3.28.12: Cuddling

This morning the girls (left to right: fiona, stella, daphne) all wanted to cuddle together in Stella's bed...and they barely fit!  It seems like just yesterday they were all sharing one spacious crib. 

3.24.12: Basketball

left to right: nene, daphne, stella, fiona.

Nene and Mr. Kelly stopped by today and brought with them a basketball hoop.  The girls were overly excited and began practicing their shooting skills right away.  Thankfully Nene knew that one basketball would not be enough for toddler triplets so she got a few extras so everyone could play at the same time. It's odd though, I don't remember growing up with a basketball hoop inside my mother's house, yet somehow I now have one inside my house.  Hmmm, funny how that 'grandma card' works.

3.21.12: Mechanics

During a trip to a local hardware store some worker decided the girls (left to right: fiona, daphne, stella) needed keys to take home.  Apparently they have a box of keys (the mistakes) that they give away to kids when forced into errand running with their parents.  Needless to say, the girls were very excited to get their keys.  Fiona and Daphne picked their favorite colors (blue and green respectively) while Stella settled for black because there was no pink option.  Ever since the trip this weekend, the girls have been 'repairing' the various transportation toys in our home (airplane, dump truck, bus and train).  I hope the toys are working soon or I am going to get a very large bill from my little mechanics.

3.17.12: St Patrick's Day

After a week of decorating the house with pictures and shamrocks, today we finally got to celebrate at the St. Patrick's Day parade.  Brant and I tried to reset our expectations although after living in Boston and Chicago, our local parade just didn't have a chance.  The girls (left to right: daphne, stella, fiona) had a great time watching motorcycles, dancing to music and waving to people in the parade all while sporting their festive stickers.

3.11.12: Ninety-nine months

(left to right: daphne, fiona, stella)

Perhaps ninety-nine months isn't a normal milestone to celebrate, but nothing about having triplets is normal.  Usually this would be a celebration for those with a singleton 8 1/4 years old, but we get to celebrate this triplet milestone today at 2 3/4 each.  I can only describe our experience as a crash course in parenting, hoping we have done more right than wrong while laughing as much as possible. We are the luckiest parents in the world, blessed with three adorable girls who enjoy life to the fullest extent.  I can't believe they are closer to three than two - when did that happen?

3.10.12: Breakfast with friends

Today we went to a fantastic breakfast with friends.  Not only were Nicole, Dan and Peter there, but we also spent time with some of our favorite storybook characters (Curious George, Madeline, Clifford, Llama Llama, Mouse Cookie) as well as some characters we didn't know (alligator, pink bear, Biscuit the dog).  Daphne (blue) and Stella (pink) had a great time giving hugs to everyone, Fiona (purple) not so much into the hugging.

We have seen Curious George before, but never the man with the yellow hat.

Daphne and Stella were really excited about this mouse's purple purse.

What's notable in this picture?  Fiona is (willingly) hugging the dog, but we have never read a Biscuit book.  Apparently she just likes dogs.

Daphne modeling her alligator hat for Dan.

This was Fiona's response when I asked her to put on her alligator hat....Are you talking to me?  

Stella and Daddy sharing some fruit. Oh my little Stella loves her fruit.

After our exciting breakfast we went outside to enjoy the festival.  There was even a place to color your own book bag.  After coloring the girls insisted upon wearing them just like we wear our messenger/diaper bag.  Here they were watching a band rehearse - enjoying the drums and keyboard.

We had a fantastic day which ended up with some very exhausted but happy girls.

3.3.12: Stellaluna

Today we went to meet Stellaluna at a local bookstore.  The girls (fiona/purple, stella/pink, daphne/green) were really excited as Stellaluna has been a favorite book of theirs for quite some time.  

So imagine their surprise when they got to meet a real bat in addition to Stellaluna.  They even got to watch the bat eat mealworms.  Overall a very memorable day.

3.2.12: Bye bye big girl beds

After several weeks of increasingly frequent visits in the middle of the night, total resistance to nap time (leading to evening crankiness) and overall chaos while Brant was traveling we had to make a change or I was going to lose my mind. We were getting up so many times during the night it felt like we had newborns again. Needless to say we decided that sanity ruled over freedom and the girls are back in their cribs with crib tents.  Thankfully they actually like their cribs and crib tents so there was little resistance when the big girl beds were converted back.

I remember reading in a parenting book how expectant parents always say 'I will never...' and once you become a parent you learn never to say never.  I was hoping to transition to toddler beds by three, but after this trial we are going to take it slow.  Perhaps when they can disassemble their own crib we will try the transition again.

2.23.12: Pet Rock

I'm really not sure where this came from (book, tv show, or another kid) but somehow today Daphne decided that she needed a pet rock while we were leaving the library.  Sure enough after our next departure from the park, everyone needed to bring home a pet rock.  These rocks ride in the front of the car with me but as soon as the girls are free from their car seats the rocks are whisked away and carried around until the next meal.  Oddly everyone seems to agree on the owner of a given rock, which is great because I paid no attention during the accumulation.  I have no idea how long this obsession will last but I suppose this is better than pet scorpions.

2.20.12: Banana Slug

We had so much fun while Debbie was visiting (stella/pink, daphne/blue, fiona/purple).  We went on a hike and showed her THE river.  We even tried to feed the fish in said river but turns out fish are not cannibals and therefore do not enjoy goldfish crackers.  Next time we bring bread.

(top to bottom: debbie, fiona, daphne, stella)

While Debbie was entertaining the girls one evening I was even able to cook while the girls were awake - a novelty in this household unless the television is on.  The girls helped to make their own pizza by sprinkling on the cheese (fiona/white, daphne/blue, stella/pink).  We then all sat down for family dinner, another novelty but something we are trying to work on.

On a trip home from the children's museum, the girls discovered that Debbie had a whole repertoire of songs they hadn't heard before. Upon this discovery the rest of our drive home and all subsequent drives were filled with Debbie patiently singing the same songs over and over again (their favorite was Banana Slug).  The girls were very sad to have her go, but sure enjoyed the enthusiasm (and new songs) she brought to our home.