Lagging

I noticed the other day that Tyler is once again lagging behind his brothers in the height department. This happens every few months and always Tyler catches up... eventually. He's never caught up in weight (he's 3-4 pounds lighter than Chase or Jackson), but he always catches up in height. Right now though, the difference is quite big! Check it out (that's Jackson with him)!

Meanwhile, as the boys grow up so do their destructive tendencies... Poor Mr. Penguin! He no longer has a head, wings or feet!

Friday Photos

Today  I was going to blog about the boys' laughter and how I enjoy hearing them crack each other up. Considering the last 5 minutes have been filled with whining, crying and fighting though I'm having a hard time focusing on my chosen topic. Instead I'll just share a couple of pictures from the park yesterday. Hopefully the boys will be in better moods soon!

Jackson

Tyler

Shameless Plug: Looking for something for Father's Day? Might I suggest the Just For Dad Combo from my Etsy Shop! Orders must be placed by tomorrow (Saturday) night!  

 

I Heart Faces - Yellow Theme

I found this week's theme at I Heart Faces to be a tough one. The theme is simply "yellow", but you also (as always) need to have a human face in the shot. Hmmmm.... I was beginning to think I was going to need to just pose the boys in front of our yellow car, but then I got lucky when I took the boys to a park this morning. Behold, Jackson in a yellow tunnel!

You can join the fun over at I Heart Faces or just browse through the hundreds of entries this week!

More Funny Things My Kids Say

Most of the recent funnies that I've remembered to record here are courtesy of Jackson and Chase. Rest assured, Tyler says funny things too - I just need to remember to write them down right away!

Jackson (after walking up to the weather radio and pushing the button, he said the following into the speaker): I want a Diet Coke with vanilla please. Nope, that's it.

Chase (after hearing some liquid slosh in his belly): Mommy, I have music in my belly!

Chase (while Skyping with Grandma): I can't fit in the computer too! I too big! 

Any of the boys when wearing a striped, polo shirt: I'm Steve! (They're newly obsessed with Blue's Clues and Steve always wears a striped polo in that show.)

Chase, after fake coughing: Mommy, I need Vicks!

Jackson

Man, these kids make us laugh! 

 

Learn to Spit - Video Clip of the Week

As promised, here's a quick little video from the last week! This one is of Nick trying to teach Jackson how to rinse his mouth and spit the water out after brushing teeth. As you can see, Jackson just swallows the water...

Any tips on how to get the boys to not swallow the water right away? All three of them do it!

Stomach Flu, Take 1

Yesterday the stomach flu hit our house. The boys have never had the stomach flu before (Nick had it just after Christmas, but was nice enough to not share with anyone else). In fact (and this probably serves me right) I was just commenting last weekend that the boys have only thrown up twice. Jackson did once in his crib (due to a coughing fit) and Chase did one randomly on my kitchen floor. That's been it!

Yesterday morning Jackson told Nick "uh oh belly". A few minutes later he crawled into Nick's lap and said it again, so Nick brought him into the bathroom where Jackson threw up a little. I came back from my run (yup, it's finally warm enough for me to run in the morning again!) too all of this and Nick and I weren't sure if it was sickness or just a fluke. Just in case though, I made a quick run to the store for saltines, ginger ale and lysol spray. 5 minutes after Nick left for work I found out it was not a fluke. Jackson said "uh oh belly" again, we rushed to the bathroom and he proceeded to lose all of his breakfast on me, the tub, the floor, the step stool and got some in the toilet. Ooooh boy.

For the next several hours he threw up and then added diarrhea to the fun. Poor kid couldn't keep anything down until he ate a single saltine at about 1:30 and then drifted off to sleep. Thankfully, after his 3.5 hour long snooze on the couch he was much perkier and by dinner he was asking to eat. He's been fine since!

 

The big question remains: will we end this in one take or will there be a take 2 and take 3?

 

Cake Pans and Toddlers Don't Mix

Jackson, Jackson, Jackson. What am I going to do with you child? First you got a cake pan stuck on your head, then you made your lip bleed when you tripped with said cake pan on your head and then we had to actually cut my beloved cake pan off your little body! How is Mommy supposed to make Angel Food cake or Daffodil Cake now?!

I'm still not 100% sure how he got this on, but I'm quite sure he just pulled it down over his odd shaped head.

 I couldn't just pull it back off because his head bubbles out on the bottom (always has) and he kept trying to tuck his chin every time I tried to pull the pan off.

Obviously those pictures were taken before things turned traumatic for him. Before he tripped over something and smashed his mouth into the pan, causing his lip to bleed.  Before I coated his head with oil and then with soap in an attempt to get the pan over his head. Before my friend Stella showed up (she was just looking to get out of her own house, little did she know how exciting her morning was about to become). Before I texted a picture of Jackson to both Nick and Facebook in an attempt to get some advice. Before I called the doctor's office to ask for advice as told by a giggling nurse to take him to Urgent Care. Before Stella and I looked at him and realized he wasn't going to get into a car seat with that thing on him. Before I then called  Nick and told him I needed him to come home.

See, Jackson became quite leery of me coming anywhere near him. I guess he didn't want me to try to pull the thing off. Then when Nick got home and tried to pull it off Jackson became leery of him. That's when we came up with a plan. Jackson would sit in Stella's lap, because apparently she was the only adult he wasn't now afraid of, while I distracted him and Nick cut the pan off.

Thankfully the metal cutters we had on hand actually were strong enough to cut through the pan (although I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been strong enough to make as many cuts as it took - good thing Nick could rush home to help me). Our only concern then became with keeping Jackson still enough so that he didn't get cut by the cutters or by the now sharp and jagged edges of the pan that were exposed. Good times! Nick was especially nervous as he got to the part closest to Jackson's neck, at which point I held Jackson's head forward.

Nick had to bend the pan in order to get it off Jackson without cutting him, but it worked! After almost an hour and a half, Jackson was finally free!

Jackson and his new buddy Stella

 

My sad pan. Guess I won't be making Angel Food Cake anytime soon!

At least I can say I laughed my way through most of the ordeal. There were a couple of times I wasn't sure if I wanted to laugh or cry, but I knew I had to keep laughing, otherwise it would freak Jackson out. Ahhhh the joys of being a mom to boys :)

2 Year Old Beat Boxing - Video Clip of the Week

I know I usually post to my blog in the AM and it is now after 2pm here in good old Central Time Zone, but I was having some serious video issues. I won't bore you with all the details. Just sit back, relax and enjoy this 30 second gem of Jackson beat boxing and singing Jingle Bells! Sure to make you laugh. (Turn up your volume - he's kinda quiet!)

Oh and for those curious what that was that Tyler said early on in the video....

"No Tyler cheese" followed by his camera clicking sound effect. Apparently he didn't want his picture taken.

And So It Begins...

True story: The very first thing that went through my mind when we found out the triplets I was carrying were all boys was how accident prone my little brother was. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this here before... So Wednesday night we had our first true taste of that. Here's the shortened version of what went down.

Keep in mind that Wednesdays are late nights for Nick at church - he usually arrives home around 8:15, after the boys are in bed.

At about 7:30 Jackson was sitting at the kitchen table in his jammies, brushing his teeth. He announced he was all done and handed me his tooth brush. As I turned to put the tooth brush in its holder I heard a loud bang and turned around to see Jackson had tipped over backwards in the chair (counter height) and landed on our tile floor. Now before you all panic, this has happened numerous times to all three of the boys without much crying or pain. Even so, you would think they'd have learned by now to not tip in their chairs like we tell them 5 times a meal.

Instead of taking only a few seconds to calm down, Jackson went ballistic for several minutes before I got him calm. I checked his eyes - yep, dialating just fine. Although he was doing a weird blinking thing that he hadn't been doing earlier. He complained a few times his head hurt, which was to be expected. Every few minutes I felt around the back of his head for a bump. Instead of a bump it felt like his head was dented in though (I of course compared with the identical two skulls in the other room).

The on-call doctor thought I should have it checked out and possibly have a CT Scan done, so I loaded the boys up (jammies and mismatched socks and all) into the Jeep and headed to the nearest Children's Hospital Urgent Care. Nick met us there and after 40 minutes took the other two boys home. 2 hours later an actual doctor finally saw Jackson and by then (almost 3 hours after the fall) the swelling in his head was gone. Of course. Oh well. Hindsight is 20/20 right? So no CT Scan was done and I was sent home with a sheet of paper telling me to give him medicine for the pain and call his doctor in the morning if I was still concerned.

Now to just hope we didn't catch anything while we were there! The waiting room was full of kids wearing masks. Yikes! The nurse was nice enough to give me a pager so that Jackson and I could wander the less germy halls and chapel area, so hopefully that helped. We still stripped the kid down when we got home at 11:30pm and changed his jammies.

Fun times are in store for me in the coming years, aren't they?

Memories

Eight years ago today we all witnessed the horrific attacks on innocent people here in the United States. I was in college at the time (Messiah College in PA to be exact) and was filling in for an absent DJ at our college radio station (I was the student General Manager at the time). I can still vividly remember the faculty adviser coming into the studio with a print out from the AP saying it appeared a plane had accidentally hit one of the World Trade Center buildings in New York City. He said I could report it if I wanted to and that we should keep an eye on the AP wire to see if anything developed.

A few minutes later more developed for sure. News continued to stream across the AP wire and it became apparent I would have to start talking about it on air. The next 90 minutes I was on the air passed in a blur between trying to maintain composure on the air and then rushing into the adviser's office during songs so that I could watch the TV coverage of what was going on in NYC and then Washington DC and finally western Pennsylvania. I remember feeling sympathetic and amazed at the composure of those covering the events on TV - I was a nervous wreck and shaking like a leaf but could hide behind a microphone. These TV reporters were visable and had to work even harder to hide their fear and confusion!

I remember in the weeks and months to follow seeing flags everywhere, bumper stickers, hats and shirts saying we would never forget and a general influx of American pride. Where did that all go? Don't forget the men and women who protect our country both here and abroad. Don't forget the police officers and fire fighters who daily put their lives on the line to save people they don't know! If you see one of these folks, thank them for their service.

September 11th now also has a sweet memory for Nick and myself... two years ago today we finally were able to bring a child home from the hospital! You can read that story here.

Jackson & Nick 2 years ago today

Jackson & Nick today

Health Update: I apologize for forgetting to update you all yesterday! Wednesday the doctor diagnosed Tyler with an ear infection in his left ear, Jackson with one in his right ear and Chase with ear infections in both ears. We also were given a renewal for the boys' inhaler and were told to share amongst the 4 of us as needed. They seem to be slowly on the mend now that the antibiotics have kicked in and I'm feeling fine with the exception of some pesky chest congestion. Here's hoping by the end of today they're really doing better because we have lots to do this weekend!

Clean Up In Aisle 1

In the last 2 months I've mopped up more pee off the floor (both carpet and tile) than I care to count or even acknowledge. Let's just put it this way - potty training 3 is rough on carpet! I feel like my house must perpetually smell like urine, which is why I'm currently arranging to have a cleaning company come deep clean our carpets. Sorry, I'm getting off track here!

Early last week we had a horrendous 45 minutes here... I'll spare you some of the details because quite honestly they may cause you to lose your mid-morning snack (or lunch or dinner depending on when you read my blog). Basically though it all started with Tyler making the biggest mess on the carpet that I've seen yet and then that mess getting spread by Jackson. After I finished cleaning Tyler up I went into their bedroom and shut the door in hopes of cleaning the carpet before "stuff" set in.

While I was in the bedroom Chase had to pee, except he didn't bang on the door or even yell to me that he had to go potty... no. He peed on the floor (carpet again) right in front of the door. I whisked him to the other bathroom (bathroom #1 was still out of commission following Tyler's mess) to clean him up.

When Chase and I rounded the corner into the living room we found this...

 

  

I like to think Jackson noticed it had been a particularly trying 45 minutes for me so decided to take initiative and clean up his own mess. It should be noted they have NEVER helped mop pee off the floor - they've only watched me do it a hundred times. I was shocked when I came out and found him like this! He even had gone into their diaper bag, pulled out the container of wipes and pulled one out to mop the floor with. Needless to say, this was the silver lining (and something to make me laugh) on this very dark, very big cloud.

Dear Jackson

Dear Jackson,

I often find it hard to believe the 4 pound 4 ounce little baby with big eyes that I held just two years ago is the same 27.5 pound boy who daily brings such joy to my life. It amazes me that your eyes still hold the same sparkle and curiosity as they did just days after you were born!

Even though your blankets often smell nasty, the way you shove your blanket into your mouth is adorable and endearing to Daddy and me. Much the same way you continually asked to be "pee up'd" (picked up) is endearing. Sure, sometimes my back is killing me and the last thing I want to do is hoist you onto my hip but how can I deny such a cute little boy? Especially when I realize in a short time you truly will be too heavy to pick up all the time, and then I'll blink and you won't want to be picked up even if I offer.

Your enthusiasm for music and dancing is always entertaining to watch and I sometimes find myself wondering if you'll have a future in the arts instead of sports (shhhh.... don't tell your daddy I said that!). To hear you belting out "na na's" and to see you dance around the house, the deck, the yard or in your car seat brings so much joy to our lives!

I love you little man! Keep dancing and keep singing - it spreads too much joy not to share!

Love,
Mommy

Readers! Don't forget to enter my two giveaways! Entries will be accepted until 9pm CST on Sunday night. Enter the Easy Potty Training Guide giveaway HERE and enter the Blog Make-Over giveaway HERE!

Jackson's Embarrassing Picture

Before I dive into today's post, I want to thank those you that left such kind comments on my post last Thursday. It's so wonderful to know we aren't the only family making sacrifices and it was even more wonderful to read so many words of encouragement - especially from people I don't even "know" beyond the blogging world. Thank you, thank you!

We had a busy weekend of fun, chaos and screaming. More about the chaos and screaming in future posts I'm sure... The most fun though was taking the boys' 2 year old pictures! Tomorrow I'll highlight those.

About an hour before heading out to take those 2 year pictures though I snapped these beauties of Jackson wearing a dress and carrying a purse. Can we say blackmail?

Ok, so technically that isn't a dress he's wearing... It's actually a romper we found in the closet and he wanted to wear but wouldn't let Nick snap closed. Nick and I were dying of laughter though at the site he made with his "dress", socks pulled way up and his new sneakers.

We now have our blackmail picture for Jackson and we already have one of Tyler from earlier this month. What embarrassing thing can we catch Chase doing or wearing?

For those of you who can't get enough stories about the boys, today Nick put up a rare blog post on his blog and it's mostly about the boys! You can check that out here.

Video Clip of the Week - Dance Off

Boy, oh boy do these little guys like to dance! I think they inherited the desire from their Aunt Laura (who both teaches and is in a dance company), because Nick and I aren't big on dancing.




And for those of you that missed it (or just want to relive it!) here's one from this winter of Chase's moves... HERE

It's a dance off! Can't wait for Ty to develop his own "move"!

Slow and Steady

I have another "Ways Identical Siblings Are Not Actually Identical" item to add to the list. Unlike teething, sleeping, eating and appearance, identical siblings will often not potty train the same way. Obviously after my experience a couple of weeks ago with Tyler I knew this was not the case, but I was kinda hoping Jackson would train as quickly and easily as Chase did, or at least close to it. No such luck.

It's now been a week since we started potty training Jackson. I'm happy to report he is making progress, it's just slow progress. Well, slower than Chase anyway. Yesterday he actually used the potty 3 times which was a record for him! I'm ecstatic and am hopeful things will really pick up speed this week. I think it helps I'm starting to pick up on his "potty cues". Jackson does that little kid dance (knees together, kind of hopping around) just before he pees - Chase has never done that. If I catch Jackson doing that and can get him on the toilet in time he usually will go for me.

Chase I'm ready to call "done" as far as day-time training goes. He almost never has an accident and Saturday night he did great in the nursery (last weekend Nick was volunteering in there so this was the real first "test" of going for other people in a public place). Night time is still hit or miss for him. I'm suspicious he's waking up really early (like 4 or 5am maybe) and not being loud enough when calling for us, or even not calling us at all. I'm tempted to put the monitor back in their room while we're doing this whole PTing thing just so I can hear them when they wake up (and I say "I" because Nick can sleep through anything, including the intense t-storm at 1am this morning).

1 Down, 2 To Go

Chase is doing great with his potty training! Saturday was his second completely accident free day and that included the 2.5 hours we were away from home (church and the 15 minute car ride each way). Yesterday he didn't have an accident until 5:30pm - so close to back to back accident free days! I rarely have to remind him to tell me if he has to go, as he's great at coming up to tell me. He's not 100% there, but I obviously feel pretty great about where he's at just 2 weeks after starting and at a shade under the age of 2.

Yesterday we started on Jackson! Let me back up though to Friday - that's when I took him shopping for his big boy underwear. The distracted mom that I am, I totally forgot to take pictures of him in the store! He was so speedy grabbing the Elmo package that I didn't even think of the camera in my purse. Jackson wasn't nearly as excited about the underwear though as he was of the new "gicky" (blanket) we were buying him!


Those who frequent this blog will remember that Jackson is a blanket sucker. He's very particular about which of the dozens of blankets he will suck on though, so his two blankets of choice are quite rank. Seriously. I wish I could convey smell on here, because the stench is truly horrendous. Look at these pictures.... The blanket on top is the brand new white one, while the two on the bottom are the older ones. Those old blankets used to be white and they used to smell fresh, but no amount of bleach or oxiclean can get them clean now!


It was a sigh of relief from me when I showed Jackson this new blanket in the store and he was ok with it. I asked him if he would like to eat that blankie and he nodded yes (and immediately upon arriving home and cutting the tags off he shoved the blanket in his mouth). Success! On the way to the checkout register Jackson stopped twice in the middle of the aisle, put the blanket on the floor and lay down with his head on it and said "Night, night gicky". It was stinking adorable but I feared for his life as many of the moms in Target seemed to be on a mission that day.


Day 1 of potty training Jackson (yesterday) went better than Tyler but not as great as Chase. He was the happy medium :) He went through 13 pair of underwear all day, which is the same number Chase went through on day 1 and did pee in the toilet once (5pm). He was only a little damp this morning when he woke up and he also stayed dry during his nap yesterday afternoon. I'm optimistic about today!


Oh and a quick Tyler update - this weekend we focused on getting a snack to Ty the minute he woke up from his nap and I'm happy to say the weekend was afternoon tantrum free!

Lemonade = Wired

Monday night we went out to dinner. I told the boys we were going to drive in the car and get some chocolate milk. Both announcements drew excited squeals and running around the living room. When we got to the restaurant we were bummed to learn they were out of chocolate milk (the horror!). I finally decided to get the boys lemonade.... I think they like it. Jackson was so excited and wired he kept talking about the pies he'd seen in the display case at the front of the store. Oh, and he was trembling.



After dinner we went to Sheridan's for frozen custard. Needless to say the boys were massively wound up by the time we got home (30 minutes before bed time). Oh and seeing as they each sucked down 2 cups of lemonade we had some lovely wet throughs by morning.

Weekend Tidbits

Nothing massively exciting happened here over the weekend (we'll attempt fireworks next year), so I thought I'd just give you a quick run down of things we did or were said this weekend....

* Nick nicely pointed out to me after I told someone the boys would be 2 in August that I can now just say "They'll be 2 next month". AHHHHHH! How did that happen?!

* We took the boys yesterday to what is likely our favorite new park - too bad it's a 15 minute drive to it.

* On the way home from the above park Chase threw an epic tantrum (he was mad Nick wouldn't let him just lay in the parking lot) and dragged Jackson into it by hitting and scratching him. About half way home (and half-way through the tantrum) Nick turned to me and said "I bet you're glad I'm witnessing this aren't you?" I told him I was sad Jackson had to be dragged into it, but yes I was glad he was there to referee while I drove and that he was witnessing it. I also told him to imagine dealing with that alone in the car. Maybe I can talk him into a van sooner than I thought....

* A nursery worker at church gushed to us for about 10 minutes about how nice, well-behaved and good looking our boys are and how we'll have trouble with the girls in about 14 years. Nick and I already know all those things, but it's nice to hear from a stranger :)

* Jackson threw his own epic tantrum in Home Depot. I'm sure most of the store heard him. The problem? He was jealous of the car cart Chase was driving (even though it was exactly the same as his and Tyler's car). When Jackson dragged Ty into the tantrum (by biting him) Tyler got moved into Chase's car and Nick decided to just carry Jackson. As I was walking away with Ty and Chase a Home Depot employee asked me how I keep them so quiet. I laughed and said they aren't all quiet... didn't you hear the screaming and crying 2 minutes ago?

* I noticed this weekend that sometimes when Jackson says "truck" it sounds more like the f word. Awesome. I think from now on we'll just call all vehicles "cars"!

Video Clip of the Week - Jackson's Favorite Shows

The boys have a few favorite DVDs they like to watch: Signing Time, Baby Signing Time, Baby Einstein or Winnie the Pooh. Thankfully my local library has a large stock of Signing Time and Pooh DVDS and we have a decent collection of Baby Einstein.

Jackson is especially obsessed with the "newest" Winnie the Pooh DVD we have. It's a collection of the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, which are the same stories Nick and I grew up with! Sunday afternoon after Nick left for church Jackson started asking to watch that DVD in his own special way. Bad news though - Nick had mistakenly taken that DVD to church with him! Jackson would not let up, even when I tried to just have them watch a Signing Time. I eventually resorted to pirated clips on YouTube.

This week's clip features Jackson's unique way of asking for his favorite shows!



You have a little more time to get your questions to me in this week's Q&A! I'll answer them all on Friday's post. Click here for the rules and to ask your question.

The Cuteness of Jackson

Every once in a while one of the boys will get excited to see me with my camera and will begin posing for me. I love it when that happens and take full advantage of the situation! Last week Jackson was posing away for me and I got so many cute shots of him. Unfortunately the first two shots have a crummy view in the background but I fixed that for the remaining pictures. Now if I could just get all three boys to cooperate like this at the same time!