Bath Time Fun!

The babies seem to really love their bath time. The water is warm and they always really mellow out and give lots of great smiles! One of the greatest pictures is of Alexa "sitting" on the side of the sink waiting her turn while Josiah lounges while finishing up his bath...the look on her face is priceless! :)

Moving on up the street

We are pretty stoked to be moving to a house on 36th Ave near Judah. It is only 12 blocks away from our current flat so we get the benefit of knowing the neighborhood but a major increase in space. The new palace is a four bedroom three bath so there will be plenty of space for visitors. We are taking reservations already. Our Moms have been alternating staying with us during the week and they will now be able to actually have a room with a closet and a BATHROOM! This is a major upgrade from sleeping in the dining room.

We are especially sad to leave 24th Ave. We have lived here for nearly 4 years and there are many fond memories of parties and events here. The kids won't remember their first home but Rebecca and I will be sure to bore them to tears when we go out of the way to drive by our first flat 10 years from now. Moving day is Jan 3rd. We are planning to pack on Jan 2nd and hire some hands to help move the big stuff. Volunteers are welcome to join us next Friday. If you don't come, I completely understand as helping pack or move is like changing a poopie diaper. It might need to be done but it is not a fun experience at any stretch.

We had a very wonderful Christmas with lots of family. The kids were super good and it was surprising to see how well they handled being held by 20+ people in one night. The Dutra party in Antioch was an exceptionally vivacious one with at least 40 people enjoying Christmas eve together. The kids got lots of time with all of the relatives, ate and were off to sleep for 5 hours while the party continued until about 1am! We had more family on Christmas day and now are back at home with a loot of gifts and clothes that barely fit in the minivan.

We will be getting back into the normal routine now which will be good for both us and the kids.

Christmas Photo Shoot

We had a professional photographer take some pictures of the babies a couple of weeks ago. We had finally made a "birth announcement" and decided to combine it with our Christmas card this year. My mom bought the babies some cute Christmas outfits and so we decided to do a little photo shoot of our own. Isn't Joe the cutest Santa ever?

Chris Corbin Photography

We met Chris through Rebecca's Mom. He is a young photographer that is really skilled and affordable. I would highly reccomend anyone with a child to have him come for a shoot. His sitting fee is small and he will come to you if requested. He does a great job of having the patience to wait for the best time to snap the photo. His website is below:

Chris Corbin Photography

Flying solo at 1am

We recently have been trying to stretch the kids between feedings to eventually get them to sleep through the night. In this process, we have decided to stop using our night nanny. For those of you not aware, a night nanny is a high priced method for us to try to sleep through the night even when the babies do not (although Rebecca still has to get up to "pump"). For most families this is incredibly valuable if the babies are fussy at 1am and won't go back to sleep after a feed. For us the value was great at first but as the babies have been more regular in their sleeping and feeds, there is a lot of downtime for a night nanny. Recently, ours was providing a little white noise for the kids, catching some zzz's and snoring right along with them. We decided that we could cut back after trying a few nights on our own. With great success, the kids are now sleeping for 5-6 hours and then 5 hours so only one feed is needed at around 1am.

A few nights back, I woke up to help Rebecca and she was in feeding Alexa. To my surprise she was already done feeding the other two! Flying solo, she started feeding Alana thinking that I would wake up when Joe got a bit fussy. I missed my internal alarm clock and she kept feeding. By the time I was awake it was way too late. Recently, we were able to feed all three kids with just two of us in about 45 minutes.

Our favorite expressions come at these early morning feedings. I'll get some video up soon of how big their smiles are in the early morning.

Jardine Family Thanksgiving

We have always been the ones to travel to Colorado, until this year. For obvious reasons, we probably won't be doing too much traveling in the near future. Therefore, Eric's family decided to come to us this year. His mom & dad, sisters, brothers-in law, and nephew all came to San Francisco to celebrate Thanksgiving and to meet the babies. It was such a treat to have his whole family here together. Sheri & Jose even volunteered to stay one night with us and to help with the 1am feeding...what troopers! Thanks guys for a fun weekend!

Note the Smile on Grandpa's face













Jose smiling with all three














Sheri with Alana













Jeremy and Alexa












Joe with his pants expanded post Turkey milk

Headless Joe

We came home from a visit to the San Francisco Center mall Tuesday night and it looked like Josiah had left his head at the mall.

Supernanny and Great Grandma bonding

I just wanted to add some stories from the last weekend. Scott & I have had many adventures together from travels in Thailand & Cambodia to backpacking in Mammoth lakes and, of course, many epic ski days. This weekend visit marked an adventure of a whole new kind. Poop & bottles replaced steep tree lined chutes:) Fortunately, he came willing and able to do all things baby. When emailing the flight details he said, "Supernanny wil be there at 4pm on Friday." In the end, he proved to be a true natural. It was awesome when for one of the 3pm feedings, he told Rebecca, "I think we have this one. Do you want to go for a run?" She was happy to take him up on it. I think he might have a second career. Alexa was particularly fond of Scott's soothing techniques. She coos like an owl when she is happy and he had her cooing with delight.

On Monday night Great Grandma Longseth was holding Alana and it was getting late. It had been about 1.5 hours since she had eaten and it was past the time to put her in bed. Grandma wanted nothing of our efforts to put her to bed. Each of us went to take Alana back to bed but each time both she and Alana gave us the look of the puppy dog eyes and a let me savor this a bit longer. Eventually, she let her go but it was not without lots of coaxing.

The whole Jardine family is going to descend on SF for thanksgiving. We are looking forward to more visitors. Below are some random pictures from the last couple weeks. Official weights from the Dr visit on Thursday Nov 20:

Joe 11lbs 15 oz
Alana 8 lbs 10 oz
Alexa 9 lbs 3 oz

Visitors

We have had quite a lot of visitors in the past few weeks. Scott, one of Eric's good friends from Colorado, came and spent the weekend with us. He was such a tremendous help and had a lot of fun with the kids. He was such a good sport and he actually even got up and helped with both of the middle of the night feedings two nights in a row! Thanks, Scott! Eric's grandma from Colorado came and visited on Monday. It was so special to have her here to meet the babies! Eric's mom is here for 2 weeks and is always a great help! We've been having quite a lot of fun and are looking forward to Eric's sisters and brothers-in-law coming next week for Thanksgiving! Never a dull moment in the Jardine household! :)

When tongues attack

The girls each have incredible tongue length as this video suggests. Any guesses as to where they get it? By the way...this video was taken shortly after we first brought the girls home at the beginning of September.

LOL and smiles

We thought that the kids had some big smiles a few months ago when they were still in the hospital. The smiles and laughs are only getting bigger. It makes me think back to how excited we were to feel the first kicks and now we are elated at the first laughs. Part of this joy is realizing how new everything is. Stuff that we completely take as normal is new and interesting to view through the eyes of a child. Joe was telling a story to Rebecca last weekend. They clearly are able to communicate beyond words.

Daddy Time

The weekends are Eric & I's time to "fly solo"! During the week, either my mom or Eric's mom is usually here and so the weekends are a bit special because we get to see if we can handle all 3 kids by ourselves. We definitely appreciate the tremendous amount of help that we get during the week, but we always look forward to the weekends to get some special "family time". It's definitely a lot of work without the extra set of hands, but we manage to have a lot of fun! The pictures are of Eric taking on the task of holding all 3 at once! What a great dad!!!

I love the way all 3 of the babies love to snuggle with their WubbaNubs (pacifiers with a beany baby attached). Alexa has the red puppy. Alana has the black & white kitty and Josiah has the green frog. We've laughed and wondered if Josiah is going to grow up with a huge love for frogs and wonder why! When I say he "loves" his froggy...that is an understatement! If anything ever happens to froggy we will be in serious trouble!

4 Months Old!!!

Can you believe it? Our little munchkins are 4 months old? I can't believe how fast time flies! I keep looking back at pictures of when they were first born and I can't believe how far they have come. They truly are miracles! Josiah is ~11 lbs! Alana & Alexa are ~ 8 and 81/2 lbs! That's a long way from their 3 lbs, 2 lbs 2 oz, 1 lbs 15 oz at birth! Praise the Lord! God is good!
They are each growing and smiling like crazy! Their personalities are getting stronger and they are starting to even laugh out loud! Its been so much fun and I can honestly say that the sleep deprivation is all worth it! :)

Pretty Cool....

Parsons was in town from Florida. It is funny to see my friends who have not had their own children slowly warm up to the kids. It starts with fear(for both friend and baby) and then the kids work up a smile and a bond is made that I can tell will last many years to come.

My parents (Grandma and Grandpa) were in town from Vegas and Grandpa spent nearly the entire weekend with two babies in his arms. His feeding technique proves quite effective. He takes a baby and feeds them slowly and puts himself to sleep. The baby promptly follows Grandpa's lead and drifts to sleep. :)

The kids made it to church on Sunday for the first time ever! Alana slept through the entire service. Alexa and Josiah were quiet, but awake. It was a relief for them to do so well as we both had a bit of anxiety about it. It will be fun in the future as Sunday from 4-5:30 will equate to free babysitting! We arrived home to be greeted with soup and cookies (Thanks Chetan and Courtney!) that had been left at our doorstep. As I am writing this we just got another meal dropped off (Thanks Susan!). R & I have realized how cheap it has been to have these babies, so far, due to the fact that we have had an amazing amount of help! The interesting part is that the individual sacrifices have been modest in many cases but they all add up to a major support network. From meals to childcare to diapers, we have seen so much support and it has been really amazing! Shoot, even the insurance copay for the delivery visit was $10! On that note, please let us know if you need anything. I am convinced that needs often go unmet because people for all sorts of reasons fail to express the need. R & I will be happy to help in any way we can...

Nani 911

Glenda or "Nani" to the kids was holding two kids at once a few days back and I decided to drop a third one in her lap. She actually had all of them happy and bouncing around for about 20 minutes!

Plug a hole

We have a new game to play when the babies get fussy. All you need is three fussy babies, one couch and three pacifiers. You know the whack a mole game at Chuck E Cheese? Well, the game is to see how fast one person can fill all three mouths with pacifiers. The kids do a great job of spitting them out every few seconds so there is a continuous random rotation of filling the holes. I'll try to video the next time conditions permit. However, this is one case where I am not necessarily looking forward to those conditions.

We have had lots of visitors lately and are thrilled to hand them some babies the moment they come in the door. Holly, Christie & Guy, Julie W, Julie Morrison, Jack and Debby, Wylie & Hans, Esther, Kelly, Jonathon and Rebecca, and of course Grandparents.

My parents are here for the weekend giving a much needed break for Rebecca's parents who have spent the last two weekends with the kids while I was on a church leadership retreat and Rebecca and I both went to a wedding in Napa. We are very thankful to have family that is so willing and able to help. We also continue to be amazed at the generosity of friends. On Monday this week, it was a rough day. Rebecca mentioned that two of them taking care of the babies, at times, was not enough. We started calling and emailing and in no time help was arranged for nearly the duration of the week. What a blessing! If you want to be placed on the "last minute helper" list email Rebecca. If you come, don't worry. We won't give you all three at once. We reserve piling three babies in one lap to professionals. :)

Meal Alert!

Fellow Baby Helpers:

By now most of you have met the Jardine triplets in person. Cute, huh? As they become more active, Mom and Dad have less time for everything, including taking care of themselves and meals. Please see the schedule on the right; if you can contribute a meal on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday, please email me at skostal@mac.com.

Thanks much!

Susan

Take your Triples to work day

Yesterday was my Birthday and I got my birthday wish. Rebecca and my Mom brought the kids into the office to meet the team. As you can see, Alana, in particular, was snoozing through her first experience behind a desk. I can just imagine her fleeing from the corporate culture to fight for social justice in Africa. Come 2030, this crew could be a pretty amazing team! Note, Joe's shirt says, "Good looks run in the family." He clearly has his Mom's beauty.

Pumpkin Heads

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My mom bought the babies these really cute pumpkin onesies and had a little photo shoot the weekend we came to stay at their house. Eric had a board retreat with our church and so the kiddos and I packed up and headed for Nani & Papa's house for the weekend. It was lots of fun and the kids seemed to be quite relaxed, which is good because they will likely be spending quite a lot of time at their house over the next several years.
I also included some pictures of Josiah, including him and his favorite friend...Froggy! We definitely don't leave home without him!

Trio letting off steam!

Eric & I keep telling everyone how "good" our babies are. They hardly ever cry and rarely are all 3 fussy at the same time. However, last night we experienced the trio ganging up on us. I am not sure if it was the full moon or what, but all 3 of them were quite fussy at the same time. We decided the best thing to do was to pile them all in the car and go for a drive. They always seem to fall asleep in the car, so it was worth a try. Sure enough...after driving around for quite a while they all 3 finally fell asleep. When we were putting them in their carseats we pulled out the video camera and caught them all in the act! It's quite funny!

Recent Pics

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These are some recent pictures that we liked. The one with Eric's mom holding all 3 of the babies is from her trip last month...check out Josiah's smile! :)
Kyle and Stephanie came to visit this past weekend and we managed to pile all 3 babies on their laps. They may look frightened but they ended up being quite the skilled baby holders. I think Kyle even had some bonding time with Lil Joe! And I just couldn't resist the picture with Eric holding Joe...like father like son! Check out that hair!

Big Burps & Diving In

So, we have decided we like big burps. Rebecca commented the other night that Joe burps like a man and we started working on the modified lyrics for the epic Sir Mixalot song. This will eventually be one epic performance for a talent show someday.

I like big burps and I can not lie
You other babies can't deny
That when a kid walks in with a bloated belly
And a belch in your face
You get rung, wanna hold out that tongue
'Cause you notice that burp was stuffed
Deep in the lungs she's yearning
I'm hooked and I can't stop staring
Oh baby, I wanna hear ya
And take your picture
My homeboys tried to warn me
But with that burp you got makes me feel so gassy

On another night I was reminded of a Steven Curtis Chapman song called Dive. The lyrics to the chorus are below but it really describes where we are. In over our head but that is where we want to be.

I'm diving in, I'm going deep, in over my head I want to be
Caught in the rush, lost in the flow, in over my head I want togo
The river's deep, the river's wide, the river's water is alive
So sink or swim, I'm diving in

Between the tsunami that is the equity market at work and the hurricane at home I am in way over my head. Good news though is that God has provided grace for each day and while exhausted, I do realize that he is carrying me much more than I will ever know right now.

When in over our heads with too much to handle we also find other people carrying us or our babies. We have had numerous visitors, helpers, meals and Costco runners. Thanks to all for your tremendous support. You all are part of that grace for each day and God is using you big time! We won't ever be able to express the gratitude or even name everyone that is offering encouragement. Some names on the long list in no particular order...

Rene & Kathleen, Susan K, Jean S, Barc & Sharon, Emily & Danny, Chetan & Courtney, Elisia, Kristin J(congrats on your healthy baby girl!), Julie Mo, Rachel, Stacey, Zuza, Edwin & Julie, Grace W, Kelly C, Kelly N, Tom and Sarah, Bonnie W, Bellinghams, Liz, Dana, Janet B, Mark & Lisa K, Mary and Tom, Alexus G, Shannon and Randy, Kate, Gorins, Tiffany K, Wylie and Anne Marie, Karen E, BAAM... The list goes on as I am sure that I missing people(email if I am missing you or someone else). From the bottom of our heart, you are being used to help us run this marathon. Your help has made this fun too!

Great Grandma Nana, Vonna, Jamie and of course our parents which we have leaned on more than anyone right now. We would be in deep trouble without their 1 am feedings!

Nani and Bill
Grandma and Grandpa J

Photo Shoot

We've had fun taking pictures of the babies, but realized that it would be great to have some professional pictures taken. A good friend, Corey Lesh (www.leshstudio.com), offered to come and take pictures of us and the babies. He did such a great job and we so greatful and thankful! It was so much fun and as soon as we get the pictures back we'll be sure to post some. The first picture is during the "professional" photo shoot and the others are taken by their proud dad during our Saturday morning snuggle! The last picture is of our sweet boy, Josiah!