Huntsville Trip - Pictures

Last week we packed up the boys and went to visit my sister in Huntsville. I'll update more about it soon, but for now I have a slideshow of pictures from the trip. Everyone seemed to have a great time - I know I did. Thanks Angela for having us!!!

Enjoy!

18 Month Checkup

Last week, on the 16th, we took the boys for their 18 month checkup. We usually take them into the office in their strollers to attempt to control the chaos. Being strapped in usually helps for a little while. Unfortunately, I forgot about the dr. appointment and left the strollers with my mom so they could pack them up in their van for our trip to Huntsville. Thankfully, the boys did very well. We had a little time in the waiting room where the boys ran around. The boys enjoyed looking at the aquarium and watching "Nemo" swim around. Alex tried to say Nemo but it kept coming out Elmo.

The doctor checked them out and they were all doing swell.
Alex: 26 lbs. 2 oz (75th %tile) and 32.9 inches (75th %tile)
Logan: 22 lbs. 0 oz (5-10th %tile) and 30.3 inches (25th %tile)
Nick: 25 lbs. 8 oz (50-75th %tile) and 31.9 (50th %tile)

The only concern was Nick's reaction to peanut butter. We have given the boys peanut butter before and Alex loves it. Logan enjoys it okay. Nick would eat one cracker with it and be done. Just wasn't interested. Oddly enough, on the nights we had peanut butter, Nick's face/chin would get red. It was hard to tell if it was a reaction or just dry skin from winter weather so we didn't have it again for a while. Last week we had it out again and the boys ate some. Poor Nick definitely had a reaction this time. It didn't seem to bother him, but his lip became swollen and his eye looked like someone punched him. This picture was taken after the swelling was already going down (and not the best pic of the little guy).

After mentioning this to the doctor, she suggested we get a blood test to check for allergies. I dropped the other two boys off at home (with the nanny - it was about nap time after all) and Nick and I went to get the blood drawn. He was a super trooper! He did pretty well while we checked in. He sat on my lap and even tried to help me write out his name/information on the forms. Granted, his hand writing still needs some work and so does mine when he keeps taking the pen. We climbed into the chair and he just looked at everyone while they prepped. He didn't cry when they put the tourniquet on but did cry when she poked him. He quickly recovered though as soon as she was done. Poor little guy... A couple of days ago we got the results back and he is in fact allergic to Peanuts. That was about all though. Now we get to take him to a Pediatric Allergist Specialist over in Peoria. Hopefully he can tell us how severe it is and what we need to do. In the mean time, we have a couple of Epi-pens just in case he has a reaction.

Back on a happy note... Later that day after the doctor appointments, Grandma Judy and Grandpa Barry stopped by and dropped off a new picnic table for the boys. They were excited to be able to go outside and play with Grandma and Grandpa. They enjoy running up the hill and along the top (back and forth). Although they didn't exactly "sit" at the table, they did like to climb all over it! It is a very handy table for outdoor snack time!

Easter Egg Hunt - Video

On Saturday, I took some video of the boys hunting for eggs. I've been trying to edit it together but with no luck. That's where Grandpa B came to the rescue... so, thanks to Dad, I now present... Easter Egg Hunt - 2009...

18 Months Old!

Today is the boys' 1/2 birthday - Happy 18 month birthday Alex, Logan and Nick!
On Thursday we go for their 18 month checkup and after that I'll post their new stats. Until then, I just wanted to post some random reason my "babies" are so awesome (the good and the bad)...

• They will put anything in their mouths. Right now Alex is licking the heat vent. Usually, that's Logan's trick. Nick has been known to fit an entire pacifier in his mouth - the whole thing!
• They love boxes. They will climb in them and play contently for a long time. Or push them all over, climb on them and just stand tall, or pull them over to reach something normally out of reach.
• They run around crazy-like right before bath time. They get stripped down to the diaper and then just run around the room. They may go in circles or just run back and forth or chase a brother trying to point out brother's belly button. They like to find their own belly buttons. It is crazy the energy they have and burn right before bath time!
• Speaking of bath time... They love baths. They try to climb in before their diapers are off. They love to splash the water or turn the faucet on and off. They are not so fond of the shower-spray-down but they love to squirt water on themselves from the rubber ducks. A duck says "quack"
• Laughter is awesome... and contagious.
• They give lovin's to the stuffed animals and each other and best of all - to us! It is adorable to watch and better to get a big ol' hug.
• Light switches are a big thing right now. They love to turn lights on and off. Poor Logan isn't quite able to reach the light switch in the living room, but his brothers can (standing on the box).
• I love the way they notice Mr. Moon on nights that he's visible. Usually it's a full moon that they notice, but they will stare out the window for a long time pointing and saying hi/bye. The last time he was out (visible), after getting jammies on, both Logan and Nick remembered he was out there and wanted to wave bye-bye before going back to watch TV.
• I Love, Love, Love the fact that they can communicate with us more now. There is still room for improvement of course - we get a lot of grunting and pointing. But when Nick tells me he wants milk (signing to me) there is no question about what he means. They say "more" a lot when they like something and want, well, more. It's even cute when they start signing sleep because they are so tired they can't play any more. And of course the words they are saying and getting better at are just adorable to hear. My favorite tonight was Alex saying TV, which is more like Tyah. I'm also trying to get Alex to say Monster Truck (since he says big truck so much). It comes out more like meh-meh truckt. They're also starting to mimic some words we're saying like hat or hot - out of the blue they just say the word and it catches you off guard that they were paying attention.
• If they don't have the words yet, they still have the ability to answer yes/no questions. And they'll answer with emphatic head bobbing. Do you want to go downstairs and play? 3 big yes's. Of course my favorite (and mainly cause it happened to Adam) - this weekend on our way up to visit Grandma Judy & Grandpa Barry, we were hoping the boys would sleep in the car - of course they didn't. Adam said something like "you want to sleep" and Logan simply shook his head "no". Every time we suggested sleeping - Logan said "no". So cute (although maybe you had to be there - typing it out didn't make it sound as cute as I know it was at the time)!
• Recently, the dare devils have been getting more adventurous. Tonight I found them diving head first off the couch, usually in a slow manner. Alex has been known to dive off without so much caution. I also saw Nick tonight falling backwards off the couch. He's start off sitting right on the edge and then just scooching enough till he fell right off. At first, it was onto some pillows, but by the end of the night it the pillows were no longer there.
• Some of the not so fun things, but still adorable and make me smile once I know they're not hurt - tantrums. It is crazy dealing with them, especially when they seem to come out of no where and for no reason. And it's annoying when they try hurting themselves - banging heads into the floor - or Logan's newest thing is to bite his own hand. But it's kinda cute too.

I never imagined I'd have triplets. The last 18 months has taught me that I'm so lucky and grateful that we did!!!

Happy Easter - Part 2

Happy Easter everyone, again! Below is a slide show from our day today with Grandma Judy, Grandpa Barry, Aunt Audrey and Uncle David. The boys were not super interested today in the eggs. They just wanted to run free. Grandma and Grandpa have such a big yard and they wanted to check out everything. Unfortunately, it was very windy and the wind was cold! We didn't stay out too long, but they did have a good time running around. Hope everyone else had as great of an Easter weekend as we did! Enjoy some of the pics...

Happy Easter - Part 1

Happy Easter everyone! Below is a slideshow from our day yesterday with Grandma Carol, Grandpa Brandy and Uncle Brandon. Great-Grandma Kreher and Great-Grandpa Brandy even stopped by to help us hunt eggs.

Today we're heading up to visit Grandma Judy and Grandpa Barry for more Easter fun. I'll update those pics tonight!

Pics from Today

Here are a few pics from today... Working on some more, but here are these for now...

Almost 18 months old!

Next week, the boys will be 18 months old. They do so many things each day that are new or interesting, I need to be better at capturing them here on the blog. Is it too late to make a new year's resolution?!
I know I won't think of all the cool things they're doing now, but here are a few...

• Ring around the rosies: I know I've mentioned this before, but they have gotten better at it. I still love the way Alex says "Ah-shes, Ah-shes" but now they all like to say down and collapse to the floor. This is the one time I like how they collapse.
• Speaking of collapsing, they are big on tantrums right now. They will fall to a heap on the floor and typically bang their forehead into the ground (sometimes even twice). Alex is the best at leaving a mark, Logan is the best at throwing his whole body down and Nick is more careful - seems that hitting your head actually hurts a bit.
• We love to share our toys and books, unless we don't. Sometimes they are great at trading with their brother (i.e. I want what you have, so if i give you something else, I can take what I really want). Seems they've learned that from us trying to distract them. Nick is especially good at sharing/trading. And sometimes, he's just doing it to be nice or to help us distract his brother. Of course, when it is a favorite toy and a brother has it, well, see the bullet above! They may move on to play with something else, eventually and grudgingly, but out of the corner of his eye, he'll see the second his brother puts the toy down and then he's off! And of course, even if brother was done with it, as soon as he sees someone coming to take it, he changes his mind and wants it back. So, in general, we either get along or we don't... I think it's called sibling rivalry and it won't end any time soon (right, Ang/Brandon?!). Here is a pic of them sitting in their boxes (another fav) sharing books and toys - it was a good day.
• Trucks are still a big thing. Everything is a truck - car, van, motorcycle. We love to watch the garbage men go by and wave at them. And of course, Adam and I love to hear Alex say "Big Truck". It is more like "BIIIGGG Truckt" where the big is louder and the truckt is normal. Other than an additional t on the end of truck, it is very clearly pronounced.
• We love to go for walks in our choo-choo wagon. I can even get them to say "choo-choo" while we're walking! They also love to talk while we walk, pointing out trucks (saw that one coming didn't ya) and birds and trees or just babbling consistently. Lots of "truckt" and "caw-caw" (birds). Here is a picture of us with our friends going for a walk. They came over last weekend for a play date. Abby (pushed by daddy Brian) is almost 3 months old and Skyler (pushed by daddy Derek) is 6 months old.
• We love to play outside. They have a few toys out there to push around and a car to play in. They also like to swing or just walk up and down the hill. We went to a park to play a few weekends ago and they enjoyed the slide and climbing on the toys. They mainly enjoyed running all over the place with all the open space. I think it was a bonus to see mom and grandma running all over the place trying to wrangle them!
• They still enjoy reading and will sit and flip through book after book after book. They sometimes share books and all have their favorites. Of course, the favorites are usually the favs of everyone. One of their newest favorites is "Goodnight Gorilla". They had a smaller version of it (actually a normal size) but as with all of the favorites, tore it up into chunks. Now they have a huge version of it which takes up their whole lap plus some. It is awesome to watch them read it and laugh at all the same spots or act surprised when she finds the gorilla in her bed. They even read the title of the book to us when they're on the first page. Granted, it sounds more like gog-gog-gogogo with a few r's in there somewhere. Love it!
• Climbing is our favorite past time. They love to climb up on the couch, onto the back of the couch, up on the storage cubes, onto the table, up into chairs, everywhere! They are even starting to attempt climbing out of their cribs. I don't think they realize really what they're doing, but both Logan and Nick have been caught with one leg swung up on the railing. With a little effort, they'll be over the edge in no time... Yikes!!!
• Talking is interesting. Some times they will have complete conversations - just in a whole other language. Nick is especially good at the long monologue, and he gets into it with his head and face, making sure you are following along with him. Sometimes they talk to each other and you have to wonder if the other understands - they have to, right?! They are getting better at telling us what they want. A lot of times it's a point and grunt, but I'm told that's the guy way. They will sign a number of words, mainly milk, eat, more, sleep, sometimes play. I think Nick even signed banana this morning. Poor kid was starving and I was trying to teach him new signs! He just laughed when I'd sign cereal. Even if they don't say the words, they love to answer yes (or no) by emphatically shaking their heads.
• Who am I? Well, typically I'm dada even though if I remind them, they can say mama. Whatever, I'll get over it. The cool thing is that they can all point to their brother when named - Where's Alex? Everyone points to Alex (although Alex may point to a brother). Where's Nick? Everyone points to Nick (again, he probably points to brother). Where's Logan? You get the point. Alex can even say Nick (sorta - at least you realize it's supposed to be Nick) and Nick can even say Alex (same story here). No one really can say Logan (although A & N say something, just not intelligible) and Logan doesn't even try to say his brother's names.

Well, I know there's more I'm forgetting, but for now, here's a chunk of them. I'll post more as I think of them! I'll leave you with a few cute pictures of the boys. Grandma Judy made some new hooded bath towels for us and the boys loved playing with them. Question is, are our little Jedi leaning to the light or dark side?!