Tripletville Adventures : Daddy (and Grand Daddy) Daycare

Lots happened this week!! It all started with a wonderful Easter Egg Hunt put on by the wonderful Coughlan women for all the children of our friend circle. There were some many eggs hidden all over my friend Sarah's yard and backyard! Each child had a color to look for (we had different variations of purple -- 33 purple eggs in total that I, of course, collected almost all by myself with the help of friends in the end... lol). My father in law came to help out as Gabe was working that day. The day was gorgeous and everyone had such a wonderful time that I think they're going to be doing this every year! Maybe next year the boys will be able to collect their own eggs and maybe we'll see a bit of grass. This year the snow banks were still pretty intense and still hard enough for children and adults alike to chase eggs on! The rest of the afternoon was rough on this girl! The boys, at this age, are crazy needy and if I'm alone with them, seem to just want to be on me all the time. I do believe they were starting to feel a little under the weather as the rest of the week was pretty crappy for Sam and Jacob. I didn't think I was going to make it but I did... That afternoon made me realize that daycare is good for both them and me! Phew!!!

Sam was really not feeling well as he woke up at 3:30 really restless and didn't want anything to do with going back to sleep so we brought him to bed with us where he just couldn't get comfortable, kicked me in the face about 6 times before finally finding a position that enabled him to sleep. I think he may have been experiencing some growing pains along with some teething issues. I didn't get back to sleep and went to work on Tuesday morning after being up since 3:30... rough day! lol...

The boys were almost solely looked after by either their Pépère Arsenault or by Gabe this week. Sam stayed home on Tuesday with my FIL (father in law) and Jacob stayed with him on Wednesday and Thursday (seemed to be experiencing the same kind of symptoms as Samuel). He seemed fine but daycare called to ask us to come pick him up as he had a fever and just really wasn't himself. Gabe left work to go get him and stayed with him until Pépère showed up. He seemed fine the next morning, we thought we'd have to keep him and Samuel both home as he was acting all funky and so we started to make plans to have Gabe stay home in the morning with both and then I'd come home at lunch and then Jacob seemed to get better and then he got worse after throwing up his breakfast (what little of it he ate) and then Samuel got better. We decided to ask my FIL to come stay with Jacob, send Samuel to daycare with Zachary and hope for the best. Thankfully, our decision panned out! Zachary was the only one who went to daycare all week and didn't get to spend a day with Pépère. Thankfully, he doesn't know any better and he loves daycare. He's also the only one who won't run to me when we get to daycare. He looks at me and smiles but just keeps on playing with whatever he was playing with before. I'm glad he likes it though, it makes my guilt lower over the fact that I leave them there all day to go take care of other people's children who I don't love near as much as I love my boys. Friday night I went out with some girlfriends to St James Gate and we had a really amazing time! I had to be at the Moncton Multiples Consignment Sale bright and early (6:30) on Saturday morning. I didn't even get to see the boys before I left... I got to shop early with the other volunteers (if you were there and would like to shop early, like the Facebook page at Moncton Multiples Consignment Sale and join the volunteer team at next sale!). I worked the cash from about 7:30 to 12:20ish, collected my things and came home to babies still down for their nap. I was able to sit down and relax and talk to Gabe about his day for a few minutes before they inevitably woke up. I had sent Gabe away to go for lunch and decompress (you'll hear of his morning soon...) and I got the boys up and spent some time playing with them. I was supposed to go back out to St James Gate but after the long morning and long afternoon with the boys, I could hardly keep my eyes open. My best girlfriends were feeling the same and I'm still not too comfortable with the rest of the crew to just show up so I decided to stay home. I know I probably would have had a wicked time but my bed was just calling...nay SCREAMING my name and I just couldn't ignore it and I was asleep by 9:30pm where most of my multiple moms who were brave enough to go out were probably laughing their arses off and well into drink number 4 or 5. Next time, I'll just suck it up and go because it really looks like they had a blast. Anywho, the boys are finally feeling better, they're all the little eating machines I know them to be and I finally got an almost full night of sleep last night. Yesterday's tiredness was also attributed to the 3 or 4 am wake up calls we had all week... one or two of those mornings, I didn't fall back asleep so this momma was tired...

Alright, so it's time to hear from the hubs again, he wrote a blog piece about his morning with the boys on Saturday morning, they're always funny... then I'll leave you with some pics, we didn't take too many as it's been a crazy week...

From Daddy's POV:
I wake up the the sound of the alarm at 6:30 am Saturday morning only to have a moment of panic thinking I was supposed to be up at 5:30 and I set my alarm wrong but it's ok cause it's Saturday morning. It's just me and the boys since mommy is gone for the day with the Moncton Multiples Sale. I figure I would make french toast for me and the boys but there was only 2 slices of bread so I guess I'll make something else. Toast and peanut butter, some cereal and banana for the boys and some milk. Crap all the sippy cups are dirty. Now the boys are awake and crying so I'll just wash some cups quickly. Start to run some water to clean the cups...no hot water?!? For some reason we have no hot water so I guess I'll wash them with cold water. Get the boys up and start eating and things are going well. After breakfast time to change some diapers and change the boys. While changing the first poopy diaper I reach for a wipe and the box is empty. Reach for the second box...also empty. Mid poop change with two kids on the floor and no wipes! Argh. Put the poopy diaper back on and go get some wipes. Finish the diaper change. On to the next baby. Changing Sam while Zachary and Jacob are playing on the floor goofing around....wait!!!!! No Zachary is biting Jacob!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Really hard...and I have a pantless baby on the changing table. Argh...not a good morning for daddy and the boys. Ha! Finally get all the boys changed and half dressed. I say half dressed because they all have shirts on, but no one has pants on. They didn't want to put pants on. And they are all crying.

I figure to stop this crying madness we have to go A) outside on the step or B) to the market. Both options require pants. So I get some pants on them and start to gather outside clothes but I can't find anyone's boots. So I guess we're going with rubber boots. After about 10 minutes of constant crying I finally get everyone dressed and ready to go outside. I didn't want to resort to having to call my parents for help. I wanted to do this on my own. Props to my wife who can handle all three kids by herself much better than I can. (MC --> Awe... thanks babe... props to you for wanting to do it on your own!)

They played outside on the front step for about 15 minutes then I decided to load them up in the van and go to the market. When we arrived at the market two guys were playing the djembe drum so we stopped to listen for a couple minutes and the boys LOVED it. They just stared the whole time and didn't say a word. We walked around the market and got lots of looks and comments. We had molasses cookies from Nick the Dutch baker and the boys loved it. We had a bit of gelato then I got a sausage and parked the boys in front of the djembe players so I could eat while they watched and listed to the music while in awe.

We came back home, played on the deck for a while and then the grandparents showed up to help out with lunch. After lunch, they went down for a nap and I finally had some time to relax until MC got home.

That's all folks! Have a good week...

p.s.... my sister starts her chemo treatments this week... please don't hound her with messages, she knows how much everyone cares, just please keep her in your thoughts/prayers... Thanks for your amazing support while my family goes through this next nightmare... xox

All three hanging out with Papa

This was my afternoon on Monday and yes, this was Zachary attempting to bite Jacob which is why the pic is blurry because I quickly stopped him...

At the Easter Egg Hunt

Godo times!

This is Samuel on Tuesday morning finally passed out in our bed

Wearing green for my friend's 15 year old daughter Becca who is going through chemo and radiation treatments at the IWK due to a brain tumor found a few months ago. Please keep her in your thoughts as well. Here's their gofundme page if you'd like to donate : http://www.gofundme.com/Help-for-Rebecca. Stupid cancer...

Getting ready to load my stuff for the sale. I had all this stuff (including two other grey bins). I came home with one grey bin and it wasn't even full, I did good ;)

What I bought at the sale... I hope I didn't spend more than what I sold for! lol

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Walking down sunny Main street with Daddy on Saturday morning

I'm jealous I wasn't there... I'm totally joining them next time. I guess it's good for both them and Daddy to get solo time though!

Hanging out on the front step

I guess we have to add some bars so their heads don't stay stuck this way... lol

First snack on their new table... first and only for now... they still don't get that a table is to sit at, not climb on and fall off of... good thing I had it on the blue gym mattress... lol