around it is if I feed them free range and they think they are just getting tastes of my food. They are also getting really good at feeding themselves with spoons. If I give them rice, for example, I only have to help them at the very end. They do spill about 1/3 of their food but I think that's pretty good for someone who isn't even two yet!
When something upsets Eli, he falls to a sitting position then he throws his head back hitting his head on whatever it lands on. I'm thinking this is the precursor to tantrums!
I like to talk about how much the boys fight but maybe I should clarify what I mean by 'fight.' The boys are not very aggressive towards each other, they do not hit each other (yet). They do bite and it seems to happen when one boy accidentally corners his brother or of course when they are in close contact and at a tug of war over something. I used to be able to say that Caleb bites sometimes, Eli bites quite a bit but Thomas is my good boy and does not bite at all. Well sadly I have to report that Thomas has joined the ranks of his brothers and so now he bites too. They are getting better at pointing out who bit them, which is very helpful. They push to get to something they want but never because they are angry at each other. I've been keeping their hair pretty short so thankfully there is no hair to pull! And of course there is always a lot of screaming involved.
They are playing together more and more these days and it's not just copy cat games. They like to tickle each other and as they do it they say 'tiddle tiddle tiddle' (It's also the same sound they make when they beckon kitty cats).
Thomas has deemed himself owner of everything, especially Thomas the Train stuff. As you can imagine this upsets the other two boys. Sorry Thomas, but I don't think you can keep this up for very long!
The boys are getting better at posing for pictures, they now give me 3 seconds to take a picture before they disperse. I just need to work on getting them to smile on command for pictures since my silly faces aren't working as well as they used to.
The other day Caleb was nursing before bedtime and he just had to stop and tell me something very exciting...
I have these types of conversations often with all three boys. Sometimes we go back and forth for a couple of minutes. Only God knows what it is they are trying to say because I can't make out a single coherent word out of them!
