Bye Bye Mommy!

Last weekend my parents came to visit and during one of our outings, we needed to stop for lunch.  I chose a Burger King that just happened to have one of those play areas with lots to climb on and big tubes to crawl through.  They had only ever been to one of those places once before, but they were closing that section to clean it so we didn't stay long.  They started trying to climb up the slide, but didn't get very far.  I kept saying to my mom... they won't be able to get up there!  Well I was wrong.  Completely wrong. 
I tried getting some pictures of them up in the contraption, but they kept moving too quickly.  They played for a while and at one point we decided it was time to get going.  Well they had other thoughts.  They would not come back down for anything.  I tried sending up other people's kids to retrieve them.  Nope.  I even resorted to telling them I was leaving (which normally gets them to act pretty quickly - along with crying and screaming) and I even walked out of the building.  Nope.  They waved good bye to me saying bye bye mommy!  I was starting to panic and Tony wasn't  helping.  He just stood on the side and chuckled.  My mom pointed out the sign that said that in order to play in this area, kids should be 4 years old and she remarked... I guess we know why now!  We also read on the sign that we to alert the manager if we 'saw anything weird'.  I can't say it was weird, but I was seriously considering talking to someone that worked there to see what they've done in the past in this kind of situation.  I'm sure my kids aren't the only kids in history that wouldn't come down, right?

Well, we were able to coax them down with the promise of ice cream.  Thank goodness for their sweet tooth! 

Here's a few pictures I was able to get.

They were somewhere  up there!

Happy Easter

The morning started off like most others with the exception of breakfast.  Tony's parents do a brunch for Easter and we figured that if we fed them at their normal breakfast time (around 8:30am), they wouldn't want to eat again around 10:00am.  Tony left to go to his parents to make the food and I was on my own for a couple hours.  I had been prepping the girls that they were going to be wearing their 'pretty dresses' when we go to Grandma's house for a day or two.  Every time I told them, I heard - "No dress" along with whining and crying. 
I started with little Tony- he's so easy going.  He gave me no issue with putting him in his little suit.  Amelia - wanted nothing to do with her dress.  I explained one more time that it was Grandma's choice and she at least let me put it on her, but she continued to cry and scream.  Olivia came right upstairs when I called her and acted like the dress was her long lost friend and put it on without a problem.  She opened up her shoe box and said "WOW"!  It was so funny - to me because I remember her putting up such a fuss to even try on those shoes!
I got the kids over to the house and as hungry as I thought they should be, none of them ate very much.  After the food, they went through their Easter baskets.  They each got a book and a puzzle along with bunches of chocolates and jelly beans.  Finally it was time for the Egg Hunt.  We had practiced several times over the past few days and we were pumped and ready to go.  Everyone got a bag to collect their eggs in and off they went!

Amelia getting ready to hunt for eggs!

Olivia's ready too!

My little man!

After the hunt we took a little swing together.

Amelia sitting pretty with daddy.

Amelia sporting some Batman sunglasses

Olivia found herself!

The whole egg hunting crew!

Tony playing with the train

Me and mine

I wrote a while ago that I was going to start taking more pictures of me with the kids and I really haven't done much, but I did do some recently...

I'm a girl

Olivia's latest thing is running through everyone she knows and telling me if they are a boy or a girl.  Here's how the conversation goes:
Olivia:  Mommy, you a girl.
Me: Yes, I'm a girl.
Olivia: I a girl. Mia's a girl.
Me:  What is Tony?
Olivia:  Tony's a boy.
Me:  What about daddy?
Olivia:  Daddy a boy too.  Buddy's a boy and kitty's a girl.
Me:  Right!  What about Grandma and PaPa?

I think you get the gist.  She gets everyone correct and this morning after telling me that I'm a girl, she told me that I'm her friend.  I just about melted.  I also caught her singing a made up song about our fish pond and the fish!

Tony is big into playing games on my phone.  I have a few apps that he goes between.  He usually starts with a "Doctor" game - then moves onto the Dinosaur digging game.  He also likes to play the 'balloon popping' game and every now and again I catch him playing Candy Crush. 
He's also into shapes and he knows alot of them - Thanks Team Umizoomi!

Amelia lately loves hopping around like a bunny and dancing around.  She can often be seen singing any number of songs including ABC's or Twinkle Twinkle or Happy birthday (to daddy).  She's quite loquacious and enjoys sleeping in in the mornings!

I haven't had a chance to take many pictures lately, but hopefully I'll get to take some soon!

Ready for Spring!

We went out yesterday afternoon to get shoes to go with the girl's Easter dresses.  We went to Payless in the pouring rain.  Little tony was awesome.  He was his normal carefree self... running up and down the aisles but still coming over to me when I called him.  He wanted to try on shoes, even though he didn't need any.  Amelia and Olivia were a different story.  They were crying and whining about trying on shoes.  They'd pick a pair that they liked and then had a fit when trying them on.  After we were done - and I can honestly say that I have no idea at this time what shoes they got - they were fine.  They were all running around and ended up finding the rack of sun glasses. 
All I could do was laugh!

Gotta love them!

Surgery Day and the trip home

On January 14, Tony had a cornea transplant surgery.  He was diagnosed with a condition called keratoconus in his early 20's.  He's been wearing hard contact lenses for a long time as they were the only kind that would help the eye/cornea hold it's shape.  It's been getting worse over the past few years and at one point his Ophthalmologist indicated that he should start considering a transplant.  Having it done would mean taking it easy and no lifting babies for at least 8 weeks.  Hmmm.... when would it be a good time to have the caregiver of 2 year old triplets a few months off....
Well we decided the beginning of the year was it, so we scheduled the surgery and started hunting for someone else that could watch the kids during the morning hours as Melanie is in school during the day.  Melanie thankfully agreed to come over every day for the afternoons and evening until I get home from work.  We joined Care.com and put an ad on there and got a lot of responses.  We had a few people come over, but in the end we ended up getting one of Tony's co-worker's wives to come over.  I don't get a chance to interact with her very much, but the kids seem to  like her and she can tolerate Tony so -it works!

The day of the surgery, Tony & I drove up to St Barnabas Medical Center (north Jersey) in the rain.  He seemed pretty calm, but I was really nervous.  We arrived on time and after waiting for about 45 minutes, we were told that all of the physician's surgeries were on hold waiting for the actual corneas from the 'tissue bank'  Ok, gross.  So we waited and waited.  If I recall correctly, his surgery was supposed to be around 11am, but he didn't even get taken in until 1pm.  I was ok because there was a small cafeteria downstairs and was able to get some food, but Tony wasn't allowed to eat anything so it was like torture to him.  I was given a number that represented Tony and where he was in the process - pre-op, surgery, post-op, etc.  It was nice to have that information, but didn't want to think about it all too much because I'm really squeamish when it comes to eyes.  A few hours later, I was called in - he was in recovery.  He looked good minus the padded/bandaged right eye.  They did at that time give him a little to eat and drink.  I showed him the cards that the kids and I had made for him.  They were cute.  We used some of the stencils and traced some animals and bugs and added googly eyes.  I think he liked them.  Within about an hour, we were able to go so I went to the car and picked him up at the front door.  He of course wanted something to eat so we stopped at a 'SmashBurger'.

Here's how close he would have to have his phone to read something (without contacts).

I had taken the day of his surgery off and the rest of that week and the next one.  He pretty much stayed in bed the rest of that day and had a follow up appointment at the doctor's office the next morning at like 9am.  That was tough because it was about an hour and a half away, but we made it essentially on time.  The doctor indicated that it looked good and gave some specific instructions on special eye drops and medication to take and to watch for certain symptoms.  He wasn't going to be able to lift more than 10lbs for a little while.  I had suggested that I take the kids to my parents house so he could be by himself to recover in peace.  He had agreed and at first I thought I could drive overnight with the kids by myself, but after realizing that I wouldn't be able to even use a bathroom at a rest stop in the middle of the night without having to wake them up and bring them with me.  Hmmmmm... it had to be re-thought!  My mom graciously agreed to drive here, leave her car here in NJ and drive back in the van with me and the kids to her house 8 hours away in WNY!  I packed up a bunch of their clothes and after my mom arrived, we packed up the car and we were on our way. 
It was so nice to have my mom and dad help out with the kids.  I actually got a chance to relax a little bit and actually enjoy being with them.  We got into a great night time routine that we continue to use.  It snowed pretty much every day and it was really cold so we pretty much stayed at the house.  We did get out a few times and once was for haircuts.  My mom had an appointment and her hairdresser heard the kids were in town and I've been wanting to get their hair cut so we loaded everyone up and drove to Lewiston to see Marcie.  Tony and Olivia warmed up quickly and took their coats off.  Amelia on the other hand did not.  She wouldn't take her coat off the entire time we were there.  So if you couldn't guess - she didn't get a hair cut.  What really surprised me is Olivia's willingness to sit and have her hair cut.  She was always the one that would barely let me comb her hair so the fact that she sat so nicely shocked the hell out of me and I love the way her hair turned out!  Such a cute bob!

Little Tony got a hair cut too and he did well - better than the last time at the place around the corner from our house.

 Here's a few more pictures of our time at Grandma and Papa's house...

I love taking sleeping baby pictures!!!

I'm really glad that the kids got to hang out with their other grandparents and got to also see their aunts and cousins.  They learned how to play hide and seek - well sort of.  They're good at hiding, but not staying hidden.  They would hide (in the same spot each time) and then as soon as we tried to find them, they would come out and start laughing.  It was hilarious to watch.  Overall we had a really great time and I was sad to leave but I did bring my mom back with me for the next week to help out with the kids while I went back to work. 

Update on the eye surgery:  It's been almost 2 1/2 weeks since Tony's surgery and has been doing well.  His surgeon has been pleased with the progress he's made and his restrictions have been lifted a tad.  He's able to lift about 20 lbs now.  He's still not able to lift any kids, but we'll get there.  I think his vision is getting better - although the other day he said he had 'triple' vision..... I just got the humor in that right now although he was serious - not joking, but I guess that can be common with cornea transplants.  Only time will tell.

This morning (March 14, 2014)

I witnessed a rare sweet encounter between Amelia and Tony this morning.  I have to write it down or I'll eventually forget it.  It actually started becauseTony slammed the door closed and Amelia's finger got pinched.  After assessing her finger and comforting her, I made Tony come over to her to apologize to her.  He got within a few inches from her face and said in his sweet little voice "Sorry, Mia".  Amelia then responded with "Will Tony kiss Mia's finger?" and he did.  He leaned over and gave her finger a little kiss.
Just after, he says "mommy look"  and he directed my attention to a scratch on his arm that's from the other day.  Amelia looks at me and says "Mia kiss Tony's boo-boo?"  I said, sure and she leaned over and gave his arm a little kiss.  It was so sweet.  Of course the only thing I wish is that I had a picture or video of this so I could watch it over and over again.  I thought about having them re-enact part of it to take a few pictures, but they most likely won't do it or be the same but I can always come back here and read it again and again.  I love knowing that as much as they get annoyed at each other, take things from each other or hit each other on a daily basis, they can be caring and sweet.  They're nice kids and that makes me happy.