Confession...

I've been a bit abesent from blog land and am being HARASSED by people to put up a blog post.  Well, unfortunately, February is a slow news month.  I didn't want to post MORE pictures of swim class, because that's not all that exciting, and we haven't really done much of anything because it's gotten to the point that we don't really leave the house (nice run on sentence!). 

And...I have a confession...

I have a new obsession...

I'm selling the babies' clothes on line.  Not the clothes they're currently wearing, of course.  Clothes that they no longer fit into.  We have so much from the past 16 months that our basement is overflowing.  I do sell things at my local MoM sale, but not enough to clear out the mounds of stuff I have.  So, I found a few places on Facebook where moms of triplets (or twins too) buy/sell matching/coordinating sets of gear to eachother.  Just this week, I have shipped out 9 packages of stuff.  I've been good.  I've only ordered twice.  And it's mostly because somebody had stuff in Blue/Green/Orange so of course I had to scoop it up.  Love it when people color coordinate their kids in the same colors! 

So...I leave you with a few pictures from a walk we took when it hit 50 degrees recently (in February!). 

Fear not, next week we will have the obligatory 17 month pix as well as Valentine pix and then of course Ski Trip 2012 will be documented in pictures.

The Bin Method

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Since a lot of people's New Year's resolution is to get organized, a lot of my "mommy" boards were filled with awesome organizational ideas.  I totally stole this one and wanted to share.

Because we have an overabundance of toys and nowhere good to store them,

our living room looked like Toys R Us threw up.

It was always a pain to clean up at night and the babies

destroyed the "organization" in about 5 minutes.

What I've done is get bins and separate the toys. 

The clear bins are a mish mosh of toys.

The green bins are categorized (stuffies, balls, etc).

The big difference is...

WE ONLY TAKE OUT ONE BIN AT A TIME!!!

That way, it takes us less time to clean up.

The babies are tricked into thinking they get new toys all the time.

It's saved our lives!!!

Rave Review: Booger Sucker

NasalClear is a new battery operated nasal aspirator. It quickly, easily, and safely clears your baby's stuffy nose and helps her breathe more freely. The NasalClear aspirator provides you with suction that is stronger than that of a traditional manual aspirator, yet gentle enough to use safely and comfortably on your newborn or toddler. Battery operation lets you control the suction, so that you maintain the suction or release it as needed. NasalClear operates on 2 AA batteries and includes 2 different tips to accommodate different shaped nostrils and a variety of congestion conditions. The tips are made of soft silicone, making them comfortable for children of all ages. Although NasalClear has greater suction power than a manual aspirator, it is still gentle enough to use on newborns. It comes apart for easy and thorough cleaning and is dishwasher safe. NasalClear includes a plastic collection cup that helps you evaluate your baby's level of congestion.

Until Ben was hospitalized 2 weeks ago, I never gave much thought to booger suckers (aka nasal aspirators).  That was until the nurse hooked this contraption up to the wall and sucked all kinds of gunk out of his nose.  It was AH-MA-ZING!!!  She had an attachment that hooked up to the suction bucket that is standard in every hospital room in America.  I immediately wanted a suction bucket hooked up on every wall of our home.  How awesome was that thing!!!

But, alas, no room for compressors in the walls and I'm not sure what color slip cover matches "Booger Sucker Bucket" so we decided against my grand plan.  Instead we found this little piece of heaven.  It's unbelievable!  Toss aside your old blue suckers from the hospital...You'll never use one again.  I don't really want to get into all the awesomeness for those of you that have a weak stomach, so you'll have to believe me.  When you've got 3 little noses all dripping incessantly, you'll thank yourself for this little wonder sucker!!!

Rave Review: Vacuum

The Extreme™ Power Wet/Dry hand vac puts convenient wet and dry power in the palm of your hand! This rechargeable hand vac combines powerful 15.6 volt suction with cordless convenience. Combined ability to clean wet and dry messes this machine is great for any spill imaginable.

Until you have mutliples (or a lot of dogs), you don't realize how important a good vacuum is.  With 3 little ones constantly throwing food bits on the floor, we're sweeping/vacumming/mopping at least 4 times per day.  When our 10 year old vacuum (a gift from our wedding) finally died on us, Dave was insistent that we get something that can handle both wet and dry messes.  Since the babies have graduated to more "real" food, their messes have grown exponentially.  There's nothing like trying to scrub mashed up green beans or squash bits off the floor...

I finally got the chance to use it last night (prior to that, Dave had been hiding it from me and possibly sleeping with it under his pillow).  LET ME TELL YOU!!!  It picked up entire wagon wheel pastas, green beans, and chunks of meatloaf.  The emphatic "shwoop" when it sucks something up its little nozzle is almost addicting.  So worth $50!!! 

Mixed Signals

Sorry for the delay, but I've been trying to get a video to upload and it's not working...maybe it's too long?  Hmm...You'll have to deal with my terrible explanations instead...

The babies have been signing like crazy.  It's really cute and really helpful all at the same time.  So far they know:  milk, more, all done, change (diaper), up, please, bath, eat, story...I think that's it.  They blow kisses and wave hello or good bye too.

The funny part is when they do them without cueing.  If I say "banana" Natey starts doing "more" like crazy.  Sammy has also morphed two signs together...he puts "please" and "more" together.  It looks like he's rubbing his hands together while washing his hands or something (this is the terrible description that would have been much cuter had I been able to upload the video).

They also spontaneously do them if they hear a word that somebody might be saying in conversation.  If I tell Eli to pick a story, Ben starts signing "story".  If we say the word wave, Natey starts waving like a crazy man (also a cute visual...sorry!!!). 

We've been working on singing "up, help, and sorry".  They watch the Baby Einstein signing video sometimes, but mostly we use them in context.  I'm just glad to see they're picking them up.  I'd love to see them use them when they get frustrated, but they haven't quite figured that out yet. 

Ben's Hosptial Stay

Snuggling with Mama

In the holding cell

Sleepy Boy

After his blood draw (the guy who did it was AWESOME! and it only took 1 try)
The 2 blobs on his thighs are a numbing cream before his shots of antibiotics.

Where I slept...super comfy...

Graham cracker time

getting into trouble...

looking at Eli's picture

Snuggling with Dada

Fun balloons from Gigagak

Snuggling with Eli

Finally home and back to his favorite bucket!

The med list...

16 Months Old!

Unbelievable!  They're 16 months old!!!

Nate-Ben-Sam

Go Pats!!!