Memorial Day

This year for Memorial Day, I took the kids up to my dad's house. Jason never has this holiday off and now that there's three little ones and Joshie and Jenna are a little older, its a lot easier and more fun that just staying at home.

Joshie and Jenna couldn't wait to get up there and go swimming!

Before we went swimming though, Jenna had a fun time running around behind the walker that she thinks is a "car"...wonder where she got THAT idea (Joshua!)

My dad and I took the "big kids" to their pool which overlooks the lake...

It was the first time Joshie was going to use water wings instead of a little floatie....
Here's a little video of him getting into the water for the first time:

Of course Jenna's little floatie that she loved last year she now hates. She wants to just run right into the water - no floaties or anything! She has no fear! My parents say that she is just like I was growing up....I know why I was an only child! (just kidding)

We stayed and played for about an hour before heading back to the house. After some snackies, we all went out to play volleyball in the backyard.

Julianna just slept (don't worry, she was covered, but I uncovered her just to take her picture)

Joshie pretended to play volleyball with his own ball. He even tried to get it over the net...not quite tall enough though

Jenna was quite content to sit on the patio with her grapes watching...for a while...then she wanted to play with Joshie...

Soda

Sunday's are our family "eat-out" day. We choose somewhere to sit-down and eat at after church and this past Sunday Jason got to choose. He chose Fuddruckers (of course b/c it serves ONE-POUND hamburgers!)....He also decided to let the kids taste soda and iced tea for the first time. I am glad that they don't really like it! The expressions on their faces were the main reason for doing this...good thing I ALWAYS have my camera handy!

Baseball

Last night was the first ever Family Night at Minute Maid Park to watch the Astros take on the Texas Rangers. We were really excited to take the three kids with us - although it was a night game, so we knew that we wouldn't be able to stay the whole game. It was a lot of fun and the whole time Joshie was saying "I want to go down and play baseball with the Astros" He just couldn't understand why he couldn't go down on that field with them.

Here's a couple pictures of us before we left for the game....

me and the kids

The kiddos

Julianna

We got there and found a good parking spot and had pretty good seats behind home plate. I was nervous about how long the kids would last, but they did really good! Joshie had his own seat and was so intensly interested in the players. Jenna sat on Jason's lap and was so content being with her daddy. Julianna pretty much slept the whole time, which was nice.

The game looked like it was going to be kinda boring as it was 5-0 (in favor of the Rangers) in the top of the 7th, but the Astros came back and tied it up 5-5 in the 8th. Sadly, we lost in extra innings 6-5. We watched the end of the game at home...Kids made it through 7 innings though!

Joshua intently watching the game

Jason with Jenna and Joshua

Me and Julianna

I can't wait until Josh can play tee-ball and I so excited that he loves baseball! He definately my son!

Irish Triplets

When we were about to have Jenna, I had heard people say that we would have "Irish Twins". This is when you have two children who are not twins, but are born very close together. I have heard debates as to if it is 15 months apart and younger or 18 months apart and younger. Either way, Joshie and Jenna are 14 months apart and fit into this category no matter which one you believe is correct.

I thought that having two kids that were a little more than a year apart could never really seem like twins....HA! I was wrong!! It was when Jenna was about a year old that I really started seeing their age gaps narrow and now that Jenna will be 18 months on the first of June, they are pretty much at the same stages in life. I get asked ALL the time if they are twins. They do look so close in age that I can see why.

So now that we have three that fit into this category - do we technically have "Irish Triplets"? I know right now Julianna is no where near where her brother and sister are, but in 6 to a year I wonder what things will be like....We shall wait and see....

Another thing that is awesome about having "Irish Multiples" is that you reap the rewards of someone who has real multiples (twins, triplets, etc.) Joshie and Jenna are inseparable and he is so protective of both Jenna and Julianna. He calls Julianna "his baby". Whenever either one of his sisters cries, he is right there trying to console them. I can definately see them being very protective of each other later in life - especially when it comes to the dating scene. They also don't know what to do if the other is napping. So cute and funny....wouldn't have it any other way!

College Day

It was college day at school yesterday. This meant that the kids could wear their favorite college shirt instead of their uniforms to school. Since my kids don't technically "go" to school there, they don't wear uniforms, but we had fun participating in college day! I wore my Univ. of Redlands softball shirt, and since I don't have any baby Redlands gear, I decided to dress the kids in the next best thing. A&M gear. If you're not from Texas, or live here, you probably don't know that there's like 3 big schools that everyone goes to: Baylor, Texas A&M, and Univ. of Texas. Jason did his real estate school through A&M, so that makes us A&M Aggies. Its a lot like the USC UCLA rivalry back home...Kinda funny. It will be interesting to see where the kids actually go to college though when they get to that age....

Pool Time!

With summer quickly approaching and the warm weather creeping upon us, we thought it was time to set up the kids' pool. Granted its not a big pool, its seen a lot of summer fun the past couple of years. This year I think will be the most fun as Joshie will be almost three and Jenna right behind him. He has someone to actually play with (other than mommy). He actually likes playing with Jenna the more than me on most occasions. That's fine with me right now since I have Julianna to take care of.

So here's what I did this year: Since our good friend Nikki gave us the slide in our back yard, I have been waiting till summer rolled around so that I could put the pool at the end and the kids could slide down into the pool...THEY LOVED IT!!! Looks like many fun summer days out in the back yard!

Works as a good incentive too for good behavior with the kids....

"Normalcy"

Life here at our house is falling back into our "daily routine" finally and Julianna is adapting nicely. Its nice to be able to have a routine back and the kids know what to expect each day. Joshua is learning a lot at school and it has been such a blessing for them to be back at Legacy with me with their friends.

On the way to school, we usually are listening to Veggie Tales silly songs in the car - which makes the kids laugh and giggle!

We are also blessed to have a good friend, Cyndi, who watches Julianna during the days I am at Legacy since she is not yet 6 weeks old. Julianna has a lot of fun with "Mrs. Cyndi" and of course Cyndi loves cuddling little Julianna. :)

Jenna is becoming quite the little reader - she LOVES books! She will sit in your lap as long as you let her and "read" books with you. Her favorite book so far is "How much I love you".

We read that book to Julianna and usually Julianna is fast asleep by the end of the book...until Jenna wakes her up smashing her (trying to love on her)....

One Month

I know that its a little past one month, but hey - when you've got three under two and a half its a little crazy over here....Its a blessed chaos as I call it. I can't imagine it any other way.... Here's some quick tid-bits about our past month:


Joshua:
* Working on the potty training
* Loves school and learning his letters. His favorite letter is now "U"
* Enthrawled with baby Julianna and "mothers" her...sometimes a little too much
* Dances, sings, and bounces all around the house
* Helps mommy with the laundry, dishes, and of course with Jenna and Julianna
* Finally is wearing all 2T clothes!!
* Likes to play basketball and anything that involves sports
*Our little chatter box

Jenna:
* Finally has 2 teeth!! They are the top two in front
* Trying to talk a lot now (says momma, dada, baby, Ginger, nite nite and grama)
* Likes to dance to music
* Best friend and playmate is Joshua (she doesn't know what to do with out him!)
* Very interested in the new baby (learning "personal space")
* Starting to help out around the house too
* Our "little monkey" - climbs EVERYTHING she can

Julianna:
* Grown a whole inch! (she's now over 21 inches!)
* Weighed almost 9 pounds at three-week check up
* Holds her head up and loves to smile at Joshua when he talks to her
* DOESN'T HAVE REFLUX!!! (this is the only one that has been blessed without having this!)
* So far a good sleeper (sleeps fpr 5 hours straight at night)
* Learning to survive in a house of toddlers
* Still can wear newborn clothes, but is quickly growing out of them!


Although this period is sometimes a whirlwind of chaos and seems like we don't know which way is up, I remember that not only is this a short time, but that I will actually miss all this one day. I'll miss listening to VeggieTales in the car and yelling out "don't steal the baby's blanket"...I'll miss holding Julianna and chasing Jenna who has stolen her paci who is chasing Joshua tying to snag a quick bite of dinner....and most of all I'll miss having all three kids in my lap laying on my and just wanting to be held.


Too bad you can't just freeze-frame life sometimes....

No more diapers!

I have always heard that when your child is ready to transition from diaper to underwear that he/she will just "do it". I tried to get Joshie trained early so that I could avoid having 3 kids in diapers, but that never happened. He's always been interested in "the potty" but was even more distracted and interested in playing. Too busy to stop and worry about going potty...yet he hates being wet.

So, I did what every other normal parent would do - I waited (and pretty much gave up the whole potty training thing).

Well, recently we have been having the problem him keeping his diaper on...in fact we had to steam clean this past weekend because he decided to take his diaper off when he was supposed to be napping and did a "poop dance" with his bottom and the carpet. I give him credit for not wanting to be dirty, but for goodness sake - let mommy know if you need to be changed, or something!!

Then there's the "I-can't-leave-you-alone-in-the-bathroom" thing because he likes to play in the toilet water....then it hit me (via my step-mom): put the potty in the kitchen or somewhere that is easily accessible and I can still care for Jenna and Julianna and keep an eye on him....

IT WORKED!! Today he went all day without a diaper (except for naptime)! Now we have to see if we can take this learning to school where all the friends are and continue it there....The only hang-up we had today (which we don't know whether to be angry, or proud)...was at nap time he took his diaper off again (which is an automatic spanking since we've told him so many times), and started the bathtub. My step-mom, Sherrie was watching the kids today and was downstairs with Julianna (Jenna was napping) and ran upstairs. There was Joshie in the bathtub all by himself washing his bum because he managed to take the child-proof (but obviously not "Joshie-proof") door knob off the inside of his door and take his diaper off because he had to go potty. There apparently was no toilet paper, so he had to wash himself so that he would be clean. I am so proud of him for doing that and not wiping it all over the floor!!

Hard to believe that our little boy will be wearing "big boy" underwears and not a diaper anymore....One kid down....two more to go!!