Dress Up

I thought I'd post some pictures of the kids playing dress-up"recently. They don't really get the concept of dress up quite yet, so it's more of a game for us at the moment. I'm sure they'll get the hang of it sooner or later.

Here is Dad's attempt to get Sam ready to earn his keep by joining the workforce early

Here are Peyton and Adah dressing up in their tutu. Needless to say, Dad was happy that Sam cried when I tried to put the tutu on him (he feels this negates Sam's love of carrying a pink purse around from time to time).

And we can't leave without a parting shot of Luke. He's practicing his multitasking in this shot - watching tv while posing at the same time. I think he has a future in this.

 

Costco

Let me just say it - I love Costco. I don't know if it's because it allows me to buy a 10 pound bag of chicken and the newest Dan Brown best seller in the same place or the fact that you can cart four screaming children in there and no one can tell because of the three story high warehouse ceilings. We shopped at Costco before we had the kids, but it was more of a summer fling of a relationship with the store as compared to the all out affair we have with her now. I think my true love started when we figured out that Costco was the only store we could take the triplets to when they were very young and we needed to get out of the house. Costco met the criteria we needed for an outing: 1) the aisles were wide enough to walk down and turn around our triple stroller, and 2) it had the aforementioned high ceilings that drown out the screams of children. We figured we would be safe and "less conspicuous" there. At least as inconspicuous as you can be walking into the store with this thing -

Our first Costco trip was a success, so it has remained a favorite store for us. At least now we don't have to take in that triple stroller. We can comfortably fit all 4 kids in two carts (and sadly we entirely fill those two whole carts with stuff) and make it through the store relatively unscathed. On a good day we can even stop for samples! We headed to Costco this weekend and made out with some good stuff - 450 diapers, 48 cans of fruit, an 8 pound box of strawberries - you know, the usual things. I think the real reason that I truly love Costco is that we can go in there and buy all these things and no one even bats an eye. It's NORMAL for a Costco-ite to head in and come out with a brand new plasma tv AND a pumpkin pie that can feed 20 people. It's NORMAL for people to shop in Costco with a flatbed cart because a regular cart is too small. We feel normal at Costco because we fit in with all the other crazies that shop there. If I went to Target (and I do love Target) and bought 450 diapers the cashier would look at me like I was nuts and I would have to spend the entire check-out experience smiling awkwardly and feeling like I should explain why in the world I need 450 diapers. But at Costco, no one cares! They just scan my diapers, my 48 pack of yogurt, and my enormous canister of cheese balls, smile, and say, "Have a nice day." So today, I salute you Costco. Thank you for catering to those of us who want to feel normal, no matter what their shopping habits may be.

Triplets Plus One

As I write this, I still cannot believe that I have three 21 month old children sleeping down the hall and a 4 month old sleeping in the room next to me. It seems like just yesterday that we were a family of three (the dog always counts as a member of the family when you are a young married couple with no kids) who wanted to have a baby. Little did I know that 2 years later we would have FOUR babies to love, snuggle, and tickle all day long.

We did a blog for the triplets for about a year once they were born in December of 2007 (Clifford Triplets) that was more of an update on how they were progressing in their first year. It was a good way to keep friends and family updated on how we were all doing, and after those first few rough months of sleepless nights and all day feedings we were doing pretty well. Little things like Sam holding his own bottle and Adah sitting by herself were big accomplishments and little by little we began to feel somewhat "normal" again. Sure, leaving the house was still an infrequent occurrence, but we could do it and survive without too much trouble. We were finally emerging from what I call the "baby haze." We no longer had glazed-over eyes from 4 hours of sleep the night before or sported a daily wardrobe of t-shirts riddled with spit-up stains. Our lather, rinse, and repeat schedule of feed babies, change babies, sleep babies, had actually expanded to include other things like outings, play time, and even the occasional dinner out. We really started to gain a lot of confidence that we COULD do this - have three babies at once and still lead a relatively normal life.

And then, when the triplets were about 9 months old, we got the news of our unexpected little bundle of joy on the way and everything hit a standstill. Don't get me wrong, we were very excited and thrilled beyond belief, but REALLY?!?! I mean, we'd just made it through the infant stage with premature triplets and now we were adding another one to the mix? The idea definitely took several months to sink in and before we knew it I was 9 months pregnant and heading to the hospital for my c-section. Luke was born in May of 2009 and we now have 4 babies depending on us.

Now, 4 months later, we are a happy family of six. Sure, the days are still filled with tantrums, spills, and crying, but there are also smiles, funny faces, and lots of laughing. God has blessed us beyond measure these past few years. I cannot imagine my life being any different than it currently is at this moment. We hope you enjoy reading about and seeing the adventures of our little family as we navigate through the next months and years of our lives ... we can't wait to see what it brings!