Busy busy!

We had another busy but wonderful day today! We had lots of morning play time and were able to multitask at the same time and get things hung on Brody and the trips bedroom walls. It's starting to come together folks! The afternoon family nap time was blissfully sweet, even if Ben and I's only lasted about 20 min ;) I had the pleasure of getting my hair done while gma Sharon came over to play with the boys while Ben and Brody worked on the backyard. The weather was perfect and we all are healthy, pretty much the most we can hope for.

Payton was all smiles!!

How cute is Riley in B's old converses??

Still, always something in the mouth!

yep, that's P, getting up on all fours more and more!

It's great to see Payton holding his own these days when playing with his bros :)

We haven't busted out the gigglebellies much lately, but I'm glad we did- the boys danced nonstop, it was so cute!

 

Date Night!

Ben and I got to enjoy a nice dinner out to eat while gma Sharon put the boys to bed for us. It was oh-so-nice!! With full bellies we decided to take our first walk through Oak Park, post flood. It was oh-so-sad :( Camp Owetti was my favorite part of the park growing up here. Even though I was always scared being there anytime dusk was upon the horizon- so many scary ghost stories!! I was honestly scared beyond belief most of the time being there, but that's also what made it so fun as a kid. Tonight as we walked through and looked at the dead channel of the mighty mouse river (hardly looks mighty these days!) we were flooded, once again, with emotions as we looked over the banks just 2blocks west of our house. It's hard to imagine that same section of the river overflowing the banks and filling 7+ feet of water in he houses in our neighborhood. There is so much debris and lost life it's hard to imagine it thriving anytime soon-- but we know it will be built back someday. Notice in the 4th pic the poor little beaver swimming in the garbage. And the last picture is of all new (new since the last time I ever lived in Minot) kids equipment that is roped off. I hope the orange fence comes down soon, I know of some boys who would LOVE to have at that jungle gym!! We bought our lotto tickets like many others today (how can you resist??) Here's to dreaming of getting a little chunk of that pot- it could be put to good use in this community!! xoxo

Hats!

Since the front hallway closet has now been deemed the "best play area, ever" we are finding winter hats and shoes all over the house! I'm pretty sure there is nothing cuter than little boys in beanies ;)

Triplet Moms Rock!

....well, all MOMs rock- but I think it's time to give some shout-outs to some of my fellow triplet mommies who inspire me :) I have decided (since I didn't take one picture today to post about!) that I will randomly post about some amazing women I have been fortunate to "meet" (some in person, some virtually) since I (we) started this crazy little journey.

Tonight I introduce you to my friend C and her family found over at The Three Legged Race. Christina and Justin are absolutely adorable parents of triplets Zoe, Oliver and Quinn. These babes brighten many of my days! Christina takes beautiful pictures that she shares in our little "triplet mommie world" and on her blog. This Mama is sweet, kind, caring, sensitive, witty, creative, and all that good stuff and I feel blessed to know her!

Creative, yes she is! Check out her Etsy shop: paperfingers and you will know what I mean :)

Thanks Christina, for sharing your world with us all-- I fell in love with your blog (and you!) while I was on bed-rest myself and you were still trucking along, inspiring me always.

Sweetest Things

Warning: if you don't think messy kid faces are cute- this post is not for you!

Brody had the sweetest dinner time chatter as he ate all of his spaghetti tonight- it melted my heart and earned him a bowl of ice cream for dessert! I wish I would have been recording him as he told me things like:

- Mom, you need to go to the store and buy the book "Llama Lama loves his Mama" because I'm not mad at my Mama like Llama :)

- I love my Daddy when he walks me to the mailbox

- I love my Mommy when she finishes her dinner all gone

- I always love my baby brothers

- I love my Mommy ...., like I said- wish I would have had a recorder because he said so much cute stuff! Now my tired brain has forgotten :(

 

Good stuff!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Test 2

We could be in trouble now!! Let's see how many pictures we can upload (currently I can only upload 5 from my iPhone so I will try for 6!)

 

 

 

Success!! 6 cutie pictures of B getting clean!! This is going to be FUN!!!

Test

Testing a new iPad app....hoping it makes my life a bit more easier than Evan's version of helping me with the laundry!!

 

Riley!

Nope- it wasn't Riley in the 2 pictures posted last night- that was Evan!! These pics are of R. The majority of guesses though were all for Riley- nice try folks!! As you can tell of these iPhone shots of Riley from tonight, he is a hard one to catch still these days. We know it's getting tricky because even Brody has been getting them mixed up the past few days and he has been keeping them straight from the beginning (shockingly to us!) Payton still has his individual characteristics which sometimes makes me sad that he had environmental difficulties or differences from the beginning that has made him the least identical- if that makes any sense?? But I am not really sad about it because he is so dang cute I would never want to change a thing! As we have always said, thank goodness for Payton! Now we can add "thank you Payton- for not adding to the confusion :)"

Guess Who??

Well, I think it's time to start labeling our photos a bit better!! I fooled Uncle T AND Ben on who this was in the picture! Ben even took the picture himself a few hours earlier, ha!

SO, tell me, which boy am I??

Frat Boys!

I remember when the boys briefly had a roommate in the NICU after having a single room for so long (we were spoiled). The "roomie" only lasted about a day, but long enough for the parents to say the triplet frat boys were blasting music to loud! Ha! The boys did look pretty cute today- even if they did slightly resemble frat boys (not that there is anything wrong, just sayin). Evan cruised a bit more today, Payton got up on all fours and into standing multiple times and Riley must be getting another tooth since he had something in is mouth at all times (a sock, a baby wipe, a bib, and a teething tablet bottle just to name a few)!

Dirty Boys!

We thought we better start the weekend off right- with clean boys! Getting the trips clean on Friday night will make for an easy Saturday morning with only Brody (and the parents) to clean up. They are hit or miss with the baths these days. Sometimes they don't want to ever get out and now sometimes they have had enough after about 5 minutes. Tonight was one of those 5 minute baths, just enough time for me to change the crib sheets (and find all the hidden-lost paci's) and put away the clean clothes that have been sitting in the basket since last Sunday. Like I said, starting the weekend off right!!

Walking!!

These boys crack me up!! It's so much fun seeing them learn their new means of transportation :)

Organized Chaos!

Well, sort of. The totes and bins in this house have multiplied! It makes me feel better to clear the floors of toys so I keep acquiring more bins, but I am afraid it will always look like a toy tornado in here :) Oh well, the boys love it and I love watching them destroy it! Here is Riley and Evan getting in some last minute playtime while P took his sweet time finishing his bottle and Brody ate his dinner. We have gotten in quite the nice routine in our own home and getting the boys to gma's for daycare isn't as hard as we thought! Getting Brody to preschool and Payton to his Dr/therapy appointments does make days hectic at times with work schedules- but it's all been doable so far! (side note: the unfinished fireplace is not an artistic feature but a work in progress ;) )

I do it!!

That's what the boys would be saying if they could form sentences :) Tonight they had their dessert (fruit and veggie pouches) while holding and sucking all by themselves! I am sure they could have been doing this for awhile, I just finally got smart enough to let them try. I love it when they impress me like this. The appetites have been out of control lately and I love it! I took Payton in for his recheck today and he has gained 2 pounds since he was in the hospital. He is at 18 pounds 5 ounces so he still has a ways to go to get on the growth chart but we are really happy with his progress. We will continue to make sure he heads upward and hopefully get rid of his "failure to thrive" status, what an ugly label!!

Bowling!

Brody was just a little excited to be bowling at Kate's 4th Bday Party!! Ben and I managed to take him there and enjoy the afternoon while Uncle T and Amanda took care of the trips! It was a busy weekend working on unpacking and errands- we were glad to sneak some fun in too :)

Playroom Fun!

Saturday was full of lots of playtime for the trips while Brody was gone on a little road trip with Gma Sharon. They are so fun to watch as they explore new things and follow each other around :) Riley is walking a lot now and Evan takes a few steps, Payton is working hard to catch up!!

Ta-daaaa!!!

We had to supersize our fridge to store food for four growing boys!! I so wish we had this baby when we were making daily batches of 24 bottles and housing a stock pile of mama's milk!! Oh how quickly times change :) We are struggling to get the boys to even drink their bottles these days (no, we haven't made the switch to whole milk yet- but imagine we might need to soon. I struggle with the thought of this- we will take Payton in for another weight check next week and talk with the Dr) I am looking forward to a big shopping trip this weekend to fill this beautiful fridge up....And also hopefully a walk or two outside since the weather has been GORGEOUS!!

Happy Birthday Daddy!!

We had a great night celebrating Ben's 32nd birthday tonight! I grabbed the phone to snap a pic after taking some (nice) ones with our real camera- obviously the boys were done with pictures by that point! So this is what you get for now :) We are thankful to have such a great daddy and wish him nothing but the best for his next year!! He got his wish of family, pizza and basketball for his night---love you babe!!

Flashback

This time last year we had just recently welcomed our sweet Payton home from the NICU after 47 loooong days. We were finally at home with all 4 boys just in time to celebrate Ben's birthday! My Dad and Stepmom were out in Portland helping us and left on Ben's Birthday. That was it- we were a family of six surviving on our own on minimal sleep struggling with preemies that couldn't quite get the "trick" of drinking liquids so feeding times were long and drawn out involving the never-to-be-mentioned-again-product of Simply Thick. It was a heck of an experience! It's funny though, I am still use to them being "babies" so when I see their pictures they don't seem weird or old to me yet, but when I see pictures like this and my "big boy" Brody looks so young, I can't help but gasp at how fast time flies!!

March is a bittersweet month. We welcomed each triplet home from the NICU in March. Their "actual" due date was March 17th, even though they were already 8 weeks old! We experienced the "high" of surviving triplets and a toddler for about 2 weeks. March 27th was the beginning of the biggest fight and struggle of our lives so far as I spent the night with Evan in the ER. March 29th I was in the front seat of an ambulance terrified to even look back, afraid of what condition I would see my sweet Evan in. March 30th Evan underwent a high risk surgery that ultimately saved his life.

Now, that was a month of highs and lows!! Flash-forward 12 months later to the present month and we have so much to be thankful for! All 4 of our boys are healthy and were saved from suffering the awful nasty flu-bug that took out Ben and then I last week! A house of our OWN!! Friends and Family near and far!! Secure jobs! Did I mention, a house of our own!!! Ben got his birthday wish, we made it in our home :) Now tomorrow night when we celebrate we can sit back, relax and enjoy his favorite meal.....pizza ;) (after we get the triplets to bed of course, we all know there is no relaxing until that happens)

60 years...

and 6 grandchildren!! Happy Birthday Gpa David!! We had a fun night celebrating with LOTS of yummy food and bday cake :) We missed Dan and Haley but will make up for it next time they visit. Grandpa has his hands full here- but I don't think he could look any happier! Cheers to a fabulous 60th year...

l.o.v.e.

 Payton and his baby cousin Sloane

 Riley needs to check her out as well

 Payton looks so loving and caring- and he is!!

 He was getting a little excited that R was getting so close ;)

He is such a nurturer already!!

These were taken a couple weeks ago at G&G Wainds before the big move. We are hoping to see this sweet baby a lot more now that we only live 1 block away, and all our sicknesses are now gone :) We have quite the crew here in the flooded valley- so many young, sweet families. I can't wait for summer time to get here and the outside festivities begin. Tyson and I had a lot of good times growing up in this neighborhood, hopefully the flood cleanup continues and we are able to grow a nice lawn for all to enjoy. Can you tell I have spring fever- the weather here has been amazing!!