1,2,3 Magic

You may remember one of my New Year resolutions was to read several parenting books this year. The first book I read was 1,2,3 Magic and it came highly recommended.

1,2,3 Magic is as basic as it sounds! Bad behavior gets "counted". There's no arguing, no pleading, no bargaining with the child. You simply count. For example....

The boys like opening the drawer on the bottom of the oven, which is not a habit I want them getting into. If Chase was the culprit this time I would calmly say "Chase, that's 1." and hold up one finger. I then wait 5 seconds to see if he stops. If he does not stop I say "Chase, that's 2." and hold up a 2nd finger. If he continues still I say "Chase, that's three. Let's go take a time out." I then march him to his room (all the while remaining quiet), put him in his crib, close the door and set the timer on the microwave for 2 minutes. When the 2 minutes is up, I get Chase out of his crib and he goes on his merry way.

More serious offenses, like biting is an automatic "3" and time out.

The no talking part of the program is incredibly important to the success, although Nick struggles with remembering that at times. I'm pleased with the program so far. We've been using it about a month and I've seen a reduction in the constant "testing" the boys were doing. The boys do still act up, but I'd say about 50% of the time now they stop what they were doing by the time I get to 2.

Counting is only to be used for bad behavior, as 1,2,3 Magic has a different approach (laid out in the second half of the book) for what they call "start behaviors" (making their bed, cleaning up, getting ready to leave the house, etc.). Right now we don't have enough "start behaviors" with the boys to need that system, but I'll be ready when we do!

If you're looking for a simple, to the point discipline system I highly recommend 1,2,3 Magic!

Happy Anniversary to my parents! They're celebrating 30 years today!

March 30, 2007

March 30th, 2007 is a day I will never forget. It's the day my world was forever changed. It's the day we found out I wasn't carrying just one baby, but three.

Even though the day was 2 years ago I can remember it like it was yesterday. I remember being irritated at how late my appointment was starting - how dare they tell a pregnant woman to drink as much water as she can possibly hold and then make her wait almost 30 minutes for her appointment to start!

I vividly remember looking at the screen and immediately seeing what looked like two babies and then being told we were having twins. I remember having about 90 seconds to digest that news before the ultrasound tech found baby number 3. I then remember laughing and crying at the same time. I'm sure the color drained from my face too.

It's dark and grainy, but if you look closely you can see the three monkeys there... I was 12 weeks out when we found out and this "picture" was taken.

I remember crying in the bathroom afterward and then trying to make myself look presentable before heading to work. I remember arriving at the office, plunking down a whole sheet of ultrasound pictures and then watching the looks of disbelief when I told my co-workers I was having triplets.

I remember sitting at my desk and trying to focus on work (not an easy task!). I remember receiving a call from my doctor's office informing me I was being referred to a team of Perinatologists for the duration of my pregnancy. That's when it dawned on me that I was now considered high-risk. That's when the fear started creeping in.

As the weeks went on I read message boards, books and spoke to my new doctor(s). I learned that making it to 24 weeks was crucial and that if I made it to 32 weeks then we'd "hung the moon" as one doctor put it. I learned to expect bed rest and quite possibly hospitalization. I learned about the dangers of TTTS (Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome) and how the doctors were watching the boys for signs of it. I learned about drugs that I would be given should I go into labor too early. I learned about what to expect out of NICU babies. I felt prepared and scared at the very same time. Each doctor appointment brought the "what if's". What if today is the day they find something wrong. What if today is the day I'm put on bed rest. What if today they admit me to the hospital for closer monitoring.

Even with those What If's though I knew I was in good hands. I knew my doctors had plenty of research to back up what they were doing. You know why? Because of organizations like March of Dimes.

Had my pregnancy not been as easy (I went 33w3d with no bedrest), there are medicines and procedures thanks to the March of Dimes that could have kept my pregnancy going longer. Had the boys struggled in the NICU (instead of just being feeders and growers for a couple of weeks), there would have been treatments, surgeries and medicines that would have helped them thrive thanks to the March of Dimes.

My boys may not have needed those treatments, surgeries and medicines but I know plenty of babies who did and there will be millions more who will need in in the future. March of Dimes is important to me and millions of other moms. Please consider donating by clicking on the March for Babies banner on the upper left hand side of this blog or here. Even $5 helps push me closer to my goal.

If you live in the Kansas City area, please consider joining me for the March by clicking here! It's a fun family day and raises money for a wonderful organization. Someday all babies will be born healthy, but until that day we need the March of Dimes.

Saturday Savings - How to Feed a Habit Edition

Nick and I have a couple of "habits" or addictions if you'd rather I call them that. I'm a Diet Coke addict and Nick is a gum addict. Sometimes people wonder how we work those "habits" into our tiny grocery budget. Today I'll tell you how! First though, on to the deals from yesterday.

As you can see, I didn't buy a whole lot yesterday. Just a few essentials and a couple of stock up items. I spent a whopping $21.07 on all that over there!

Whole Milk - 2 gallons
Skim Milk - 1 gallon
Cheerios - 14oz box
VO5 Shampoo - 2 bottles
Eggs - 1 dozen
Split Chicken Breast - 3.75 pounds
Skippy Peanut Butter - 2 jars
Rice - 3 pounds
Bananas - 2.4 pounds
Flour Tortillas - 12 count
Baking Chocolate

The Deals: I was thrilled to find that milk at the Kansas Aldi is cheaper than milk at the Missouri Aldi - by 60 cents a gallon! By buying my milk at the Aldi in Kansas I had enough money to buy the bananas. The split chicken breast was 60% off. The Skippy was an incredible .98 a jar! I just told Nick last week how glad I was that he's decided the Aldi brand of PB is decent (we've not had good luck in the past with generic PB) because I almost never see PB lower than $1.50 a jar anymore. The Cheerios I snagged for .94 (75% off)! They were on sale for $1.49 and I had an internet coupon (probably printed from the Grocery Game website) for .55 off one. The baking chocolate I found in the clearance area marked down to .99.

Total cost before sales, coupons and tax: $40.35
Total cost after sales and coupons: $19.52 - Savings of just over 50%

Feeding the Habits: I thought it would be fun to show you how I saved big time on our "habits" in the last couple of weeks! First, the Diet Coke habit... A couple of weeks ago I saw that 12 packs of Diet Coke were going to be $3.33 a piece (3/$10) at Walgreen's. I had a $1 off my next purchase at Walgreen's coupon (had printed at the register on a previous trip) and I knew I had enough My Coke Rewards points to print a $1 off coupon on the web. I printed the coupon out and snagged a 12 pack of Diet Coke for $1.33! That's a habit I definetely can afford!

Now onto the gum... This past week in the coupon circular there was coupon for Stride Gum. If I bought 3 individual packages I could get $2 off. That's a decent deal even when paying full price for that gum (usually about $1.20 a pack I think). Later on Sunday I was flipping through the Walgreen's circular and spotted a store coupon for Stride gum! I could get up to three packages for only .79 each. When I combined those two coupons I paid just .12 a pack for Nick's gum. .12!

The lesson here? Watch for opportunites to combine both manufacturers and stores coupons - the savings can be fantastic!

Destroying the House

When Nick is in charge of the boys while I'm gone or trying to sneak in a nap, I never know what I will find when I re-enter the living room or playroom.

Last weekend I was exhausted and told Nick I was going back to bedroom to take a nap. He took that opportunity to "fence" the boys into the living room. He claimed it was to keep the boys from banging on the bedroom door while I was sleeping, but I think he just likes thrilling the boys with new set-ups.

He took all cushions off the couch to block one door and then he actually MOVED the whole couch to the other side of the living room in order to block off the wide entry way to the dining room.





I wonder what things will look like here when I return from my mom's group this morning....

Before anyone begins to think I am the one to clean these "messes" up, let me clarify. Nick is very good about cleaning things up. In fact, it's quite possible that by the time I arrive home from my mom's group the boys will be fed, down for a nap and the house picked up.

Boxes

It's the simple things in life that entertain my boys the most. Watching cars drive past our house, dogs in books, magazines or outside, sticks in the yard and boxes in the house.

A couple of days ago I looked into the living room to find Tyler like this...



He was just sitting there, happy as can be! When I remarked how silly he was being he threw the box off his head and grinned at me.


Then yesterday when I drank my last Diet Coke (oh the sadness!) I gave the boys the box to play with. Tyler almost immediately ripped it in half (my big tough guy). About 10 minutes later a Diet Coke box walked by...


That's Jackson under that box. He thought it made a great hat!

Video Clip of the Week - Fun New Game!

As I mentioned earlier in the week, my brother Breck was here Sunday evening and he played a fun new game with the boys. By the time I got the camera out he was worn out and not running around with the boys - instead he was slowly carrying them. I guess running around with a 28 pound kid will do that to you :)

Little Robots

How cute are these little robots I found wandering in my kitchen recently?

A Few Hours With Uncle Breck

We live 1,583 miles from where I grew up and where my parents and brother and his family still live. According to Google Maps it's a 26 hour drive. It's not exactly a "hey, let's load the kids up and go see family!" kind of distance. The last time I saw my brother and his family was when Nick and I ventured east in July. Since that time the monkeys have learned to walk, climb, run, sign and talk. My brother's kids have gotten bigger and he's even had child number 3 born (who I have yet to meet).

Last week I learned that my brother Breck would be driving a motor home from Maine to Texas. Guess what's between Maine and Texas! Kansas City!! Yesterday evening Breck and his friend Geoff (the motor home was being driven to TX for Geoff's dad) arrived in front of my home. The boys LOVED the giant "car" parked in front of the house and they all insisted (with much whining and signing of "please") on getting to look inside.

I wasn't really sure how the boys would react to their Uncle Breck. Last time they saw him was 9 months ago, and I'm sure they don't remember what happened even 2 months ago. Can I just tell you how glad I am that the boys are so out going? I know it breaks my heart when I see nieces and nephews and they're too scared or shy to come say hello to me. I was relieved to see my boys take to their uncle right away!

Here are some pictures of the boys with their Uncle Breck. Look for a video later this week of a fun game he was playing with them outside.





Just a reminder on this Monday morning that I am still looking for more people to walk with us at the upcoming March for Babies. If you can't walk, please donate! Click here for details.

Saturday Savings

Yesterday's shopping trip was a little lighter than usual. I was shocked when scanning over my Grocery Game lists to see so few "stock up" prices! I'm not done shopping for the weekend yet, as I still need to get to Aldi to buy milk (3 gallons of whole and 1 gallon of skim) and eggs - that will add about $12 to my shopping total for the week.

All that stuff over there to the right cost $36.32 and here's what it includes:

Special K Cereal - 2 boxes
Clementines - 5 pound box
Post Selects Cereal - 2 boxes
Wheat Thin Artisan Crackers - 2 boxes
Dannon Yogurt - 6 containers
Hothouse Tomatoes - 2.13 pounds
WestPac Frozen Veggies - 4 bags
Oscar Meyer Hot Dogs - 2 packages
Lipton Cold Brew Pitcher Size Tea bags - 2, 22 count boxes
Imperial Stick Margarine - 2 boxes
Strawberries - 4 pound box
Lean Ground Beef - 2.77 pounds

I love that I was able to get so much produce yesterday - both fresh and frozen!

The Deals:

Strawberries have become a recent favorite of the boys', so I knew I couldn't go wrong with that purchase. Normally those 4 pounds of berries retail for $12.99, but I snagged them for $5.99! I'll be cutting and freezing about half of them for future use as I know the boys and I (Nick hates berries) can't finish them before they'd start to spoil.

I snagged those two boxes of Lipton Tea for only .50 each! How? They were on sale for $1.50 each at the one store in town that doubles coupons (Hen House), and I just so happened to have two .50 off coupons so when those doubled it brought the price to just .50 per box! Normally those boxes retail for $3.07 each, so I saved about 84% on those.

The Clementines normally sell for $9.99 a box at Price Chopper. I think that's highway robbery, but it is what it is. The Clementines were on sale for $4.88 this week and then I tacked a $1 off coupon onto that and paid only $3.88 and saved myself a nice 61%.

The new Wheat Thin Artisan Crackers (which are quite yummy by the way!) normally retail for $3.54 a box, which is a price I would never pay for crackers. However, they were on sale for $1.59 a box and I had a $1/2 coupon, so paid only $1.09 a box - that's 70% off!

My last really big deal was the Dannon Yogurt. Normally if I buy yogurt I buy one large container of plain and then mix fruit into it, but with a price this good I thought I'd go ahead and buy the small, flavored containers. Normally the Dannon is .73 a piece. They were on sale for .29 each AND I had a coupon for .75 off 6. I paid .17 a piece for those - that's 76% off!

Total cost before sales, coupons and tax: $77.92
Total cost after sales & coupons: $33.23

Total Saved! $44.69 or about 57%

18 Month Well-Check

We just got home from an active morning out... the boys finally had their 18 month well-check at the doctor's office (we're only almost a month late!) followed by some grocery shopping. At the WC the boys needed just one shot (Hep A) and Tyler took it like a man. He cried out a bit during the initial poke, but didn't even shed a tear! Next time they get shots they'll be 4.

Signs the boys are growing up:

This was the first WC that we didn't have to strip the boys down!

They were old enough to be given lolly pops by the nurse (and boy oh boy did they love those! I so wish I'd had my camera with me).

They no longer get weighed on the baby scale, but stand on the same scale I stand on when I go to the doctor's office.

We didn't need to use the Choo Choo or double stroller and instead let the boys walk from the car to the doctor's office.

The boys are big enough now that we have been told to move from infant Tylenol and Motrin to Children's Tylenol and Motrin.

On to the stats!!

Jackson: 31 inches tall and 26 pounds
Tyler: 31 inches tall and 26 pounds
Chase: 31 inches tall and 28 pounds

Notice something odd about those? Jackson and Tyler weigh the same! That's never happened before. When Jackson was sick a few weeks ago and not eating, he dropped almost 2 pounds of weight and he has yet to regain it. The boys are all in the 75th percentile in height (gee, I wonder where they got that from!) and about the 35% for weight.

Oh and the really exciting news? Flu and RSV season has cleared out for the most part and we're now free to bring the boys back to church! Hooray!! We'll be there as a family tomorrow night, and I can't wait!

*I was skeptical of the boys' heights yesterday afternoon, so decided to remeasure Jackson while he was standing next to Nick. Lo and behold he's actually more like 31" (if not more), not 29".

Random Cuteness

I've been rather snap happy with the camera this week, and as a result have a plethora of cute pictures. Rather than breaking the pictures down into individual blog posts, I thought I'd just share the wealth with you all at once.

Jackson, Tyler & Chase heading out for a walk

Tyler

Jackson, Chase & Tyler bugging me when all I wanted was to close my eyes for a minute!

Tyler

Jackson

Chase

Chase, Jackson & Tyler in the tub

Fascinating

I don't usually post twice in a day, but I find this too fascinating to not post about! Every so often I look around my Google Analytics account to see how many visitors I'm getting each day, how much time is being spent on the blog, how they found the blog, etc. I recently noticed an increase in international visitors which is cool and mystifying at the same time!

In the past month I have had visitors from 28 different countries. 28! Check out this list (in order of number of hits from that country in the last 30 days):

USA
United Kingdom
Canada
Germany
Australia
France
Romania
New Zealand
Italy
Norway
China
Turkey
Saudi Arabia
Peru
Ireland
South Africa
Russia
Singapore
Iceland
Malaysia
South Korea
Phillipines
Spain
Indonesia
Brazil
Guam
India
Sweeden

Ok, so some of these I can understand... I obviously know people in the USA. I also have friends in Canada, cousins in the UK and know a few missionaries in Europe and South America. But Singapore? Guam? Sweeden? South Africa? No clue! I was shocked when I looked at the map that shows where my visitors are from. How did these people even find my blog? It's not like most of these countries are one hit wonders either - I consistently get hits from a lot of them!

So if you're from one of these many countries or even if you're one of my THOUSANDS of visitors from the USA and I don't "know" you or know about you, please comment! I'd love to hear how you found us!

Video Clip of the Week - Almost As Fun As Cats

This video is about a month old, as it's from when my parents and grandparents were here visiting. I had forgotten about it until I was looking through the tape on the camera to see if there was anything I could use today. Jackson has this new, hilarious way of laughing (Nick and Laura can both vouch for the hilarity of it) that I really want to try to catch on tape. Hopefully you can see that next week!

Jackson and Chase are the stars of this week's clip. Tyler was too busy reading the newspaper to take part in the game.




I titled this "Almost As Fun As Cats" because a couple of days ago I was visiting Laura at her apartment and had the pleasure of teasing her cat Marbles with a laser light. Good times!

A Boy and His Stick

Who needs fun toys when you have a back yard full of various sized sticks? The boys were having a great time in the yard yesterday kicking around various balls and playing on their Step 2 Coaster... until they discovered the sticks that is!

Chase & Tyler

Jackson especially enjoyed the sticks.



He started at one end of the yard and would stop about every 5 feet to jam the stick into the ground before continuing on his way.



Eventually he made it all the way to the garden at the other end of the yard, where he jammed the stick several times into the dirt.


Then he left the stick and ran back to the deck.

Play Dough

This past weekend I made homemade play dough for the boys. I used this recipe, which calls for kool-aid mix - it gives it the fun color AND the play dough smells fruity! I made one batch but divided the recipe in half so that I could do two different colors (note, don't use Lemonade Kool-Aid as the color isn't strong enough and you'll still have to add lots of food coloring). The play dough is now stored in some Glad-ware, ready for use again this week!

The boys had fun playing with it and of course sampling it. Thankfully I think the dough is too salty for their liking, because they didn't eat much.

Jackson

Tyler

Chase

All three with Aunt Laura later that same day

Saturday Savings

My shopping happened in shifts yesterday, which is why there are two pictures. The items in picture number 1 were picked up last night (some as late as 11pm!) and the items in picture number 2 were picked up in the late afternoon.

Total spent for all items bought yesterday: $71.76

I spent a tad more (ok, about $20 more) than I had hoped to this week, but as you'll see I did some actual stocking up on a few things.

Here's what I bought:

Peanut butter - 2 jars
Milk - 2 whole, 1 skim
Quick cooking oats (used primarily for cooking)
Chocolate chips
Brown Sugar
Flour
Gala Apples - 6 pounds
Bananas - 3 pounds
Strawberries - 2 pounds
White Onions - 1.8 pounds
Bread - 4 loaves (2 "fancy" breads and 2 Wonder Bread White)
Arm & Hammer Laundry Detergent - 2 bottles
Cereal - 3 boxes
M&Ms - 2 bags (I needed these for a cookie recipe)
Deli Ham - 2 pounds
Apple Juice - 4 bottles
Progresso soups - 3 cans
Potatoes - 5 pounds
Green Grapes - 3.75 pounds
Hormel Pork Loin - 2
Batteries - 2 packages of 4

The Deals: As I said in my opening, I did some actual stocking up yesterday, which drove my total a bit higher than I would have liked. Apple Juice was on sale for .99 a bottle with a limit of 4 per customer, so I snagged 4 of course. Rarely do I get to buy "fancy" breads as they are just too expensive, but yesterday I snagged 2 loaves of Nature's Pride Bread for only $1.37 each (normally $3.29 each). How? They were BOGO at Hyvee and I had a coupon for .55 off one! Even the Wonder Bread was a good deal at .99 each - again there was a limit (2), so I bought to the limit. I just bought laundry detergent last week, but when I saw I could buy a bottle of Arm & Hammer laundry detergent for only $1.99 I snagged some (limit 2, so I bought 2). Another notable deal came at Aldi. I bought 6 pounds of Gala Apples for only $3.38 - that's .56 a pound! The last really notable deal is the Hormel Pork Loin. These are the 1.7 pound flavored pork loins. Normally these sell for $9.99 each. Hyvee was running a BOGO deal on them AND I had a $1 off one coupon, so I got both of them for $4.50 a piece ($9 total).

Even though I spent more than I hoped for, I'm thrilled with my purchases yesterday. We're stocked up in several areas where I feel we go through stuff quickly, and my baking supplies have been replenished, which is important also in keeping my grocery budget low.

Total before sales, coupons and tax: $133.34
Total after sales and coupons: $67.65

TP Trouble

The monkeys are getting taller. I guess they get it from their dad. Over the last few months Nick and I have had to push stuff on the counter farther and farther back. If one of us is cooking on the stove and the boys are up, we use only the back burners. The reach of the monkeys is far too long now!

Last week, after flying through 3 boxes of tissues in a week we moved on to a roll of toilet paper. I thought I had it pushed back far enough, but apparently not...





For those who have been asking, Jackson is doing great now! He started to perk up late last weekend and is acting completely like himself. Suddenly though in the last 24 hours Tyler's nose has started to run again. Who knows where this germ came from because we haven't been out and Nick and I lysoled all their toys just 3 days ago. Hopefully it's a fluke!

Re: the poll about the new background - 63 of you voted and 69% of you can see the monkeys just fine. I'm going to stick with them for now until I can find something just as cute that all of you can see!