Talkers

Just a quick update, I know it's been awhile.

Liam is our little talker. He repeats everything! He's doing great expressing himself through words. Yesterday he told Megan, "Go away. My toy." Liam loves bedtime routine. He's the first to bring a book to read. When we're done with books, he'll say, "teeth" to remind us that we need to brush teeth. After brushing teeth, he'll say "drink" to ask for a drink of water. Then finally, it's "baby" which is a short song I sing to each child before putting them down to bed.

Holly is second with talking. She had about a week where her pronunciation of the word "fork" sounded obscene. She still makes the word "sit" sound like a bad word. Holly is smart as a whip. She'll ask, "Caillou?" wanting us to put on the show for her. When we say "no." She'll ask, "Elmo?" and we'll say no. Finally she'll say, "Gabba?" and we'll say "no tv right now." So she's persistant...trying to get what she wants. We'll have to watch out for her as she grows!

Megan lets everyone talk for her. She doesn't have to talk because Liam and Holly talk for her. She does pronounce names very well: Mama, Dada, Holly, Liam, Megan, Bridgie, Elmo, Caillou, Cookie, Bert, Ernie, etc. Shawn and I are definitely trying to encourage her to talk more. She does a really cute thing when watching Caillou on tv. At the end of the theme song, Caillou opens up his arms and declares, "I'm Caillou....that's me!" A few seconds before that point in the song, Megan will wind up...open her arms....and declare "ME!" in time with Caillou. She adds a big clap of her hands as well. It's very cute. I have it recorded on my iPhone. Someday I will post it to Facebook or here.

Gonna run.

Four Personalities + One House = Lots of Laughs and Tears

My oh my! I have four little ones on my hands this summer. They are all SO different. They all keep me very busy.

Let's start with Bridget. She is reading Step 1 and Step 2 books on her own. She LOVES, LOVES, LOVES to read. Her vocabulary is amazing and I don't know how we did it but she's way ahead of the rest when it comes to reading. Overnight, she became an expert color-er too! Last week, she would use one or two colors on a picture, mainly scribbling to get it colored as fast as possible. Now, she's choosing appropriate colors and staying mainly within the lines. We have several BEAUTIFUL pictures posted around the house, compliments of Bridget.

We've only been to Auntie Jo's pool twice this summer, but Bridget loves swimming too. She's pretty dependent on her swim vest, not wanting to go in water without it, but once in the water, it's hard to get her out. We should probably sign her up for formal swimming lessons, but it's so hard to commit to classes with all we've got going on. Besides, why pay for lessons when you got an Auntie Jo with a heated pool!?! Now, if we could only manage to get over there more frequently!

B's definitely been trying our patience lately. She's so smart and verbal, and that lands her into lots of trouble at times. "No! I'm NOT cleaning up my toys!" She's a good girl, though. 99% of her outbursts stem from being tired or wanting more attention. We're trying to keep her busy and when the babies nap or go to bed for the night, B and I do something special.

Bridget is enrolled in 3 weeks of KinderCamp from the Joliet Park District. She has completed one week already and her next week is after Shawn gets back from Tokyo. She is really enjoying camp. She tells me about her new friends and her BFFs Olivia, Mason, Madison and Emily. She really enjoyed taking a school bus (her first school bus trip) to the Shedd Aquarium for a field trip. She told me that Coach Bryan (one of her teachers) looks like Chris Isaak and is very handsome, and she's going to marry him someday. She also told me that her friend Jack from Bonnie McBeth Preschool is going to marry her. When I asked, "why?" she said, very matter-of-factly, "Because he LOVES me!" followed by, "and one day at school, Jack gave me a BIIIIIIIIG kiss...on the cheek. I love him. We're going to get married." Oh my, she's 4! For her other weeks of KinderCamp, she will be going to Lincoln Park Zoo and the Field Museum. I'm sure she's going to have a blast!

On to Holly. Holly needed a haircut so badly. No more mullet. She now has a cute little haircut. She sort of looks like a little Annie. (Her cousin, not the curly red head.) Holly is such a leader and has a strong will. When she's doing something, no one can stop her. For example, she could be sitting on the ground trying to pull Liam's pj pants over her head. When I try to tell her that she has pants and pants go on your legs, she will tug harder and harder until she gets a body part through the pant leg. She's the same way with toys. She will focus on whatever she is doing and if you disturb her, she screams at you like a wild monkey!

Holly's favorite word is 'happy'. She'll sing, "happy...happy....happy....happy" over and over again. I sometimes think she does this because of the simple fact that Liam and Megan cannot yet say the word happy. Holly also gets jealous easily. If Bridget climbs up on my lap, Holly will stop what she's doing and will let you know that she is not happy.

Holly likes to pour water on top of her head while playing with the water table in the back yard.

Holly (and Megan and Liam) will be taking a tumbling class in August. I'm a bit fearful of taking 3 to a tumbling class, but I'm sure they will enjoy it.


Next up: Liam. Liam has been coming out of his shell lately. He too needed a haircut and now looks like a little boy and not a little baby. He's got his daddy's good looks and charm and since the haircut, he likes to squint his little eyes at you and make these silly faces. It's very cute! Liam is the care taker of the group. If I ask for help ("Can you bring me this toy?") Liam will be the first to search for that toy. If I'm changing diapers or getting the babies dressed, he will bring me the diaper or outfit before I even ask for it! If Megan runs off with a green shirt, he will snatch it from Megan and give it to Holly. (We discovered a few months ago that the babies know colors. If given the option, Megan always picks pink, Liam always picks blue and Holly always picks green.) He's still a bit of a Mama's boy, but not nearly as bad as before.

I took Liam and Bridget to the gym with me and was a bit concerned that Liam would cry the whole time I was gone. Nope, he did fine. Which was really surprising because a few weeks ago, Holly came with, and all she did was cry. See, the triplets don't get out on their own...at all. So I'm trying to rotate and take each one out with me to see their reactions. Liam really surprised me. He did fine. He was never far from Bridget, but he did fine.

On the Fourth of July, Liam was hamming it up with the sprinkler. In the past, he's been afraid of the sprinkler, but that day, he was playing with it and giggling the whole time. If you know Liam, you know Liam's lip. He's always got the pouty lip going on. It's been very nice seeing him smile so much lately.

Liam is usually the first to run to the chalk container when we are playing outside.

Finally, Megan. Megan is our little athlete. She can basically do a chin up on the safety gate. She does a sit-up on the changing table, and the girl can really throw a ball. Check out her shoulders the next time you see her. Her shoulders and arms are so muscular! Megan is the quietest of the three, when it comes to talking, but she will surprise you. I could ask the babies to say a word and Holly and Liam will try it and Megan will sit quietly. Then two days later, she'll just say that word out of the blue. She loves lap time. She'll steal a few minutes on my lap, and position herself so that the other two cannot climb on my lap too. Even if they tried to climb up, she'd just knock them down anyway.

Megan and Liam have a special relationship. Out of the blue, the two will just start wrestling. It's so funny to watch. Some days Liam wins other days Megan wins, and it's a pretty fair match-up. Megan and Holly are usually competitive, but when we are in the van, the girls sit in the back, and can usually be found holding hands while dozing off.

Inside, Megan can always be found with someone else's shoes on. ALWAYS! If there's a pair of shoes left out, Megan is trying to put them on. Usually it's Bridget's shoes. Sometimes it's mine or Shawn's shoes. And she won't just wear them for a few minutes. No. She wears them for hours. Or until I take them off of her feet.

Megan's favorite outdoor activity is trying to ride the plasma car or Bridget's tricycle.

Overall, the four USUALLY play nicely together. Bridget is a great big sister. She entertains them so I can make dinner or shower or whatever. We do get the occasional battle over a specific toy, but I mostly let them work it out. They're going to have to learn to get along. They're stuck with each other...forever!

So that's it for now. Hopefully it won't be so long between posts.

It's Been A Long Time

As you can imagine, life is pretty busy with 4 kids. Haven't had much free time to do anything. So just a quick update on the kiddos.

Holly, Liam and Megan turned ONE on December 15th. They had a blast at their birthday party! It was crazy opening presents, but all three really enjoyed ripping wrapping paper and opening bags and boxes. I couldn't tell you who gave us what, but they got lots of nice things.

Liam started to walk at the end of November/early December. I don't remember! At first, he would basically lunge at someone (including knocking Holly flat on her face a few times), but now he's toddling like a champ. Megan followed a week before her first birthday. Of course, Megan was climbing before walking, and really enjoys climbing up on the couch and running laps back and forth for as long as we'll let her. Holly is our Miss Smarty Pants. She's trying to talk, and will say "ca" in a soft voice. (That means "cat".) She also uses several baby signs. (Cat, twinkle, blow kisses, hi/bye, all done, more,) and she knows where her belly and head are. Actually, all three know where their belly and heads are. We are working on nose now.

Liam gave me kisses for the first time today. That was really sweet! I don't mind that he licks my cheek like a dog, it's still very sweet! Holly and Megan are lickers too and there are times when Holly will give big hugs. They're all so cuddly!

Christmas was a riot. They had fun opening more gifts and playing with all the new stuff. They looked very cute in their Christmas Eve and Christmas day outfits and matching pjs too. If you're a Facebook friend, then you've seen the photos. If not, get a FB account!! Of course it was great getting out of the house and seeing all of our family members. We even got to see cousin Julie and meet her husband Jonathan. That was a lot of fun! I think we could hire cousin Mary as our full-time nanny....the babies LOVED her and she seemed to enjoy playing with them too!

Let's not forget Miss Beezer either. Bridget turned 4 on December 22. We kept trying to prepare her that "when you turn 4, you can't have any more tantrums because you're a big girl now." Yah, right. She's worse now! Shawn and I are really trying to lay the law down with her now b/c we're tired of dealing with her tantrums. Ugh!

Bridget is taking PreBallet2 this semester. She starts tomorrow and she's pretty excited. She loves dance class. In May they are having a huge recital...you're all welcome to come. More info will follow.

We still have to get all four kids into the pediatrician for their yearly visit. Can't wait to see how much they've grown. Bridget has really sprouted up and thinned out (except her big round head is still big and round). The downside to all that growth for her is that she often wakes up overnight with "growing pains" in her knees. She's had a couple of bad nights recently, and I'm sure we'll mention it to the pediatrician when she gets in.

We also have to still get their yearly photos taken. Ugh, so much to do! Thanks to Auntie Jo, they'll be looking good in their valentine themed clothes. I can't wait to go...it's just hard coordinating times and a crew able to help me get them photographed. I can't imagine how difficult this session is going to be with all three walking around a studio without doors! I'm thinking that the plan of attack this time will be to focus on individual shots, and then if they cooperate, maybe one or two group photos.

Shawn's leaving us next week to go to Tokyo for work. He'll be gone for over a week. Thankfully, Auntie Anna is going to help me survive while he's gone. She is student teaching near Joliet, so she's going to move in for the week. If you're free, stop by and lend us a helping hand. We're especially looking for someone able to drive Bridget to school in the afternoon. If you can help out, we'd really appreciate it!

As for me, first semester ends on Friday. The year has gone fast, and it's been tumultuous for me at times, but I'm hanging in there. Trying to find a balance between work and home is tough. We got fancy projectors and tablets while I was out on maternity leave last year and this year I've been trying to convert all my class notes/problems/etc. so that they can be projected. It's a lot of work, but once it's done I will be able to coast. I tell ya, the projectors are great. I can pretty much walk around the room or sit on top of a desk and solve problems from anywhere in the classroom. I used to use a ton of white board markers and now I barely use any. I've also reduced the amount of paper I use, because I can project a handout, instead of actually handing it out. I often joke with my students that I'm going to replace my desk with a recliner now, because I no longer have to depend on my whiteboard.

Ok, that's it for the update. I should be finishing up school work and going to bed. Until next time...