Monday Madness!!!

I want to share with everyone my morning so far and it is only 9am. I hope you get a good laugh from it. All children will remain nameless to protect them from future embarassment.
I woke this morning thinking the day will be great...I did not have to go in to the kids' room at all last night...that is a great way to start. Mondays are bath morning, so it is the first thing we do. This is where things started to go haywire. For the beginning of the bath it was fine, but after I finished changing the crib bedding and sat down to start washing the kids up I ended up with a cup of bath water down my side. I got one kid out and dried off and realized I had forgotten to bring 3 diapers into the bathroom...so I took a chance to go get some diapers...thankfully I came back to no pee on the floor...success! I put that child into their room and came back to get the 2nd one out only to find that someone had pooped in the tub (this is only the second time that has happened). So I quickly tried to catch the little brown submarines before the two kids found them! I then caught all the bath toys and quickly emptied the water. With two shivering kids left to wash I refilled the tub and proceeded to finish the bathing process. I finished and put child #2 into the bedroom. Let me just mention at this point that the bedroom is child proofed so they can roam about while the others are finished without getting into too much trouble. So I finish #3 and went to put them in the room and found that #1 and #2 had pulled all the blankets off the changing table...not a big deal and easy to clean up. So I finished cleaning up the bathroom and proceeded to the bedroom to dress and clip finger & toe nails. I came to the door...low and behold they had graduated from the blankets to the box of wipes. They had pulled each and every wipe out of the almost full box. So I quickly pick up all the wipes and start to fold them and put them back into the container. Finally start to get the kids dressed at 8:20, we are running late! Finished #1 onto #2, well as I dressed #2 the other two found the wipes yet again...again an empty container, but this time I just grabbed and shoved them in as I did not have time to fold them all again. I must say I am proud that our children have such great teamwork and efficiency. One of the great things about having three 15 month olds. ;) Finally had everyone dressed and got them all downstairs as well as the dogs. I scramble to get breakfast togther for them and Roxy decides she must go outside now, so outside we go. No results so back in we come (we did this twice). I rush back to the kitchen to get the kids milk cuz the cheerios are not cutting it anymore. I am sweating, my jammies are still wet down one side, I'm really thirsty, I had to pee about an hour ago and now I am getting a headache....ugh! So me being the smart person I am decide that I will take the valves (the things that does not allow liquid to pour out of the sippy cup) out of the sippy cups as Jeremy and I discussed over the weekend. Brillant idea, Jen!!! Milk everywhere....ok it was not that bad but on top of everything else it seemed like it. With breakfast finished and teeth brushed, the kids are now playing without incident. So I ask you, how is your Monday going? Apparently if you want to have fun...get yourself a box of wipes and take them all out (you may want to make sure someone else is going to clean the up;)).
Hope you enjoyed my story, now I must go shower and get caught up from being away for the weekend.
Love, Jen

She's here!!!!

Last night we picked up our newest family member. She was known as 'Red' at the rescue but it was only a temporary name so we renamed her to 'Roxy". She was spayed yesterday, so last night she was pretty tired. Today she had a lot more energy. The kids absolutely love her and she loves them...lots of kisses were given today. Baylee does not mind her either, in fact he may have a little more spunk. She is adjusting great! She was a good find...we are very lucky. She is 2 years old and is a perfect mixture of our other beloved girls - her head/face is like Doris and her coloring on her body is like Sam. Here are a few pictures I took this morning. She moves around fast so it was not an easy task to get pictures.

Love, Jen

Memorial Day

We did not do anything exciting on Memorial Day. It turned out to be a beautiful day so we spent 2 hours outside with the kids playing. They got to try using their new sunglasses. It was also their first time with sandals (except Liz). Daddy taught them to come down the slide. We also took off the sandals and walked in the grass barefoot. They were exhausted by nap time. Here are some pictures from the day.
Enjoy.
Jen
Alex is a cool guy with his new glasses!
Zach is all about having fun and letting loose!
Liz loves her hat but the sunglasses are not a favorite yet!
'Do you get on this thing on this side???'

Liz looking so innocent...
Two cool guys!!!
Alex in the teeter totter...
Liz and Zach in teeter totter...
Alex about to go down the slide...

Zach climbing to the landing...
Liz working on her way up to the landing...
'Hey Zach, whatcha eatin'?'
'Mmmm....tasty stick!'

And there they go....

When I let the kids out of the play area for lunch they usually all go a different direction. Today was no different except I had Alex already in his highchair. So I let Liz and Zach out. Zach headed for the stairs and then ended up in the bathroom. As I waited to for Liz to make it to the kitchen, I would keep asking Zach what he was doing. I got Liz in her chair and went to the dining room to check if Zach was there. This is what I found:
Zach had unrolled the toilet paper and dragged it with him, without it ripping (very impressive!). I just had to take a picture of his toilet paper trail. You never know what is going to happen when they are let out of the play area, each time is a surprise.

Mmmmm....sticks....yummy!!!

The kids and I went outside after lunch today. Unfortunately I forgot the camera and there was no way of getting back into the house to grab without losing a kid. ;) So sorry no pics.

I took our bouncing balls outside with us. It has been the best $1.50 we have spent. They love them! I also brought out the chairs that go with our little outdoor table.

Alex stuck around the chairs, climbing on them as well as investigating the area. Liz and Zach were non-stop. Both pushing the limits as to how far I would let them go. Liz picked at the dandelions and Zach found a stick. The more he carried it the shorter it got. Eventually Alex ended up with a stick. They practiced drumming on the chairs with them. Finally, Liz got a stick too. I cannot remember exactly what stick tastes like but it must taste ok! All three had specks of stick/bark on their chins. So they have had their rufage for the day. ;) There was a some meltdowns as the sticks had to stay outside.

So that was our adventure for today. I am hoping to take them to the park soon to play on the swings. I will make sure I don't forget the camera. ;)

Here are some indoor pictures from today.

The boys are wearing their first Brewer gear. They got these bodysuits from Marcus and Renee for their birthday. They are size 18 months...you know what that means...we are getting bigger and bigger.

Here is Liz loving two teddy bears. She has taken a liking to stuff animals the last couple days. The one teddy bear with the red bow is Zach's teddy bear from his godfather Fred.

Expecting a new addition to our family!!!

Today we got to see our new addition to the family. She is so cute and took a spot in our hearts at first sight...I know your probably thinking...how could we not tell anyone we were expecting...well our newest member is a dog!!! So everyone pick your jaw up off the ground and get back in your chair. Even though another child would be great, we are not expecting to have anymore. There is always room in our hearts for another doxie!!! As you may know, when we were pregnant with the triplets we had 3 doxies. December before the kids' birth we had to put down our oldest girl due to kidney failure. Then in August after the kids were born we had to put our other little girl down for Cushings Disease. That left us with Baylee, our first dog we owned. He has had several health problems in the last few months and is just getting old - he is 13 yrs. We want the kids to grow up with a dog and are hoping that another dog may perk Baylee up. We are not replacing any of the dogs, just adding another to our family. So her name is "Red" but that will change (our first dog we will name - we have always kept their names), it is a temporary name the rescue came up with. She is approxiamately 2 yrs old, excellent with kids, other dogs, as well as cats, she is a smooth red. Well will have her home next week. We all enjoyed meeting her.
The other thing we did today was take the kids to their 15 month appointment, no shots just a check up. Every thing checked out good. It was different feeling visiting this time as everyone was able to walk around the room and play. They were all running around the room half-naked. They don't mind going to the doctor at all! So here are the lastest and greatest stats:
Alexander - 6 teeth; 21# (10th percentile); 32 1/2" (90th percentile)
Elizabeth - 7 teeth; 19.6# (10th percentile); 32" (95th percentile)
Zachary - 7 teeth; 21.6# (20th percentile); 32" (80th percentile)
I will keep the blog updated as to when we bring home our new little girl.
Love, Jen

The TV's in jail!!!

Today the kids are 15 months old...can you believe it!!! Well today they are 15 months old and the TV ended up in jail. What the heck am I talking about? Well let me explain...As many have asked me...so is it easier as the kids get older? My answer has been...it is just different challenges. On Monday I was challenged. The kids love climbing on the couch but cannot climb onto it without us removing a cushion. Well Monday that changed...Liz figured out how to remove the cushion so they could play on the couch. That in itself is not a big deal...the big deal is they can escape once they are on the couch. How did I figure this out? Well I washed Liz up after breakfast and brushed her teeth and put her in the play area. Next was Zachary...as I brought him to the play area there was little ole Liz sitting on the couch playing like it was totally normal for her to be there. So the brainstorming began Monday night. How are we going to contain them? The best thing for us to do was to get a gate for the doorway and put the jail around the TV and things to keep their hands off. So I finally found a gate and picked one up yesterday. So it was time to rearrange the living room last night. We moved things around at least twice, with not a good result. So this morning I rearranged the furniture for the final time. And the best arrangement was to put the TV in jail (see pictures below). So again it is neither good or bad that they are getting older, it is both. We are just put to a challenge every now and again. BTW, the kids are loving the new setup.
Love, Jen