Stumped

Yesterday, late afternoon I made a run to the happiest place on earth - Sonic Happy Hour. When I returned home with my Diet Coke in hand I noticed Nick was playing outside with Jackson and Chase and Tyler was crying in his room, while the counter on the microwave ticked down. 10 seconds later the timer went off and I told Nick I'd grab Tyler for him. I walked down the hall, opened the door, took one look at Tyler, turned around, headed to the back deck and had the following conversation with Nick....

Me: Did you by chance put Tyler in his crib without clothes on?

Nick: No!

Me: Well he's naked now. Completely. No shirt, no shorts and no diaper.

Nick: He definitely had clothes on when I put him in there.

Seems our little tantrum thrower is now a pro at removing his clothes in under 2 minutes. That's right, I called him a tantrum thrower. What's that? You thought the afternoon tantrum was supposed to stop now that we stopped potty training him? Yeah, we thought that too. Apparently this horrible afternoon tantrum is something different.

So let me break this down for you and share a theory my sister in law has and see if you all have similar or different theories.

• The afternoon tantrum is hugely different from the normal tantrums he throws for not getting his way.
• The afternoon tantrum always happens sometime between 2 and 4.
• Sometimes he starts the tantrum as soon as he gets up from his nap and sometimes it's 30-60 minutes after he wakes up.
• He gets plenty of sleep so I do not believe this is sleep related (11-12 hours at night and 2-3 hours during the day).
• The tantrum is between 30-60 minutes long, often times on the longer end of that range.
• During the tantrum there is no consoling him: he does not want to bed held, he does not want a drink, he does not want to eat.
• He is often violent towards me (or Nick) during the tantrum, trying to bite, kick or hit us.
• He has adjusted just fine to being back in diapers, so I don't believe he's "holding it" anymore.
  

Ok, so my SIL's theory is that it's blood sugar related. Her nephew went through a similar thing until they figured out his blood sugar was crashing (which was when he'd have the tantrum). Now that his blood sugar is regulated by regular snacks and meals he's better. She could be right about this being Tyler's problem, except that we do offer regular meals and snacks (7:30, 10, 11:30, 3 or 3:30 and 5:30). However, lately the boys (Ty included) have been eating less at meal times. For example, yesterday Tyler wolfed down his grapes at lunch time but hardly touched his quesadilla.

So what do you all think? Could SIL be right? Any other theories? If these continue through the weekend I will strongly consider a call to our doctor early next week to hear her thoughts.

Hiatus

We're taking a little hiatus from potty training Tyler. Generally this is thought of as a poor move in the PTing world because it just confuses the child to have them put back into diapers, but I think in Tyler's case this is definitely the right move. Let me back up and explain though...

As noted on Monday's post, Tyler had a horrific tantrum Sunday afternoon. Nick and I suspected it was because he needed to go to the bathroom in a bad way but didn't want to wet his pants nor did he want to use the potty. He finally calmed down after he peed on the playroom floor.

Monday was fine tantrum wise, but we weren't making much progress PTing wise. He would sit on the toilet for us, in fact sometimes for a long time (one night he happily sat on it and talked our ears off for an hour!) but he would never do what he was supposed to do on it.

Tuesday he threw another epic tantrum in the afternoon. This one was more violent then before and I have a horrific bite mark on my leg (I wanted to show you all how horrific it is but my camera batteries are dead) to show for it. His loud screaming, hysterical crying, back arching and violence (trying to bite and hit me) freaked me out. 40 minutes into the tantrum I broke down in tears because I didn't know what to do to help him calm down. Thankfully my other boys were perceptive of Mommy's emotional stability and instantly climbed into my lap to give me the sweetest hugs and kisses.

Later Tuesday afternoon (after the tantrum was done), I e-mailed the lady who wrote the Potty Training E-book I've been using. I explained my hunch about Tyler's tantrums and asked her if she thought we needed to take a break and if we did how badly would that mess us up down the road. Or did she think we needed to keep pressing on and perhaps getting him his own little potty would make things exciting enough that he'd use it properly. She e-mailed me back and said PTing should definitely not be this stressful on the little guy and that I should follow my mom gut here and take a break, but explain to Ty that he's not being punished by going back into diapers. After talking that night, Nick and I agreed that if Tyler through another fit on Wednesday afternoon that we would take a break from potty training him.

Yesterday afternoon, just as soon as Tyler woke up from his nap, the tantrum started. It took me almost 2 hours to get him to wear a diaper and keep it on. The first time I put it on him he screamed and pulled at it until I took it off. When I finally got it on him the second time he was ok with it. About 20 minutes later he was standing in the kitchen with me when he looked down between his legs and said "uh oh peepees!" but then seemed awfully confused to not see anything hitting the floor.

He's asked several times since then to sit on the potty but we've declined each time and told him we'll do it again soon. How Jackson does with the PTing will largely dictate when we start Tyler up. At this point I think I'd like both Jackson and Chase to be done potty training before I take on Tyler again.

So there you have it. We're taking a break with Tyler. Can I just say how glad I am that we did Chase first? If I didn't know how successful this could be I probably would want to just give up on the whole idea for the next 6 months or so! Here's hoping it's a tantrum free afternoon here, otherwise I'm at a loss as to what's making him flip out so badly. And here's hoping Jackson trains more like Chase did...

Foo Foo What? - Video Clip of the Week

First, huge congrats to Mr. Chase on an accident free day yesterday! My reminding/asking is down to a minimum and several times he ran to me to tell me he needed to use the potty. Woohoo! Unfortunately I can't say the same for today as this morning while I was getting up I heard Nick talking to him about an accident he had just had. We'll just shoot for that being his only one today!

Last week the Ice Cream Truck went by our house. I'm not entirely sure how the boys figured out what that truck means, but as soon as they heard it they started yelling "Foo Foo Truck"! Sort of.... (Foo Foo is what Nick called ice cream as a young child and that's what the boys call it too.)

Triplet Mom Skill #48

A triplet mom must acquire many special skills in order to effectively care for her crew. Such skills include (but are not limited to): shuttling three babies from bed, to the car and on to the doctor's office, calming three babies who all just received vaccinations at said office, listening to the incessant whining and crying of three toddlers and my personal favorite, keeping two other curious toddlers away from their brother's puke while you try to simultaneously clean puke up and calm the puker down.

Triplet Mom Skill #48 is the ability to change a crib sheet in the middle of the night and in complete silence, so as to not wake the two remaining sleeping children whose cribs are less than 6 inches from the one you're trying to change. I definitely posses that skill as I managed to do that at 2am this morning. This wasn't my first time either. A while back I did the same thing when Jackson puked in his crib. That time was a bit more challenging though as I was home alone that evening so I had to change Jackson, comfort Jackson AND change his crib sheet in the dark and in silence.

Alright, simply because a post on here wouldn't seem complete without pictures here are some random shots from the last week!

Tyler, Chase & Jackson feeding their friends

Pool time and Popsicles for the 4 boys!

Tyler and Chase

A New Look & PTing Tyler

First, let's discuss this adorable new blog look I have (I'm much happier about this than how PTing Tyler has been going)! Hilary at ScrapBlog Designs by Hilary did an amazing job, don't you think? I've always wanted to have a pro re-do my blog, but just hadn't gotten around to it so it was perfect timing when I won a blog redesign earlier this month (I won it at Little Bites of Heaven).

If you're thinking of a redesign (or even just a partial design like a new header image or a button for your blog) I highly recommend Hilary. She was a breeze to work with and her prices are quite reasonable (I paid a little extra for my button and a 3 column layout). Tell her Three Times the Giggles sent you!

Oh, and grab my button please (over to the left)! I'd be honored if you'd stick it on your blog :)

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Alright, on to the potty training drama. That's what it was this weekend. Drama, drama, drama.


Considering Tyler had pink eye and couldn't go to church Saturday night, we decided to move up his start date by a day. Saturday morning he was so excited to put his new big boy underwear on (Disney's Cars) and he must have asked to sit on the toilet 5 or 6 times in the first hour he was awake. It was adorable and hilarious to see his enthusiasm!

As the day wore on we noticed the kid seemed to have an "iron bladder" (as Nick called it)! He can hold it for 2-3 hours at a time, but it seems to be because he doesn't want to wet his new underwear but he also is a bit unsure of the toilet. It wasn't until 9pm (yep, 90 minutes past bedtime - he and Chase were "playing" us with constant requests for the potty) that he finally went in the toilet for the first time!

Yesterday started out ok but then turned into pure torture. Seriously. It was brutal. The very short version of the day's events? Tyler seemed to develop an irrational fear of the toilet for some reason yesterday afternoon. He would flail, kick, scream and cry if anyone brought him remotely close to a toilet (so yes, we stopped trying). Very weird! He then spent a whole hour flopping around on the floor and running around the house absolutely hysterical because he had to pee but didn't want to do it in his underwear or on the toilet. He finally snuck into the playroom and "relieved" himself and was all better. Crazy kid!

I'm happy to report by yesterday evening he was back on track. I think largely due to the excitement Chase generated in his bubble making skills. You see, Chase discovered that if he pees into the toilet water he can make bubbles! Now he and Ty constantly ask to "make bubbles". Whatever works for them!

All in all, I'm optimistic about today. I think things will click for Tyler soon now that he's sitting on the toilet again. It's just a matter now of him making the connections.

Saturday Savings

So after taking last week off (pretty much) from shopping, I was ready for some deal hunting! Unfortunately, the deals were not as plentiful as I'd hoped for. I still did alright though, and managed to get everything we needed. The picture below is missing the giant package of Cottonelle Ultra Double Rolls (12) of TP that I bought. I knew something was missing when I took the picture - you'd think I would have noticed the largest item I bought was missing! Everything below, plus the TP, was $36.76.


Hy-Vee:
Danon yogurt - 10 cups
Deli turkey - 1.5 pounds
Canned Spaghetti sauce - 2
Crest ProHealth Rinse
Cottonelle Ultra 12 Pack of Double Rolls
Green Grapes - 2.25 pounds

Price Chopper:
Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast - 3.5 pounds
Snickers Ice Cream Bars
Wonder Bread Hot Dog Rolls
Wonder Bread Hamburger Rolls
Multigrain Cheerios - 2 boxes
Cheerios - 1 box
Fiber One Bars - 1 box
Chex Mix Bars - 1 box
Johnsonvile Smoked Bratwurts
Cherries - 2.4 pounds
Peaches - 2.4 pounds

Target:
Snuggle Fabric Softener

The Deals: HyVee is where I started and I scored some nice deals there. Probably the best deal was getting the Danon Yogurt cups for only .09 a piece (88% off)! I managed that one by stacking a HyVee coupon for $1 off 10 cups with a manufacturers coupon for $1 off 10 cups. Another nice deal was the deli turkey. It was already on sale for $1.99 a pound and on HyVee's website I found a coupon for $1 off a pound of any deli meat, so I bought a pound and a half for $2. (67% off)

At Price Chopper I grabbed Red Bing Cherries for $1.47 a pound (71% off), peaches for .99 a pound (50% off), the Wonder Bread rolls for .79 a package and the Multigrain Cheerios for $1.22 each (68% off).

You'll notice there wasn't any milk on my list, and you probably won't see it very often anymore. Milk prices at the Aldi nearest my house have been steadily climbing over the past few months and is now up to $2.72 for a gallon of whole milk. A couple of weeks ago it came to my attention that the Aldi on the other side of the state line (and near where Nick works) is selling the same brand and same size milk for only $2.04 a gallon! At 3-4 gallons a week it is well worth my while to have Nick pick milk up for us on his way home from work.

Total before Sales, Coupons and Tax: $90.36
Total after Sales and Coupons: $34.71 - savings of 62%

Medic! We need a medic!

I tell ya what. It's been a brutal couple of days for my boys!

Wednesday evening Tyler chipped two teeth when he smashed his face into the back of Jackson's head. (Jackson wasn't even phased by the ordeal.)

Yesterday evening Chase did a face plant into the deck just before dinner. That little incident resulted in our first bloody nose.

Yesterday afternoon Tyler's left eye started looking goopy and by bed time it was turning red, so I took him to the doctor's office this morning and sure enough he's got pink eye. Suppose we can keep the other two from getting it? I think not.

Memory Lane and Memory Loss

One thing is for sure, it's a good thing I started blogging back when I was pregnant because these boys have sucked the memories right out of me! Yesterday afternoon I noticed the poll was leaning heavily in favor of me moving old blog posts from my old website over here, so I got to work. As I was glancing through old blog posts I was reading stories about things I don't even remember happening! I then showed one to Nick and he didn't remember it either. Guess the little brain suckers have gotten to both of us!

I've now moved all 16 posts about my triplet pregnancy as well as the boys' birth here to Three Times the Giggles! You can read them all by clicking here (to read them in order you'll need to scroll to the bottom and read up). Hope you enjoy the stroll down memory lane for those of you that have read them before, and to my new readers I hope you just enjoy them! I know I loved reading them. It cracked me up to read my post from 8.23 saying that my next appointment would be on the 30th and I'd post an update then... if nothing happened before then! Little did I know I would have a "practice" run to the hospital and then a few days later give birth to the boys.

In the coming weeks I'll post more old posts for you to read. You'll notice that when the boys are really tiny that I've added a watermark of sorts to the pictures. Unfortunately pictures of infant multiples are popular for "fakers" (people who claim to have multiples) to steal. I promise you'll find a lot of these old posts entertaining!

In other news, the excitement here at home is never ending... yesterday Tyler and Jackson were both preparing to jump onto the same pile of pillows. Jackson was a little ahead of Ty and Tyler slammed his head (face first) into the back of Jackson's head. It didn't phase Jackson in the least, but poor Ty burst into hysterical tears and it turns out he actually chipped two teeth in the collision!

If you click on the the picture you can see it bigger - it's his right front (when looking at it) and the tooth next to it that got chipped.

PTing Wrap Up and Video Clip of the Week

Today is the last day to vote in my little poll over on the right hand side! Also, I'm excited to announce I will be unveiling a new blog look next week. I won a re-design and saw my new header last night and it is CUTE! Can't wait to show you all!

Chase is doing fantastic still! Yesterday he had an accident shortly after he first got up (he wouldn't immediately do anything on the toilet for Nick, so we knew something was bound to happen). In his defense though, he ran to the bathroom before his accident started but Nick and I weren't in there so he then ran down the hall to his bedroom to get Nick - peeing all the way there. At least he started in the right room!

You know what though? After that accident at 7:15am he didn't have another one until 5:10pm! I was SO impressed with him! In the middle of that long dry spell was a 5.5 hour span between potty trips (2 hours of it was nap time). Impressed again!

Last night I think he must have wet himself just before he fell asleep at bed time as he was wet when I checked on him at 9pm. At about 1am he woke up crying. We're not sure if it's because the wetness finally got to him or if it's because he needed to pee again, because I sat him on the toilet after changing his sheets and he peed again.

Even though Chase isn't 100% yet, I'm calling this a success and this is now the last post you'll read about his potty training adventures. On Sunday we'll start with Tyler!

And now for our Video Clip of the Week! This is especially for all you moms of girls - here's what life with all boys is like sometimes.

Potty Training Chase - Day 2 Recap

In a nut shell - yesterday morning was great, yesterday afternoon not so much.

Between when Chase woke up at 7:30 yesterday morning and when he went down for his nap at noon he only had one accident! I was so proud of him and I think he was quite proud of himself. At the end of nap time I waited a bit too long to get him. He was in that half awake/half asleep state and I made the (bad) decision to leave him be. That resulted in a minor wet through in bed. Darn!

The afternoon was pure torture and not just because of Chase. Jackson and Tyler were crabby and all over each other (wrestling over toys and biting each other). All three of them were deliberately pushing my buttons (and I'm sorry to report I let their antics get to me). I became increasingly frustrated and I think that hindered Chase's PTing. He had several accidents throughout the day. When Nick finally got home I met him at the door, pushed the boys at my legs away and announced I was getting the first hug that day. It was just that kind of day!

Last night Chase was dry when we put him down at 7:30, dry when we went to bed at 10:30pm but wet when Nick went in to get him this morning. I lay in bed at 6:30 this morning listening to Jackson and Tyler chatting with each other (this is morning #2 in a row of the two of them waking up far too early) and listening to Chase bang his head on his mattress. I've never really been sure of how "awake" they are when they do that (and they've done it since they were about a year old) and I guess we have our answer now. Tomorrow morning if I hear head banging we'll get Chase up and see if he needs to go to the bathroom.

The good that happened yesterday included Tyler becoming quite interested in what Chase is up to! He likes to come into the bathroom now and cheer for Chase when he pees and Chase enjoys the audience to show off for. I think Ty will be victim #2 (hopefully starting on Sunday).

While in the bathroom with Chase, Ty and Jackson were up to no good....


I still don't know how they managed to get the ball to land so it was balanced!


To try to keep the natives from getting too restless, I made a "tunnel" (as Jackson called it) for them to play in.

Potty Training Chase - Day 1 Results

Can I just say how proud I am of my little man?! He is so grown up! Nick and I commented to each other that he looks so much older now with just the simple switch to underwear. He's all boy now, for sure. Ok, on to the good stuff I know many of you moms of little ones are just dying to know.


Yesterday morning I got Jackson and Tyler's diapers changed and dressed them before tackling Chase. I told Chase that he wasn't going to wear diapers anymore because he's a big boy now and that he would need to tell mommy if he needed to go pee-pees. He nodded like he knew what I was saying, but he does that for most anything I say. Just to be safe I stuck a towel under him while he was sitting at the table for breakfast. Breakfast included some sliced peaches - trust me this is important to know...


About 30 minutes after getting up and just after finishing breakfast Chase started telling me he wanted more peaches. At least, I thought that's what he was saying. I told him "no" several times and about a minute later turned around to see a puddle on the kitchen floor. The poor kid was saying he needed to go pee-pees, not that he wanted more peaches! DOH! Accident #1 can be credited to me.

There were a handful of other "major" accidents throughout the day - once when he was put in time out, once in the living room when I wasn't paying attention (there were dribble marks all over the place) and once when we were playing outside. The rest of the "accidents" were just tiny wet spots on his underwear that landed there prior to him getting to the potty to finish his business. From 7:30 am until nap time at 12pm he wet through 9 pairs of underwear. From 2pm (getting up from his nap) until bed time at 7:30pm he wet through only 6!


Here's the best stuff though... there were several times throughout the day where he told me he had to use the potty before beginning to wet himself and then when he sat on the potty he did indeed pee or poop! (cue angels singing) That's not even the best part... Chase had never before pooped on the potty until today (he'd peed a few times in the past couple of months)! Not only did he do that once - he did it 3 times! Wow!


When Chase woke up from his 2 hour nap he was completely dry! I sat him on the potty as soon as he woke up, but he wouldn't "go". I gave up after a couple of minutes wait and let him go play. About 30 minutes later he started to wet himself. Good to know he can hold it :)

Speaking of holding it... Chase woke up this morning, after 12 hours from his last trip to the potty, DRY! Holy cow. I'm amazed and almost speechless! As soon as I saw him start to stir (because I've read the majority of bed wetting actually happens just as the child is waking up), I scooped him up and carried him to the bathroom (he got a tiny bit damp on the journey). Wow, wow, wow! Here's hoping Day 2 is even better!

Saturday Savings - The Farmer's Market

When this weekend rolled around and I noticed my cupboards, freezer and fridge were still bursting with food I decided I didn't really need to do much shopping. I did snag some nice deals at Target Thursday night - 20 oz of boneless, skinless chicken breast, 1 pound of 93% lean ground beef, Finish Dishwasher packs, Shout spray and a bonus size of Pop Tarts all for $6 (including tax)!

Yesterday I stopped in at Price Chopper to pick up eggs (.69 a dozen), tooth paste, a tooth brush, a jumbo bottle of Excedrin and some crayons. Yep, I bought crayons while grocery shopping! Price Chopper had 24 packs of Crayola Crayons on sale for .20 a piece, so I snagged 5 boxes, 3 of which will be set aside for the boys' Christmas stockings. Later on today we'll stop by Aldi and pick up a couple of gallons of milk, which will bring us to about $20 spent on groceries this week.

With the weather being so gorgeous and my garden still not producing much (I have lots of plants but nothing to harvest from them yet except for lettuce!), I decided we should head to the Farmer's Market and stock up on some yummy fresh produce. Here's what we bought!


1 pound on cherry tomatoes
6 ears of corn
6 apples
5 peaches
3 large zucchinis

All of that ran us $13. That may be a bit more than if I'd just bought from the grocery stores or Aldi, but I know the quality is often better from the Farmer's Market, many of the stands offer only organic produce and this way we're supporting local families directly.

When's the last time you checked out your local farmer's market? You might be surprised at what you'll find!

Potty Training, Here We Come!

Ok, so the title of this post is a bit misleading. After all, we officially started PTing the boys back in early spring. However, that was more of a casual "Get To Know You" for the boys and the toilet. Sunday we're starting for real (or hard core as I've told some). My biggest motivation? The $100 a month we spend on diapers and wipes.

Chase seems like he'll be easiest to train (he's actually peed on the toilet a few times and he wakes up in the morning not nearly as wet as his brothers usually), so he'll be my first victim, er candidate. This morning I took the little man to Kohls to pick out some big boy underwear!



A couple of times he reached for Disney princesses - good thing Nick wasn't there to see that! He finally decided though on Mickey Mouse (which leaves Elmo, Disney, Cars and Thomas for Jackson and Ty to pick from in the coming weeks).


This one just makes me laugh!


He looked at them the whole way home.


Sunday morning Chase will say "bye-bye" to diapers and we'll never look back. Hopefully. That's how we got rid of bottles (cold turkey) and it worked like a charm. I'll be following a plan/tips laid out in an e-book I have, but more about that Monday when I let you all know how day (and night) 1 went!

Fun With Grandparents Pt3 - Video Clip of the Week

Our 3 weeks of fun are officially over now. As I type this blog entry Nick's parents and youngest brother and sister are in the air, on the way back to Vermont. The boys have become quite spoiled in these last three weeks... They had lots of attention and lots of fun and I fear I won't be entertaining enough for them for these next couple of days! We've also eaten out plenty (6 times in the last 2 weeks) and now every time we get in the car the boys think we're going out to eat!

One of the many fun things we did this last week was to take the boys down to the Crown Center Fountains again. Here's a quick snippet of video to give you an idea of the fun that can be had there!




Our week with Meme, Papa, Uncle Isaac and Aunt Moriah was filled with other fun things too...

We ate out at Winstead's Saturday night after church and Jackson completely polished off his own kids meal (mini cheese burger, fries and chocolate milk)! Usually we get away with ordering 2 kids meals and splitting it between the 3 boys but I think that may be changing.

Jackson proud of finishing his meal

Uncle Isaac and Chase making funny faces together

We went to Bass Pro Shops to look around. That kept the boys entertained for a solid 90 minutes and they were sad when we left! Nick and I are thinking this will be a great place to go this winter....


Meme and Papa bought the boys these nifty hats at Bass Pro. It's too hard to take a picture of the hats on the boys, so you've got to settle for this.

We also did some swimming in the pool at the hotel they stayed at. (Note the new swim trunks! Those are technically for next year (size 3T) but they work now too (just a little long). I think they're adorable!)

And we did a lot of playing here at the house.

Chalk

The boys love to color, so last weekend when I saw sidewalk chalk in the Dollar Spot at Target I knew I had to have it. The boys have loved coloring on the sidewalk in front of our house as well as the cars before we could yank them away. We've also allowed them to color on the back deck, which is a much more relaxing experience as there's no road to contend with.

The other day Uncle Isaac got in on the action with the boys... he drew a huge person and colored him in completely with chalk (he wore the purple stick of chalk down to nothing). Jackson thought that was great fun to roll in....



The boys all ran through it too....


Which resulted in tiny foot prints all over the deck!

I then had the idea to grab the footprint card the NICU nurses made for Tyler and hold it next to a chalk footprint to compare sizes. My how far we've come in 23 months!

The Video Clip of the Week will be up tomorrow... my camera battery is dead so I can't transfer the video to the computer!