She's lucky she's cute...

I have at least 4 separate blogs in the works at the moment, but just so everyone does not feel neglected (and annoyed with my blog absenteeism)I thought I'd upload a couple of random photos from the past few days...This first set pretty much speaks for itself. See my little monkey in her cute little monkey jammies? See her daddy on the other side? She really wanted to go see her daddy, but he wasn't rescuing her like she'd hoped. So...she took matters into her own grubby hands.....

She went for it "All her Bu-self!" Like I said....
She's lucky she's cute.

Now, Mr. Ethan on the other hand wouldn't DREAM of climbing the safety gate. (Well, he might dream about it, but remember, this is my "late blooming crawler". He can do it. He just...chooses not to.... fairly often. However, as you can see, he was practicing...
And then, he said, "Forget crawling!! I'm gonna be in the ARMY like my daddy!" I better start practicing for boot camp.."
(Seriously! Look at that form!)
And then there's my first born...for once, he was as innocent as he looks! No trouble, no stealing, no climbing, just smiling.

And then there were two loves of my life wearing diapers! How cute are these buns? Can you tell whose who from behind???

Ethan on the left, Colton on the right. Hunter is probably hanging off the gate behind them.

It's the 4th Anniversary of....

My 29th Birthday!

(hee hee...in other words, I am 33 today!)

So what do you do when you're 33...you reflect on your life and everything that has lead up to this day. So let me tell you my friends, I am grateful.

My life is not perfect...I wouldn't want it to be.

My husband makes me crazy at times...and I'm still head over heels in love with him.

My house is not as big as I'd like it to be...but it's just right for my family.

My dog barks loudly and often wakes up my 3 sleeping children...but, she lets them pull her fur, climb on her, she licks their messy faces and oh how she loves her babies.

My car is a disaster...but it is a safe ride for all of us.

The family I grew up with is very different now...but I still have parents who love me dearly.

I don't make as much money as I'd like...but I have a job, working with wonderful people and we are able to support our family.

My house is usually a mess...but the memories we make while that happens are totally worth it!

Frankly, my list could go on and on...there are so many things I am grateful for at my young, young, super young age of 33 :) So if you want to know what I'm most thankful for, you'll have to look in my mirror. It's.....

(be glad I didn't use the bathroom mirror speckled with toothpaste spatter and grubby handprints...)

I really am grateful for all of you. Whether you are my husband, my family, friends, coworkers, or even people I don't know personally. You support me, encourage me, laugh at me, inspire me, you ask about my children, you come play with my children, you read my blog and make me want to keep writing. Being 33 is not so bad...Thank you. All of you.

And now, the best part about being 33? Exactly one year and one month ago, I became a mother to the most hysterical, loveable, adventurous triplets ever, after a long, hard fought battle with infertility. I am blessed. No matter how crappy the day, no matter how smelly the puke or how gross the poop, I get to be "the mommy" to these 3 little cherubs for the rest of my days. Wow.

(since I know you're wondering, let me tell you how he earned this name and why he looks like he tangled with a barbed wire fence... In short, my mom has a cat. If you look fast, you might mistake him for a mountain lion. He's a BIG, FAT cat. He's darn loveable, and very cuddly. But....he is a cat. He doesn't like small children crawling on top of him, trying to poke his eyes out or pull his whiskers. And really, can you blame him? Unfortunately, Colton is far too curious to let the mountain lion scare him, so...he persistently tries to "pet the kitty", and....the kitty tries to scratch the living crap out of Colton. Oops.) I'd like to say he'll learn his lesson, but so far, not so much. It was probably an hour after being scratched, he was right there in Max's face, AGAIN! Oh well.

If you're wondering whether or not we're going to get rid of the cat, the answer is NO WAY! (So don't bother telling me how dangerous cats are with children. We have two of our own anyway, and they'll just have to learn to coexist. ) He's a cat. Colton's a kid. This is the first of what I presume will be MANY accidents, broken bones, scrapes, sprains, etc. And I'm way too laid back to let THIS freak me out! So the kitty is safe. Colton is safe.

Everybody is happy.

Life Is Good.

And it's my birthday! Happy Birthday to me!

Someone get the Lysol, STAT!!

I'll be honest, I'm not really even sure where to begin this blog entry. So I'll go with what I'm comfortable with....Facebook. Let's just say that if I were on Facebook right now, my status would likely say:

"Ami Daniels Bunch is surrounded by puke. "

And that would not be an exaggeration. In the slightest. And I have witnesses. Those who are my facebook friends saw my post a few days ago which read...

So, Hunter just threw up. Then Piper (the dog) ate her throw up. I think I would like to throw up now. :)

Well, that status ignited a fury of hilarious responses, which is about the only reason I've decided to take this germy topic one step further... People love to read about misery... particularly when it's not their own. And what is it they always say? Misery loves company?? Well, there you go! Hello, company!

As my facebook status Thursday indicated, my poor little Hunter Bug threw up. On the carpet in the living room. Before I had a chance to clean it, Piper (the dog) had the whole mess taken care of....(GAG!!) Anyway, my little peanut's evening continued with diarrhea, but no more throw up. I posted about how I hoped the boys would not get what she got, particularly since Colton has surgery coming up in a few weeks. Yeah, well.....no such luck.

I already know that my words won't be able to do this ordeal a justice, but it's at least worth a try. Keep reading, it'll be fun!

So, Friday, I went to work, put in a full day instead of a half day, which made me even more excited to see my Bunchkins! As I drove up, I pulled into the garage, got the mail, then walked into the house and into the living room, where all 3 babies were sitting, looking up at me, smiling!

Because it had been my little Hunter Bug who'd been sick, I picked her up first and gave her lots of hugs and kisses. Then in my usual fashion, I set her down and picked up a second baby, Ethan. And this is where the story gets interesting. I picked him and gave him hugs and kisses and then noticed his face looking somewhat distressed. And that's when it happened. He just started heaving. All. Over. Me. He could not stop throwing up. This is the first time he's ever thrown up like this so I was just worried about scared he probably was. Like a good mother (or maybe a stupid one) I continued to let him puke all both of us so that I could pat his back and wipe his face. (And of course, yell to Brian to get the camera, as all good blogging mothers would do!) WARNING: The following images may not be suitable for those with weak stomachs.....That's right. That's baby puke all over us. Awesome! And for the record, I'd like to make note that this is outfit #1.

Well, as if a baby throwing up all over the place isn't problematic enough, keep in mind I have 2 others who want to crawl all over me! As much as it broke my heart to push them away, I didn't want them covered in their brother's throw-up so, I pushed them away. And thus began the crying. Eventually, I yelled for Brian to put the other 2 in the playroom to keep them away while I cleaned up Ethan and myself.

So there's Ethan and I in the bathroom, both stripping off our shirts (I know, I know, contain your excitement), Brian is rinsing out our clothing and the other 2 are in the playroom crying, wondering why they got shut in there in such a hurry.

Once Ethan was clean enough (meaning he's no longer covered in chunks) and I have on outfit #2, I hold him and go try to console the other 2, knowing my dad is on his way over to visit any time now. So on the way to the playroom, holding Ethan, I peek in and see this:

And I hear this...."ding-dong". So let's recap. I'm holding Ethan, the other 2 are crying, I walk into the playroom to see Colton now throwing up (yes that's his pile of throw-up on the floor and on the alligator) and then I hear the door bell. WHAT TIMING! So I quickly set Ethan down in the playroom, pick up Colton, (Hunter is still screaming), we answer the door and pretty much tell my dad to go in the playroom and make sure Hunter and Ethan don't crawl into the pile of puke so that I can clean up Colton and grab some paper towels to clean up the next mess.

So now, Ethan is momentarily clean, Colton is momentarily clean, I've barely said hello to my dad who is trying to console Hunter Bug who is essentially having a temper tantrum, probably because she is not used to this fury of excitement and chaos and is wondering what happened to "calm mommy." Well, she eventually calms down, and I eventually say hello to my dad while I scrub the carpet and wipe down the floor.

Breathe.....

And then, it begins again. We notice Colton's face showing those telltale signs of "Watch out, I'm gonna puke" and before either of us can grab the paper towels, he's throwing up again and trying to crawl into my lap. (Outfit #2 now covered in puke). Total vomit count? 3. Oh...wait, not so fast...There goes Ethan again. The count has risen to 4. So now we're trying to clean him up again, quickly noting that there just doesn't seem to be enough paper towels in this house for all these messes, and I proceed to put on Outfit #3. (As I reread this post myself just now, I want to point out that I am really failing to "paint a picture" of the frantic pace of all this. This is all happening in about 10 minutes time...)

My poor Dad. He knew Hunter had been sick when he asked if he could come over. But I'm pretty sure there was no part of him that imagined he'd be catching his grandsons' puke at such a furious pace.

People ask constantly if it is hard having triplets, and often, my honest answer is, "it's not that bad." Because it isn't. Well today, I felt the pressure of having three babies and the pain of not being able to console them properly simply because we kept having this back and forth throwing up escapade. So there were my two boys crying because throwing up is miserable and sad that mommy is not holding them... :(

At some point, I think I felt like we were all suffocating in the playroom with the puke everywhere, paper towels all over the place, and just general yuckiness surrounding us...So, we moved into the living room...where the nastiness continued. Frankly, I'd lost count at some point. All I know is that there was this back and forth and often simultaneous throwing up, crying, cleaning, consoling going on. All the while, little Miss Hunter is kind of playing by herself (frankly, she was probably enjoying that fact that her 2 brothers were too sick to steal her toys.)

And then, Aunt Mary showed up. Another innocent bystander walking into our warzone. I think by the time she got there, the boys had thrown up a combined 11 times. And don't be fooled into thinking she got it out of it. As the next picture will show, she got initiated almost immediately as Colton started again.

My poor, poor babies.

We were cleaning up throw up with anything that was nearby...baby blankets, burp cloths, clothes, paper towels, you name it.

Again, I will say that aside from surgery at 3 months old, this was probably the hardest thing I've had to juggle as a mother of triplets. I wanted so badly to hold them both and console them, but the regularity of their puking was just too much. So while I held one, I was looking over at the other's pleading eyes, despite being loved on by either Grampa Sam or Aunt Mary.

Momma and Colton...

Look again. Momma and Ethan.

Grampa and Colton

Well, the evening continued at pretty much this same pace. Hunter was a champion, playing by herself allowing me to care for her brothers. Later, after at least 13 bouts of puking, we decided some fresh air might do us all good, so dad drove them around the backyard in their train.

And it was right about then that I felt that telltale twitch in my stomach like I was about to join my boys...

And I did. I succumbed to the "Bunchkin Bug" and was puking the rest of the night. As were they. As if caring for three babies, 2 of whom are sick wasn't hard enough, having to continue taking care of them, with Brian's help was just plain awful. But, if there's one thing I've learned about parenthood, it's that life can't just stop because you have babies. They still need to have diapers changed, pajamas put on, and they still need to eat. ( very minimally, of course).

So we struggled through the rest of the evening, got everyone changed and ready for bed, and when we thought the throwing up had finally ceased, we put them to bed in their cribs and kissed them good night. Then I laid myself out on one of the couches downstairs, Brian plunked himself on the other one and we kinda just hung out there for the next few hours, sporadically pulling myself up to go throw up again (my total count was 6, I believe...)

At 1:00 in the morning, I decided to get myself into my bed. So I woke Brian off the other couch and we took ourselves upstairs. But, like I always do, before I got into bed, I opened the door to the nursery to check on my babies one more time, and I nearly fell over. It was as though someone punched me in the gut, the odor coming from that room was seriously that foul. I almost did not want to take a breath, but I needed to know which baby (or babies it was coming from). And please keep in mind that my stomach is already unsettled from having been throwing up myself...

So first stop was filling up the humidifier and getting that running, hoping against hope that it would help refresh the air somehow. Next stop, Colton's crib. By the dim light of the night-light, I feel around in his crib and sure enough, I can feel a fairly large area that is dried and crusted, but was clearly throw-up. AWESOME. Because I really didn't want to wake him up, rather than totally remove his sheet, I instead cover the crib with blankets tucked into the sides to sort of "act" as a new sheet. It wasn't perfect, but again, it's now 1:30 am and I am wiped out. So I figured that was where the stench was coming from, but I was rather bummed when the stench had gotten no less pungent. Which told me there was another culprit. Next stop, Ethan's crib.

Again, I feel around in near darkness and I feel nothing. Whew.

Third stop? Hunter's crib. I lean over and POW! Found it. Except it was not throw-up, it was diarrhea and it was BAD. All over her jammies, all over her sheets. This one, I could simply "cover up." So, out of her crib she comes. Into the hallway, where I strip her naked, clean her up, put on a fresh diaper, and clean jammies. Then I need to strip her sheet off her bed and put on a new one. At this point (1:45 am) she is wide awake and standing, screaming in her crib.

By some miracle, the boys stayed asleep and she gave up after about 10 minutes. Thank God. Finally, I put myself to bed.

And about 15 minutes later, I hear it. Brian is in the bathroom, throwing up. Dear GOD!! Why us??? So he dealt with his bug on and off through the night. I awoke the next morning at about 7:00 wanting nothing to more than to stay asleep. But all I could think about was the nasty messes downstairs and I didn't want my entire sick family to wake up to a dirty, germy house. So I got up, opened all the windows, started vacuuming, mopping, wiping down surfaces, toys, counters, spraying lysol on everything, doing a load of laundry, and pretty much cleaning everything in sight.

The babies awoke at about 9:15...and they were lethargic from their day and night of throw up and diarrhea. It was seriously all they could do to lift their little heads off the carpet.

Hunter Bug

Colton

Ethan Bear

So the good news is that we spent the whole next day throw-up free (except for Brian who remained down and out for the day.) THANK GOD for a 24 hour bug. This is me and 2 of my babies in the playroom....I was lying on their bean bag and they kept crawling over to me and snuggling in....clearly happy to be feeling better. (And yes, that is me, unshowered and having been puked on for 24 hours....nasty)

So a whole day passed, and no one except Brian threw up on Saturday. Sunday, (today) came and almost went. I got a call from both my sister and my dad saying that they had both been throwing up all night and all morning. THIS STUPID BUG SPARED NO ONE!!! I feel really, really, really badly that everyone got sick from our house and our children.

And I felt even worse Sunday night, after I'd been home all day alone with the babies when Hunter started throwing up, followed shortly by Ethan once again. Wow. All I can say is Wow. Separately, I bathed Hunter and Ethan, started disinfecting as fast I could possibly go, and prayed hard that Colton was spared...

Thank God, Brian came home from work at about 8:00 and was able to help me with the kiddos. So for now, they're all asleep. And you can bet your sweet you-know-what that when I go to bed tonight, and open their door, I will be PRAYING that no one has gotten sick.

But I've got clean sheets and new jammies ready to go. Just...in...case...

Here's to a healthy tomorrow.

****Just a side note. It's as if this is the blog that never ends...moments before I hit "publish", Ethan has just thrown up in his crib...So I'm back after stripping yet another set of sheets, and making up a new set, and by god, I'm hitting publish now, and I'm not even going to tell you if anyone else throws up.

But I am putting ANOTHER clean sheet and another set of jammies outside their door....just...in....case... Again.

But she's not a BRAT

They're bA-aaack! That's right, I'm talking about the sickly germs. Damn them. I hate when the kids are sick. So far only Hunter has succumbed, but I know the other two will get it. It's unavoidable. I'm really going to try to keep the boys healthy though, particularly because Colton is having surgery in less than 3 weeks which would have to be rescheduled if he gets sick So cross your fingers that Colton doesn't get sick.

She's been throwing up and has diarreah and then throws up a little more. Then there's more watery diarreah...about 5 minutes after she's pooed, we change her diaper. About 5 minutes after that, she poos again. Awesome. Poor little squirt. So we're doing the BRAT diet: Bananas, Rice,Applesauce and Toast. That will hopefully help!

So here's the thing- if you don't think it should count as a blog, that's fine. I'll concede this months Nablopomo challenge. But I can't keep my eyes open to finish this blog. Brian has had to wake me up on the couch 3 times. So I give up. This is all I can manage for the moment. I'm sorry!! Working, cleaning, caring for 3 munchkins.=tttb. (too tired to blog).

Cross your gingers for a 24 hour bug...good night....

I'll update tjo

You know you're a mom of triplets when...

Okay, so I'm piggybacking off my friend Nicole's blog, who piggybacked off ArizonaMamma's blog, but I'm adding my own twist. The idea is to recognize those things we say and do that only a mother could say or do! But I'll add the triplet twist! So here goes:

You know you're a mother of triplets when....

1. You are totally unfazed by crying. You don't even hear it anymore.

2. You get SO excited when things are sold in packs of 3! (Bibs, plates, socks, Gerber Puffs, etc.)

3. You no longer eat warm meals at restaurants because by the time you've cut up a piece of French Toast and divided it into 3 equal portions, your own meal is surely cold.

4. You choose restaurants to take the kids to, NOT based on what type of food they serve, how great the service is, or even how close it is. The only important criteria is that they have 3 highchairs.

5. It is normal for your grocery list to include 24 yogurts, 100 bottle liners and 4 canisters of gerber puffs. Always.

6. The gorgeous COACH purse your friends got you for your birthday doubles as a diaper bag, and is in fact is 2/3 diapers & wipes and 1/3 your wallet and cellphone.

7. You can forever on, only drive one friend or family member around at a time because your entire backseat is occupied by carseats.

8. There are more baby bottles in your cupboard than drinking glasses.

9. You are constantly washing THEIR laundry so you've resorted to just throwing in one or two of your own items with theirs.

10. You hear that first giggle in the morning, and you open the door to the nursery and are immediately greeted by not just 1, not even 2, but 3 smiling faces standing in their cribs reaching for you! (I threw that one in for the gratuitous "awwws". )

There! So that's my first volume of "You know you're a mother of triplets when..." stay tuned for more! And look at me! Halfway done with the month of blogs!

Peek-A-Boo!

I'm not gonna lie. I am exhausted tonight. My kitchen is, once again, a disaster and I could care less at the moment. (Actually that's not true, it's bothering me like you wouldn't believe, but I'm just too tired to deal with it right now).

Which also means I'm really too tired to do a lengthy blog....I'm sorry. We had a busy, productive day and now, it's time for the day to be over. 2 out of 3 babies are sleeping. 1, namely Ethan is still fightin' it at 10:15 pm...

So I thought I would share with you how much fun it is to have 3 babies. You thought peekaboo was fun with one baby? Try three! So funny! I'd love for some child development specialist to explain to me just why this game is SO funny, every time!!

Live and Learn at the Air Show

One of the perks of living where we live is that we are RIGHT next to Davis Monthan Air Force Base, which means....you get to see cool jets and planes and helicopters flying overhead ALL the TIME! (And your husband will try to teach you what each one is, and you'll remember 40% of what he tells you.)

But then, every few years they host an air show, which, if you like planes, jets and helicopters (and the heat), then you'd LOVE! So we try to make a point of going whenever it is "the year." This year, it happened to fall the day after the babies' first birthday party, so my friend Jen and her husband Nathan were at our house and decided to join us!

In years past, going to the air show has been such an easy decision and an easy plan to execute. Two adults involved. That's easy. Bringing three babies and a pregnant girl takes a bit more planning....and we may have made a few mistakes, hence the title of this post. You live and learn right? So please, peruse our pictures and I'll point out all our shortcomings and stupidities. It'll be fun.

Mistake Number 1: Even though you may have thought I was bringing it, don't assume that I am bringing the big bottle of sunscreen with me. Even if I said I was going to. Have you seen my diaper bag/purse? Aint much else fitting in it! And have you seen my family? So many other things I was thinking about...Luckily, I always carry trial sized baby sunscreens in my purse, so there we all were smearing little dabs of sunscreen. This was one time in my life that I was willing to forego being completely lathered myself, so that I could be sure each of the babies were covered in it from ear tips to toes. I was SO afraid of them getting burnt.

(Jen and Hunter) see those little kneecaps? I was seriously dousing her in sunscreen!

Mistake Number 2: When you're taking your 3 babies to a place where shade almost doesn't exist and the heat is at it's best, take care to ENSURE that when you put the stroller in the car, that both of the shades go with it. In this case...that did not so much happen. So we had the built in back shade, but the front one was resting comfortably in our garage. (I owned the sunscreen screw up, Brian owned this one.) So he and Nathan went into survival mode and had the presence of mind to take the shade off the carseat and try to somehow rig it to fit the stroller. It took a few tries, but I'll be honest, once he figured it out, it worked like a charm!

My boys.

In case I was the one taking pictures all day, I wanted to be sure everyone would remember that I was also present for this occasion!

Brian and his boys and Nathan in the background!

Jen (and baby Ava) and Nathan

Mistake Number 3: When you are putting on sunscreen, do not touch the lens of your camera. All of your pictures will come out blurry. Duh. So don't go adjusting your eyes, it's not you. There is a selection of pictures here that rock with blurriness! My bad...

This would've been a cool picture...of my family in front of the DPS helicopter

Colton and DPS Paramedic Jeff Lampard

Mistake Number 4: Don't take your kids to the air show at their nap time. They'll miss the show. Poor sleepy Hunter girl...we were barely through the gates and she was asleep!

Having lunch at a concrete picnic

At this point, we're pretty much just killing time until the Thunderbirds Show

My babies under the wing of a jet

Colton and Me

The Mikkelson/Kelley Clan! As sure as the sun will shine and the heat will be hot, you can bet this group will be at the Air Show too! We see them every year!

Exploring the concrete. In her pretty dress. Awesome.

Mistake Number 5: When you want to bring your babies to an air show. Don't. It's loud and scary and really loud and really scary. The entire Thunderbird Show, one of the four of us was holding close a VERY scared Ethan or Hunter, plugging ears so they wouldn't freak out every time a jet flew over. Poor, poor babies. I feel terrible.

Nathan gazing at the Thunderbirds

This is me trying to distract Ethan from the fact that the ground is vibrating and his ears are booming...didn't work.

And then there was Colton. The kid takes after his father. He SLEPT through almost all of the Thunderbird's show. (See them in the air? See Colton in the stroller? Go figure.)

This is a consolation party. Crying, shaking babies being held by big people.

Colton actually enjoyed the show. Especially because we served Puffs during it...

Ethan however. wanted no part of it.

She was shaking and crying so badly that I decided to just hold her as we walked the LONG way out to the parking lot. Before long, she was SOUND asleep!

Going home...look at those tired faces.

As a special treat we saw these 3 guys wearing THUNDERBIRDS uniforms at the Olive Garden the next day. They were kind enough to take photos with the babies. They're not pilots but are somehow part of the crew.

And that's all. Did you live and learn?