This was my last week before my return to work and with me being me, I set off to do 30 hours of work for an old boss... I know I should have used my last week of vacation to do all the things I didn't do on my long summer list but I decided to do a little bit of paid work instead... since we still haven't rented the apartment, we need a little more money so I thought I'd help out and chip in since it was work I had already done and it wasn't too difficult. So because of this, nothing too exciting happened in the week... lol. I can tell you that I stared at my summer list for way too long before putting a sad face on it and throwing it out knowing I had only accomplished like 20% of what was on it! I can say though that it wasn't totally due to my laziness but mostly due to our lack of disposable income. The painting and wallpapering I planned on doing will have to wait until we can rent the apartment and be able to breathe again a little. We thought we had it rented and then it fell through, yet again... Keep your fingers crossed that it happens soon!
This weekend Gabe and I had a lot of things we wanted to accomplish before we had to get back into the routine of my going back to work. He wanted to organise his shed and backyard and I wanted to cook and bake so that we didn't have to worry too much about food. We officially signed up for Simply For Life (well Gabe did and I tagged along) and we are still waiting for our menu but I borrowed from my brother in law's menus and we're ready for the week. In order for us to be able to truly do stuff, we had to become childrenless for the day... I suggested dispersing the kids to our family. They all agreed and were actually pretty excited. So today Zachary went with my mother and step-dad, Samuel went with my sister and her family and Jacob went with my in-laws. I asked for photo updates from my family so that I could reassure myself that they were ok and having fun. My sister and my mom have been on task and sending me good updates... Sadly, my in-laws aren't technologically advanced enough yet to be able to keep me updated with Jacob so I've lived all day not knowing what's happening with him. It was so cute/sad this morning. My mother was the first one to arrive to take away one of the boys and Jacob lost his mind when they left with Zachary. He kept pointing at the door, crying his eyes out and saying Ya-EE!!! (His version of Zachary). That's when I started having second thoughts about separating them. I started having anxiety and I think the other two boys were feeling it because they cuddled up to me which they don't often do anymore. I know it needed to happen and I know it's good for them to spend some time apart but it doesn't mean it was easy on me! I'm excited to see their reaction when they all come together again. I will pause here and write more later and then I'll be able to update you all on the Arsenault Triplet reunion!
Later...
Well that was a let down... nobody was excited about anything... except for me! Lol! It only took about 5 minutes after the reunion for them to be fighting over a toy again... lol... Oh well! One day they'll be excited to see each other right? They all had a really good time. Samuel got to jump in a trampoline, get a shopping cart all to himself, took a ride on a four wheeler, explore my sister's camper AND had KD for lunch lucky little guy! Can you tell I haven't had a cheat meal in FOUR WEEKS!?! Zachary went to the park, went shopping, and played around outside at my mother's camper. Jacob went for a walk in the trail by my in-law's place where he got to walk and run around which they don't get to do when they're with us because we'd lose track of them pretty quickly! He also went shopping and came back with pretty awesome hats for him and his brothers. He had McD's for supper AND a SUNDAE!!! haha... yeah, I'm hungry... it's ok, my hubby's gone to get me food. Oh! and they all slept over TWO HOURS!! My sister had to wake up Samuel after 2.5 hours because they had other stuff planned lol... Little buggers don't do that for me here! I guess them having their own space helps.
Well I still have stuff to do before I go back to work TOMORROW!!!! The summer went by in a blink... I'm having mixed emotions about the return to work but it'll be good to see everyone again. This year will be especially exciting because all the gang will be together again. Two of my besties were on maternity leave so we were missing a few faces but we'll all be together again tomorrow! The boss might have to separate us all... lol... You know who are the worst at meetings? TEACHERS!!! We just don't shut up!!! Lol...
Have a good end of summer week friends and wish me luck!!
My Friday afternoon clothes organisation
The boys were getting ready to go for their adventure today
Oh yeah! Here's something I did this week... Got my hair did!
Two of my accomplished tasks for today... I made: protein balls, muffins, oriental chicken fried rice, spaghetti and meatballs.
A lot of hard work went into this shed clean up!
Sam enjoying the trampoline with Gabrielle
A cart all to myself Maman!!!
Four wheelin'!!
Taking a walk with Alexie
I have no idea what's happening with Zachary's eyes here but he seems happy!
Just getting up from his long nap
The week was full as my weeks are going to start being more and more so the picture taking took a dive... well at least you all had a short read!
The boys are developing their speech more and more lately and it's amazing to see. Since their learning is equally English and French, their words are all mixed up but they understand both languages perfectly and that is something I am so proud of! I was really scared to send them to an English daycare because it's so easy to be absorbed by English here in Moncton with all the TV shows, the radio, the people, etc but they are doing amazing. (p.s., I'm not starting an English vs. French debate here because in my head, you'll always lose). My children are little language sponges and repeating everything. Jacob's new thing is: What happened? Although he says is more like: "Pup Pappened"... And he says it ALL THE TIME for EVERYTHING! Even if it that sentence has no meaning in the situation, it's always Pup Pappened? Of course, I told this to my family who listened for it all afternoon and he said it ONCE and no one heard him. The moment we step into the house, he says it, I kid you not, ten times in a row! He's like that Disney frog that only ever sang when there was no one around pissing off the owner who was trying to make money out of this singing frog!
Jacob and Zachary are finally starting to be able to say a version of Sam's name... they have a really hard time with words that begin with "S" so SAM is very difficult. So for Jacob, Sam's name is Nam and for Zachary, Sam's name is Ham... it's a start! They are starting to name things out of books and if they can't name them they repeat them. Their understanding is great and that combined with the little bit of sign language we've taught them is making our communication a little better. I can't lie though, the terrible twos are lurking... this past week has been rough after daycare. I blame it mostly on the heat and the fact that they're out of their get-home-and-go-for-a-walk-with-pépère routine. I also blame the heat for making them listless and sleepy. There were many comical "ludicrous reasons why my child is crying" moments. There were many a tantrums thrown over very silly things and a lot of separation anxiety freak outs. Our weekend was also rough but we had a good time nonetheless. We were able to get the kids to watch 5.2 minutes of a movie on Saturday afternoon. We don't often revert to TV for entertainment because when they are being reasonable tiny humans, we can entertain them with music, blocks, balls, cars or a fun game of chase and tickle but this week the TV got a lot of miles. Their current favorite is Little Baby Bum (https://www.youtube.com/user/LittleBabyBum) which is just a bunch of nursery rhymes, so we still have the music aspect to it. The Netflix movie we had tried to watch on Saturday was The Book of Life... I still don't know who won but I'm pretty sure it wasn't Channing Tatum which is sad for the leading lady... Anyways, as much as we try hard to be a screen free family (we're not there as a couple yet but when the kids are around we try super hard), this week did us in so Boob Tube Entertainment was key.
Gabe stayed home with me on Monday as it was our two year anniversary. We shipped the boys to daycare and went out for breakfast. Since we are still on our cleansing diet, we decided that breakfast was our best bet to try to stick to our diet since we were allowed eggs and bacon a few mornings a week. As a small anniversary treat, we allowed ourselves one piece of toast and a few hash browns on top of our allowed eggs and bacon. Exciting right? After breakfast we went shopping a little and then found out we had a visit for the apartment scheduled for the same evening. We therefore came home and cleaned for two hours (fun anniversary date right?). We then put an A/C unit in the boys' bedroom as their room was in the high twenties on Sunday night. We were some glad we did because this week was a scorcher! Anyways although we didn't rent the apartment that night, we had a good day together nonetheless.
Speaking of our diet, I am down 10 lbs and Gabe is down 8 lbs! Goooooo us!!!!
I've decided to take on a small part time gig next week for some extra money so this week was my last week off so I had to get some stuff done. My sister and my mom came over to be super awesomely nice and help me organise my baby stuff for the Moncton Multiples Sale (Sale Details). We separated and organized about 500 items of clothing and miscellaneous baby items. We also printed and cut up all the price tags. On Thursday I parked myself in front of the TV, put on some Netflix and tagged all day long. I was able to finish putting a price tag on mostly everything, I still have a few bins of clothes to go through that I just got from my mom's place this afternoon but I'll be done soon. My back to school shopping is all done I think... I'm sure there's something I'm missing but since we can't get into the school due to renovations, I have no idea what I need. My budget is super limited because A) we're poor and B) the teacher's supply budget fund has been abolished. The students are simply going to have to bring their own pencils this year (OH WHAT A TRAGEDY!!!!!). Seriously though, there are too many families who just can't afford those simple school supplies and we as teachers (well me anyways) always make sure that all our students have at least a writing utensil and paper and those things cost money that the schools DO NOT supply for us. Have you heard of any other job where the employees have to buy their own supply?? Anyways, I love my job and I will continue to purchase stuff to help out my students no matter what, but it was nice for a few years to feel valued as an educator... end rant!
We had a nice little surprise at Costco today! We met another set of triplets!! We were going through the aisles (I had one baby in one cart and Gab had the other two in his) and I noticed this woman pushing a cart with three little girls dressed identical who looked identical so immediately I looked at Gab and got all excited. I told him that I was going to go talk to her. I was a little apprehensive while approaching her because I always get a little annoyed when people approach me and ask questions. Anyways, she confirms that they are indeed triplet girls at which point I inform her that I also have triplets! That's when her whole reserved attitude changes and we immediately connect on a triplet mamma level. She comes to meet the boys (her girls are identical and six years old - well just about six as one of the little girls informed me) and we trade stories on our pregnancy and gestation and NICU stay... it's just something that we all have in common so we can always relate. Her girls looked amazing and so happy. The mom didn't even look tired! That gave me hope lol!
Anywho, I'll start the pics with a little video we took this afternoon of Jacob doing some independent somersaults... we laughed sooooo much... little monkey!! Here's the link : Jacob does somersaults.
Here are the rest of the pics:
Mine and Gabe's breakfast date on our anniversary!
My feet getting a podiatrist treatment
The Sale!!!
Let the organising begin!!
We had a good time at the park on Saturday morning
The boys got their first ride on the ride on mower today. They loved it!
A picture from Samuel at daycare. He woke up first and laid there quietly waiting and "read".
How cute?!?
My poor little monkey fell on his face at daycare on Friday morning...
The boys' first time having cereal with milk! They loved it!!
They are loving the large legos. Zachary's favorite thing is pulling the towers apart with his mouth...
Jacob goes between destroying and building
Samuel loves building them up as high as he can
I gave the boys a snack this morning and they all wanted to go sit with Papa, it was super cute
Selfie with Jacob... why is my face so red? Damn heat!
Gab tried to get a selfie with Sam but he kept walking away... this was the result! lol
November 2013... So during the first weekend in the NICU
with the babies, it was all very hectic with all the new machines and the
sights and sounds of our new surroundings. I didn't know what was what
and I didn't know my role and I felt in the way and I honestly didn't even feel
like the babies were mine. I still wasn't discharged and I still felt
like crap. My body was still in recovery, I walked pretty much the same way I
had at the end of my pregnancy; my back was all out of whack due to the fact
that I was no longer pregnant and my body was trying to re-adjust itself.
I could barely look at my babies because their incubators were so tall
and my back hurt so much that I had to sit down every minute, so that sucked.
I didn't understand anything that was going on, all I knew was that
Samuel was eating well, Zachary wasn't really tolerating formula (he spit up a
lot) and Jacob couldn't even digest even one millilitre of formula...
That was my first NICU experience. Since then I've been there a few times, but never inside. I walked down the long corridor I walked down every day for 8-10 times a day for a month. I rang the NICU bell to visit with the boys as they were getting older so their nurses could see their little faces again... Never inside... Yesterday was the day I went in. I will become a "buddy parent" which is a program for veteran NICU parents who go in and talk to current NICU resident parents and let them ask us all the questions they want and see if our experiences can help them. Before I can start being a buddy parent, one of my tasks was to go for a return visit to the NICU so that the first "shift" as a veteran I do isn't about MY memory lane but about the parents I'm visiting who are going through their own NICU experience. I was like: Yep, no problem, I got this. It'll be fun to see it all again! I sure as hell didn't expect to get the reaction to it I did... I went down that oh so familiar corridor without trepidation, I rang that bell excited to see who could come greet me and then the door opens and I start shaking. I look at Kim, the head nurse whom I love more than anything, I start tearing up and tell her I don't know if I can walk in. She didn't expect that from me! I was always so on the ball while I was in there. Super efficient and on a mission. I think it was the smell that did me in. You know how certain smells bring back specific memories? I used to have a shampoo I'd use that always brought me back to summer camp because I used the same shampoo every summer for 5 years... Or the smell of freshly cooked white bread brings me right back to my grandmother's kitchen as I would wait with anticipation for the fresh toast that I would lather with butter and peanut butter... Well the NICU has a NICU perfume that brings all your memories rushing back to you. Kim didn't know what smell I was talking about but since it's her job, that smell is so familiar to her that she's just assimilated it. I promise that every NICU parent would know that smell anywhere. Anyways, I finally cross the threshold, turn to the left to face the sink where I would wash my hands 15+ times a day and as I place my hand underneath the automatic soap dispenser, more memories come rushing back... that automatic soap dispenser sound... crazy how sounds also bring it back. Kim leads me to behind the counter so I can have a seat and try to take it all in before I start my tour. Since I was on the "other" side of the counter, I finally felt like my body could relax and my mind remembered that I wasn't there to see my itty bitty babies, my itty bitty babies were happy healthy big boys who were running around at daycare at the moment. The panicky feeling was finally leaving and I could try to think back about the happy moments. I then walked around the unit to see where I had my numerous breakdowns and where I would hang out with my fellow NICU moms (shout out to you Jill & Isabelle!). I went to visit my old hangout (i.e. the corner where my boys were housed) and I got lucky enough to glance at a itty bitty baby who was bigger than my boys were at birth and I couldn't believe my eyes! There's no way my big boys were so little, just impossible!! But they were... and now look at them!! It was a rough hour but I made it through and now I know that the next time I go, it will be for the parents who are living it for the first time and hopefully I'll be able to tell them that their itty bitty babies won't always be itty bitty and that it's ok to cry. I'm excited for this new journey and I'm thankful to the hospital that will allow me to do that.
This week also marked my last week with the boys part time at daycare. They start full time again tomorrow. As much as I was dreading it at the beginning of summer, I'm so glad it turned out the way it did! Not only did I have more time with my boys but since my sister and my mom were so kind to offer their help, it forced us to see each other more. Our lives are so busy that we don't always get to spend time together just the two or three of us. I truly cherished every one of those days and I'm beyond grateful for their help... I don't know what I would do with my family and Gabe's parents... I've said it before and I'll say it again, these kids are being raised by a tiny village and although Gabe and I are the parents, these kids will have so many people close to them that they will never want for love. We have been truly blessed... thank you again...
We went to an awesome wedding on Saturday night (our third if you've been keeping track) and had so much fun hanging out with our friends. It was rough because we're still being sooooooo good at our new healthy habits and they had all this wonderful food! They had a SMORES BAR!!! What?!? And then later in the night... a freaking POUTINE BAR & NACHO BAR!!!! Can you say kill me now? I took a picture of a friend's poutine and left the party. I promise, it wasn't just because of the poutine and nacho bar, I still had to get up at 6am, but it had a lot to do with it. I did have a few gin tonics though (DGTs Ains!!) and man did they ever taste good! It was a toonie bar so that was great for our poor asses! I could have had ten they were so good! I wouldn't have been able to be on the ball today though so I stopped at three... lol.
Today was our now annual photo shoot in Victoria park. We got the bench picture first because we knew that the way the boys are running around like crazy monkeys now we wouldn't be able to get a shot we wanted if we waited too long. We had a great morning and the 506 pictures my brother in law are so wicked that I have no idea how I'm going to chose my favorites! I'll post a few of them below.
Oh... Gabe just informed me that I needed to let you know that he just found poop in the washer... fun stuff right? Such is life with babies!!
That's pretty much it folks! I hope you all had a good week and I'll leave you with some pics:
This was the time when Sam wouldn't let us shove a whole banana in his mouth.
My cousin Shawna came for a visit :)
Jacob thinks he can drive Papa's van...
Zachary was hoping to get in too!
We went to play in the ball pit but the boys weren't sure and there were other older children who scared them...
Having an ice cream and loving it
Fun times at the wedding
Alicia and I looking fabulous!
The poutine I couldn't eat... I shouldn't say couldn't but chose not too...
Today at the pool at Beausejour camping
We all looked so cute in our bathing caps
"Lucky" Gabe didn't need one... lol
Looking at iPad pics and loving it... until they tried to take over...
Thug life much?
Zachary loving life
They really wanted in
Jacob
Samuel
This is what happens when you try to take a picture with 5 children...
My sister's beautiful family
Running around the tree with Papa
Action shot!
Off center but I loved this pic!
Mamie with her grand-triplets
My sister with her silly daughters
That's all folks! Sorry for so many pics but I had such a hard time choosing my favs!!!
