Bumps, bruises and Rasberries

We have a house full of kids that are completely mobile. Josiah has been pulling himself up on anything he can find, including inside his crib. The first picture was taken about a week ago and it was great to have everyone looking at the camera. What the picture doesn't show is that moments after I snapped a few pics, Josiah lost his grip from the walker and tipped over with a marginal floor impact. He was recovering on his own pretty well until Alexa decided she wanted to get a move on. She made several attempts to push Joe out of her way, using the walker as a bit of a snowplow and then it turned ugly. Alana rolled and bounced her head on the floor and then Alexa decided to join in realizing that if everyone else was in tears she should too.

Last night, I had some trauma of my own. Alana had just finished practicing standing by the coffee table and I sat her down in what I thought was a safe place. Sure enough, as Rebecca and I both watched, each with a baby in our arms, she rolled with increasing accelleration to make full impact with her forehead on the bottom shelf of the coffee table. Of course, the The tears flowed immediately and did not stop for at least 15 minutes.

I watched the rasberry get bigger and bigger during this entire time and my own fear started as I realized that each of them will get hurt at some point. In this entire process of being a parent, I have moments where reality of three kids hits. That heavy reality of providing(food to college), protection (bruises to bullies) and permanent chaos. It is only momentary but it is a reminder that I am in way over my head. Thankfully, these are just moments and don't last long at all and are quickly replaced with the smiles that soon follow.

The Window

We have 2 large windows in our living room that the kids love to look out of. We've pretty much always had barriers in front of the windows, such as the jumperoo and exersaucer. However, since the kids are all mobile now they've found ways to get around them. The windows have locks on them and they can only be opened a few inches. So, I am not worried about them being dangerous, but I am still attempting to keep them away from them as much as possible. Well, the other day, Josiah climbed through the bottom of the exersaucer and looked out the window. Eric climbed out onto the balcony and got some good shots of him from the outside. He has also started pulling up on things and standing. Alana & Alexa have also started pulling up onto things to their knees and feet. It seems like just a month ago they were just starting to learn how to roll over. I think they're on the accelerated plan since they were 3 months premature. They sure are making up for lost time! :)

Retreat

Every year our church goes on a weekend retreat. This year, Eric says, "We are going on the retreat, right?" I said, "Are you crazy? I am not taking 3 babies on a retreat!" After several discussions and strategizing, we decided to give it a try. We invited my friend, Kelly, to come along to help with the kids. We got a great shot of her in action (second picture). She was an amazing help and the weekend was super fun. We had our own cabin that we set up with our 3 pack n plays and mats. The cabin had 4 bunk beds and a big open space in the middle. There is an amazing amount of gear that you need to bring when you have 3 babies...crazy! But, we ended up having a lot of fun and the kids did super! They are such troopers and I think we could take them anywhere and they'd have fun and make every one else around them smile...

Are we cool or what?

My mom bought the kids some sunglasses awhile back. From the first day, Joe loved his! We could put them on him and we would wear them all day. As you can see from the pictures...he thinks he is too cool! The girls wouldn't keep them on for very long, but we got some cute shots. My favorite is the one of Alexa (first picture) who looks like she is pondering life or maybe just finished reading a good book...

New High Chairs

After searching for the perfect high chair, we finally settled on ones that are more compact and can fit in our "breakfast nook". You wouldn't believe how huge most full size high chairs are and how much space they take up. They seem to really like the new chairs and enjoy the new scenery.

We say that Josiah is like a little lion in his cage when he is in his crib. He "roams" from corner to corner and sucks on every square inch of the bumper and he likes to reach over the top of the bumper outside of the crib like a little lion cub.

We also found Josiah "sneaking" into his closet the other day (bottom picture).

That's Alexa waving from the basket (second to last picture).

Fun with Papa

Josiah and my dad, aka "Papa" had lots of fun at my niece Jordan's 1st birthday party a couple of weeks ago. It just happened to be the hottest day in Napa in a very long time (almost 100 degrees). The kids were troopers, though. Eric laughed and said our kids our kids are "City kids" because Alexa rolled off the blanket onto the grass and started crying. "What's poking me?" We had a good laugh, but the truth is that we actually have grass in our front and back yard. Although non of them had crawled on the grass before then. :)

Playtime Fun

These are just some fun pictures of the last week or two. Josiah is pulling up on things, now. The other day he pulled himself up on the side of the exersauser while Alana was in it. We also had fun putting the two of them in the exersaucer at the same time.

Eric & I like to try to hold all 3 of them at the same time. But, it is getting harder and harder because they are quite heavy and also quite squirmy! The 3 of them together still don't weigh as much as I gained while I was pregnant, but they are getting close. Can you imagine carrying all 3 of them everywhere you go? And then trying to sleep with all 3 of them lying on your belly? Oh, the joys of pregnancy! I sure am glad to have them on this side of my belly! :)

By the way, both Josiah and Alexa are crawling now. Alana can scoot and twist around to just about anywhere she wants to go, though. But, I am sure she will be crawling soon. Alana now has two teeth, Alexa has one and Josiah is still waiting patiently!

Weekend Getaway

This weekend Eric & I went to St. Helena for a weekend of festivities. My good friend, Elisa, from dental school got married. Since I was the "matron of honor", I was able to go to all the fun pre-wedding events. We decided to leave the kids with my parents for the weekend. If was fun to get away, but we sure do miss the kids when we are gone. This morning, we left pretty early after breakfast to get on the road and get to my parents house to pick up the kids. We were like horses heading for the stable, we were in such a hurry to get back and see our little ones. What's interesting is that I was really looking forward to "sleeping in". However, I ended up not even sleeping that well (I love my own bed) and realizing that I sleep better at home even with 3 babies sleeping in the next room. Oh well! It was a really fun weekend and I enjoyed seeing a bunch of my classmates from dental school. My parents enjoyed hanging with the kids and my dad says, "Wow! I am exhausted! It's a never ending job!" It definitely is never ending, but I wouldn't trade it for the world! I am glad to be back home and to have my 3 little chicks back in their cribs sleeping soundly...

Travel Tips (wear two bibs and get your own row)

Three babies + southwest open seating = A row all to yourself
Yes, the other people on our flight seemed to avoid our wonderful children. Alexa was quite the sleeper on the flight to CO and was delighted to watch out the window at the Yosemite valley on the way back.



To get that perfect shot with three, you need to take more than one... See Rebecca's post for the perfect shot.



The "Chick Magnet" wants his food and he wants it now!


If you don't like the snow in May in Colorado just wait a day and you can enjoy a sunny picnic in the park.



Yes, she gets her tongue from Grampa



That is Alana doing her Steve Erkel impression on the left. Yes, Josiah's curls are at least partially natural.




Finally, when departing on a trip be prepared. Rebecca is a natural at being a mommy to three and Sunday was no exception. We gave the kids a bath in advance of feeding and then running out the door. I generally do the washing and she does the dressing for reasons you will soon understand. It was just getting to feeding time and I noticed that Josiah had two bibs on. Well, he is quite the drooler so I thought little of it until I noticed that all three kids had two bibs! Rebecca in her organizational genius was planning ahead. 1 bib for the bottle that they were about to take and was sure to get dirty. A second bib for the car ride to keep their shirts clean. Sure enough as we arrived the bibs were wet with drools but the kids were in top form clean and and happy as can be. Sure, I could get matching socks on each of them but planning the bib needs like that is something that truly comes natural to Rebecca. I am quite thankful that she is a supermom in all regards.

Alana got a tooth!

We've started giving the kids 3 "solids" a day. They've been eating all kids of different foods (pureed), but we've been waiting patiently for that first tooth to break through for someone. Well, after 10 months, 2 weeks, and 3 days...we finally got a tooth to poke through! Yeah! Alana is the first one. You can't quite see it well yet, but you can feel it. I am sure Alexa and Josiah are soon to follow. Steak here we come! :)

Josiah is Crawling!

This past Monday, while we were in Colorado, Josiah started crawling! The video below is from Monday morning. It has only been 3 days and he has already mastered it! He can see something across the room and be there in a matter of seconds...Yikes! He is super fast! It's a bit scary to imagine that in a short time they all 3 will be zooming around the house. Now if I only had 3 sets of eyes! :)

Our First Trip!

Sorry its been so long since I've posted, but we've just returned from our first trip! We went to Colorado for 5 days to visit Eric's family. It was our first trip, as a family of 5, and it was a huge success! Eric's mom flew with us so that we could have 1 adult per baby. There's no way we would've been able to do it without her. Eric's sister, Sheri (second picture), also was a huge help by asking around and collecting a bunch of baby gear (jumperoo, bouncy chairs, etc.) for us while we were in town. The trip was such a success because we had so many people helping, before we arrived and while we were there. It was so much fun to be able to introduce the kids to all of Eric's family and friends. The kids were such troopers and amazing little travelers! They never ran out of smiles for family, friends, and even all the random travelers in the airport. While we were in Colorado, we went to a wedding, visited with several friends ,including Kyle and Stephanie who let us stop by their house and feed the babies on our way to the wedding (third picture). We had a party thrown in our honor at Eric's Aunt Elaine & Uncle Stan's house on Sunday. I also celebrated my very first Mother's Day! The last picture, by the way, is Mother's Day morning. We woke to 6 inches of snow that had fallen overnight. It had all melted by the time we returned back to the house that evening, but it was quite exciting to see so much snow in May! With our first trip behind us, we are excited about taking more in the future! :)

Lucky day for Dad

I remember telling Rebecca shortly after the babies came home from the hospital that I need to do this too. I was referring to my desire not just to support with feeding and diaper changes but to actually be an engaged father and calm anxious tears, rock to sleep and do some of the more difficult things that a Mom is naturally good at but us men generally don't and/or can't handle.

About a month ago, Rebecca and I were in the front room and we heard a scream from the back room. Not your normal moan, this was real fear. I ran to the back room to find Alexa screaming like she just had a nightmare. Since Rebecca was pumping and her mom was downstairs, it was my chance to jump off the bench and into action. Alexa was scared and she had been sick with a stuffed up nose the entire day. I think she had some trouble breathing and that is what brought about the tears. She cried and cried. Eventually, Rebecca was able to take her but I said, "let me see if I can do it." Sure enough, after a few more minutes, Alexa stopped crying and was soon sleeping. I was so excited about the moment I almost started crying. You know how cool it is when a backup player comes off the bench to score a touchdown? I had that kind of moment. Thankfully, I have had lots of those moments with each of the kids and Rebecca is gracious enough to let me figure these things out. This moment in particular was a point that I bonded with Alexa and was so very thankful that I was able to be there for her. Below is a picture that Rebecca snapped once Lexi lu was sleeping in my arms.

Peas

These are just some random moments of the past week. The kids have finally decided that they like their veggies! Thank goodness! For awhile I was beginning to think that Josiah was forever going to make a sour face when we tried to feed him a vegetable. However, at some point they all three turned the corner and have been eating like champs! They have successfully eaten peaches, pears, applesauce, prunes, bananas, peas, green beans, carrots, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, rice cereal and oatmeal. Alana, who has been the one who never wants to finish her bottle (hence, why she is still the smallest) has been the prize solid food eater. She seems to love it all! Yeah! Maybe she'll finally catch up to her sister in size. I'll try to get some more pictures of the prize eater soon! That's Alana & Josiah in the tub hamming it up for the camera...