triplets

Midnight journal entry of Darth Hulk

~ hunt2005 ~ 3 Comments

Editor’s note: This entry comes courtesy of Darth Hulk, otherwise known as Jacen, after his latest escapade to the living room well after bedtime hour has passed. I just realized, however, I’ve never explained Darth Hulk’s nickname, and will have to rectify that in the near future.

So tonight, I just didn’t feel like sleeping. Mommy tried to put us to bed early because of something known as a time change. Doesn’t she understand that what really happens is now we have an excuse to stay up late AND get up early for at least a week?

Anyhoo, so there I am playing in my bed and the pink one decides to wake up and start crying. Sweet! That means that mommy and daddy will coming running because she NEVER cries. I might as well join in on this fun! When mommy came in, she looked around the room, and I sprang to the edge of the cage they keep me in (they think it’s humane to call it a crib, but the only difference is they haven’t put a top on it. Little do they know they’ll need that soon) to say hi. With some tears down my face (and a giant grin that she came), she picked me up. This, of course, meant that the pink one got upset and was released as well. And the other sister was awoken by the commotion. Mommy is nicer than daddy. He would have left us all there. Mommy? She’s a sucker. She picked up all 70+ pounds of us and carried us to the couch.

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I don’t really get why the pink one was so sad at this point. I mean, really, daddy had a camera and mommy was holding us. What could be better?

Anyhoo, so there we are, and daddy sits down with us. He offers his lap. The purple one was still sleepy and not quite realizing the opportunity, and the pink one was upset. So I jumped at the chance. Literally. I tried to jump over my sisters. They didn’t like that too much. And then I got happy play time in daddy’s lap! He tickled me, and I made mommy laugh so much she cried! Then I realized that sissy (the pink one, not the purple one) was RIGHT there. I mean, like a centimeter away. So I started inching my leg towards her. Laughing. Daddy started a running commentary that was pretty accurate. “I’m not touching you! I’m not touching you! Hehehe, I’m kicking you, hehehe” She didn’t appreciate it too much. So he dragged me away. Then I tried to hit her with the remote. She didn’t like that either. Then I tried to head butt her. But not complete – just ALMOST touching her, not actually. I’m not too sure why I got in trouble for that one, I didn’t actually touch her! SO, I figured at that point since I was in trouble anyways, I might as well.

Then she farted at me. Daddy said she was imagining Monty Python as she did it, thinking,

Only mommy said it should be lingonberries instead of elderberries since we had Ikea earlier today. Daddy said that wasn’t accurate from the movie. I don’t really get what it is they’re talking about. They don’t show us the good movies yet.

At that point they decided I was laughing too much and it was time for bed.

Clearly I should work on holding back the humor just a bit next time, so I can get at least 10 minutes of respite from that cage crib… Till next time!

Darth Hulk  Jacen

Phones

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While it’s nice that we have phones to take pictures of things quickly, sometimes, you also don’t realize just how many photos you’ve taken on there that never get sorted in with the rest.

So here is a small assortment of what you may have missed.

Whack a baby:

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It’s like Whack-a-mole, only a baby and a laundry basket instead. This was all purely voluntary, for the record, there were no babies harmed in this process and they chose to do it to themselves.

And here is one of our more recent visits to the park. Thank goodness for fenced in playgrounds with gates that shut. And for playsets that aren’t too high up when they decide to try and head dive off.

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Such big kids! Jaina enjoys going down the slide herself. Unfortunately, she’s so light she just flies off the end! Jacen enjoys the slide, but doesn’t like having to go around and climb back up each time. And Valerie likes laughing at them while they do it.

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Getting caught up

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Have I told you lately how amazing almost-5-year-olds (don’t remind me… I have 2 more weeks to feign ignorance that his birthday is approaching) are?

No?

Well they can be hilarious. Seriously hilarious. First off, they are imaginative (sometimes to a fault). He can run around the house for hours playing “submersible” and fixing broken pipes and underwater walls, and driving around. With absolutely nothing in hand. No box, no tangible item at all. Well, except penguin and baby kitty cat that go everywhere.

Then, they are loving and emotional (often to a fault). But it means that kisses still heal boo-boos. Hugs fix hurt feelings. And no matter what happens, saying, “I’m so sorry” makes it all better.

And then you have the fun stuff. The smart stuff.

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Like when they are asked at school to draw a picture of a whale and then measure it with their feet, write how big it is, and their name. This is Aiden’s whale. His school is absolutely amazing. First off, they teach him the coolest things. And they’re kind, patient, and wonderful. But even more than that, they take pictures for us. Because if you ask a still-4-for-2-more-weeks year old what they did today? Nothing. or I played. or We went to the big playground. Nothing about whales and measuring and what the number of the day is.

You know what else is cool? When an I-swear-he’s-always-going-to-be-4 year old has three babies. Because then everyone in the world should have more than one baby at a time. When baby kitty cat had babies in her tummy yesterday, she had three of them. And when penguin laid eggs? Yup, three. And clearly anything less than that would be BOOOOOORRRRRING (according to him. That’s his favorite word.)

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With four kids in the house, it’s not always puppies and sunshine. Hardly ever do we get a picture of them all smiling and laughing. Not because it doesn’t happen, but because when they are all playing happily the last thing I want to do is make any noise or sound to distract from it, which includes going to get a camera.

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They’re learning. Most often from big brother. And most often it’s the annoying stuff (like shoving a stuffed penguin in your face and squealing). But they’re learning. And imitating. And growing older. Don’t remind me…

19 and 59 months…

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Wow, how did that happen?

One month from yesterday, big brother will turn 5. FIVE. FIIIIIVEEE. Holy goodness. It’s funny looking back – when he turned one, it was cute and adorable, and a celebration of fewer sleepless nights, more interaction, and the toddler years to come. When he turned two, it was a fun party, still mostly for the adults, but he actually enjoyed ripping paper off of toys. Turning 3 he started to get it – he knew he’d get cake, and that birthdays were fun. Four was his first “real” party – he looked forward to it for weeks, actually blew out his own candles, and fully enjoyed himself.

But 5??? 5 makes me realize he’s not a baby anymore. He’s a kid. A big kid. I mean, he’ll be in school here in just a few short months. And he asks profound questions (ranging from the simplistic “why” with a deeper meaning than just waiting for mommy to say “because” to full out requests for the mechanics of a given object or the biological/chemical process behind something – just not in such terms). He is smart (too smart), funny (or at least he thinks he’s funny), emotional (sometimes to a fault, but also has an abundance of love and care and empathy), kind (or at least not intentionally mean), and has fully developed his own personality. He doesn’t do things for the sake of being like mommy anymore. How did this happen?!?! We joke about where my baby boy went, and then joke that Aiden ate him.

And on top of that, I have three 19 month olds in the house. 18 months didn’t seem like a big deal. Sure, they could walk, and they started saying things. And they definitely had opinions (with the shaking of the head as “no” being their favorite). But they were cute and tiny back then. You know. 30 days ago. But now? You do something or say something and can see the look on their face while they contemplate whether or not they like that idea. They look at you and laugh. Jacen will drag a pot or pan down the hall and hide in the room, peaking out to see if you caught him. Jaina will run away from you laughing (cute in the yard, not so much in a parking lot). Valerie will run up for a hug and after 40 milliseconds then squirm and throw a fit until you put her down. They gauge reactions. They plan their temper tantrums. I can almost read their thoughts:
“If I throw myself on the ground, right here, will I hit anything? Are there sharp toys in the way? Yes, yes there are. SO Now I’m going to turn 20 degrees to the right and then do it. *throws self on floor* Hmm, is she looking? *stops crying and looks up to gauge reaction* No?? Why in the world is she not taking pity on me?!”

They sometimes team up. Sometimes gang up. Sometimes play separately. Sometimes want nothing to do with each other. Other times throw a fit if one isn’t where they’re supposed to be. They talk to each other, play with their brother, run from their brother. They’ve got this “toddler” thing figured out. Lord help me when they realize what the terrible twos are and how to most efficiently use it to their advantage.

The Happiest Place on Earth!

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So I’m finally getting around to the Disneyland post. Sorry for the delay! Honestly? It was an absolutely amazing 3 days. A bit crazy at times, and far different from the Disney experiences of teenage and college years, but worth every minute of it!

We made amazing time headed down there. Boy do car trips go better when you have toddlers who don’t require a bottle every 3 hours! There were a couple of monkey-related issues, but otherwise it was a issue-free trip. We might need to get one of those grabber things for Aiden so he can retrieve toys for us (like this) in the future!

We got there in such good time, in fact, that we arrived before the room was ready. You know, the big giant room where they had to move a small table so that we could fit three cribs. That room. It was pretty awesome, though, and now I’m kicking myself for not taking a picture. There was a curtain to seperate a lowered area of the room where we put the cribs, so we were actually able to put them down early and not have to sleep ourselves quite yet (though we did anyways).

We waited around a little bit, got into the room, unpacked, loaded up the stroller, and off we went!

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Once in the park we were off! One of our good friends from Washington was actually in town at the same time so we lucked out and got to spend a lot of the first two days with them, which was wonderful!

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We, of course, had to find the Star Wars area. Aiden said that he wanted to do that ride first, and daddy didn’t object. I think I saw a beam of pride as well. The Storm Troopers were out and found his R2D2 sweatshirt immediately and took to him!

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In past trips to theme parks, it’s always been ride after ride with nothing in between except waiting in line. With four kids? You start to enjoy more of the magic of it. The parades were a big hit (Jaina wanted to take off after them). And the kids really enjoyed the music and lights!

Of course, there were rides as well.

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There was actually only one ride that Aiden wasn’t able to do, but that was okay because the line was over 2 hours long for it anyways! We had a lot of fun enjoying the kids rides with short waits, and took turns taking him on rides while the other person hung out with the kids.

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Part of the fun going was that it was still decorated with all the holiday goodness. There were lights, decorations, and the cars in CarsLand were wearing Santa Hats. How much cooler could it get?!

Day 2 began nice and early and we had to rock the princess dresses and mickey tights. The first day we didn’t do too well with the napping in the stroller, but by day 2 even Jacen gave in and decided some sleep would be worth it!

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There were a lot more rides, some more time spent with our friends, and a lot of fun to be had that day. The benefits of the park hopper pass and Disneyland is that you can actually go back and forth between the parks all day, so Aiden got to ride the Buzz lightyear ride umpteen nine times while still enjoying our fastpasses in California Adventures.

Back track to how we told the kids about the trip – we had Aiden open up a package with some Mickey and Minnie shirts that a friend had made us. It wasn’t as effective as they make it look on TV (no jumping up and down, no screams, no real excitement at all actually until we explained it), but they were adorable for our last and final day there!

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We even managed to get a family picture or two, which is pretty unheard of. It was quite nice to have all of us in a photo!

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Overall, the magic of Disneyland still exists. It was there for the children in the music and rides and parades. For us in watching their faces light up as they tried to comprehend why the characters from that magic box at home that makes noise and shows movies were full size and standing in front of them. It was there for the newly engaged girl who had just been proposed to in front of the castle (in the group of people behind Aiden’s head in the picture). It’s so much better this way than just running ride to ride. While you are more frustrated by tourists and crazy people in the mobs of people at the park, it’s also refreshing to see all of the laughs and smiles from kids and adults alike. I mean, it’s the happiest place on earth, right? I can’t wait to take them back in a few years and see how much it (and they) have changed!

Two years ago (yesterday)

~ hunt2005 ~ 2 Comments

Life changed. And not in that simple way of “Oh, look, we got a puppy dog!” or “Oh wow, we got a new car!” But in that completely insanely way where you go from thinking, “WOW, we might have two kids!” to “Holy S&@*! How did that happen!?”

This is what we saw:

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And by “we,” I mean me, the doctor, two nurses, and Aiden.

Steven got to hear about it from the submarine captain.

In the Navy, there are people who will come and go in and out of your lives. There are the coworkers who you remember fondly. The shipmates who you are glad transferred quickly. The shipmates you’re glad to transfer away from. Some bosses you like, others not so much. Just like in the civilian world. But, just like any major news-worth event, you will always remember certain people for something that happened while they were on watch or held a certain position. I will never, ever, ever, forget our ombudsman and CO’s wife.

Normally, when one finds out they’re pregnant, the first person to find out (other than them), is a best girl friend or husband or mom/mother in law. In the Navy? The first phone call was to the Ombudsman. They are a wife’s best friend during a deployment – they have the contact info for the boat, they are your liason, your lifeline to your husband while he’s gone. When her phone went to voicemail, I left a hurried message that I’m pretty sure sounded like someone had died been shot been run over by a car gotten lost something really bad had happened. The next call? CO’s wife. For if there was ANYONE that the CO would call should they be able to, other than the ombudsman, I figured it’d be her. Or at the very least maybe she was with the Ombudsman and could have her call me. Or call the powers that be. Or ANYTHING.  In this case? They were my lifeline to make sure my husband found out quickly and didn’t have to read it in that night’s email (which likely would have been screened and blocked anyways).

Now? Thousands of miles separate us; weeks go without talking/face-booking/emailing. But never, ever, will I forget those ladies. Or January 7, 2011.

2012: A year in review

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2012 was a pretty darn good year, I’d say.

It featured a lot of stability, which was a blessing and nice surprise in the Navy life. It’s not often that we go an entire calendar year in the same house, with no orders or changes to current orders, with a husband who was home EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. of the year (except for a day or two at the Rose Bowl, but I’ll forgive that!).

The year started with us having a 3 year old and three 6 month olds. Big brother didn’t know his alphabet, couldn’t read numbers (though he could count pretty well), and was a little toddler still in his mama’s eyes. The babies? Well, they still stayed where we put them, and ate pureed food and drank from bottles that we mostly had to hold for them.

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One year later, we have three babies who walk, run, and climb their way around the house. A big brother who counts, sings, runs, plays, and is more of a boy than a baby now. We hear sweet little voices all day long as they talk to each other and us (or yell, or scream, or cry… but that’s a topic for another post). Big brother takes an active role in helping them (sometimes too active). We have children that I can refer to less and less as “babies” and more and more as toddlers and kids. It’s kind of scary!

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Last year I pledged to finally recommit to running in earnest. And I did. Sort of. I definitely accomplished more this year than ever before. My first triathlon. My first road race. My first of many post-babies half marathons. Faster. Stronger. But I was still a bit lackadaisical with it all. Why bother training for a half? I’ve done 6 before! Well, let me tell you, a triplet pregnancy later, and having been up with children in the night before, leads to a half marathon taking more effort than it has in the past. But we made it. Steven and I survived our first half together. And we can only do better next time!

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This year? We’re ready. Bring it on. January is starting out right with a trip to Disney (Remember, kids under 2 are free. When half of your family turns 2 in just a few short months, better go now while it costs half as much!). February brings big boy turning 5. FIVE. HOLY CRAP HE’S TURNING FIVE. That’s like… a whole hand. Seriously. How did that happen?!?! March brings the big 3-0 for a certain daddy in this house. April? Submarine birthday ball. I think I’ve already planned more for it than was done by March last year. Thank God for that! Olympic triathlon in May? Scheduled. June? Three little ones have a sweet little birthday. July? Our last school break before daddy finishes school here and we head on the road to who knows where. August? Kindergarten. Need I say more?? September? Graduation from NPS. Marathon in October? Hopefully, depending on orders and what happens (welcome to the real Navy again!). November? Hopefully we’ll be settled in a house that is bigger than the one we’re in, or at the very least isn’t any smaller. And December? Goodness, another year, another Christmas, another 365 days without deployments.

How can it get any better than that?!

Santa

~ hunt2005 ~ 2 Comments

Most every child dreams of Santa. For a four year old boy he ranks up there with cars, trucks, cookies, playgrounds, the Easter Bunny, and, well, anyone else who brings presents and candy. I’m pretty sure the only way Santa would be any more cooler would be if he came more than once per year.

For some reason, though, the concept of Santa is glorious, but the reality is quite shocking.

At two years old, big brother wouldn’t even cross the red velvet roped off line to see Santa. He’d smile and wave from a far, but if we tried to enter that line all sorts of hysterics and dramatics would ensue.

Last year at 3 we were able to sneak a photo in with Santa at the teddy bear tea here on base.

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This year we dragged all the kids out to see Santa at the mall. Aiden brought his letter that he wrote (and Santa was nice enough to read and then give back to mommy for her scrapbooks) and he was perfectly happy. Until we asked him to sit with Santa. Mommy was able to get him into the photo, but he wouldn’t go within arms reach of Santa. At first.

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Now, Santa is used to this. He was very calm and amazing throughout. The benefit to going to see him at 3pm on a Friday is there is no line. So Santa began to chit chat with us while we waited to choose our picture and pay. While doing so, he started juggling. And gave big brother another candy cane. Thus ingratiating himself forever as the coolest person on Earth. Much cooler than mommy who said only one candy cane per day! SO we were able to get Aiden to go near the couch. He still wouldn’t sit with him. Or high-five him. but he went closer.

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Hey, at least he’s smiling! Well, so after that we decided to try one last attempt at getting all four kids in the photo (without mommy preferably!). So we had Santa stand behind the couch. And put the kids on it.

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And there you have it. A snapshot of what three screaming 17 month olds can do when they really want to express their opinion on a subject.

How to photograph triplets+1…

~ hunt2005 ~ 4 Comments

I thought I’d lay out a tutorial of how to photograph triplets. I’m going to complicate matters a bit. I’m going to add in the following requirements (how ridiculously demanding of me!)

  1. Christmas tree.
  2. Clean clothing
  3. Semi-clean hands and faces
  4. All four sets of eyes looking at camera (smiles preferred, but not required)
  5. Assistants hands/arms/legs not shown

Now that we’ve laid out the ground rules, here is how to photograph triplets+1 in a few easy steps.

First, dress the children in matching/coordinating outfits. Should that not work, just try to have clean clothing on them and preferably not the pajamas they’ve worn for the last three days. *Photograph of this craziness not shown.*

Now think that your children are more patient and obedient than they really are and attempt to have them just stand in front of the tree.

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Realize, as they all keep running from the tree towards the camera, that this just isn’t going to work.

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Attempt to hang one by her feet in order to get all four children in the photo at once (daddy’s idea, not mine, but it sure was creative!)

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Give up on having all four kids in the picture, and attempt to just have three in order to get a semblance of smiling, happy faces, looking at the camera.

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Fail miserably at that as well.

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Finally distract them with a variety of toys and think this is the best you will get.

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Decide to just take a picture of one child at a time. And the only one that will cooperate is the big brother.

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Finally decide to pull out the high chairs where you will have three trapped and then just have to corral the big brother into standing still.

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Realize that getting him to stand still in the front is just not going to happen. Decide to trap him in the back with the threat that if he touches the tree he will go to bed. Use bribes incentives of “special treats” and chocolate to get this to be marginally effective.

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Yet again, realize it’s just not working. Take a snack break. Give the children some food, and regroup. Go through photos and try to figure out what worked and what didn’t. Then realize that you didn’t try using a jingly, funny, penguin with a rattle in it as an attention getter. DUH! What WERE you thinking?! Mommy’s monkey sounds and funny raspberry noises just don’t cut it anymore.

And there you have it. Success. Thank goodness Christmas is only once per year!

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