Fine. I take it back.

It was as though the universe was mad at me today for stating so matter-of-factly yesterday that Ethan usually fights with Hunter. (I mean, they DO, but still.) Ever since I picked them up from my mom's today, they have gotten along like little saint-like people. I recorded some conversations between the two of them in car that were so flippin hilarious and so ANYTHING but fighting. 

Then I came home and tried to find some inspiration for this blog (tonight is the first night, in 20 nights by the way, that I was actually kind of stumped for material.) So I perused old photos and landed on these little numbers that I never shared. Sorry for the poor quality. I recall this day vividly. Looking out into the backyard from the window inside, seeing these two lovin' on each other, I grabbed the camera and just started clicking. (Failing to check on ANY settings. Oops.) Anyhoo, I black and whited them because it looks a smidge better than the original.  :) 

Go ahead and say what you're thinking..."Awww." 

 I think she's saying, "Oh Ethan, I'm your big sister. You should do whatever I say."

 "Oh Hunter, I love you. Thanks for being born first so I could be the baby." 

 "Oh! No problem buddy."

 "Let's kiss!" 

And now I'll leave with you with this video of Hunter. (I know this month's blogs have been very Hunter heavy, but it's because she so much more vocal right now. I know the boys time will come.) 

Anyhoo, remember how I said she sings? A lot? Well she also has a flippin amazing memory. My mom plays kid songs in her car every day and apparently, Hunter pays attention to all the words! Tonight, I overhead her singing "Home on the Range." Scroll down and turn the music player off, then go ahead and take a listen.  It's pretty darn good! 

Finally, I'd like to point out how funny I think it is that Colton is referring to Hunter tonight as 

"Hunter Princess." You know, cuz she's wearing her princess dress. Silly boy. 

ABCs of Ethan

A- Always wants to be held when he wakes up and wants to be carried down the stairs. Answers my cellphone, OFTEN, unbeknownst to me and talks with whomever is on the other line  sometimes several minutes. Sometimes he even answers when it's his teacher calling. Awesome. He has also been known to MAKE calls. He seems to enjoy talking to my friend Nicole most frequently.

B- Was Baby B the whole pregnancy, but managed to wait patiently on their birthday so that he could always be 'the Baby', the youngest...Thus, he's Baby C. , Born at 11:42 am on March 23. "Bear" is his nickname.... as in Ethan Bear.

C- Cuddle bug. Classic youngest child.

D- Does everything 'on his own time schedule.' He hit all his milestones as a baby when HE was ready, not when the books said he should be ready. At our first preschool parent conferences, Mrs. Moten showed me the kids drawings of a person (they'd been working on drawing circles.) Hunter's was quite detailed, Colton's was not too shabby either, Ethan's was blank.  :) "He didn't feel like drawing that day." Story of my life, I told her.

E- Eyelashes to die for. Energy of a puppy.

F- Fruit Hater. Seriously. I can get him to eat Apples, Bananas and Grapes. THAT'S IT. No strawberries, no peaches, no mandarin oranges, no raspberries, no blackberries, no watermelon, etc.

G- Gets frustrated with our dog, Piper, (Or Paper, as he still calls her) most easily of the three. 95% of the time he's great with her, but there's that little 5% leftover in which I find him antagonizing her...pulling her tail, poking her on the back or butt, etc.....one of these days he's gonna learn what that low growl means....So far, he's been lucky. Piper is THE most tolerant dog you can imagine.

H- Has a teeny, tiny lisp that I find so cute. "Dat tho cool?" he'll ask. (That's so cool?) One of my favorite Ethanisms is his identification of Silly Buses. (City Buses). He passed that one on to Colton. Hates having his photo taken. Moreso he hates having group photos taken. See Kansas City, MO for the beginnings of this aversion. His stubbornness literally shines on these occasions. Dare I say he's getting 'better', but is faaaaaaaaar from great. :) Right Meridy?

I- "I sit wis you?", "I sowwy.", "I hold you?" (which means, will you hold me?)

J- Just wants you to do things for him. Even though he can do them himself. (True baby, isn't he?) Like put on his own underwear, put him into the bathtub, carry him down the stairs, or to the car, etc. As soon as I get frustrated I fast forward my life 10 years and remember that soon enough he won't WANT me to do any of those things for him. And so, I oblige.  :) Happily.

K- Knew all his letters and letter sounds first. Not even ashamed to admit that he learned them from the Meet the Letters and Leap Frog Videos. He's the first to call out, "Mommy, what you spy?" when we go shopping at Target. (My newest strategy to keep kids from fighting is to play 'I spy.' As in "I spy a number 13. Or I spy a letter that says /m/. " He LOVES to play this. He also likes to be the Spy-er.

L- Love. He is a constant professor of it. For people, for TV shows, for places. "I love my mommy" he says as he wraps his little arms around me in the morning. Also the LEAST crafty of the three. He will do crafts, but doesn't typically CHOOSE crafts.  Left...he sleeps on the left side of the room because his little crib was on the left side in  the NICU.

M- Mama's Boy. There's no other way around it. It's the baby in him that just wants his mommy . Manners. He's got great manners when he's not ready to put daggers in someone's eyes. 'Thank you', 'No thank you', 'Pwease', 'I sowwy.' VERY common phrases for this little one. I especially love it when I ask him to put his dirty clothes in the laundry basket. "Um, no thank you," he says. Well at least he's polite.  :)

N- Night Owl. Dude can stay awake in his bed for hours after his brother and sister have fallen asleep. Sometimes he's disruptive and makes a ton of noise and other times, he just lay there watching the ceiling or playing quietly with a toy.

O- Outside. He LOVE, LOVE, LOVES to play outside. Loves tricycles, trampolines, sandboxes, etc.

P- Pillow. I often find him curled up like a little roly poly bug on his pillow. So stinking cute.

Q- Quiet only when he's asleep.  :) Or on the computer.

R- Recently started to be afraid of things. He was terrified of the front window the entire month of October because of the spider webs I had hanging in it. He would cry out to me in a total panic if I left the room and went upstairs and he was downstairs alone. He often asks me if it's scary in his room. (Obviously, I tell him it's not.)  :)

S- Stubborn. Man. This kid wants what he wants, when he wants it. If there's a tantrum to be had, it's usually this one. He plays incredibly well when there are two kids involved. The minute there are three of them, the fights begin. (As you might imagine, this is no bueno considering he's a TRIPLET!)

T- Techno Toddler. This kid knows technology better than most adults I know. iPhones, iPads, kindles, computers. He is seriously amazing. He can remember and or figure out how to play just about any game he can find.

U-Usually fights with Hunter. The theory 'Opposites attract' explains why he and Colton get along much better than he and Hunter. Those two (E and H) are like two feisty peas in a firecracker pod. They can brawl like nobody's business!!

 Case in point. 

V- Voice...Ethan (when he's not screaming) has the sweetest, softest, raspiest little voice ever.

W- Watches for airplanes, jets and helicopters with true vigilance. He gets SO excited when he sees or even hears planes overhead. Again, thank God we live in an air force flight path! He also watches for the moon constantly! I see a flight career in his future.

X- Has become eXtremely territorial lately. He tries to lay claim to most anything. Dats MY mommy. My grammy. My Kitchen. Dats MINE! Ay-yi-yi....Nor does he seem interested when I explain that I'm Hunter's mommy too, and Colton's mommy too.. Somedays I'm pretty sure he thinks I'm just teasing him. Oh contrare my little one.

Y- Younger than Colton by 2 minutes and younger than Hunter by 1 minute. Born at 11:40 (C), 11:41(H), and 11:42(E).   Says "Yep" in his sweet little voice quite often. I might ask, do you want to go outside? "Yep. Yep I do, mommy."

Z- Still loves BuZZ and Woody, AND Mater, and McQueen AND McMissile....

Safety First!

I mentioned a couple posts ago how much Hunter loves to be wherever her daddy is....this weekend was no exception.  Brian has been working feverishly on his trailer in the back yard. By 'working,' I mean cutting, welding, painting, etc. It needs to be ready in time for Hunting, you know. 

Good thing he had two helpers! (Actually, he did have three, but Colton somehow stepped out of this photo op. )

Pretty confident when I say the kids could've cared less about the actual 'work', they were simply thrilled to be wearing their Safety Equipment! (Good thing Dad keeps eight thousand pairs of ear protectors around here.) 

 Watching from the safety of the nearby chair. 

 And this little monster, fresh from the tub made me think of a new funny 'Colton-ism' that has been heard quite frequently lately....

As you might imagine, when they get out of the tub, I often say something like, "Look at you! All nice and clean and soaking wet!" 

I NOW realize that he has overgeneralized what is, in fact, proper usage of this phrase. For instance, he can often be heard proclaiming something to the effect of: 

Mommy, I'm 'soaking' tired! 

or 

I'm 'soaking' hungry!

or  better yet

Mom? I'm 'soaking' sad. 

Man, kids say the funniest stuff. I wish I could keep them small forever. 

Separation Anxiety

There is no hiding it. Starting preschool was a huge deal for me as a mom. I often think back to that first day of school and get all anxious again. That then causes me to think about having to leave them in the NICU which makes me get all "reminiscey." Which then leads me to recall the ridiculous emotions I felt when we were able to bring Ethan and Hunter home together, but had to leave  Colton behind for another week. Almost 4 years later. I can still feel the suffocating lump that camped out in my throat that entire week.

Obviously, there are plenty of occasions when the kids are separated and do things individually. (When one of them goes shopping or runs an errand with one of us, for instance.) And those moments cause me no angst whatsoever. Probably because it's by choice...

There is no denying however, the comfort I get in knowing that they have each other. Always.

It made letting them 'cry it out' as infants easy because we never had that guilt that comes with imagining your child alone in a dark room, screaming for someone to come and love on them.

It makes leaving them with a babysitter easier because they have each other.

It made the church daycare easier because they were together.

And it sure as heckfire made preschool survivable because I knew that in a sea of little faces, there would always be at least 2 familiar ones for each of my 'babies.'

It's a blessing, but maybe a crutch as well.

Over my Fall Break, my friend Heather and I decided to send our kids to a Harvest Day at Church. (A drop off type event). There was to be crafts, snacks, a petting zoo, etc. Sounded like fun. As it drew closer though, I started having anxiety again about dropping them off at a place that is not familiar to them. (I mean come on, I JUST got used to preschool!) But once again, I rationalized the situation by reminding myself that they would be together. That, and it was only 3 hours.

So we got dressed, (in our matching '3' shirts). Again, this is a comfort thing for me, not them. In my irrational mind, I think it will help others remember to 'keep them together' or at least realize why maybe they want to be near one another, etc. (My rational self knows that they probably don't even care and others may not even notice.)

So as we drove to the church, my anxieties were realized when Ethan started getting nervous too, reminding me every few miles that 'we not going to school today, mommy.' "I know, buddy. We're going to a fun day with pumpkins and animals!" (Weak attempts to make it sound super fun.)

 We parked and got out and I hoped that Ethan would magically be at ease. (He was not.) Wanting to be held as we walked the distance to the check in area, his anxiety had not lessened one bit. I approached the table, surrounded by TONS of people and signed them all in. The woman checking us in said, "Okay, let me write down where they go."

"Um, okay" I think to myself, pretty sure I could've just remembered one number. But hey, it IS a big church, so I figure it's just a helpful thing they do. So I watch her scribble a bunch of stuff on a little piece of paper and then she says, "Okay, Colton & Hunter go to room 4 and Ethan goes to room 5."

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME.

I don't immediately show this woman my panic, but I calmly say to her, "I'm sorry, but is there any way they can please be together?" 

She responds, "Well, it's going to be kind of difficult right now. Why don't you just check them into their assigned rooms and then once everyone's here, we'll see if we can switch him."  (I know that this will not happen because no will care as much as I do to remember to actually follow through. It's the truth.) Furthermore, I know that it will be a non-issue because there is no way on God's green earth, that Ethan will leave me at this moment,  especially when he realizes that he does not get to be with his brother and sister.)

But, being the big girl that I am, and despite that familiar lump in my throat and pain in my heart, I momentarily consider how I might accomplish this...Questions I pondered: Would it be easier if I dropped Ethan off first? No..he'd never let me walk away from him,  taking his brother and sister with me. Would it would be easier to take Colton and Hunter first? No...he'd wonder why he can't stay in their room with them. Could I switch Colton and Ethan, no one would really know... and Colton might be okay with being alone. No...they have their names on their shirts. It was just bad and I knew that it was already a lost cause. He already didn't want to stay and he didn't even know that he would have to be alone yet.

I stand just behind the check in desk trying to rationalize all of this with the kids and talk Ethan out of his crying fit when the woman who checked us in hears me and or sees me.

"Are they triplets?" she asks me.

(I squelched the sarcastic response that had been brewing...Something that might've sounded like..."Gee, what was your first clue? The 3-3-3- shirts? The fact that they are listed one after another after another, after another on your sign in sheet? The fact that their birth dates and last names are also the same?)

And instead, responded with a much nicer, "Yes, they are. And there's no way I can drop two off together and leave one by himself." 

"Oh my gosh, I didn't even realize they were triplets. You know what? Just go ahead and bring Ethan with the other two and tell them we said it's fine."

"Thank you!!!" I respond, knowing full well that it was probably already a lost cause.

I checked the other two in and they went pretty willingly. Ethan, not so much. He cried and cried and clung to my leg in a way that said 'I'm going wherever YOU'RE going.

So I kissed Hunter and Colton goodbye and quickly said to Hunter, "Ethan is going to come with me because he's sad, okay?" And then I turned and left before really giving her a moment to process that.


I walked all around the premises with Ethan, trying to coerce him into staying. I showed him the animals....pumpkins....nothing was going to change that little mind.

Does this look like the face of happiness or what? 

"Nope. Not gonna do it, mom." 

So, we left and he came on a Starbucks date with me and my friend, Heather. To be totally honest, I was kind of excited to spend a few alone hours with my littlest boy. It's rare...Hunter always goes shopping with me, but Ethan rarely gets to go out alone. We went to SB and Target and before we knew it, 3 hours had passed and we were on our way to get our brother and sister! We met Nicole in the parking lot and she showed us how to get onto the big playground while we waited for about 15 more minutes.

 Happy as a clam now! 

 Two things that made him smile at this moment...playing alone on a really fun playground, and knowing that he was going to see C and H. (Aww..)

So we went to pick them up and as usual, they were THRILLED to see us. We gathered their belongings, (a backpack, a scarecrow craft and a pumpkin for each of them). And we headed for the car.

This is no exaggeration. The moment I buckled her in, Hunter had a total and complete meltdown. It was as though she had stayed strong while I was away and just needed to release her pent up fears and anxieties.

Through her constant sobs, I was able to decipher this.

"Mommy, I just didn't want to stay there."
"I was sad too."
"I didn't want you to leave me there."
"I told my new teacher, Miss Jelly (Julie) that I wanted to go with you, but she said you'd come back for me soon."

OH MY GUILTY SOUL. I HAVE FAILED MY LITTLE GIRL.

Me: But Hunter, did you have a little bit of fun?"
H: Yes, mom, I had a little bit of fun, but not a lot. I wanted to be with you.
Me: But didn't you have fun petting all the animals?
H: Well I saw the animals mom, but I was afraid of them. I just wanted to be with you and Ethan.

All in all, let's just say it was another growing experience. Another opportunity for them to experience these feelings and these new situations and work through them. But a total success, it was not. Live and learn, right?

I learned that when they start kindergarten, they will either all have to be together, or they will all be separate. (more likely, this one.) I will NOT be able to go through something like this again.

At least their pumpkins look happy!