Our MasterCard Story

Life with Triplets

So, I shared this with my triplet groups, and a couple of them told me I needed to document this story, so I thought I would post it to the blog.

About a week ago, I decided to venture outside to our backyard with my trio. It was the first nice day in a while and we all needed a change of scenery. My yard is fenced and we have a swing set and other toys for them, so I thought this was going to be a nice, quiet day out in the backyard..miraculously! So, about 20 min into our outside play time, where everything was going so smooth, I hear a crash...glass breaking. Brody had found a candle we had hid behind the grill last summer. (needless to say, I didn't see it or know it was there, but he found it of course!). Anyway,I tried to find a way to collect most of the glass, keep the 3 kids and my 2 dogs from running through it and somehow go inside and get the broom. Miraculously, I managed to get the broom and shoo off the audience. As I was just about to be done cleaning up the glass on the patio, I realized that everything was a bit too quiet...so I looked up. My boys had found a nice, fresh pile of dog poop and were mushing it through their hands like lotion. They proceeded to wipe it on their shirts and on the patio. At this point I wanted to cry, but I gathered up all the strength I could muster and found and attached the hose. Sprayed them down, the patio, took off and rinsed their shirts. Unfortunately, I didn't attach the hose well, and it created a mud puddle by the connection.. ..and where was Emmi during all this...yep.. .playing in the mud water...which she managed to cover her head, arms, legs and clothes with. I quickly sprayed her down, stripped her naked and proceeded in the house with 3 soaked and naked children. And that was our nice, quiet day out in the backyard! Hope this made you smile...:) I find it funny- now- in hindsight!

Some cute moments...

Some cute moments caught on camera...

Emmerson just learned how to smile for the camera...I even got her to give me a kiss for the camera. She is so sweet!

Brody and Logan LOVE to wear Daddy's watch! (its actually an old one...but don't tell them that.:)

Getting three toddlers to sit still for a picture...priceless!

Easter

Our Trip to Jamaica

The kids are officially world travelers and have their first immigration stamp in their passports. Our visit to the FDR Pebbles resort in Jamaica was incredible. The boys loved the water, and splashed in it when ever they could. Emmerson, on the other hand, was not too fond of the water, but loved playing in the sand, and sliding down the numerous slides. We will definitely be back.

Tubes for Brody

So Brody needed to have tubes put in his ears to help drain the fluid that has been built up for months. It has caused him to fail his last 2 hearing tests, so after trying to dry up the fluid with meds that proved no change, we are opted for the surgery. He had the surgery at Rush Copley on March 12th at 7:30 am. It was a simple surgery and only took a total of 20 min. Brody did great! He was in such a good mood, despite being woke up at 6:00 am. (They usually don't wake until 8:00...great sleepers!) He didn't cry when the nurse took him back and they returned him to the room before he was awake again. He came out of anesthesia pretty well and within 2 hours, he was completely back to his old self! We have already seen such improvement in his ability to repeat words and verbalize things he hears. We are so happy that he had the surgery and we think he is happy as well!

20 months and counting....

It is amazing to John and I that the babies are already 20 months old! They are changing every day and seem to be learning new things every minute We have been working with sign language with them since they were 7 months and it has helped out tremendously when it comes to communicating. They can come up to us and ask for things like a cracker, milk, juice, or to tell us they want to go to sleep. They are all very steady walkers and runners and now have mastered climbing up AND down the stairs. It has sure been a blessing on my back! They are also all eating with spoons and forks and for the most part, do pretty well. . Here is a quick update on each of the kiddos:

Emmerson: She is quite the talker! She says "Mama, Dada, ball, cat, dog, cracker, please, more, up, down, go, hat, shoes, all done, eat..." She is at the stage where she will repeat just about any sound or word you say, so her vocabulary is growing fast. Emmi loves to read books! Anytime we are down on the floor playing with them, she brings over a book to read, and with her head tilted just so, she says "peass". She is a BIG fan of Elmo right now. John and I are thinking of taking her (and maybe the boys too) to see Elmo Live in May. We’re not sure how well she will be able to see the stage and that will make all the difference in her attention span! Emmerson is very attached to her two “doggies” from Build-A-Bear. They were actually a gift for the boys, but Emmi loved them so much that the boys let her have them. She carries them all over the house by their Cubs t-shirts that they wear. It is a very cute scene! We feel so blessed to be parents to this wonderful little girl.

Brody: He is such an active little boy! There is nothing that he can’t seem to find a way into, on top of, or under. Brody is our little explorer! He loves to play “tag” with Daddy around the back of the couch. He really has a silly side to him. He LOVES to be tickeled! He will walk up to you with a look like “aren’t you going to get me…” and then when you start to tickle him, he lets out the sweetest giggle. It makes it hard to stop! Brody has really been talking more these days too. Although he still signs more than he talks, he now will say “mama, dada, dog, uhhoh, and bubbles” Brody has a great throwing arm already. He was playing catch with John and I the other day and we were both so amazed at how accurate and strong his throws were. Hmmm….maybe a future Cubs pitcher? We are so amazed by Brody every day!

Logan: What a character this little boy is! He is such the social butterfly and when someone is watching, and he is in the right mood, there will definitely be something to see! Logan has great facial expressions that make us laugh daily. I think he gets his humor from his Daddy. Logan seems to be fearless so far, which makes for a fun time in the store. He will wander away and as John and I stand there watching him to see if he even looks back, he speeds up and heads off down and isle. We keep an extra close eye on that little guy! Logan is still such a sweet boy. He will come up and give me a kiss or hug throughout the day while he is playing. Just a quick kiss to say “love you Mama” and then he’s off again. I treasure those sweet moments daily!

We are getting ready for our first International travel at the end of March. John, myself and the babies are heading to Jamaica! We just got their passports in and boy are they cute. We are really excited and can’t wait to get away to somewhere warm for a while. Hopefully we will have some cute pictures to post when we get back!

Some fun moments...

As much as I love this blog and having the memories to look back on, time to update it is so hard to find these days. So, instead of going into a long entry about what we've been up to, I am going to post some pictures of things we have done with captions. This way I can try to catch up on the last month or so and hopefully cover most of our adventures.

Finding fun things to play with indoors during this LONG winter has been a real challenge. They all love playing in their newly established "play room" complete with a slide and pirate ship toy box. They also love bouncing in their inflatable bounce house they got for Christmas. Climbing through their tube huts have become daily fun! Trying to pop as many bubbles as we can is another fun game we love to play.

They all love to read...and their new chairs are the perfect place.

Emmi loves to put her doggies in the chairs with books when she reads.

Hats are a new facination! They love putting on all different hats and walking around the house...very cute and it makes for wonderful entertainment!

The babies are now 19 1/2 months old and getting so big! Everyday they discover new words and new skills. It is nice to have playmates all through the day!

Candy Canes....Yummy!

Although we really try to limit the amount of sugar the babies eat, we couldn't go through this holiday season without letting them try their first candy cane. They loved them! Emmerson and Logan each ate them the "correct" way....licking and licking until the red stripes disappeared and the tip became smaller and smaller. Theirs each lasted about 10 minutes. Brody on the other hand would have ate his in under a minute if Mommy didn't intervine! He shoved the entire thing in his mouth sideways so that his cheeks were poked out on each side in the shape of a candy cane. They all seemed to like their first crack at candy canes and we were able to get some cute pictures

Our First Snow Adventure

We bundled up all the kiddos and headed outside for our first adventure in the snow. We have a small sleding hill just outside our front door that was perfect for us to have our first sled ride on. Brody and Logan loved the snow and the rides in the sled. They each had the biggest smiles on their faces as they came zooming down the side of the hill. Emmerson on the other had did not care for the cold, the snow and especially not the sledding. She cried for most of the experience, but was the happiest once we came back in side.


Daddy and the gang

Brody..................................... Emmerson

Logan ...............................Mommy and Kids

Triplet Tree Santa Breakfast

It was our first time attending my triplet groups annual Santa breakfast. We had a great time! It was so nice being out to eat and not being "on display". No one came up and asked "Are they triplets?" or "Do you watch Jon and Kate plus 8?". It was great! The Glatchaks and the Andersons were there and everyone had fun running around the large banquet room. We were not sure what to make of the big guy in red though...that brought out the only tears of the day. It was amazing to everyone how quiet and well behaved all the kids were...especially considering there were about 200 people there and over 130 of them were kids! John and I were also very excited that we finally took individual with our babies...Just Mommy, Daddy and each of our children alone. We are going to make this a new tradition...throughout the year.