Thursday, April 30, 2009

PHSCC Staff Bowling Champs



So I've been bowling on Thursday afternoons in this mini Plainfield High School Central Campus bowling tournament.  The whole thing was only 5 weeks long. You would bowl three games and the top three bowler's scores in two games were combined to get your team's total pinfall. My team, the Sum Buddies, consisted of fellow math teachers Toni Reedy (department chair), Judy Link, Mary Glinke (my maternity leave replacement), and Kari Kleckauskas. After two weeks of bowling, half of the teams were eliminated and the rest made it to a bracket situation. Somehow, this group of gals managed to fight our way through the tourney. Mind you, I was the only one with recent league experience and Judy used to bowl when she was a kid. We entered the brackets as the number 1 seed! It was crazy! Today, it came down to us and the #2 seed just like it should have played out. We knew it would be a close match because last week we only topped the #2 team by 2 pins! Anyway, tonight I rolled a 216-probably one of my best games ever, and we edged out a victory by a mere 2 pins. Had we counted the top three bowlers for all three games, we would have lost. I took Bridget along with me because Shawn was leaving for the Cubs game at 4:30 and neighbor Jeannie was going to watch the kids. So I figured it would be easier on Jeannie if Bridget wasn't around asking her to play Hide and Seek or hopscotch in the house. It was a good day to bring Bridget along because Judy also brought her 4 year old, Ryan with. Bridget and Ryan had lots of fun playing together. They colored, found hidden pictures, ate snacks and just hung out together. It was also really cute when Ryan asked Bridget to come to his birthday party in the park in June. We'll see if we can make it because that's one of the days Shawn is in Tokyo. Bridget was loving the attention from the other teachers. She knew several of them from prior outings and was giving out hugs left and right. She also asked Mary if she could come to her house and play with her. She's just dying for all that attention she was used to getting!

I'm kinda bummed now that my 5 weeks of bowling is over. It was nice looking forward to getting out of the house if even for a few hours. I also realized how much I miss bowling regularly. For whatever reason, I bowl well at our local lanes. In the five weeks, I broke 200 three times and probably averaged about 165 overall. Being around the teachers again also made me realize how much I do miss the daily grind of teaching high school math. Funny, because usually around this time of year I'm desperately looking forward to summer vacation! Absence makes the heart grow fonder, I guess. 

Monday, April 27, 2009

4 Month Well Child Visit

Another trip to see Dr. Paul. All went well. Liam's big head isn't so big anymore. The dr. wasn't too concerned about Liam not straightening up his legs and not bearing weight. He said he'll just keep an eye on it. We got the go-ahead to start feeding them all Stage 1 foods, and he wants me to get them eating 3 solid meals a day. Megan had only gained an ounce since she was last in, so she has to go back next month for a weight check. Bridget has had croupy-cough the past two days, so she's going to go on the nebulizer for a few days, but when the doctor checked the babies, he said their lungs sounded clear. 

That's about it!

It's Free Redbox Rental Monday!

Hurry now to your local Redbox for a free rental, today only. Use the code 4CW33N. Don't forget to post a comment and let me know what movie you rented. Enjoy the show!

Monday, April 20, 2009

It's Free Redbox Rental Monday!

Hurry now to your local Redbox for a free rental, today only. Use the code m6fr97. Don't forget to post a comment and let me know what movie you rented. I think I'll get something for Bridget this time. 

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Two Cute Stories

Ok, the first story requires a bit of background info...

April 4th was Ryan's confirmation party. Near the end of the party, Matt runs downstairs and announces, "Bridget and Kaitlyn are playing with Aunt Karen's lotion." So Shawn runs up there to find that Bridget had covered her face with some cream. Proactive, I believe. Shawn was ANGRY. The next thing we hear is Bridget's super loud cry. (Is there anything she does quietly?!) Dave goes upstairs and talks to Kaitlyn. 

Bridget comes downstairs and is supposed to apologize to Aunt Karen for using her lotion without asking. Of course, she doesn't want to apologize, but eventually says the words. Shawn and I try to explain to Bridget that she shouldn't put any kind of lotion on without asking us first because the lotion might be dangerous to her. She seems to get it, but is still pouting.

Fast forward to yesterday...Bridget and I were on our way to the YMCA so that I could work out. Once you stop laughing, I'll continue...

Seriously, I started going to the Y again this week and Bridget has been coming with. So I'm driving and I hear in the sweetest voice, "I'm really sorry for using Auntie Karen's cream."
"That's ok, Bridget, next time ask Mom or Dad before putting cream on."
"I'm REALLY sorry for using Auntie Karen's cream. I love you mommy."
"I love you too Bridget. Thank you for apologizing. You just made a mistake. Do you know what a mistake is?"
"Like steak?! A food?"
"No sweetheart. A mistake is when you do something wrong, like when you took Auntie Karen's lotion without asking."
"Oh!"
Then we both took turns making up examples of mistakes. But I love that she thought making a mistake was like making a steak. How cute!



The second story happened today. It's Saturday, and we're out of groceries, so Shawn and I decide to order a pizza for dinner. Shawn and I are on this new budget where we each have a certain amount of spending money per month to use for entertainment, food, personal stuff, etc. So Shawn and I were discussing who should use their spending money to pay for the pizza. Meanwhile, Bridget runs to her bedroom, and comes back with her wallet and purse. She opens her wallet and pulls out a dollar. "Here Daddy, you can use my money to buy the pizza!" What a sweet girl! 

One last note: Liam was laughing out loud today.  I was playing "Up, down, all around" with him and he was just laughing up a storm. Very cute!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Rice Cereal



I decided to try to start Holly, Liam, and Megan on rice cereal on Monday. I'm sad to report that it didn't go over as well as I would have liked. See, I'm thinking once the babies start eating cereal, they'll spit up less. Especially poor Megan, she spits up so much every day! I don't know how she has gotten to be the heaviest baby with as much as she spits up each feeding. 

So for their noon feeding Shawn got to do the honors. I video taped the beginning of the event. Holly was up first. When Shawn gave her the first spoonful of cereal, she made the yuckiest face I've ever seen her make. She did NOT like it at all. (I don't blame her, that rice cereal looks gross!) So she pretty much spit it all out. Megan was next. She still has the reflex where she tries to push everything out of her mouth. So although it seemed like she didn't mind the cereal, I don't think much of it was actually eaten in Megan's case. Finally Liam's turn. Big boy was ready to eat. I think he was a bit surprised at first, but once he got going, he seemed to like it. 

Today I decided to just feed Liam cereal at noon. He did very well. He ate a tablespoon of cereal mixed with 2 tablespoons of formula. Not bad! Actually, that was more than Bridget ate her first few days of eating, and Bridget was so ready to eat at 4 months. Bridget was opening her mouth when the spoon came towards her. Neither Holly, Liam, or Megan opened their mouths as the food came towards them. Maybe tomorrow I'll try to feed Megan again. Given the improvement that Liam showed from Day 1 to Day 2, perhaps she'll do much better the second time around.

Don't know if there's a correlation here or not, but Bridget has been pretty loaded on sugar with all the candy she got from the Easter Bunny, and she's taken 2+ hour naps Monday and Tuesday. Perhaps she's crashing after ingesting all that sugar!?!? I like that she's taking naps, but is it worth feeding her all the sugar to get the nap?

Since she took a nap today, I decided to take her to Matthew's music program. Originally I was going to go on my own because it started at 7:30 pm. Anyway, she came with, and seemed to have a good time. Matthew did very well singing all of his songs about fish. It was definitely "Oceans of Fun". The program was very cute and well rehearsed. Good job, Matt!



So Shawn bought us this new Kodak ZI6 flip video camera. It's pretty fun to use. Hopefully you'll start seeing more videos on the blog. If all goes well, I'll post a couple here in a minute or twelve.

Enjoy!

Monday, April 13, 2009

Free Redbox Rental Monday!

Yipee! It's free Redbox Rental Monday! Enter the code J89LA2 at your local Redbox and get a free rental today. Post a comment and let me know what movie you rented! You can also go to the Redbox website to check out what movies are available. I think I may rent Yes Man. 

Enjoy!

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Tuesday and Wednesday

Well the past two days turned out to be better than I expected.

Tuesday Noreen came over to help out with the babies. Bridget loved playing hide and seek with her, and of course Bridget kept Noreen busy reading books while the babies napped! I was able to sneak out and return my FREE Redbox rentals and I also had library books to return. It was election Tuesday, so I stopped by my polling place and did my civic duty. (What a blah election!)

In the afternoon, our friend Kristen came over to help out. The babies were napping, so Kristen and I helped Bridget make a couple Easter crafts. Bridget then had to rest, which was good, because the babies woke up and Kristen and I were able to feed babies without Bridget asking to play with her. 

Bridget didn't end up falling asleep, but she was pretty well behaved the rest of the evening. Everyone went to bed a bit later than usual, but we got through it. Overall, it was a nice day.

Today, our friend Kim came over to help out. After the babies ate, they took their nap. So Bridget, Kim and I played a mean game of Candyland. Bridget was trying to cheat by picking up several cards, looking for the premium cards, and Kim and I tried to explain to her that it's not fun playing with cheaters. I think she's a bit too young for this lesson, but we tried!

Then, right about lunch time, we were pleasantly surprised by a visit from Auntie Tina, Kaitlyn and Ann. Oh, Bridget was in heaven with her volume turned up to eleven! It was pretty much chaos for the first half hour, then all the kids sat down to eat lunch with Tina while Kim and I tended to the babies.

After lunch, I took Kaitlyn, Bridget and Ann outside to play while Tina (hopefully) relaxed inside while Holly, Liam and Megan took a nap. It was fun playing outside with the three girls. Usually it's just Bridget and I...which is fun, but it's much more fun watching the girls interact with each other! So we rode bikes, trikes and inchworms on the driveway. Bridget and Kaitlyn ran the entire length of our block chasing after the garbage man. My, how they loved the garbage men. I think we were visited 3 times by various garbage trucks. Each time the girls would run to the end of the drive, wave at the garbage man, and watch him do his job. The guy that picks up the regular trash (not the recycle guy) stopped to talk for awhile. He told me that the girls were beautiful (not in a creepy way, in a nice way) and told me that I need to teach my neighbors how to tie up their garbage bags. I guess lots of people on our block don't tie up their garbage bags when they put it in the can. Then when he dumps the cans into his truck, the garbage flies out everywhere, making a mess. So advice from the garbage man: Be kind to your fellow neighbors, and tie up your trash! Maybe this is why there's so much trash under our deck! I know that we have the "wind tunnel" in our yard and we tend to gather everyone else's trash, but I guess that trash comes from the people who don't tie up their garbage bags!

Anyway, the girls had lots of fun playing in the yard and coloring with chalk and having running races. After awhile, they wanted a water break, so we came in to get water and never made it outside again. 

Of course the afternoon was filled with all the toddler drama: tantrums, screaming, laughing, not sharing, snatching toys, turn-taking, blah, blah, blah but it was fun. Tina decided to stay for dinner, and since Auntie Sandy, Uncle Kurt and Morgan were coming over to help too, it turned out to be a regular party! 

We ordered up some Beggars Pizza and chowed down. As the girls got more and more tired, the tears began to flow. Bridget screamed, Kaitlyn whined, Ann ate, Morgan played with toys, and the triplets slept, ate or cried. It wasn't too bad though! Tina and her crew left first. Aunt Sandy and Uncle Kurt helped me put Holly, Liam and Megan to bed, then left to put little Morgan to bed.  Soon thereafter, Bridget was asleep and I was able to finish cleaning up the house. 

Shawn's due back after midnight tonight. I'm sleeping in tomorrow...I've deserved it!

Who doesn't need a free ruler?!

Who doesn't need a free ruler. Click here to get yours!

Monday, April 6, 2009

Comments?!?

If you're a faithful follower of our blog you've noticed that I've changed the color scheme a few times over the past week. Just playing around!

One new thing that I changed is that you don't need anything special to leave a comment. If you feel like leaving a comment on a post, just hit the comment link, and you have 4 options. If you don't have a Google or Blogger id, then you can select the name/url or anonymous options. 

Have fun!

So far, so good!

It's Free Redbox Rental Monday. Go to any Redbox today only, select "Rent with a promo code" and enter the code TS473G to get one free rental (per credit card). The movie will be due back tomorrow by 9 pm. 

I just rented Slumdog Millionaire and Bedtime Stories. Bridget actually took a 2 hour nap today, so she and I are going to watch Bedtime Stories together after I put the babies to bed. Then I hope to watch Slumdog Millionaire since I've been wanting to see it FOREVER now! 

Thank goodness Bridget took a nap because she's in a great mood now! That will make getting through then next 2 hours much easier. Yes, only 2-3 hours before the babies go down for the night. I can handle that.

Today has gone well. Megan was up at 1 and 4 to feed. So I didn't get much sleep since I didn't even go to bed until after Megan's 1:00 feeding. Then since I was up with her at 4, I decided to just feed the other two in the hopes that they'd sleep till about 9 am. And they did! So I got the majority of my sleep in from 5 am - 9 am. 

After the babies 9 am feeding, I was able to make Bridget some blueberry pancakes (her favorite!). That put her in a really good mood. She then did her morning routine chart while the babies napped. I got my shower in, and we read a book and played with Bridget's dress up dolls. Next thing you know it's noon and the babies want to eat again. So I fed them, then fed B and I. Then it was naptime for everyone. The babies slept for about 2 hours, except Liam. He wanted to snuggle, so I got to rock him to sleep. Bridget went for a nap, and actually fell asleep. About 10 minutes after I tried to take my nap, the babies were up and wanting to play.

So we played, while Bridget still slept. Auntie Jo stopped by so I could go rent my free movies at the Redbox. And now I'm going to go make dinner. The babies are fed, and will only need one more feeding around 7 before they go to bed.

If all goes well, B and I will eat dinner, I'll clean up and feed the babies. Put babies to sleep, then watch Bedtime Stories. Then B goes to sleep, then I get my peace and quiet!

Wish me luck...so far so good.

The Bunny

  


The kids met the Bunny on Wednesday. Bridget said, "That was a very cool bunny!" Holly, Megan and Liam just cried. 

Several people came up to us at the mall and commented on the triplets. More this time than any of our previous mall trips. I even ran into one of the Moms from my MOMs group. 

Saturday was Ryan's confirmation. Yup, he got holy. The party was fun. I hardly saw my children. I didn't have to worry about their well-being either.  I actually got to relax for awhile. We were the last to leave the party. 5 out of 6 godparents were announced at the party. There's one more godparent yet to be revealed. Who will it be?!?! You'll have to wait and see!

I don't know why I'm writing in such short, choppy sentences. Perhaps I've been around toddlers too much! Or maybe it's all the children's books that I read daily!

Congratulations to Tina and Sandy. Tina's expecting her 3rd child in early October. Let's send good "boy" vibes her way. Too many girls in our family! Sandra found out she's having a boy. Yeay! Liam will have a little buddy to grow up with. Again, let's hope Tina makes it 3 little boy cousins. And, hey Tina...if you have a boy, give him a G, L, or T name. Then we'll have LOG, LOL, or LOT! Hmmm, though. There's KABAM for the first 5 babies, and HLMO so far for the 2nd set of 5 babies. Perhaps you should name your kid something that fits in the anagram! 

Anyone have a Tag Reader?  Kmart and Toys R Us has Tag books on sale this week for $9.99 and LeapFrog has $5 off coupons online (you can print out 2 coupons per computer). That makes each Tag book $4.99. You can hardly buy a "regular" kids book for that price! I've picked up 5 books so far (shh! Bridget doesn't know). I hope to use them as Christmas or Birthday gifts! If you don't have a Tag reader, this would make a great gift for any of my kids, just hang onto it for 8 more months. 

Other good deals...Toys R Us has Fisher Price Loving Family accessories Buy 1 Get 1 Free this week. Bridget loves her dollhouse, and if you wanted to get her birthday present cheap and early, she's requesting the new Camping accessories. (Camping Tent, ATV, or Canoe) It looks like Fisher Price is coming out with new accessories for the Loving Family dollhouse, so I'm guessing the old accessories may go on clearance soon. Also, the camping link lists the tent price as $19.99 online, but in stores it's $14.99.

Shawn's in California today through late Wednesday night. Let's hope I survive! I'm sure I'm going to need to get out and decompress Thursday. So far so good though, John and Kathie spent all day with us today. Joann also poked her head in for awhile too. The babies were great, and Bridget was very well behaved all day. Bedtime went smoothly. Now I must get to bed. I can't pass off that 5 am feeding to Shawn today!

Friday, April 3, 2009

New Stroller and Bridget's special day



We finally got a stroller to accommodate everyone!  Now if the weather would warm up so we could use it! I think I'm going to even like this stroller given time. So far, one of the wheels won't snap in correctly, and tightening the belts as far as they can go took forever, figuring out how to fold and unfold the darn thing was tricky, and it's a bit on the heavy side...I'm sure I'll get used to it soon enough. We haven't tried to put it in the van yet, but it should fit. It folds down pretty compact. There is a second canopy that covers the front seats and all four seats recline independently, which is nice. It was easy to roll the four around the kitchen, and I can't wait to get them outside to try it out! In this photo, all the seats are upright, which is why Megan and Liam are kinda slumping over to the side. Their belts weren't all the way tightened either. Hopefully with some modifications, everyone will have a safe and smooth stroller ride. 

Today was sort of Bridget's special day. She really gets the short end of the stick now that the babies have arrived. I haven't been able to spend much time with her because I'm so busy taking care of the triplets and trying to keep up with the daily housework. So today after breakfast, Bridget and I played with her Tag Reader. During nap time, we read library books. When I played with Holly, Megan and Liam on the floor, Bridget was right beside me entertaining them too. 

Not surprisingly, she was well behaved and tantrum free because she had a lot of my attention today. Oddly enough, at 11 am, Holly, Megan and Liam all went down for a nap, and Bridget had earned some tv time. So I flipped on PBS, and fell asleep on the couch. Next thing I knew it was after noon and Shawn was waking me up! What a nice nap!

At 2:00, Bridget came with me to the allergist. I packed up her blank notebook and a Sesame Street "math" workbook. While we waited in the office, Bridget and I worked through about 15 pages of the book. I don't know where the math is in this book, but she matched like objects and different objects. She selected the biggest or smallest item from a group, and she traced the numbers from 1-20. She had a great time and asked if she could play with the book when we got home. 

After the doc, we stopped by our local park. NO ONE WAS THERE! It was a beautiful day, and not a kid in sight. So we killed about a half hour before getting back in the car and going to the movie theater. We went to see Monsters vs. Aliens. She really enjoyed that too. The previews scared her a bit, and there were certain scenes that she covered up her eyes for, but she wasn't scared to the point where she wanted to leave the theater. 

Even after all the popcorn that she ate, Bridget ate a ton for dinner. We had tortellini. She ended up eating two heaping ladel-fuls of tortellinis. 

After dinner, I was trying to get the triplets to bed when the chaos began. (I should mention that Shawn was not home, he was at his fantasy baseball draft.) First, Liam spit up the entire contents of his last three bottles. It happened while I was changing Megan. He was in the swing, didn't fuss a bit, but when I came to get him to change his diaper, he was completely covered-head-to-toe, front-to-back with spit-up. It was even pooling in the bottom of the swing. Don't know what was up with that. He doesn't usually spit up that much! The little stinker was smiling so big when I picked him up, he didn't care a bit about the mess. So now I have to give him an unexpected bath, which was interesting. His jammies wouldn't peel off they were so soaked! YUCK! Of course, the boy who poops every 36 hours also had major poop in his diaper too. Anyway, I'm bathing him as fast as I can, Bridget is in tantrum mode because how dare I ask her to put her jammies on and Megan is screaming her annoying scream on the living room floor. Holly too is fussing because she's still hungry. 

I manage to get Liam bathed and in bed and Bridget finally calms down. Now the other girls are still screaming. Priority: Megan, because if I have to listen to that awful cry of hers any longer I'm going to jump off a bridge! I top her off with 3 ounces of formula, change her diaper and clothes and she's off to dream land. Now on to Holly, cuz she's wailing. She too finishes off her bottle, lets out some huge burps and she's changed and put to bed. WHEW! The house is slowly quieting down. 

Next up: Bridget. She fusses a bit when I tell her it's time to "do the chart". She says she doesn't wanna and she's not tired, but I insist that it's bedtime, and that she needs to do the things on her chart, and she settled down. It's amazing what she'll do for a sticker! Each night if she completes her 6 tasks in a reasonable amount of time and with no tantrums, she gets TWO bedtime stories instead of one. (We used to read her 3 books, but her books are too long now to read 3 for bedtime!) Oh yah, the chart is really helping her become more independent too. Today she put away all her toys from the living room and her bedroom on her own, without any help from me! She did a very good job too, everything was put away correctly and nothing was forgotten! After bedtime stories and hugs and kisses it was time to assess the damage around the house. 

*The swing seat cover would need laundering ASAP.
*Three loads of baby laundry needed to be done, but I could get by if I did one load of all the spit-up stuff!
*Dinner dishes need to be cleaned up, dishwasher unloaded and reloaded.
*Bottles, bottles, bottles!
*Two loads of laundry still need to be folded and put away from yesterday.
*I haven't checked my school email in three days, and haven't checked my Yahoo email at all today.
*Need to get everything packed up and ready to go to Ryan's confirmation party tomorrow. 
*Still need to make dessert for Ryan's party. (Well, I don't have to, but I want to!)

So what do I end up doing? Posting to the blog! I just wanted to sit down for a few minutes and here I am a half hour later, still on the computer! Better get going on my chores.

Two more quick things: Holly began sucking her thumb, and Megan rolled over from her front to back during tummy time today!


BYE!