Friday, September 25, 2009

The Good, The Bad & The Snotty!

My bro & Jenna at his graduation.
Getting his diploma! Love the cap!
My lil' lamb!
Emerson...enough said!
Griffin wants out too!
Alex says..."I didn't do nofing mommy!"
Em up to no good!
Maxim trying to escape!

The Good, The Bad & The Snotty!

This past week was definitely adventurous! Between my escaping children and all the running around, I am exhausted. My brother Christian graduated from his high school program at Autistic services. We are so proud of him! He is now headed to a Day Program that is located next door to my mom. I was surprised at how emotional I got watching him get his high school diploma. It was like one of my own children had achieved this incredible honor. My brother is such an amazing man. He will turn 21 this weekend and I can't tell you how that makes me feel. I get choked up just thinking about it.

Over the past 11 days I have had 2 surgeries, one on each leg. I don't know why they call it a surgery. I would call it more a "procedure". What they did was Vascular reducing. It is a new version of "vein stripping". They make several small incisions in your legs and with a laser they reduce the main arterial blood flow in your legs. When I was pregnant with the triplets my body compensated for the 3 new lives I was carrying. I needed increased blood flow to sustain the pregnancy and my veins literally had to work overtime. Put that together with the fact that both my parents have genetically handed down bad veins and VIOLA, really bad veins! The doctor said my veins should be open .05mm. Mine where open 8.6mm. More than 8 times what they should. The blood in the veins started to back up and because of my active lifestyle I was rendered unable to walk by evening time. The pain was awful it felt like I had sandbags attached to my legs. As of today I am 11 days out from my first surgery and 3 days from my second. Leg #1 is feeling great. Still some tenderness at the incision sites, but much better. Leg#2 is still being contained in this extremely unsexy compression stocking. It seems much more uncomfortable than Leg#1. I'm sure it will be fine in a few more days. I can't wait to be able to run and climb the stairs again!

After my surgeries I was told to try and maintain my normal lifestyle without overexerting myself. I continued to take care of the kids, cook, clean, shop and do my daily activities. On Wednesday David and I took Austin to his first Sabres Hockey game of the season. We where supposed to be at his curriculum night at school but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to spend time with my #1 son. He gets so little one on one time. Well, he loved it! We had dinner at HSBC Arena(highly overpriced roast beef and frozen pizza), he thought it was so cool that he could sit on these high stools and see the ice while eating. We got an overabundance of junk food that kept him occupied while the Sabres beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2! by the time we got back to the car he was exhausted and whiny. It didn't seem to matter though since he still can't stop talking about what a great time he had.

Griffin finally had his follow up from his surgery. The doctor said it was a complete success. No more problems for my lil Grif. In fact, this kid is amazing. Not only is he crawling and pulling himself up on everything, he is now free standing. He can be in the middle of the floor with nothing around him and he just, stand up! This kid is gonna walk any second. He almost looks too little! He is not even 9 months old and he is trying to walk! SUPER BABY! He is babbling up a storm too! "Mamamamamammamamama", "Dadadaddadadadadadada" & the propeller(rolling of his tongue) are our favorites. Maybe it's because he's my last but I am so in love with this kid!

In the midst of surgeries, doctors appointments, hockey games and life, we all came down with a TERRIBLE cold. Let's just say there is SNOT everywhere! I wish I could say it's been a quiet week with sick children just relaxing on the floor but that has not happened! They are just as active and if you didn't see the snot dripping down their face than you would never know they are sick. I on the other hand want to curl up under the blankets and sleep for a month. Yeah right, that will never happen!

Monday, September 14, 2009

Escapees!

Yes, they are on my dining room table!
Emerson points out that they can jump to the China Cabinet from there! (I love their faces in this picture. Note Alex looking deviously happy and Maxim's look of "oh I never thought of that"!
Maxim chooses to hang from the light!
Emerson manuvered the chair to get on the changing table and play with the wipies!

Escapees!
I think my kids are going to be the death of me! This has been one of those weeks that I just want to crawl into bed and not come back out until they are grown. After the bus debacle with Austin was resolved I thought I was in the clear. Well, that didn't last long at all. On Friday my three "little angels"(I use that term loosely)decided it was time to stage a mutiny. They began with escaping from the gate that has held them in the living room for over a year. With a resounding "kerplunk" Maxim and Emerson where over. Alex tried his darnedest but was unsuccessful. In what seems like seconds I had one child climb on the changing table, flipping the light on and off. The other was on top of the dining room table literally hanging from the chandelier. After collecting my two small escape artists and returning them to their toy infested, peanut butter stained play area that I used to refer to as my living room I returned to pile of dishes I was trying so desperately to clean. Only to turn around and see 2 small faces staring back at me. They giggled and ran back to the dining room where again they climbed onto the table and where AGAIN hanging from the chandelier. In desperation, I turned on a movie...they escaped! Left the dishes to rot and joined them in the living room and they escaped again. I than decided to just let them loose. Maybe if I allowed them their freedom they would not try and get up onto the changing table and dining room table and they would be content to just play under my feet. Yeah well that didn't work either. They climbed and swung again. At one point all three where on the table dancing a jig and taunting me. I could see in my little Griffin's eyes(who was watching the whole mutiny unfold from his walker) that he too would be joining his brothers if his legs weren't so short!

After several stressed out hours, I called my sister Adrianne. I asked her to come watch the boys so I could go gate shopping. Hoping to find something taller and sturdier I set out to Babies R'US. I must have looked frazzled, because a sales clerk asked me if I needed help and I replied..."More help than you can give me." The poor girl unwavering, asked about my dilemma and I told her. She suggested an "Extra Tall" gate system to keep them contained. Of course...they where out. OK, so now what? I decided my main goal was to keep them out of the kitchen. That's all I really need right? Well after buying 3 gates, differing in size and height, I went home to install them. Success! The kitchen gate was extra tall and worked. I got a permanent gate for across the stairs that may work and a mesh gate for across the dining room. Well, I thought it worked. Within 5 minutes Emerson had escaped and knocked down the mesh gate. He was again on the dining room table and Maxim followed. OK, I give up! When David came home we decided to get an extra tall gate for the living room. We maneuvered what Babies R'US had, put it together with pieces left over from kitchen gate and fashioned an extra tall security gate. By morning I was excited to see if it would work. Within moments Emerson had scaled the new gate and was on the table. Finally I just removed the chairs from the dining room. I'm sure it's just a matter of time before they figure out how to get up there again. Perhaps standing on each others backs?

Griffin standing at the new XX-tall gate(that the boys now hurdle themselves over)! Oh yes, he stands and let's go!

I wish I could say I have 5 angelic boys that sit and play all day peacefully and quietly. But that's not the case. I have 5 energetic young boys who are adventurous. This doesn't mean they are bad. They are just boys being boys. I know this time will pass. They will grow up and the days of frustration I felt will be replaced by new frustrations and challenges. I'm OK with that. I am doing my best to try and take it all in stride. I chalk all this up to experience now. Who knew I was a short order cook, a sheriff, a master craftsman and an engineer?


While I sat here typing this blog, Emerson again scaled the living room gate. He joined me on my chair and put his arms around me. This IS my life, these are my kids and I will do whatever it takes......It's all for them!

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

First Day of 1st Grade!

All ready!
So handsome!
Don't go, big brother!
Watch them go....
See them? Me neither!


First Day of 1st Grade!

It's official! Austin is at school! Phew! What a long summer that was. He was so excited to pack his backpack and put on new clothes and head off to that bus. It didn't matter to him where he had to catch the bus as long as he was on his way back to his favorite place...school. I know, I know, what kind of kid loves school that much? Well, mine does! He has been so excited the last week all I hear is, "mom, who will be in my new class?" "how do you think my new classroom will look?" "what time do you think lunch is?". He was just jumping out of his skin waiting for Tuesday to arrive. When it did he jumped out of bed, got dressed, brushed his teeth, ate breakfast and got all his supplies ready without me even having to ask! He was all ready. He looked at me and said, "take care of my brothers, mom. I'm going to school!".

We had a little drama with the bus stop change. Last year he was picked up and dropped off right in front of our house. It was wonderful since I had the three babies and was pregnant with Griffin. I just had to watch for the bus than run outside when it came. The little ones where never alone. But this year when I got the bus notification it said his new pick up was over 20 houses away! On our street where the houses are spread apart, this was a HUGE distance! Than the drop off was set across are busy street on the complete opposite side and 2 doors down! How was I supposed to do this with 4 little ones? I couldn't very well let Austin cross the busy street alone, I couldn't leave the boys alone either! I couldn't let him wait for the bus in the morning 20 doors down with no adult supervision. I was freaking out! I tried several thousand times to call the DOT but it was constantly busy. Even at 11:45pm...how is that possible? Anyway, David took him down to his new bus stop the first day and I couldn't even see him from our front lawn. In tears I watched as his bus past right in front of our house, just like last year. My big boy was in his seat waving away. Well, this just infuriated me! How dare they say my child had to walk so far, what';s going to happen in the winter and what could I do to change it? After my saving grace(Mrs. Debby) arrived I set out to the DOT. If they weren't going to answer the phone than they where going to suffer the wrath of this pissed off mom in person. I rang the buzzer...nothing. Did it again...nothing! I was really angry then! Well, after going to visit my husband a work he decided to accompany me back to the DOT to see if we could tag team them. Well, this time they answered. I was glad I brought David because I would have went in their guns a blazing. He was nice and calm. I was fuming! Especially when the supervisor said "I don't care what your home situation is, I don't care if you have 1 leg, that doesn't concern us". WHAT????? What kind of statement is that. I wanted them to know my concern was for my 6 year old. He was too young to cross a busy street and he shouldn't have to wait 20 door down for a bus! It was unsafe! That jacka$$...sorry! The supervisor than said to David, well, I will review it and see what I can do...maybe. We left with only one resolve, that his drop off would be across the street from our house instead of across the busy street. They said it was a software malfunction, yeah right! I was so enraged I called the Superintendent's office for our district. I was politely told that the DOT would handle any problems in due time. Whatever, they where useless too...Next thing, I'm going to the newspaper!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Putting our little ones in danger, for what ...time constraints? I pay more taxes than anyone else in my district because of the street I live on! They screwed with the wrong mom, now I'm really angry!

This morning when David left with Austin for their mile long hike to the bus stop, I asked him to please ask the bus driver if any changes had been handed down. When my phone rang 10 minutes later I was shocked. It was David, he said he talked to the bus driver and there was a stop in front of our house starting tomorrow! I guess we will hold on calling the newspaper for now. The point to my story...Never just sit back and take crap from people. Get involved in your children's lives and well being! If you don't like something, speak up! We should never put our child's safety aside because someone says we should. Be strong, be bold, be...the best parents you can! What a difference a day makes!

Now my big boy is off to school. Completely unaware of the drama that unfolded on his behalf. That's just fine with me. I'm so proud of my 1st grader, what an amazing child I have!

Monday, September 7, 2009

Feeling Better/Labor Day

PBSSSSTTTTT! Too cute!Emerson and his ice cream cone. He still eats it with his hands...
Austin, Alex and Bradley in their "man cave"

mmmmmMax
Emerson taking a swim in the drink bucket. Too cold!
Up to no good! Turning on the tv in the kitchen while sitting on the table and apparently making rice!
Look who's crawling!
Alex thinks this is so funny!
Austin did too!


Feeling Better/Labor Day

Just a little update on baby Griffin after his surgery. He is healing quite nice. He hasn't had any complications at all. In fact after the first initial couple of days you would not have even known he had major surgery. Within two days of his surgery he began to crawl, fluidly. Within four days he was pulling himself to the standing position. If this kid starts walking this week I am having him tested because he is GIFTED! Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes.

We had a wonderful week. The boys are adjusting to their new room. We transitioned the boys from crib rails up to down. Hopefully this will ease the next transition which is toddler beds. They easily crawl in and out of their beds but have the stability at night of being in a crib. I decided to leave some toys in their room so they can play in the mornings instead of pulling clothes from drawers or getting in their closet. They seem to like the freedom that comes with being able to get down and play. The only downside besides having another room to reassemble and organize daily is they get up MUCH earlier. This morning it was 6:30am. They got out of their cribs and played for almost and hour before we went in to get them. I could hear them laughing and playing on the baby monitor. They are so cute talking up a storm in their together. I hear Max "Who's dat", "What's dat" and Emerson "No no no no" "jujujuju" (not sure what that is yet but he says it all the time) and Alex "Mommmmmy, Daddddddy....i uuuuupppppp". I hear alot of "ut oh's" and "nonononono" coming from there too. I'm not sure where the time went, but my babies are growing up so fast!

We had some visitors this week. Aunt Shelley(my very dear friend) and her son Carter came to see us. It's always so much fun to see them. They live in Virginia and are visits are usually only once or twice a year. Next month they will be moving to Atlanta, GA and we will probably get to see them even less. It's OK though, Facebook is a beautiful thing. I love you guys!

After church on Sunday we had a small get together of some friends and family. It was nice and intimate. Austin got to run with his cousin Bradley and burn off some steam. Those two kill me. One minute they are the best of friends, next thing you know they are fighting. It was a wonderful day with great weather. The pool was good for the 3 whole weeks we used it, but oh well there is always next year.


School starts tomorrow, Thank God! I'm am done with summer activities and am ready to settle into Fall. It is my favorite season! I'm ready for brisk nights and fallen leaves. Pumpkins on the porch(from my very own garden) and the smell of hot chocolate in the air! I can't wait to take the kids to the Zoo for our Halloween tradition and to dress the baby in a nice warm blanket for a family evening walk. My family is complete and whole for the first time. I'm so excited for the next step and what is to come. I say it so often but I can't help it...God has blessed us and we are so grateful!

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

When a week seems like a lifetime!

Griffin posting his first blog.
Does he look like a baby recovering from surgery?
"we didn't just escape from our beds, mom...we swear!"
Maxim escaping Griffin's crib.
Maxim and Emerson discussing how to get in and out of Griffin's crib.
Emerson says..."I didn't do it Mom!", MONSTER!
Alex after getting busted playing with the baby cream!


When a week seems like a lifetime!

We all knew this day was coming, but who knew it would be like a light switch when the boys turned 2. This last week was, well, ADVENTUROUS! I could be really specific and say on Friday afternoon 12:17pm, shortly after putting the triplets down for their nap, I heard a {{{THUNK}}}. David just so happened to be home for lunch. I asked him to go upstairs and check on the boys to make sure they weren't throwing things and that they where sleeping. Sometimes they will throw their bottle when they are done. Much to David's surprise, when he opened the door...Emerson and Alex came running out. Upon investigation into their room, he discovered their beds where intact. The only explanation is they had gone up and over. We put them back in and went back down stairs. Only to immediately hear the same familiar {{{THUNK}}}. This time I went up, put them back in and stood behind the almost closed door to evaluate the situation. Within seconds these two amazingly creative little boys stacked their blankets on the bumper pad and VIOLA...up and over. It was all like a graceful ballet. Very elegant. No flopping, just a soft transition from standing to an almost pole vaulting move that propelled my barely 2 year olds from captives in their prison barred cribs to absolute FREEDOM! This dance continued through the weekend. Maxim of course joined in eventually and in the mornings we open the door to 3 two year olds running out like Christmas morning. We even removed their "baby paraphernalia" , bumper pads, mobiles etc... from their cribs and replaced them with "big boy" bedding sets to encourage them to stay put. Well, that worked for around 15 minutes than not even Disney's Cars or Buzz Lightyear & Woody from Toy Story could keep them contained. Oh well, it was good while it lasted.

Last night was a little different. Maxim went down like normal, Alex too. Sleeping within minutes. However, Emerson decided he wasn't having it. He jumped out of his crib and immediately climbed Alex's and jumped in with him. Alex let out a {{YELP}} so I came running. I put everyone back in their respective beds than just 5 minutes later I hear another {{YELP}} this time followed by screaming. When I opened the door a sleepy eyed Alex was trying to get out of his crib while Emerson was laying on Alex's pillow, bottle in mouth and looking awful sleepy. My poor baby Alex had a visitor, an unwanted visitor. I put Emerson back and took Alex down with me. All seemed quiet for a while so David was sent upstairs to return Alex to bed. Within a minute David came downstairs laughing. He said he tried to open the triplets door only to meet with resistance. Apparently Emerson gained freedom again. Only to fall asleep on the floor behind the door. Toddler beds, here we come! It's a little sad. The end of a chapter, my babies are all grown up.
Side rails down and new bedding for my big boys!



Speaking of babies. On Monday, my littlest love Griffin underwent surgery. It was to correct a minor birth defect. The procedure turned out to be a little more severe than the doctor had originally hoped but my baby came through great. He is a fighter! He is sore but we keep praying he will heal fast. Little boys are resilient. It is a little hard to take care of the three escape artists and him but my exceptional Nanny, Deb is helping out. Keep him and us in your prayers please.

The summer is coming to an end and Austin is getting to head back to school, Thank God! I know the poor kid is bored. We have had some really awful weather lately and he has been confined to the house. We do have our "mommy" days. That we go out and do fun stuff but those are sometimes replaced with doctors appointments or school shopping. He is looking so forward to school and so am I. He had a wonderful summer and I am proud of my big boy who has really grown up. He is a joy, when he listens. We have our moments but I couldn't ask for a better son.