Christmas at the Farm

A couple of our friends told us about Christmas activities at the Lake FarmParks in Kirtland, OH (Santa, toy workshop, dancing elves, lights, etc.) so we went down to see what it was all about. Unfortunately, the activities required tickets and they were sold out, but we were still able to visit the farm and see all of the baby animals that have been born recently. Logan liked petting the lambs and baby calf and Ella like petting the Clydesdale horses best! They had tons of Christmas characters and decorations for the kids to check out.
We can't wait for Christmas to be here - good times with the family and new toys to play with are in their future : )


By the way, our computer has taken a nose dive so that's why I've not updated the website in awhile. I'm going to transfer all the pics and web-tools to this computer so I can do an update for Christmas!

Visitors!!!

It's been awhile (again), but I thought I'd write since we're getting back into the groove after a great weekend of visits from friends (including kids!).

We had plans to get out to the Lake MetroParks FarmPark, but the weather was just too chilly (especially for the Okies) to go out and see animals in the freezing cold! Instead we got all the kids bundled up in snowsuits and gloves and hats and played out in the front yard and driveway. The kids loved it and we had a lot of fun. Unfortunately, Ella had a few face-first topples into snow piles that she didn't like and Noah had a couple of ice slips that hampered his running momentarily : )





We were able to have a great time with friends all the while the kids slept upstairs (at least for part of the night!) and everyone lived to tell the tale. It's something that we have to try and plan to do more often with the locals - having triplets doesn't mean that we have to be strapped down by the house or schedules! (now I have to try convincing Christi of that...)

There are a few new things going on with the babies.
Logan has a few words: "ball", "go", "bay-bay" ( = belly! )

Paul finally goes down the slide on his butt (rather than cautiously turning around and going down on his stomach) and he hugs constantly - he loves the affection!


Ella is a laugher - she belts out some laughs that are loud and intended to get your attention : ) She rolls her eyes at random moments. We're not sure exactly what she's trying to convey, but it's extremely cute!

The Masculinity of Ducks

Am I wrong in thinking that a duck Halloween costume is not nearly as cool and hip as a monkey? Or even a hippo? Christi and I had a debate over the masculinity of one of the triplets' costumes (Paulie's - see pictures) for their trick-or-treat adventure tonight.
**In all actuality, looking at the pictures again - the costume may not be a duck, but in fact be a baby chick....but the point remains.**
All that I'm saying is that 17 years from now, we may be dealing with some child-parent resentment issues over Paulie seeing these pictures posted at his graduation party (not to mention the fact that I'm attaching them to this widely-read blog!). Don't get me wrong, I think he's incredibly cute in it and I will put him back in it next week when we go back out : ) But that being said, I can see the argument coming from him several years from now!

We had a great time trick-or-treating with my mom and Aunt Julie helping walk the babies around. The retail plaza that my mom's personal training studio (www.bfit4less.net) is in held a Halloween event to hand out candy for local families. There was a pretty good turn-out and the triplets were a popular diversion from the ghosts and draculas : )

Home and Back to the Grind....

Just a quick update with some pictures from my cousin's wedding in Virginia. It was a beautiful setting and great to see all the family together for a great occasion. We missed Jeremy (the bride's brother) since he is overseas serving our country in the Marines, but we made sure that he was included in as many of the pictures as possible (see examples below!). My brother was also missing for other reasons.

The babies had a great time with Grammy & Grampy and actually slept for them 2 out of 3 nights! These couple of times that we've left them, it is both nerve-wracking and relieving. We know that it will be less stressful, but all we do is think about them! We talk about things we miss and brag to others about things that they're doing and funny stories : ) As soon as we got home, we spent the next several hours playing with them and talking with them before bed. We know one thing - Grammy & Grampy were tired! Those three can do a good job of wearing people out : )

Flu shots tomorrow! So that means a trip to University Heights and maybe a trip to Target!

Travel again...

I hesitate to write this as Christi and I are here in Williamsburg, VA for my cousin's wedding (congrats tomorrow, Janis and Joseph!) and I look to see when the last blog post was - and it was when we were in Florida! For a triplet family blog, the last few posts have been more about time away from home - trust me, it doesn't happen often - just a lot of things happening at once, I guess : )

I've posted some new pictures and video on PaulandChristi.com so feel free to check those out. But most of all, I wanted to update everyone on things that are going on with Ella, Logan and Paul!

The walking has turned to running. And the playing interaction is getting to be a comedy show to watch! They love taking turns going in and out of their "fort" laughing hysterically. Paulie loses it if someone chases him into the tent. Ella sits in there and waits until someone pops their head in and yells "boo"! Logan likes to chase and scream as he makes his way into the tent. It's amazing how different they are....

Fights are starting to break out - usually for little reason....and usually just because someone looked at them funny. We have a video of Ella bullying Paulie in a Pampers box (by far, our favorite diapers, btw!) while daring Christi to break up the fight : ) The most physical fights are when one of the three is on Christi or my lap and someone else wants to join. The incumbent sitter does not treat the challenger with kid gloves - usually some pushing and yelling ensues....

Christi and I think that words are going to be coming soon as Logan has really started to make some new sounds that are not distinguishable, but sound different than the "bahs" and "dahs"....who knows, maybe we're crazy but this vocabulary is definitely new!

I'll keep you all updated on how they do while we're away (they're having fun with Grampy & Grammy's house)....
Paul

We're back from Florida....no delays : )

We made it out of Florida with no weather delays from Gustav!
I wanted to post again to attach some pictures of the storm. We'll have pics of our visit with Uncle Lance, Aunt Lindi and Tanner on our website asap (www.paulandchristi.com).

The storm that SW Florida got was just outer band rain,
but you could certainly see the effects of Hurricane Gustav!
Here you can see one of the storms coming in
(it only lasted about 15 minutes, but dumped lots of water!)











And this one is from the Ft.Meyers Beach fishing pier. Normally, this water is relatively calm and very little waves. But the effects of the hurricane gave people of SW Florida the rare chance to surf!
All in all, it was a great trip for us and we loved meeting Tanner for the first time! He's such a good baby and we can't wait for him to come up and meet his cousins.....

Paul
www.paulandchristi.com

Vacationing with Hurricane Gustav

So, we're in Ft. Meyers, Florida visiting Lindi and Lance ( http://web.mac.com/feazelnation/iWeb/Feazelnation/welcome.html ) and Hurricane Gustav happened to be barrelling toward the gulf coast. We're in no danger from the hurricane, but it is throwing some heavy rains and winds our way. Nowhere near the amount that New Orleans and others will feel in the coming hours, but it's here nonetheless.

I'll post some pictures as soon as we get home. The big news for us is that we're here without the triplets! We miss them a lot, but they're in good hands with our parents watching them for us....from what we hear, they don't miss us a bit!

Paul

Out to Eat !!!

We've finally done it !
14 months and our first dinner out as a family. Granted, we cheated a little bit by asking Christi's parents to come along to help out - but it definitely was needed! We're glad they came along b/c they are still just a little bit too restless in the highchairs to give us the time to eat....but we made it and they were incredibly good. They are always absolute angels in public and then when we get home can be terrors when they want to be : )
Anyway - the experience was worth it and we're going to try and do it every now and then just to give us some time out as a family.

Everyone is mostly over their colds and we're thankful for that - it should lead to some better sleeping at night!

Paul

2 More Walkers...

Ella has been close to walking for a couple weeks now, but all of the sudden Paul caught up to her! They are both putting together 3, 4 and 5 steps at a time walking. Neither of them are as confident with it as Logan was when he started. He just took off and started walking everywhere. Paulie and Ella are more cautious with it and are still doing 90% crawling! But they both get soooo excited to take those steps (arms raised) and walk to anyone willing to catch them if they fall : )

Unfortunately as I'm writing this, everyone except Christi is sick (including me!). Luckily, the Benadryl kept them sleeping last night (and hopefully tonight) because Thursday night was brutal. Both Ella and Paul were up for good from 3am on. We took them to the doctor Friday morning to check for ear infections, etc and they were good to go. They just have a summer cold - complete with coughing, runny noses and lots and lots of sneezing. The sneezing usually gets a good laugh out of them when anyone does it though - so that keeps the mood light!

I'm planning on locking myself in the office for a few hours to try and complete (or at least get close to completing) the babies "one-year slideshow". There's sooo many pictures and thoughts on music selection, etc! It's hard work : ) Not to mention that some of those NICU pictures bring back the memories of those months in the hospital. It's obviously a story with a happy ending, but remembering all the worry and stress gets difficult sometimes as many parents (if not all) can relate to.

By the way - the picture above....those are built-in bookshelves that Logan found a way to climb into. He's definitely the trouble maker! I was torn b/n telling him "NO!" and "GET DOWN!" and taking the picture. Well, as you see the picture won out : )

Anyway, I'm going to work on the slideshow now so I'm signing off until next time.
PAUL
www.paulandchristi.com

Blogging hiatus......and our triumphant return

Wow...it's been almost 3 months since my last comments!


Well, what's happened? We've had a triplet birthday party, Logan has been walking for over a month now and Ella still has no teeth! The nights are getting better - Paulie sleeps through the night most of the time (since switching to soy milk), Logan sleeps through ANYTHING and Ella makes it through most nights unless she loses her bink or gets her leg caught in the slats of her crib!

These guys are eating everything in sight : )
And from what we hear, they won't stop anytime soon! Gallons of milk per week and they haven't even started eating cereal with milk yet! (and for anyone that knows my cereal eating habits, you'll recognize the sheer volume of food about to be consumed!)

The daily grind is still adventurous with naps (or lack thereof) and feedings and newfound temper-tantrums! Christi does an amazing job with everything keeping these guys on a pretty steady schedule:
8am: wake-up call and breakfast started
8:30 - 9:30am: morning playtime
9:30am: snack (usually breakfast bar or oatmeal or fruit)
10:30-12pm: naptime (hopefully)
12pm: wake-up call and lunch
12:30-2pm: afternoon playtime
2pm: snacktime (cookies or crackers or fruit)
2:30-4pm: naptime (again - hopefully)
5pm: dinner
5:30pm: dad comes home for playtime!
5:30-7pm: some or all of the following [playing, outside playtime, bathtime, crying, mom & dad dinner (hopefully)]
7pm: snacktime
7:30pm: nightime bottles
7:30-8pm: pjs and bedtime

so a couple quick comments in my first post in awhile:

• thank you to everyone for the help and generosity for the babies' birthday party! it was a great day and we're very grateful for everyone and for the babies to have been so well behaved! we're still in shock at how much they've grown and changed and how much they amaze us everyday, but i think we're enjoying it as much as possible and trying to remember all of the crazy things they do : )
• people sometimes say the strangest things to multiples parents....it's just crazy. we'd read about some of the comments, but nothing can prepare you for those situations. we've ventured out a little more lately and heard many questions and comments....here are some of the common ones and some strange ones:
• "oh!!! were you on fertility???".....okay - first of all, none of your business; second of all, why is that not only okay to ask but to use it as your "icebreaker" question right out of the gate? just ridiculous.
• "they don't look alike" AND "oh my gosh, they look so much alike"....i think either one of these comments are ones that you blurt out without meaning - you're just searching for something to say. on the other hand, the three of them do have distinctive looks while keeping the brother/sister resemblance - so i guess i could understand where it comes from.
• "her [Ella's] feet are really big".....really? in comparison to what? have i judged the size of your feet, buddy? uggghhh
• "he [Paulie] looks so serious".....this one's just funny b/c he is so serious. he can't "pretend" to be jolly around strangers - he looks you up and down and does a background check before he lets his guard down!
• "this one [Logan] has a TON of hair"....again, funny b/c it's true. Logan has had two haircuts and still looks like a hippie, while Paul and Ella are still rocking original locks!

Ok, that's all for now.....I'll try and stay on top of this thing a little more b/c I know that I've been getting questions about what's going on!
Take care,
PAUL
www.paulandchristi.com

Finally getting teeth!

So everyone is doing well - coming up on the 11 month mark! Both of our boys have broken through their 2 bottom teeth and are working on their upper ones now....it makes for interesting nights (meaning no sleep)! Ella still has no teeth, but we think that they're coming soon (but then again, we've thought that for months!)

Some new things that they are doing:

• Furniture walking (shuffling along everything) and occasionally letting go to stand for a few seconds!
• Ella claps and is super proud of it :)
• Everyone is actually enjoying playing together now....they do a lot of smiling and laughing at different things that everyone does
• Exploring the great outdoors....we have a couple of cute videos of Logan and Ella being timid about touching the grass!
  

I'm posting some new pics online tonight b/c I'll be in class all week this week.....then I'm finally done!

Crawling with Bob

I can’t believe it’s been this long since updating on how the babies are doing! I guess there’s enough going on that it gets put to the back of the line, but wow! It’s been like 3 months A lot happens in three months!
We have 3 crawlers….or should I say explorers? It only took a few days for Paulie to figure out how to do it (he started with the rocking on hands and knees, then took off). Logan was only about a week after that and Ella about another week later. It’s funny though b/c they each have their own different crawling personality. Paul likes to explore - he wants to do anything and everything EXCEPT play with his toys. He goes for the TV cable, the step to the living room, the floor heating vents or lamps….and don’t think he’s deprived either - the triplets have taken over an entire room in the house and there are about 50 toys in there! All in all though he does pretty well….a few falls, but he’s learned to navigate the one step to get into our living room - where he likes to bang on the foot pedals of the piano! Logan is the lazy crawler - he gets to where he wants to go and then lounges with whatever toy he had the energy to crawl for. It’s really the funniest looking thing b/c he rests on the floor on his side and lifts his leg up and down - like he’s posing for a swimsuit shot in SI or something! I’ll post a picture of it b/c it’s worth the look : ) Ella is our mischevious mobile little angel. She reminds us of John Turturro’s character in Mr. Deeds b/c you’ll put her down on the floor, turn around and get something and then she reappears somewhere entirely too far away for her to have crawled there. It’s “very, very sneaky” like he says in the movie.
Some other activities that we’re going through - cereal puffs and baby food (lots of puffs and baby food!) To give you an idea, as of right now they’re eating the following every day (per kid): breakfast = cereal mixed with 3.5 oz of fruit (one-2nd foods container) + real fruit (usually banana) + 7 oz bottle of formula, lunch = 3.5oz vegetable + 3.5oz fruit + sippy cup of water/juice + puffs + 7 oz bottle of formula, dinner = 3.5oz veg, 3.5oz fruit + sippy cups + puffs + 7oz bottle of formula….So, needless to say - Christi is busy all day and I’m busy with her when I get home! They usually eat pretty well unless they’re tired/cranky or if it’s a vegetable they don’t like - they like all fruits, but are unfriendly with peas & carrots!
The reason why I titled this “Crawling with Bob” was to convey the crawling update, but to also explain that our boys have really tried to verbalize and vocalize over the last few weeks, but mostly all that is distinguishable is “Bob”. And it’s really more like “Bawwwb”! I realize that most babies do this and might even be common in their vocabularies, but the way Logan and especially Paulie say it with such conviction - it’s hilarious. We have a video that will be posted asap of Paulie doing it - he makes this face that is just crazy and yells “Bawwwb”. It looks like he has bitter beer face while he’s saying it - and yet I laugh so hard : )
I hope this finds you all well - we appreciate the interest in the babies and we can’t wait for their last round of RSV shots Tuesday so that we can make our way out of the house a little more! If you ever want to drop us an email, send it to paul@paulandchristi.com or christi@paulandchristi.com - we’d love to hear from you.

PAUL

wow…finally got a chance to drop a quick note on the babies!

we got through all our December doctor appointments and already got their RSV shots for January…I made it through my pre-spring one week class and it went pretty well - thank you to everyone that offered help during that time…Christi and I appreciate it!

the babies are doing new things all the time now…it seems that they’re going through growth spurts every other day!

Paul is now doing the full range of baby talk (baa, maa, daa…) and he loves to hear himself sing. He holds his bottle by himself now. He is crawling…but strangely enough, only on his back. When we put him on his belly to move he just wiggles and puts his arms out looking like he’s skydiving! Paul is big on grabbing anything that’s in his reach - hair, shirts, Jake, etc. He’s probably the best/cleanest eater of the trio. He’s back to having trouble sleeping through the night, but hopefully it will just be a short phase…

Ella is sleeping well and getting close to sitting up on her own. She’s not eating her baby food very well - she takes incredibly small bites and sometimes won’t finish…that must be why she’s still tiny compared to her brothers! Ella is the most interested in Jake - he makes her laugh whenever he goes trotting by…she’s also grabbed a few clumps of his fur! She’s definitely a happy baby - she can always dish out a big smile to make a rough day go a little bit smoother.

Logan is an absolute monkey! He loves to climb and scream and laugh and eat. He is the most eager to get his bottle or get the spoonful of whatever is being fed at the time. He’s been finding his bink and putting it in his mouth wherever it is. Logan is really strong - he pulls himself up wherever he gets the chance and loves to stand. We’re trying to force the sitting up first, but it seems like he’s going to be walking before he sits! He’s also trying to hold his bottle - probably in the next couple days…

I’ll try and give some more info before a month next time!

PAUL