Triple Play: 5 Years Old

How old?   5 years 

Our weights?  S:  38ish lbs T: 38ish lbs M:  38ish lbs

Heights  S: 41 in  T: 41 in M: 40.5  in

They are wearing size 5t  

Shoe size:  S: 9  T: 9/10  M: 9/10

Our sleeping patterns?  The girls dropped naps all together about 6-8 months ago.  Occasionally someone might fall asleep in the car.

Putting the girls to bed has gotten so much easier.  Brian, the girls, and I have the routine down so every night everyone knows what to expect.  Baths, pjs, teeth, hair, one book, and one song for each, then Mom leaves the room.  Dad stays for 5-10 minutes and then done.  I still haven't had more than 4 consistent nights of full sleep.  Maybe when they are 10?  Recently they are waking up from nightmares or growing pains.

They wake up between 7:30-8 most days. 

 Our eating schedule?  The girls have breakfast around 8:00 AM, Lunch around noon, snack between 3-4, and dinner around 6:30.  Times vary a lot more than they used to though.  

 Our favorite foods?  S: Noodles, String Cheese, Bananas. So picky.

T: French fries, pickles and olives.  Really picky.

M: Peas, Peaches, Pears, Steak, asparagus, french fries, chicken nuggets.  Not picky.

Our likes? Watching movies, playing with princesses, dress up, barbies, setting up "birthday parties", swimming, dancing, singing

 Our dislikes?  Clean up time.  As soon as Mom says its time to clean up, some one's leg hurts, or someone needs some rest, or someone needs to poop.  Any excuse to not clean up.  Sam and Taylor dislike trying new foods.

Our favorite games/toys?  They like board games like Candy Land, new Kindles they got for their birthdays, Barbies, dolls, Shimmer and Shine

Our milestones? 

S: Letter sounds, adding/subtracting, confidence in the pool, cartwheel, forward roll, pull over

T:  Identifying letters and some sounds, coloring in detail, good handwriting, forward roll

M: Counting to 100, counting by 10s, letter sounds, pull over, forward roll

Things we do to make Mom and Dad smile?  Days without crying, goofy jokes, family time, sister love, being nice to one another, being polite, having good manners

Our pictures

Triple Play: 4 Years Old

How old?   4 years 

Our weights?  S:  33ish lbs T: 33ish lbs M:  33ish lbs

Heights  S: 38.5 in  T: 39 in M: 38.5  in

They are wearing size 4t  

Shoe size:  S: 9  T: 9 M: 9

Our sleeping patterns?  The girls nap 2-3 times per week.  If they nap, bedtime is much more difficult.  If they don't nap, they get a little cranky after dinner but fall asleep quickly which is nice.

Sleeping has gotten better.  I still haven't had more than 4 consistent nights of full sleep.  Bedtime is still a fight for Mom's attention.  We still do a book for each and then 2 songs to get a little one on one time before sleep.

They wake up pretty between 7:30-8 most days. 

 Our eating schedule?  The girls have breakfast at 8:00 AM, Lunch at noon, snack between 3-4, and dinner at 6ish.  

 Our favorite foods?  S: Noodles, String Cheese, and "snacks".

T: Pickles and olives

M: Veggies, meat, fruit.

Our likes? Princesses, dolls, puzzles, building, barbies, make believe

 Our dislikes?  Being First, Second, and Third is the biggest fight lately.  First in the car, first out of the car, first (or last) to get dressed, first to pick a show, first to... you get the idea.  All.day.long.  And, having to clean up anything.

Our favorite games/toys?  We started having Family Game Night which they are enjoying.  Hide and Seek or Sardines are favorite with Daddy after dinner.

Our milestones? 

S: Counting to 20, singing songs, identifying letters and sounds

T:  Almost able to count by 10's, story-telling, writing more letters, coloring in detail.

M: Can add and subtract, knows letter sounds and will tell you what letter starts a word, counting to 50.

Things we do to make Mom and Dad smile?  Giggles and goofiness, loving on each other, saying "I love you.", clean up something

Our pictures

10 Ways I've Changed Since Becoming a Mom to Triplets

A lot of things change when you become a parent.  Right after our 2nd ultrasound when we found out we weren't having twins, but TRIPLETS, I vividly remember saying to my husband as we stepped on the elevator, "Our lives are never going to be the same."

I've never said a more true statement.  I didn't know what life with triplets had in store but I knew we would not be able to live the same life we had been living.  Not only did the things around me change (i.e. 3 babies and a house that looked like a daycare) but I have also noticed that I have transformed as well.  Here are just some of the ways that I have changed since becoming a Mommy 3.5 years ago.

1. I am more efficient.  I conquer tasks with a different attitude.  I get things done as quickly as possible but at the same time preparing for the next step.  I feel like I always have to be one step ahead.  This goes for house cleaning, dressing the kids, and getting my own "stuff" done.  I seriously don't have any time to waste.

2. No mommy judging.  I know my pre-bab(ies) self and I couldn't help but judge how parents were raising their kids.  I would tell myself, "My kids would never act that way... Or I would never let my kids eat that... yadda yadda yadda."  Let me tell you, I have changed 100% on my opinions about how other parents raise their kids. Honestly, you don't know how hard it is raising a tiny human until you are.  And now that I'm the Mommy that may give in when I know I shouldn't OR feed my kids a treat right before dinner (because I promised them hours ago, but I  forgot until they so loudly nicely reminded me)... I realize that every parents loves their children and they are doing what is RIGHT for that situation.  You may see a Mom letting her kid do something you wouldn't but you don't know what went on behind the scenes or why they are even in that particular scenario.  Sometimes, its a last effort.  Sometimes, the Mom or Dad needs a break. Or, sometimes it may be for the child's own good... it just doesn't look that way to you.  I've now learned to put all judgement aside and just support one another.  Parenthood is hard.  Period.

3. I have less patience for adults.  See #1.  This doesn't mean that I'm rude to other adults, I just figure out tactics to make conversations go a little quicker.  I'm not talking about my family or friends, but more along the lines of the AT&T guy, or the lady selling me insurance on the phone, or the 5 complete strangers that stop me to tell me "Your hands are full" at Target.  I'm nice but to the point so I can maximize my time.

4. I am a Multitasking queen.  I've found that I never had a large enough chunk of time to be really productive with a project, so I have many tasks going all at once and I tick away at each one as efficiently as possible.  I can also know what my kids are doing (most likely climbing on me) while I clean, fold laundry, or work on one of those projects.

5. Sleep is no longer a priority to me.  I've learned I function pretty well when sleep deprived.  My pre-bab(ies) self used to NEED at least 8 hours of sleep a night (most nights 9-10), but now I'm pretty happy with my 6.5-7 hours (with getting up at least once in the middle of the night).  I've learned to let it go (cue Elsa) and stress less about sleeping.  If I did stress about it, then I'd be more miserable.  I've come to terms with the fact that my children are just bad sleepers.... which leads to poor sleep for me.  I accept it for what it is.  

6. I truly appreciate silence.  My house is never silent.  It is filled with a pleasurable amount of giggles, a dash of questions, an unimaginable amount of crying, and a WHOLE lot of high pitched screaming... with some dog barking thrown in the mix.  Silence is almost never heard, but when it is, I notice... and its AMAZING.

7. I don't mind being soaked in the bodily fluids of my own kin.  The day isn't complete unless I've been sneezed on.  Spit up, pee, poop, snot, spit... whatever.  Doesn't bother me anymore.  It is like an immunity I've built up.

8. Mom-guilt is a new feeling for me. I have to be fair and sometimes someone just wants a snuggle and I can't give it to her or I want to have dinner with my girlfriends and I leave 1 with an ear infection at home who just wants her mommy.  Its hard.  Its really really hard.

9. My priorities have changed.  I think this happens for all parents.  Everything else takes a step down when kiddos are around.  

10. I didn't realize how much I could love 3 tiny humans. I mean, seriously, I would give my life for them and it makes me tear up just thinking about them getting hurt in any way. They are (most of the time) sticky, unreasonable, independent, and sometimes just down-right mean to me... but I love them so hard.  And I know they love me back.

Christmas 2016

What a fun and memorable age for my 3 munchkins.  Christmas time gets better each year with my trio.  Here is the entire month of December in one blog post (ie.  an obnoxious amount of photos of my cute kids).

Photos with Santa at the girls' preschool did not disappoint.  I'm so happy with the way they turned out, I even included this photo on our Christmas card.

Playing around with cousin, Paisley at MeMe and Grandpops house.

Photos with Santa again with MeMe and GrandPops and Miss P. 

Our very first family movie night was Polar Express.  We ate popcorn and cuddled on the couch with the fire place going while watching a movie.  It was so much fun and the girls loved it.

Red and white day at school. 

We put these 3 to work cleaning up pine needles in our yard.  They actually really enjoyed it and then of course getting to jump in the pile at the end. 

I had to include this picture since it was "Classic Sassy Sam" face.

My in-laws neighborhood has a snow hill party every year and the girls had a blast.  They made snowball, snow angels, sledded down a hill, ate snow cones, and stomped on "frozen rocks" (aka: ice cubes). 

  

Snow cones on this warm December day.

After drying off and getting some dinner, we headed up to the local church having a Christmas festival.  The girls chose to ride the ponies twice.

Christmas jammies at gymnastics.

We went to see the Second Baptist Christmas show "Under the Big Top".  This is the only photo I took but I thought it was funny.

We drove to Alvin to ride the Christmas Train.  We met up with my friends, Kara (and her family) and Leila.

Letters to Santa

On the train.

Baking Christmas cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve Eve.

Our Annual MBC Snowball fight did not disappoint.  The girls participated so much more this year.  They had a blast.

Christmas Eve we drove to Livingston to Brian's older brother's house.  We ate, opened presents, and drove to Lake Livingston where we climbed "Rupunzel's Tower" and played on the playground.  The swings were my favorite.

Pretending to nap on their new cots.

On Christmas Eve we sprinkled reindeer food in the front yard, put cookies out for Santa, and said goodbye to Pudding the elf.

I managed to snap a photo of Santa visiting out house!

Brian and I made sure to wake up extra early and be ready when the kids woke up.  It seems at first they had actually forgotten that it was Christmas morning.  Once they were reminded, they curiously yet tentatively burst open their door to head downstairs.  They were so excited to see that Santa had come!  I love seeing the magic of Christmas through their eyes.

Each of the girls was so excited to give her sisters their Christmas presents they had picked out.  It was so sweet to see their excitement when they watched their sisters open their gifts.  And then the "thank you"'s and "you're welcome"'s afterwards were enough to melt your heart.

They were also so excited for Mom and Dad to open gifts.

Love these happy girls.

And more presents when Nana and Papa showed up.

After lunch we headed to my parents house.

Playing with bubbles and stickers.

Time for presents!  The girls helped pass out and organize all of the gifts.

Playing ring-around-the-rosie.  So cute!

Ready for bed in their new nightgowns.  What a wonderful 4th Christmas for my girls.

On December 27, we got together with all of my high school friends for our annual Christmas.  This is the face of a 3 year old when Elsa shows up to the party...

Hugs for everyone.  The girls were beyond excited to see Elsa.

Elsa even did balloon animals and magic tricks!

I've known these ladies for a long time and when we get together its like we haven't lost a beat.  Love these friends of mine.

For New Year's we headed to Columbus, TX to celebrate with my Mom's family.  

What a fun and memorable Christmas time 2016 was.  We shared many laughs, moments of excitement, and saw the magic of Christmas through my daughters' eyes.  I love my family with all of my heart.