No pictures - Sorry!

Sorry I don't have any pictures to share today. I figure I'll have enough pictures from Halloween festivities in the next 2 days to keep you all entertained for several weeks down the line. I also don't have much to report. They are all sick right now, so that is our biggest struggle. Coughing, fever, runny noses and grumpiness! It just so happened that they got sick yesterday, and today was the first day their cousin Carter was supposed to come over while his mom goes back to work. Well, that is not happening, since he is little and we don't want him to get sick. Maybe he'll come next week! They did get flu shots last week, but these are just colds. More than likely picked up on Friday when we were out playing at the indoor playground.

Not much else has happened this week. Our last music class was on Friday, so that is sad it's over with, just as they were getting the hang of things. But, I'm sure we'll find other things to occupy ourselves with as the time goes on. The story time at the library is still lots of fun. They are very good, and we've met plenty of nice people and learned some new things.

Speaking of new things, their latest funny thing is to stand against a wall, yell "go, go" and start running. That occupied a good deal of time this morning. They are also enjoying playing "Ring Around the Rosy" and doing little rhyming finger plays and action songs like "Teddy Bear" and others we've learned at story time. One ends with a bow, so they've all (sort of) learned how to bow. Xander has started to announce when he needs his diaper changed. He'll walk up to me and say "diaper, diaper, icky". We can also see how much more they're engaging in imaginary play. Grace likes to hold a baby doll, rock it and pretend to feed it. The boys play with the kitchen and pretend to cook and stir food. They all make car sounds and drive a car along the ground. It's neat to see. They are still hoarding. The latest thing to hoard and fight over are little magnetic letters. They carry them around in cool whip containers and put lids on, take lids off, dump them out, put them in, etc. The possibilities are endless! With only 26 letters, though, there are never enough to go around.

We will post lots and lots of pictures from Halloween. We are going trick or treating, so it will be fun and I'll have lots of stories, I'm sure. Happy Halloween everyone. Enjoy the nice weather.

Pumpkin patch

We took advantage of the nice weather on Saturday and were outside almost all day! We played outside all morning, then after nap, we hopped in the car and went to a pumpkin patch. It wasn't a big fancy farm, but we did get to take a hay ride (bottom picture), pick pumpkins in the field (all other pictures) and get plenty of fresh air. We met some friends from church there, and I think a good time was had by all. We went out to dinner after that, something the kids don't get to do very often. They enjoyed good food off of a salad buffet and even got dessert, something else they don't get very often. To finish out the day, we played at the park for about a half an hour. Boy did they sleep good Saturday night, and were still a little tired Sunday morning. We had a long morning at church on Sunday, so it was a good thing they took a nice nap on Sunday afternoon.

Not much other news, all are healthy again this week, thank goodness. Their latest obsessions are with putting things in/out of a container and carrying things around. Xander can spend forever putting things in a bucket, dumping them out and doing it again. Grace carries around a small ball stuffed in a small funnel. I hardly ever see her without it during the day. And if someone touches it, forget about it! Will has been putting things in the car or shopping cart and carrying them around. They do this all the time! Their other obsession is zipping, and it usually involves their jackets and pajamas. Xander will unzip his pajamas and walk around saying "uh oh" until Will or Grace comes along to zip it up or I tell him to zip it up himself. Crazy kid! New words are "go, go, go" (they get that from me, because I'm always trying to prod them along), "whoa", "owie" and "tickle, tickle" (they actually try to tickle you when they say this.)

Quick funny thing they did this morning. Grace was walking in circles around the basement, so she grabbed Xander's hand and he walked with her in circles. Then Will joined in behind them playing a tambourine. It was a little parade. It's neat to see them playing together like that. I found out later that Daddy had been leading parades around the basement the other day, so that's what they were doing. Funny. That's all for now!

21 months old!

The kids actually turned 21 months last week, but I forgot to post that. So, here's the official update. They're 21 months old!

We had a good week last week. Not quite as busy as the week before, but we still got out and did some fun things, and best of all, no one was sick!!!!!! The pictures are of them after we got home from their music class on Friday. They were playing with grandma's shoes. They are loving playing with big shoes. They do it every chance they can. I've been leaving my shoes out so they can wear them around. It keeps them quiet and occupied while I'm doing things like making dinner or cleaning up lunch. Their music class on Fridays is going great. They are interacting with other kids, playing instruments, doing little action songs and behaving really well. I'm glad we've been doing that class. The weekend was kind of a bummer, because of all the rain we didn't get to go to the pumpkin patch. We're going to try again this Saturday, so hopefully I'll be able to share those pictures with you next week.

The kids are growing a lot too, I think. Will is getting so heavy, he's hard to pick up. Xander is getting really tall. His 2T pants are almost not too long anymore. Grace is still light, but, she's getting tall, too. She needs 24 month clothes for the length. They're huge around, but 18 month pants are too short and they look funny! That's a Niebuhr problem, and she'll probably have to learn how to deal with that from her Grandma Ellen. Mommy doesn't have that problem! Their talking is becoming more clear and more frequent. The newest words are "diaper", "big bird" and "apple". They are also saying "oscar" and "cookie" (monster) really funny. Think the Bud Light commercial "What's UUUUUPPPP" and replace it with "Okaaaaar" or "crackeeeeerrrr". It's funny. That's about all to report. Hopefully I'll have pumpkin patch pictures next week!

A fun week

We had a great week this week. We did lots of things, went lots of places, saw lots of people and they handled it all quite nicely. Tuesday, we went shopping at the mall. We went to storytime again on Wednesday with great Grandma Gisela, which was a great time. Thursday, we went to a multiples club playgroup at Pioneers Park Nature Center. The other multiples there were older (3 and 4 yrs old), but they played with the triplets and had a good time. The older girls liked to pretend Grace was their daughter. It was cute! And Friday was our first music class. There are 3 other kids in the class (we make up half the class!) they are all 2 or early 3. The triplets did a great job, though dancing and moving when they were supposed to. They had fun playing shakers, and rolling a HUGE beach ball the lady had. This class only meets for 4 sessions, so there are only 3 left, but it's a good time, I think. Saturday, they spent the day with Grandma and Grandpa Niebuhr, so mom and dad could get some housework done. And finally, Sunday was their cousin Carter's baptism. The triplets didn't see it, though. They went to the nursery. They were a little sad being in the nursery and cried some, but the college girls who work there do a great job keeping them occupied. We still have a couple things scheduled for this week, but not nearly as many as last week. We will just play outside and enjoy the beautiful weather!

The picture I took this morning is of them watching Sesame street from the comfort of my (unmade) bed. As you can see, Xander has a sesame street book in his hand. They are becoming obsessed with Elmo and Oscar. Everywhere Xander goes, he sees "Okar" and talks about him constantly. I think we will have to invest in some Elmo/Sesame Street books and DVDs. I got the boys a pair of matching Elmo slippers for Christmas. I think those will be a hit! They are becoming quite social, helping each other, doing things like giving each other their juice or shoes or whatever they need. They are putting 2 words together lately. Usually it's a name combined with "Hi" "bye" or "up". They have been learning and repeating almost anything they hear, so we've just started naming things and increasing their vocabulary. Grace can jump now, the boys try but don't get very far. But, I am glad to report they are getting more coordinated, especially at stairs. I no longer fear for their safety when we're around a flight of stairs. Well, that's all for now. Happy fall!

Good and bad week

We had both good and not so good things going on this week. I'll start with the good news! We had lots of outside playtime this week, which is always fun. Our across the street neighbor and her daughter came over and played several times, which was nice. We also hosted a multiples club playgroup at our house on thursday. Unfortunately, many people got sick at the last minute, and the only people who attended were a set of 2 year old twins. It was fun though to meet that new family and the kids got along well. We look forward to other playgroups with the multiples club (we're even going to one this Thursday, too). Naps have been much better this week. The longest was 4 hours (Will's on Saturday). I have been running the humidifier in their room lately, so I think the white noise helps them sleep longer. Our biggest good news is the breakthrough we had on Sunday. The kids stayed in the nursery at church without us for the entire service!!!! That was huge. There are two new college girls staffing the nursery now, and they are much better with them than they they were with the older lady who was there before. So, now we are confident that they will only get more comfortable there and we can all attend church without worrying about what is happening in the nursery.

The bad news is that they were pretty sick the first half of last week. Grace's antibiotics from the doctor on Monday really helped her feel better fast. I know I reported that the boys were getting a little sniffly last Monday and they were really sick by Tuesday. They went back to the doctor on Thursday (Xander had 102 fever Wednesday pm) but I came back with the news that it was only colds and to wait it out. They were better by Saturday and are mostly normal, with just little runny noses, today. Our doctor said that we essentially have ourselves a daycare type situation in our house and on the average, kids in a daycare get sick every 3 weeks. That's about what we're averaging. If it's this bad during summer and fall, I don't even want to know what cold and flu season is going to be like. So, that is about it. We have lots of fun things planned for this week, including starting a "mommy and me" music class on Friday mornings. I'll let you know how that went next week. Have a good week.

By the way, we tried to get a family picture last night at my sister's house. It is virtually impossible to get all three of them to sit, look and smile at the same time. So, this is what we got. We are the featured family in the upcoming Multiples Club newsletter and I wanted a recent picture to give them. These are the best shots I can choose from. I was hoping to get professional family pictures later this fall. But, if it's this hard, I don't know.......