Potty Training to the Max!

Jace is at school and the triplets are supposed to be taking a nap, although I just heard Luke yell, "Mommeeeee, where are you, mommeeee!" Ugh! They slept in until 7:00 this morning, so nap time isn't going so well today. Hopefully he'll give up soon. It blows me away that two can still fall asleep, even when one is making a bunch of racket!

Well, I'm on a mission to get these kids potty trained. I thought they would be done by the end of the summer, but here we are with Ross back to school and we're still buying diapers. Yesterday I made each of them a potty chart with hopes that this will motivate them.... Here are two attempts at trying to get a "good picture" of them with their charts. Luke loves to be silly. I'm worried about him being the class clown in school.

All three of them love stickers, and so far we've had a good day with the charts and the potties. Although, they are more interested in putting the stickers on their bodies than on the chart. Brady has been dry all day and Joel and Luke have had one oops each.

Did I mention that my friend's two kids that I watch are in the midst of potty training too. Richie is almost completely potty trained, just working on the #2 part and Alyssa who is 18 months old has decided on her own that she is ready for the potty. She is showing up the boys! So at any one time, I have 5 kids in the bathroom waiting for their turn. Actually, when Jace is home, he wants to get in on the action, so it's not uncommon to have six kids, plus me in the bathroom. Then we have to wash hands, then stickers, and then sometimes a treat after they all finish their business. After about an hour, we start all over again. :) My goal is to have everyone trained by Christmas! Wish me luck.

Our California Road Trip

Yes. Many think we were crazy to venture out on a road trip with four little boys under the age of five, but overall I think it was worth it. My guys, Ross included, did very well with the challenge and persevered during the 12 hour drive on the way to the San Jose area and 10 hours on the way back home. We planned this adventure after finding out that my Uncle Bob on my mom's side had passed away. My cousins were planning a family get together in July to honor his memory, and after missing the last reunion, I didn't want to miss this one. Luckily, Ross quickly agreed to this road trip, even though he is usually reluctant to travel further than a couple of hours.

I have to admit that I was a little nervous with how the kids would do, but now that it is done, I can say it was worth it and with only a few minor obstacles, things went very well. We were scared in the beginning after Luke threw up all over himself only five minutes into the trip! The thought crossed my mind that we should turn around and go home, but since he had no other symptoms of illness, we figured it was car sickness. (We had made the mistake of feeding them breakfast in the car while we loaded the last few items.) We decided to continue on with our trip and I'm glad we did, because Luke had no other issues and was the best rider out of all of them! Actually, they all did great with very little complaining. I did have to laugh though, when Jace asked how much longer after only one hour in the car.

As I said above, it took 12 hours to get there, not the 8.5 hours that Mapquest had estimated. I guess they don't account for the necessary stops when traveling with 2 year old triplets and a four year old. We were amazed at the cool weather when we stopped in Gilroy for dinner at Mimi's Cafe. It was so refreshing after the last few weeks of heat in Vegas.

We stayed at a Motel 6 to save money and were lucky to have a very large room with a refrigerator and microwave. The three pack n plays fit easily, with a large area left for the boys to play. Of course THEIR favorite part of the room was the beds. My question for all you moms out there: How do you effectively stop four little boys from jumping on the bed? The motel had a nice pool, with the exception that it wasn't heated and no one would go in, especially since it was only in the 70s outside. It ended up being a waste bringing their life jackets on the trip, since it was also too cold to go in the water at the beach the next day.

We picked my mom up at the Oakland airport on Friday and that night we had pizza with our family. It was so great to see my cousins, aunts, and uncles. The following day, we all met up for dinner at my cousin Robin's home in Felton. The boy's had a blast playing on their cousin's swing set and running around the property. Family members also got a chance to share favorite memories of my Uncle Bob. My cousin Dana even read a memorial about Uncle Bob that her sister Robin had written...a real tear jerker. Old photo albums/scrapbooks of my uncles were shared and it was fun to see pictures of my mom that I had never seen before. My mom was especially happy to see her sister Clarice pictured below.

My Mom with her sister Clarice

Jace with cousins Aaron and Kylie

Jace and Luke getting a guitar lesson from their cousin Aaron.

The following day, we met my cousin Robin and her son Aaron at Happy Hollow Zoo and Park in San Jose. What a great place for little kids. The zoo part was great, but they also have amusement park rides and a roller coaster suited for little kids. It was nice to visit a place that was tailored to our kids' ages. I would highly recommend Happy Hollow to anyone with little kids. I hear they also have puppet shows and other events, but we didn't make it to any since our guys needed naps badly! After Happy Hollow the kids took a nap in the car while we spontaneously decided to drive to San Francisco. (Note: We found that the only way they would take naps on our trip was if they were in their car seats. We planned nap time in between events and built in traveling time.) We ate clam chowder and crab at Fisherman's Wharf and took in a few sights before heading back to Sunnyvale. Jace liked seeing the skyscrapers, especially since he had just watched a Bob the Builder video on skyscrapers.

First time on a Ferris Wheel

We decided to stay a day longer so that we could spend some time at the Santa Cruz boardwalk. Jace loved it as he could ride many more rides than Brady, Luke, and Joel. They did get to ride on some cute little beep beep cars and if they had their way, they wouldn't have gotten off. Check out the pictures below.

The drive home was pretty uneventful. We shorted our stops, so the trip home only took 10 hours. We were hoping to have a picnic dinner at the rest stop just outside of Barstow, but when we got out of the car we were blasted with Vegas like heat. Our picnic dinner ended up in the car while they watched Toy Story 2 on the DVD player! We're back in the heat now....no cool refreshing ocean air for us. It's nice to be home though...At least we don't have to share a bedroom with four little boys. :)

Getting Ready For the Road Trip: Haircuts!

Joel

Jace

Luke


I cut all of the boys hair today. For the most part they are getting much better at sitting still. Well, Jace, Brady, and Joel are better. Luke detests haircuts (but loves getting his picture taken as you can see above.) As a last resort I had to bribe him with a lollipop to sit still...Big mistake! At first it worked like a charm, but then halfway through, I heard Luke spitting and sputtering because he had a mouthful of hair, due to the lollipop. Ugh!!! After finishing we let the boys "swim" off the hair in their kiddie pool. Here are a few post haircut pictures. Brady wouldn't cooperate when I tried taking his picture, but the other three were good sports.

Attachment: Good or Bad?

Today I took Joel, one of our triplets, and his older brother, Jace, to McDonalds for lunch and then grocery shopping. They were both very excited to go, but it surprised me when I was pulling out of the garage and Joel started to cry for his other two brothers and his daddy. We usually all go together, so this was a big change for him. He cried all the way to McDonalds (2 minutes) and then finally stopped and the rest of the trip was fine.

At different times the triplets take turns being needy and wanting to be soothed. For the last two days it has been Joel's turn. He'll go through moments that last up to an hour when he does not want me to put him down. He will stand in the same spot and scream until I pick him back up, making housework and cooking nearly impossible. About a month ago, Brady went through the same thing and we started calling him "Joey" because if I had a pouch like a kangaroo, Brady would have crawled inside. (BTW a Joey is a baby kangaroo.) Could it be teething or something else, or is this just a normal thing for two year olds? Luke hasn't shown the attachment issue as much as Brady and Joel. He's much more independent like his older brother,Jace, who was always so easy and well adjusted. I thing being a multiple can be hard on kids when it comes to the amount of attention they get compared to a singleton. Maybe Joel and Brady are just trying to tell me, "Hey mom, I need some extra lovin". Although it can be frustrating for me at these times, I just remind myself that they won't always be little enough to cuddle with, so I'm enjoying it while I can and the housework is just gonna have to wait.

Just a note: Wow, outings are so much easier with just two kids. I didn't even put Joel in a highchair at McDonalds and he was a perfect angel!!! Ross stayed home with the other two and he mirrored my sentiments exactly. I think we'll be doing this more often, especially with Ross on summer break.

Here I Go!!!!

I have so many friends who blog about their daily experiences or thoughts. Some even research topics and have become a resource for others. Some are humorous and others shocking with what they share. My hope is that I can share a little slice of our life with two year old triplet boys and an older four year old brother. So many funny things happen in a day, and I figure if I write them down, I won't forget as much as I typically do. So here goes...

Today was one of those days that really makes me wonder how people with quads, quints, or sextuplets do it. Our triplet stroller broke about a month ago. The steering wheel broke, making it impossible to turn the stroller without having someone at the front kicking the wheels in the right direction. Up to this point, the stroller went with us everywhere. When it broke we were forced to either let one or more of the triplets walk when we went out or we would just stay home. Luckily, some stores like Costco or Smith's have shopping carts that have seats for two to four kids. I can actually go grocery shopping solo at Smith's with all of my kids, using one of their car carts.

Well today, we took all four boys to sign up for a AAA membership for our upcoming road trip. This went well because I think the agent was scared of the boys and he literally rushed through the paperwork and we were out of there in five minutes, with minimal damage to his office. Joel kept trying to take the push pins holding up various maps out of the wall, but the others were fairly tame. One good thing about taking your kids to places like this is people avoid trying to talk you into other services. Sure he mentioned how great their car, home, and life insurance policies were, but he just said we could do that at a "later time", meaning without the kids.

Since this errand went well, we decided to go to the bank. A second stop for us is unheard of. Usually we go to one destination and then back home. The hassle of strapping the kids in, then taking them, then back in, then out again is plenty exhausting, but we were feeling brave today. Big mistake!!! At first they were fine standing in line, but then they noticed the waiting line divider ropes. They had a blast trying to swing on these, so then I took them over to the chairs in the waiting area while Ross waited in line. This is when they started to jump from chair to chair. After about five minutes of this, I took them back to the line, where they started to play with the ropes again and make way too much noise. Did I mention that today was Friday and pay day for a lot of people at the bank and at this point all eyes were on us. It was crowded and definitely the wrong day to bring the boys in without a stroller. This chaos continued after getting up to the teller and then having to wait another 10 minutes to meet with someone else about some banking issues. Ross and I were so frazzled by the time we left and got our rebelous "I don't want to get in my carseat" kids into the car, I don't think we spoke until we were half way home.

Well, luckily I had ordered the parts to fix the triplet stroller and by tomorrow it will be as good as new. The triplets freedom is now officially revoked and if you see us out and about, chances are, Brady, Luke, and Joel will be strapped securely in their seats.