Frozen Veggies To The Rescue!

Today has been a rough day. The fact that all three children are still alive and not strung up from their toes is testament to my patience........and injuries! They're still running little colds and leaking snot all over. They're crabby and selfish and want what they want when they want it, which is often 5 minutes ago. Today was like that, but worse.

I brought Ryan into bed with me around 5am because he wouldn't stop crying. He was upset because his blanket fell down. Keep in mind it was still in the crib with him covering his legs, so I don't know what he was truly upset about, but I was really tired and just wanted to go back to sleep, so I dragged him with me and we fell back to sleep pretty quickly.

When we did wake up, I went directly into the bedroom to get Perrin and Sarah. Poo biscuits filled the room with a strong stench that almost knocked me down when I opened the door. Meva said she wanted to experiment and try putting Perrin down with his pajamas on normally---the experiment failed! Maybe it's just me, but Meva seems to like to conduct these experiments when she isn't around to see the results the next morning. From now on we hold off experiments until she is here for the results, that's for sure!!

Anyways, Perrin had taken off all his clothes and his diaper. He then pooped all over the bed---on his pillow, all his dolls, his towel, his tent, and as I later found out, all around the outside of the crib! And the best part is that he did it a few hours previous so everything that he got on himself, and did I mention it was on his legs, arms, ribs, back, chin, ear, neck, cheeks, forehead, the one sock he left on for reasons only he knows, and in his nose---well that was already hard and caked.

So, I immediately set out to clean him up. It takes awhile and the boy was red from all the scrubbing, but I got him depooped and he had a clean diaper on. I deserved some coffee at this point. so I went and grabbed a cup and clean clothes for the triplets and went back to getting them dressed. Perrin went first without any further trouble. Sarah followed Perrin and was excited to wear a skirt that I had picked out for her, so she went quickly and without incident.

Then came Ryan.

He was excited because I told him that when he was done we'd all have waffles and sausage, which all the kids love. So Ryan starts giggling and laughing, half-running and jumping, and isn't watching where he's going at all, which leads to his almost 40 poundsdoing a little hop, skip, walk right onto my left testicle!

So I do what comes natural and I groan loudly and give a little yelp. This being Ryan, it of course startles him and he stops standing on my groin just long enough to fall to his knees. Guess where 40 pounds of upset toddler landed, knee first? Yep, second hit in about as many seconds!

I had to take hydrocodone and ice down "the boys" with a bag of frozen veggies because it hurt so bad. And, I hadn't made it back yet to clean Perrin's mess. I thought that would take 20 minutes, but it took almost an hour and a half with all the crap I had to clean.

Did all that with a limp, a groan, and many a mumbled curses!

Then the colds took over and they got crabby, and it wasn't even nap time yet!

So on a day like today, since doing much else hurts, I figure I'll post some photos and remind myself of how cute they are. Plus I'll have this story that can be entered into evidence in any criminal trial from stringing them all up!! But seriously, here are some photos of the little monsters in better moments.

This is definitely cuter than the face I saw early this morning.

Our little musicians jamming at the piano.

Ryan did some finger painting as part of his sensory therapy.

Of course we wouldn't have him just do it while the other two watched.

This became a family event with all the kids trying out their inner Picasso.

Meva thought Perrin would have problems with it. I told her she was nuts. Perrin agreed with me.

Sarah liked it alot. Especially when I gave her a duck tatoo on her chest.


Ryan got a matching tatoo and a goatee. He didn't get as messy as the other two, but had fun regardless.


With a little help from Daddy, Sarah was ready for Braveheart!

Towards the end Perrin became almost completely blue. I didn't have to help him at all. Unfortunately we had to get them ready for a bath, so this was probably the best example we have of him digging in.

Now it's time for the end of this picture session. I was fixing something on Meva's computer when Perrin started a Daddy Pile. The also actively tried to pull my pants down too. The must get that from Meva, she's another one who is weird too!

That's it for now. Remember to double click on any picture to see it bigger. Hopefully seeing these makes you feel better too!

Massive

That's a word that can be used to describe the amount of catching up we have to do here AND how poorly we've been in posting here. There's so much to show and say that I don't know where to really begin. I know Meva wants to talk about some things, so I'll just sort of sum up how things are standing with the kids and then it will be on to posting pictures (some will be from Christmas, how pathetic is that? Honestly, we are proud of the kids.)

We've started potty training. At this point the kids are more ready than the parents. Doing all three at once is more work than I would have ever realized. They're all pretty good about it and they like trying (and the candy rewards) but as we tell them, accidents happen. Of course, accidents also require cleaning--cleaning of the floor, underpants, and said child! Doing that in triplicate is just about a full time affair in itself, so that has been the biggest challenge.

Ryan is no longer in speech therapy! It's wonderful that he has progressed that well, but it's sad in that his speech therapist Jean, was absolutely wonderful and the kids all miss her and her toys! They still occasionally ask for her. Ryan is now working with an Occupational Therapist to help him with his sensory issues. The biggest part of this is brushing therapy. We try to do it every 2-2½ hours. I'll let Meva explain more about that later since she'll undoubtedly have a better understanding and ability to thus explain it.

Sarah is Sarah. She still wants to be a good girl and is the least disciplined of the three. She genuinely gets upset when she's even scolded, let alone given a timeout or the rare spanking. She's currently very into having a bow or ribbon in her hair (although it's still a thistle of curls that are almost untameable) and wearing different shoes (Sarah Marcos?). She also loves to play dinosaurs! Grandma Muriel & Grandpa Fred got the kids tubes of little plastic dinosaurs for their Christmas stockings. Nana and Papa (as they are called) thought they would just be cheap throw-away toys that they wouldn't be too interested in, but Sarah blew that projection. Everyday she plays with her dinosaurs and often wants me to help her. We have them dance on their plastic rocks and then they get in a school bus and go for rides (They always leave that part out of the academic books). She's just a blast.

Perrin, is quite possibly insane! He has decided that the word "Boundaries" should not apply to him. He is both curiosity and drama personified! He has also currently become the most cuddly and loving of the three. He will routinely come to us and just want to give us a kiss and a hug. He's also the only one who will tell us "I love you" when we tell them that. It's quite adorable and even melts this curmudgeon instantly.

Perrin is still receiving weekly physical therapy. We had a visit with a neurologist and Perrin has been officially diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy, but a mild form. This wasn't a shock to us and we took this as a welcome development because it will allow Perrin to have access to help and assistance when he needs it in the future. Of course despite this he is insane, did I mention that? My son with these physical disabilities is now climbing onto the kitchen counters (via the drawers) to get anything he wants. Like I said earlier, no boundaries! Just the other day I found him in the dinning room, standing on the middle of the table jumping up and down trying to catch the ceiling fan!! When I tried to explain that he could easily fall off and "break his Perrin" he wanted to hear nothing of it! When I have a heart attack, it will undoubtedly be due to him!

Wow, so much for a summary huh? Anyways, let's get to the pictures!! Remember to double click on an image to see a bigger view!

The triplets have started to enjoy making "Little Beds" on the sofas.

Of course sofas are also a great place for some quality Daddy Time! Almost every time I lay on the sofa, they do this.

This is one of Sarah's self-made Superhero disguises. Although it is a mixed message, those are supposed to be snowmobile goggles and pink helmet. She is the Christmas Avenger!

The Christmas Avenger gets very serious and warns you to be good or you'll get Candycaned!

Once the Christmas Avenger was elsewhere, Perrin decided to do his own version of the Naked Chef.

As Christmas got closer, being good and staying out of trouble got harder. Sometimes we had to wash all the bad off.

Sarah waiting in "The Duck" clothes hamper for her turn in the wash.

Perrin didn't like waiting through the spin cycle.

Sarah wanted to show you that she knows what a uvula is.

Perrin is once again pushing the fashion boundaries.

As Christmas got closer, Sarah got excited.

Even Ryan busted out half a smile!

Of course, if you promise him some candy with an advent calendar you get an even better smile.

We had an early Christmas at home because we knew Santa and Nana and Papa would give us more than enough gifts to bring home with us. This was the aftermath once we got home.

But Christmas was spent with the grandparents. Nana provided a nice big box to keep the toys in, but sometimes if you dig too far you can fall in.

Perrin shows you exactly what we mean. It sounds mean that I left him like that crying and screaming while I grabbed the camera and took the picture, but the shot was worth it!

Later on Wolfgang and Ludwig got started on some toddler Carols.

Sarah and her Christmas outfit having a snack with Nana.

Of course going to Ohio means they get to see their great-grandma Dixie. They love spending time with their GG.

Then it was off to visit more relatives at Uncle Harvey and Aunt Skip's (Somehow short for Charlotte) house.

Here's Perrin with his cousin Elyse and Aunt Karen.

Elyse is big enough to still kinda, almost, somewhat, hold the triplets!

This is all the cousins together in one picture. It's very hard to get them all still for even this long, especially the boys Trey and Matt. They were literally climbing the walls.

Once we got back home, they were too tired to do anything but sit nicely with their babies.

Speaking of babies, we had a late Christmas get together with Grandma Vera, Uncle Louie & Aunt Sharon and cousin Sylvia!

It's very rare that Sarah even notices a baby, let alone wants to hold one. We had to get this picture before the moment passed. I didn't even have time to put on sleeves.

Mommy put on a great spread for dinner. Ryan gave up his chair for Sylvia; he's such a little gentlemen.

It's been another great year for snow in Chicago, and the triplets took advantage of it out in the yard with me and their tobaggon.

Perrin and his first snow angel.

Sarah liked going down the slide into all the snow.

The whole snow angel concept was very confusing to Sarah. Why would she want to lay down when she could be DOING something??

Although he was cold, Perrin enjoyed himself.

So did Ryan, but he refused to make a snow angel. I think it creeped him out.

I still have more photo's from this month, but this post is long enough. I will post the other stuff tomorrow.

Spelling Bee

I want to preface this entry with an explanation of our perspective. It has come to my attention that other parents have issues with parents that brag on their kids. I would hope that Chuck and I don't come across as my kid is better than your kid to others, rather than just sharing our excitement... because that's our motivation. Our excitement runs a little deeper too. It was about 2-1/2 years ago that we were living through this...



where Perrin was doing so poorly that he was intubated with 100% oxygen (which they try to avoid in preemies because it can cause blindness) and then put in a medically induced coma and shaken on this machine to cause his little diaphram to shake and breathe better for simple survival's sake...




it was shortly after this that we were told that Perrin had a grade III (out of 4) bleed in his brain that in itself could cause retardation followed by the news that he had hydrocephalus which could also cause retardation as well all the other complications of hydro.
Anyway, my point in pointing this out is so those of you out there seeing this have a better understanding of our excitement when we see him doing this. There is no my kid is better than your kid going on here... this is just look at what he can do, in light of where he's been...

Here's our little spelling bee champ...