Tripletville Adventures : June 2015

Yep! This is it! I'm on vacation! I officially finished on Tuesday morning but I applied to do some grade 8 marking for few days which kept me occupied until Thursday. Friday was a wonderful day off, I did as little as I could around the house so that it wouldn't look like I completely gave up on life and then I just took the day OFF! It doesn't happen often and it felt great! I have a lot of plans for the summer and although I'm sure I'm going to be taking more days "off", it felt good to just do nothing for a day. I'll be cleaning my house top to bottom (our tenants are leaving at the end of the month), I'll be organizing the backyard after I mow it all to make it fun for the babies, I'll be painting and doing some esthetic work around the house, I'll be trying to boost up my business and make some summer money and I'll be working on getting my health back in tip top shape starting with signing up at the gym tomorrow! I'll also be taking my boys out of daycare once in a while and sometimes just one at a time. I'm not going to lie and say that I have no problem taking care of them alone. I'm sure I COULD take care of them, they'd be fed and changed and loved but we would all four be crying by the end of the day everyday I'm sure! Like I mentioned before, there are limited places for me to able to take the boys on my own where they would be safe. I've decided that I'll take out one boy at a time once in a while and go on playdates and be able to enjoy them as a singleton parent would. Yes, I feel guilty still but the guilt is slowly dying away as I realize that it'll be better for everyone if the routine isn't disrupted too much. Of course, there is a little selfish part of me that has been longing for a true summer off. When the boys are older, I'll be keeping them home more in the summer, this age is just crazy and they LOVE daycare so it's going to be ok, it doesn't mean that I love them any less (yes, I'm still trying to convince myself).

So Sam's word of the month is No, he'll say no to everything even when he really wants to say yes. For example, we'll ask if he wants water and he'll say no while shaking his head and then as soon as we move on to one of the other boys, he'll start crying and say "L'eau, l'eau, l'eau" and doing the water sign. Just today he's been starting to say "yeah" more because I think he's realizing what No really means lol.

We let the boys play outside in the backyard this morning. The boys have everything they could want out there and they'll get more I'm sure. They have a bouncy castle (given to us by my sister), they have a play structure (given to us by my sister), they have a water table (given to us by my sister - do you see a theme??), they have a new toddler slide (given to us by my sister... just kidding, this one was found for us by my awesome friend Sarah (thanks Sarah!!)). After our Wal-Mart/Costco grocery routine this morning, Gabe went out back with them to play and I came inside to unpack and make lunch. After about 20 minutes, Gabe calls me from the backyard and tells me to get back there and bring a facecloth. I get out there and he's holding a bleeding Zachary in his arms. Poor little dude had fallen from the slide. This was his second time bleeding today as he had hit his mouth on the table the morning as he was sneezing (we tried not to laugh at that one...). Gabe said all was going well until they started to play on the play structure and then all went to shits lol. Three babies on one slide is not an easy thing to manage but he did well... well until Zachary fell on his face. He's fine by the way...

We were at a birthday party this weekend and the difference between us being multiple parents vs singleton parents was very apparent. I think our boys, because we often have no other choice but to let them problem solve, are pretty smart at figuring things out. I also heard often that one of the boys' nose was running many times. I guess I just don't have time to always have a Kleenex at the ready. We were also always "on". We didn't get to enjoy the lovely food put out by the hostess but more like shoved it in our mouths. Again, I'm not saying that people with one child or with more than one child have it easy, please don't think that's what I'm saying, I'm just saying that my life is different.

Ok, here are some pics of our week!

Jacob and Zachary LOVE guacamole. They won't eat the Nacho, just use it as a spoon to get more guac

Samuel couldn't like it less. He eats the chips

Their first real ice cream cone

They LOVED it!

This was messy

New slide

They absolutely LOVED the trampoline

Reading the sales for daddy

Have a good week y'all! xox

Being that today is Father's Day, my wife gave me (the husband) the task of writing this week's blog...eh...I mean left me with the privilege of writing this week's blog. Joking aside I am more than happy to write this week giving my perspective of our week's events as well as my perspective of life with triplets in general. I believe I am a very hands on and involved dad. You don't have much choice when you have 3 kids the same age to be involved but I do like to think that even if we had 1 or 2 kids that I would be as involved. My wife is a GREAT mother and works very hard both at her job as a teacher and at home with me and the kids and I admire her for that. I think together we make a great team and family and I wouldn't want to go through this adventure with anyone else.

As a father of triplets I also realise that a lot of people still think that it's a mother's job to look after the kids and the father probably goes to work and plays with the kids from time to time. Just last week I had the boys in the wagon at the mall while mommy was browsing in some stores when a lady walked up to me and the boys and started talking to us. As she was leaving she said to the boys "your mommy must have her hands full with you boys!". No acknowledgement at all that at that precise moment, the dad (me) was the one looking after the boys and mommy was nowhere to be found. Granted mommy was in a store not far away but this lady didn't know that...and the boys are usually well behaved in public walking around in their wagon so it's not like they were acting all crazy and out of control but I'm also around when the kids have their bad days and deal with as much of the kids as my wife does. She is better at certain things than I am for certain like giving them baths and doing the morning routine after breakfast (diaper change, brushing teeth, face washing and getting dressed) but while she does that it's not like I sit on my butt doing nothing. While she's giving baths I'm usually changing the diaper genie (that we change about once every 2 days or so), loading or unloading the dishwasher or folding some laundry (we have at least a load every couple of days). In the morning while she goes through the morning routine, I'm cleaning up the kitchen and reloading or unloading the dishwasher from last night's dishwasher duties. We both spend a lot of time with the kids and there are still lots of things that need to be done around that house that doesn't relate directly to the kids so it's a tough balance between spending as much time with the kids and trying to get things done. On week days MC gets home with the kids shortly before 5 and makes supper while my father takes the kids for a walk and I get home when the kids are eating. That usually gives us an hour with the kids after they are done eating before they go off to bed. It is a constant hustle and bustle lifestyle with these 19 month old triplets but I wouldn't have it any other way. I am a hands on father who is proud to say he is and I love it.

My reward for all this comes in many shapes and forms. It's the moments and interactions I get to share with my boys. I get to be there and see what makes them laugh, what makes them cry, what scares them and confuses them. What intrigues them. What amuses them or interests them. I get to see what they are obsessed with. Zachary loves balls. Loves to kick a ball for 15 minutes at a time. In his own little world just kicking away while constantly muttering the words : ball!...kick....kick...ball...kick...And Sam loves his show Baby Babbles. We don't watch much TV with them but from time to time we watch baby babbles. They have been watching that show since they were about 4 months old and Sam knows all the segments, sometimes even before they appear on the screen. His brothers like the show too. They all do but Sam will sit there the full thirty minutes while his brothers sit and watch, get up, go play with a toy, come back. He watches attentively sometimes breaking eye contact with the TV to look at us for acknowledgement that we are also watching the same awesome show it is. Looking for nod of approval as it to say yes that is a nice butterfly or balloon (which he is also obsessed with balloons. He voices out loud BALLOON! anywhere he sees them; like at Walmart this morning while grocery shopping, he can spot them from 50 feet away.). As for Jacob he loves dancing and music. We have the radio on at every meal and if we forget he will point to the radio from his chair. Then you ask him if he wants music to which he replies with "yup!". Turn the radio on and he starts bobbing his head along while taking bites of his grilled cheese with the same look you get in your face when you bob your head to your favorite cool tune. He also loves to get the TV remote and bring it over so you can turn it on to one of the music channels so he can dance around the living room. When he's in the wagon he'll look at me inquisitively while tapping his hand on the side of the wagon. That's his way of asking me to drum a beat on the handle while I push them after which he will once again bob his head and tap along as if his favorite jam was playing. The more time I get to spend with them the more moments I get to see and experience with them and I love every one of them...except maybe the moments when they refuse to sit in the car seat.

So enough with the me me me chapter of the book let's get on with the events of the week :

Tuesday the boys went with MC and mammie to get their 18 months shots. Sam and Jacob did fairly well and Zachary was up last. Having seen what his 2 brothers had gone through I don't think he was too fond of what was about to happen to him. That same night MC had prom and safe grad so she was gone over night. Once the boys had gone to bed I was alone with them over night but luckily for me the boys slept through the night as they usually do...or maybe I'm more of a sound sleeper than my wife and I didn't wake up when they cried their eyes out?!? What matters is that they were all fine the following morning!

Thursday Sam came home early from daycare because he was sick and got to spend some alone quality time with mommy. (Mommy note --> ONE kid is much easier let me tell you! Sam and I went for walk to some stores where I didn't have to battle with doors to go in or out, we went for a drive in the van and I just had to grab Sam, put him in the shopping cart and away I went. I only had to feed one mouth... I tell you though, I was actually a little bored just entertaining one and I'm sure he was too lol).

Saturday morning was rough early on. Around 7:30 in the morning we had to get out of the house because the boys were having a meltdown. We wound up going out for a walk for about an hour then got them ready for their very first "official" hair cut. We brought them to the Hairloft to have someone actually cut their hair and I have to say the boys did pretty good and they looked pretty handsome after getting the cut. No crying. A little bit of squirming from Jacob and Zachary but manageable.

That afternoon we went to Dia's 1st birthday party with the boys. They seemed to have a great time at the party with plenty to do. It was fun for us too but certainly a test of our parenting multitasking skills with multiples (that's a mouth full) with two adults keeping an eye on three toddlers in the midst of other kids, adults, a bouncy castle, a multilevel deck, the OCEAN, and many other things for the boys to play with, climb on and fall off of. I think the only casualty was Sam falling off the kid's picnic table he was sitting on while eating a grilled cheese but it wasn't too bad. Since the house was on the beach the boys got to play around in the water for a little bit too which they loved.

Saturday night my parents babysat for us. MC had a girls night and Moxy's and I went out with some of the boys to do guy stuff. We both had a good night and got home around 11pm which is WAY past both of our bed times and we are feeling it today. In fact my wife is napping at the moment in the lazyboy while the kids are also napping. A man's work is never done!! (I'm kidding. I took a huge nap yesterday with the kids).

Sunday Morning I got up to a nice breakfast provided by my wife and some Father's Days gifts that I am happy I got; including some cute little coupons from my wife. I also got a really cute Father's Day gift from the boys they made at daycare.

All in a all it was a good week. Thanks for giving me a chance to write my side of things.

MC's note --> This week was also my birthday week and the week of my sister's LAST CHEMO TREATMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!! We were so excited for that day to come. It was a great birthday gift! We were going to have a supper on Wednesday night for my birthday but Gab and my in-laws were sick and we couldn't risk my sister getting sick before her last treatment so we put a rain check on it. Gabe got me some St-Hubert so it made the sadness a little better. He also gave me some birthday coupons (which included alone time while he looked after the kids and one on one time with each of the boys) and I'm getting an awesome life planner calendar thingy. (https://www.erincondren.com/life-planners ) I had a really long week at work between getting my classroom all packed up and cleaned out, getting ready for Safe Grad and then graduation night. I only have 1.5 days left of school and then I'll be marking some provincial assessments for a few days after and then I'll be officially on vacation. Time to go spend some time with my boys before bedtime so I'll bid you a good week and I'll be back next week :)

Zachary loves his hats! What a cute pic this is though eh?

Taking over the waiting room at the public health clinic

Prom!!!

Having a day off with this little sick dude was fun

This is what we get when we let them feed themselves yogourt...

If you squint really hard, you'll see Jacob sitting at the end of the hallway. He was in a timeout for biting. He stayed there for the whole time and was not happy about it.