All I Did Was Go To The Bathroom

In a matter of a bathroom moment the triplets ripped open a full bag of goldfish and scattered them all over the floor.  The TV remote had been discovered and the tv was on a latin channel at a volume level of 52.  Colin was sitting in his toybox throwing each toy out of it while Declan was just being a little peach.  Finn is not in the picture because he decided to walk around the family room with his bottle upside down and watch the milk drip out of it all over the carpet. (David can we please replace this carpet someday?)Ahhhh this is all happening at 9:30am.  I still have rest of the day.  I gathered them up and put them down for their nap but I came back down to change the god aweful channel and reduce the volume and could not find the remote.  I looked and looked around and one of the babies must have dropped it into a drawer of clothes and shut the drawer.  What made me look in their clothes drawer?  Seriously for a moment I thought we might be remote less for the day.    Be careful next time you leave your triplets for a moment.

This is our family room on a good day.  The triplets usually stay close to each other but not always.

They have figured out how to get up on the couches and grab for anything and everything that is close.  The lamp is one of the first things. 

The Things You Do With Irritable Triplets

My first day back with a bit of normalcy.  We had a snowday yesterday.  Yes I was that mom yesterday morning that said "Are you kidding me"? when I awoke to the TV streaming the names of hundreds of schools being closed for the day.  What were we going to do with yet another day off of school.  We just came off an entire week of no school  for mid winter break...It actually turned out ok.  My wonderful sister again..took it all with stride and gathered up the older 3 and spent the better part of the day at "jungle java".  I was relieved that they had some form of entertainment for the day. I was left at home to tend to grumpy 1, 2 and 3. 
Is crying contagious?  I swear that when one triplet starts crying it isn't long before 2 and then 3 are crying.  On Sunday the babies were driving me so crazy with that constant, dull whine that I had David help me bundle them up and I put them all in the stroller and we went for a walk.  There was snow everywhere and the temp was hovering around 40 degrees.  I fell for the, "maybe we need some fresh air" theory.  They all were completely quiet for the entire ride.  I cannot wait until spring is here and we can go outside.  (note to self..I may regret this statement when they are all outside running in 3 different directions and I am chasing them)
I seem to be grasping for new activities lately especially when they are so irritable.  We did another bathtime in the big tub last night.  I found the key ....and that is to put a small amount of water in the tub and that seems to solve alot of issues of falling over and loss of balance.  I sat them all in the tub together without their seats and they seemed to really like it.  I was soaked when it was over because of wonderful Finn who splashed from the time he got in until he got out.  That was 40 minutes of entertainment.  I then gathered up a bunch of spoons and different utensils and some metal bowls and let them have their own music band in the family room.  That was actually a big success and they made lots of noise but it kept them busy for a good amount of time.  Lets see..what else have we done in the past several days....hummmmmm
I got a cup out with a straw and sat on the floor and tried to teach them each how to drink from a straw.  They were fighting over the straw and could not get close enough to get a taste.  This activity will require some repeat sessions in order to perfect the art. 
I sat on the stairs while they crawled up and down.  I pretty much sat there and monitored so that they didn't take any headers.  They almost have the stairs mastered enough to be let loose on them but Colin still thinks it is cool to stand up while going down and turn towards the bottom.  Then you hear a ..thump thump thump...he has that startled look on his face as he has just rolled down 7 stairs.  He stands up and off he goes.  Thank goodness for that extra thick pad we put on the basement stairs that we put in for this exact reason.
I haven't let them outside yet but I am getting tempted to just open the door and telling them to go at it...No I really wouldn't do that but when I am constantly fighting to keep them away from the door..it makes me again wish for spring when I can let them out.....I know I know..I too will regret this comment also.

Mid Winter Break Is Coming To An End....Hallelujah!!!!!

TGIF and for more reasons than normal.  I am proud to say that we have successfully survived our mid winter break with all 6 kids home ...round the clock.  Thank goodness for school and schedules because it is tough to keep the older kids entertained while being very limited with the younger ones.  I was thankful that my 2 neices called me several weeks and said, "Aunt Heather we need money so we will babysit, organize or do whatever you want us to do over break".  I went ahead and took them up on it by scheduling some appointments.  The kids loved having Mary and Maddie here and these girls are so darn adorable.  They play with the kids and I think that is what I love the most about them.  Mary and Maddie both go to Marian Highschool and they have really turned out to be nice, responsible, pretty young ladies.  On Tuesday I stocked up on some new bins and we all went into the basement for the extreme organization.  We went thru every container in the basement, every tub of toys, every corner, every last inch.  I took out 3 garbage bags of junk and 1 large bag to salvation army.  I feel so cleansed.  On Thursday I had the girls organize the triplet clothes drawer. (Mary loves to organize so she just smiles when you ask her to start a project)  On Thursday evening David took the boys to the library to do some of their changes project.  They came home 2 hours later and some of their work was absolutely impressive.  Good job David.  You have to love a husband that handles the "homework" and when you read over it...you learn something too. 
I am also going to take a minute and give Mary and Maddie a plug too.....They are looking for babysitting jobs this summer so if anyone in the Metro Detroit Area needs parttime or fulltime sitting this summer ...we got you covered.  I wish I could hire them full time but just can't justify that right now.  Mary is a Senior and Maddie is a Sophmore.  Their rates are very reasonable. 

The boys had a sleepover on Wednesday and then a playdate on Thursday.  Mairin also had a sleepover on Wednesday that she had a ton of fun at.  They have all been skating most of the week.  I honestly have no idea what we would do if we didn't have this pond in the backyard.  It is clearly our daily acitivity. 

I think the kids are ready to go back to school because they are probably bored of me constantly on them to clean up, fold some laundry, help me with the babies etc......

Party On The Ice

It started with only 1 family coming over.  I can't seem to help myself.  I wanted to have a family over who has 3 little boys.  The boys wanted to learn how to skate and wanted to do some sledding.  I thought I needed to arrange for this before we run out of weekends of good ice.  I decided to have them over on Sunday and I let them know early on in the week.  By Friday we had another family coming over and by Saturday at least half of the Mott's were coming.  On Sunday morning as I was preparing some homemade chicken noodle soup, fruit tray and sub sandwiches I decided to keep inviting.  We ended up having 20 people over.  I think everyone had fun...I know I did.  We were able to do some sledding, skating, drinking and had some good conversations.  We even had a rockin fire out on the ice.

We brought out the triplets in their stroller and they ended up taking a ride in the sled and trying to walk around on the ice. Unfortunatley I wasn't able to get a picture of all of them at once but Mairin enjoyed pushing them and pulling them in the sled.  Alot of the little kids enjoyed playing hockey without skates on and there were no injuries or tears. 

The evening came to a close after everyone came back inside and ate, drank, played and talked.  I made soup and the Lichtmans brought chili, Adelson's brought appetizers, Armitage's brought desserts and the Mott's brought a pot stew...We had lots of good food and fun. 

This week is our mid winter break so I have all 6 kids home all week.  I am sure I will have plenty of posts for you soon.

Triplets In The Bathtub- I Need This Like I Need A Hole In My Head

My sister and I thought I would be fun to give all 3 babies a bath for the first time in the big tub.  We normally just put the babies in the sink one at a time and we run a sort of production line.  We have a sink in our family room (at the bar) and so you can give baths and be right in the middle of everything.  We decided this night we were going to head upstairs and the big bath.  I had 2 suction seats so we thougth we could use the bumbo for a third.  Well the suction seats worked great but the bumbo ended up floating so Finn would consistantly unsuck and he would be almost standing inside of this bumbo.  His little chunky legs fit nicely into it so when it begins to float all you see is Finn go foward .....  Colin tried to crawl out of his and Declan's must not have been sucked down good enough cause he tipped over and got a mouth full.   Heidi and I are both sitting right next to the tub and all of this is happening.  I looked at her and said "first of all, I will never do this alone and secondly I don't think we need to do another bath like this again for a long while".  Mairin was begging to get in so we let her get in and had her hold Finn and we got rid of the bumbo. We had our hands full and there were 2 of us.  Then all 3 of them figured out how to splash and Heidi and I both had towels that we made a wall with in order to stay dry.  I laughed and covered myself thinking it would end but it was just the beginning.  This is a perfect example of Twins..ok no problem...Triplets...you have run out of hands.  Heidi took Colin out, greased him up and then I took Finn out and greased him up right next to the tub while Declan continued to splash.  I was wet and exhausted by the time this event ended.  Note to self...No more triple baths until they are much older.

I Poured Myself a Drink At 6pm

Do you like that title? 
I had a rough evening and really nothing sparked it at all but everyone knew very quickly to stay out of my way.  I was feeling a little tired in the late afternoon and while the babies were napping I tried to lay down on the couch for 30 minutes and "rest my eyes".  In that 30 minutes you would have thought that I had moved out and stopped feeding my little darlings.  Mom I am hungry? Mom can I have some water? Mom I want to go outside? Mom the computer is not working?  I was about to lose my mind so I decided to take a deep breath and smile.  That lasted about a minute so I got up and started to get some sandwiches made because the boys had a hockey game.  Liam started crying that his throat hurt so much that he couldn't eat so I sent him up to my room for bed and tv.  Mairin wanted to go outside and Eamon would not get off the computer long enough to get his hockey gear on.  I made the decision to keep Liam home from hockey and when I announced that ...the flood gates opened and the whining started.  It got louder and louder and I got grumpier and grumpier.  Did I mention that there are also 3 babies that are running lose in this house with 3 magazines in their hands (or should I say what was left of my expensive unread magazines that arrived today) so I have pages and tiny pieces of magazines all over the main floor of my house.  Heidi immediately senses my frustrations and graciously says she will take Eamon to hockey (she knows that I am not very fun to be around when I hit this mode) so I pack them up and as I am waving goodbye to them, Mairin begins to walk up from the backyard crying cause she wanted to go too (she wanted to go outside and knew that if she went outside that she could not go to hockey) too bad Mairin you missed out.  I come back inside and Liam has decided to move into the kitchen and is crying, telling me that he wants to be at hockey.  I finally get in touch with David and he is going to be at the game.  Then I get a call from Heidi..noone is at the hockey arena?  What?  I call David and he says, "they are at the wrong arena".  I respond with, "than you call them".  I got off the phone and Liam's volume has increased and it almost sounds fake cause it is that annoying whining.  I lost my cool and said, "if you can't stop crying than you need to go to your room.  The game has already started and the subject is closed".  He trots upstairs and I realize that now the babies have gotten into more stuff in the living room.  Colin is laying across the computer keyboard while there are hundreds of screens popping up. (note that we have a small computer table and station set up in the living room so he is not that high off the ground), Declan is rocking back and forth in front of the window laughing at god knows what, Finn has managed to get completely inside of the dog cage and has his leg caught so he can't get out.  Clearly it is time for dinner and time for a flippin drink before I bite off someone else's head and before I lose my mind. 

3 minutes later........

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh a couple of sips and a calmness slowly comes over me.  I do think that it is time to go change some diapers.  Wonderful, lovely, precious children...come come lets play together.  (what the...where did that come from?  where is that mean mommy that was just here 3 minutes ago?)  Anyway I don't think I have ever had a drink in the evening, by myself, during the week ..ever but rather than take out my frustrations on my husband when he walks thru the door I think that this is a nice bandaid for today.  Disclaimer....don't call child protective services cause I had a drink, don't call me or text me cause you want to make sure I am "OK", don't roll your eyes and think less of me because I am only doing what everyone has thought of or has done in the privacy of their own home at least once in their life..especially when their kids were young. 
Oh did I mention that today was a snow day with NO SCHOOL.  Ahhh..that explains even more doesn't it.

7 Things About Me That You Probably Didn't Know

 

Here are my 7 things that you may not know about me:

1.  I grew up in a small town ..so small that everytime I went to the bank they knew who I was so when I headed off to college to a bigger city I had no idea how and why you had to fill out "depost slips".

2.  I never thought I would have this many kids.  I was always the one who thought I would live in the big city and have the corporate job.  Even if I did have kids I NEVER thought I would be a stay at home mom.

3.  I clip coupons and I love to go grocery shopping (I have no idea why)

4.  I love to plant flowers and do yard stuff

5.  If I were to do it over again I would go to school to be a nurse. 

6.  I love alone time. I enjoy going to restaurant for lunch by myself or going to the library for the afternoon.  There is nothing better than being in my own room all by myself...one of my biggest treats.

7.  Truly believe that meeting my husband was a gift from God(and some help from my sweet girlfriend-Michelle)  and know that I am pretty lucky to have found and married such a wonderful man, husband and father.

The Rest Of The Story.....

I didn't want to give you all to much info to digest so thought I would split this whole trip up.  Day 3 in Florida we decided to head up to a state park and see the Manitees.  They only head down this river for a short while in February because I guess this river has springs so the water temp is 72 degrees so they hang out here until the other waters warm up.  The kids loved watching them go by and we were actually very close and it was kind of interesting. 

When we arrived back to the grandparents house we headed out for a boatride thru the canals.  These canals are full of wildlife and they are a canopy of trees and all kinds of "jungle" like stuff.  I guess one of the original Tarzan movies was filmed back in these canals years ago.  These canals take you out to several different large lakes and if the temp was a bit warmer it would have been even better. 

We took another day trip on Friday to Daytona Beach.  We had to have the kids experience "salt water" and let them swim in the Atlantic Ocean.  Daytona is also where you can drive your cars on the beach so it was all about a new experience.  It was colder than cold and there was no swimming allowed so the kids played in the shallow waves and got to taste the salt water. 

We just didn't have good luck with the weather this time but all in all we accomplished what I wanted to do:

-Do Disney World without lines

-See my parents house and stay with them

-Swim and play in Aunt Myrna and Harrys Pool

-Do some outlet shopping

-Go without changing a diaper for 5 days

Looks like we will repeat this trip in 4 more years when the triplets are old enough to enjoy Disney.  My recommendations and rules (my opinion only) to attend Disney are:

-No bottles

-No diapers

-No Strollers

It took about a minute of being home to feel as if we never left.

A Trip To Disney World For The Twins and A Single.

Wow what a trip!  I don't even know where to begin.  This will probably be a long post but bear with me.  The flight was very successful and everyone enjoyed.  Mairin still wants me to put my hand on her leg when we take off or land ..just for a little more security I guess.  We stayed the first night with Uncle Harry and Aunt Myrna and swam in their pool and had dinner with them.  They rent the same home every year and it is just a skip away from Disney World.

The next morning we got up early and headed for our marathon day at Disney.  I have spend some time on this because I was again blown away at all that Disney does.  My family began going to Florida in 1982 for spring break.  My grandma would rent a home at Ormond Beach and we would go every year until 1992.  We would usually visit a different every year and some years we didn't go to any parks.  Going back to Disney as an adult was very eye opening.  Everyone and I mean everyone who works at Disney is so nice.  The park is so clean and it reminded me why Disney can charge as much as they do...they are good at what they do.  I really really enjoyed being treated so nice. 

We picked the very best time to go. We did not stand in any line and we parked amazingly close to the park. I would recommend to anyone to go to Disney at the beginning of February. The biggest line we stood in all day was 15 minutes. We had riden every ride, had lunch and a snack by 6pm. We decided to head over to Epcot for the last couple hours. Epcot was also dead and we were able to ride nearly everything there by the time the park closed. The kids had no idea how lucky they were that they didn't have to wait in any lines. Here are a couple of Disney and Epcot pics.

We left the best place on earth at 9:30pm and by the time we exited the park we had 3 little ones that were completed passed out and wiped out.  Right before Mairin fell asleep and we were driving out of the park she looked at me and said, "Mom do your dreams come true"?  I about fell apart.  That made the whole trip completely worth it.

We finally arrived at Grandma and Grandpas House by 11pm and everyone was craving a bed to crawl into. 

Bailing On My Husband And The Triplets For 5 Days

Well I sit here..everyone is tucked into bed, the laundry is done, the house is mildly picked up, bags are all packed and all that is left to do is a quick shower first thing tomorrow morning before we all head out.  I am wiped out.  This was a busy day trying to get half of the family ready to go for 5 days.  I even had time to create the "how to do it" list for David.   David came home today early from work not feeling well.  He ended up disappearing into his room for the remainder of the day and most of the evening.  I told him to go and try to get rid of it since I am leavin in the morning. ( harsh I know, but if you wait until everyone is well...you will never go anywhere in this family)  The kids are so excited and I am ready to go.  I am very very excited for my husband to get a dose of the good life for the next week.  The good life of burp ups, crying babies, messy food trays, nasty diapers, bumps and bruises, leaking bottles and sneakie baby boys....all 3 of them...hahahahahahahah.  Oh the good life also includes: hugs, kisses, smiles and laughs and lots of cuddles.

I received one of the nicest emails today from a complete stranger..well maybe not a complete stranger but someone I have never met.  A lady that follows this blog sent me an email to let me know about the weather in Florida and what I should pack.  She is from the area that we are heading to and she wanted to let me know what to expect.  How nice and just one more reason to keep blogging.  You never know who you may run across in the world of blogging.  Thanks Linda for your kindness.

I had a lot of fun capturing this picture below.  The triplets have conquered the stairs and as they were racing up the stairs for their naps I thought it was time to snap a shot.  The race is on......

These babies are a 3 men wrecking crew.  Check out how fast they can destroy anything they reach or get into. How much weight do you think my drawers will hold?  Since I took these pics I have gone out to Target and invested in the childproof straps to keep my little rats out of my cupboards.  As far as the toys go though...they have just discovered out how to dump bins of toys.......