Teefies!!!

We've got 2 teefies...on Mr. Sam!!!

Nate's are going to pop any minute and Ben's been drooling all over the place...We're buying stock in baby Tylenol...

Memorial Day

Being a family of 6 now, we're trying to find ways to do fun things without spending any money.  So when we see an opportunity to go to a parade, we jump at it.
Last weekend was a Memorial Day Parade locally.  I dragged Dave to it knowing that there would be some kind of miliary fly over and because he's into all that military aircraft stuff, I knew he'd be in.
It was pretty uneventful and the boys got to rock their Red White & Blue.
The cannon and the gun salute scared the tootles out of Eli but the babies didn't react to either.

Eli & Dave
The giant flag is on a crane (I think)

Nate

Sam

Ben

 Oh yeah...the flyover didn't just fly over.  It landed.  It was a Black Hawk helicopter.  It blew Eli's hat right off his head.  Nobody minded the noise though.

Eli even got to sit in it.  Luckily, not in the front!

Dave sizes up the beast...
"Yup, we could fit this thing in there."

Nate-Sam-Ben
practicing sitting up and showing their Patriotic Pride!!!

Royal Rumble

The boys are becoming moderately mobile, well Nate & Sam anyway.  They can roll anywhere at any time.  Because of this, things are getting a bit hairy around here...literally.  Sam is constantly pulling his brothers' hair.  Most of the time he goes for Ben since he's a stationary target.  You should hear the scream they let out when he gets them...oooow eeeeee!!!

They have also been much more into stealing toys from each other...all...the...time.  It's mostly Nate.  No matter what toy we give him, he always wants somebody else's.  He's our little peanut,  but he's a force to be reckoned with.

Ben yanking on Nate's ear

Nate returning the favor

Sam's got Nate in some kind of figure 4 leg lock

Look Mom!  I got him!!!
Sammy pinning Nate

Sammy using Ben's head as a soccer ball.
Believe it or not, this happens a lot.

Sammy once again tackles Nate.

All of these pictures prove that in a few years (or less) we will be installing a padded room in the house.  Most of the time it will be used by the boys and on occasions when I feel like I might need a break...I'll go in there to bang my head against the wall!!!

Toys"R"Us Wish List a gift registry for Birthdays, Holidays & special occasions

Wish list for the boys' baptism:


Toys"R"Us Wish List a gift registry for Birthdays, Holidays & special occasions

Can't be beet!!!

For some crazy reason, I thought it would be a good idea to make beets for the babies.  This wasn't a good idea on so many fronts.  They were impossible to cook and took forever to get soft enough to mash.  Everything I touched while cooking them turned a lovely purply pink.  After the fiasco of cooking and preparing them, we put off actually feeding them to the boys.  We finally broke down and did it.  They LOVED them!!!  They look awfully pissed in the pictures...not sure why.  Maybe it's because we ran out of beets???

Nate the Great

Ben-Nate-Sam
They've started eating each others' bibs.  Oy!!!

Sam
Dave thinks he looks like the Joker here.

Ben with his famous
"Ben in the headlights" look

I think we'll do zucchini next week...

ETA:  FYI:  When you feed your babies beets, EVERYTHING will come out pink the next day.  Consider yourself warned!!!

Look who's 5!!!

Over the weekend, we celebrated Eli's 5th birthday with a bowling party.  We invited everybody in his class as well as a few family friends' children.  I can honestly tell you that I was very overwhelmed.  If I ever choose to do something like that again, please smack me!  I needed a bottle of wine after the party.  I didn't drink it, but I should have!!!

We had a bowling shirt made by a fellow triplet mom, Astrid.  You can find her on FB as {Sig}nature Creations.  (I couldn't figure out how to link to FB...sorry!)

basking in the black light

strike!!!

gotta love it!!!

the birthday boy!!!

mom...really???  another picture???

guess who ate the whole bowling ball!!!
no...not me...eli!!!

He had a great time.  The moms tell me I did a great job.  A few of the moms even held the babies so I had 2 hands to wrangle the 5 year olds.  It was nuts, but we all survived.  Phew...now...for that bottle of wine!!!

8 Months Old!!!

Nate-Ben-Sam

I can't believe that the boys are 8 months old.  It's just unfathomable.  They've grown so much and their personalities are definitely evolving.  They've made so much progress too.  I don't like to do milestone posts because when I read them, I feel like they're too "braggy".  It's been a little hard for me to read some of them on others' blogs because I can't help but compare.  I know you're not supposed to compare, but everybody does it.  So here's a quick update of who's doing what.  It's completely for informational purposes, not bragging or "neener-neener-boo-boo-ing".  We've also made up Mob names for each boy so I'll include those (don't ask about the Mob thing).

Ben aka Benny Cheeks
-best sitter of the bunch.  sitting up w/ boppy for 10+ minutes.
-can grab his toes.
-still refuses to do much rolling.
-great smiler (when he chooses).
-least talkative, but noisiest (does that make sense?)
-holds his bottle for most feeds
-biggest flirt

Nate aka The Sprinkler
-can "log roll"
-is possibly signing "milk" or waving goodbye.  whatever it is, it's cute!
-refuses to sit.  will stiffen up his whole body instead.
-refuses to spend much time on his tummy.  almost immediately rolls over.
-starting raspberries
-holds his bottle for most feeds
-holds his toes
-sleeps on his side
-great dimples
-hair is starting to curl

Sam aka Bam Bam, Thumper
-1st tooth (left lower central incisor) yesterday
-best at tummy time.  will spend all day on his belly.  spins around 360 degrees.  will roll in his crib and get stuck and need help to roll back over (we especially love this at 2 AM)
-says "da da da da"
-does raspberries
-loves his maraca
-starting to hold his bottle
-starting to sit w/help
-holds his toes
-hair is starting to curl

As far as solids go, we have tried green beans, peas, sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, and avocados as well as rice cereal and oatmeal.  I have no idea which veggie I'm making next week, but hope to do bananas for their fruit.  Then applesauce, then peaches, then???  What should I do next for veggies?  All boys love their solids.  We've started feeding them 3x/day with 4 bottles/day.  It's getting to the point that they know what time it is and if we try to skip a solid feeding they'll let us know.  Oy vey!

Mama needs a new pair of shoes...

...or maybe the babies do...I finally found shoes that fit into my budget ($7 each pair!!!)

Ben-Nate-Sam

Eli
Ben-Nate-Sam

T-Ball

Eli
Playing the field

Big Swing

Ben & Nate
soaking up the sun

Sam-Ben-Nate
watching Eli's game

Tubbies & Towels

Nate looks like he's leading a lecture from the tub.

Sammy striking a pose.
Should he be Mr. May?

Ben loves to show off his new tricks.

Ben

Nate refuses to stay on his belly.

Sammy's got big muscles.

Holy Guacamole!!!

We decided to experiment with avocados since I read that they were a perfect first fruit for babies.

Sam

Nate

Nate-Sam

 Notice there are no pictures of Ben on our first attempt.  That is because he gagged all his avocados up and made a huge disgusting mess.

So...onto our second attempt.  This time we decided to use the self-feeder things to see if that would alleviate some of the gagging...

Sam thought his would be best mixed with squash.

Nate really seemed to get the hang of the self feeder.

Ben wanted nothing to do with the avocado, but still loves his squash.

 Then because the boys were thoroughly covered, we threw them in the tub...bumbos & diapers too.

Sam & Ben getting a sprinkle

Eli & Nate getting hosed off.
Mind you, Eli did not need to be rinsed off, but thought it would be fun to take a tubby with Nate.

If you like Cinco de Mayo...

...then get your margarita on...

Sam-Ben-Nate
passed out after enjoying some delicious bevies

Makin' Squash

Because I've clearly got nothing better to do, I decided I should make the boys' baby food.  It's obviously not a boredom issue as much as it is a money issue.  I can feed the three of them for a week for what it would cost to feed them for a day.  Hmmm...is that a tough choice?

They've done a super job with their green beans, peas, and sweet potatoes so now we're moving onto squash.  Because of Dave's food allergies, I'm a bit of a freak with introducing foods.  I go slow...really slow.  I don't want to see any reactions.  This is why everybody else's 8 month olds have had filet mignon and mine are just getting to squash.  We'll start fruit next week.

Here's what I did to make their squash:

Step 1:  Buy frozen squash.  I get 2 bags to make a double batch.

Step 2:  Steam the squash to death.  It needs to be mushy so don't be
afraid to let it go for a long time.

Step 3:  Drain squash in sink.

Step 4:  Transfer to a big bowl.

Step 5:  Refrigerate overnight.  This step may be unnecessary,

but I get a little nervous about adding cold formula to

hot squash.

Step 6:  Use emersion blender to mix.  Add formula for a

liquid.  Keep adding & mixing until you get a consistency you like.

Step 7:  Spoon into ice cube trays.

Step 8:  Cover with plasic wrap.  This step may also be unnecessary

but when I stack the trays, I don't want the bottoms to

get goopy.

Step 9:  Stack trays.

Step 10:  Freeze.

I typically freeze mine until hard.  Then I transfer all the cubes to a bowl.  I takeout 6 cubes every night for to thaw for the next day's dinner.  We heat up the meal in a crock pot full of water (we keep a crockpot filled with water warming all day to warm up their bottles).

Bon Apetit!  The boys seem to like it...