July's been a busy month for us (of course, what month isn't nowadays?!?). I had my ACLS recertification class, which may not seem like much, but trying to fit in the hours of study that I felt that I needed when trying to balance my family's needs and my sleep needs... it was a challenge. Jason and I are thinking about finding a bigger house now while interest rates are lower, so we've been doing lots of online research and going house hunting with our realtor (and the boys too sometimes!). And of course there's all the normal daily stuff to do still. When I was complaining about finding the time to study for ACLS, one of my coworkers suggested doing it in my free time. I'm not sure if they were joking or not, but I'm excited to find this free time. If any of you know where I can find it, let me know. :)
Elliott
Jenson
Sidney
(note the Star Wars bib- I love it!)
I LOVE these boys. Sometimes I am just in total awe that they are ours. I frequently find myself telling people that while I knew I'd enjoy being a parent, I didn't realize that I'd enjoy it this much. And that is all because of these three little munchkins being the amazing little spirits that they are. They are so much fun to hang out with!! They make me laugh to the point where my stomach hurts. They bring tears to my eyes with their sweetness when they crawl into my lap and their tears when they take a tumble. They make my heart smile when I see them interact with each other and with Jason.
(Jenson, Sidney, Elliott)
And this picture is completely representative of our lives these days- three babies going in three different directions! Each boy is crawling around like crazy and amazing us with his speed. If you turn your head for a second, you'll miss them crawling out of the room! What I love, though, is to watch them come crawling back to me and trying to crawl up into my lap when they've been away "exploring".
(Jenson, Sidney, Elliott)
And we're into exploring new things all the time, like the dishwasher...
(Jenson, Elliott)
... and the Tupperware cabinet. Seriously- what is it with Tupperware that is so appealing to babies?!? If I open that door to the cabinet that we keep it in, it's almost like a homing beacon has been triggered and soon I'll have three munchkins making a beeline to be the first one to yank stuff down from it!
(Elliott, Sidney, Jenson)
We had a pretty gentle Fourth of July, all things considered. Jason woke up with the boys in the morning and was getting their diapers changed and pajamas off when I walked into the nursery. Our plans of taking them all to Harmony Ranch for a pool party had to be altered when Jason put Jenson into my arms and said, "Feel how hot that kid is!" Yep, the poor little dude was running quite the fever. Bring on the Tylenol, bring on the tepid baths... Most likely he was fighting off some virus, so we ended up employing our "divide and conquer" plan of attack. I took Sidney and Elliott to the pool party, and Jason stayed home with Jenson to make sure that he got the TLC (i.e. naptime!) that he needed. Sid and Elliott loved the pool (these kids love swimming) and got to be doted on by our foster family (my dear friend Jen's family- they've been part of my California family since I moved here in 2004). Jenson got to have one-on-one time with Jason and took a great nap. All things considered, it was a lovely, peaceful holiday day for the Deen family!
Sidney enjoying the pool with Grandma Robyn
Elliott chilling with Makayla while Sidney continues to hang out with Robyn
As we're getting even more mobile, we're getting ourselves into some crazy positions. Seriously- it looks like Elliott is working on doing some center splits.
And Jenson's doing some stretching that reminds me of those long ago days when I used to be on the track team in high school.
Of course, no matter how skilled we are getting at moving around, we have demonstrated that we do not know how to go AROUND and not OVER our brothers. If these boys see something that catches their attention, heaven help whatever obstacle is in their way... and that includes their brothers' bodies. It's almost like they are actively trying to make "baby hog piles" everywhere they can! What I enjoy seeing is that the brother on the bottom rarely fusses when he's got 20 pounds of determined fury crawling over him- they just keep playing with whatever toy they have in front of them...
One of the most frequent objects of our attention is Hana, our younger French bulldog. Elliott's grabbing her ear here and she is totally letting him do it too. I worried SO MUCH about how the dogs would react to the boys, but both Coltrane and Hana have been amazing with the boys. I looked over the other day and Hana was letting both Jenson and Elliott, at the same time, pull up to a standing position using her as their anchor. She is so gentle with them. I think she likes the attention, and even though I tease that she may be one of the dumbest dogs ever (seriously- she is NOT gifted in any way, shape, or form in the brains department), she seems to have a gentle heart when it comes to the munchkins. Both Jason and I are working very diligently with the boys to teach them how to "be gentle!" with the pups. Jen shared a resource with me on how to teach manners to children, and it emphasized first teaching babies how to touch others (human, canine, feline- doesn't matter which!), so that's what we're doing. I was raised in a home with pets, and I am so grateful that my boys will be too.
Nighttime walks are my favorite! We saddle up the pups, plop the boys in their jammies in the triple stroller, and proceed to solve all of the world's problems while walking around the neighborhood together.
(Sidney, Jenson, Elliott)
Morning time! Momma decided one morning that we should crawl from the nursery into the master bedroom to wake Daddy up. Jenson led the charge...
Jenson, Sidney, Elliott
My parents came out for a visit almost a year ago to help Jason and I around the house while we were preparing for babies to arrive (I'd planned on September babies because of the whole "triplets arrive early" thing. Did I end up being wrong or what!?!). While they were here, the four of us assembled the three cribs for the nursery. At the time, I made Jason save one of the large boxes from the cribs because in my crazy little mind, I was so worried that all three babies wouldn't survive and I knew that if they didn't, I would absolutely not be able to handle seeing three cribs in a nursery that would only then have two babies in it (I figured we would have someone disassemble the crib then and return it in the box). Apparently, Jason told my dad this story when they were visiting and it made him cry (not intentionally though!). I was looking for something in the garage the other day and gave myself a little pause when I realized that the crib box was still there in the rafters. What a total difference a year makes. A year ago, I was worrying that one of my sons would not even make it... and today, I'm reading books to all three of them. I'd like to think that that's what you'd call a miracle.
This picture doesn't do it full justice, but this is the "Sidney position". Laying on his left side, propped up on his elbow, with his right hand on his right thigh. It's like he's trying to model baby clothes for a magazine or something. I crack up whenever he does it, which is frequently!
Poor kid... Jenson's got the longest, fullest hair of the three, so he frequently has to endure me putting my hair doodads in his hair. He's probably going to need some therapy for this someday.
Much better.
My little flirt
(Elliott)
Now that all three have at least one tooth (the current count: Jenson-1, Elliott-2, Sidney-2), we've each got our own little toothbrushes! How stinking cute is this?!? By the way, if you're wondering whether they sell infant toothbrushes in bulk- they don't. Bummer! Anyway... 5 teeth here, 55 still to come.
One of my patients surprised me with a "thank you" bouquet of flowers, and the peanuts were absolutely fascinated with them.
(Jenson, Elliott, Sidney)
We LOVE our books! I still worry that each munchkin is not getting enough individual attention, so our new thing is "sit in Momma's lap and get a book read to you". If a peanut crawls into my lap and we're in the play area, I'll read a book just to him. Usually this means that at least one if not both of the others will make a beeline for me too, but at least the one in my lap gets a little one on one time with me first, and all three get to hear the story as well. But sometimes the boys take things into their own hands. The new thing is for one of them to stand up and start yanking books off of the shelves...
(Jenson)
... so that the other boys can "read" too. And while it looks like Elliott is reading this book to himself, he's probably just a second or two from...
... chewing on it like Sidney is demonstrating here. I figure at some point they'll actually open the books, not to eat them, but to read them. Until that time, I'll keep reading to them at every opportunity that I get.
Yep, we're getting pretty good at holding our own bottles.
(Jenson, Sidney, Elliott)
Brandi and I took the boys to the park one afternoon for a little outing. We hadn't been to this particular park in a while, but the boys loved crawling around and entertaining us.
(Elliott, Jenson, Sidney)
