Clumsy Genes.

I love the blog Mommyfriend. She recently wrote about the injuries associated with having toddlers. I started writing a comment on her post, and then realized it was getting really long winded, so I decided to blog it instead.

I am exceedingly clumsy, always have been, probably always will be. I think I passed the clumsy gene on to my boys. Sorry, boys! I remember when the boys were still babies and learning to sit up on their own, I had Owen sitting up on the floor, and holding him up. He threw himself backwards with so much force, I couldn't stop him from hitting the floor. We had carpet in the apartment we were living in at the time, but the floor was anything but soft, so I wasn't surprised that he started wailing. I sought medical advice, and was told that while the fall scared him (and me) and he did have a little bump, he was just fine.
Then there was the time we went to a friend's for a play date, and I managed to lock the house keys inside, it was summer and hot, and I when we got home, I wasn't going to keep my babies in the car while we waited for Daddy to get home with his keys. So I did what anyone would do, I decided to break in. I went around took the screen out of a window (the windows we had at our old apartment didn't lock), opened the window, climbed up onto a skinny rail to be able to climb up into the window. Trying to balance on this little rail and lean over to reach the window to climb in, I fell, and twisted my knee. I never did get it checked out by medical professionals, it swelled up, and hurt like crazy and it still sometimes hurts (this happened like 2 years ago). Anyway, I picked myself up off the ground and tried again, this time, I got in! So then I went around, unlocked the door and got the babies inside and sat down. A minute later, my husband got home with his keys.
Then there were the times the boys would be jumping on their beds when they were suppose to be sleeping. M got a pretty bad black eye, I was actually afraid he could have broken some bones in his face, which of course, he didn't, but it was a nasty black eye. Not long after that, Ethan earned his first trip to the ER. He was jumping on the bed (of course) and fell and put a big ole dent in his forehead, lot of blood, but turned out to only be a superficial wound. He had a lot of fun in the ER though, he showed off how cute he is, how well he could count, and he got some major practice flirting with nurses.
They still fall a lot, like I said, I must have passed on the clumsy gene. And even as clumsy as they are, they are fearless. I'm sure we'll have more ER visits, more black eyes, etc. So if you see us around town, and the boys and I are bruised and banged up, please know, we don't live in an abusive home, we just play hard.

Caption contest

Since only ONE person entered a caption, the winner is.... Natalie! Congrats!

Ok, everybody, come up with your best caption!

It's my birthday

I'm a quarter of a century today. 1/4 of the way to 100. And I feel like I'm still such a kid. Not because I act like a kid, or anything like that. I just feel like I still have so much to do before I'm really an "adult."
Because you know, being a mom to triplets, that's so not something adults do.
Actually, I don't know why I feel young. Maybe because this past summer I was still carded to play Keno (legal age in my state is 19).

In any case, I'm enjoying my birthday hugs from my little ones, and super enjoying the fact that my husband is actually cleaning the house so I don't have to. Yeah.

Plus, my awesome parents bought me a kitchenaid stand mixer. And I've only wanted one of those since I was, I dunno, 15 yrs 3 months and 2 weeks old. Not like I've been counting or anything. haha. (That age was totally just thrown out there, to drive the point that I've wanted one for awhile now.)

AND my sister got my a pretty kick-ass cookbook. And last month, for our anniversary, my husband got me a deluxe mandolin slicer (and running shoes). Good thing kitchen-y things excite me, otherwise I might be offended that I got kitchen utensil/appliances/cookbook. But I really love the fun gifts I received.

And just to prove how much of a dork I really am, I'm wearing a tiara and birthday button-ribbon thing today. And just in case you don't believe me... A picture....

As of late

I've always enjoyed cooking and baking and generally just playing around with food and coming up with yummy things that people love to eat.

Before I got married, I never really had to cook often, unless I wanted to. And to be honest, it was like an occasional hobby before I got married. I made a few things really well, and when my husband and I were still just kind of hanging out and dating, and I was still trying to impress the heck out of him, I would cook, but it certainly was not an every night thing. So then we got married, and had triplets, and eating out or getting take out or fast food was not financially sound. That first year of marriage we ate a lot of crappy hamburger helper, not that I couldn't do anything better, but being pregnant with triplets and then having newborns, I didn't have a lot of energy or focus to plan meals, grocery shop, and then cook. So I've really been improving and exploring recipes since that part of our lives. I love to cook. I love to bake. I love slice, dice, chop, mix, bake, braise, broil, etc...
BUT THAT'S NOT ALL....
I've discovered canning! AND I LOVE IT! We don't have a super extensive garden, so I haven't done much canning this year, because I don't want to buy a million pounds of extra produce when I go shopping. Luckily though, my parents have a decent garden, and my in-laws have a great garden. My parents will be great, but it's their first year having their garden, and I think they are planning on adding more stuff every year until they have everything they want/need.
Anyway, this year all we had in our yard was our grapes. We picked our grapes, washed them, made them into juice and from there made our own jelly! It's fantastic. A little over a quart of juice made 8 jars of jelly! And I also made my own sauerkraut this year. 6 pints! And I did my own pumpkin puree, but since they have lower acidity that other fruits and veggies, I didn't really can it, per say, I just made the puree from fresh pumpkins and then froze it for later use.
Can't wait to expand on this next year. Also, I plan on asking my in-laws if they have an overflow of jalapenos they wouldn't mind parting with. I really want to make/can candied jalapenos.

moody eaters

When my boys were babies and on baby food, I thought I was so lucky, the didn't seem too picky. And now they aren't so much picky, as they are moody eaters. One day they will love something, the next time I make it, they act like they're being served prison food. Sometimes they like hot dogs, sometimes they hate them. Sometimes they won't touch any meat at all, sometimes they love meat. So, as a mom, it's tough to make sure everyone is eating well. I decided to share some tricks to get my moody eaters to eat just about anything.

1. Put ketchup on it. My kids used refuse eggs, until we put ketchup on them. If they don't eat their veggies, we put ketchup on it. I personally, think ketchup is gross anyway, so getting them to eat this way is not my favorite, but if it gets them eating, I can deal with gross.

2. Re-invent the recipe. Last night I made sloppy joes, total kid food, right? Well, they didn't touch them. I wasn't going to make anything else, it was a long, rough day. So, they got crackers, cheese, lunch meat.. But today, I had leftover sloppy joe, so I boiled up some pasta for lunch and heated and mixed in the leftover sloppy joe. They actually LIKED it!

3. Let them help make food. When they are being especially moody, I let them help in the kitchen. If we're making something that isn't really safe for them to help with (something involving lots of cutting and hot stoves/ovens) I fill the sink with soapy water, give them cups and spoons OR I give them bowls and spoons and let them pretend to cook.

4. If all else fails, go to their all time favorite. My kids love spaghetti or any kind of Italian food. We eat a lot of spaghetti and ravioli around here. I've started expanding on the Italian foods I make, and so far, they love all of it. A new household favorite, which I was surprised the kids loved so much, is Eggplant Parmesan.

Do you have picky/moody eaters? What do you do to get your kids to eat?

Let's get organized!

I have been in a cleaning,organizing, and dust-busting mood lately! I have re-organized my kitchen, freed up a ton of counter space, and de-cluttered the cupboards. The next day I cleaned and re-organized the bathroom. So I was extremely pleased when I read that this month's Project Marriage was to change something in the bedroom. Either something big or small. Well, the timing of this challenge couldn't be better with my "Let's whip this place into tip top shape" mood and all. I have SO many ideas for the bedroom. We have two closets in the house. One in the boys' room and one in the unfinished basement. So, not having a closet in our bedroom means that our room gets pretty cluttered at times. We have a dresser and a clothes rack type thing in there. We actually have two dressers, but one is filled with junk. SO one idea I had for the room is to buy my husband an inexpensive, yet functional filing cabinet for his office, and all the papers from the junk dresser can be filed away. Then we can sort through the rest of the junk and either put it in storage, or sell it or find some functional use for it, and open up the dresser for actual clothes. Replace the flimsy little clothes rack thing with either a sturdier rack and get some sort or canopy or curtain to put around it so it has more of a closet-y feel, or fashion some sort of wardrobe to hang clothes in. I've also told my husband that the little chair in our room has got to go, either up to his office, or to a yard sale.
We also have a hand-me-down headboard. One with a mirror in it. I don't really love the mirror headboard, and I'm having a lot of trouble convincing to let me make changes to the headboard. I want to take the mirror out, and make a chalkboard to put in there instead. Not that we need a chalkboard in our headboard any more than we need a mirror, but I think it would be cute. And the final change I'm planning on making is pulling out the sewing machine and making some fun accent pillows, and maybe new curtains. But if all I get accomplished is creating more functional space and finding a tidy way to store clothes with having no closet then I shall be pleased.

A technology free date night.

I really love my husband, so I was really excited when July's Project Marriage was to have a date night.
Did my husband wine and dine me? No. Did we go to a movie? Not a chance. My parents are partners in a ranch, so we loaded up the kids and went up to the ranch for a weekend. We had our own cabin, and the boys had their own room, so while we saw our kids much of the time, the grandparents would watch them and give the Mr. and I some time to go off together. I love that our date was a weekend away from neighbors, and falling asleep listening to big rigs, traffic and sirens.
What types of things did we do? While the boys were up where my parents were staying, we caught and removed mice from our cabin, one night, after the boys were asleep, my parents sat at our cabin and babysat the sleeping boys, we took an off road jeep ride, did some sunset hiking, saw a lot of deer and wildlife, when we got back from our drive, we sat outside of the cabin and had a couple of owls join us. The next night the ranch was hosting a 4th of July dance, so the owls weren't aroud too much, so we sat outside and star gazed. During the day we got to go fishing and go to the shooting range. SO much fun!
I sure love my husband, and I love that we like to get dirty on our dates! Plus I LOVED that the Mr. had no cell phone signal or internet while we were up there, so we actually really spent time talking and listening to each other!

Top 10 annoying things people ask me/say to me

I'm a mother of triplets. These are the top 10 most obnoxious comments and questions I get regarding having triplets.

1. I don't envy you!
Great. You don't envy me. Well, guess what! I don't envy you either. I have 3 precious little boys, a house full of love, and about a million reasons to smile everyday.

2. Oh wow! Instant family, I guess you and your husband are done having kids.
Whether we're done having kids or not, it's not of your business. Which brings me to number 3...

3. You need to try for a girl now.
I'm happy with my boys. I have nieces. Again, us having more kids or not is nobody's business but our own. And please don't think it's up to you to make the decision of me subletting my uterus for another 9 months.

4. What did you use to get pregnant?
My husband. And quite frankly, I don't appreciate the assumption that the only way anyone could possibly have multiples is with some sort of infertility treatment or something. Also, I don't feel comfortable discussing my husband and I's sex life. Just assume that sex makes babies and leave it at that.

5. How do you tell the two identical ones apart?
They are my children, I spend all day with them everyday. They may look identical to you, but I know my kids. Their personalities shine through and to me, they are so different and truly each their own little person, how could I not be able to tell them apart?

6. How do you do it?
Really? How does anyone raise their kids, whether multiples, siblings of different ages, or only children? Raising kids is a challenge, and just like any other parents, we raise our kids with love, teach them how to be respectful and well-mannered, and basically just do the best we can.

7. Oh wow! You have twins?
Can you count? I have 3 kids here, that would make them triplets. Yes, only two look alike. It's because two are identical and one is fraternal. But yes, they are triplets.

8. Why didn't you pick names that rhyme or all start with the same letter?
Because we didn't.

9. Triplets, wow, I know someone with twins and I had to babysit them once....
Great, good for you for knowing someone else with multiples. I'm raising multiples, so I really don't care about your story about the time you babysat 3 month old twins.

10. Did you know you were having triplets?
I really don't understand this question. Did I know I was going to have triplets before I even knew I was pregnant? No. Did I know when the pregnancy test read positive? No. I found out at 13 weeks. And as big as one gets with more than 1 baby growing inside them, and with medical technology, yes, I found out before delivery day that there were 3.

And the rest is history..

Mommyfriend is my inspiration for this post! It's for Project Marriage! So here it is, the story of B and I.

I grew up in suburban Atl, and decided to move to WYOMING of all places to go to college. Well, then I moved to Western Nebraska, which was nice because a lot of my extended family live out here. I was hanging out with my cousin, Katie, and her then boyfriend, Ben. I went to get her from work one day so we could have lunch together, and I was telling her about some thing that I can't remember, but seemed really important at the time. She and I walked through the back so she could clock out, and she introduced me to some of her co-workers, I was wrapped up in my own drama or whatever, so didn't really pay attention to the introductions (whoops!). Not too long after, I was at a party at her house, and one of her co-workers was following me around, being super flirty and making me extremely uncomfortable. He asked for my number. I didn't want to flat out say no, so I told him that since I never called myself, I didn't know my number, if he wanted it, he had to ask Katie. I then instructed her to please not give him my number. So after that, she asked if she could give her friend, Ben, my number. I was confused, since the only Ben I knew of that she knew was her boyfriend, she told me I met him when I was at her work.. the introductions I paid no attention to. I wasn't really comfortable with the idea of her giving my number to any of the guys she worked with after the guy at her party was so creepy, but I eventually gave in and told her she could give him my number.
We started texting. And flirting. And eventually we made plans to hang out. I showed up, he didn't. I was annoyed but really kind of liked this guy, so figured I'd give him another chance. We made plans, I showed up, he didn't. This happened a few times. I had really hurt feelings, and was ready to just write him off, but decided I would torture myself and give him one last chance. This time was different, we were meeting at his place and from there would go hiking. So we went hiking with his roommate and his roomie's girlfriend. It was rainy and muddy, but fun. Not too far into the hike his roommate twisted his ankle so he and his girlfriend went back to the truck while B and I continued hiking. The thing I remember most about that first time hanging out was that we were going down this steep drop, and I decided I'd lead the way, B slipped on some rocks and fell down the drop and landed on me. We had a good laugh about that. After we got back to the truck the roomie and his girl decided we'd all go out to eat. I was covered in mud, but out to eat we went. B and I continued to hang out a lot but it wasn't until months later he officially asked me to be his girlfriend.
Not long after making our relationship "official" we were sitting in his jeep after his night class, and I bought him a little stuffed pig and gave it to him, he looked at me and said, "I love..... your hair!" He later admitted that he almost slipped and told me he loved me, but as it was coming out of his mouth, he thought it might be too soon to say he loved me. The next week, we were hanging out at my place having the "I like you more" cutesy pukey argument, and I accidentally let "I love you more" slip out instead of "I like you more" and then I tried to cover it up by saying that I was thinking about my dog and I really love me dog, and I was thinking about him because I heard him in the laundry room.. ect. The first time we intentionally exchanged the "I love yous" was on post it notes.
A year later we were married with triplets on the way. And the rest is history..

So sick of it.

Let me just begin this post by saying that I love my children, and I wouldn't trade them for anything in the world.

That being said... The worst thing about having triplets is, everyone wants to be able to say they know someone with triplets. It stinks. People try to buddy up to me, but never actually take the time to get to know me. What makes Bonnie tick, what are her interests, people are fascinated by multiples, and so when people are acting like they want to get to know me, or be my friend, all I end up doing is answering everyone's million questions about the triplets! What's worse, is that it's not even strangers that do this. Even family makes me feel this way. I feel like we're only invited to gatherings so they can show off the boys, and everyone can pretend they have such a great relationship with my boys, when in all actuality, the only time any of these people are around my kids is when they want to show them off... and here's the thing, it doesn't even average out to once a month that they're around us.
I'm so over it. I've been over it for a long time. I also hate how people pretend around their friends that they've been there with us every step of the way. They try to answer questions for me, when they don't know what they're talking about, they say they remember moments they were never even around for. I hate how fake people are, for what... popularity's sake?
I don't try to exploit my kids, or the fact that they just happen to be triplets to gain friends, get people to like me, or for anything. You better believe that it really gets to me when other people try to exploit the fact that they know triplets for their own gain.
I wish I could take my kids anywhere without the sea of questions. What I hate more of the sea of questions is when someone is with me, who for whatever reason, feels like they have to indulge people's curiosity.
I know the my kids will always have to deal with this. And my kids have such humor and sass at just 2, that they'll be able to combat the questions with their quick wit and charming smiles, but for now, I really just want to move away to some secluded part of the world where my family and I can go about our lives without the fake interest in being my friend so people can satisfy their curiosity about triplets, and without certain people pretending they have these great relationships with my kids and I so people will think they're interesting.

Does "safe" really exist?

I live in a small, rural area. The kind of town where everyone knows everyone, or at least knows of everyone. Yes, every populated place has crime, but I was pretty blind to the seriousness of crimes in this area until today. I don't know many people in this town, since I'm not from here, however, someone I had an acquaintanceship with today was shot and killed.
Although I didn't know this man very well, I could tell he was a decent person. He seemed to be filled with kindness and really cared about his friends and family. He had a wife and a baby girl.
I didn't know him well, but am overwhelmed with sadness, anger and confusion. I don't know why someone would have taken his life. I don't understand how murders can be committed so casually, in the early afternoon. I don't know if the person responsible for this terrible crime knew this guy personally, but how can you take away a child's father, a mother's son, a sister's brother, someone's husband...
This happened to someone I knew, someone who knew my husband, and my kids. This absolutely terrifies me. When I moved here, I knew it wasn't some perfect place, but I've always felt safe here. I don't feel like my family is really safe here anymore. I don't know if any "safe" place exists on this earth. I have 3 kids whom I am suppose to take care of and protect, and today was a reminder that it's not an easy task.
My heart goes out to this man's family and close friends. My heart especially goes out to his baby girl, I can't imagine how this will affect her as she grows up. There is just so much tragedy surrounding this incident, as I'm sure there is in any incident of the kind. I've never heard a bad word spoken about this man. I just don't understand this at all. My heart is heavy tonight.

Cute Kids

A toddler shower?

So, I guess technically I did have a baby shower. It just didn't really feel like it with the lack of guests. I know there were a lot of factors at play, but I still sometimes get these really bad feelings about it, despite my boys being 2 now.
My sister really tried to plan and pull together a nice shower for me. She was living in Arizona at the time. Still being fairly new to Nebraska, I didn't know too many people here, so other than my husband's family friends, and our families, the people I wanted there lived in far away places. The only people who were at my shower were my grandmother, my mom, my sister, my uncle's ex-wife and her daughter (who arrived very late and didn't stay long at all).
I'm not trying to throw a pity party here or anything. I just still get hurt feelings when I think about it. This was my first pregnancy, and I was having triplets. It just really hurt that it didn't seem to matter to anyone.
I was, and still am, very grateful to my sister for flying in from Arizona to throw me a shower. I was also very grateful to Kara Palmer for sending so many of her son's hand-me-downs. To this day, I still haven't met Kara in person. It was very touching that someone who I've never even met was so helpful and giving.
I know it was hard for my sister to plan my shower on a day that would allow for people to be able to make it, and she ended up having it the day after Thanksgiving. But I'm still so hurt that people who were local couldn't even manage to make it to my shower. And I don't mean to slight the few that were there. I'm glad that my grandma, mom and sister thought having triplets in the family was of more importance that Black Friday shopping. My grandma didn't mind making the drive.
So now that I have a few good friends in the area, and I think I have a better with some of the other people who didn't come to my first shower, would it be selfish or ridiculous to throw a toddler shower? Instead of diapers, bottles, baby moniters, etc. can I ask for big boy underwear, potty training supplies, cups, plates, toddler-friendly cutlery, and things of that nature?

Kitchen Help

We have a very small kitchen, so to avoid accidents and messes, we don't allow the boys in the kitchen except going to and from the bathroom. We have a little gate up to keep them out. So this morning I was feeling adventurous, and decided to let the boys help me make us all elephant ears. The boys were so happy to be in the kitchen and get to explore, I got no help with the baking. Ethan managed to kind of get into the dishwasher, the boys pulled all the canned foods and pastas off the shelves we have in there, they pulled magnets off the fridge, brought in their toys, got into the spices, and basically destroyed my previously spotless kitchen. They had fun, and the messes cleaned up easily enough. But with all the chaos going on around me, it's safe to say the elephant ears didn't turn out so great. We'll still eat them, but I think from now on, I'll let them help with the no bake stuff in the dining area and wait until they are older and the novelty of being in the kitchen wears off before letting them "help" me again.

How blogging is like middle school...

In middle school we all feel a little awkward, don't we? I mean, we're all moving on from elementary school and things are different. We're growing up, and finding our clique. I feel awkward as a blogger. I want people to read my blog, I want people to think I'm interesting, but I feel kind of invisible in the blogosphere.

I thought being a mommy of triplets would give me an edge when it came to blogging. I also thought I could find other moms of multiples who blog and feel less alone in the parenting world. Don't get me wrong, I have mommy friends, and they are wonderful, but sometimes I wonder if some of the issues we've had with the boys are unique just to us, or are common among multiples.

I try to network. Follow blogs, follow fellow bloggers on Twitter and facebook, leave comments, get word of my blog out there. Am I missing something? Do I need some sort of gimmick like giveaways and prizes? I feel like I still know so little about blogging. But I just don't feel like I'm generating much traffic. So I am asking those of you who do read my blog, how can I improve? What would you like to read about, or what would make my blog better?

Now, on to mommy stuff....
The only way we can get the boys to do any sleeping is by having no furniture in their room. I feel terrible about that, but it's what keeps them from injuring themselves so much. They figured out a very long time ago how to flip out of their cribs, so we upgraded to toddler beds, which they did great with for awhile, but then they figured out the toddler beds aren't very heavy, so they started flipping them on each other and pinning each other under them, so we took the beds out, and set up pack-n-plays which they figured out how to halfway disassemble, and they were flipping them and getting tangled up in them, so now they have mattresses on the floor. At least they can't really cause too much bodily harm that way, right? I wish we had the room that we could put them each in a room of their own.
We bought the boys water guns last week. They love them. I was a little surprised that they needed no lessons in how to use them, so I'm not really sure where they learned how to use a trigger, and how to aim. They have really good aim. Their daddy told them to get me, and next thing I know I'm getting hit with a stream of water right between the eyes.
Daddy also taught them how to shoot my elastic headbands. 100% boy stuff. I love it though.
You would think I would have learned by now to not underestimate how smart my kids are. They are always surprising me though.

Musings of a maiasaura.

First, just in case I'm not the last person to learn what a maiasaura is, let me tell you. A maiasaura was a dinosaur. The word actually means "good mother lizard." So, a maiasaura was a dinosaur thought to be a good mom.

Now, I have plenty of less than picture perfect moments as a mom, but I still consider myself a good mom. Take this very second of time into consideration. I am typing this with a two year old on my lap. He's playing with the mouse, messing with the keyboard, and being a general two year old. But he's happy. So what if it's slowing me down or making me have to proof read several hundred times while I still type.

Last night my husband and I were making cookies together, the boys were actually in bed and asleep at a reasonable hour, and the house was reasonably clean. The thought occurred to me, "Wow! We've got this parent thing about figured out." I told me husband my thought, and he quickly reminded me that we still have a lot to learn. And he's right.

This morning we were watching Dinosaur Train on PBS, and they were learning about maiasauras. And I could relate myself to this dinosaur, as I'm sure most moms could. And I was thinking about something I read recently about moms having to know about dinosaurs because one day they will have to answer their kids' questions about what their favorite dinosaurs were and why. And even though I don't know much about maiasauras yet, that will be my answer. I like them because they were known for being mommies. Keeping their little hatchlings close to the nest and safe.

We all know that being a mom means more than just keeping our little ones close to home and safe. But I still feel like a fairly kick ass mom on most days, I'm raising triplet boys and somehow I've maintained some shreds of sanity, and I have a happy, healthy family. Some days I don't know what I'm doing, but we manage. We all go to bed every night with full tummies and smiles.

This calls for oreos and a bottle of wine.

What a week.

I have been stressed beyond belief this week. Mainly due to the fact that my children really seem to be trying to kill each other. They don't even seem to fight, they just flip beds on each other, throw things at each other's heads. And really? It's only Wednesday?

I love my boys. I'm sure one day we'll all laugh about this stage of their childhood. But until then, I feel like I've been locked away in some sort of asylum. Constant loud noises. Fighting with every inch of their being to never sleep again.

I must mask it well. Somehow I've managed to keep the house clean since Saturday. That's a record. I've managed to cook real dinners every night this week, except Monday. Monday was manic, I forgot about having to thaw chicken for dinner until 5 PM.

The moments when I don't have someone whining in my face are lovely, but the few instants when they've let me get down on the floor and tickle them until they can't stand it anymore have been what's gotten me this far in the week.

I understand they are kids. Kids come equipped with a supply of energy that lasts until they have kids of their own. We had plans of going to the park today, but they fought naps for too long, and by the time naps were over, I was too tired to get them to the park. I want to buy them a swing set. One with a big slide, they love slides. That way they can have their own personal park in their own backyard.

Have I mentioned that our stroller doesn't turn anymore? The front wheels for whatever reason won't turn. So taking them on walks or walking to the park is that much more tedious. When we have corners to go around, I have to lift the back of the stroller and pivot it around. Not really an issue, just a little extra work, no big deal. But I already get the "What a freak" looks when I take them on walks, so when I'm doing the stroller pivot, oh yeah, I'm the freak of the town. I know I shouldn't complain, I mean, at least I have every physical capability of taking them for walks.

The twos are wearing me out. So many things to love about this age, but I feel like I would be able to enjoy them so much more if I weren't absolutely exhausted everyday. I wake up exhausted.

They amaze me, though. They are strong, they are tough, they are smart and really, they are good boys. They have been sharing so well lately. And they help me out too. This morning, after pouring and smashing their cereal into the floor, they helped me vacuum it all up. When they do something naughty, they really do try to make it right. I'm so grateful for that.

But tonight, I really just needed to vent while sipping wine from the bottle and munching on oreos. I feel much better now.

Why begrudge your blessing?

I am a mother of triplet boys, so I completely understand that being a mommy is not always a big sunshiny, happy, sunflowers and rainbows moment, I also know that pregnancy isn't always fun either. Lately I've been getting really annoyed at how much mothers complain about being a mom. Having kids is a blessing.

At an early age I was told that I would never be able to get pregnant or have kids. I always said that if I couldn't have kids of my own, I would adopt. It never made sense to me why so many people who genuinely wanted kids couldn't have their own, and how many women had kids, but seemed to hate them.

Obviously, the doctors who determined that I would be infertile were wrong, seeing as I have 3 little boys who started their little lives in my tummy. Still, it really irritates me when people make such negative comments about becoming parents. If you really didn't want to be a parent, don't have sex. If you must have sex, make sure you take the every precaution to not conceive if you aren't ready to grow up and be the parent that every child deserves!
Again, I realize that pregnancy and parenting aren't always super fun, but it is preventable.

I went through an unusual pregnancy, in that, I was growing 3 babies at once. My body is basically ruined, I was uncomfortable, moody, hormonal and down right bitchy to my poor husband. As a mother, I get stressed out, worn out, emotional, and down right bitchy when I just can't take the feeling of everything and everyone depending on me for everything. Do I wish I didn't have my family? No! Sometimes I wonder how things would be different or easier if I had ended up having my boys one at a time, but my wondering always ends with this: Had my boys been born separately, they wouldn't be who they are. I wouldn't trade them for anything.

I don't feel like a victim because I am a mommy. And I hate when people talk about how miserable their children make them, or how their pregnancies have messed up their lives. Children are gifts. They are intended to teach us patience, kindness, love, and understanding on a whole other level. They learn everything from us, so what are people who have such hateful attitudes about being parents teaching them?

I was unmarried when I got pregnant. My kids' father and I were, and still are, very much in love. We did get married, a little sooner than we thought we would. But I'm grateful to have happy, healthy boys. They push my buttons and make me crazy, but I love them for that. They make me human. They make me know that it's ok to not be perfect, they'll love me anyway. And I love them.

I don't really know the point of all this, except that it really annoys me when I hear people act like having kids is the end of the world. In my opinion, having kids is just the beginning of the best world.

One happy, but tired, lady

Some of my best memories growing up were Christmases and summers with my cousins. Even though we lived 2,000 miles apart, when our families got together for holidays, we were basically all best friends. Well, the older cousins, were best friends and the younger cousins were best friends. I was a younger cousin, and my two cousin-friends were Katie and Chelsey. One of my favorite memories was my 8th Christmas. I got some toy, probably really expensive, but I remember the box. The box it came in was HUGE. I don't remember playing with the toy, but I remember Katie, Chelsey and I getting in that box and playing, riding it downstairs, rolling each other around in it, and in all the fun, we got candy canes stuck in our hair.

I remember that so well today because I had the pleasure of watching Chelsey's son today. I watched my boys play with their (2nd) cousin and they were all best friends today. We got out the train set, and after giving up that endeavor, I watched Ethan and Devin play in the box.

It is so fun to watch my kids make the same kinds of memories with their relatives that I made when I was a kid. I also think that it's so cool that my kids and my cousin's son get to grow up in the same area, they have more of an opportunity to be friends. Maybe I think that's such a novel idea and amazing because growing up I lived in GA, and my cousins lived in either FL or CO or NE.

And we're back... again.

Considering I haven't blogged since before THANKSGIVING, I figured I should.

I blame not keeping up with this on the fact that my office, until today has been upstairs, and with three little boys who we don't really let upstairs, it's hard to sneak up there without them wreaking havoc downstairs. So today, while they napped, I unplugged my computer, cleared my desk, and hauled everything downstairs. Then was the challenge, I moved the desk down by myself too. Not as terrible as I thought it would be. Then I cleared a path through the toys, and got the desk where I wanted it, set up the computer, then cleaned the front room. The reason this is the first time my "office" has been set up down here is because our downstairs consists of: our bathroom, kitchen, two bedrooms and a front room. Our front room isn't especially large, but it serves as our dining room, tv room, playroom and now, my "office" as well. We make it work though.

Now, to talk about things that have gone on in the past four or five months.
Not long before Christmas, Ben's grandfather lost his battle with cancer. So we had a pretty rough December. The boys had a pretty crazy awesome Christmas though. They each got a pair of pajamas for Christmas, and everything else was toys! So after Christmas, I had to go buy a new toy storage system, because two toy boxes just aren't enough! January 20th marked their 2nd birthday! We were at least smart enough to request that if anyone bought them anything, to please buy them clothes. We also bought them goldfish. The fish didn't last long. In fact, the first one died the night we brought them home.
We got some unusually nice weather a few times during February, so we played outside, only to be stuck inside again soon after due to snow and wind.
I'm finally to the point where I'm really comfortable taking them around town with me to run errands. They sure think they are pretty big stuff all crammed into one shopping cart riding through the store.
I'm amazed at how verbal they are now. And they're actually saying real words, putting full thoughts together, like "real" sentences!! I'm trying to think of actual things they've said recently, and I'm drawing blanks at the moment. But sometimes they say things and it stuns me. I think, "You're not big enough to know how to say that."
We're making pretty good progress with potty training. I decided that I'm finally ready to really commit the time and energy it takes to potty train 3 boys at once. And today, Ethan made it ALL morning in his big boy undies with no accidents. A little bit before lunch he had an accident, and he was SO upset. It kind of broke my heart a little bit to see him so upset and embarrassed that he peed his pants. I wanted to sit down and cry with him, but at the same time, I was so proud of him. He gets it! He gets that big boys stop what they are doing and go sit on the potty. He gets that everybody doesn't go around in diapers, and everyone isn't going around peeing all over the place. About a week ago, before getting in the bath tub, Marcus pooped in the potty! I got super excited and let out one of those excited squeals for him, unfortunately, it scared him and for a second he thought he was in trouble. I had to give him candy before I convinced him that I was actually very happy that he'd pooped in the potty.

So that's a pretty short version of our life since November. Since I now have all day access to my computer, I hope to be more diligent to my humble little blog.