triplets

Two by two…

~ 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?

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There’s a solution for that:

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

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Only two seats in a double stroller…

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There’s a solution there though!

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

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

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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

Thanksgiving across the years

~ hunt2005 ~ 2 Comments

Rewind to Thanksgiving day 2010…

I woke up early that morning, and decided (though I knew I was a few days early still) to test and see if our plan had worked. If the IUI had worked. If we really were going to get a shot at this whole pregnancy thing again. And much to my dismay, it was positive. Very faintly. So faintly that Steven wasn’t sure it was there at first.

The first concern? A neighborhood Thanksgiving potluck involving wine. Crap. How do I avoid wine in front of ladies that I’ve had plenty of nights enjoying a glass or two with while our husbands were out to sea?! I decided to tell a couple people, mostly because I couldn’t hold it in, but also because I knew someone would catch on!

During the dinner I went back for seconds. Was teased about how I was pregnant after all so that was okay. I started to feel guilty when I went back for thirds, but was gently reminded by my husband that, “You’re eating for three!” (our little joke since there were two follicles that we knew of, and knew the possibility of twins existed!). Little did we know that the next year….

We would have three little munchkins joining us at the table! Sort of. They didn’t really get to partake much (though I might have slipped them a bite of mashed potato!) And certainly were a lot quieter than they were this year.

And then we have 2012:

Chaos, mayhem, and destruction abound with three 17 month old toddlers! Hard to believe they are 17 months now! Fun to think back at all we have to be thankful for on a Thanksgiving holiday, and what the future will hold with four little (and not so little) ones running around.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all. To those near and far away, to those home safely and those deployed, to those alone and with family on this wonderful holiday. Here’s to the start of a very merry holiday season!! Cheers!

How to carve pumpkins…

~ hunt2005 ~ 1 Comment

… when you have four extra sets of hands.

Step 1) Strip all small children naked. Cut the top of the pumpkins off to ensure full messiness can be achieved.

Step 2) Let the oldest of the children remove the insides of the pumpkin. Have parent #2 finish entirely scooping the second pumpkin out in the time that the oldest child manages to get one seed and a few strings of pumpkin.

Step 3) Let other small children play in the pumpkin gunk. Older son wants nothing to do with the ickiness of it, so let the other three make up for his lack of excitement.

Step 4) Let younger brother show older brother how it’s done.

Step 5) Quickly carve the shapes on the pumpkins and let older son help every few minutes to include him, yet ensure that pumpkins are done before it is too dark to see anymore.

And there you have it. Pumpkin carving with 4 under 5.

16 months!

~ 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.

Three easier than one?

~ hunt2005 ~ 3 Comments

It’s funny. People always make a comment about how I must have help, or how tired I must be or how hard it is. Honestly? Not so much. I hadn’t really realized how different parenting styles are between moms of multiples (MoMs) and those who have one kid at a time. Even if they have 20. For us, cry it out was a necessity, not a choice. Bottle propping? Totally acceptable. Rinsing a bottle and reusing instead of sanitizing it and having one for each feed? Convenient. Not bothering with infant carseats because at 20 pounds each (plus children) I might as well be carrying a grown adult in my arms.

I hadn’t really thought about how easy we have it. People comment about how we are finally getting sleep? Um, we’ve been sleeping through the night since 4 months old (minus the rare sick nights or teething, etc). They make a comment about how hard it is to go grocery shopping? Yeah, we do it anyways. Because you just have to. And why not? The car ride there and back they’re all buckled in and can’t go anywhere!

That whole “I am going to cry if I get put down so you must hold me all the time” mentality of singleton babies? Yeah, we don’t have any of that. They did tummy time enjoyably since they came home. And being put down is a way of life. No, we’re not mean parents. And we’re not cold. And we’re not lacking for love in this house. It’s just a different type! They’re self-sufficient, they entertain each other, and big brother is here to help when I need a third hand!

All of those little rules and guidelines go out the window – it’s about survival. The TV is typically on (not that they are watching or engaged by it, but we definitely don’t keep it off just to keep them from it). We don’t spoon feed in this house – everything is finger foods and baby fed. Sometimes, we wear pajamas for two days straight because they’re clean and mommy has enough laundry to do as it is. And sometimes the babies get a bite of cookie or other things that are frowned upon. Normally because big brother gave it to them.

What does this mean? Absolutely nothing. Other than mommy can sit at the computer and get work done while the babies play because that’s what they know, and when babies cry in this house we wait a few seconds to see how bad it is and if it really requires mommy’s help or if it’s just an angry cry because brother took our toy. We learn to share, cooperate, play, self-soothe, self-feed, self-assist, fight back, stand up for ourselves, and many other traits that most kids don’t learn until they’re in their 20s (at the earliest). Why? Because that’s just how we roll in this house.

Now that I’ve filled you all in on my little secret, though, I’ll go back to pretending I’m super mom when asked, insisting it’s the coffee that has gotten me through the year, and yawning excessively when in conversation just to make myself look even more amazing. Because, well, why not? I guess I should go, there’s a baby on the couch and my superwoman cape needs adjusting!

This is a story…

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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 another one takes off…

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I didn’t get the good video of her walking across the room because apparently I turned it off instead of on (mommy duh moment there!) But here is a montage of the newest Val clips 🙂

Val Walking

and some photos just, well, because I think they looked pretty darn cute today!

Jaina running away from me:

This one was actually taken by big brother. The girls had escaped down the hall way to wreck havoc on any room with the door open and I got them to walk back with me. Thankfully the camera was near by and Aiden has become a pretty good photographer!

The eldest daughter thinks she’s a puppy dog and likes to carry things by her mouth. Today’s toy was the circle from the shape sorter. She likes to breath in and out quickly to make a loud breathing sound while doing so.

And big man got his hair trimmed today. The curls were getting so long in the back that the poor boy would wake up with them matted and sweaty. He was a champ and so far is my favorite child to get hair cut on – he sat there and didn’t move. At all. It was heaven compared to taking big brother who acted like I was chopping off a part of his body and scream like he was in excruciating pain. He’s better now. We just have to bribe him. Jacen was just enjoying time pretending he was an only child, I think.

On that note, Jacen got to pretend like he was an only child tonight for an hour. We play that game by taking a child out in public by themselves where we can take the Rav4, load in and out through the door rather than the trunk, and carry him around like a king.

He gave the strangers funny looks as they passed us. I think he was curious why they weren’t assaulting us when it was just me and him and they do when it’s the Hunt Horde walking down the sidewalk…

Latest and Greatest

~ hunt2005 ~ 3 Comments

Sorry for not posting much recently!! On a daily basis I run out of time and then get overwhelmed by the twenty bajillion things I want to post about, and with no clue where to start I just don’t.

I did however manage to update the site with a page for each kid with their yearly photos (birth, and then each birthday).

Aiden

Jacen

Jaina

Val

Life is fun around here. The babies are getting to be so hillarious. Jaina almost has hair (finally!). Val is still bald. Jacen is my loveable little teddy bear who needs a haircut but I cannot bring myself to get it done.

Recently the babies turned 13 months. How did that happen!?! Here’s the montly photo of me attempting to hold all three. Not sure how much longer we’ll make it!

The babies pull up like champs now, and *can* walk with assistance (but normally don’t want to). Val will let go of the couch/chair/etc and stand by herself, for prolonged periods, but has no interested in walking.

Jaina, on the other hand, loves the concept of walking. She walks with only one hand holding on now, and managed to take her first step yesterday. She’ll only do it towards the couch, and only when she wants to, but it’s hillarious. We finally managed to get it on video today!

Jaina’s first steps

Currently their favorite food is, well, everything. They especially like blueberries though. They’ll eat a flat of them at a meal if I let them.

We’ve been watching the Olympics non stop and I swear that Jaina is trying to do backflips already! She’s hillarious.We’ve banned her from watching diving and gymnastics because she thinks that we should include couch diving as an Olympic sport and I’m tired of her practicing her 3 1/2 reverse.

She also likes to play with mommy’s hat.

Courtesy of Georgetown Cupcake. Yes, the one in D.C. Did you know they ship across the country? Yes. Yes they do. The sticks are just from shipping, don’t pay any attention to those.

We are 100% off of bottles, they drink everything from sippy cups now. We wash a total of three sippies a day (just refill it as needed) and it is miraculous. I almost couldn’t remember what it was like to have the top of the dishwasher mostly empty at night!

Sippy cup babies, oh so cute!

 

One year ago

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We were on the road. With three newborn babies. Driving over a thousand miles from WA to CA to begin the next part of our military journey.
I cannot believe we’ve been here over a year. I cannot believe that the babies have been with us for over a year. I cannot believe they were every this small.

imageI tried putting them in a friends’ infant carseat the other day and yeah… let’s just say that it didn’t exactly fit!

The drive itself was manageable. Best part of having 6 week olds? All they do is sleep. And eat. And then sleep some more. So it was 2-3 hours of driving, stop to feed babies, drive some more. I remember stopping at a rest stop around 2 am thinking that if we could just get all the way to Monterey we would sleep for a week at that rate. But it sure beat dragging out two suitcases, portable baby beds, and all the other stuff that comes with having children at a hotel!

And then there is always the fun of staying in a hotel! At least back then they stayed on the bed where you put them!

Packing out in a new house with four children is a lot of fun. Boxes are the best (and cheapest) toy that you will ever find.

As much as people look incredulously when we say that we moved with 6 week old triplet infants who had been out of the NICU for less than two weeks and were still nursing every 3 hours on the dot and a 4 year old… okay, now that I put it that way, it does sound a *tad* insane… I just laugh at them. Because, really, what other move will I ever have where I can put three of my children in carseats buckled in and keep them out of the way, and have a child who enjoys unpacking boxes and putting things away for me, and is still too shy to run out the door while it’s open?? Wish me luck next time. I think with a 6 yr old and three 2 year olds I’ll laugh and look back thinking triplet infants was easy!