Rose Parade

TCE, Caleb wouldn't stop break dancing until we threatened him with a time out!

TCE

all Nike'd out

Saturday Market in the background, why haven't we come sooner? So full of goodies!

ETC

If we had had girls we would have just hit the tutu jackpot!

C and pops checkin out the parade

E always insists on wearing my head bands!

Let's get outta hear it's nap time!

Updates

The boys are making more improvements in the speech department, yay! It's really all starting to make sense to me why multiples are so prone to speech delays. While most babies/toddler are trying to imitate their parents or older siblings, multiples are busy imitating each other. All day long my three monkey's are too busy trying to impress each other and there is just no time to try and learn from me! I can't hardly get any ones attention before someone distracts them and they are off to play copy cat games. 

Anyways on to the improvements. Thomas has been saying 'baby' for the last few days now and he says it so much that Eli now says it too. Eli also says 'elmo' but sometimes it sounds like 'el' and other times he says 'em.' Getting these guys to repeat anything is a tough job (except for Eli) but I got Caleb and Eli into a rant the other day and they were all yelling 'papa, papa' with a Spanish accent (emphasis on last 'a'), they say dada like crazy but I want them to call their dad 'papa' (just being sentimental, cultural reasons). Eli will try to say most any thing I ask him to say as long as it's not a real complicated word, in which case he gives me this look of 'whatever mom.' So I'm not sure what to count in their vocabulary list, stuff they've said at least once, stuff they repeat consistently, stuff they say clearly or stuff they use in the right context? It was so much easier before, I'm starting to lose track of who said what and what says who???

I have noticed Caleb has an increased interest when I read to him but it's really hard to get through a whole 7 page book before someone comes and rips it out of my hands. When the boys were evaluated for their speech I told the ladies that I felt guilty for not reading to them more but it just always turns into a big fight over my lap or the book. It was nice to hear them say that sitting still for story time is more of a 2 year old skill and so it fits right in that Caleb now is becoming more into story time and hopefully the others will too : )

How DO you do it!?

For those who ask me with disbelief "I don't know how you do it?!" I can't help but think that either you highly underestimate what you are capable of or your kids are really terrible.

This isn't physics, the concepts are simple. While most change one diaper I change three, I feed three babies, I load three babies into the car, etc etc etc. Yes lots of things do take three times as long but many things don't, this is why assembly lines are so popular because they are efficient, think feedings (they all eat at the same time) and I wash all their clothes at the same time (it's just a bigger load). There is still only one bathroom to clean, one kitchen, 1 kids worth of toys scattered about in one area. I don't have toys scattered on the roof or in the basement or even in my hair!

I am not about to break down at any moment in fact I'm far from it. We have our bad days but doesn't everyone? It IS a lot of hard work but with some organization most CAN manage raising triplets. Multiples learn patience before they can even understand what the concept is. They have to wait their turn and share from the time they are conceived. This is very helpful and makes a huge difference!

On rare occasions when I only have one boy to look after it feels so easy, so gentle, and so peaceful. Honestly I don't know why people complain. Many hands make the load light: two parents, two arms/parent, sometimes a much older brother or sister, and ALL this to ONE child! Although I'm sure this probably all goes out the window with baby number two if sibling are close in age.

At the end of the day I am pretty exhausted and possibly not three times as much, but I get a solid 8 hours of sleep to recuperate. I get paid with three times the rewards. Three times the hugs, three times the kisses, three times the cuteness, three times the sweetness, and three times the love! I seriously want to explode sometimes because of all this awesomeness around me. What could be better than that? Maybe knowing that my boys will always have not one but TWO best friends at their side.

Sometimes I just need to vent!

This is the face I make inside when people ask me stupid questions, and oh man there are so many when you have triplets in tow!

Potty Training Pt 1

Backyard Fun!

Look what we got for free! A neighbor was throwing it out and we were fortunate enough to drive by before someone else snatched it up : ) A little rusty and needs a new seat but other than that it's good to go! They look like such big boys : )

The boys just barely can ride it using their tippy toes, another 1/2 inch and I think they will be unstoppable! Until we get two more bikes I will have to hide it so there aren't mad fights over it : (

I don't have the easiest time getting these guys to keep their hats on but THIS they fight over who gets to wear it!

This pic cracks me up

boys in overalls are so dang cute! (side note: someday I'll have nice patio furniture, till then, ugly old book study chairs will have to do : )

What is it with these kids and cramming themselves into tight spaces together!

Potty Talk

Potty talk is what I'm calling this phase of potty training. I know what you are thinking, that it's waaay too early but I've been doing some reading and I'm all pumped up about it. My first attempt to potty train won't be until the boys are about 22 months so from now until then it's gonna be raining potty propaganda around here. I dusted off the two potty's we inherited (hope we don't need anymore, but do we?) and brought them into the bathroom so they get used to seeing them. Like I said I've been reading up on potty training methods and was delighted to find some that suggest that there may not be a need to wait for 'signs of readiness' in fact if you wait too long then potty training might be harder than it has to be (I dare not go there!). The method is to bank on the fact that kids this age love being n_ak_ed, how funny is that! I'm going with 22 months since it will be the middle of summer and if I wait till 24 months, when I originally intended on trying it, it will start getting too chilly to run around in your birthday suite : ) 

Honestly, I do not expect it to work the first time around and I'm just viewing it as a practice round but who knows I've underestimated these guys plenty of times before so I wouldn't be surprised if it worked. All I have to loose is a few days, which is how long it's supposed to take to get them started. I'm doing them all at once so I may try to plan it during someones visit for the extra set of hands (hint hint...anyone for July or August?). If I'm getting too frustrated and making no progress after a couple of days I'll call it quits and try again later. We'll see : )

Oh Crap! moments #22-24

Oh Crap! #22

 no words needed

Oh Crap! # 23

With multiples biting happens, at this point I wouldn't call it a problem but it does happen with some regularity. This time I don't even know when this happened and honestly don't even know how???

The happy-face biter strikes again!

Oh Crap! #24

Eli has no problem on his first attempt but not on the second...

...life's tough when you're trying to hold on to your teddy!

Now to end on a cute note : )

 E is a street tough

nah! not really

Baby Updates

Just when I thought they couldn't get any cuter! The boys have been giving each other hugs for some time now and not always because they are encouraged to by a third party. Well lately the boys have started giving each other kisses even without me asking them to : ) 

They also sometimes comfort each other when one is crying like by patting his brother on the back or patting him where he got hurt.

I'm sure they've known each others names and have been able to tell each other apart for a long time now but I just never bothered to ask to see if they could. Well they can! So if I ask Caleb where Thomas is he points to the right brother and when I ask where Caleb is he points to himself.    

Humuhumunukunukuapua'a (20mo!)

Looking shaggy in their Hawaii state fish tees Humuhumunukunukuapuaa, in serious need of haircuts!

 CET

CET

CET

Sightseeing with our friend Bryan that came all the way out from SoCal to see us and to get a break from the heat. It was great to have his visit to look forward to after our big trip : ) It was so nice seeing a friend from way back when (think college days when Phil and I were dating) to reminisce the old days, hope you come and visit again!

Sorry for the dry spell but we've been busy scheming ways to get back to Hawaii. It won't be easy when the boys can't fly for free anymore and we don't have a gazillion frequently flyer miles to get us free tickets. I don't know exactly how but we'll be back!

I want to mention a few things I missed on my last post, I realize you are probably sick of hearing about this trip already but must document it for my own benefit so bare with me. In 2006 Phil and I went to Waikiki during spring break and had a lame time there. We got back feeling like we never went to Hawaii. It just so happened that they were getting one of those 'once every hundred years' storms. It rained the entire time and seriously I've NEVER seen rain come down so hard and fast! Our last day there the entire tourist area was flooded up to our knees. It got so bad that two days after we left a major canal broke and flooded Waikiki beach with tons of sewage forcing authorities to close down one of the most popular beaches in the world!

Here is a pic of us with Diamond Head in the background, notice how green it is (it's generally a brown/yellow color).

An interesting thing happened while we were there this last time around. We came back with over 30 unused diapers! I packed all the diapers we would need for the trip and figured we'd probably end up buying a pack since it might not be enough. But something magical happened, the boys were only pooping once a day! I was praying that this wonderful occurance would continue once we got back home but the very next day home it was back to 2-3 times a day, argh! Seriously whats wrong with these children? You'd think they'd be 300lbs by now considering how much they poop!

I thought I'd take advantage of the jet lag and get them into a more convenient sleep schedule where they go to bed at 8pm instead of 7pm in hopes of getting them to wake up at 6:30/7am and not 5:30/6am like they had been doing. Well, I don't think it's been working, so not sure how much longer we'll keep this up, although they have been napping longer, hmmm...decisions decisions? These guys have a seriously good internal clock!

At the Park!

 T

 E

 I'm gonna eat your stinking flower!

 E

 samich

 E and pops

C on the spinner

Baby Updates
Eli made up his own sign for hand washing, when I tell them that we are going to wash our hands he rubs his hands together as if he were washing them. He does a better job of signing it than he does actually doing it, I usually end up washing his hands for him.

I think the flood gates might be opening for Eli in the speech department. I've seen a lot of improvement in the last two weeks or so. He's got several new words and I've noticed he's trying to say stuff when I ask him to (before it was like pulling teeth or they would just say things out of the blue). His vocab list includes: mama, papa, kity, down, go, hi, pop, ya (spanish), mas (spanish), banana (it's the same in both languages). He said 'socks' today too. He tries to mimic what I say but most of the time it doesn't sound anything like the real word but at least he gets the right number of syllables down.  They learn very quickly from each other so I think his brothers will catch up soon too or maybe it's just because they are identical (they are never too far behind from each other). I am seeing improvements in Thomas and Caleb too.They both have been saying mama, kitty, and mas for some time now. Thomas recently said pop but can't get him to say it again. Caleb said bubble, pop, papa, hi, and wow recently too. Both T and C won't repeat things as readily as Eli will, I especially notice T gets very shy quickly so I feel like he holds back more.

 Finally free ranging it in the bath tub. It was everything I feared, bucketfuls of water out of the tub, fighting over toys, pushing, etc. Will miss the bath seats : (

 Eli eatin pad thai with chops!

Best of Waikiki Hawaii 2012

Preparation and the Flight (it's a long one so grab a cup of coffee!)

I'm pretty sure I spent more time thinking and preparing for this trip than I actually spent in Hawaii. Trying to think of everything, anticipating everything and knowing I would for sure miss something. Oh well I did as good a job as I could. The flight going to Hawaii was very stressful for me. First I sat next to a baby-hater that rolled her eyes the minute she found out she'd be sitting next to a baby.  She wouldn't even hand me stuff that the flight attendant was trying to give me as if we were going to give her cooties! Second, I kept thinking 'this is it,' the melt down is inevitable but thankfully it never happened. The boys did well despite only sleeping 1.5hrs on a 5.5 hr plane ride, it was just too new and exciting! On the way back it was so much better, I sat next to a kind lady that liked babies. The boys all slept at least 3hrs and were less restless than on the way there. We all had window seats (bc of regulations), Phil in front with Thomas, me in the middle mostly with Caleb, and aunt Janet behind me with Eli. Chance caught a different flight. Whew! Even though we survived I don't want to do that again for at least another year and a half!

Phil and I rarely take relaxing vacations, the world is too exciting to relax, so much to see and do. Even though we weren't going to be exploring ancient temples on this trip we had no notions of relaxing considering we were taking 19mo old triplets but can you believe it, relax we did! As I've mentioned before the boys' aunt Janet and uncle Chance came along with us and it made a world of difference. We simply wouldn't have gone with out them! They introduced us to the concept of napping on vacation. I'm the worlds worst napper and have to take a sleeping pill in order to make myself nap. But even I took two naps (without sleeping aids) while everyone else napped most days during the boys' nap time. 

The Condo

Before any trip I usually start to panic about our accommodations, 'what if it was a scam and we get there and have no where to stay?!' We got such a 'great deal' what if it was too good to be true? I really did not have high expectations of this place considering what we paid for it but to everyone's surprise it was such a great find! It was nicely decorated, surprisingly toddler proof (although there were several modifications we had to do) and the lanai was spacious and safe for everyone to be out on at once. 

We bought groceries at a Safeway just outside of the tourist area where things were so much more affordable than in the tourist area. Many things were the same price as the main land and if it was more it was never more than a 1/3 more (Milk was $5/gal versus $3/gal in Portland). Phil and I must have looked pretty ridiculous walking back with our double stroller packed with groceries and no babies! Ah well it was worth it, we cooked approximately half our meals and did lots of take out. 

At the Beach

We spent a lot of time at the beach, we never had a day off from it. Even if I didn't feel like going, the minute I looked at the calm blue water and soft sand it was simply irresistible! 
Do you see Thomas showing some crack up top? Can you believe those are the same swim trunks from last year size 6-12mo! Considering we had a hard time keeping them on I think I can get another year out of them : )

I dug a hole the last day and filled it with water using the buckets. The boys had a blast with it, and played for hours in it (video down below). I wish I had thought of it the first day! Caleb is wearing the blue fish, Eli in either multi-colored fish or dinosaurs, and Thomas in orange/brown stripes. 

We quickly developed a beach routine. At the condo we'd strip the boys down to their diapers, grease them up with sunscreen and load them onto their strollers (the boys would jump right in without our prompting). At the beach we'd take their diapers off and put on their swim trunks and hats. One person was assigned to Eli (he was the most adventurous and fearless) and one person with the other two boys. The boys were pretty easy to look after at the beach, they stayed close by and didn't run off too far from us (this is not the case anywhere else). The boys could not stand lots of idle time in the condo which was great motivation to get us out the door and into the beautiful landscape!

Aloha Shirt Photo Shoot!

We had this huge entourage gawking at us while we snapped pictures! What makes people think this is acceptable?! (Eli in orange/red, Caleb in red, Thomas in black)

Misc Pics

The picture of Thomas snuggling up to aunt Janet is because the boy was terrified of the crazy howling monkeys at the zoo (they kind of scared me too)!

The bottom two pics are Phil and I's meals that we had on our date night, soooo yummy! We ate so much seafood on this trip : )

Last Night

We kept the boys up two hours past their bed time and they were in rare form. They were so excited laughing, giggling, being sweet and giving hugs and kisses. We had some paparazzi next to us, a group of 5 ladies that were head over heals over the boys. While Phil was taking a video he turned the camera on them! (see video below) They were mild with comparison to the lady that screamed when she saw the boys on the beach, immediately she drops the sandals that were in her hands and whips out her camera to take a picture (that one takes the cake I must say of all time reactions to the triplets). As it is people lower their inhibitions while on vacation but when you add identical triplets to the mix it's all over people!

Here are three little video clips in one, just over 5min long...Phil made a really cool 30min long video but I won't be posting it on the blog. I can only think of four persons that would want such a big dose of Pitts Trips. So if you are a grandparent (to the boys) or you are my sister expect something special in the mail. Anyone else is per request : )

We Out!

Prob will not feel like posting anything when we get home tonight so goodbye for now! We had a fantastic time : )