A Walk In The Park

Recently my aunt Linda came over to visit the babies. It's always great to see her and I enjoy having the kids get to spend time and take picture with relatives so that they're used to seeing different people. She arrived just as they were finishing up their bottles and we decided to head over to the park that is just a few blocks away. It's the same park we've been to before, so it wasn't anything the kids haven't seen or done before. It was a very windy and sunny day when we went. I think we were gone a total of 35 minutes, but the wind and the sun took their toll on the kids. When I put Ryan in the swing he was flailing his arms and swinging his head from side to side as though he was in a fight. I finally put my hat over his head while he swang. Not only did he like this, he darn near fell asleep swinging in the swing! It's a great picture because he looks like an Icabod Crane in training.

Since this particular park only has two infant swings, it actually can get a bit boring with one baby having to sit out and watch the other two. The playground surface really isn't designed for little babies, as it's a heavy grade of mulch. Just looking at it I instantly know that if I were to set any of my children down there, the mulch would be immediately in their mouths! Instead of just doing the same old thing of watching the babies on the swing for a bit, we decided to take them to the other parts of the playground that they can't really make use of yet because they are so small and uncoordinated. I was pretty much expecting it to be something like, "Hey, look at this kid. You're too small for it." Instead we did find something that they could use a bit with some careful support and monitoring.

You can see Perrin sitting in his own little car (The glasses come off when we go outside....it's hard enough to find where he or Sarah take them off at in the house.). This is a little metal car with a seat and a wheel sitting on one of those giant springs that allows kids to bounce and move back and forth. Perrin wasn't that enamored with this, but he did enjoy sitting on it a bit and looking around. Ryan on the other hand is continuing to become more and more of a ham. He simply loved it the moment we put him on it. As soon as Linda put him on the seat, he instantly grabbed the wheel and was off on his own little adventure! He was bouncing up and down and laughing and giggling very loudly. He was totally at home on this thing, balancing himself perfectly, although Linda is close by, I wonder how long he could have went before falling or losing interest? To think that he's the one who crawls and stands the least, yet he totally dominated this ride! I think it just proves my statement all along that the little guy is just stubborn and lazy, once he's motivated or interested, he can do anything he wants.

Sarah enjoyed the day out on the car too. I had dressed her in one of Meva's favorite outfits for her, a nice little yellow sundress that she has just about destroyed. It's a bit long and goes past her knees, which really hampers her ability to crawl around. My little girl just soldiers through it, inventing a one legged crawl and just about ripping the skirt off the dress, she's going to be a very dangerous Tomboy I can tell! Her time in the little car was similar to Ryan, but in a much more dignified tone. I guess even though I think she'll be a tomboy, she'll always have room to be my little lady and conduct her self in a proper manner------- at least until she breaks wind! That little girl sounds like a motor boat going through the house when she lets them rip! But anyways, you can see her smiling and loving it.

Afterwards we walked back to the house and the kids were ready for a quick bottle and a nap. The entire trip with all the wind and sun really took a lot out of them and the slept really hard for 4 hours afterwards; even Ryan was out for most of it. Remember, if you want to see a bigger picture, just click on the image and you'll get a new window to open up and see it in.

Cicadamania

It is the year for the 17 year cicadas in Illinois this year. For your reference, there are different types of cicadas, each with different 17 year cycles, plus the annual cicada... so I didn't really think it was any big whoop, where people around here were going nuts talking about, when will the cicadas be here? Dressing their dogs like cicadas, doing commercials featuring cicadas and so on.

I recall being a kid and hearing them kind of like loud crickets and seeing their shells here and there... not really all that big of a deal... then I drove through an area of town where I had to slow down and see what was wrong with my car. It was vibrating. I rolled down my windows and realized this noise was from all the bugs. Turns out cicadas en mass are two times louder than a chainsaw. There were maybe 30-40 seagulls swarming this very inland town, having a feast. It was really pretty awesome and that's when I caught the cicadamania bug.

I figured, since the next time these bugs are around, the babies will be driving... we had to go on a nature hike. Of course, as you recall, I work Monday-Friday, and Chuck works on weekends... so this nature hike meant I would take the babies out by myself. This is a little daunting at times, as it's hard work to prep them to go, set up the stroller, make sure they're fed and changed, and deal with the curious strangers, who while meaning well put a significant crimp in your ability to get about your business... sometimes I want to just attach a sign to the stroller...

• Yes, they are triplets.
• They are almost 1 year old.
• No, they are not identical.
• There are two boys and one girl.
• No, they don't run in my family, it was fertility treatments.
• No, it wasn't IVF - it was artificial insemination.
• Yes, it's unusual to get triplets from artificial insemination.
• Yes, we do have our hands full.

Anyway, one Saturday I loaded the babies into the broken down van (the power steering is out), drove it 45 minutes to where I'd heard they were still swarming, set up the triplet stroller, loaded the babies up and took the dog along and we walked through a park where a week ago it was said to be at chainsaw level. By the time we got there it was really pretty unimpressive, but the babies really didn't care, and won't remember it - deafening or not... and as for me, I saw my impressive cicada display already, and was just plain proud of myself for the attempt and the opportunity to take pictures of the babies with bug shells that they won't see for 17 more years.

Look closely at the babies' pictures here, they all have a bug shell on them.


Here's what the babies' friend Finn saw in the same park a week or so earlier.

Check out his baby blog for a super cute kid and some fun pics at...
Danger is my Middle Name

The Honeycomb Kids

The babies have been progressing along very nicely and they're starting to reach plateaus that mean they are growing up all so fast. The latest change is feeding themselves. For the most part its been dry cereal, such as Rice Chex and Honeycomb. Personally I prefer the Honeycombs because of there size (big, but not too big) and when they eat it it doesn't shatter apart like the Rice Chex do. Like the picture to the right, I've gotten into a habit of having the kids start off the morning eating on their own in the high chairs followed by a nice change of clothes and then a morning libation of Whole Milk.

Each of the kids have their own styles of eating too! Sarah is the most advanced and usually she takes them one at a time and eats them very focused. Messy, but still focused. Ryan grabs them by the handful and brings as many of them up to his mouth at once hoping that some of them will make it into his mouth, but about 80% seem to fall back onto the tray. My favorite of the three though is Perrin. He's somewhere between Sarah and Ryan in technique, but he has to be monitored closely. He has yet to learn what it means for his mouth to be full! He will keep shoveling cereal into his mouth until there is no more left on the tray! He gets so much in there that he can't even chew them..........makes me wish he could understand what I tell him so I could ask him to whistle for me.

All in all its a very fun new stage for all of us. As you can imagine, and see from the photos of the kids, we have a lot of fun while this is happening. Usually we sing a lot of songs and play games. Their absolute favorite is watching me sing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" to them. Their eyes all light up and they smile real big.............and then reach back down to their trays and pick up what's just rolled out of their mouths. They are also getting into Nursery Rhymes and singing "Little Bunny Foo Foo." I'd like to do that song more often, but with my bum hand, it hurts when I "pop em on the head."

It's kind of hard to believe, but in less than two weeks they will be 1 year old, my how the time really has flown by. I think about it all the time, especially how small they were at first. They were so tiny, and now they seem like giants! Loud, mobile, destructive giants that demand attention from me at all times!! Am I sick that I love it all?

A Real Update

Lately my updates have focused almost solely on pictures of the kids and very little information on what they're up to. Let me do my best to fill in this gap.

For starters, no one is walking yet, but we expect it to be happening soon. Sarah is of course leading the pack. She's standing up on her own and threatening to climb on anything that is less than 21 inches from the floor. At this point she is routinely grabbing items from the sofa, love seat, or desks. Just last night she stood up next to the wall and grabbed a hold of the drapes and attempted to pull them down on her (it wouldn't take much effort for her to do that). She often works in cohorts with Ryan, pulling things off of desks and tables and handing them to him to crunch and destroy.

Perrin is just a step or two behind Sarah. He often climbs up on items and just hangs out, transitioning from one item to the other all on his own. I think he does this better than Sarah, but it's really hard to judge. Form-wise he is the best crawler of the three, but Sarah is still quicker. I think that's because she's in trouble more often and crawling away from the scene of the crime. Perrin still doesn't care much for sitting (if you really force him he will--but he will cry about it often) but he will lay on his belly with the best of them.

Our little Ryan is still adorable, but I still think he is lazy. Well, lazy and a bit timid. When his mind is right, he can crawl very fast, but it's an army crawl. He hardly ever stands on his own, and when Meva or I assist him in doing that you can see how nervous and scared he is of falling. He's also not very steady or balanced. I think this is because his muscles are still a bit too big for him to control. But Meva and I also see him being a bit lazy. He will defiantly refuse to crawl if he thinks there is a chance one of us will come to him........and he thinks we should always come to him! It's my prediction that once the other two have started walking he will feel left out and quickly catch up with the other two. It's either that or we get him a rickshaw.

As you can already tell from the pictures above, the babies are now taking baths on their own in the tub together. As usual, Ryan isn't too sure if it's safe. He's not a very big fan of this at all. The first time Meva did this he cried for most of it because he was afraid. It didn't help that his sister, Aqua-Sarah, swims and splashes all over and will knock him down if he gets in her way. The second time Meva did this she put Sarah and Periin in first to play and had Ryan sit in a chair outside of the tub and watch them enjoying themselves. After awhile he was ready on his own and wanted to get in there with them. He was still a bit unsteady, but he was actually having a good time and splashing away with the other two. You can see in the picture above he's smiling and having a good time.

I'll close this out with another little update about Ryan. He's been doing a better job of sleeping through the night, but most of that is due to Mommy and Daddy ignoring his little outbursts and shutting off the baby monitor for a time. He recently picked a night to be completely inconsolable when both Meva and I had migraines and had taken some strong medication at bed time. Instead of fighting him and or ignoring him, I just went and got him so he could sleep next to me as that normally does the trick. No such luck here. He was hungry, playful, and then cranky again. If I even flinched, he was awake and yelling at me. Meva had to hold him when I woke to use the bathroom. Turns out the little guy had his first top tooth break through that night, so he's now sporting three little fangs. By the next morning he was back to his regular crabby self.........the Ryan we all love and enjoy so much!!

Remember to double click on a picture to see a bigger image of it on a new page. The babies also want to say hello to their friends in Arizona in Paradise Valley who eagerly watch and read of their exploits, with a special shout out to Louise!

Outdoors

May has passed and the triplets are fast approaching their first birthday at the end of the month. The way things have been working out for us of late, we'll be forced to have two separate parties for them in Ohio and then in Illinois. Meva and I will be finalizing the details of how this will all work out in the next few days and then we'll let everyone else know. It's most likely to be a very low-key event with friends and family (sorry strangers) coming to watch the kids eat their first chocolate cake.

I wanted to take a brief minute to share a few photos of the kids that we took of them outside one late afternoon. Although the weather was perfect and the timing was great for Meva and I to be home together to do this, the kids were definitely not in very photographic moods. The first one is Perrin lounging in the grass and doing something different.......not freaking out! He's not a big fan of the grass, and just days before we took this picture he would cry when I put him on the grass. He keeps getting better with it though and by the end of this photo shoot, he was pretty good about things as long as his brother and sister were there with him.

If you've visited the blog more than a few times, it should be apparent that neither Meva nor I will ever be confused with Ansel Adams, and this day was no exception. We took the pictures on a very clear and sunny afternoon, so there were plenty of shadows and light for us to fight. The picture above shows our brilliant solution to blocking the sun from the kids eyes; that was to have daddy put his big butt in front of the sun! The picture above to the left is one of the few we got that didn't look too bad and showed most of the kids faces, although by this time they had gotten into the habit of staring downward. Despite that, I think it's a pretty cool picture of the kids all dressed up with the sunlight behind them.

I'm sure there will be a few people out there who are thinking "Why don't you just turn the kids around so the suns not in their eyes?" That's almost a great idea. I say almost because the picture at the right shows exactly what happens in that situation when the photographers aren't very skilled and their equipment isn't that advanced. We all had a good time anyways, although I think that Meva put out more effort than any of us trying to get some adorable pictures. As the sun was setting though, the babies got a bit hungry and cranky and it was time for some high chair training and a nice late lunch with mom. You can see her to the right with the kids all lined up in their new high chairs eating away and having fun with mom.

In general our days are pretty demanding and taxing. Sometimes I think I'll never have the energy to make it through the next day as I collapse once the kids are asleep and in bed. You can see from the picture on the left here that I am not alone in this feeling. Poor Meva and the kids had a tough, full day of playing, pictures, singing, baths, and meals in their high chairs. All that was left was a night time bottle and then a good nights sleep. As I was getting everything ready for the night, it came to an unsuspecting end as I had to tuck FOUR people into their beds. I really think that is the sign of a great day together! I can't wait until we move and we get more of these to spend as a family.