Crazy Ladies...

I know it's been a while since I've blogged, but we've had a busy few weeks... Let me catch everyone up. Stevie had a follow up pulmonologist appointment this week - this was a 6 month follow up to see how she was doing. The last time we met with him, she hadn't been on the albuterol or pulmocort (steroid) for a few months, but now she hasn't been on them since last June! Which is huge... Knock on wood, the girls haven't been real sick this winter (I'm sure I've just jinxed us), but regardless Stevie hasn't had to have any breathing treatments yet. This time last year the girls had been sick for the past 4 months and Stevie had already been hospitalized once. We are just going to continue to keep them quarantined, until this summer :-) It's just not worth what we went through last year. So, on the positive side, the Doctor said she is doing great, looked at some recent X-rays and thinks he only needs to see her one more time (in another 6 months - assuming she continues to not show signs of breathing issues). Hopefully she will be cleared after this next appointment. Stevie may always suffer from some sort of asthma or may need periodic breathing treatments, but it's shocking to see how far she's come in just a few short months. We'll keep our fingers crossed that she continues to progress!

All of the girls are excelling with their EI, Bria is saying more and more every week/day - her new favorite word is "no." And I'm becoming afraid that when you can actually understand what they say that Andy and I may go insane from all the talking and questions.  Every day the girls are also becoming more and more different. Although at some point I still want to do a DNA test to really know 100% for sure that they are truly fraternal, their personalities certainly tell me they are since they do seem so different. Our friend, Justin summed it up pretty well when he said today that we could pretty much leave Bria by herself all day with some cherrios and some milk. Bria is just a good little girl and basically 98% cool. She has a few moments, but are very rare and she is just so happy all the time. I won't mention the other two on the "coolness" spectrum, because they will feel bad when they read this later in life :-) But suffice it to say that neither Aven or Stevie could be left alone (not that we would do this with any of our kids at this point - no need to contact CPS!)

I've taken the opportunity over the past few days to catch up on some photos of the girls... Here's Miss Stevie, I can't help but completely fall in love with her every time I see her... She's just adorable... (notice her sister Aven climbing the TV stand :-))

Stevie's unsure about me taking pictures...

But is okay, if she doesn't look directly at me...

Happy Stevie!

Princess Aven... When I look at her I think, "what a stinker" (or a few other choice words), but I can't help love and admire her spunk, her independence and her no fear attitude. And the fact that she is obsessed with me and needs to be around me all the time. I think she looks like an angel here...

And Miss Bria... Gosh she's a sweetie...

And so funny!

And so happy...

They are all obsessed with their toes - I mean, seriously obsessed. Here's Bria examining hers...

Although blurry, the girls LOVE running and chasing after each other (here's Bria chasing Stevie)

And the other two chasing Bria...

Stevie not happy about something... Even when she's crying she's a doll...

Oh yes, Aven... This is so her...

Bria...

Yesterday, this was as good of a shot that I could get of all of them together... They weren't in the mood for it.

Aven...

And we can't forget about our little man... So many faces of our guy...

And Stevie still isn't happy today!

Dec and Stevie...

And I got one of all of them, although Bria wouldn't put down her book (oh well!) L to R: Aven, Stevie & Bria...

Ham!

And here's a video of Bria and her new favorite word...

26 Months!

The girls turned 26 months today! Although technically once kids turn 2, I think most stop counting months, but I think I will keep it up because it reminds me to let everyone know more about who they are, what they like, dislike and how they are driving us nuts :-)

Aven: Aven continues to find ways to push our buttons. I feel a little bad because at some point, she will read this and she will know that she was such a little diva. But hey, we all need some honest feedback once and a while :-) Plus Aven's always been a little ahead of her sisters as it relates to gross motor skills, so perhaps she's just entered her terrible 2's sooner than the other two. What I will say is that she is our most cleaver of the bunch... She has now figured out that she can use one of the play table chairs to get into drawers in the kitchen. And she ALWAYS wants to do it...

• Nicknames: Avie, Ave
• Favorite thing to do: Cooking with me in the kitchen, reading books, coloring and sliding down the slide. 
• Favorite food: My lasagna and any type of breakfast food (i.e. waffles, hash browns)
• Favorite toy: Minnie Mouse figures and stuffed animals
• Favorite TV show: Yo Gabba Gabba, Mickey Mouse Club House and the Fresh Beat Band (she likes TV the most)
• What she doesn't like: She doesn't like when people tell her no and her diaper changed
• Morning or Night: Night - she's usually the last one to go to bed and her and Stevie often mess around for a good 30-60 minutes while in their cribs. She's always been the most restless of the girls and not much has changed. Although she's like her brother and Dad in the morning or when waking up from naps and tends to be a bit crabby...
• Things she likes to say: Her favorite word and sign continues to be "more" - I'd say, she's the least chatty of the three of them. She says a lot and has full fledged triplet talk but we don't understand a lot of it.
• Funniest thing she does: When you ask her to do something and she doesn't want to, she has this cute little shake of her head. She does it a lot because of course she doesn't like doing anything that you ask her to do, but it's still pretty funny.
• Therapies: Aven is currently getting DI (development intervention) once a week. If you are unfamiliar with DI, it basically focuses on a few different skills including cognition, lanugage and communication, social behavior and fine motor skills... Our therapist focuses on the communication peices the most.   

Bria: Bria continues to be our happy little girl. She loves to give hugs and kisses and she's just got a lovable personality... She loves holding hands with her sisters and chasing them and dancing with them. They don't always like to do it in return, but Bria is always game!

• Nicknames: Bri, Bri Bri, B-B, B
• Favorite thing to do: Climb and dance
• Favorite food: She pretty much likes everything, even bananas now... I haven't found something she hasn't liked yet...
• Favorite toy: Puzzles, shape buckets/toys and Minnie Mouse toys
• Favorite TV show: Yo Gabba Gabba (but she's always been the least interested in TV)
• What she doesn't like: Her diaper changed
• Morning or Night: Neither - she's always the first to go to bed and the last to wake up.
• Things she likes to say: Mama, Dada, Declan (new), Papa, more, done, up, bye, hi, thank you ("tay ooh") (new) and several other things that make sense to her and her sisters but we don't understand.
• Funniest thing she does: She likes to laugh at herself... She thinks she's pretty funny, which makes it funny.
• Therapies: Bria gets DI with Aven, once a week.  

Stevie: Stevie is starting to be more and more like Aven - and she wants to be! She has started throwing temper tantrums and she can be very clingy some days. Because she isn't able to tell us what she wants she tends to get frustrated really fast. She still is a little lover who LOVES giving hugs and kisses (and she LOVES her brother!)

• Nicknames: Sweet Pea (that's what Andy calls her a lot)
• Favorite thing to do: Dance, talk jiberish
• Favorite food: Bananas (still)
• Favorite toy: Minnie mouse toys, magnets and magnadoodle
• Favorite TV show: Yo Gabba Gabba
• What she doesn't like: Wearing clothes and her diaper changed
• Morning or Night: Both, but is happy in the morning (mostly) - she will trade off with Aven on who wakes up first. 
• Things she likes to say: Hi, but talks the most (you just can't understand what she's saying)
• Funniest thing she does: She always greets you at the door with a hug and a "hi" and when we are just standing around in the kitchen or somewhere, she will go back and forth between Andy and I and hug our legs (she knows she is cute)
• Therapies: Stevie still gets PT, but it's now twice a month instead of weekly. She also recently started Speech Therapy, which she also get's twice a month. So instead of DI, her focus is just on the speech element. Don't get me started as to why the girls were recommended for different therapies regarding communication...

L to R: Stevie, Aven & Bria

Snow Day!

Yet again, New Jersey got dumped on with snow. This time we got a good dose of it with about 6 inches or so. So that means out here, school is cancelled! We had one very happy 5 year old! I don't think he was ready to go back to school just yet and Thursday was rough enough getting him to go :-) So Monday will be his fresh start and I go back to work! Since it was pretty cold outside yesterday, we only let Declan go out with Andy for a while and then today, we let the girls go out (due to all of Declan's begging). It took longer getting everyone ready than the time that we actually spent outside, but it was fun! Here are a few pictures from the day...

Aven... She wasn't so sure about the snow... This was the first time that the girls have actually walked in the snow - I had them out last year, but they weren't walking yet and it only snowed a few times last year.

Bria was pretty fearless in the snow and seemed to enjoy it the most!

Declan helping Stevie out - she liked the snow, but it was pretty deep for her to get around.

Stevie couldn't move :-)

All the kids on the mountain! L to R: Bria, Stevie & Aven

Declan getting ready to throw a snowball at me and Bria clearly enjoying it.

And there it comes.

Bria getting ready to go out - trying on her new boots!

A few other pictures from the last few days - we had our first tea party! Everyone loved it!

Today I tried getting some pictures of the girls all together and it was yet again an epic fail. Think about how hard it is to get one 2 year old to do what you want, now times that by 3 - so not fun. I even tried bribing them with coloring and it didn't work - what??? Not sure what I'm going to do about that... Hopefully they learn. Here's a good one of Aven...

And Bria...

And she's not happy with me...

Now she is!

Now she isn't again...

Aven and Stevie, who was clearly not happy... 

And still a little unhappy...

A little better...

And there she is back!

While Aven just munched on some toys...

Happy New Year!

It's hard to believe that it's 2014... 2013 flew by and I had to stop and think about everything that has happened this year... In summary, let's see what happened... All the girls started walking, talking, climbing, running, jumping, playing with each other, fighting with each other, learned to enjoy their brother, turned 2, and started to eat and sleep awesomely (if that's a word). Declan started a new Pre-K, road the bus for the first time, played soccer (in 3 different leagues), learned to ice skate, saw his first Pro-Hockey and Baseball games, experienced his first Lego Land in NYC (Discovery Center), started to realize that his sisters could actually play with him, turned 5, learned how to do headstands and handstands, learned how to shower on his own, started writing things (with our help on spelling), learned how to play mindcraft when his parents haven't a clue and realized his love of breakdance :-) All of us enjoyed 2 trips back to Wisconsin, both Andy and I joined a gym and started working out (I've lost 25 pounds since December 2012!), Andy/Declan/I went to Puerto Rico, Andy went to a Pearl Jam concert and had a few guys weekends, I got to go to Italy, Belgium, Argentina, London and various places in the US for work, we had numerous wonderful visits from family and Andy and I have survived another year with 4 children :-) Unfortunately with a lot of good came some not so good with Andy's Grandma Ray passing away, which was a huge loss...

Overall it was a pretty positive year and I can't wait for 2014! I feel this will be the best year yet for us, as a family and for both of us personally. Can't wait!!

Here are a few pictures of us ringing in the new year and kicking off the first day in the new year... Me and the girls before their bedtime (and before my yummy Blue Moon time!) L to R: Stevie, Aven & Bria - they are getting way too big for my lap!!

Em came over and our friend Justin came up from Philly and we had a stay in NYE celebration playing monopoly and drinking WAY too much! But we had tons of fun!

Declan humoring me - love the rob :-)

Mr. Justin entertaining the girls (Stevie is not in the picture since she is still terrified of him :-))

Some outtakes of the girls cheering for the Badgers - too bad it didn't work for us and get us a victory! (L to R: Stevie, Bria & Aven)

We hope you all have a Happy New Year and you are blessed with health and happiness this year!!!