Be careful... watch your step!!!

These words were repeated at least 25 times this afternoon as we had the babies outside in the back yard.   Since the weather has been getting nicer, we try to take them outside for some fresh air and let's face it, tire them out by running around.  Our back yard still needs quite a bit of work since the hurricane passed through and wiped out the two largest trees.  The trees are mostly gone - they're cut up in logs or are in a pile of sawdust from the stump grinder.  The trees left alot more problems though than just wood piles.  As you walk around, there are sticks jabbed into the ground and the area is not necessarily baby/toddler proofed.  So we need to keep an eye on them.  I find myself continuously looking around and counting each one to make sure I have tabs on each one. 
Here are a few pictures from the afternoon...

Tony trying to escape! (not really - he was trying to see where daddy went!)

Amelia mowing the dirt

Olivia getting ready to throw the ball to Buddydog

Olivia showing me the dirt on her hands (and wanting me to brush it off).

Helping daddy pull the wagon...

Helping daddy fill the holes in the lawn...

Little Tony having fun and looking cute :)

Amelia checking out some worms we found.

Dodged a bullet...

This was a comment that I heard on Easter... on having multiples.

Let me start from the beginning and preface this by saying that I'm probably a bit over sensitive about the whole subject and taking it the wrong way, but want to get it all out. 

So at the end of the afternoon and the Easter festivities were breaking up, a quiet announcement that one the sister's in law is expecting.  She shared that she had some issues early on and was in the hospital where they did an ultrasound and discovered that she was pregnant with twins, but now only pregnant with one.  She mentioned that she was fine and feeling fine and happy to be pregnant... with one.  She indicated that someone else (don't know who) said to her "you really dodged a bullet there" and she concurred with this statement.  I wasn't quite sure what to think of this comment or  how to process it.  What does she think, having twins would be the worst thing in the world?  Do we (Tony & I) make it look that difficult?  I mean sure, I rarely get dressed up or 'do' my hair, but that wasn't uncommon before the babies either. 

In talking to a few other people, one made the comment of, if she feels that way about having another child or possibly having two, then maybe they shouldn't be having any more.  Any child is a blessing.  I'm not sure if everyone would agree with me, but struggling with fertility issues and ending up getting pregnant with three and carrying three healthy babies to 35 weeks changed my outlook on a lot of things, including pregnancy and children. 
Another explanation of the comment that was given by one my optimistic friends was that Tony and I make it look easy (dealing with multiples) and she didn't think she could ever do as well.  Another said that she likely didn't know how to respond to the comment and didn't even realize what she was agreeing with. 

I guess I'd like to believe these two latter explanations and chalk it up to that she didn't realize that she was making an insensitive comment about having multiples to someone who has triplets.

Happy Easter!

Easter morning started like most other mornings, but we needed to plan for a light breakfast as Tony's family planned a brunch around 11am.  Tony wanted to video-tape them discovering their Easter baskets since this really was the first year that we had baskets for them.  Tony spent some time the night before and morning of getting everything together.

I took the video with the other camera and after several minutes when the camera turned itself off, I realized that I had never even started.  DUH!  Luckily the kids have a very short attention span so we quickly got everything back in the baskets for round two.  We walked them around the kitchen and back into the living room and it was like they hadn't seen anything.  They were just about as excited the second time around.

Around 10am, we started to get them ready in their outfits supplied by Tony's mom.  From what I understand, she bought these outfits quite a while ago, so we're lucky they fit.  Once everyone was dressed, I thought I'd try to get a few pictures of the three of them on the steps.  I thought wrong.  They're in that stage where they understand what you want them to do, and purposely do the opposite - at least Olivia does.  She does all of her naughty work with a sly grin on her face too.
So here's what I ended up getting...

Where are you going Tony?

Two out of three aint bad!

Tony - on the move again!

Tony escaping up the stairs...

Amelia hiding her face in her favorite bear.

Yeah!  we got a good one!

Ok - bear is out of the way, but now the thumb is there again.

 We got over to Tony's parents house, ate brunch and then prepared to go outside for the egg hunt.  Each kid was equipped with a bucket to collect eggs.  It was so fun to watch them.  We had to walk them around and show them what to do, but they each picked up the eggs and put them in the bucket.  Olivia ended up with the most - Six eggs!  Amelia got four and little Tony got three.  He would have had more, but some of the older kids got to the eggs a bit faster even though we saw them first.  Oh well... we didn't need the extra candy in the house. 
Here's a few pictures of the hunt!

Afterwards, we went back inside and played around.  I was a photographing fool that day - I was snapping pictures of the girls smelling flowers, playing with toys and just about anything!

All in all, it was a nice day.

Que sera sera

This month has been flying by.  Everyone is finally better.  I actually hung onto it the longest and for a while there I thought the babies were going to get a second round, but it was merely teething.

During my last doctor's appointment, we were discussing a whole bunch of issues, reviewed my bloodwork, etc. including my need to see an eye doctor for a check up and a gynecologist since I haven't been since I had the babies and they're going to be 20 months pretty soon.  I did try and go for a check up a while ago, but once I got there and realized that I mostly likely was going to wait for over an hour past my appointment time, I decided my time was too valuable and left vowing that I wouldn't return.  I was pretty mad that day.   So the doctor ended up asking me if I'm planning on having my more children, which up until recently, my answer has always been no.  Lately, I'm feeling the itch to be pregnant.  I think it's the combination of  a couple things - like being around people that are pregnant and wanting to experience that again.  I have a mostly positive recollection of my pregnancy (I think I may be blocking out the bad).  Part of me wants to know if I could get pregnant on my own (without the help of fertility drugs/intervention) and part of me wants to know if I'd have another set of multiples.  At this point, we're not trying to have any more children, but we're not, not trying either.  The way I left it with the doctor was - if it happens, it happens, even though I know financially, it wouldn't be the best idea for our family. 

I'm sure there are a bunch of other things that I should be catching up on, but I just can't seem to remember right now.  I've taken a ton of pictures over the past few weeks - some good, but not all.  I have really bad luck with cameras and lately, the one I have doesn't seem to capture movement very well.  Everything comes out blurry and believe me, it's not easy to get them to stand still. 

 The weather has been getting a little nicer during the day - not so cold.  So we decided to let the kids play around in the back yard for a little bit.  We got them all bundled up in some older coats and shoes because the backyard is a bit muddy.  They had fun despite only being out for about 20 minutes - it was colder than anticipated - just running around.  We did open a new toy for outside that they got at Christmas time - a play lawn mower.  They really loved it!

In other news, we got a new microwave.  The one we had kept turning itself off after being on for 2 seconds and the only way to get it back on was to reset it and enter the date and time.  This would/could happen about 5 times in a row before actually staying on.  It became a real annoyance - trying to heat something up for 30 seconds and it taking 5 minutes.  So we had looked around and decided on getting a microwave/convection oven from the appliance place downtown.  Tony installed it and has been a baking maniac ever since.  He's made cupcakes, soda bread, muffins, crackers and cookies!   He likes it more because it doesn't heat up the whole house like the oven would.  This should come in really handy when we have to bake alot of things for the kids and around the holidays!  So we had the pretty large box that the microwave came in and of course that's what they ended up playing with!  I cut a few holes/doors for them to peek through and they had a blast!

On the mend (finally)

Since 'that' weekend spent collecting germs, we've had a few rough days and nights with alot of runny snotty noses and coughing.  All of the babies are on the mend and so is Tony, but I, on the other hand seem to be having the most difficult time shaking the sickness off.  I've been to see my doctor on two occasions and have taken several days off of work.  (I'm so glad I still have unlimited sick time.)  On the first trip there, I was told I had bronchitis and given antibiotics and steriods.  After a few days and not getting any better, I went again and was told that I could possibly have pneumonia or even mono!  Great!  I went today for a chest x-ray and blood work to either confirm or rule out either of these diagnoses.  My supervisor at work is really awesome and understanding and let me know that I don't need to be a martyr and keep coming to work with pneumonia - it's ok to take another day.  The problem with taking another day off is that I feel like I'd actually work harder being at home with the babies.  She also let me know that if I continue to come to work sick - she'll expect no less in the future - even if I've lost a limb or something like that. 

Last weekend, my MoM's club had their annual flea market/sale.  I had been gearing up for it for a few weeks - going through clothes and other items that we no longer use/need.  I was going to skip it because I was feeling really crappy, but Tony stepped in and saved the day - or rather the sale!  We arranged for Mel to come over early in the morning and Tony and I packed up both cars with all the stuff that we were going to attempt to sell, drove the 40 minutes to Hamilton and started unpacking the stuff.  Luckily, there were several people from the club that were there to lend a hand and cart all of the stuff from the car into the library.  The place was already packed and trying to organize all of the things seemed like a daunting task, but Tony took it all in stride and started making chit-chat with others there and before we knew it, people were digging through the boxes of clothes and filling the Halo Farm bags for $5.00 a bag for their little ones to wear.  I think overall, Tony sold about $175 worth of items and we divided up the proceeds and added it to their bank accounts.  Tony made one purchase there from a fellow MoM - a little scooter with a ball.  He saw it and thought of little Tony who seems to like to ride the lion (ride-on toy), but he likes to try to bounce on it - so this ride-on toy seemed perfect.

Here's a picture of Amelia on it...

Here's a few pictures from the week - I realized that I never got any good pictures of the girls in their Valentine's outfits so I took a few.

Olivia loving on Buddy dog - or as she calls him "bo-bo"

 

Anyways, today - well now yesterday 3/7/13 marked 19 months for my babies.  Tonight was the first time in several days that I can recall that they all seemed really happy and content.  Not whiny at all and ate their dinner well and happily played together in the bathtub without altercation.  It was really nice.  I ended up taking a long video of them in the bath tub, but don't want to take the time to load it now or for that matter have it on here for any pervs to see.  So unfortunately, I'll keep my nude baby pictures to myself.