17 months already

So i am a bit behind and why blogger is underlining everything is beyond me but i actually have time to blog for the minute so here I go. We have had alot going on birthday parties, weddings, and the swine flu. Oh did I mention the pig flu not only can I recite info from the CDC in my sleep but i actually got to use the advice on my kids. Luckily we had it mildly, and the only reason I took Christian was to get him tested was his asthma, mother knows best. Chris thought I was nuts when I said before he was diagnosed that it was pig flu, well guess what Ha i was right for the 9875673467877 time but whose counting. My mother in law however was hit a bit harder with it, so sorry for sharing the germs. The kids are doing great, they started oinking on Friday and today finally are starting to speak again, well not really but it was funny. ,

Hayden is now 17 months old, how hard is that to believe, he is starting to say words and understands many more. He is such a joy to be around, he loves his big sisters and brother, the other day he walked into christian's room and reached for Christian's hand and they walked hand in hand down the hallway, melted my heart only wish i would have had the camera ready. Every day while Chris is at work he walks around and if he see's a picture of Chris or his boots or a shirt, he says "Daddy' "Daddy" and then I say he is at work and he says "yeah" and then i say with uncle John and he says "yeah non" i think he is saying John. When he sees a pumpkin he says "ball" The other day while the kids were at school i found Hayden on Christian's bed reading a book, how sweet, shh don't tell christian b/c when he leaves for school he keeps his door shut because Hayden makes a mess. Did I mention Hayden is a climber, too many times i have found him on my dining room table swinging my chandelier.

I am good, out of my funk finally. Ran my first official 10 K on sunday, it was good, am going to register for the 1/2 marathon on St. Louis and debating on doing one someplace with a fun destination, Chicago is on the riverfront and flat , gotta love that. Not a big fan of hills. Work has been nuts, good thing is if i pick up a shift on the weekend i get 100 dollar bonus on top of my pay, so woohoo, Christmas is coming and the money will be great, and Sunday i am on call which i can almost guarantee I will get called in and that is time and a half which is about 50 dollars an hour!

Happy 5th Birthday Kids

Wow, the kids are 5 where has the time gone, I'm not really sure but am so proud of what they have become, they are some of the sweetest good natured happy kids. We must be doing something right. They have each developed thier own personality and I love it. Each year their bday is a big party, the girls had thier party at a kids beauty shop where they invited thier friends and had their nails painted, the girls even got their ears pierced, which was neat to see. Audrey cried like a baby before they even pierced them, and Emma was brave but you could see tears in their eyes. Christian celebrated his bday at ORO partyland which is like another chuck e cheese but they have bumper cars it was fun. On their actual bday good ole Stephanie posted a happy bday on her blog which i thank her so much because I didn't even do that on their bday, we had breakfast at Mallo's, then to the zoo for build a bears, petting stingrays, the weather was rainy so we didnt' stay long. then we headed to the spaghetti factory for lunch where Aunt Cathy met us, how many people do you know take 1/2 day off from work to spend with her friends kids, Cathy we think you are the bombdiggity and so do I! then after lunch we headed to the city museum which is AWESOME, I love it there we had never been but I do have to say it was cool and not crowded at all. Then we headed home to eat at a hibachi rest. and then back to our house with family and friends to have MORE cake and more presents. WOW it was a great bday and fun was had by all.
long time no blog,, fb is now my venting grounds but Cathy suggested using the blog to post pictures and tell what the kids are doing so this one is for you. The kids started preschool and LOVE their teachers, Christian never tells me anymore he doesnt' want to go to school, he even likes to draw which before he had no interest in. They constantly come up with cute sayings everyday and keep me in stitches most of the time. As Halloween is fast approaching Christian wants to be a scuba diver, (where he got that from i have no clue but hey i think it will be all homemade) and the girls want to be cheerleaders which Aunt Pam made them for their bday so this year i am getting off pretty cheap actually, hope that money doesn't go toward dental work from all that candy.
Work is still great I love my job, I do not love swine flu, I dont' love what the media has done and truly has made the public nuts. and don't get me started about every Tom, dick and harry going to the ER for not feeling well, REALLY, SERIOUSLY why would you go to the ER and then get ticked when you have to wait 6 hours,hmm treat your symptoms and then call your doctor in the morning. anyhow just my two cents, any questions regarding the swine flu just ask, because I am a good source of info, truly i am and wont' give my smart ass answer...
I am excited we decided to refinance our house and so today after getting all that darn paperwork together went in to find out we are refinancing for 4.875 % that is the lowest they have been and those were the rates today! Woohoo i finally feel like something is going right, and wanted to dance in the loan officer's office but didnt' think it would have been appropriate, we will be saving 140 dollars a month, woohoo, now i can get that closet full of cash like the McGuire's have but hopefully my dog wont' eat it....I have been in a major funk lately, no new stress here, just pretty much feeling overwhelmed and worthless most days. the doctor initially blew me off saying you have 4 kids, yadda yadda yadda, yes i have 4 kids but seriously I dont' think i am coping well, I feel like i am always yelling at my kids and I don't like that. My friend told me today that i was a positive upbeat person which i appreciated the comment and it truly gave light into my day in addition to the interest rate! I know happiness has to come from within but lately I just feel like I am worthless and want to be the person that people say "she's a great friend" "good mother" etc, yes i know vain but i do need some validation once in awhile to keep on ticking.....

fun stuff

once again not much excitement around here but all is well, which is good with 4 kids! Summer is getting close to a close and I am not ready for it. yes I am ready for the kids to start pre K and get in a routine but I feel like I haven't used my pool membership as much, although 2 years ago we were there almost every day and next year hopefully close to that. This past weekend was the Mascoutah Homecoming, my most favorite thing of the summer (excluding vacations) fish sandwiches and beer and most of all seeing people i haven't seen in awhile. Although with facebook I feel like I get to talk to them a little more. My cousin and her kids came and spent the afternoon with us on Friday and then off to the Homecoming we went, the kids except for haydo rode rides, and the reason i didn't let Haydo was b/c I was afraid there would be a temper tantrum from him getting him off the rides and I wasn't ready to go home. In the last picture I wanted the kids to give me a group shot, they were less than pleased b/c i was interrupting their ride time hence the picture. Emma obliged but Audrey and Christian were less than thrilled. The kids had thier last day of mothers day out on Thursday, I wanted to cry. The teachers all hugged them when we left and said they would miss them so much,they have been around my kids since just before they were 2. It still is a struggle that they won't go there next year, I am still wondering if I made the right decision but I paid my first month dues of 331 for thier preschool and it is non refundable so that makes it a little easier. I know they will have a great teachers and I hope they are loved half as much as they were at First Christian (tears are in my eyes) It is so hard, I struggle with the fact that there was one teacher that didn't mesh with Christian and I don't want anyone being mean to my kids, in life thats how it is I know but I hope that if they dont' mesh they don't show it. The kids are looking forward to thier new school and it helps that I know their teacher and she has spent some time with them in the past (she was kind enough to babysit a couple of times).
On a lighter note we got the new door installed and our new desk I will have to post pics, it looks awesome, I just need to call the painter to paint the doors. I also wanted to say congratulations to the Johnson family on thier newest addition Chloe, we can't wait to meet her and hope you adjust to life with 3 kids quickly, there never is a dull moment!

summer fun

Wow I can't beleive we are nearing the end of July, the summer has flown by and soon will start the last year of the triplets before they enter the big K, I am so lucky in more ways than one to have another year. Next year they will go to K and Hayden will start mdo one day a week, and wow what will I ever do with my time, hopefully I will have a strategy for some time management. Our summer has been busy going to the pool, playing outside, and me and the triplets have been doing bike rides in the evenings. Okay I don't have a bike but I push Haydo in the stroller and the trips ride thier bikes about 2 miles which is a workout in itself considering someone always ends up falling but its cute because one of the other kids will get off thier bike and help the other back up. I can't believe in 2 months my kids will be turning 5, wow how blessed am I. Initially I have to say that when they were born it was the greatest time in my life, it helped me realize what is really important, umm sleep, and the friendships that I have made. I can't even begin to describe how isolated I felt from friends. Then I joined my mulitples group and with that group I have made some really great friends, who else can i have walk through my tornado house and know that they won't judge me because they have been there and done that.
Work has been awesome I love it and truly feel blessed to found a job that i absolutely LOVE and work with great people. And apparently I am good at something because I got a great review also which is a big morale booster for me. I started this week with a part time status and i will be working 2 shifts a week, I get paid vacation and sick time, not to mention life insurance and some other great benefits. can i just say one more time that i love my job, yes i am gloating but after the last 7 months at my old job I needed this.
The kids are doing wonderful, getting big an sassy as ever, and oh my the questions. Christian asked me the other day "if you and daddy die who will we live with" "if God steps on me it will hurt because God is big" death questions x3 kiddos is alot to handle. Christian told my mom the other day that when chris and I die he will live with Aunt Cathy and Emma said she will live with my mom,haha. Hayden is also doing good, getting into everything, did Imention he likes to unplug stuff and then plug it back in, or take the handles off the bathub, empty out the drawers and then just giggle. But besides being a busy boy the shrieks that i hear when i come home from being gone are enough to melt my heart all over again. How lucky am I to have 4 kids to run and greet me and to see the excitement that I am home, home for me is truly where the heart is....

my little ballerina's

I always say i am going to be better about blogging, I'm not in fact i don't really try or even have the free time lately to try. Yes I only work part time but EVERYBODY i s busy and life just gets hectic. The weather lately has just been crazy either it is raining or sunny so yesterday in the midst of the summer heat we headed to the pool. I took all 4 of the kids around 11 and we stayed till about 230, I was surprised Hayden made it that long, he has a cold and cough and is just not his usual self. Last night after we put him to bed he was up about ever 45-1 until midnight, i for sure was thinking he had an ear infection but he slept from midnight on so i am thinking the poor baby was just overtired. Chrisian, Em and Audrey had an awesome time splashing around, they are getting so good at swimming underwater, especially the girls. I think on Friday if I can get a sitter for Hayden I am going to take them in the big pool without floaties on and work with them. Emma jumped in a pool last week in the deeper end, forgot she didn't have her floaties on ( so did I, I got busy putting Audrey and Christian's on) she swam to the top but then freaked out. I was holding Hayden at the time so I pulled her out of the pooll by one arm, im sure it looked horrible but hey she didn't drown. The first picture was the night of thier spring concert,, for those of you who know his belly laugh that is what he is doing in this picture. the next pictures are from thier recital, they did pretty well and were the most beautiful ballerina's ever. When the girls came out to the kitchen with all of thier makeup, chris wanted to know if their makeup was supposed to be hooker heavy, which it was but they LOVED having makeup put on. especially diva Audrey, the other day when i picked them up from school I asked Audrey how her day was when she got in the van, and she replied "i need to put on my lipgloss first" as she pulled it out of her purse and put it on (picture me rolling my eyes). In other exciting news Hayden is walking everywhere full time, he really no longer crawls, which is sad my baby is becoming a toddler before my eyes, he is still in love with his mama and his siblings especially Emma, he says, Meddie, Hi, Audrey. pretty good, i knew my kids were geniuses. LOL oh well i have a staff meeting this am and need to get the kids lunches ready, only to discover this am my new loaf of bread is MOLDY, the stawberries out in the garage refridge are FROZEN, ughh so after i get ready it is off to schnucks to get some bread to make some sandwiches. man i hope this doesn't prelude to how the rest of my day is going to be.


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for the birds

Okay so i haven't blogged in a long time, I don't know why other than my life doesn't seem interesting or I have no sarcasm left at the end of the day because i have used it these last two weeks spending 24/7 with my children. Yes I love my children with all of my heart but the three in the top picture have tested every nerve in my body today. We had a cold front so no swimming today so it was a BEAUTIFUL day outside and unfortunatley we had to spend most of the day at home b/c we were waiting for our cable guy who was so nice to give us such a wonderful time frame of 8-12, which he showed up at 1210, so nice... Anyhow I finally got Hayden down for a nap after and thought i would clean I turned the TV off, the computer (seriously) and folded some much needed laundry, 5 minutes into the triplets were tattling, fighting, throwing sand, playing in rainwater from the sandbox, and just doing everything to grate the nerves. It was not my proudest parenting moment, I called Christian a name that I should never have used, yelled for whatever reason I can't remember now, and am still feeling guilty about it. hmmm as I was talking to another mom with 4 kids she said she remembers when she was little overhearing her mom talk on the telephone saying, " i hate these kids" and she thought it was the meanest thing ever, which yes it does seem very mean but she also told me she can totally relate to how her mom felt at that time. I think of the word hate as such a nasty word, but I think we all have those moments where we dont' hate them but definitely hate their behavior. Geesh I hope i don't get reported on CNN for posting this on my blog but please try to understand me, I know my fellow triplet moms will,lol
Lately I just feel out of the loop, I mean how did i handle triplets when they were Hayden's age, I can barely handle him and the triplets, how did i deal with them being into everything, I just feel like I am not superwoman anymore, I felt like I could do it all and now I am lucky to get one thing on my to do list crossed off, is it that i am getting older, am I lazier, or what is going on. What happened to my time management, probably this damn laptop computer did,lol.
Tonight was dress rehearsal for the girls recital and Christian wanted to come with us so I let him, he was pretty good, actually did better than the girls while watching the other dancers, and while I was saying "sit down please, don't hit your sister, quit picking your nose, etc,
I sat down and wondered if I am expecting to much out of my 4 year olds? I get upset if they aren't their best behavior when out in public, which is totally ridiculous, i make a ton of mistakes daily so why do I get to make mistakes and not get punished but I will not let them have their snack or no TV for something that they didn't really do wrong. Arent I supposed to be teaching them and they are learning? I don't know if make sense but I just feel like the crabby mom who always yells and I need to relax and let them be kids....
anyway the pictures are of the girls in thier jazz costumes for dance, they are doing the "buzzy boogie song" and let me tell you tonight at rehearsal along with the other 3 girls had no clue what they were doing, they haven't had dance in almost 3 weeks and here I am slightly mad they dont' remember anything (hello what the heck did i pay for) when I came across my thought mentioned above, it has been 3 weeks, could I remember a dance routine and where to stand in a foreign place that is much bigger, no but its all about looking cute and having a good time. who cares if they are good at it, I want my kids to participate in sports or whatever they want, no they don't have to be good at it but i want them to at least enjoy it, and let me tell you all those girls tonight had big smiles on thier faces and they were having fun, while us moms were thinking "oh no" the bottom pics are from Disney at 1900 Park Fare, don't you just love chirstian's face this is his face in all of the pictures with a character, and the bottom is Hayden (my favorite, he doesnt' talk back and just loves his momma) he is such a happy kid, thankfully I have 4 happy kids so maybe I should try and be more happier of a momma to them....

so much to blog

well we are back from Disney and it was wonderful for the most part, Christian had an asthma exacerbation while we were there and had to be put on steroids per my discretion, (didn't check with the dr) i used my knowledge from my new job and having a child with asthma you always have steroids on hand for when they get in the red zone so i just gave him a four day course. I brought all his asthma rescue meds not thinking we would actually use it but when the supply got low we had to find a walgreens that was closest to the hotel to fill it, again not fun when you don't know where anything is and what is close to what but needless to say chris walked about 2 miles to get Christians medicine, and took an expensive car ride to meet us but hey we got the medicine and our boy is doing great. the kids had a blast and i do have to say this was the most relaxing (if you can say that on a disney vacation) disney trip for me ever, when the kids got tired we went back to the hotel and swam alot which was also fun, Hayden did wonderful sitting most of the time in the stroller, he loved to look at the characters but was very scared and cried when they came near him, he did end up vomiting the last twelve hours in Florida through the night but was over the virus before we boarded the plane, THANK GOD,, and i am sure that the benadryl i gave him beofre the plane ride also helped with his wonderul naps. Saturday we had Hayden's first bday party at the park it went well, could have been a tad warmer or less windy but it was fun. he liked playing with his cake with the spoon but when the novelty wore off you can see from below he wasn't so happy. time ran out and we ended up bringing the gifts home to open which was good but the last pic is the kids playing with Hayden with his balloons, which he LOVED, he was giggling up a storm and the triplets were also having fun, i stood on the coffee table (learned that from amanda johnson) and captured the moment. mothers day was great, chris made shrimp on the grill for lunch and then i worked 3-11 which was fine, it was nice not having to cook any meals, referee any battles, or have to look at any housework needing to be done, my wish was to be queen for a day and do absolutely nothing but seriously i would end up doing something b/c i would get way bored after 2 hours, okay maybe 3!
i took all 4 today to lowe's to get sand for their sandbox well apparently an armed robbery at the regions bank across the street had happened earlier and i was paying attention to all the police cars and helicopters above while trying to wrangle 4 kids back into the car, lo and behold i got home and realized i left the sand in the cart, ughhh so we went back to lowes to get the sand, i found my paint samples in the cart outside where i left it but the sand was missing, apparently somebody took my sand but luckily Lowe's didnt' charge me for the next 2 bags, i told them i would gladly pay since idiot me forgot it in the first place but they said dont' worry about it. My business will go to Lowe's for being so customer friendly, i still am mad at NY and company for the extremely rude assistant manager and i called the corporate office and have yet to hear from then and that has been over 2 weeks, you would think businesses would care but they dont'. oh and to top off the end of the trip my mom was helping me get the suitcases out of the back of the van and it went flying out when we both lifted it and i dropped it on her toenail, blood was gushing everywhere, chris took her the urgicare and it is fractured and the nail needs to be removed, great daughter I am. so on that note i am going to go to bed good night.
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Happy Birthday (early) Hayden

Since I won't be able to blog on his actually bday I am making this my wish for Hayden. He will be the big one year old on the 6th of May, my how time has flown by. I can't even explain how blessed I have been for all my kids but the joy of experiencing a singleton has been absolutely wonderful, I am noticing his quirks so much earlier than I noticed the triplets, I think b/c I actually have the time to see them, he screams when he doesn't get what he wants, Steph can attest to that b/c she has heard him numerous time while on the phone with me, its like this ear piercing shriek, now Hayden will bat his eyes at you while eating and it is all i can do not to laugh. He is not walking yet and thats okay b/c i think i will have one busy baby on my hands. He loves his brother and sisters and his face lights up when he sees them. We will be celebrating his party at the park in one week, I think i might have smoked some crack having his party after a big trip but oh well. The kiddos are doing great, they have been loving this weather outside and frankly I am also. I am going to a plastic surgeon for the crazy spot on my nose and am eager to get the results from that, i also have started getting up at the crack of dawn, today for instance after i fed Hayden at 415 I was up and could not fall asleep, so here i sit. I am a little freaked out about this swine flu thing, they had a confirmed case from a visitor in Disney, and I keep praying for us to stay illness free so please pray for us. Work apparently is overloaded with calls about the swine flu and the allergies flaring up, I could have made some big bucks this weekend at work but I'm sure there will always be time for that.

Easter pics

Not much new here again except the crazy weather, the weather was less than stellar on Sunday but at least we didn't have to wear our winter coats like the past two Easters. sunday am we started off at 9am mass, well that was crowded and we ended up in the cry room which i think our kids were one of the best behaved,it was hard to get much out of Easter mass when you are sitting amongst little ones when Easter excitement is in the air, then we headed to my moms house for some brunch and easter egg hunts. the kids had fun, audrey found a pen, not sure where that came from but it made a kodak moment, Christian has a nice scratch and bruise from the fight he had with Emma's foot. Hayden enjoyed his first Easter but was sacked out after church. Other than that not much new here just getting ready for the big D world trip, trying to figure out what i still need to get since my days are limited with little man's naps while the kiddos are at school.

Kisses and Easter eggs

I labeled this post as kisses first of all b/c notice Hayden with the baby doll, he loves to give kisses to dolls, and he was so excited when Emma finally let him play with the baby, he had been following Emma around for about 20 min trying to get to the baby doll and i love the look on his face once he's got it. I don't remember the triplets giving kisses this early,and i am sure i don't remember them unrolling toilet paper this early either. This kid is into everything and with the triplets the house was babyproof and there were no small pieces so that wasn't an issue then I guess. Our week has been filled with egg hunts and small gifts from people for Easter, which dont get me wrong is wonderful but come on this chocolate is not doing much for the muffin top I am trying to rid of. Seriously i did an od today of reese peanut butter cups and m&m's, and its not even Sunday yet. Today the weather was beautiful this morning and by early evening the temp dropped 22 degrees, it is raining and just yucky. I think next week we are going to make our first trip to the zoo for 2009, Chris is taking off work and it looks like Wed it will be 71 degrees so a good day for the zoo. Tonight we dyed Easter eggs and the kids had fun, Christian kept saying "i'm hungry" i think he thought candy was inside the eggs, he does not like eggs so tomorrow he demands to eat an egg, he is going to be ticked off to find a egg white and a yolk. I am slowly getting ready for our trip, i ordered my swimsuit online today, i hope i like it and i got the rest of the kids shorts and stuff so i think they have their clothes. although gymboree is releasing a new line next week that has some monkeys on it which i think i am going to have to splurge, I call Hayden monkey and wouldn't coordinating monkey clothes be cute for the kiddos? I thought so...

could it be 11 months already

so my baby boy turned 11 months today, 11 months ago today I was laying in bed at this time, had just finished throwing up several times and was waiting for them to bring in my sweet baby to eat before i went to bed, as i miss the early days when he was a tiny tiny baby i do have to say that i treasured it and held him as much as he wanted to be held, it is absolutely wonderful having a single baby, to those of you who have singles you already know that but having triplets first when you just try to make it through one feeding to a next hoping to get a little sleep, wondering if you will ever be able to relate to other people with kids again I now know the feeling. I can however say I don't know how I did it with three babies at once, yes i did have help but it wasn't around the clock and ultimately they were our responsibility. Some days i feel like my time management is out the window, for instance i wanted to go to the gym this morning but Hayden fell asleep so he took a nap, no gym for us but thats okay, the kids dictate (not literally) our schedule, how blessed I have been to be blessed with 4 kids, this morning when Christian was on my last nerve I was thinking about my friend Wendy who lost her son 6 years ago how she would give anything to have her son grating on her last nerve again, so i just grin and bear it because one day when my boys or girls are all grown up how i will forget the little day to day things that they know they shouldn't do but i will remember all the hugs, stories, zoo trips, ice cream trips, market trips and whatever floats our boat for the day. It just seems as lately i have been more sentimental, whether it is from the person i mentioned earlier diagnosed with brain and lung cancer or all these random shootings where innocent people are dying, life is a precious gift and I am so lucky to have been entrusted with 4 of them. Love you Christian Emma Audrey and Hayden.