Tricycles

The girls LOVE their new tricycles. Their legs are a wee bit too short to be able to make the pedals go all the way around, but I'm sure they will be perfect for them in a couple of months.

That is if Steve hasn't trashed them by then.

The girls have fallen off of the trikes a handful of times and daddy's first response is to threaten that he is going to throw them away because the girls are going to hurt themselves.

Then I have to respond by asking him how are they ever going to learn to do anything if they don't have the opportunity. We pretty much have this conversation about every toy in the house. Steve wanted to get rid of "Tickle me Elmo" because the girls could fall on top of it and get hurt. If daddy had his choice, the girls would be housed in a bubble for the next 18 years.

I have to wonder...if they were boys, would he be as overprotective?

The girls were so in love with their trikes the night they got them, that when I told them it was time to go night-night, they layed their heads down on the handlebars. Lissy was already in bed so she missed the photo shoot!

Party pics

As promised, here are some pictures from the birthday bash last weekend.

Unfortunately, the girls are coming down with colds.....same thing happened after their birthday party last year. We're not sure where they picked this bug up because we had a busy weekend and don't know who the germy culprit might have been!

Please keep yout fingers crossed that I get some sleep tonight. If you are a betting person, odds are in favor of mama not getting much sleep.

Now that we're two

Things are changing around the house now that the girls are all "grown up" and becoming more self sufficient and determined.

Now that they're two, few places are off limits these days. The girls have figured out how to use what they've got to get what they want. Mama can't turn her back for a second.

Now that they're two, the girls get to enjoy ALL the food at their birthday party and then quietly slip into a food coma shortly after. Next year, they'll be napping on the couch next to grandpa.

Now that they're two, the girls have learned the best way to drink all the milk out of the cereal bowl

Now that they're two, the girls think it's fun to keep up with all the celebrity gossip in Hollywood

Now that she's two, Lissy wants her license to drive AND knows she's got a much better chance of making it home in one piece than say....Lindsey Lohan, Britney Spears or Paris Hilton.

Now that she's two, Riley demands that nobody calls her a "baby" no matter what her shirt says

Now that she's two, Makena's got her outfit with accessories picked out for the mall. All she needs is daddy's credit card.

Now that they're two, lounging around on the couch all day in their underwear with daddy doesn't sound like a bad idea

Now that they're two, the girls think it's funny to scare the bejeezus out of daddy by dressin' like a Bratz doll

Now that we're two, mom has figured out that we are cheap labor and she puts us to work

Now that we're two, we STILL like to dance like nobody is watching...even if it is with a cheese stick in our hand and duckie slippers on our feet

Birthday party

The girl's birthday party was on Sunday and we had lots of fun! I will try to post all the photos tonight.

I'll leave you with this picture, which was the best I could get of all of the girls together at the party...Lissy wouldn't stay still

2 year check-up

Thanks so much for all of the birthday comments for the girls! We loved hearing from all of you out there...it made our day EXTRA special.

As an added birthday bonus, the girls went for their 2 year check-up with Dr. G. I don't think I can get away with such a dirty trick in the years to come. But, I had the day off and now that I am back to work, I had to use my time wisely. The girls were definitely the most fearful than ever before in the doctor's office. Our pediatrician is awesome though and let the girls play with her stethoscope and other equipment until they were comfortable.

Their parting gift from Dr. G was their Hepatitis A vaccine. I know.....horrible. Poor Makena is terrified of needles from 2 winters of monthly RSV vaccines. She knows what is coming when that alcohol swab comes out and clings on for dear life.

Anyway, the girls are finally well on the growth charts for height, but still not really there for weight. Boo-hoo! I swear they feel so heavy when I carry them up the stairs every day.

Big sister Makena weighed in at 21 pounds, 8 ounces (1st percentile) and is 33.25 inches tall (40th percentile).

Middle sister Alyssa weighed in at 21 pounds, 6 ounces (1st percentile) and is 33.5 inches tall (45th percentile).

Baby girl Riley (a.k.a. Bruiser) weighed in at 22 pounds, 6 ounces (4th percentile) and is 34.25 inces tall (60th percentile). Guess who is winning all of those battles for the snacks in the house?

I also discovered tonight, that Riley is getting FOUR teeth in. I knew she had cut one tooth and another was close, but 2 more teeth popped out and I didn't even know it. I guess that must explain the puddles of drool on her crib sheet and onesie every morning!

The girls enjoyed their chocolate birthday cupcakes and will have more fun celebrating this Sunday with extended family.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

The girls are 2 years old today!

I put together this slideshow from the last year. Just to warn you, it's almost 10 minutes long.

ENJOY!

Sleepy

She looks innocent enough...but at 2 in the morning, this girl has got a set of lungs that will wake the neighborhood. The end result was a toddler in bed with mom, finally falling asleep after tossing and turning for a couple of hours.

At least one of us got some sleep.

The boy next door

Cupid may have snuck into our house when we weren't looking. My girls only have eyes for BF Jess's youngest son Calum.

It is so funny to watch the girls play with him. They love to get as close to Calum as possible and couldn't pass up the chance to lay next to him on his blanket!

It's so cute it almost makes me want to have another one.

I said ALMOST!!!!!

Alyssa planting a kiss on Calum. This picture will be used for blackmail purposes in the future.

Calum's in heaven!

Kitty crazy

The girls have always been fond of our cat and the love for her is overflowing these days. Their favorite game involving the cat is simple. Grab onto her fur with both hands and see how much hair you can escape with....not the favorite activity in the cat's day, but it does relieve me the job of combing her shedding fur.

The cat must not mind it too much, because she makes it her business to come and sit in the middle of the floor daily. It must be the smell of spilled milk on the carpet and couch cushions that lures her out.

As soon as I can teach the girls how to clean out the litter box, we're in business.

Our first professional pictures

It only took me 23 months to get the girls pictures taken by a professional and just in time for their 2nd birthday. It is very difficult to get a group picture of the girls all looking in the same direction while staying in one place, and getting three smiles at once is out of the question. Individually, we had a better chance to get some smiles and luckily were able to get some good shots.

It didn't help that the air conditioner in the studio broke down that day and it was way too warm in the room we were in. Alyssa was not a fan of the whole process and whined and protested almost the entire time. Nanny Mariya and I were jumping around like cheerleaders trying to get the girls to cooperate and in the end, and the girls graciously decided to humor us with a few smiles.

Makena

Alyssa

Riley

Mom & the girls

(Alyssa refused to stand up for the picture)

Priceless

Alyssa's REALLY taking early intervention services seriously!

Ahh nuts

Notice the shock and dismay on Miss Makena's face as we discovered today that she is allergic to peanuts. I have waited to try giving the girls peanut butter and gave them a little taste on bread with lunch today. Alyssa gobbled it up like it was a gift from heaven, Riley seemed to like it okay, but Miss Makena immediately scrunched up her face in disgust. She kept sticking her tongue out at me, so I finally took a papertowel and wiped it off of her tongue.

Within a couple of minutes her cheeks, chin and neck were blotchy and she had a few hives. Just what I was afraid of...She is also allergic to penicilin. I gave her some Benadryl and she cleared up really quickly. She didn't have any breathing problems, thank God, so I am assuming she has a mild allergy, but I will talk to our pediatrician about this at their 2 year check-up.

I'm bummed. Is my girl never going to enjoy a good ole PB & J with a cold glass of milk?

A moment in time

On this day, two years ago, I was admitted to the hospital for pre-term labor. I was only 23 weeks pregnant, had been on bedrest at home for 5 weeks, had already had a cervical cerclage put in and was taking oral medication to try and stop the contractions I was having. Just two days earlier, Steve and I drove to the hospital because I had reached my thereshold of 6 contractions in an hour. I was kept overnight and then released after my contractions slowed down.

I had a doctor appointment on the morning of August 9, 2005 for a growth ultrasound. My babies looked great, all growing like they should be. Weights were estimated to be 1.4, 1.5, and 1.6.....but my cervix had shortened to just 1 cm.

Per my doctors orders, I made my way over to labor and delivery and was hooked up to monitors, as well as a terbutaline pump. Over the next two days, I was also given steroid shots to help the babies' lungs develop. My doctor made rounds every morning around 6 a.m. and I always looked forward to his visit. He was my knight in shining armor. The one person who I trusted to get me through this pregnancy with 3 healthy babies.

Dr. M told me that I was staying put in the hospital for atleast 2-3 weeks so that I was over the "viability" hump at 24 weeks and would be closer to the 28 week mark. I was more than content to stay right where I was in the hospital. The monitors and awesome nursing staff brought me comfort because I knew that they could act quickly if needed.

It turns out that in relation to medication, I must have the metabolism of a horse. Taking just one medication wasn't doing the trick, so there was alot of fiddling around with the meds. I was on Terbutaline and Indocin, or Terbutaline and Nifedipine and finally Magnesium Sulfate with Indocin, Nifedipine or Terbutaline shots. The side effects that I was warned about were mild for me.

My stay in labor and delivery lasted for 13 days. I made it to 25 weeks, 1 day before my three little miracles made their way into this world.

Happy Birthday Daddy

Dear Daddy,

Today is your birthday and we wanted to wish you the happiest of days. Here are a few promises that we will do our best to fulfill in the years to come.

We promise to keep playing your silly games, like "peeee-yuuuu" when you stick your feet in our face........

We might not turn out to be professional golf players, but we can promise that we'll throw your golf balls all over the house, probably clogging the toilet with them at some point, and maybe even breaking a window or two.....

There's a good chance that there will be some pretty good knock-down, drag em' out fights, but we promise to keep the mud slinging outside where it belongs.....

We can't promise that we won't BREAK the t.v. and the various audio-video equipment you have in the house, but we can PROMISE that we'll leave greasy fingerprints all over everything so that you will know we were there......

We CAN promise that we'll lose the remotes about a billion times and make you search the entire house for them.....

We can't promise that we'll always be home by curfew, but we CAN promise you a head full of gray hair, an ulcer and high blood pressure by the time we reach college after all the sleepless nights we'll give you.....

We promise not to grow up and leave home too soon....

We CAN promise that we'll always be your precious girls........

Just because she's thoughtful....

I caught my sweet Alyssa being a kind sister and thought I would share it.

Independent for a reason

I have posted previously about Alyssa being more independent from her sisters, usually off doing her own thing. She'll wander in and out of the activity her sisters may be involved in, but for the most part, she is happy to have her own space.

Alyssa likes to collect things, which also includes her snacks. Three crackers in her hands are much better than one, even if it's just the security of holding them in her hand. Because she doesn't gobble everything up immediately, it usually leaves her wide open for theft from Thing 1 and Thing 2 (a.k.a. Makena & Riley).

I was able to take some pictures yesterday to show WHY being more independent might be her preference.

We have a time-out area in one corner of our dining room...which is required now that my trio is starting to purposefully inflict harm on each other. Lately, it hasn't gotten much use.

After lunch, I put the girls in there so that I could clean up the kitchen floor without 3 rugrats under my feet trying to help. They each had a little bowl of grapes to eat to keep them happy.

It probably only took her sisters about 30 seconds to manhandle Alyssa and snatch her cup with grapes away. By the time I got my camera, Makena had already poured Alyssa's grapes into her cup and looks prepared to share them with Riley. Poor Alyssa is looking at me wondering if I just saw what happened. Yes sister, mommy saw it all!

The time-out box may just turn into Alyssa's retreat away from her grape-snatching sisters.

See that smile? Happy as can be that her sisters can't get to her.

Mercy

Ever feel like your kids take it easy on you when they sense that you have had a hard day or in my case they have me totally outnumbered? Clearly this wasn't the case here or here, but tonight, I think the girls took mercy on me. My girlfriend Ly's son had his birthday party tonight and I decided to take the girls eventhough I didn't have any backup with me. I think this is only the 3rd time I have taken them somewhere by myself...it's the fear of going out in public somewhere and the girls unleashing their inner rebel on me.

We had to drive about an hour and fifteen minutes to go to the party. Makena was a total stinker before we left. She has been throwing awful tantrums lately where I seriously think her head is going to start spinning. They were angels in the car. Hardly a peep out of them. Just looked out the window and listened to their Raffi music that was playing.

The girls were great at the party. Alyssa always sticks pretty close to me since she has developed major stranger anxiety in the last couple of months. Riley and Makena are happy just watching the other kids play and they would wander away not bothered that I wasn't right there. Ly's daughter, Ashly, helped me with the girls once we were there and she had the bright idea of tying ballons to their wrist. It made it so much easier to keep an eye on them by looking for the ballon in the mess of kids!

The ride home was a little noisier because they were a bit fussy since it was close to bed, but they were still really good. Even giggling in the backseat together.

Thanks for taking mercy on your mama tonight!

Almost makes me forget how unruly you can get out in the front yard.

Hmmmm....was that the plan?

YES!

We had the biggest breakthrough in the "yes" depatment last night. Lately, the girls' favorite word has been "no." They'll ask for something and then shake their head and say no when you give it to them....sometimes it's cute, but after the 50th time in a day, mama is tired of hearing "no." I used food during dinner time last night to work on the "yes" concept.

Baby Signs

One of the activities I have the girls doing this summer is a 6-week Baby Signs class. I have been using baby signs with the girls since they were about 12 months old and have found it so useful to have a way to communicate with them. The girls are the oldest in the class, but they have fun running around and playing with all of the toys. The biggest benefit is that I am learning some new signs to teach them. It is also a structured activity that gets us out of the house once a week! We are hearing lots of new words from the girls and they pick up new signs very quickly now.