2.14.12: Happy Valentine's Day

The girls started the day by making some Valentine's Day cards.  Stella, Fiona and Daphne had a fantastic time decorating these hearts with stickers and coloring the backside.  They were modeling with their creations so they could wish all their friends and family a virtual Happy Valentine's Day.

2.11.12: Fiona's big girl bed

(left to right: stella, fiona, daphne taking their dolls to the doctor)

Tonight we took off the front of Fiona's bed (yes, only Fiona's - we are approaching this process one toddler at a time) and moved her mattress from the floor to her 'big girl bed'.  She has done great staying on her mattress the past couple of days even with the coaxing of her sisters to give them new books, toys, etc.  We were able to push Fiona's bed perpendicular to Daphne's crib which created a rail for about half of her bed. This gives her the ability to get in and out of her bed but hopefully prevents too many falls during the night.

The girls love playing on Fiona's bed and she seems to tolerate the additional guests during awake times.  We have told the girls that Fiona got a big girl bed because she is completely potty trained (even though it was really her crib tent demolition).  Regardless, we are hoping it will motivate everyone to stay dry all day and night.......or perhaps destroy their crib tents if they ever figure out our real motivation for the change.

(left to right: stella, fiona, daphne reading to their dolls after their doctor appointment.  The girls were actually repeating the words from the books they have memorized.)

2.9.12: Are you curious?

(left to right: fiona, stella, daphne - wearing the George mask she colored)

Today the local mall had Curious George coming to meet and greet kids.  The girls love Curious George. We have lots of books, plush Georges and yes, it is one of the television shows that the girls are allowed to watch.  Needless to say, we had to go!  The girls had been telling Brant and I for days they were going to give George a hug and Fiona told us 'I'm going to ask George if he is curious' (yes she came up with that all on her own).

The girls and I arrived at the mall unsure of the environment and preparing for chaos.  After some confusion, it turned out we had to sit through two books, two songs and a whole lot of waiting just to give Curious George a hug.  The wait wasn't bad it was the anxiety from all the kids continuously looking for their favorite character while someone painstakingly read books that were unrelated.

Upon completion of the mock story time in the food court a race broke out for a new line in order to meet George.  If you know my family you know I have been well trained in Black Friday shopping. This time was a little different because I had the kids, but thankfully they took my lead and we were tenth in line - success!  We finally get our turn and Daphne and Stella raced to give George a hug, Fiona....wouldn't let go of my leg.  Pictures of the hug were a blur as I was wrangling someone, holding Fiona and trying to take a picture of the child who was hugging George.  Perhaps I will never be a sports photographer.  Thankfully I had a picture of the girls waiting for story time to start.

Tonight we caved at our attempts for a temporary fix to Fiona's crib and decided just to put her mattress on the floor.  We'll see where she ends up in the morning.  Daphne and Stella are still in their cribs so at least we only have to keep track of one roaming toddler this evening.

2.5.12: Free Fiona

Today we had our first party in our new house, a Super Bowl party. We had ~30 people over (1/3 of them under 5) and our new house held up really well.  The girls did even better.  They shared their toys with the other kids, interacted with the adults, and were overall amazing (even past their bedtime).

People began arriving during the girls' nap time.  Fiona must have been anxious to see everyone because she destroyed the zipper on her crib tent.  I don't know how she did it, those crib tents have been extremely well tested during the six months that we've had them. Somehow today was the day she managed to break it and she did so beyond repair.  Thankfully when she finally got to bed she was so exhausted from the party she went straight to sleep, buying us additional time to ponder our sleeping strategy.

1.30.12: Spelunking

Today the girls (fiona/penguins, daphne/frogs, stella/pigs) decided to play with the table instead of playing on the table.  Seeing the girls climb all over the place, fighting for space while under the table and playing with each other brought back fond memories of my very active pregnancy belly - somethings never change.

1.26.12: Potty training triplets

(left to right: stella, daphne, fiona)

Regardless of all the research done and other multiple moms consulted with, you just never know what you are getting yourself into when attempting to potty train triplets.  For those people who think one method will work for everyone, I believe we are a good example of that philosophy being incorrect.

Well I can honestly say it has been a process.  A process that is not yet complete but well underway.  Here is our timeline thus far:

It all started November 11, we had three days of only underwear when awake.  During quiet time (~30min) the girls wore pull-ups and nap time (~3hours) and overnight (~12hours) the girls wore a diaper.  Small stickers when peeing on the potty and big stickers when pooping on the potty.  Watched potty videos whenever requested and had been hyping up the wearing of 'real undies' for weeks.

In mid-November after the three day intense training period, we put everyone in pull-ups when awake.  Brant had to go back to work I couldn't handle the mess x3.  I also couldn't handle being stuck in the house any longer. Stickers and videos continued.

In late November we started wearing underwear again when awake with pull-ups over underwear.  During quiet time and nap time the girls wore pull-ups and overnight the girls wore a diaper. Stickers continued.

In December we braved the next major milestone and wore underwear when awake.  During quiet time the girls wore underwear with pull-ups outside their pajamas - just to catch anything but definitely make them realize that it wasn't okay to go potty while in their cribs.  Stickers became less interesting as we have 'group potty' times - everyone tries to go potty even if you don't need to go.

In late December they wore underwear during quiet time. Underwear when awake, pull-ups during nap and diaper at night. The 'Poop on the potty' song was born.  Everyone in the house sings the song whenever some is successful.

In early January, after showing continuous dryness during nap, Fiona started wearing underwear during nap.  Stella and Daphne still wore a pull-up and everyone wore diapers at night.

In mid-January, after showing continuous dryness during nap Stella upgraded to wearing underwear with Fiona during nap.  Fiona upgraded to wearing underwear overnight as she continuously wakes up dry.  Daphne really likes to poop during nap (like clockwork), so she still wears a pull-up.  Stella and Daphne still wake up with a wet diaper overnight so we are still wearing diapers until we have many consecutive nights of dryness.

Stella is pretty close to wearing underwear overnight as she only has an accident about once a week.  Daphne, well we really need to get her to stop holding her poop for nap time, that is my next goal for her.  Regardless we are down to 2 overnight diapers and 1 pull-up a day a huge decrease from our previous levels when in 100% diapers.

Last night was a big night for us.  Everyone woke up dry.  Of course this doesn't mean it will happen every night from here on out, but it does mean that progress is being made.    Still a work in progress, but I would say we survived the majority of the potty milestones and are well on our way to have potty trained triplets.

1.14.12: Serenade

On a quick trip to the hardware store we had an amazing find in the parking lot...a giant race car shopping cart that was calling our name.  The girls (left to right: stella, fiona, daphne) all took turns driving and riding in the basket.  They had enormous grins the entire time we were shopping and Brant and I actually had a minute to look at the store without wrangling - it was great!

The serenade began on the way home. Everyone took turns singing the ABC's, Beanbag song and Are You My Sunshine (yes, Are You, not You Are).  They were all singing at the same time, but different songs, and very loudly...we were cracking up.

1.13.12: Smashing bugs

With Nene in town, the girls and I took her to the children's museum. Stella/pink, Daphne/purple, and Fiona/blue took turns smashing bugs on the projection mat.  The girls taught Nene how to smash scorpions, ants and other desert creatures.

1.11.12: Once upon a time...

Seemingly out of the blue, Stella started telling me a story about her big giant bear.  This is the first significant use of imagination that any of the girls have shared verbally.  Usually we are limited to pretend food and drinks at our tea parties and reviewing pictures on our cameras (aka legos).  Her story went like this:

Once up on a time,
there was a bear.
His name was Bert.
He was a big bear.
then what happened? 
Bear was asleep, so I woke him up.
Like this. (flips him over)
then what happened?
Then he ate a blueberry.
then what happened? 
Then he ate a fishy.
then what happened?
Then he ate a strawberry.
then what happened?
Then he ate cabbage, because we don't eat cabbage.
then what happened?
He went to sleep.

When Brant got home from work he also got a version of the story, but his version involved ice cream (which the girls have never eaten but only learned about in books/movies), a pumpkin patch and singing happy birthday.

Other notables lately, Daphne (who refuses to put her shoes on by herself) loves to take her shoes off in the car.  Recently she started taking them off and putting them back on the wrong feet.  After doing so, she notifies me that she has 'crazy feet' and giggles endlessly.  Fiona loves baths and upon getting out of the bath and noticing her wrinkly fingers she told me, "mama my fingers are funky".  Sometimes I wonder if they can get any more adorable...and then they do.

1.8.12: Blanket tunnel

We were having a lazy day at home full of baking, football and friends (stella/butterflies, fiona/polka dots, daphne/flowers).

The girls really like helping Brant stir the waffle mix on the weekends, so I decided to let them take turns stirring the muffin mix as well.   I was impressed, none ended up on the floor or me. 

Nicole and I went upstairs for a couple minutes and the boys somehow managed to entertain all four kids and watch football.  Who knew a blanket tunnel would have gotten them all so excited?  Peter did a good job showing the girls how to close off the tunnel with pillows and hide.  Of course, with three little girls wanting turns too, he didn't stay hidden for very long.

Then Nicole brought out the tried and true way to entertain any child (and most adults), the cell phone. Here Peter was teaching the girls how to play a balloon game on her phone.  Later I had to explain to the girls that mama's phone doesn't have games like Nicole's (wink, wink) - or else I would never see my phone again.