One Shoe Blue Shoe No Shoe

Don't mess with these guys, remember there's three of them and only one of you!

Bad to the bone

Action shot!

The boys love admiring their friend Oscar...from afar apparently

For the love of ketchup!

 It took several tries for them to finally like ketchup, I think they grew to like it because of their love of dipping!

 The boys dipped their sweet potato fries, sandwich, pickles, and strawberries in ketchup. So glad they ate outside!

Thomas dipped his grilled cheese sandwich in the ketchup on his knee 

One Shoe Blue Shoe No Shoe

Putting Eli's shoe back on

Eli going back for his shoe

Eli throwing his shoe

Eli is upset that he's missing a shoe again...repeat

Baby Updates

When I went to pick up the boys at nursery school one of their teachers asked me if "Eli is the real emotional one?" Boy she couldn't have hit the nail on the head better. Then she said that "Eli will let you know when he's not happy!" So true, one morning long ago (don't even remember when) but Eli was being real clingy and Phil couldn't get anything done and so he yells to me to come help him and says "Eli's an emotional wreck!" Another excellent description of Eli (well just sometimes).  

As of the last couple of weeks time outs are working! I've always used them as a means to calm a baby down but now I can actually threaten them with it and they will immediately calm down (most of the time). I don't like screaming at the top of your lungs for no good reason. It works best on Eli but that might just be because he gets them the most (remember he can be a real emotional wreck sometimes). 

So more about Eli but this one is positive (not that the other stuff is all that bad). Eli has become such a star signer, he picks up signs so quickly! After showing him how to sign diaper maybe a handful of times he tried it and uses it appropriately now. He also sometimes combines two signs together (for example signing all done followed by more). That boy is as sharp as a whip!

Thomas was petting our cat Lankston when I asked if he could give him a kiss. He leans forward and kisses the cat on the head! So cute, pets are such a good thing for babies and kids, not only do they help kids learn empathy but they are also good for their health! Kids that grow up with pets have less allergies and asthma than those who don't (I'm not making this up, there are scientific studies to back this up). I was asked several times while I was pregnant if we were planning on keeping our cats, inappropriate question in my book. Of course not, it didn't even cross our minds, we love our kitties! 

The boys play together a lot more now. This includes chasing, wrestling, but mostly they love imitating each other like if one boy starts jumping on the couch and the other two quickly join in.

Ever since I quit nursing Thomas first thing in the morning (now he get's a sippy cup of milk in care of dad) he's become quite the papa's boy. If dad is home he run's to him and not me for comfort if he needs it. Phil pretty much has him attached to the hip until he leaves for work in the mornings. 

We have had two speech therapy sessions so far and already they are really helping. Their teacher thinks they are on the cusp but that they are such busy kids exploring that their hasn't been much interest to learn to talk. She has taught me some good techniques to encourage them to communicate. Like blowing bubbles and saying "down down down pop!" They say "dow" with some encouragement, repetition is key. And building up anticipation with a wind up toy by saying "one two three" pause "go!" They say "oh" with some encouragement as well. We need to work on giving them choices to get them to point at what they want but this doesn't work too well when you have three kids so need to think about this one some more. Eli very consistently says banana sounds like 'nanana.' The other two join in and say nanana but only after they hear me praise Eli for saying it. They learn very quickly from each other and always love being praised! Caleb has always been very interested when I stick my tongue out at him or say 'lalalala' he hasn't been able to do it until now and once they saw Caleb doing it the other two have joined in as well.  

Crazy for Thomas!

This video is a bit long (3min) but for those who are big fans of the boys you will not be disappointed! See how crazy the boys are for Thomas the Train. See if you can identify who is who by their dancing. Thomas does a side to side sway, Eli twirls around in circles, and Caleb does this crazy shake where he looks like he's boxing or something.

 

March Of Dimes 2012

Family pic before starting

 Here we go!

 We did the long walk this year (10K) because the family walk is sooo short and not the prettiest route. It would have been a piece of cake had Eli not refused to sit in the stroller for more than 10 minutes into the walk. I carried him on my back for most of the walk and my legs were sore for days!

 They are a little young to appreciate how cool fire trucks are

I must say I'm a little disappointed that MofD, which promotes healthy babies, didn't have a healthy lunch option. All they had were hot dogs and potato chips. The boys didn't touch their hot dog (which I guess isn't entirely a bad thing) and all they ate were chips. Can't believe how much they liked them, makes me glad I keep them away from junk food because that's all they'd want to eat!

Just like last year Thomas did a "March for Babies" dance:

Thank You

I took Eli shopping with me yesterday and he was such a good helper. I handed him everything we were going to buy and he would toss it into the cart. You can see how he does it in this video and also see how Eli can sign 'thank you.' (in case you are not familiar with baby sign language you just touch your mouth and then extend your arm out).

19 mo! (oh crap! #21)

I can't believe in less than six months I'll have three 2 year olds...that's much scarier than three newborns!

 The boys can sit down on the back of their dump truck, I like to give them rides around the backyard in it : )

They look like old men in these outfits, fat bellies and silly clothes

 HAT HAIR!

Baby Updates

Want to review all the signs the boys know so far: more, no more (all done), book, thank you, gentle and eat. Some of these they use appropriately without being asked, some they do only when I ask them to, and Caleb still only uses signs when I think he's a lost cause and then he surprises me by using them in the most appropriate way (he recognizes them all, has physically done them all on occasion but chooses to be stubborn). I nixed 'share' for now because when ever I need to demonstrate it they are in a fighting frenzy and won't look at me. Would rather work on 'milk' and need to find a sign for 'snack' and 'diaper.'

Just yesterday Eli comes up to me with his straw cup almost empty of milk and hands it to me, I tell him, "why don't you drink more?" With a look of concern on his face he signs 'all done' followed by the sign for 'more.' So stinking smart and cute! I quickly filled up his cup : )

Keep forgetting to mention that I dropped another breastfeeding session about a month ago, so I only nurse twice a day now. Two times for Caleb morning and night, once for Eli in the morning, and once for Thomas at night. I have my eye set for 21 months just because its evenly divisible by three! Unless someone decides to wean on their own I'm setting the official weaning date for 21 months. I can no longer nurse them in front of their brothers, just too much jealousy, they all flip out because they all want to nurse at once. So that's the real reason I dropped the 'before nap' breastfeeding, can't do it by myself anymore (Phil is home in the morning and before bedtime). I hate double nursing because they fight like crazy so I don't do it anymore, they don't like to be touched by their brothers while they nurse but I can (weirdos). 

Here is a funny antidote, Eli tends to hoard his snacks. When he gets down to the last gold fish he'll put it in and take it out of his snack cup for a while before he just can't resist anymore and pops it in his mouth. When he gets his graham cracker down to the size of a quarter he just holds on to it for a good half hour before he forgets about it and drops it on the floor without realizing it. Silly kid!

Oh Crap! moment #21

 Outside of the shed

Inside of the shed, notice hole and chair (they are baby deterants aside from knowing they are not to go in there!)

Eli holding sharp sheers next to his toes!

You should watch this video because it's real...

What do I do when all three are crying at once?

Lets end on a high note with an extra special triple dose of sweetness!

Cool Kicks

The boys want to show off their cool kicks while playing with some costco goods

I love these little one piece rompers, they will wear theirs as much as possible. Even if I could find them in bigger sizes I don't think these are socially acceptable past the age of 3 : (

 My view from breakfast a couple days ago

 there's always room for one more hyena!

how do I keep them off the table?!

Here is a really cute video of Thomas cracking up...little kids laugh at the most random things : )


I added a bunch more pictures from the tulip festival if anyone is interested in seeing them. There is a link on the right side bar that says "more pictures."

Future Cuteness

Nothing cuter than little boys in flannel, I'll make sure they always have a set to wear!

 My sister with the double

 So I needed a single stroller for our upcoming trip to Hawaii and found this one for $10 at our local multiples resale. Can you believe up until now I didn't even own a single stroller! It really felt so weird pushing it, so light like the stroller was just going to fly away from me. Phil said it felt so normal! I'm usually either pushing all three in the joovy or carrying one on my back and pushing two in the double stroller.

 Thomas

 Caleb

Serious Baby Faces

 C

 E

 T

 now lets get happy again!

Thomas and I

 what's so interesting?

Anything covered with Mexican hotsauce and pure lime juice is crazy delicious! I made some sliced cucumbers this way for my sister and I to enjoy and come to find out the boys loved it! I'm used to eating spicy and I my nose was all runny cause I was so spiced out but the boys even drank the juice! (my favorite part as well)

Baby Updates


The boys and I had a great visit with my sister! We did lot's of fun things. It was nice one day to drop the boys off at school and hang out for a couple of hours just the two of us. It was their first day where I wasn't going to be with them the whole time. I could tell the boys recognized their classroom because right away they started playing and didn't cling to me like the first time. When no one was looking my sister and I snuck off. I looked in from outside a couple minutes later and they were all at the table eating breakfast as happy as can be. Thanks guys I can tell you really missed me! I think it would have been a different story if they were all by themselves since they always seem more relaxed when their brothers are with them. I think they find comfort from each others presence.

Caleb has quite the pitchers arm, he can really chuck things pretty far away. I wonder when we'll have our first broken window!

When I ask the boys what sound a snake makes Eli and one other boy (can't remember) say 'sssss.' They all know how to 'moooo' like a cow as well : )

There are always things I miss, so better late than never. I failed to mention that since the boys were like 10months old (definitely well before the age of 1) they've been able to give killer high fives. I didn't even have to teach them, they just knew what to do when they saw my hand and I yelled 'high five!' We need to work on handshakes now.

Prepare for some future cuteness!


I gave my mom a tall order of full cowboy(vaquero) outfits for the boys while she was vacationing in Mexico. Miraculously she came back with everything I asked for even the cowboy neck ties! The belts are being custom made as we speak at the famous El Recodo ranch in mexico : ) The outfits should fit around the age of 3 so that gives you plenty of time to prepare yourself for some serious cuteness! Oh man I can't wait, Pendleton round up here we come!

These will be meeting shoes as well, way cooler than lame black shiny shoes!