Womb Mates to Room Mates (15mo!)

15 MONTHS!

Brad Pitt watch out, Caleb Pitt was born with that 'I just rolled out of bed hair look' that takes others hours to perfect! The boy is just blessed with good hair : )

In their Sunday best! TEC

 Mr. Cowlick himself (Eli) woke up one day and was having a perfect hair day! I have two pictures to prove it, although Thomas and Eli seem to have flip flopped and now I can't seem to tame Thomas' hair. I'm tempted to cut it if it doesn't settle down soon. 

Womb Mates to Room Mates

When I found out I was have three babies and not one I threw out my idea of a grandiose nursery with all the details of a perfect baby room. I was more concerned about having a guest room with a bed for all my helper-visitors soon to come. We got one crib and a couple pack 'n play's(pnp) were passed down to us. The first three months the babies all slept next to each other in either the crib or a pnp but then they stopped sleeping through each others crying and we separated them as far from each other as possible. I know some triplet families just bite the bullet and keep them together in hopes that they will just get used to all the crying but I never wanted to sacrifice even one hour of sleep to train them since we hardly slept at all. So for the longest time we had the babies spread out all over the house. At one point we put two together in one room (I don't even remember when) and once we got Eli sleeping through the night we thought it was time for the boys to have their own room. We took town the queen size guest bed and made it The Boy's Room. I don't know why but even before it was properly their room they loved going in there and exploring it. I want to keep the room exciting for them since recently they quit liking TV, so I don't have an easy out for when they are revolting against me! I can now brag that my children don't watch any TV at all (except commercials with catchy jingles), but secretly I wish they did. So the boys room will have separate toys than the living room and we'll use their room sparingly to play in, let's see how long that lasts!

So I present to you a 360degree tour of The Boy's Room: 

This is a video of the boys while taking down the guest bed, they were so excited!

I can't remember where I got this idea but besides labeling what is in the drawers I made these little cut outs so anyone putting away baby laundry will know were things go : )

All our wall art is by dad : )

The boys names were coincidentally all bible names but I think that's really cool! The tags say the meaning of the boy's names. 

The boys were so excited to be reunited that they thought they'd recreate their position in the womb 

I could not get them to all turn around for a picture they were just having too much fun exploring

I caught Eli in mid fall! Perfect form, straight back, arms out and looking forward!

Messy Faces

I just have to keep telling myself it's not right to prohibit my children from eating something just because they get soooooo messy eating it. Raviolis + Triplets = 30min clean up time

Dance Party Revolution 2011

Laughing and Dancing to the 80's (Video)

Yeah, he's pretty bad ass (Thomas' alter ego)

Anyone out there have or know of someone who has dark hazel eyes like this? I've seriously never seen eyes like these!

I've resolved in my mind that it's not getting easier, it's just different! Sure I don't have the physical exhaustion I once had due to lack of sleep but there's a whole lot of mental anguish and frustration. I'm out numbered by two! Six opposable thumbs, 24 fingers, and six little legs can do a lot of damage! Just as I'm through reprimanding one for being naughty the other two join in on the bad act. Time outs only work to distract them from what they are doing but it's no guarantee that they won't do it again. Oh yes and Eli has started hitting his brothers, they learn very fast from each other so the others are sure to follow suite. 

Thankfully the boys have always been very patient and aside from trying a few times when they were little I never found it necessary to double or tandem nurse the boys. It always felt awkward but probably because I just never perfected the art of double nursing. Lately though, first thing in the morning everyone is SUPER cranky, that is until they nurse. So I've seen no other way than to nurse two boys at once and hope the third boy can be soothed by dad for a few minutes while his brothers finish up. I have yet to feel very comfortable doing it but at least I don't have to hear screaming first thing in the morning : )

On the happier side of things starting at 14 months I revised our routine and it has gone very well. The boys always adjust so well to changes. Basically I just dropped one milk feeding but it feels way less hecktic than before. Every one nurses an equal amount of times and everyone gets one bottle of milk each day, everything is even steven now. I feel less guilty about forgetting who had more bottles and less time nursing yesterday. Here's how our days go now and probably for many months to come: 

6:30am wake and Milk feeding #1 (everyone nurses, no bottles)

7:30am Breakfast

10am Snack #1 

10:30am Milk feeding #2 (Two nurse one bottle), followed by nap time

12:45pm Snack #2 for whoever wakes up early and while we wait for everyone else to wake up from nap

1:30pm Lunch

2:30pm Milk feeding #3 (Two nurse, one bottle)

4:30 Snack #3 (3-5pm is our window of opportunity, when we 'do stuff')

5:30pm Dinner

7pm Milk feeding #4 (Two nurse one bottle), followed by bed time

During our window of opportunity: Mondays we stay home and just play or we take a walk weather permitting. Tuesday we go to the playhouse. Wednesday we stay home and just play or take a walk(this is our meeting night so the boys get out of the house at least once). Thursday we do errands if needed. Fridays the boys get a bath. 

I also forgot to mention that at 13 months I had to get tough with Eli. He was still waking up in the middle of the night to nurse once. It still was not bothering me until I read somewhere that kids that don't sleep through the night have more temper tantrums. So at some point it is beneficial and healthy for kids (and adults) to sleep uninterrupted through the night. Eli had not had any temper tantrums but I figured it's best to nip this one in the butt early on before there is a problem. With the threat of SIDS out of the way now I just stopped picking him up, he'd cry for about 5-10 minutes and then fall asleep again. He stopped waking after about 4 days. So we're done with that but I do miss snuggling him at night, oh well it's for his own good. 

Well dad is home for a whole week and one day due to mandatory PTO use. The boy's aunt Janet arrives tomorrow and uncle Chance the following day so we are looking forward to some fun times : )

Bunny Eli

Here is a video of Bunny Eli giving himself kisses in the mirror

Thomas' Dance Routine

This just couldn't wait until the next blog post...Thomas' dancing is starting to rival Eli's (the original dancing machine)!

Be sure to watch this in full screen : )

Playtime!

Eli

Eli

Thomas

Caleb

We took the boys to a nearby elementary school to play in the playground. It brought back good memories of grade school, the little cubbies with your name on it, crayons and paste! My aspirations of home schooling don't seem realistic anymore. Raising a family of five is very expensive, the boys aren't even over 20 pounds yet and you should see how much I spend on yogurt alone! We are scraping by for now but I just don't see how we will make it in the long run. I will eventually have to go back to work, but I'm holding my ground and don't ever want to go back full time. I want to be able to drop off and pick up my kids from school and spend the entire weekend with my family. Of course this is a long way off and won't happen until the boys are in 1st grade when they start going full time. The boys have a tricky birth date since they were born in September. I want them to have an advantage so I don't want them to start kindergarten early. So we are looking at the fall of 2015 when they start Kindergarten. Seems so far off but I know we'll be there before we know it. I checked out a few schools in our area and the one in the pictures above has a Spanish imersion program which would help tremendously my plight for the boys to learn proper Spanish, after two Spanish AP classes I still don't quite know where to put the accent marks!

Literally within 2-3 days after changing my baby sign language strategy the boys are all picking up on it. Partial success but we are moving in the right direction. We have been working on the sign for 'more,' Eli seems to be the most consistent followed by Thomas then Caleb. They don't always use it but if I promt them by asking them if they want more while signing it myself they will usually respond by signing back. We've started on the next sign, 'gentle,' because they are too rough with the kitty and I'm afraid he'll scratch them someday if the boys go too far with him. The other cat steers clear of the boys so we don't worry about her.

The boys (well mostly Thomas) have been super drooly lately I think we have some molars trying to make their way in. Thankfully haven't had any more middle of the night screaming because of this.

We are having a record breaking dry December here and it has just been awesome! We are trying to enjoy every minute of it, I can take a walk at anytime I darn well please. It feels like since we've lived here we've gone through so many record breaking months but for rain! I feel like we deserve this : )

Eli sure does know how to use a sippy cup!

I can still pick up all three at once, check!

Sometimes you have to be creative to get things done around here : )

Thomas has at least two in his mouth, one in his hand and he's reaching for another one! I can't believe how much these guys love tater tots! I bought a humongous bag for them and in anticipation of Janet & Chance's visit : )

Oh Crap! moment #5-8

What better way to describe my 'oh crap!' moments than by pictures...

Oh Crap! moment #5

Caleb how did you get back there with all those dangerous wires?

Oh Crap! moment #6

I am SO not ready for you guys to outgrow the superyard! They can pretty much all do this now but Eli seems to have a knack for it : (

Oh Crap! moment #7

Partners in crime. Caleb and Thomas push the pack n play out and Eli climbs the little bench. Sticks + windows + boys = disaster!

Oh Crap! moment #8 brought to you by Caleb

Updates

My quest to teach the boys some baby sign language has proven to be unfruitful. Along with baby sign language I've been teaching them things where I sing a song and they do some repetitive hand motion (I'll try to get videos soon, it's too cute). I think I know why. I asked myself why they learned that so quickly but not the sign language? My first problem, I think one of the two signs we were working on is too complex, the sign for 'more' requires both hands. Second, I am not doing it often enough because when ever I ask them if they want more food I usually have both hands occupied with either a bowl and spoon or I have a baby in my arms while trying to distribute snacks. Third, it's not fun, which is why they learned that other stuff so quickly. So this week we are changing things up. I've come up with my own simpler sign for 'more' requiring only one hand and am trying to do it more often and in conjunction with fun stuff. Like asking if they want to be tickled more. I am really not asking for much just a few key signs to make life easier for all of us. Here goes round two...

The babies got weighed and measured right before they got sick and I'm sure this is not accurate anymore. With all that diarrhea they probably lost some weight but I'm happy to report every ones appetites are up and running like before and it looks like Eli is finally having more solid poops like his brothers but we are dealing with diaper rash now. At every dirty diaper Eli gets power washed with a squirt bottle filled with warm water after he had some bloody spots on his bum and berries, the baby wipes were hurting too bad, poor baby.

Everyone measures the same as last month 28.something inches

C 19lbs 11oz

E 18lbs 13oz

T 19lbs 8oz Everyone gained almost a whole pound in a little over one month!

Up until now I still had the boys in 9mo or 9-12mo pants but they started to look like high waters so I brought up some 12mo pants I had stored away. They fit so much better because I think the older sizes are meant for slimmer babies and I always had a hard time finding pants that fit around the waist. I can call off my search for baby suspenders now : )

This is how I get out my blog posts in the midst of ravenous hyenas!

Eli

So I know how the monkey got on your back but what happened to your pants dude!

Goodnight, hold your teddy tight : )