Emily and Her Lizard

We had much needed rain the end of last week: Thur- Sat. Then Sunday we had one of those BEAUTIFUL after rain days- clear skies, clean air- heavenly! Of course we spent the afternoon outside- ignoring the chores that needed to be done indoors. I did decide to tackle a project in our back yard- this huge geranium bush!It's huge! We haven't really done much with our backyard- it was Max's yard and he ruled the roost. You can say then that we have let some things go in the backyard- this bush included! SO I took advantage of our great weather- loaded bubble stuff for the girls and attacked the bush.I found all kinds of interesting things within the bush- Max toys, bowls, a bucket, paint cans... The girls were playing nicely it was great! Towards the end of the day I was raking and found a lizard among the leaves. Emily was right next to me- so I pointed it out. To my surprise- she walked right over, bent over and picked it UP!She was very proud of herself- the lizard wasn't too happy but was cooperating for the moment. It was pretty rigid and just stayed in one position.Emily then passed the lizard to Ashley-Who decided it should be let free...Emily wasn't so sure- so she picked it back up again (wasn't a very quick lizard- in fact- he was pretty plump- so I imagine the bush has been a good home for him). She placed him in one of the buckets near by and decided that was his home. Finally we were able to convince her that he should be free ("but he will miss me" was her reply). We let her take the bucket over to another garden area (to be tackled at a later date) and set him free.

And here is the final result of my efforts...

Its a hearty bush and is already sprouting some new buds. I think it will come back just fine. The lizard on the other hand- not so sure!

FA"T"Q Part 1

We went out to the mall tonight, Rick, the girls and me. We went into a few stores and it didn't take long for people to catch on that the girls are triplets. As always- the questions start to pour out and we take twice as long to get out of the store. I'm not complaining~ triplets are a fascinating thing and most people start with, "I've never seen triplets before!" so i do understand the general curiosity that comes with it.

Several of my blogging buddies have left questions before in their comments on different posts and i have recently re-connected with several friends from high school thanks to facebook.

So~ in the spirit of Jon and Kate (plus 8) I've decided to do my own version of Frequently Asked TRIPLET Questions: Please feel free to leave comments with possible future questions! :)

1. Do you watch Jon and Kate Plus 8? You bet! Their life makes my life look NORMAL! Most people either love them or hate them~ I can relate to them. :)

2. Are the girls identical? No- the girls are fraternal in every sense- while they look a like to many- they look completely different to us! And their personalities are WAY different!Here's a run down...
Emily is the oldest- she is the shortest, has a red tint to her hair and hazel eyes.
Ashley is second oldest. She has the longest hair and grey eyes.Madeline is the youngest. She is the tallest. Her eyes are blue.3. Did we take drugs? Yes- lots and lots of them! Kidding aside- we have always been open about the fact that we had to go through in vitro to conceive our girls. While those nearest and dearest know all the details, we leave it at that for the general public (and this is a question I get asked all the time!). And yes- I have pictures of various people that I know giving me my shots- and no- you don't get to see them here. :)

4. Did we have help? Yes- because our house was being remodeled at the time, we actually lived with my parents the last 3 months of my pregnancy and the first 3 months after the girls arrival. My mom took care of me while on bed rest and often took the early morning shift to feed the babies (she and Ashley bonded over "Gunsmoke" at 3 a.m.). Our family and friends helped often, Michelle came every day to help before she moved to Japan, and we did hire someone to help my mom once I went back to work for a few months until we could get settled into our new schedule.

Michelle with Ashley and Emily


5. How was the first year? I don't know. I honestly don't remember much of it- besides looking at pictures. Sure I have random memories of the girls and things that happened with them- but all the extra stuff- no clue. So if you came to visit us during that time period- my apologies if I don't remember! I can tell you this about the first year- we went through 30 diapers a day (sometimes more)- so about a case a week. We went through a can of formula a DAY (and at one point that can of formula cost $25!). We went through 24 bottles when the girls ate every 3 hours. When the girls first came home from the hospital they were on a staggered schedule of eating every 3 hours. SO we literally fed babies all day- on the hour- every hour someone was eating- it'd take half an hour to feed- the remaining 1/2 hour was spent burping, changing, burping and getting a little cuddle time. Then it was on to the next. We stopped that soon and put everyone on the same feeding schedule! We also did at least one load of laundry a day (which hasn't really changed).

Below was a typical evening at my parents house...
6. Are they natural? No- they are aliens made of silicone. :) Guess this all ties in with the drugs question- but we get this one a lot too- we understand what people are asking- but when you really think about it- its a funny question LOL

7. Do we always dress them alike? No- in the beginning we were good to get clothes on them before they needed to be changed again. There was a time period when I did dress them a like a lot, more for convenience I guess- plus when the girls get gifts of clothes they are usually matching outfits (and that is not a complaint because I KNOW how hard it is to find 3 of anything in the same size!). Now I'm not super OCD on the matching stuff like the one mom I saw on Supernanny (or one of those shows) that changed both her twins when only one got dirty so they would stay matching. Nope- unless you are dirty- you keep your current clothes on (we do enough laundry around here thank you and if its close enough to bedtime- your pajamas will do just fine!). Since starting school I have made every effort to dress them differently every day. I may dress them in the same outfit but different colors or they will wear matching pants, but different shirts. The only time I really dress them alike these days is when we do big outings and I need to find them quickly (ie- Disneyland).

8. How many minutes apart are they? The girls were delivered (c-section) in 3 minutes- they each have their own. We tell Emily she was an only child for one minute.
Emily (A), Ashley (B) and Madeline (C)

9. How early were they? I was almost 36 weeks when the girls were born. Standard singleton (that's triplet speak for ONE baby) pregnancy is 40 weeks. Average triplet delivery is between 32-34 weeks so we did great! My blood pressure was the final cause for delivery as the babies were doing great!

10. Did you know what you were having/how early did you find out it was triplets? We found out at 5 weeks that we had triplets. From that point on we knew this wasn't going to be a normal pregnancy and that bed rest and discomfort were going to involved along with health scares and much more that I shudder to think about. Because so much of my pregnancy was out of my control- I had to have control of something- so I decided I did NOT want to know the genders of the babies. After all that work- I needed a surprise to look forward to! Rick and my mom were not as thrilled with this decision and would try their hardest at my ultra sounds to see something (and in the end I was having up to 3 a week!). Did we expect 3 girls? No- I thought we were having boys and we went into delivery with 2 boy names and Emily's name. Rick right before we went in announced that he thought it was going to be 3 girls and we laughed at him! LOL So while I was in recovery we sat together and came up with the other 2 names. I'll post about their names another time.

So there you have it! Thanks for sticking with me! Any other questions that you are chomping at the bit to get answered? Leave a comment and it may be included in the next round of FATQ!

Hip Hop Recital!

Scroll down to the bottom of the page to turn the music off so you can hear the music in the video :)

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We are so proud of our girls and their performance last night! Emily is in pink and Maddie is in purple. Ashley has decided to join them in classes starting Monday- so we'll have all 3 in the next performance. No stage fright and they did a great job!

Miss Dani is their teacher and she is awesome with the kids and very talented!

Is it us or is it hot outside? (Plus a FFF post!)

So this post is not meant to offend any of our colder weather readers, but I gotta tell you- its HOT and beautiful here in SoCal!! I can't believe that we are sometimes near 100 degrees WARMER than some places in the US! That's crazy!

So hot in fact that as I was taking down the outside Christmas decorations, because ahem-Rick someone else did not do it, I was sweating and in a tank top! The girls were running in the front yard working up a sweat too- so off we went to Foster's Freeze, our local ice cream stop. Foster's Freeze is the BEST! It is dangerously close to our house and we've become regulars there. We pull up and they just start to make our "regulars" LOL

Sarah is going to have one word themes for Favorite Foto Friday this year and this week its EYES (yes- I know its Saturday, but did I mention how awesome the weather is right now?). I have an Eyes post from the last year (and they are still my favorite pictures so make sure you check them out if you haven't seen them before- there are two posts #1 and #2!) I know I have more since then- but honestly- we have been enjoying this weather as much as we can by being outdoors (because we do know that it won't last forever- sigh!) also this was our first week back to school/work after 3 weeks off- and we had some rough afternoons.

So here are some EYES pictures from Fosters!

Emily

AshleyMadeline

I get the girls the same thing- but they always share each others :)Good to the very last drop!
But watch out for freeze brain!!!All done, refreshed and ready to go play some more!

By the way- this is the Foster's Freeze that was featured in the first Charlie's Angels movie (its the drive through they go to) :)

Tonight is the big dance recital for Madeline and Emily (yes, Emily has started to dance too- and Ashley is asking to start now also!) so stay tuned for the video!!! It's too cute!

To see more FFF pictures on EYES, don't forget to check out Sarah's blog!

More sleeping fun

I've posted before about the wonders of my little girlies and their sleeping habits. I honestly never know what I will find when I walk into their room!
Here is how I discovered Madeline the other night after our trip to Disneyland.



She is INSIDE the pillowcase- like a sleeping bag!



Guess we need to go camping!


When I finally slid her out of it (i had to collect myself from laughing!) she never changed positions! One tired little mousketeer!


Is it me or does she look really tall like this? Her feet were at the bottom of the pillow case stretching the fabric! Looks like this mommy will be looking UP into my girls eyes in no time!

DISNEYLAND!

We were able to renew the girls' annual passes to Disneyland on Friday! I took the girls ahead of time to get the passes taken care of and Rick joined us for a few hours in the park!

Madeline and Ashely on the Pooh Ride and below is Rick and Emily sporting very similar expressions!

It wasn't too crowded- the Santa Ana winds were blowing and it cooled off a bit in the evening.

Because we had Rick there we were able to ride the rides I can't take them on when I'm by myself- Like Dumbo.

We also rode Peter Pan, Buzz Lightyear, and Pirates with Rick!

Daddy said goodbye and the girls and I were off for our own adventures

We rode the Jungle Cruise and then stopped for a snack while watching the Steam Boat

We ended our trip with a visit to the Tiki Room and a little shopping at Downtown Disney. We were home before bedtime! It's great to be back at the Happiest Place on Earth!

We are also back to school/work today and so hopefully our schedule will be back on track too!

Disneyland!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Ashley loves to dance... so long as no one is watching. I took this short footage on Friday while we were having lunch at Disneyland. She was shaking along in her seat to the Piano playing in the background- but check out the look I get as soon as she realizes I'm filming her. Sigh- :)

January 2009 100

January 2009 100, originally uploaded by Christina OConnor.

I'm trying out a new way to post pictures on the blog- we'll see how this goes. Does anyone else use Flickr to post pictures? Can I post more than one in a blog? Guess I'll be experimenting for a bit! Thanks!