Before I was a MoM (part 2)

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...I would never hang this contraption across the back of my van...

I got the idea from somewhere (sorry if it's your idea and I don't remember...LMK and I'll site you!!!).  We took all the boys' links and hung them from the 2 "Oh, No" bars in the back row.  On the links we hung all our fun dangle-type toys.

The boys loved it and it kept them busy for a crazy car trip we took with tons of traffic.  We did adjust the height and specifically place toys within reach for each boy.  People who see my van in the parking lot must get a little confused though...

Note to those who want to try this at home:
We used "locking" links on the ends to keep them from opening up and pulling the whole thing down all the time.

Snow???

Every year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, we make the 1 1/2 hour trek up to my dad's cottage in Springfield, NH.  Before we left, he warned us that there was 4-6 inches of snow on the ground.  This added to our packing extravaganza because now we needed to pack snow stuff!  The boys got to try out their new snowsuits and boots and Eli and Dave got to build a snowman and try a little sledding.

Thanksgiving

We were especially excited this year because the babies could eat "real people food" and got to eat Thanksgiving dinner with the rest of us.  We set up a kids' table in Eli's playroom for the 4 boys.  They loved their turkey, squash, & green beans!  YUM!!!

Bro Hold

I caught Sammy holding Natey's hand in the backseat of the van.  I was informed that this is the "Bro Hold"...appropriate, doncha think???

Goin' Out to Eat

It's taken us awhile, but I think we've gotten the hang of going out to eat with the 4 kiddos.  This is great because I was feeling like an inmate having to eat home cookin' all the time.  Here's what we do to prep:

1.  Get to the restaraunt.  Dave goes in and scopes out our spot.  He helps set up highchairs with the host to alternate big person/baby/big person/baby, etc.

Nate & Ben

2.  He comes back out to the car and I load 2 babies into his arms.  I carry in 1 and the diaper bag. Eli gets the door.
3.  We plop the babies in their high chairs.  We put down sticky, disposable placemats (in our opinion, a MUST HAVE!!!).

Eli & Sam (yes, Eli is sometimes more difficult to photograph than the babies)

4.  We start doling out snacks for the babies or give them their milk cups.

Sammy

5.  We order food.  We try to be super fast and always request the kids' food to be out first.  Now we're only ordering 1 meal for all 3 babies because they can split.  If necessary, I feed them my sides (carrots, broccoli, potatoes, etc) to fill them up.

Natey & Ben

6.  We clean up.  This involves wiping down babies, tables, high chairs, and the floor.  We also ball up the placemats and push everything into the middle of the table.

Using this method, we've been pretty successful. Some places are better than others.  It works best to go to a place you know or a chain. This is for convenience of having 3 high chairs.  If you're adventurous, bring your own high chairs.  Snacks, bibs, milk, and placemats are always with us when we go to a restaraunt.

Santa Baby

Eli was so excited when we told him that we'd be heading down to see Santa.  We wrote his letter the night before.  He asked for a new radio (he's got 3 maybe 4, why does he need a new one?), a new laptop (really, kid?  I don't even have a laptop), and a lamp for the babies' room (we had to remove it because it wasn't nailed down and Sammy would wear the lampshade on his head). 

We headed down to the mall right after swimming and found an awesome parking spot (SCORE!!!).  We got the babies changed in the car and Dave loaded them up into the strollers.  We decided on a double and a single for ease of manueverability.  Their entire Christmas outfits weren't in yet, so they just wore their sweaters and jeans.  Cute enough.  We snuck in the back entrance to the mall and got right in line.  There was only 1 family in front of us (SCORE!!!). 

While we got the babies out of their stroller, Eli got a chance to talk to Santa.

Then Santa saw all the babies and asked "Are you guys gonna be in the picture?" 

Umm...Nope, Santa, you did it all by yourself last year.

We managed to work it out and nobody screamed.

Ben aka Aquaman

Ben got his chance in the pool this weekend.  We were a bit concerned with how he would react since lately in the tub, he's been having a fit.
He loved it!  He seemed to be the most engaged of the bunch.  He paddled after the ball and even kicked a bit when he was on his back.  3 for 3 love it in the pool!  Yay!

World Preemie Day

Have you hugged a preemie today???

1 year actual

Today celebrates the anniversary of the babies' due date.  Those of you that don't have preemies, may not realize how big all these mini celebrations are, but they're big to me.  It's just amazing to see how much they've grown since their actual birthday.  Since we were having a party, of course we needed cupcakes!!!

Ben

Nate

Sam

 Goofy Close Ups

Ben

Nate

Sam

14 months

The boys are 14 months old today!  So hard to believe.  They are getting cuter by the day.  They keep developing skills and personalities.  It's fun to see how much the understand now too.

Did I mention that it's close to impossible to get them to sit still for a picture???

Nate-Orange

Ben-Blue

Sam-Green

Swings & Slides

We found a park that actually has 3 swings!  The babies were so excited..until of course some lady kept complaining that there were not enough swings for her kid...get over it lady!!!

Sam

Ben

Nate

Sam

Nate

Ben & Eli

Eli