Relaxing

Colton's new favorite way to lay.

Playing Favorites

As J wiggled himself under the toy bar to get cheek to cheek with C, he declared, "you're my favorite brother!" Sorry Kaden!

Snug as 3 bugs in a rug

It's the triplets first hotel stay.  They say the beds at Hampton inn are cozy.  I hope tonight when we return from the Polar Express they'll make room for me!!

Love and blueberries

J has been eating frozen blueberries and J loves his baby brother.

Pretty

I'm wearing makeup today and it seems J noticed.  

Jameson:  "You made your eyes like that Mommy?"

Me: "Yes I did."  

J: "Looks pretty Mommy."

Almost makes up for him calling me "stupid Mommy" earlier this morning.

Dear Santa

J just dictated his letter to Santa to me.

Almost famous

Hey check out who was featured on Oshkosh's Instagram (and has over 300 likes!!)

Thumb sucker!

It seems we've got a thumb sucker on our hands!  All three babies will sometimes suck a fist or thumb ( or each other's faces) but for 3-4 days Ainsley has been pretty consistently finding her thumb every chance she gets.

Lunch

J is having frozen Maine blueberries with his lunch. He might be stained for life.

Benefits of breast feeding!

I've got more than 6 years of breast feeding under my belt now and I know all the benefits to babies and mothers but since having these triplets I might just say  not having bottles and pump parts to wash ALL the time is the number 1 benefit that I didn't appreciate with the older 3 kids.  The triplets will be 12 weeks old tomorrow and we've yet to buy any formula which is great BUT I pump like crazy and we wash a seemingly endless stack of bottles and pump parts everyday.  Someday our counter won't be filled with these and my hands won't be peeling apart!!

Helper!

J is the biggest helper with everything around here.  Today it was putting all the babies' books on the shelf I got at goodwill. 

Today he also told me I was "the best mom ever in the world"

I think we'll keep this one.

7 years (and 3 months)!

Kaden finally had his 7 year check up!  Here are his stats:

Weight- 58 lbs

Height- 4'2"

He got a lecture on eating fruits and vegetables.  It seems to have had no effect on him though... He also got one shot which required 2 people to hold him down in addition to the one giving the shot.  Fun times!!

Taste tester

There was some Halloween candy making going on here this weekend.   Don't know what we would have done without our little taste tester...

Bath time

I just found this on my phone.  It appears I never posted it.  Check out my sweet (clean) babies...

A little splash of color

While I was getting the babies ready for bed, J decided to do some home improvements.  This picture does not capture the paint all over him and the floor as well.  Thank goodness for helpful big sisters.  She discovered it, stopped him and helped me clean up!

Super J-mo loves his babies

Today I painted J's face to make him a super hero.  He then modified my design and went on to "love his baby". My earlier post shows my cute face painting- here are two "after" shots. 

Big cuteness

In case you thought the babies were the only cute ones around here...you are wrong! Some recent cuteness from big brother J.

Focus on the positive

I'm trying hard to continue to feel grateful and lucky, but I think this week might be  out to get us.  After putting Baxter down, having the dryer break, getting lice AGAIN and now having 2/3 of the babies not let me out them down, I'm struggling a bit.  But there are still many GOOD things happening here this week.  Let's focus on those.

 Babies have been only getting 5-6 hour stretches at night.

 Neighbors I barely know brought dinner over.

 The swaddle fairy left new fleece swaddles at our door.  Swaddle fairy turned out to be another neighbor I barely know that left a big bag of baby clothes over the weekend. She bought them at yard sales and washed and folded them then left them in the garage for us.

 We have 8 free tickets to Sesame Street live Saturday!

 All three older kids have enjoyed bring a friend week at dance.

  The Bouchers and Dubes are still carting Mackinna and Kaden all over creation for us.

  Our new natural gas heating system is coming along nicely.

 It's been a beautiful week.  75 in mud October is pretty great.

  I still have 4 weeks to be home with my beautiful healthy babies.

 A mountain of laundry for a family of 8 that I can't do, another battle with lice and life without Baxter aren't going to convince me the universe is against me - not yet.  I am choosing to focus on the positive today.

  

Watch out!

There's a whole lotta spit up going on around here.  They've gotten Daddy in the mouth, mommy in the eye, each other's heads and arms and shoulders, of course down my shirt a hundred times as well as ever floor, changing table, crib sheet, play mat and baby seat in the house.

Triplet photos

Look at these big kids just hanging out...

Shortly after this photo they began screaming and insisted on being held.  Then they finally fell asleep in my arms.  This was my view.  I was hungry and thirsty, needed to pump and pick up the house, but here I sat because I was afraid if dropping one if I tried to get up.

Tiny toes

It's taken a while since I only have 45 seconds at a time, but I finally finished the babies salt dough foot print ornaments!  I can't wait to pull the out each year at Christmas and be in awe of how tiny they were!

Laundry?

Mackinna told me this morning she thinks we need a bigger hamper in the babies' room.  I'm not sure why she'd think that- I mean it had been about 36 hours since it was last emptied...

Tiny hand

Jameson and I made some salt dough the other day to make imprints of the triplets tiny feet.  He loved playing with the dough.  When he was done we rolled it out and made an imprint of his little hand.  Today he decorated it with paint and glitter glue!  What a work of art!

My Babies!

This boy loves his babies.  He just wants to "kiss her?" About a hundred times a day. What a good big brother!

Not tired!

Yesterday I caught J in mid yawn and asked him if he was tired.  He quickly replied, "No I'm opening my mouth cause I'm hungry Mommy!"  He fell asleep in the car moments later.

Wrestle or Snuggle?

I came back to bed after feeding babies to find this.  When I showed the boys in the morning Jsmeson said they were wrestling!!!

Sneak peak

The triplets had some photos done last week.  Here is the first glimpse of our 3 peas in a pod!  Such little angels.

Masterpiece

J and I collaborated on this beautiful work of art!

Home sweet home

We are heading home after 8 days!!! 

Babies!

Ainsley, Colton and Brinley!

First day of school and first day out of the womb!

Busy week here to say the least... We welcomed 3 new babies AND the big kids started 4th and 2nd grade!!! How did they get so big?

Triplets!!!

The triplets arrived last night.  Since it was the older kids first day of school they didn't get to meet them till this afternoon.  They were ALL so excited.  Even Kaden who seemed least interested was a baby hog and he came with this beautiful picture of his new siblings to show off!

Hair today, gone tomorrow

It's been a couple weeks but I'm just now getting around to mailing in our hair to Pantene, which reminded me I never posted pictures!

Mackinna and I each will be donating 9-10" to Pantene Beautiful a Lengths program for the second time in two years.  Hen loves her hair short and I'm happy too that it's not always dragging through her food and hanging in her face!  I do worry about having to do a bun for dance though!!!!  Hopefully it'll grow just a bit before competition season...

Big news - big boy!

J wore underpants all day yesterday without a single accident!  Maybe just maybe we won't have 4 kids in diapers at the same time after all!  

Bye bye mullet!

Since he is 2 years old and was really starting to have a curly mullet, we decided it was time for a very small trim.  J had his first haircut this morning.  The big kids say you can't even tell, but he is pretty delighted and Mark is hopeful that people will stop calling him a girl.

J's 2 year check up

Jameson went to see Dr Youth today.  With all the appointments I've had lately, he was terribly confused and kept asking, "Doctor, check babies Mommy?"  I tried explaining the Dr was going to check my big boy, but he didn't seem on board until we actually got to the exam room, then he was all about it.  "More Doctor Mommy?" he said when Dr Youth went to leave.  He loved having his ears checked and did everything they asked of him, including stepping on the big kids scale and backing up to the wall mounted measuring stick, like the older kids do.  He told me he had to go potty during the exam, and held it until we were done, then went in the waiting room bathroom on the way out.  That is the first time I can say he held it- it was awesome.  Maybe if we make some big progress in the next couple of weeks we could avoid having 4 in diapers!

Here are his stats:
Height: 35.8"
Weight: 31lbs 3 oz
Head Circ: 20.98"

He seems so small to me, but after checking Kaden's 2 year stats, he's actually almost exactly the same. I was shocked!

2 years!

J turned 2 on Wednesday.  It's crazy to think he's so old!  He had cake and popcorn for breakfast at his request!  He really only ate my blueberries and the popcorn though.

There is nothing this boy can't say.  He is like a parrot!  He loves boats- all types.  He loves grapes, blueberries and strawberries, but also junkie things too- cookies, icecream, hotdogs... His best buds (besides Daddy of course) are "Gracie and Dan."  Most of the time he is a pretty big fan for "Henna and Haden" too.  He is filled with sweetness but can start screaming with the best of them when he doesn't get his way.  J is a dare devil willing to try most things and rarely seems fazed when it ends badly- he's pretty tough, though he is afraid of thunder storms, loud noises and some animals.  He'll say "scared, scared" and ask his brave, protector- Daddy, to pick him up.  His favorite book is "going lobstering" though he calls it "big joe" (the lobsterman) we read it at least once a day.

He says when the babies come he is going to hug them, rock them and kiss them and when I ask who is going to be a big brother, he screams "me!" with delight, but currently he really doesn't live it when his older siblings snuggle with me or require too much attention so I do anticipate some jealously for sure...

His hair continues to be an amazing topic of conversation everywhere we go.  It requires some work to keep it from being matted up all the time, but he is typically good about sitting still while we spray and comb it.  It probably is about time to at least trim the back, because even at it's curliest, those pieces in the back are beginning to resemble a long curly mullet.  When they are combed straight- the back is probably longer than mine or Hen's since our hair cuts last week. (I'll post pictures from that)

Ready for his breakfast cake

His "new" wheels

Being 2 is exhausting

Fishing with daddy- they caught a "big bass!"

Using the triplets as a pillow at camp this weekend.

Art camp

Kaden finished up art camp last week.  Here is his magnificent masterpiece.  

Party week!

We've been partying all week here.  Kaden's (requested) surprise 7th party at the Southworth planetarium was Thursday night and was a huge hit.  Friday night at the Yarmouth Clam festival was like a party.  Today Jame-o had his 2nd birthday party at camp.  He was surround by his favorite people and got some toy boats.  What could be better?  It's been a really nice couple of days, but I am a little sad my boys pare growing so old so quickly!

A song by Kaden and Jameson

 Speaking of "let it go"  Here is a little video of J & K's duet version of it, featuring the xylophone.

Some videos

I just came across some videos I posted to Youtube but never shared here.  First is one of many  dances from Mackinna's recital this year.  It's her Lyrical  3 dance to "Let it Go"

Big boy

It's been a big week for our not quite two year old "man"!  He went to the dentist for the first time, started his movement, music and play class and did some serious big kid swimming, kayaking (or paddling as he calls it) and fishing at camp.  Don't tell him he's any younger than those big kids!

Morning snuggles

I had been awake forever, just lying in bed when I heard J calling from his crib.  I got up to get him and asked if he wanted to come snuggle with me.  He picks up his blanket and says, "nuggle!"  I said, "oh good.  I've been waiting all morning for someone to snuggle."  He put his head on my should and replies, "me too!"  Melt my heart!  How lovable is this boy?

Another artist

Jameson decorated himself tonight!

Bunny family

Some recent art by Kaden.  He asked me today to hang it up at work.

Jameson's first race!

Jame-o ran his first fun run today.  He had a blast!  You've never seen a kid happier to get an oversized t-shirt.