Coming into the home stretch

I start back to school today and am so glad to see a light at the end of the tunnel. I will be taking three classes this semester, which is one more than I planned to take. But because certain classes are offered so seldom, I felt it necessary to take this third class this semester for fear it wouldn't be offered next semester. Needless to say, I am taking on a lot! Because I am near the end, my classes are more difficult which is an added stress.

The good news is I will only have one more class to take in the Spring, so my last semester will not be as stressful. It'll take me nearly five years to finish a two-year program but the way they design it, it is impossible to finish in two years because the classes are often times not offered every semester (and certainly not in the Summer) and if they are offered, they are only offered one time that semester. The students have to be EXTREMELY flexible to get their schedules to work with the school schedule. This has become quite a problem for me and many other students when it comes to the end and their aren't as many classes needed to take. And besides all that, I did take a year and a half off to carry the triplets, deliver them and get through that first year after they were born.

I will be going four days a week for a few hours on those days and my classes are in the late afternoon/evening so I still don't miss much time with the babies. I have three babysitters lined up and one back-up. I really appreciate these four ladies willingness to help me finish school despite their busy schedules. It really means a lot to me.

Please pray for me during these next four months as I take on this big load. :)

Learning new things

This morning, the babies just showed us that they can point to some of their body parts. They pointed to...
...feet
...ears
...nose
...mouth

We are working on some others but this is it for now.

They are also doing pretty good with their fork and spoon. We've been working on this for quite a while but we still have a while before they have mastered this skill. We are also really working on not throwing our utensils, cups or food and once this is under control, we will introduce plates and bowls. It is time for the throwing of food and dishes to stop - I have let it go on long enough!

Tyler has learned how to climb down the stairs - he actually mastered this skill several weeks ago. Didn't take him long!

Whitney continues to master the art of walking. I haven't updated on that in a while... Whitney had started walking some but still didn't walk very much. After my last visit with ECI last week, in a matter of just a few days, Whitney started "taking off". The ECI woman gave me some great tips to strengthen her muscles and help her get out of the habit of being on her knees and into the habit of getting on her feet. She is now walking much more and doing great.

We are also learning how to follow instructions or should I say we are teaching them how to follow instructions better. They have already followed instructions some but we are trying to improve. :)

In other news, we also have several new teeth coming in. I've lost count again but Whitney and Tyler only have a few more teeth to cut before they will be finished cutting teeth for a while, until the second molars come in. Hannah's teeth don't come through as quickly so, she has several more teeth to cut. I'm sure they will be glad when this is over, as will I.

Little Craig and Little Amy's

We were playing dress-up yesterday while Mommy got ready for her date night. I had these two black necklaces for both of the girls. The reason I had two is because they come straight from Hawaii while there on our honeymoon. They give the leis when going to different events and I just happened to have two. Then I wanted to find something for Tyler to play in and I decided since the girls were being "little Amy's", Tyler needed to be a "little Craig".

This little girl with an afro is becoming more of a mini-me than I care to admit. Man oh man, is she strong-willed. She also has my curly curls and dry skin.

Wearing Daddy's AT&T toboggan. When Daddy got home and saw the game we were playing he said, "No, no, no - don't ever work for AT&T."
My little leg-less child. That's what she looks like a lot of times when she walks around on her knees.
The group shot didn't go over so well... Tyler and Hannah wanted to "sing" through the group picture taking.

**See below, two new posts.**

Tyler's mohawk

Because of the move, we have been extra busy and have not had the chance to get Tyler's hair cut. The last time it was "cut" it was actually done by me and Craig. We decided to just buzz it off with the shavers being summer and all. We decided to do this again except this time, in the middle of our shaving, the shaver went dead and needed to be re-charged. I couldn't find the charge cord so he had to go with a mohawk for a day. It was initially shaved in the evening so the next day we all took a trip to Target (yes, I took my child out in public looking like that) to get some more shavers. We got home and finished shaving his head and here is the final product.

New words, new signs and new habits

I've never done a "words" post before because they haven't really talked much at all until recently. They still aren't saying much yet but there vocabulary is increasing. Here are some of the more recent words they say.

Ball (Ba ba ba ba ba) - Whitney and Tyler
Book (Ba ba ba ba) - Whitney
Dog (Da Da da da) - All
Shoes (sha sha sha sha) - All
Poopy (pa pa) - Tyler
PaPaw (Paa paa) - Tyler
Mommy (Ma ma) - All
Daddy (Da da) - All
Hi (ha ha) - Whitney
Cat (cat) - Hannah
What's that (dat dat dat) - Whitney

I'm sure there are more but this is all I can think of right now.

We just recently started working with them on a few basic signs to help them better communicate with us. Whitney is my best signer by far. She can sign sleep, eat and drink. Tyler can sign sleep and drink. Hannah can sign drink but still prefers scream and cry for her drink rather than sign for it. We also continue to practice eating with spoons and have been learning to eat with forks for a few weeks now.

Also, Tyler and Whitney are really starting to enjoy giving us kisses. Hannah loves to hug Lacy (the dog). Whitney and Hannah also love to dance. I have a little song I sing to them - singing their name basically and they almost always start swaying side to side immediately. It is so cute.

Getting brave

Many of you have asked from time to time, if the babies are still on two naps and when will we be moving to one nap. Well, that day has come. Based on their fussy behaviors, I think they were starting to get really bored being kept "prisoner" in our house. They often times "tell" me they want to leave by patting on the door. Also, they always get so excited when we put their shoes on them to go "bye bye".

They have usually done pretty well with one nap on Sundays when we go to church. I still think they do need or want two naps but we all need a change - to be able to get out of the house more often and that is next to impossible, being on two naps. I think this will also help with my school schedule when I start back to school in a few weeks.

So, during this transition, I've been getting out more with them in the mornings when they would normally be sleeping. They have done pretty well. We haven't really went to "play" yet, doing things like mall play areas, parks or splash parks. I haven't gotten that brave yet. But we have been running errands doing things out of the house but still keeping them somewhat confined in a cart of some sort. We've gone to Target, which we've done many times but I actually took ALL 3 of them with me to the grocery store this morning and that was interesting. It is not easy trying to concentrate on what food to get with so many distractions. But it went fairly well and we may start doing this on a regular basis. And it sure does free up the little bit of "family time" we have each week to actually do things together rather than do nothing but work and run errands separately while the other one watches the babies.

I've loved having one longer nap because it gives me more time to get stuff done without interruption but not getting my first break until after lunch has been a difficult thing for me to adjust to. :) I know, it will all work out in the end.

**More new blog posts below.**

**Updated** 33 - The new magic number!

**Update**

I tell ya, these teeth come in so fast, I can't hardly keep the most recent blog updates on teeth updated. Hannah actually has 10 teeth, including 2 of her one year molars (both on top). So, 33 is the new magic number. :)

So I haven't given a teeth update in a while and we are long overdue - we've been cutting teeth left and right. I routinely check their mouths for new teeth but have lost count a while ago.

Tyler now has 12 teeth, including all 4 of his one year molars.

Whitney has 11 teeth, including 3 (2 on top and 1 on bottom) of her one year molars.

Hannah has 9 teeth, including 2 of her one year molars (both on top).

So, that totals 32 teeth, which is the same as my age. I think that is kinda ironic. :) They are doing pretty well with their teething; they are a little fussier than when the smaller teeth were coming in but overall, they are doing remarkably well.

**Be sure to check below for another recently posted blog.**

Guess who's walking! Such a big girl!

Whitney and I were working quite a bit with her walking a couple of days ago. I rarely am able to get her motivated enough to walk this much, but I have seen her grow increasingly more motivated the past few days. I am so thrilled about this mainly so she can keep up with her siblings and also so her poor knees and tops of her feet will get a break. The carpet here is very coarse and the grout in the tile in our house isn't filled flush with the top of the tile which results in cutting the tops of her feet. I've been putting her in socks and/or shoes along with pants with knee pads and will be so glad to not have to do this because it's just too hot for pants.

I took four videos and planned to share all of them because they are just too cute not to, but I have been having some technical difficulty getting them to load. I have been working on this for several days with no luck, so I think I'll try to get video of it again and load it from my camera to my computer differently next time.

Stay tuned for video of my big girl! She is so proud of herself as are we.

Randomness

Okay, so its been forever since I posted pictures or gave updates on the babies so here goes...

This was at the old house right before we moved when we had HFMD including 103+ temperatures. Tyler was so hot we needed to cool him off.This was our first walk in the new neighborhood. We have a huge gazebo and pond at the entrance of our neighborhood, so we stopped here to feed the ducks.

Then we made a trip to the playground. Whitney rocking on the star.
Hannah didn't like it so much.
Tyler swinging in the HUGE swing.
Playing around the house. The kids are starting to enjoy climbing onto every box left on the floor.
Tyler on his way up. All three of them were taking turns climbing on the box as well as climbing on two at a time but I couldn't manage to get any pictures of it.
Tyler loving on his favorite stuffed animal, the tiger!
Another cute one of Tyler - lounging on the floor with the pillow. Hannah saw me snapping a few pics of Tyler and HAD to jump into the picture.
Whitney not happy about something.


A trip to the new playhouses at the new shopping center in Allen, The Village. This place is so nice. They have several fun playhouses for kids to play in as well as an air conditioned train for the kids to run through and play in. You can also rent it out for private parties. And the whole place is fenced in, which is fabulous!

This is the air conditioned train...

We have the bank...
The gas station/service station...
The train station...
The fire station...
Daddy showing them how to put the fire out.
Waiting with Daddy for their train.

Inside the train
Making a deposit at the bank with Mommy
Paying for our gas with Mommy.

The play area also has this fun little maze for the kids to run through. Hannah is headed for Austin

Tyler headed to the Big DWhitney, our local Allen gal.
Exploring through the maze with Daddy.