Monday, October 28, 2013

Busy Busy Busy (3yr 1mo!)

3 years + 1 mo
my snuggly worms before bed one night : )
Eli waiting for his bedtime story
Thomas makes the silliest faces!
Another one from Thomas
A couple weekends ago we went to the Roloff Farm sadly we didn't get very many good pictures but at least we got to see Matt Roloff!
TCE
Trying to pose the boys is never a recipe for a good picture, ha!
Busy Busy Busy

We are keeping pretty busy these days, other than the weekends, we only have one day a week where our morning is completely free. The other four days are filled with either our speech group, our pre-preschool program, nursery school (which is like preschool/daycare so I can get a break and run errands) and grocery shopping. Thank goodness our local grocery store has free daycare for 1hr so I don't have to shop on Sundays anymore. Sundays can be a full family day like Saturday is, yay! And I can't forget to mention swim lessons twice a week in the evenings for the rest of this month.

Our typical day starts at 6:30/7am when the boys wake up and start playing, depending on what we have going on that day we either take our time and eat breakfast or we hustle and get ready to head out of the house. At 2pm the boys go down for their nap, it usually takes them a while to fall asleep but they know the routine and it's not too much of a fight. The boys get up at 5-5:30pm and if they are in good moods I wait for Phil to come home before starting dinner. If they wake up in foul moods a favorite cartoon makes it all better and I can get a head start on dinner (I think this happens more often than not). We start the bedtime process at 8:30pm with pj's, teeth brushing and stories. Lights are out no later than 9pm (most days).

I'm very thankful the boys still need a nap and if we plan a day of skipping a full nap they at least need a 20min power nap in the car otherwise they'll be in an atrocious moods come 6pm. I'm hoping we can keep it up as long as possible because they tend to wear me out by naptime! It seems like most kids give up napping sometime between 3-4 if not sooner. I'm really hoping to make it till we start preschool next fall, it's a far stretch but a girl can dream!

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Fall Riding

The last three weeks have been full of beautiful dry fall weather but I imagine it's end is close at hand so we've been trying to take advantage of it! Here's some pics from our morning riding through a nearby park...

ETC
itty bitty bikers
Eli coasting down
Thomas
Caleb
Turn around point
Here's a fun video of the boys cruising on their bikes. They are so ready for pedal bikes but after looking into it they need to grow at least 2 more inches before they get them (although even one more inch might be do-able). They just don't make them small enough, hoping they will be tall enough by spring!

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Fall Memory 2013

I'm about 3 weekends behind on pictures so this was from a little ways back....

Every year in the fall we go on a little adventure with our friend K, we call it our fall memory (yes it's meant to sound cheesy)...can't say we took the best pictures on this trip so here's what you get!

On a whim we first stopped at a winery to see if it was open but it wasn't so instead we checked out some pretty alpaca's next door. On our way to the fence to get an up close look at these silly creatures Eli stumbled and fell on the concrete driveway. I had him wear a bib till the bleeding stopped so he wouldn't stain his clothes : (
Looking so undignified with a bib on at the age of 3 years
The boys getting playful after lunch and before heading on a little hike to some waterfalls
TCE
An attempt at a family picture (note to selves: don't bring fixed angle lens to waterfalls) 
Since we couldn't get everyone in one picture we took two!

Our last stop was to tour an Elk farm, they had the best dogs and cats to pet!!!
I'd come back just for this!
The best part of this place was Popcorn!
6 month old baby pygmy goat
I LOVE YOU POPCORN!

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Triplets 3.0

We just had our 3 year check up and as usual the boys are the picture of good health. No shots this time thanks to an intra-nasal version of the flu shot (which still did not keep Eli and Thomas from freaking out, I can only imagine their reactions to a real shot). So the only thing to report is their heights, weights and percentiles:

Caleb
Weight  27lbs 12.5oz
Height 35 inches (89cm) 3rd%
BMI 47% (almost right in the middle, meaning he is very well per portioned, not too skinny not too fat)

Eli
Weight 26lbs 14oz
Height 34.84 inches (88.5cm) 2nd%
BMI 36% (a little skinnier but still very well per portioned)

Thomas
Weight 27lbs 1oz
Height 34.84 inches (88.5cm) 2nd%
BMI 40%

The boys all grew about 3 inches this last year, which seems like a lot to me but I imagine children of tall parents probably grow a lot more from 2 to 3. The doctor wrote out a little equation with my height and Phil's height and calculated the boys will be about 5 ft 6.5 in tall which doesn't surprise anyone considering that's only a hair shorter than Phil is (who is 5ft 6.75in tall). Of course nothing is set in stone and that could vary a couple of inches.

In the last few months, as is evident by their weights, Caleb has continued to be the best eater and as Phil and I always say 'you can always count on Caleb to eat.' Eli has been eating like a horse and if he keeps it up he will for sure pass Thomas. Thomas has been our worst eater lately and if he keeps it up he'll soon gain "the little one" status. Funny because he was our Big Boy up until age 2. But even with that said the boys are all good eaters and by no means picky considering they are 3 years old. They will eat a variety of ALL food types and while they will pick out the onions or tomato chunks out of their food they by no means need food to be a homogeneous blend in order to eat it. I hold steadfast to not becoming a cook to order so they eat what I make or they don't eat at all. I also only offer them healthy snacks with "treats" (cookies, candy, ice cream) sprinkled in throughout the month as rewards. I think my efforts are paying off!

The boys are officially now wearing all 2T clothes, they could get away with the tops being 2T for a few months now but until very recently they outgrew their 18mo pants. I could probably still squeeze them into a size 6 shoe but it was getting too hard to get their feet in there so they are all wearing size 7 now.

I meant to take pictures of them before leaving the house because they looked so handsome but I was so nervous about the flu shot they never got and getting there on time that I totally forgot. So as we were loading up to leave the parking lot, this was the only picture I took : (
Language Progress

The boys speech is progressing very nicely and they are actually catching up so it may not be too much longer before they no longer are considered to have a delay. They are making rapid progress and for a couple months now use simple sentences (3-4 word sentences). Of course it's a garbled up mess of Spanish and English so don't expect to understand them unless you also speak Spanglish. For a while I was concerned that they were mostly adding English words, but since we went into our speech explosion I'm happy to see them adding TONS of Spanish. I might be willing to say their Spanish is on par with their English now, and I should mention their understanding of both languages has never been delayed. They have a pretty big vocabulary but many of the words that they are adding are repeats, meaning they are learning both versions of the word (in Spanish and English).

Even though I've started to emphasize what is English versus what is Spanish their teachers have assured me that the boys are smart enough to already know and understand that there is a difference and will soon begin to separate the two languages when speaking. It will be exciting to see that develop! They also tell me that there is no "normal way" that language develops in bilingual kids as it does in single language kids. All they really have to compare them to is single language kids. So there is never a way to predict how it will play out for each individual child since every one has a unique situation, as far as how much of each language they are exposed to. So even though they are learning twice as much as other kids they are expected to be at the same level as single language kids. Not a perfect system but until there is more research that's how they understand things. I have also been told that we are in a perfect storm for a speech delay, being that the boys are/were preemies, multiples, and dual language learners....So if you are now confused by what I just wrote above, well then welcome to my world. That is just the beginning of contradicting statements I've found when researching speech delays in bilingual children.

Since the boys turned three we had to say good bye to our speech teacher that would conveniently come to our home once a week to work with the boys. Now we have a speech group that the boys go to once a week at a nearby elementary school. It's a class of four students so it's the boys and another little girl their age. The new teacher is awesome, she is British but speaks Castillian Spanish (Spain version of Spanish, really it's just a slightly different accent). She conducts the class in Spanish which I love and she can actually understand all of what the boys say since she knows both languages. It's only 45 minutes long but man can she sure pack in a lot of things in in that short time. The first day they read a story, then they did a craft project, played a matching game, played a bowling game, and finished off with another story! The boys seem pretty comfortable and seem more willing to speak to their teacher than with me, ha! I only stayed to observe the first class but after that I'll be spending 45 minutes of peace and quiet reading in my car, I'm actually pretty excited about it : )

This morning in their over sized footie pajamas

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Videos!

No pictures today just a bunch of really cute videos of the boys...

Pretty much the two cutest things that the boys say is apple sauce and baby duck. I never get tired of hearing it and I ask them to repeat it several times a day. I will miss their baby/toddler voices someday when they are all grown up, for now I enjoying it to the fullest : )

Baby Duck Apple Sauce from Janet Pittsenbarger on Vimeo.

The boys seem so big to me most of the time except under two situations. One, when they are next to kids their own age, and two, when they are in their diapers (or as we call them now night night undies). In diapers they become babies again and I can't say I don't like it : )

This was just before nap time....
 
Cute Diapers from Janet Pittsenbarger on Vimeo.

Here is a performance of itsty bitsy spider and I'm a little tea pot. It's pretty darn cute if I do say so myself! Then the gummy bear vitamin dance we like to do each day before getting our daily dose of vitamins : )

Itsy Bitsy Spider and more from Janet Pittsenbarger on Vimeo.

This last one is not too exciting, just the boys going down the slide and being silly in the water...

Swim Lessons Down the Slide from Janet Pittsenbarger on Vimeo.

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

A Monsterrific Boys Room!

I'm kind of obsessed with anything cute happy monster themed. I think it all started with a three pack of monster onesies someone gave us as a gift when the boys where wee little infants, I fell in love right then and there. My re-decorating ideas started over a year ago and I've worked on various aspects of it off and on during the past year. I'm sure the boys would have loved a train or construction truck themed room but I wanted to avoid the same old tired themes that you always see. I also wanted to take advantage of the fact that the boys are still really little and this will be the last time I will get away with doing something all of my own choosing : ) So finally here is the new look of the boys room!

I labeled the dresser with pictures of what's inside so that the boys would know where their toys are and so Phil would also know where the boys clothes are since he's always clueless as to where I keep stuff.
I got the "1, 2, 3" fabric bins from Ikea to keep the boys craft supplies (crayons, scissors, glue, etc).
I also created a singleton sock bin out of an old lego container to keep socks that were estranged from their partner. Since it's existence I've reunited so many socks that would have otherwise ended up at the back of the drawer. Our sock divorce rates have plummeted! 
I framed a picture of one of the boys first ultrasound.
On the shelf I have three monkey banks that I got in Hawaii (ok not entirely sticking to the theme but I still think it looks cute). I also found monster cups in the dollar bins of Micheal's which I'm using to keep pencils in. The mismatched monster at the end of the shelf is part of a matching game I found at the Goodwill, I can't wait for the boys to be old enough to play!
I made the curtains and ordered a custom made growth chart on etsy
Close up of the curtains, and by pure chance I found matching light switch covers and electrical outlet covers on etsy as well!
The boys love being measured and all know their heights, Caleb and Thomas will point to the number 35 and Eli points to the line in between 34 and 35 : )
I got a custom ABC poster from the same place I got the growth chart.
I also framed our latest family portrait.
 
I probably put the most thought into the boys custom designed monsters. I came up with my own ideas or variations that I copied from elsewhere and then I painted them on canvas with acrylic paints. Caleb is my first born so his is the one-eyed monster looking all cute and sneaky just the way he is. Eli is my second born so his is the two-eyed monster who has his mouth open ready to bite (he is our biggest biter of the bunch). And Thomas' I'm sure you can guess is the three-eyed monster since he was third to be born. His monster is serious just like him : )
Sleepy times in the far end of the room
I also made the pillow cases to match the curtains (do you see all the crap he goes to bed with!!!)
The rocking chair I found at the Goodwill and while the upholstery was in good shape I didn't necessarily care for the pattern (plaid) so I reupholstered the seat with left over fabric. The steps of the bed we use as storage, I can say that 100% of the boys clothing and about 90% of their toys are all in the boys small room (hows that for maximizing space!)!

Front end of the room, I had Phil put in an extra shelf for books and storage.
Over the door jacket racks are a must to maximize space. They are so cheap and no installation required!
I also made patches of the boys personalized monsters to put on H&M hoodies for them. Out of everything else I made, the patches took me a longest time to make (Thank goodness for nap time!).  
I bought the hoodies last year thinking the size 2 would fit them by the time they turned three and of course they are still huge on my petite boys! I didn't know this at the time but H&M runs really big, the boys still only fit their 18 mo stuff. Oh well, they'll decorate the walls for now until they actually fit : )
Chasing each other in circles!

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Swim Lessons Take 1

The boys started swim lessons last week! Each class is 5 hours of instruction broken down into 30 min lessons twice a week with 4 students total. The 3 year old and older classes don't require parental participation but I still scheduled the class so that Phil can meet us there after work. I initially feared that the boys would be super scared and not want to even get in the water, I even brought my swim suite as well just in case my help was needed. Little did I know that the boys would be absolutely fearless of the water! The boys were bursting at the seems with excitement for their first lesson and weren't much less excited about the second lesson. Their excitement inhibits them from listening really well so I'm hoping they calm down more in the subsequent lessons. They couldn't wait till they could go down the slide and a few times they got dunked and went under but they could have cared less! Its a really good thing Phil is there to help as well since it's hard to keep them all in one spot and he helps encourage them to listen to their instructor. I'm hoping to sign them up for a class each quarter until they actually learn to swim but the way things are going I think they will learn relatively fast! Phil has suggested we become members at this pool so we can take the boys more often since they seem to be natural water babies : )







Friday, October 4, 2013

Our Faithful Companion

When I turned 16 I got my first job at Micky D's so that I could save up for my first car, but before I bought that I went out and bought myself a kitten at the humane society. After two years I had to leave him at home when I went off to college. After Phil finished college we moved to Portland where we found an apartment that allowed cats so I got my kitty back after 6 years apart. I named him Tippy but Phil renamed him Lankston for being so long and lanky, so he was known by both names. He was very smart, affectionate and a great mouser. He was our faithful companion for 15 years but last week he took a turn for the worse and we had to put him down, he was an awesome kitty. Good bye faithful companion you will be greatly missed! : (

1998 he'd fall asleep in your hands, it was so sweet!
1999 my distraction from homework : )
We told the boys what was happening in toddler terms and we had them all give him a hug 
and lots of kisses