Trouble and Fun

I tell you what, I cannot take my eyes off these boys! It feels like every time I turn my back someone is coloring on the floor, biting a brother, being rough with a book, throwing toys or unraveling a roll of toilet paper.

Ahhh, there's the pantless culprit, Jackson. Of course his brothers thoroughly enjoyed playing in the mess when Jackson streaked through the kitchen dragging most of a roll of TP behind him.

Thankfully, the boys also know how to just play together and have a good time. Check out this awesome slide we found at a playground. Isn't it just perfect for triplets?!

(cell phone picture)

L-R: Chase, Jackson & Tyler

When The Children Are Annoying...

Before I get into how obnoxious my kids were yesterday and how I dealt with them, I wanted to give you a March for Babies update! (Expect to see these a lot in the next 20 days.) Team Three Cuties is now up to 8 walkers! Wow! Two years ago it was just me (and the boys), last year I had my sister and a friend join me bringing us up to 3 walkers and this year we have 8! Woohoo! Even better, we're up to almost $600 raised as a team. My personal goal crept a little higher this weekend up to $335. I still have a long way to go though before I hit my goal of $1,000. Can you spare $5 or $10 to help give babies a healthy shot at life? Today alone 1,500 babies will be born too early! Donate HERE please!

Ok, on to the boys. They were something else yesterday. I knew it was going to be rough when I woke up at 6:39am to a face staring at me. I ordered the boys back to bed, but they didn't listen so well. The morning continued with fighting, biting, button pushing and time outs. I looked at the clock to see if it was almost nap time and was dismayed to see it was only 9:30. GAAAAH!

I finally ordered the boys all outside, where they continued to annoy the crud out of me and each other. I knew my attitude was terrible and growing worse by the minute but I wasn't sure what else to try to bring myself out of the funk and attempt to bring the boys out of their naughty streak.

After looking around my kitchen in desperation my eyes landed on the cabinet I keep my camera in. "Yes!" I thought, "I'll take pictures of the boys. That should cheer me up." After about 10 minutes of shooting (mostly Jackson) I was in a better mood even though the boys weren't.

Really, how could I stay annoyed with faces like these?

Chase, eating "sticky sandwich" (a fluffernutter - marshmallow fluff and peanut butter)

Bed Time Adventures

Friday night I was hating toddler beds and the new freedom my children had. This morning I'm happy to report I no longer hate them. I'm still not totally in love with them, as we'll have to see how nap time goes today but at least I don't despise the things anymore. Here's a quick recap of how the transition went...

Friday Night: Friday night we revealed the finished rooms and new beds to the boys right at bed time. In hindsight this probably wasn't the best move. Why on earth did we think the boys would calm right down and lay in bed when they just had been shown their new room and beds? Silly parents! And so began two hours of fun....

The boys would all jump out of bed.
The boys would come running out of their room and down the hall in a line, all giggling like maniacs.
Nick and I would try our best to not laugh or smile at them and would instead quietly march them back to their beds.
Repeat. About 100 times.

Then we changed tactics and just held their door closed. This made them very unhappy, because who wants to play in a totally dark room? Eventually Nick and I took shifts monitoring the door and listening for signs of trouble (we heard "no bitey, no bitey" a couple of times and had to intervene). At one point, while sitting in the chair outside their room I heard Tyler start to sing. At first I thought "no, surely he's not singing what I think he is... where would he have learned that?", but by the 3rd time through the song I was sure I was hearing right. Tyler was singing Smelly Cat. You know, the song Pheobe on Friends sings? Smelly cat, smelly cat, what are they feeding you? I cracked up! The teacher of this wonderful song? Aunt Laura of course.

Saturday nap: Nap time is a little tougher we're learning. Even with room darkening curtains the boys can still see plenty in their room, which means it's harder for them to just chill out. Saturday's nap time antics included Jackson suddenly deciding he no longer wanted the robots blankets but instead wanted the cars and trucks that Chase had. At one point Chase was laying quietly in his bed, about to fall asleep, when Jackson got out of bed, walked over and yanked the blanket off of Chase and brought it back to his own bed. Obviously Chase was not a fan of this move.

We also heard more "no bitey, no bitey!" from the boys and I had to tell them several times to stop bugging each other. We continued to take away blankies and hold the door shut, but the lack of darkness really hurt our cause. Finally, after 2 hours, I peeked in to see Jackson and Chase both asleep and Tyler sitting on the floor between their beds. I beckoned for Tyler to come out and I put on a movie for him. After sitting on the couch with him for about 10 minutes he was out like a light.

Saturday night: Bed time chaos only lasted about 40 minutes this night, which was a huge improvement. I think the fact that they were sleep deprived from the night before and from short naps that afternoon probably helped a great deal. Jackson was ready to go to sleep right away, but Chase and Tyler wanted to explore. Chase is having freedom issues and Tyler, well once you get Tyler going he doesn't want to stop. This night involved me again sitting in a tiny chair outside their bedroom door.

Sunday nap: It took them an hour and 40 minutes this time to all fall asleep. Tyler was the biggest hold out and trouble maker in the room. Eventually it got quiet and I tip toed back to take a peek and this is what I saw...

Jackson and Chase were sound asleep in their beds, while Tyler was asleep in the corner of the room. Totally made me laugh!

Sunday night: We had ZERO issues last night! They went to bed and all stayed in bed! We heard chatting for about 30 minutes, but at least they were in their beds. Woohoo! 

Our New Routine: With the toddler beds we decided to implement a new routine at bed time. We used to put away toys, go potty, get dressed, brush teeth and then watch 10 minutes of  a movie. Now instead of a movie each of the boys gets to pick a book out and we read in their beds. They seem to really like the new routine and it gives them a little chance to lay in bed for a bit and just relax.We also have set up a clock in their room. They know when the clock says 7 in the morning they can get out of bed and during nap time they can get up when it says 3. When they keep the clock plugged in it works beautifully.

All in all? Not too terrible so far. Now we just need to get nap time figured out and I'll be one happy momma!

Naughty Boys

Yesterday was one for the books in terms of naughty behavior from my angelic children. Most of my morning was occupied by simultaneously breaking up fights while dealing with the ball-droppers at Bank of America (we've been working on a re-fi of our mortgage for 3 months now). After getting off the phone at one point, I walked into the living room to see Jackson and Chase throwing 2 sweet potatoes around the room and tearing up bits of toilet paper and throwing those in the air like confetti. AHH!

Then last night... oh last night. Long story, semi-short - Jackson and Tyler thought it would be hilarious to climb out of their cribs and come running out to the living room, laughing their little heads off. Over. And over. And over. Nick and I tried a few different tactics when dealing with them. We tried not talking and just putting them back. We tried putting them back and then shutting the door. We tried putting them in time out. We tried holding the door shut, thinking if they realized they couldn't get out of their room they wouldn't be so anxious to get out of bed. Nick and I swapped posts several times in the doorway and finally we found something that worked. We took away their coveted blankets.

We told the boys we were going to set the timer and if they stayed in their crib the whole time then they'd get their blanket back. Nick took the first shift and they only lasted 4 minutes (we were shooting for 10 initially). Then I took a shift because the boys were seeing me as "the bad guy" last night, where as they'd just giggle like crazy when Nick was around. I stood in their doorway, not speaking but ready to put boys back in their beds, and decided to count how many times I put Ty back (Jackson was just standing in his crib flipping out about his blanket and telling me to go away). In 6 minutes I put Tyler back in his crib 22 times. Almost 4 times a minute! Jeez kid!

Finally we decided to lower our expectations a bit and make the boys only last 5 minutes before getting their blankets back. Tyler finally got his back around 9:40 (almost 2 hours into the ordeal) and then sat in his crib and watched Jackson act up. Jackson got his blanket back a couple of times but then climbed out immediately after in hopes that we'd let him sit on the couch. No way kid! So we'd take the blanket back and start the 5 minutes over again.

Finally, by 10pm (over 2 hours had passed) he was so flipped out and so tired he didn't know what to do anymore, so I grabbed him and his blanket and we sat on the edge of my bed for a few minutes to calm him down. A couple of minutes later I told him he was going to bed and he was to stay in bed. And he did. Whew!

So what was Chase doing this whole time? Just sitting in his crib, cracking up and egging the other two on. Towards the end, he started singing which annoyed Tyler and Jackson (they yelled at him to stop singing). Nick and I were shocked he never tried to climb out last night. Guess he's more chicken then I thought!

Now yesterday afternoon I also had to take Ty to the doctor's office. During lunch he suddenly freaked out and said his ear hurt, so I made an appointment for right after nap time. Poor kid has never been that obviously in pain. The doctor said his right ear was horribly red and bulging. Aww!

When we headed out for the doctor appointment, we saw this in our front yard.... Snowman carnage!

Less than 24 hours earlier it looked like this...

At least it's melting fast! Oh, and apparently the constant lifting last night was a bit of a workout, because I woke up this morning with a sore back and arms!