2012: A year in review

January 1, 2013 ~ hunt2005 ~ Leave a comment

2012 was a pretty darn good year, I’d say.

It featured a lot of stability, which was a blessing and nice surprise in the Navy life. It’s not often that we go an entire calendar year in the same house, with no orders or changes to current orders, with a husband who was home EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. of the year (except for a day or two at the Rose Bowl, but I’ll forgive that!).

The year started with us having a 3 year old and three 6 month olds. Big brother didn’t know his alphabet, couldn’t read numbers (though he could count pretty well), and was a little toddler still in his mama’s eyes. The babies? Well, they still stayed where we put them, and ate pureed food and drank from bottles that we mostly had to hold for them.

One year later, we have three babies who walk, run, and climb their way around the house. A big brother who counts, sings, runs, plays, and is more of a boy than a baby now. We hear sweet little voices all day long as they talk to each other and us (or yell, or scream, or cry… but that’s a topic for another post). Big brother takes an active role in helping them (sometimes too active). We have children that I can refer to less and less as “babies” and more and more as toddlers and kids. It’s kind of scary!

Last year I pledged to finally recommit to running in earnest. And I did. Sort of. I definitely accomplished more this year than ever before. My first triathlon. My first road race. My first of many post-babies half marathons. Faster. Stronger. But I was still a bit lackadaisical with it all. Why bother training for a half? I’ve done 6 before! Well, let me tell you, a triplet pregnancy later, and having been up with children in the night before, leads to a half marathon taking more effort than it has in the past. But we made it. Steven and I survived our first half together. And we can only do better next time!

This year? We’re ready. Bring it on. January is starting out right with a trip to Disney (Remember, kids under 2 are free. When half of your family turns 2 in just a few short months, better go now while it costs half as much!). February brings big boy turning 5. FIVE. HOLY CRAP HE’S TURNING FIVE. That’s like… a whole hand. Seriously. How did that happen?!?! March brings the big 3-0 for a certain daddy in this house. April? Submarine birthday ball. I think I’ve already planned more for it than was done by March last year. Thank God for that! Olympic triathlon in May? Scheduled. June? Three little ones have a sweet little birthday. July? Our last school break before daddy finishes school here and we head on the road to who knows where. August? Kindergarten. Need I say more?? September? Graduation from NPS. Marathon in October? Hopefully, depending on orders and what happens (welcome to the real Navy again!). November? Hopefully we’ll be settled in a house that is bigger than the one we’re in, or at the very least isn’t any smaller. And December? Goodness, another year, another Christmas, another 365 days without deployments.

How can it get any better than that?!

Happy Christmas 2012!

December 24, 2012 ~ hunt2005 ~ 2 Comments

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ~Luke 2:11

A lot has changed over the years, but the theme of Christmas remains the same. Love those around you. Celebrate the birth of our Lord. And rejoice with each other for another year together.

Last year there was love and laughter, and a 3.5 year old who loved to “help” his babies open their presents.

Christmas sure will be interesting this year. The babies still don’t really “get” the presents and pageantry associated, but they are curious about presents. To which, our first presents under the tree were placed there after bed tonight, and Santa has his own pile in the living room. For some reason shiny paper with bows under a twinkling tree attracts an 18 month old’s attention better than any toy, camera, or shiny object we can find. When you have three 18 month olds, and a 4.5 year old who thinks that it should be Christmas already because it should be (for no better reason than that), the presents remained hidden until the last moment.

He still insists on “helping” his babies open their presents, but I’m not too sure they’ll actually let him this year! Christmas service was interesting with the babies mobile. Jaina colored on paper, Jacen tried to jump off the chair, and Valerie happily danced to any music that she heard (and got upset when it ended).

From our family to yours, we wish you a very Happy Christmas, and a Merry New Year! I pray for happy adventures, good tidings, and peace to you and those you love.

Santa

December 16, 2012 ~ hunt2005 ~ 2 Comments

Most every child dreams of Santa. For a four year old boy he ranks up there with cars, trucks, cookies, playgrounds, the Easter Bunny, and, well, anyone else who brings presents and candy. I’m pretty sure the only way Santa would be any more cooler would be if he came more than once per year.

For some reason, though, the concept of Santa is glorious, but the reality is quite shocking.

At two years old, big brother wouldn’t even cross the red velvet roped off line to see Santa. He’d smile and wave from a far, but if we tried to enter that line all sorts of hysterics and dramatics would ensue.

Last year at 3 we were able to sneak a photo in with Santa at the teddy bear tea here on base.

123

This year we dragged all the kids out to see Santa at the mall. Aiden brought his letter that he wrote (and Santa was nice enough to read and then give back to mommy for her scrapbooks) and he was perfectly happy. Until we asked him to sit with Santa. Mommy was able to get him into the photo, but he wouldn’t go within arms reach of Santa. At first.

Now, Santa is used to this. He was very calm and amazing throughout. The benefit to going to see him at 3pm on a Friday is there is no line. So Santa began to chit chat with us while we waited to choose our picture and pay. While doing so, he started juggling. And gave big brother another candy cane. Thus ingratiating himself forever as the coolest person on Earth. Much cooler than mommy who said only one candy cane per day! SO we were able to get Aiden to go near the couch. He still wouldn’t sit with him. Or high-five him. but he went closer.

Hey, at least he’s smiling! Well, so after that we decided to try one last attempt at getting all four kids in the photo (without mommy preferably!). So we had Santa stand behind the couch. And put the kids on it.

And there you have it. A snapshot of what three screaming 17 month olds can do when they really want to express their opinion on a subject.

How to photograph triplets+1…

December 3, 2012 ~ hunt2005 ~ 4 Comments

I thought I’d lay out a tutorial of how to photograph triplets. I’m going to complicate matters a bit. I’m going to add in the following requirements (how ridiculously demanding of me!)

Christmas tree.
Clean clothing
Semi-clean hands and faces
All four sets of eyes looking at camera (smiles preferred, but not required)
Assistants hands/arms/legs not shown

Now that we’ve laid out the ground rules, here is how to photograph triplets+1 in a few easy steps.

First, dress the children in matching/coordinating outfits. Should that not work, just try to have clean clothing on them and preferably not the pajamas they’ve worn for the last ~~three~~ days. *Photograph of this craziness not shown.*

Now think that your children are more patient and obedient than they really are and attempt to have them just stand in front of the tree.

Realize, as they all keep running from the tree towards the camera, that this just isn’t going to work.

Attempt to hang one by her feet in order to get all four children in the photo at once (daddy’s idea, not mine, but it sure was creative!)

Give up on having all four kids in the picture, and attempt to just have three in order to get a semblance of smiling, happy faces, looking at the camera.

Fail miserably at that as well.

Finally distract them with a variety of toys and think this is the best you will get.

Decide to just take a picture of one child at a time. And the only one that will cooperate is the big brother.

Finally decide to pull out the high chairs where you will have three trapped and then just have to corral the big brother into standing still.

Realize that getting him to stand still in the front is just not going to happen. Decide to trap him in the back with the threat that if he touches the tree he will go to bed. Use ~~bribes~~ incentives of “special treats” and chocolate to get this to be ~~marginally~~ effective.

Yet again, realize it’s just not working. Take a snack break. Give the children some food, and regroup. Go through photos and try to figure out what worked and what didn’t. Then realize that you didn’t try using a jingly, funny, penguin with a rattle in it as an attention getter. DUH! What WERE you thinking?! Mommy’s monkey sounds and funny raspberry noises just don’t cut it anymore.

And there you have it. Success. Thank goodness Christmas is only once per year!

Two by two…

December 2, 2012 ~ hunt2005 ~ 3 Comments

So I’ve discovered most good things in the world come in sets of two. Unfortunately, triplets come in threes. It makes for a bit of a connundrum. When buying a toy that comes in a pack of two, do we buy two packs, and have a spare for when one inevitably gets lost? Do we buy three packs and then they each get two toys? But then what about the fights they have when they realize that there’s three of two different items and someone wants the one the other has? And what do you do when there really is no option but to get the set of two and then the third child is left out? Thankfully we have big brother to solve most issues (we buy two sets of two and he gets one too), but sometimes two is just not enough.

Two arms?

There’s a solution for that:

Only two sides on the Mega Blocks cart…. No solution found yet!

Only two seats in a double stroller…

There’s a solution there though!

They finally came out with a twins float for the pool. No triplet yet though.

Two swings at most parks… And they don’t fit like this anymore! Good thing someone typically doesn’t want to swing!

So yes. The world was designed for things to come in twos. Animals, people, toys, friends. Two hands, two feet, two ears, two eyes. And then there are triplets who decide to turn the world upside down. But only for the better.

I think Mark Twain said it best:

“Sufficient unto the day is one baby. As long as you are in your right mind, don’t you ever pray for twins. Twins amount to a permanent riot. And there aren’t any real differences between triplets and an insurrection.” ~Mark Twain

Reason #536…

October 23, 2012 ~ hunt2005 ~ 1 Comment

Why multiples are awesome. Built in see-saw pals!

16 months!

October 22, 2012 ~ hunt2005 ~ 4 Comments

Wow, how the time flies. It’s incredible to think that we’ve been here for a year now. The babies are well over a year old (both adjusted and birth age). We are doing things for the second time. Pumpkin patches, trips to the aquarium, even just walks around the neighborhood are such a different world than they were one year ago.

I haven’t gotten one of me holding all three yet this month, but you can see it’s getting a bit harder to do (this was 14 months!)! We’re going to try to keep going a few more months, but we might have to call it quits shortly!

Our last trip to Dennis the Menace park was an interesting one. We met up with a couple of friends (they have a boy in Aiden’s class who is his best friend, and a baby girl the same age as our triplets).

Sand is a wonderful thing. It’s fun. Tastes good. and makes cool things happen when you throw it in the air.

Water Bottles are second only to sand. It’s even better if you try to drink the water and then play in the sand immediately after.

We don’t fit two children per swing anymore! It makes it hard since most parks only have two infant swings. Thankfully, two of the three thought the sand was much more fun than the swing.

And again. Water Bottle>Sand>Swing.

We learned how to lure Valerie back where we wanted by using monkey, and that Jaina would go anywhere as long as you gave her a water bottle. Jacen really just wanted to play in the sand.

Oh, and birds are smarter than we give them credit for. Blanket + four toddlers + a bag of white popcorn = swarms of birds ready to eat it all. Some were even big enough to fly away with Jaina, I believe.

I have to admit – the park with four mobile children is a much different experience than when we had one. Before, our biggest worry was Aiden falling or getting hurt, so we’d stay near him, mostly in the back of the park near the big play set and slide. Now? Our worry is a child running out the entrance. The best part of the park is it only has one way out. One way in. One way out. Just the way I like it. So this time? We positioned ourselves by the gate. We’d look for Aiden every now and then to make sure he was playing nice, but mostly he had free reign with his friend while we kept the babies from running out the door.

Jacen just wanted to crawl and eat. He was not phased one bit if his popcorn had sand on it. Or if his sand had popcorn in it. Either way he was having fun.

Jaina was content with the food and running until she saw the water bottle. All bets were off after that.

Val was our little safety guard. She was standing and a couple older kids came running past and, I swear, if it had been real human language instead of baby-speak, it would have sounded something like, “Slow down! You’re going to get hurt! You almost knocked me over! Walk don’t run!” She even bent over as she was yelling and I’m sure if she could waggle her finger she would have. Our little mother hen always at work.

In true MoM fashion…

October 6, 2012 ~ hunt2005 ~ 1 Comment

So I normally tend to be a little OCD lately. We get ready to leave half an hour before we really need to (and are often still running late due to unforeseen circumstances). I have their shoes in a bag ready to go so we can just take all three pairs out at once without searching for them. The car is stocked with extra clothes/jackets/diapers/wipes/snacks so that we don’t need to pack a bag every time we leave the house. The wagon is permanently stowed in the car for the same reason.

Well, today was one of those days. We KNEW we had family photos this afternoon. There was no question in my mind as to the date. I even looked on the site three times to make sure I had the right time down (I thought it was at 2:30, turns out it was at 3:30). Double checked it again to make sure I read it right. Never once did I double check the date.

We arrived, and I didn’t see the family scheduled before us nor did I see the photographer. I started to worry I had the wrong location. Checked the event page again – nope, I had the right place. Hmm, where is she?! I almost called, and decided to finally check the date just to make sure. Oh look. Not only was I 5 minutes early, but I was also 28 days early. Yes. Days.

So here we are, missing part of our football game, everyone dressed up (hair straightened and makeup on too!), standing in an empty park, and the kids are having a blast playing in the leaves. Well, guess I should at least pull out the camera since they look so cute!

I cannot wait to go back there in a month, with a photographer who actually knows how to use her camera, where we can get all six of us in a photo together, and get some Christmas card photos taken. But for now, here’s the kids today! It’ll be fun to see how much they change in the next month!

Why I love our Pre-K

September 24, 2012 ~ hunt2005 ~ Leave a comment

Last year we missed out on field trips. The school just didn’t do them. Their version of a field trip was walking around the neighborhood. While yes, that is fun, I missed a good old field trip.

This year? They get to take trips almost once a month. And on top of that? The kids can ride in a school bus if they so choose!

The kids were given the job of picking apples. The trees were low enough to the ground that even the shortest of the kids could do so without issue, and Aiden certainly had no trouble.

The babies even were allowed to tag along for the field trip!

After the kids got to eat apples and drink juice, and even bring some home!

This is a story…

September 20, 2012 ~ hunt2005 ~ Leave a comment

Of a boy name Jacen.

He is such a very happy little boy.

He also likes to climb. Now, I’ve never had a climber before. Aiden was cautious (overly so). He didn’t jump until he was like 3 because he didn’t want to fall. And climbing? Out of the question. This boy, however, has guts. Now, he has no desire to walk. But climbing? Oh yeah, that’s totally his thing.

And it’s not just the couch. High chair on to dining table? Yes please. Try to climb out of my carseat and out the back of the car? Absolutely. And the wagon is not very hard either. No matter how tightly mommy straps him in, he can manage to get up onto his feet and some how slide out. And you know that remote you put on top of the couch so we couldn’t play with it? Yeah, you’re funny.

Before

After

Oh, and you know those pesky things called door knobs? Those aren’t so hard either. And they lead to fun places like my brother’s bedroom. Oh, and his bed? That’s a piece of cake.

Guess I don’t have to worry about him getting in and out of a big boy bed when the time comes…

And Babies Make Six

Photos