Three O'Clock...

I prefer not to post videos for my posts because they don't do much for my future blog book but it seems that video-taking is all I'm doing lately and I hate NOT to share!

Seriously though, these have to be shown. Around 3pm everyday, Leah becomes extremely slap happy and just about everything is funny to her. In addition to that, she tends to get more physical in the afternoon (weird, I know) but her new thing is tackling Zachary and Caleb from behind. This is all fun and games until she does it on the tile and someone ends up with a goose egg. The funny thing is that whoever got tackled is usually mad and trying to push her away and she thinks it's a game and laughs hysterically. It's good for me to witness and keeps me lighthearted. Reminds me not to take things so seriously during the day.

Point is, she really is the life of the party and always keeps everyone laughing. The first video we were blowing raspberries with our lips then near then end she heard a car. The second video speaks for itself. Guess we shouldn't fix that squeaky cupboard!

Stupidity Moment #2

At the trio's one-year-old doctor appointment, I gave them all suckers so they would stop crying after their immunizations. Stupidity moment #1.

My second moment of stupidity happened this past week. It was such a beautiful day outside, overcast, and warm. So I wanted to do an outdoor activity to take advantage of the weather. A friend of mine mentioned a fun sand-play area just north of here. So I loaded the kids and met her and her daughter that afternoon. However, after arriving we realized that the sand was wet...I guess it had rained the night before. Didn't know that. I hated the idea of turning around and going back home after making the drive, loading the kids, dealing with their hoopla, getting my gigantic stroller in and out of the van, etc... So I decided to make the best of it and let the kids run around anyway. I know, I always make it sound like such a big deal to go anywhere but some days, it just is. Just this morning we ran to the store and it was smooth and easy. So it all just depends.

They actually enjoyed poking the sand, running around, and feeling the sand on their feet but only for about ten minutes. That even included the time they spent at a fun little puddle. They were soaked and it was really windy so I imagine they were cold. Then Leah decided to rub sand in her eyes. Lovely. So she was done, crying, and wanting to leave. I had to spend time with each baby at the car trying to wipe them off so while I worked on Leah, the other two were having meltdowns in the sandbox thinking I was leaving them. Have you ever tried to wipe wet sand off three screaming babies? Well...it wasn't working and they were so mad at me. I was covered in sand and pained by the fact that there would be sand ALL over the car seats and car because I just couldn't get it off. Leah's eyes were all bloodshot and I'm sure they hurt. The stroller was covered in sand which subsequently got all over the seats and floor of the car (since I have to fit the stroller in perfectly between the front and back seats). I don't do well with messes. For example, I wipe their dinner table after every food item I offer them because I can't stand the layered, dry, sticky mess at the end of the meal. So all the sand EVERYWHERE was just killing me.

We did enjoy watching the kids and laughing at their fascination with the sand and water but unfortunately, I had to call it a day and ditch my friend after a very short play date. Her daughter was in worse shape than mine as far as being soaked and covered in sand! She told me that she used baby powder to dry the sand and wipe it right off. Genius. I have gobs of baby powder at home. Too bad I didn't have it with me.

Point is, not my best decision. It had potential to be fun but I think the wind made their wet clothes cold and Leah's eye rubbing sealed the deal.

Next time we'll make sure the sand is dry. :)




Now giving suckers to the kids while they played in the wet sand would have been an interesting combo. :) I'm sure my third moment of stupidity is soon to come.

Moving on.

Leah decided she was done with crawling and is a full-blown walker now. All in a week. I never thought walking could be so cute but she really is a sight to behold. Especially when she is jamming out to our Justin Bieber songs.

Here she is, in all her walking glory (while holding her dog clutch)... She was walking toward me so I counted to three and she gave me this look...


On Sunday when all three were dressed for church, it was the sweetest thing ever to see all of them so clean cut, hair combed, and walking around like little human beings. I had the same feelings when they were all crawling together. Just a moment of awe. This was the first Sunday she didn't have to try and crawl in a dress. I'm sure she was thrilled.


I have been feeling worried about them becoming more civilized as they approach 18 months. Like actually using a fork and eating from a bowl. Let's try to forget the fact that sometimes, before I catch them, they take chewed food out of their mouths and feed it to their neighbor. Oh boy. The fork is a long way off so I figured we'd start with bowls. After a good teaching session, this is what they apparently took from it.

We're still working on it. I only put diced fruit and pasta in the bowls. Those seem to be the safest and they have actually done well. It's just the after party that's a problem...




We've been dealing with a lot of pre-two-year-old behavior over here. They're not quite old enough to reason with, take away privileges, or keep in time-out, so I am constantly spouting off reprimand after reprimand. I try very hard to not yell while I'm correcting someone and some days I do great. But then there are the 'other' days when I feel like I might check into the loony bin. What it all boils down to is toy stealing. Can you believe that? I know most people think that since they are multiples they learn how to share very early. Well folks, this just isn't true. They are still normal individual toddlers who go into a screaming frenzy when a toy is taken. I do not understand the toddler phenomenon of needing a toy right when someone else seems interested in it. Then as the stealer gets the toy, said stealer doesn't want it anymore. Wow. I have come to believe that toddlers have three eyes: one on their toy, one on me to make sure I don't leave the room unexpectedly, and one on their surroundings. Caleb will seemingly be in his own world playing quietly then all the sudden be in the corner tackling Zachary for a truck. Doesn't sound so bad right? Well this starts about 5 minutes after they get up in the morning and ends when I put them down at night. ALL DAY LONG. I know it won't get any easier either so I'm just choosing my battles and enjoying the ride into full toddlerhood. Seriously, the loony bin might be in my near future.

There are moments, though rare, that the kids are all doing the same activity....peacefully. Like looking out the back window at the steam coming out of the dryer vent on a cold day.

Thank you dryer vent for a couple minutes of peace. Best gift you've ever given me.

Pre-Dinner Shenanigans...

Oh Miss Leah. Always causing happy trouble. We're just glad she's back to her old self and feeling better! The oldest video I've taken of the trio in the table was a little less than a year ago. They happened to be in the same order and waiting for me to feed them dinner also! However, things weren't always so happy around mealtime. Gosh...crazy to look back on but I definitely prefer them poking and playing with each other than screaming at me!

It Reared It's Ugly Head...

Rewind back to pre-Thanksgiving...

One week before leaving, both me and Clark were down and out with head colds and sore throats. Could barely get off the couch all weekend. Luckily we tag-teamed and got through it. We recovered well enough for our trip and just as expected, the kids were coughing and sniffing as soon as we arrived.

This worsened significantly over the two weeks and I'm sure the dry western climate didn't help at all. The snot was getting out of control and no one was sleeping or happy in general.

We were anxious to get home so everyone could rest and recover. Unfortunately this never happened. Two days after returning home, Caleb spiked a very high fever. Combine it with dark green snot and we were worried. Doctors thought a bacterial sinus infection of some sort so he started on antibiotics. The fever didn't break for another three days so obviously it was just viral. We were glad for that. Of course he got that weird post-virus rash all over his body which was further evidence that his fever wasn't bacteria-related.

Finally....out of the woods. I can handle the kids being sick but when the fever comes, I get pretty freaked.

One day after a broken fever, all the kids were immunized for their 15-month appointment. The next day Zachary had a fever. He has had post-shot fevers in the past so I didn't worry. Then Leah got the fever...and their fevers kept getting higher and higher. 104 was the highest. This lasted for FIVE DAYS!! We had them checked a couple times and all the doctor could find were red throats. No ear infections, no strep, no flu. So we just had to wait it out...miserably. I went through almost a whole bottle of Tylenol and Benadryl up to this point. Not because I love to drug my children but because it was absolutely necessary.

Ok so Leah had a nose surgery scheduled and if her fever didn't break at least two full days prior to surgery, she wasn't going to have the procedure. This was the procedure to fix the choanal atresia in her nose. LUCKILY the next morning (two mornings before surgery) she was fever free and remained that way until the surgery so we were good to go. Zachary's fever broke as well so all babies were back to normal temps. If we could only have gotten rid of the cold symptoms too!

Leah's surgery went flawlessly and her post-op care was pretty minimal. Saline and Nasonex twice a day! I can handle that. She was pretty tired and out of it for the 24 hours following but soon came around and was back to her old self. The surgery was pretty non-invasive. Doc just stuck a drill a little up her left nostril and chipped away at the bone covering her passageway. No bleeding, no cutting, no stitches.

Then Christmas came and we were all feeling pretty good about things...hoping to finally get over all the sickness.

Then the wheezing started. Leah's cough had worsened and she started wheezing on New Year's Eve. I called the Pedi just to make sure there wasn't anything more I could be doing to help her out and they actually insisted I come in. Apparently they take wheezing pretty seriously. We rushed to the doc before they closed and the doctor took a listen to her breathing. Leah's ears looked good and she wasn't running a temp. The doc swabbed her nose just to make sure....

but then she returned with the results and three letters I never wanted to hear...

R.S.V.

Really???? Seriously??? Ugh! We were so careful last year but apparently our efforts weren't quite good enough this time around. Heaven knows where Leah got it but all of us in that room knew the boys would soon start wheezing also. All I could think is that I'm so grateful this didn't happen last year with the babies' lungs being so underdeveloped. Not that RSV at anytime is ideal. RSV is very contagious and frankly I couldn't believe it was just in that little tiny piece of snot they got from Leah's nose. It really is inevitable that the boys would soon start showing symptoms because no matter how hard we try to incubate a sickness, they share toys, cough and sneeze near one another, wipe their nose then poke someone's eye, etc... Inevitable.

I've since learned that RSV is much nastier than I realized. I knew it was bad but there are long-lasting residual effects from the virus, the sickness can last up to a month, and can turn severe very quickly. Basically, RSV is a REALLY bad respiratory infection that affects the lungs. As a result, kids aren't able to breathe well and often can't get the oxygen they need. They lose their appetites, can't sleep, cough and cough and cough, and sometimes they turn blue from such rapid, shallow breathing. That's when they end up in the hospital from bronchiolitis and pneumonia.

Long story short, it's nasty. The doc had already seen three positive RSV tests that morning so that's why she thought we should check.

Alright so what's the treatment??

Not much. Just let it run the course, no antibiotics, and Albuterol treatments 3x daily to make breathing more comfortable. We have to monitor very closely how they're doing to catch anything right away. Right now, fortunately, everything seems pretty maintained and Leah's wheezing has even improved.

We're on baby lock down for the time being so we haven't been going anywhere. Luckily the weather has been decent so we leave the doors open and the kids can go in and out. That has saved my sanity!



Here's Caleb sporting his bird mask. He's the only one that will remotely tolerate it. The others are quite the wrestlers. Needless to say, we've been watching a LOT of Baby Einstein just to get them to sit still.


Our prayers go out to other little people in our family diagnosed with RSV. It certainly is getting around and we hope to be rid of it sooner than later!