I haven't been as active as normal on the blog and unfortunately this post is going to be pretty short... We've been busy (more on that later) and amongst everything, I've been training for a half marathon that I'm running with Em and some friends in a month. Because New Jersey weather isn't cooperating I had to do 7 miles on the treadmill this morning and I an honestly say that I am in both physical and mental pain after it... I've never been a big treadmill fan, let alone doing over an hour of running on one. Not my idea of fun. Nevertheless, the show must go on and we must take care of the kiddos in the house!
Andy and Declan had a Daddy & Declan day yesterday where they went to skating, got a haircut, got lunch and went to a movie. They had a great time and the girls enjoyed playing dress up. Stevie is currently OBSESSED with putting on shoes, boots or whatever on her feet. She literally only spends a few hours a day without anything on her feet. I'm thinking she might be the one into shoes when she is older. I also think she's trying to tell us she wants out of the house - but we aren't giving in just yet :) Aven isn't as much into dress up as she is OBSESSED with her Yo Gabba Gabba dolls (still!). Bria likes dress up too and likes to wear a variety of things on her feet. Declan wants a baby brother. Yes, you read that right... He's informed Andy and I that he wants a little brother. So, we've convinced him that his Yoda stuffed animal is his son and he's his daddy. It's Yoda's 2nd Birthday today, so we will be celebrating later...
Here's some pictures for yesterday... Aven the diva!
L to R: Stevie (in her coat and boots), Bria and Aven...
The girls turned 27 months yesterday and I honestly didn't remember until today. Andy was back in Wisconsin visiting his Aunt who is ill, so I had the kiddos solo this weekend. Although I will say I had a lot of help from Auntie Em and Mr. Justin, it's not even 10 pm on Sunday night and I am EXHAUSTED. They gave me a run for my money today and I am spent! Thank goodness the girls sleep good, because it certainly gives time for the mind and soul to refresh. Now if only Declan would go to sleep. Like now.
Here's what the girls are up too... Aven:
Nicknames: Avie, Ave
Favorite thing to do: Hoarding all the toys
Favorite food: My lasagna, any type of breakfast food (i.e. waffles, hash browns) and yogurt
Favorite toy: Stuffed animals and currently her favorite are the Yo Gabba Gabba stuffed toys I get them (she hoards all 5 of them)
Favorite TV show: Yo Gabba Gabba (obsessed) 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.
Things she likes to say: She's been saying more and more each week. She says hi, bye, more, and eyes (and points to the rest of her body parts). I think she says some other things too, but I just can't think tonight.
Funniest thing she does: I find nothing she does funny anymore. Just kidding... She is the one that enjoys babies, stuffed animals, and little girl things the most. She likes washing her babies, putting them to bed and pushing them around in her stroller. She's just our little Type A momma bear...
Therapies: Aven is still getting DI (development intervention) once a week.
Bria:
Nicknames: Bri-Bri, B-B, Bri
Favorite thing to do: Everything - she is just happy to do everything (most of the time)
Favorite food: My lasagna, watermelon and yogurt
Favorite toy: Blocks (the big lego blocks) - she loves building things
Favorite TV show: Yo Gabba Gabba and the Fresh Beat Band (she likes TV the least)
What she doesn't like: Her diaper changed
Morning or Night: Neither - she continues to be our best sleeper. First to bed and last to wake up.
Things she likes to say: Mama, Dada, Declan (new), Papa, more, done, up, bye, hi, thank you ("tay ooh") (new), no (new), nose (new), mouth (new), eye (new) - she says these when she points to them :-) and several other things that make sense to her and her sisters but we don't understand.
Funniest thing she does: When he gives you random hugs - maybe not funny, but oh so sweet...
Therapies: She's still getting DI with Aven once a week.
Stevie:
Nicknames: Sweet Pea (that's what Andy calls her a lot)
Favorite thing to do: Dancing
Favorite food: My lasagna, bananas and yogurt
Favorite toy: Magnadoodle and the Yo Gabba Gabba stuffed animals (which has caused a lot of issues the last few days).
Favorite TV show: Yo Gabba Gabba
What she doesn't like: Getting 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 and eyes (new) but talks the most (you just can't understand what she's saying)
Funniest thing she does: She gets this cute little sweet smirk when she's shy.
Therapies: Stevie gets PT twice a month and Speech Therapy twice a month.
Here are some pictures from the weekend... Aven giving her gabba babies a bath with a wipe...
Aven and Bria building together... This didn't last long...
The only picture I could get with all the girls... Thanks to my sister for being my assistant :-)
Mr. Justin and the girls having their after nap snack :)
Stevie stretching out looking at her phone...
This was the end of our night tonight... Declan was covered in a Danimal, which I told him to not soil 1.3 seconds before this happened... I had a beer after this incident.
These pictures aren't in order, but Saturday morning Justin and I ran a 5K - his first race ever and the first of a few more to come! It was freezing!
Stevie being quite and reading to herself...
Aven hiding her gabba babies...
Stevie with that cute little look that I referenced above...
Aven an Bria building together again... Again this didn't last long.
We've been lucky enough to have 3 weeks of visitors... Which came in handy because I was in Germany all this week... First Grandma Judy came (we didn't get any photos of her and the kiddos - it just went too fast!). Then Aunt Amy came up for a few days while Aunt Judy was still here. Em, Amy and I got to have a girls night and we went to Philly and drank too much, stayed up late and gave Justin an over-dose on the Barth/Dosher siblings... We did get a few pictures of Amy and the kiddos :-)
Sisters!
Can't help but love this kid!
And our attempt to get Auntie Amy with all the kids... Aven on the ground with Declan hugging her, Bria on the left and Stevie on the right...
This past week Grandma Sally and Grandpa Don came for the week... They helped Andy while I'm in Germany and the kids seemed to enjoy it!
Grandma and Aven...
Grandma, Aven and Stevie... Bria wasn't cooperating with us today...
Sisters and more sisters! My mom and Aunt Connie with the girls (L to R: Bria, Stevie and Aven)
Daddy and Bria... I love this picture and I'm so glad that Andy has his girl... One that loves him more then the rest of us... Aven is my girl (and most often this isn't a good thing), Stevie is Em's girl and now Bria is Andy's)
My week in Germany was good, but every time I am in Europe it reminds me that I'm glad I don't live there... Europeans just don't understand or value the concept of working mothers. And when they find out that I'm a working mother of 4, including triplets they generally look at me with shock or disgust. I know it's a cultural thing, but sometimes it really irritates me... Regardless, we had a great meeting and the location was beautiful!
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...
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...
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