Because I'm Scared of the Park

So the triplets are almost 15 months old and have never been to the park.  I have to tell you, I feel a bit guilty about that, but I just can't imagine attempting it.  Obviously, I couldn't do it solo, so that sorta limits when I could bring them.

My solution?  Bring the park to them...

Okay, maybe not completely.  But at least we can work on climbing and sliding.

It's been hysterical watching them learn to move around on this thing.

Cole climbed right up.  It took a few tries, but after about three or four "attempts", he's a smooth slider.

Eli chooses to just sit up top and suck his thumb.

Ava had some issues.  She loves to stand at the top and "shout to the room" all she has to say.  A few times, she's bounced a little too much and has slipped right off the back (Eli, too).  Today, she's finally figured out how to slide down and not land on her forehead.

Who needs the park?

I Know Where the Time's Gone...

Things have been a little crazy around here the last few weeks (thus the lack of energy/time to post at days' end.)

First of all...I'm officially nanny-less.  Yup, Becca started Parisian Beauty Academy a few weeks ago, so I'm flying solo during the day.  She does come by two afternoons a week for a few hours.  And...in case of "emergency", there is a friend I can call on Mondays and maybe even Fridays.  But, for the most part, I'm it!  SAHM Extraodinaire!  And anyone who knows me, knows I am NOT so great at the "stay-at-home" part.  So, I have been venturing out on a few errands & shopping trips with the trips.  (More on that another time.)

Okay, so what has been going on in Higby land?  Well...for one...I FINALLY cleared out the Living Room.

Remember back when our awesome neighbors blessed us with the gate?  Well, they also dropped off a ton of hand-me-downs.  For those keeping track, that was back on August 16th.  That's right: 8 weeks ago!  And all those clothes? They've been sitting there this whole time.  Blows any mis-conceptions of "Super Mom", huh?  Since the "super" image is gone now, I might as well confess that although I spent quite a few afternoons attempting to sort through and wrap my head around these piles...ultimately, it wasn't only me that cleared the room.

My mom and her childhood best friend came by for a quick visit last week.  The three of us worked on the clothes for 2+ hours on Thursday night and 4+ hours Friday.  Even after they left, there was still work to be done.  First, I had to include the various clothes that I had saved over the years (mostly random stuff since I never anticipated triplets and just thought I'd bite the bullet and buy clothes for #3).  Then I had to sort, bin and label it all.  Finally, it was my helpful hubby's job to lug it all up to the attic.  Although, I'd like to make sure it's documented that I did bring two of the bins up to the attic, myself.  The running joke at our house is, "Who's spent more time in the attic, Zoe or Mommy?" 

You're looking at 10 bins of clothes (well some of them anyway) for both boys and girls up to size 4/4T for boys and 5 for girls!  This doesn't even include the 2 giant bins of shoes!

I sure hope styles don't change too much in the coming years.  Because, at the rate Ava grows, she'll be 16 before she can wear some of these clothes!

Monkey Shine

Responsible parents that we are, we've gated off the family room and made it the baby's play room. For the most part, it's a pretty harm-free room. I mean, we didn't put padding on the corner of the TV shelf, but the bookcase is tethered to the wall and "choke-ables" aren't allowed in. Just couches and baby toys.

And now? I have to remove baby toys!

Apparently, Ava takes after Nana Higby. Legend has it, when Nana was a toddler, she would move the lamp from the end table so she could climb on it! And I guess since Ava's middle name IS Barbara (after Nana), it's only fitting that SHE be the first to give me climbing issues!



See that yellow toy in the bottom right-hand corner of the picture? That's a "table" that the gang likes to sit & stand in. Generally, they're fighting over who's turn it is to be in it. But today, Ava figured out how to push it up to the couch so she can climb on up and explore.

But that wasn't enough for Miss Ava. Noooooooooooooo...she has to bring others in to her life of crime.



As proud as she was for her discovery and subsequent teaching of her brothers, I still had to remove Miss Ava from the couch.



And she was not happy!

Needless to say, the yellow table will be spending a lot of time outside the gated community in the coming days.

The Lunch Bunch

They really do eat better when they're facing each other.  They have little conversations and everything.  It's too cute!  Today at lunch, Ava didn't want all her bananas...so Cole finished them.  Eli didn't want all his hot dog...so Ava finished it.  Cole didn't want all his cheese...so Eli finished it!  Waste not, want not!

Celebrating American Girl Doll Style

For Zoe's 6th birthday, she (via my suggestion) decided to forego a traditional birthday party for something a little more quaint: An American Girl Doll Tea.  Along with 2 friends, 2 grandma's and a mom, Zoe headed into NYC yesterday afternoon to pick out her birthday gift (a doll) and have a little tea.

The girls didn't need any convincing to wear cute dresses (the adults didn't either).

The drive into the city was pretty interesting.  Nana and I did our fair share of giggling as we listened to the conversations in the back seat.  Comments about how to be "polite" and "proper", even in the event that you burp.

 

Once we arrived at the store, Zoe picked out her doll (Karalyn & Maeve brought their's).  Zoe chose a "Just Like Me" doll.  The store clerk immediately picked out a doll...the same one Zoe picked for herself.  Nana and I were a bit thrown off.  The doll was blonde!  I never considered Zoe a blonde.  But obviously, she thinks of herself as one and others see her as one.  Interesting...

Tea was wonderful.  The girls didn't eat much, but they thoroughly enjoyed their Pink Lemonade and Chocolate Mousse.  The napkin rings were hair elastics with pink gerber daisies.  They thought of EVERYTHING!  Even down to booster seats for each of the dolls.

...and did I mention that each of the dolls had their own TEA cup?

After a great "spot of tea", we did a little more browsing in the shop and headed out.  Before headed home, we made a stop at Rockefeller Center.

But one of my favorite memories of the day will definitely be Karalyn & Zoe skipping down the sidewalk, holding hands, and singing at the top of their lungs that "we're best friends forever".

A Little Bit Crazy!

Yes, today is Zoe's day!  Six years ago today, Zoe Christine entered our lives.  But that's not today's post.  She's celebrating on Sunday...so the post will come after that.

Today, well, today I want to tell you that "I'm nuts!"  Officially!

Being a Thursday, it was Shane's morning to drive Zoe to school.  I was psyched to have a day in my PJs, to be honest.  But Zoe wanted me to be at school when she handed out her "special snack" (Chipwiches).  So I loaded up the triplets and Ty at 9:45am to make it to school by 10am. 

Park the car.  Pull out the stroller frame.  One seat.  Two seat.  Three seat.  Buckle in Cole.  Buckle in Eli.  Buckle in Ava.  Shut car doors.  Push massive stroller with heavy babies into school while making sure Ty doesn't run around the parking lot.  Sing "Happy Birthday".  Hand out 24 Chipwiches.  Hang around for recess (by "hang around" I mean, I got to hold the jumprope handle and turn.) Back to the car.  Unload Cole and buckle into carseat.  Unload Eli and buckle into carseat.  Unload Ava and buckle into carseat.  Seat 1 out.  Seat 2 out.  Seat 3 out.  Fold and load frame.

Since we were out, I thought I'd brave the growing errand list.  I mean, how hard can it be to get a few errands done?  So...I was off to Babies R Us.

Park the car. Pull out the stroller frame. One seat. Two seat. Three seat. Buckle in Cole. Buckle in Eli. Buckle in Ava. Shut car doors. Push massive stroller with heavy babies into Babies R Us while making sure Ty doesn't run out in front of a car in the parking lot. Search BRU for a variety of sippy cups (another post for another day when I've reach a level of success in switching from bottles to sippies.)  Back to the car. Unload Cole and buckle into carseat. Unload Eli and buckle into carseat. Unload Ava and buckle into carseat. Seat 1 out. Seat 2 out. Seat 3 out. Fold and load frame.

That wasn't too bad!  We didn't draw too much of a crowd.  There was no crying and no requests (from Ty) for a sudden, emergency trip to the bathroom.  Maybe I could brave the grocery store.  Although there are 4 gallons of whole milk in our refrigerator, there is not a drop of 2% which Shane needs for his cereal in the morning, and his cookies at night.

Park the car. Pull out the stroller frame. One seat. Two seat. Three seat. Buckle in Cole. Buckle in Eli. Buckle in Ava. Shut car doors. Push massive stroller with heavy babies into Pathmark while making sure Ty doesn't run out in front of a car in the parking lot. Grab milk and a few things for dinner.  Head to the checkout...

I decided to use the self checkout because I only had about 10 items.  By the time I got all my stuff through the scanner, the manager was bagging my groceries and "oogling" over the babies.  We started chatting and she was asking questions of Ty & I.  Once she finished, and handed me bags, we headed out to the car.  About 2 minutes later, the manager followed me out.  Guess what I'd forgotten to do...

PAY!

Mission Accomplished!

I did it!

Saturday was my 10k.  It was the culmination of a summer of training with a women's bible study/running group from a local church.  I started the summer training for a 5k.  After my disappointing Memorial Day run, I wanted to give it another shot.  But the more I ran, the more my friend, Salli, encouraged me to shoot for the 10k.  We both decided we'd train for the 10k, but if life got in the way (sick kids, crazy schedule, etc.) we could always roll-back to the 5k.

Three weeks ago, Salli & I test-ran the 10k course.  My goal was to not die.  I SHOCKED myself.  I finished.  We ran the whole thing: 1 hour 5 minutes.  That was my very first official "runner's high".  I called me day on my way home.  I couldn't believe I'd done it.

The next weekend, I ran it again...alone.  My time was 1:02, but I don't think I timed my run right...here's why:  The course has a big hill at about the 1 1/2 mile - 2 mile mark.  That night, as I reached the climb, I noticed 3 early-teen boys racing their bikes down the hill.  It looked like a blast.  The first boy wizzed by me.  I watched the second boy make his way down.  He had a GAP bag hanging from one handle and was holding a can of coke in the other hand.   I noticed the front wheel start to wobble...wobble...wobble...BAM!  He flew over his handlebars and slid the rest of the way down the hill on his hands and knees.  When he stopped, he was only a few yards ahead of me.  I ran up and made sure he was ok.  His bike took a big hit (His front wheel was at a 90 degree angle and his chain was off.)  So did he.  The boy was covered in road rash.  He seemed to be okay.  His cellphone was working.  He was walking around.  And he had his buddy, who'd just pulled up saying, "whoa...dude...whoa....dude."  He was a big help.  I carried his bike from the road and double checked that he was fine...and then ran on.

Then last weekend, Salli & I got our final "dress rehersal" in.  Again, we ran close to 1:04.  I knew we'd be okay.

So yesterday was the real thing.  The race started at 8am.  It rained all day Friday and Saturday was supposed to be "chance of showers" too.  But when I got up, it was gorgeous out.  Not a cload in the sky and barely 70 degrees.  PERFECT 10k weather.

(Pre-Race: me, Salliann & Juliette - my neighbor)

Sidenote: Like my cool number?  #111 As in, I have 3 one-year olds!?!?!? Okay...it's a stretch, but I still thought it was a cool random number that I got!

Salli's husband, Ben, was our official photographer.  He did a great job, didn't he?

(Off we go...determined not to start too fast)

(This is right after the giant hill.  I'm smiling because I'm the "queen of the hill".)

At mile 4, I had a slight "equipment failure".  My...well...my bra strap came off.  There was NO WAY I was stopping.  I was making great time.  I'd come so far.  I didn't care if I had to hold the strap together and run the last 2.2 miles...I was going to keep going!  Thankfully, there was a family handing out water 100 yards down.  I ran right up to the mom and said something like, "I know I don't know you and I know I'm disgustingly sweaty, but can you fix my bra strap?"  She was more than happy to help get me back on the course!

The last mile seemed to go on forever, but I managed to kick it up a notch with about 2/10ths to go.  I was pushing so hard, I didn't even see Shane and the kids at the finish line!

My official time: 1:01:17 - my best time by far (it works out to be a 9.52/m pace)

(Much better than the "After" shot from the Ridgewood Run)

(This is the group of 10k-ers from the running group)

(This is the whole gang that raced...10k & 5k)