January days

Here are some pictures of the sledding I promised. I didn't get any of Xander going downhill, because he only did it once or twice. He spent the rest of time at the bottom of the hill with me playing with the snow.

So, we're just going along during these cold, dreary January days. The kids have had small colds, just enough to start using up boxes of Kleenex and complain about runny noses. I had a bout with what I thought was the stomach flu, but more likely was probably food poisoning. I ate some prosciutto on Tuesday night that was iffy and no one else has gotten sick. Xander did throw up on Saturday night, but it was only once and in the car. He probably got car sick, that's not the first time he's done that. So, we stuck close to home at the end of last week, because of the colds and I just didn't feel very good. The weather was pretty nice on Thursday, so we did play outside for a while, but all the other days have been cold.

Saturday was a fun first for the kids. We took them to their first movie on Saturday morning at the downtown theaters. It was Madagascar 2, and we think they had fun. They each got a small bag of popcorn, and proceeded to eat almost all of it! It was kind of funny, they are so little that they didn't have enough weight to hold the folding seats down. We had to prop them up so they sat farther forward on the chairs to keep them down. We had to sit in the very front row, because it was so crowded. So, next time we'll get there earlier and use booster seats, then it'll be perfect! Saturday night they went to the Hoefs' house, and Brian and I went out to dinner and to the Lied center. Sunday was church and family movie night (Cars this week, and Charlotte's Web last week.)

We've been getting a kick out of their use of the English language lately. They've got a good enough grasp on the language that now they are trying to use new words, but get them in the wrong tense or context. We've been hearing a lot of words like "slided", "brokeded", "runned". The other day Will was trying to say "Grace told me to go upstairs" but he kept saying "Grace sayed me upstairs." It took me a while to figure that one out.

A quick update on Will with his pottying and pulmicort side effects. To sum up, not good. He's still having accidents and they are extremely on purpose. The tantrums and screaming are not any better and we consistently lose our cool with him. He is one hard kid to figure out!

Xander has re-started something he did as a baby/toddler, but had stopped for a long while. He has started taking his socks off all the time. He walks around in these sub-zero temperatures with no socks on. We find 2-3 pairs in his bed, because he takes them off at nap and nighttime everyday. There are socks all over the house, under the kitchen table, in the basement, everywhere. And if you tell him to put them back on he conveniently gets "distracted" and never quite gets around to it.

Little Miss Thing has started becoming very coy and sneaky. She has quite the explanations for things that she does wrong. It's actually pretty funny to see her try to explain her way out of doing something. For example, "Grace, why did you throw that toy at Xander?" "I was just throwing it at him, mommy." "But why, Grace?" "I just wanted to throw it at him, because I wanted to." Something like that. Boy are we in trouble when she gets more creative.

When they first started potty training, we put them in diapers at nap, just in case. Well, we never stopped putting them in diapers, then we noticed they were waking up wet. We figured out that they would wake up and pee in the diapers, because they could. We knew that because it we every woke them up from nap, they would be dry. So, now we are paying for that mistake and are having to "retrain" them to wake up and NOT pee in their underwear. They've been wearing covers at nap, and we are doing pretty well. For some reason, they won't get themselves out of bed to go to the bathroom when they wake up. So I have to remind them not to pee when they wake up and get them out of bed right away. Will has had the most dry wake-ups, but I think that just might be luck, because he wakes up last or gets woken up by everyone else. Grace has finally gotten the hang of it, she had a lot of days of wet pants and sheets. So, this is just a hurdle to waking up dry in the mornings, so far they are still really wet in the a.m. I don't know how we're going to accomplish dry mornings.

Sorry this got so long. I guess I had a lot to report! I'll post next week, if I have anything to talk about!

Some news!

In an effort not to make the previous post too long, here is our current news.

We are sad to report that "steroid Will" is back, and with a vengeance! We were pleasantly surprised to refill Will's medicine in late Dec. and learn that is now generic. Which means, we would start saving $25 a month on that prescription. Great, right! Not so fast. Apparently what is happening is that the generic formula is just different enough, so our poor Will's body is not used to it. We're back to the same side effects as we had when he first started the Pulmicort, over a year ago. So, now we're back to irritable, cranky, cry at the drop of a hat and throw 20 minute tantrums, Will. Which also means, the other two are mimicking this behavior. Life has not been pleasant in this house for the last 2 weeks. I spoke with Dr. Swisher about it at their 3 year appt last week (which went brilliantly, by the way) and he believes the side effects will level out, just as they did with the regular stuff. I just don't know if we want to wait that long. This behavior is pretty trying and I'm doing my best not to lose my cool everyday, but it is awfully hard and VERY stressful. I don't think the $25/month is worth it, frugal minded Brian may disagree. Although, he gets frustrated with Will's tantrums, too, so we'll see how long he can last until he caves and we go back to regular Pulmicort. The good news is that the generic stuff IS working. We saw the asthma doctor today for a regular check-up and everything is great. He hasn't even had a cold in 2 months, so no asthma flare-ups. He also thinks things will level out here, just no telling how long it will take. Let's hope it is soon. We can't take much more!

We've been out and about a lot lately, which is fantastic for this time of year and they haven't even gotten sick from any places we've been. We hit the indoor playground twice this week, once with Grandma Pam. They love to climb in that huge structure and can disappear for 15 minutes at a time. It is a great way to expend some pent up energy (come on spring!!). We also had lunch with grandma on Monday, a day off for her. We had Hannah and Haylea (from the multiples club) over last week for a playdate, which was a fun time. We also went sledding at Aunt Kara's on Saturday. A good time, but freezing cold. I believe I have some pictures of that I can post later. We've also started going to a new story time at the library. Since they're 3 now, they can go to the preschool storytime. A lady from our church is the librarian who does the storytime and she's great. They enjoy it. The books are longer and the songs less baby-ish. They are definitely ready to move up a little. They are the smallest and youngest in the room, but that is good for them to be around older kids. More outings are planned later this week and weekend. It is so good to have a stretch of time during the winter with no illness (knock on wood!). I am really happy about that. Hope everyone else is healthy, too. More info and some pictures later!

New birthday bears!

Here are some pictures of Curt and the kids at the build your own teddy bear store in the mall. Curt took them there to make bears as a birthday present. They had a great time. They got to choose the bear and the clothes, then watch as they stuffed the bear and got it dressed. We helped them name the bears and now they proudly carry them around a lot. Will got a golfer outfit and we named in George (George the golfer). Xander chose a fireman and now he loves Fred the fireman. Grace had originally chosen a Hawaiian type of thing, then changed to a ballerina, and named her Penny. They sleep with their bears at night (they've been added to the menagerie in their beds). Xander now sleeps with 4 animals, Grace has 3 animals and 2 blankets. Will is pretty manageable with 3 animals and one blanket. Thanks Curt for your generous gift. They had a great time and they love their bears.

Happy 3rd Birthday!

Happy Birthday Will, Xander and Grace! We love you!
~Mommy and Daddy

Happy 3rd Birthday, Will!

Here are some pictures from Will's 3rd birthday!

3-year-old Will loves:

peanut butter and jelly and milk, sweets, trains and cars, jumping, climbing and running, getting tossed around by daddy or anyone else who will do it, reading books, making up words.

3-year-old Will is:

very loving, extremely polite, has large mood swings (probably steroid related), a pretty picky eater, very outgoing, the least shy in social situations, very patient and cooperative when it comes to going to the doctor and taking medicine, 33lbs (50th percentile) and 37" tall (50th percentile).

3-year-old Will can:

spell his name and his siblings' names, almost write a W, recognize all the letters and numbers up to 10, can count to 15, remember a fact he's heard only once.

3-year-old Will's quirks:
makes up words when he doesn't know how to answer a question (ex. Mommy: Will, why did you throw all the pillows off the couch? Will: Stoinky!), asks every night at bedtime "Mommy where are we going?" meaning, "what are we doing tomorrow?", doesn't like to sleep with socks on, won't try a food he's never seen before, constantly jumps (he must have a lot of nervous energy, that comes from the Niebuhrs.)

Happy 3rd Birthday, Xander!

Here are some pictures of Xander from his 3rd birthday!

3-year-old Xander loves:

Thomas the Train, singing, building things, eating (he loves almost all food), playing by himself most of the time, reading books

3-year-old Xander is:

very silly, smiley, happy, independent, slow moving, a little Type A, a little clumsy, a messy eater, 33lbs (50th percentile) and 37 3/4" tall (75th percentile).

3-year-old Xander can:

remember the lyrics to any song he's heard even if he's only heard it once, go 5 hours without pottying, write an X, recognize all letters and numbers up to 10, count to 20 (almost), spell his name and his siblings' names,

3-year-old Xander's quirks:

has to sleep with his white blanket on top of his pillow, sleeps with 4 animals in his bed every night, still responds to "reverse psychology" (ex. "Don't eat that broccoli. That's my broccoli. Don't you eat it, it's mine. I'm going to eat it." Then, he eats the broccoli and laughs), wants to do everything himself but then never actually does it because he gets distracted by something and wanders off, can play by himself for hours if uninterrupted.

Happy 3rd Birthday Grace!

Here are some pictures of Grace from the day of her 3rd birthday.

3-year-old Grace loves:

hugs and kisses, cheese, the color orange, playing with other people and being the one to make decisions about what to play with.

3-year-old Grace is:

very independent, very loving, extremely stubborn, a little sneaky and sweet as can be, 28 lbs (25th percentile) and 36" tall (25th percentile).

3-year-old Grace can:

recognize all letters and most numbers, count to 15, spell her name (and her brothers' names), outrun, outjump and outclimb her brothers, and pedal a tricycle up and down the block.

3-year-old Grace's quirks:

She wipes her mouth with the back of her hand after every bite of food she takes, automatically wipes of a kiss you give her no matter where it is on her body, hates having her hair brushed and will cry if you even suggest brushing her hair, asks for chap stick before every bed and nap time.

A great time over the holidays

Lost in Fun and Children's Museum

Sorry for the late post this week. We have finally started to settle back into our normal routine after TWO weeks with daddy being home from work. I have to say, it was really nice to share the workload with someone. I could definitely get used to having him here all the time. We did a lot over the week between Christmas and New Year's. Some household projects, but mostly fun things. The pictures are of when we took the kids to the other indoor playground called Lost In Fun. I think I've mentioned it before. They had fun, but it was incredibly crowded. We actually left a little earlier that morning than we might have if it hadn't been so crowded. Fun, nonetheless. The day after New Year's we watched Carter for the day. We took all 4 kids to the museum in the morning, then after naps, to the mall for playing and dinner. It was a fun day and it was nice to spend some time with Carter.

In the midst of all that, we hit the library a couple of times, the kids all spent the night with each of the the grandparents and we visited other family in town. We also had some family movie nights. I even managed a day of scrapbooking somewhere in there. We let them watch a couple of their new Disney DVDs they got for Christmas. They really like them and they sit very well for a 90 minute movie.

Brian and I did some house work, mostly cleaning up old toys and unpacking new toys. We also had to clean up the workroom, Santa left a huge mess after making the train table in there! Glad to say that all the new toys are unpacked and organized and they are really enjoying everything. We have also reclaimed our living room. About 90% of their toys are now located in the basement or in their bedrooms. I have even been putting out all my little decorative shelves and tables. It is starting to look like it did "pre-triplets". Another development was that we removed the gate from the top of the stairs. Not a huge deal, but it does give the kids the freedom to go up and down as they choose. Sometimes we can't find them and they have just wandered downstairs to play trains. For the most part, they can play nicely down there by themselves for a while. They make a huge mess, though! They are so into piling everything they own into a "train" or "car". One day the emptied the ENTIRE contents of the playroom (furniture, play kitchen and all) into the main part of the basement to make a "train". It took forever to clean it up. Today they piled every toy from Grace's bedroom on her bed that was a "car".

Another small but notable development in the house is that they're now using their high chairs as boosters instead of with a tray. It makes them look so grown up to sit at the table, and I have less to clean up.

Potty training was a sore subject for us over the break. Sad to say, Will had a HUGE regression. He went from almost accident free, to having 3 and 4 accidents a day. We have no idea why. We have several theories floating around. Brian and I think he's just doing it to be naughty. I also wonder if the change in schedule/having Brian at home so much was throwing him off. My mom thinks that he just can't be bothered to stop playing so he just pees. Apparently my sisted used to do that all the time (sorry Kara). Dale and Ellen think it's a combination of all those things. It has gotten a little better since Brian went back to work, but we're still having poopy accidents more than we used to. Grace and Xander are fine. However, on the bright side of things, we have been in a lot of typically germ infested places lately and no one is sick!!! That is wonderful! Will's asthma has been under control with no flare up in the last month and a half and it really makes life so much nicer.

Well, today is their birthday. We're not celebrating, as you know, but I will post some pictures with a little update about each at three years old. We also have several Dr. appts this week and next, so I'll update you on those, too. Take care everyone!