Goodbyes and new findings!

Last week was such a busy week!  I'm hoping to breathe a little more this week... Last Monday I traveled with my sister and brother in law to attend my mémère's wake and funeral.  We came home on Tuesday after the funeral so it was a quick trip.  I left the boys with my hubby because I just didn't want my mémère's final goodbye to be the triplet show.  I also wanted to be able to grieve properly with my family.  Gabe did good with the boys all on his own if you're wondering.  My always amazing in-laws were on hand of course.  I came home to boys who didn't even seem to have missed me one bit lol.  As sad as the trip was, it was nice to see my maternal family.  I don't get to see them very often and it just makes me realize how awesome they are.  The saddest part was seeing my aunts and uncle grieving the loss of their mom after having grieved for their sister not a month before.  Between my sister's diagnostic, the loss of her sister and now her mother, my mom has had a rough year so far.  I'm hoping the last 5 months bring more happy news in her life.  When I told her just that, she asked if I were pregnant.  I laughed but deep inside I almost wish I were!  I keep seeing my triplet mom friends being pregnant again and I'm actually a little jealous... Maybe I've already forgotten how rough my first year was?  Maybe I'll do some light reading and remind myself through this blog how I don't want another baby!  Besides, the money just isn't there even if we were crazy enough to want another!

On Thursday night I had to say yet another goodbye (she'd rather I say "see you later").  My co-worker Darla is leaving our amazing province to go back to her Saskatchewan home.  She was one of the unfortunate AMAZING teachers who got screwed by the province's decision to cut.  Our school will be a little less educated for the loss of her.  I'll miss her dearly and I was glad to be able to go have a night out with her.  My heart is sad but I know Facebook will keep us close!

Saturday we drove to Rogersville for my father in law's family reunion to show off the boys.  They had a great time running around the restaurant with balloons.  They were the talk of the room.  We changed them into their PJs and headed back home in the rain.  Zachary was not having a good moment (he was crying uncontrollably) so I got Gabe to pull over in the pouring rain so I could go sit with him.  This didn't just require a simple change of seating, we had to run to the back of the van, I hopped in and he had to bring the stow and go seat back up while getting soaked!  Zachary was soothed almost right away so that was nice.  We've taken to sit in the back of the van where we have the view of all three babies when they're cranky, need extra love (like Zachary did) or when we don't want them to sleep after a morning at the park!  We normally sit back there and sing random kid songs until we get home.  My brother in law doesn't sing so when he was on deck, he just made random faces/noises/hand shakes and it kept them entertained.  If they fall asleep, even for 5 minutes, it can ruin the whole afternoon nap and trust me, we need them to nap!  They hadn't been napping well last week so we don't want anything else to mess with that!

After we got back from Rogersville and put the kids to bed,  I went to my friend Erika's bachelorette party.  I was the oldest one there and felt it.  Every girl there was wearing a super cute little black dress (I'm so old I didn't even know this was a requirement for a bachelorette party).  I showed up in jogger leggings and a tank top.  They were super tan and made up, hair down ready to party... and I was... let's just say NOT.  Oh well, I still had a good time, made some new acquaintances and took my first limo ride.  I had to drive home later and had to get up early to tend to my litter so I didn't get into too much of the drink but the white wine was flowing and the ladies were loving life.  My friend Josée had the limo party going with her awesome DJ skills and all I saw were smiles on the bride to be so I KNOW she won't forget her night.

Best moment of the week?  WE FOUND A PARK FOR THE BOYS!!!  The Dieppe Rotary park is DA BOMB DIGGATY Y'ALL!!!  Most of the ground is made of re-purposed rubber so it's super soft.  There is only ONE play structure that the boys are a little too little for and there's a splash pad right there.  The park is mostly surrounded by a gate or the woods and we were able to manage and watch the boys go crazy with even just two of us.  First time we went was with my sister and brother in law so there were three of us and that was perfect and we were able to relax a little.  I've gone back three times since... that's how much I love that park!  I've been searching for a good play park for the boys for MONTHS!  I shouldn't advertise it too much because the amount of people who go is manageable.  The amount of people at Centennial Park is crazy and I would lose my boys within seconds.  It may seem trivial to most of you but the fact that I've found what I've been looking for and the boys love it is going to make August that much better!  I'll probably go back every day I have the boys so if you want to join the fun, we'd love to see you there!  We've already had one play date!  It's hard to have adult interaction when you're watching your littles but we managed a few!

A bit about the boys... we've seen Samuel and Jacob dance before and Zachary was always a little bit more reserved about his dance moves.  He was more of the bob your head kind of dancer but this morning, he gave us a show!  His arms were flailing and his hips were swaying and his head was shaking.  It was amazing!  He was so funny we laughed until we cried.  I so wish I had a video to show you all but we were enjoying the moment too much.  Samuel has been having a few rough days, not eating much of his lunch or supper (even refused CORN! Not like him...)  He also didn't nap well at all last week, like 45 minutes not well.  Although this weekend it was much better so I'm hoping he's just going through something, maybe a growth spurt?  Jacob?  Well he's being his regular clown self.  As we were driving home the other day, we were listening to Avicii's "Hey Brother" and I swear Jacob was trying to sing along.  We must have listened to it like 6-8 times in a row they loved it so much.

So I've talked about my weight before and I'm not going to bore you all about it all over again because this blog is supposed to be about my children but sometimes I like to take some time to talk about me... well the update isn't a good one.... I SUCK!  However, Gabe and I have decided to start a program (SFL) TOGETHER!  That's the key isn't it?  To have your partner in life be your partner in weight loss?  We might want to kill each other at times and our hunger and want of the bad stuff might make it worse but if we don't do it now, when will we?  When the boys are 5 and are already picking up our bad habits?  I looked at their food day the other week and they had nothing but beige... this made me sad.  I don't want to deprive my children of the amazingness of food but I also don't want them to be obese at 3 (we've seen those kids and unless it's a medical condition it's totally THE PARENTS' FAULT!!!).  Day one was today and it was rough but we made it through.  My stomach is screaming for the wings I ate last night and the bread I saw my boys eat today but I just choose to pretend that it's my dying fat cells are the ones screaming.  This will be a tough week, especially with my brother's wedding in PEI coming up this weekend but we have to power through!

Alright, enough about me... here are some pictures:

Beautiful Campellton.  We were in a hotel room, I had whole bed to myself and I was able to sleep in.  Did I sleep well?  Yes!  Did I sleep in?  Nope!  6am wide awake!!  Booooo... 

Sugarloaf Hill in Campbellton

Samuel enjoying the sing songs of Little Baby Bum (another musical gem we found on YouTube)

Zachary snacking on his feet and beautiful Jacob reading in the sun light. 

Gabe all decked out to go spray the paper wasp nest.  I got stung earlier that day (my first sting) and they needed to vacate! 

Beautiful Darla.  I'll miss you darling! 

More of my awesome co-workers having a night out with us

She'll also miss NB

My beautiful niece showing off her face paint

The boys are loving playing with the hose

All dressed the same... doesn't happen often but how cute are they??

At the Babineau family reunion having fun with balloons. 

My sad little buddy.  He held my hand the whole way home... **heart melts**

Playing guitar with Papa

Our newfound park! 

Having a snack between playtimes. 

Driving the car

Gabe and I's BEFORE pic... it'll be a hard road but I promise we'll show you a skinnier AFTER

Little baby bums watching little baby bums :) 

Have a good week everyone!

Let me tell you about our boys...

...but first let me tell you about my amazing maternal grandmother who passed away last night.  She was surrounded by most of her 12 children when she did and I hope she knew.  My grandmother lived almost a full 84 years and was simply ready to go see her husband and daughter on the other side.  She had a bit of a rebellious past and every time I think of it, I smile and try to imagine my quiet solemn grandmother standing up for her 17 year old self back in 1949.  She, herself a French only speaking woman met my IRISH English only speaking grandfather, fell in love, got pregnant and married.  Yes, in that order!  Can you imagine the drama that this caused in a small rural community back in that era?  They could hardly speak each other's language but my grandfather (yes, the man), learned French for her and they made twelve beautiful children together (but who needs language to make babies ;) ) lol...  My grandfather was a hard working man and true to his Irish roots, very strict but loved his family to the core.  My grandmother was a strong willed woman (who wouldn't have to be to raise 12 children in a 4 bedroom house).  My funniest memory of my grandmother didn't even happen to me.  As I've said, her grandchildren only know the quiet part of her but we always heard stories from our mother that she was anything but quiet while they were growing up.  Anyways, the story goes that my sister and mother were playing cards with her one day and at one point said to her: "Toi ma p'tite maudite, je vais te passer à travers du mur!" which loosely translates to: "You my little shit, I'm going to throw you through the wall!".  My sister was apparently so flabbergasted, never having heard once my grandmother raise her voice!  One thing is for sure, she's lived a lot of life and she's loved a lot of people and those people love her just as much in return.  So here's to you ma belle Mémère, may you throw many people through walls up there in heaven... I will miss your amazingly soft cheeks as I pressed my lips on them as I told you every time I saw you how much I loved you... Repose-toi... xox

One of the last pics with my mom and her mom... xox

This was a while ago because my niece is now 10 but look at how radiant my Grandmother is... this is one of my favorite pictures. 

My grandma surrounded by most of her children (2 are missing)

When my mémère met the boys.  She was so proud of them!  Look at how tiny they were!! 

Now to the boys...

Let's start with Jacob...

Jacob  (or as his brothers call him Ca-Cob) is currently either just shy of 20lbs or just getting there.  He was the smallest boy at birth (coming in at a whopping 3lbs 1oz) and he is now in the middle.  He still looks tiny to me, but he's also the taller than Zachary.  He, like his brothers, still fit into a 9 month waist but a 12 month length so it's really hard to find pants that fit them.  He was my little monkey when he was born and he's lived up to his name.  He was the first to climb up on his baby jail, he was the first to crawl and the first to walk.  He's always trying to find ways to be the first at stuff.  He is a pleaser but a teaser.  He will often steal his brothers' toys but as soon as we talk to him and ask him to give the toy back or at least one of the multiple ones he's run away with, he's pretty quick to hand it over to his brothers.  He's curious, always needs to know what's going on and often the first one on the scene when one of his brothers is crying.  One of the things he was last to do was bite.  He's now the worst.  He's also decided to be a smart guy as he won't repeat anything we try to get him to say it because I think he's saying that since we've already said it, what's the point of him repeating it.  He just says "Yeah".  For example, we'll say: Jacob, can you say (or sign) "Help Please" as he's struggling to put something on his spoon and he'll just say "Yeah" with a huge smile and nod.  He was also our little tough guy but he's slowly becoming less and less tough.  It seems that now he'll cry at the touch of the wall and won't get over it for long periods of time.  He gets upset over something and holds a grudge.  We always have a very hard time putting him in his car seat and if he starts to cry, he'll normally be crying for the whole car ride.  On the other hand, when our little dude is happy, he's super happy and he LOVES to make everyone laugh.  He dances like a monkey with his arms swinging high and low and he will make the funniest craziest faces that just make us burst out laughing.  Jacob is not a lover of fruit or vegetables.  The only way we can get him to eat fruit or veggies is in his morning smoothies, otherwise, it's beige/brown all the way.  He'll eat bananas once in a while and that's about it. He'll even spit out the fruitty bits in the yogourt I try to feed him!! Little bugger!  He's lucky we love him to pieces because sometimes his refusal to eat anything healthy drives me up the wall!!  We do love our monkey though!  

Next, we have Samuel...

Samuel was my baby A in my belly but came out second making him baby B in the hospital which got confusing at first but we quickly figured it out.  He was the second heaviest at 3lbs 5.5 oz.  He's now the biggest (most likely about 21 lbs now) and the tallest.  I love his bigger belly because when I put pants on him, they normally stay on his waist!  He's the observer.  When Jacob and Zachary come play with me in the rain, he'll stay back, laugh, and watch.  When we play in the kiddie pool, he'll put one foot in, be satisfied and go do his own thing. He doesn't like to get too dirty or too wet.  He's also not a huge fan of water (which makes me sad) but I'll break him yet!  He hates to see his brothers cry and he will always come give them a hug and a rub on the back and say "C'est ok!".  Even if his brothers are mad at him because he's the one who made them cry, he'll come back to make sure they're ok.  Sam is sneaky where he'll come take a toy from J or Z and just sneak away and once he's safe, he'll run away to hide and get chased by his crying brothers.  When we ask him to give it back, it's always "NON!" and then when we take it away to give it back to whomever he stole it from, it's as if we took away his brand new puppy.  He gets so distraught... poor little guy!  He also bites when he doesn't get his way (mostly when his brothers have a toy he didn't want until they started playing with it) or when they're in his way to food.  Samuel is our most talkative of the three.  He'll repeat pretty much anything we say to him.  He's even starting to put two to three words together.  We'll even catch him at time saying both the English and French words one after the other like today he said "Butterfly, Papillon".  It's super cute.  When Sam eats, he doesn't chew... He just shoves it all in his mouth and makes the sign for more (simply because he can't say it as his mouth is full of unchewed food)...  When he can't fit the whole piece in, he'll take a bite, eat it and try again until it's small enough to go in.  When he misjudges the size of the piece, he'll use his hand to shield his mouth so he can chew and food won't fall out.  I used to panic over him choking all the time and try to teach him to bite but when I try to teach him or withhold food from him, the "taking away a cute puppy" cry fest starts and I just gave up.  When I know he's shoving too much in, I'll sneak part of it away and wait until he's swallowed to give it to him.  His mouth could be bursting with 10 pieces of Eggo but the moment I put another in front of him, he'll try to shove it in!  He also loves to dance, he loves get tickled and loves stickers.  We love HIM to pieces too...

Last but not least... our Zachary!

Zachary (or Ca-EE as his brothers call him) was our biggest baby at birth weighing 3lbs 8oz.  He's now our smallest and shortest.  I don't know how or when but his brothers surpassed him.  First it was Samuel and then it was Jacob.  Jacob isn't much bigger than Zachary; they are always within ounces of one another but Jacob's taller so he still looks smaller than Zachary.  He's our drama queen and the first to throw himself on the floor for a tantrum over not much.  That kid also has serious anger issues... When he's upset, it doesn't matter what toy we try to give him, he'll hurl it as hard as he can while grunting... Let me tell you though when Zachary laughs or smiles, it's with so much heart that it can lighten up a whole room.  Zachary is always very proud of himself whenever he does anything right.  He'll go throw a Kleenex in the garbage and turn around with the proudest smirk on his face.  He's our little soccer player.  He loves kicking around balls and he's surprisingly very accurate.  You can often hear him say "KICK THAT BALL" right before he'll kick his ball and then laugh as he's running after it.  He'll eat and try pretty much anything we put in front of him.  He loves grapes, bananas, strawberries, pears, you name it.  He'll often eat his fruits before anything else on his plate.  Can you say NOT JACOB!!  lol.  Zachary HATES getting his bum changed and we have to pretty much restrain him to get a bum change out of him.  He loves running back and forth on our couch and throwing himself in the cushions.  That's when he laughs the loudest.  He's not much of a cuddler, and it may come from when he was a baby and Pépére would walk around with him facing outwards.  He'll hardly ever cuddle with me facing me, every time he wants to be cuddled, it's glued to me, but he needs to be facing out.  He also used to be my best sleeper, never even waking up when his brothers did in the middle of the night.  This has changed of late and it makes me all out of sorts because normally between Gabe and I we could settle the boys (S & J) when they woke each other up at night but now Zachary decided he wants to join in the crying! What!?!  Not OKAY little buddy!  Maybe it was just a phase (please let it be just a phase!!!!).  If he'd wake up, he'd normally just appear annoyed, it's like I could see his eyes roll and his thoughts saying "Would you just shut them up Maman!".  Zachary is also very task and goal oriented.  When he has something in mind, not much will deter his focus (unless there's a puppy on the TV).  As exasperated as he can make us, we love HIM to pieces too...

I'm sure there are things that I missed that distinguish them but as I say to pretty much every strangers that talk to us:  YES, they DO have very distinct personalities!  They have from birth!

Here are some pics:

We had a lovely play date with our Ho twin friends Max and Xavier!

Jacob wanted to know why I kept putting that little bud in my ear... I never got it back... 

Climbing some stairs

Last time these babes were in a church they were in my belly... 

Church selfie!! 

Yes, Goldfish crackers is the way to get our sons to keep quiet during a wedding.  You could hear them say "Oh-Oh" after every song ended (or reading) and "Encore (again)" to try to get them to start again... cuties! 

Hanging with Papie

Playing with the big trees in front of the church

Zachary & Papa

Peek-a-boo Sam! 

Samuel, ever the observer, playing with a bug

At the reception for the wedding of my step cousin Alison and her new hubby Justin (who are both identical twins!!)

The family at the reception! Missing my mom who was with her mom and if you look to your right you can see Gab's elbow...

The way we try to divide their Cheerios... doesn't always work! 

They also like to eat them like dogs... 

The boys are having fun playing with the Shop Vac.  Zachary was having an off morning so he spent the rest of the morning snuggled with me and big blankets. 

Jacob was either analyzing something or upset... his eyes get small like that for both. 

Gabe was teaching the boys to dance with fist pumps on their morning walk.  Although it looks like he was the only one fist pumping, he assures me the boys joined him at one point... 

 Have a good week y'all!

Call your grandparents if they're still around my friends and tell them you love them...

Even through our rainy days of late...

What will they remember?

My step-father and I were reminiscing tonight about the time that the whole family (My mom, my sister, my step-dad, my two step-brothers and I) were living in the garage that was temporarily made into a livable space.  The six of us were crammed into a garage that my mom and step-dad converted into a three bedroom space.  I shared a single bed with my sister for close to a year.  I bring this up not for pity but because as he was talking about all the things we didn't have (like a bath or any sort of privacy) or the constantly leaking roof or etc, and all I could recall were the good memories I had of that year.  My step-brother worked for Pizza Hut so every Friday night we'd go rent a movie at Blockbuster and we'd get some Pizza Hut for supper.  We'd gather in the kitchen to eat our pizza and watch the movie on the 28'' TV that was mounted (MacGyvered I should say) in the top corner of our "kitchen/dining area/place where only the table fit".  I remember the wall by the phone that was just gyprock that we'd leave messages for each other on and that had all our important phone numbers.  I clearly remember the request line for C103 was up there, a few of mine and my sister's boyfriends (some had big scratch marks across as we lived out our teenage love lives) and many free hand drawn Marvel heroes drawn by my step-brothers who are amazing artists. I remember all of us in my parents' bedroom that had their bed on the floor (it was the only thing that fit in that room) and hearing my mom swear for the first time in front of us and all of us cracking up pee our pants out loud. I'm sure it must have sucked to share a bathroom and a shower with 5 other people and I'm sure it was probably uncomfortable to share a single bed with my sister but I don't remember ANY of that stuff... I just remember the good times.  So tonight, while the boys were having a we-only-had-a-one-hour-nap-today meltdown, I decided to take them outside in the rain and run around with them.  Sure their clothes would get wet, sure I would get wet, but the boys sure had fun.  We came in, got them undressed and found some clothes in the future clothes bins I keep at my mom's house, their wet clothes went in the dryer and all was well (except for the fact that they had wanted to stay outside so the tantrum started over again...)  They probably won't remember any of this as they're only 20 months old, but my plan is to keep doing silly things with them as I know it's the good stuff they'll remember.  Isn't that what's important?  Not the leaky roofs or cramped spaces but the traditions we will make with our family.

It was a rough afternoon!  Not only were they super tired, but we were pretty much trapped inside because of the rain.  I'm glad we went to my mother's house to at least give them a change of scenery and have more hands on deck!  We came home, changed their bums and straight to bed they went as they just couldn't handle life anymore!  They're all a little sick with a cold and we think that Zachary has a hard time breathing when he's sleeping because he sucks his thumb which prevents air flow through his mouth so his stuffed up nose is the only thing breathing... that's probably what woke him up one hour into their afternoon nap.  During the naps, if one baby wakes up, it's over for the other two so everyone's nap was cut short today which was the catalyst to the afternoon tantrums.  

We had a great week with the boys except for little Jacob who's being a super sensitive don't take stuff from me or tell me no little boy.  He'll get upset and cry about something and his anger and screeching can last for 30 minutes... until we finally find something to get him to snap out of it.  My sister came to help me out on Tuesday and my mom met up with us at the park in the afternoon and my mom came to help me out on Thursday.  I'm glad I have an amazing family who's willing to give me a hand because I think I'd go nutso alone, even if it's only two days a week.  They're a lot of work at this age!

Yesterday Gabe and I took them to the market and to the Mosaiq Multicultural Festival in the morning.  The boys went bouncing in the bouncy castle very early before all the big kids could get there and we watched some Russian, Indian and Asian dancers at the market.  We went back in the afternoon and we watched more dancers, saw a few Chinese dragons, got their arabic name written on their arm, they played a hula hoop game (or tried very hard) and petted a bird that the military tent men had just randomly found wounded.  Of course they screamed "PUPPY" every 5 minutes and they just loved all the colors, people, smells and sounds.  Creating great memories one day at a time...

Here are the pictures of the week:

I dusted off the triple stroller to take them (and myself) for walk in the early morning.

This is a picture of my solo walk through Mapleton Park... how pretty eh?

We went to see the ducks at Centennial park on Thursday afternoon

Playing with our bubble wands

Jacob having a moment with Pépère

We took over the bouncy castle.  I love Sam's face in this one

And I love the running pose of Zachary in this one

The hula-hoop game... it was pretty interesting! 

Running in the rain with Zachary and Jacob.  Samuel came out once but is less interested in getting wet...

We tried to sit them down to watch a cartoon to calm them down... this worked for 3 minutes.  Imagine having to force your children to watch TV... and they still wouldn't do it... This makes me happy that they're not TV dependent and sad that I don't really have the TV at my disposal as a babysitter helper...lol

Have a good week everyone! xox