All by myself

This morning I was thinking back to the first time I was home alone with all three babies.  I don't have an exact date, but as I recall it was pretty early on as they were still eating every four hours.  I think Tony went to go shopping at Sam's Club or Shoprite - or both, but he left just after feeding them and was going to try to get back before they were to eat again.  Well, he didn't - but it all worked out.  One woke up - so I fed that one, then the next one woke up and one by one, I got them all fed and burped before T got home.  I remember feeling so accomplished and thought for the first time that I could actually do this - not completely on my own all the time, but we (T & I) could navigate the trials and tribulations of triplets.  (No, I didn't plan the triple TRs from that last sentence at first, but I'm keeping it now!)

This brings me to the other day - Tony took the trio out to Sam's by himself today.  He's done this before and man is he brave to do this.  I have never taken all of them out on my own.  I've actually never had the opportunity to, but I'm not so sure I'm in a big hurry to try.  Too many what if's for my liking, but I'm sure if and when I do, they'll behave just fine as they always do in public.  They save their naughtiness for T & I at home!

Gotta love these carts!!!

Baby's just sitting there... doin' some readin'

A few months ago, a co-worker friend, who has a son a few months older than my crew, had posted a picture of her son sitting in a chair 'reading' a book.  I remember thinking 1. how cute he was, 2. none of my babies would be doing this - they'd be eating/chewing on the book! 

Well, I'm happy to say that all of mine will do this.  Not for a long period of time, but they have all been seen sitting with a book in hand.

Olivia 'reading' a book.

The title of this post brings back memories - and I feel the need to explain it.  Growing up in the Buffalo, NY area, we got a few radio stations out of Canada and got to hear alot of great Canadian bands including Barenaked Ladies, Lowest of the Low and Moxy Fruvous.  The title comes from a Moxy Fruvous song titled "My Baby Loves a Bunch of Authors"

My sister had their CD - and I had copied it onto a tape and played it all the time in my car.  I think I could sing every line of every song from the 'Bargainville' album.  These days I get my new music info from our babysitter - she had to tell me about 'Gangnum Style'  Maybe someday I'll be back up to speed on current trends!

Happy Halloween!

It may seem like this post is really late, seeing as how we're nearly in the middle of November, but we just had our Halloween yesterday.  On the actual Halloween night, we were still without power and trying to get a generator so we didn't lose all of the food in the refrigerators.  Trick or treating and other Halloween festivities were postponed until November 10th for our town, but then our governor confused the issue by saying that state-wide Halloween would be re-scheduled for Tuesday, November 6th.  Some of our town was still without power so despite the governor's recommendation, we waited until yesterday.  I only knew this because I found a facebook page for our town that kept updating what was going on.

We had planned quite a while ago what the babies costumes would be.  I was given a Tigger costume by my sister (I think) and then found Piglet and Pooh costumes at my MoM's club sale back last fall.  All of the costumes were 12 month size, so we thought we'd be fine.  Back in Sepember, we started to worry that they weren't going to fit in this size so the search began for the next size up for all of characters.  T's mom found Tigger first at a local consignment shop and then Tony found the other two on Ebay.  So we actually had two sets of these costumes.  We ended up using only one of the larger sizes but it was good to have on hand just in case.

We went downtown to the fire hall - where the town was having their trick-or-treating.  We got there pretty late, but we let them take their normal nap and lunch time so by the time we got out of the house, the festivities were basically over.  It was fine really because they really shouldn't be eating alot of candy - and neither should I.  We pulled them in the choo choo wagon and T's dad met us down there so he could see them in their costumes.  We went around and picked up a few things and had a few people take their picture.  I'm not really bothered by this, but I've never had anyone steal my pictures and use them as their own.  I do know someone that this happened to and it's scary to think about.

We then walked toward Cafe Napoli - they always ask about the babies every time we order so we thought it would be nice for them to see the kids.  Afterwards, we started our walk back home.  It took a bit longer than expected because it was all uphill and pulling almost 70 lbs uphill is not easy.  We took a break and took them over to see Melanie and then to T's parents.

Here are a few pictures from the afternoon:

Hurricane Sandy

Frankenstorm - or what this storm was nick-named before it was to arrive, hit New Jersey on Monday, October 29, 2012.  I have to admit that I didn't think anything of all of the weather reports and news reports several days before 'Sandy' arrived.  My excuses were my usual - we weren't affected by tropical storm 'Irene' last year - only some minor water in the basement a few days after and I'm from Buffalo.  I still recall my first winter here in NJ (2006) and remember being at work and someone hoping they would send us all home early because snow was to be expected in the afternoon.  A whole whopping 4 inches.  Yes, inches.  Being from Buffalo, I had been used to snow and used to ALOT of snow, so since that time, I've come to downplay any of the weather reports about 'bad' weather.

By the end of the work week (the week before) we were told to take our computers home just in case the building was closed or we weren't able to come in, etc.  I did as I was told, but knew in my mind, I was going to be in the office on Monday.  No way a little rain and wind was keeping me home.  Over the weekend, we did our usual business - went out to get milk and eggs from Halo Farms and even stopped at a Halloween store to pick up something for my costume (Grandma from the Addams Family).  Sunday night came without rain - I was starting to think these meteorologists really had it wrong and even as Monday morning arrived without anything to talk about, I decided to call the work weather line just to hear that we were going to open as usual.  I was wrong - and this wouldn't be the first time I would be.  Work was closed so I was able to have another whole day with my babies!  The entire day went along and I kept thinking when is this hurricane supposed to start  - and then it did.  Mid afternoon, it started raining a little.  By the evening, the wind had really picked up and I started to think that we may lose power, but probably not for too long.  Even Tony didn't think much about losing power either but just hoped that we'd get the babies fed, bathed and in bed before we did.
We did reach our goal of getting everyone in bed and were about to eat ourselves when the lights went out.  We had set out a few flashlights and candles so planned to eat romantically when we heard this big thud.  We both wondered what it could have been and as we looked out the back window, but because of the extreme darkness, we didn't see the full extent of the damage in the back yard until the next morning, but we could at least see that one of the large trees in the back yard had fallen.  Tony went outside and came back to report that actually two large trees were gone.  I just kept thinking of the other tall trees around the house and what would be their fate and the fate of the house.  We went to bed pretty late - hoping for the best.

Work was closed again and we were still without power, but luckily it wasn't too cold.  Tony went to check on his parents and came back with some sobering news that the entire town was without power and there were more than our few trees that went down.  We dealt without power the rest of the day and decided to take the babies out for a walk so the rest of us could see the rest of the carnage.  I took a few shots of the backyard, but they came out pretty dark.  I'll have to take a few more - it's all still there...probably will be for a while...

Here's the babies sitting on one of the downed trees and then a couple of the neighbors trees that came down.

Olivia wearing her miner's light while we were without power!

Sitting on the tree (didn't want them to fall), so daddy held them up.

Again, Olivia ready for the dark.

In our rain gear!

Was that tree always there?

The left side of the house (not ours)

...and the right side.

Olivia in her rain wear

Amelia in her rain wear

Little Tony in his fireman jacket (reflectors and all!)

To wrap up the storm coverage - we were without power until Saturday afternoon, but got a generator late on Wednesday night.  We spent one night over at Grandma Cz's because they had hot water and heat from their wood burning stove, but dealt with the inconvenience of no power the rest of the week.  The babies were essentially unaffected by the whole ordeal other than not getting to go out for Halloween oh and getting evacuated shortly after getting the power back due to a possible gas leak.  All was fine in the end and we were very lucky to have only lost some trees and part of our neighbors fence in light of how badly this storm hit others in the state.  Thoughts and prayers to those that lost so much more.

Socks & Shoes

There's been so much going on, but can't quite find the time to write any of it down lately.  So I need to get some of it out of my head before I forget it and make room for other memories of my beautiful babies!
A few weeks ago, I got up to change the babies and get them started for the day before I had to go to work.  Tony had to get some blood work done at the lab about 5 minutes from home and he was going to walk them over in the stroller.  That meant that we needed long sleeves, pants, socks and shoes and of course a jacket.  It was starting to get a little chilly - especially at 8:30 in the morning.

I had already changed little Tony and Olivia - and put them in the same crib and grabbed Amelia to get her changed.  I quickly picked out some socks for each of them and threw them into the crib with O and T.  As my back was turned to change Amelia, I hear little Tony crying out and I look over and Olivia is basically laying on top of him!  I yelled at her to get off of him and she did.   Not even a minute later I see Olivia going back after Tony, but this time I noticed that she had the socks in her hand and she was going after his feet/legs!  She was trying to lift his leg up to put the socks on him.  I cracked up laughing and also felt bad that I had yelled at her for trying to help me out.  It was hilarious and amazing all at the same time.

Olivia has been the first one to understand - well, alot of things.  The first time she lifted her foot up for me to put her sock on, I was amazed.  Now I just have to tell her to sit down and show her the socks and she sits right down or she'll brace herself in the corner of her crib so she can balance on one foot to lift the other one!  She also does this with putting pants on.  It's so cute and she's growing up so fast.  I say this often - Where did my babies go? 

Fun at the Farm!

My MoM's club had it's Fall picnic at Russo's Farm this past weekend.  I hesitated a while on deciding whether or not to go.  Some said that the kids are too young, but others told me that we'd have fun and the kids would enjoy it.  We ended up going, but knew we'd need at least a third adult to help wrangle the crew!  Tony's parents were up for the challenge so we got up nice and early last Saturday morning, got everyone dressed and ready to go.  It was supposed to be a pretty chilly day so we made sure we brought their winter coats, hats and mittens too!  We arrived (only a little late), but just in time to get on the wagon pulled by a tractor to head out to the pumpkin patch. 

Grandma Czar with Amelia

Amelia, Little T and Olivia

Tony & Olivia with Tony Sr. in the background

Grandma with little T

The other half of our group's wagon

They didn't seem to mind the bumpy ride and once we arrived at the pumpkin patch, we let them roam around.  Olivia seemed to like the pumpkins the most, Tony just sat down next to them and camped out and Amelia had a difficult time walking amongst all the vines that were left on the ground. 

After each baby picked a pumpkin we loaded back onto the wagon to head back to the main area where they had a few other things to do.  They had a huge sand pit with other toys, but I didn't want to start them eating sand at such an early age.  We pulled them around in the metal wagons they had and rode the hay horses.  Little Tony really seemed to like this little car that my friend Nancy's daughter (Anya) was 'driving'

Olivia watching out of the wagon

We stayed a little longer and took pictures with my whole MoM's group - we had one little incident - Amelia fell and scraped her head - no blood though!  We did end up with a nice family photo and a few other cute pictures of the trio.

Family photo - except none of them are looking!

After the farm, we went to Halo Farms for our weekly milk/egg run to pick up our 4 1/2 gallons of milk and 4 dozen eggs.  Everyone was getting a bit hungry after that so we decided to hit the diner and get some lunch.  The babies ate well - and really enjoyed their dessert including little Tony with his chocolate pudding.

Tony selecting his dessert

Enjoying his pudding!

A good time was had by all and I'm really glad we went!

High Five's all around!

A quick update post on everyone... forgive me if I've already mentioned some of these things before.

Everyone is still doing very well.  Everyone is on regular whole milk.  No more formula!  We actually have a few tubs of the regular Similac left and about 18 bottles of the ready to feed Alimentum left over from the other triplet mom that gave it to us.  I've actually posted on the facebook page that if anyone else needs it, that I'd give it to them, but so far no one is interested!  Oh well, I'm sure I'll be able to find someone.
We're so glad that Amelia has overcome her 'milk allergy' and has been doing well with the regular milk and dairy.  Amelia is our only baby that still wants to drink her milk from the bottle.  She'll use the sippy cup for water or juice, but won't drink her milk from one.  I still like feeding her because it gives me a chance to hold her.  Little Tony actually let me hold him tonight while he drank his bottle from his sippy cup :)  Amelia typically drinks about 5 -6 oz and then eats her lunch/dinner.  Olivia and Tony drink about 3 oz, then eat their lunch/dinner and then drink the rest of their 6 oz bottle.  They mostly eat pretty well, but there are some days/nights that they don't each very much.  Tonight they had some keilbasa sausage - surprisingly they all really like it, cheddar cheese, crackers, and brussel sprouts!  Well, Olivia ate brussel sprouts - the other two wanted nothing to do with them!  They also had some grapes and watermelon.

Other than eating, they're all so curious and it's so fun to watch them discover new things.  They walk around the house, always wanting to climb the stairs and are starting to want to climb up on things.  We recently bought one of those pop up tunnels from them to crawl through because T started to notice that they all like to climb under things like the stools in the kitchen and under their play activity table.

Little T figuring his way out of the stool

 

We also purchased each of them a little foam chair.  They climb on them on occasion and will sometimes sit in them.  The one we got little T is a Cars themed one and actually makes noise.  We turned it on the other day and scared the poor little guy.  He was so scared of it, he wouldn't go near it or the other two that are decorated with Disney fairies and Disney princesses!  I felt bad, but it was sort of funny to see him so scared of it.  That probably makes me an evil mommy!  They all are great stair climbers too!  We've been teaching Olivia how to climb back down and I think she's almost ready!  The other two aren't ready to learn.

They typically play together well, but on occasion Olivia likes to 'throw her weight around'.  If she sees something that someone else has, she'll go and take it.  Amelia and Tony in the past would usually let it go and not get bothered by it, but lately they try and stand up to her and fight back.  It doesn't always end well thought  - I've actually seen Olivia tackle Tony and basically sit on him!  I've tried to put her in my version of 'time-out'.  I'll separate her - preferably with no toys - for a short time.  She normally gets mad and cries for a minute or so, but she gets over it.

 Above is a video where Tony loses his balloon to Olivia and then he tries to come over and steal the book that Amelia is playing with.  The video ends because Amelia is trying to bite Tony's back!  Below is right after - she gets the book back and plays and dances - well her version of dancing.  The first video also has some 'dancing' in it.  I LOVE watching them - so funny and sweet!

On a final note, all babies can give high 5's on command.  They won't always do it, but they can!  I've even gotten Olivia to point to her head, belly and nose.  Again, not consistently, but we'll there!