We had three....what is our carbon footprint?

Just a quick post about an article that I saw about a crazy environmental study. It argues that families with more than 2 kids will create too large of a carbon footprint and therefore should be "capped" at 2!....hmmmm, so what does that mean for our family and other higher-order multiples families?

Having More Than 2 Kids Will Destroy Planet, Environmentalist Says

Sorry, but this just bugged me and I thought I'd share its ridiculousness. I'm not arguing for careless disregard for the environment - actually, the opposite. I'm suggesting that the solution is not "capping" family counts but rather being socially and environmentally conscious as a lifestyle. Us triplet families have to watch out for these types of suggestions : )

PAUL

Christmas and a new computer and Lost!

I'm watching the season premier of Lost with Christi and thought I'd do an update to talk about the babies and our family's Christmas....

First of all, I'm typing this on our new laptop that we got for Christmas (since our old PC crashed!).

Next - we were added to the "Got Your Hands Full" Blog Roll : ) It's the best sorted link list of multiples blogs that I've found so far! Becky, the author, gives a lot of insightful posts about current events and topics relevant to multiples families.

About Christmas - the babies were incredibly good! They missed naps and were a little off schedule for a few days, but loved every minute of the visiting and presents. It was great to see our family and see the kids play with their cousins : ) We got the kids a kitchen/diner set by Step2. For what it's worth, we highly recommend their products - well made, easy assemble and relatively inexpensive (and local for us). They love it and play with it everyday. It's perfect for multiples b/c there is a kitchen side and a diner booth side. They LOVE puzzles. They received a variety of cool different ones for Christmas that they play with when they're not cooking in the diner. They also got little four-wheelers from Grammy & Grampy that they drive around the dining room and kitchen! Grandma got them little gadgets and papasan chairs to watch movies in : )

Other things - the talking/babbling is getting funny. They only have a few words each, but their language b/n each other is hilarious. Ella is the most bossy with her "no, no, no"s and Logan is the most vocal with his "actual" words. Paulie really sticks with the caveman speak for now, but is going to start picking it up any day : )

That's all for now....post pictures with my next post!
Paul

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