Our Kids

The girls have picked up on a saying and they use it all the time to their own amusement (and mine). It goes something like this:

Piper: This is so cool (or awesome, those are her favs)
Lela: You can say that again
Piper: Okay, This is so cool
Lela: You can say that again
Piper: This is so cool

It goes on and it quite funny, each time the laughs get bigger and bigger.

I took the girls to Friday Fun Playday today with Ms. Barb. This is a great class where they get to go and do just about anything they want with supervision but no intervention. Today they made goop and played with birdseed. When I peeked in the window there was birdseed everywhere, it is cool that they get to really explore in that class. Anyway, as is the norm the girls tell me that they don’t want to go, they whine, they beg and I say okay. Then they say they want to go somewhere and I give them the option of going home or going to class, invariably one choses home and one choses class so off we go to deal with it at school. Then we get there and they eventually go in to class, sometimes I have to read a book, sometimes I sneak out like today. So as they were elbow deep in the birdseed I went out the door and took Landis for a walk, they saw me out the window and stood there and cried that I was leaving them (I was told this later). After a few minutes they went back to playing.

When I peeked into the class several times over the next two hours I found it fascinating to see how they were interacting. Most times they are glued by the adult in the class, Ms. Barb. Several times I would see Lela off playing with something by herself and Piper standing next to Ms. Barb. When story time came Piper got a chair for her and one for Lela who was out of my sight. She kept one hand on the chair to save it, another little boy came and sat in it. Piper slowly got up and moved her chair away from him without saying anything. Eventually Lela came into view carrying her chair and she took it right over to Piper and sat next to her. Then they put their arms on each other. It is so interesting to see them separate into different activities but also have the need or desire to be right by each other. They communicate so much without saying a word which is really cool. I hope Landis gets in on that sisterly action.

Wow. I’ve been MIA for quite some time… lots of stuff going on, too much to write about!

I’m sure I sound like a broken record but the girls are just changing so much seemingly every day! I just get a kick out of everything new that they experience or do… it could be a funny face, something completely unexpected coming out of their mouth… just about anything.

Landis is really scooting around on her “bike”. I think she loves the fact that she’s almost as mobile as her big sisters. It’s funny watching her… if Piper and Lela are running around the house, Landis just gazes at them, standing up against the sofa, watching their every move. She so wants to be there running with them!

Lela is every bit of her mother and then some. I think it’s hilarious how everything she does just has a little extra flair. Whether it’s running (she glides… arm and leg movement exaggerated ever so slightly), talking (she has many funny voices), or facial expressions (too many to describe). She cracks me up just like Mystique does — just by being herself.

Piper also makes me laugh but in a different way. She’s much more calculating in her humor… she recognizes what makes me laugh and totally runs with it. And she’ll whip things out from two weeks ago that I laughed about and try them again. Hilarious.

Every day I tell the girls how much they make me smile and brighten my day when I get home.

Well I think we have successfully kicked the cold to the curb. There are a few lingering sniffles and sneezes but I think that is mostly because the girls are not good at blowing their noses yet. We have not been napping at all and we are back to our bedtime gymnastics with Piper (and now sometimes Lela).

I was thinking of some things about the girls that you should know. You should know that Piper will stop and giggle cover her mouth and say, “what a cute baby” to any baby real or picture that she sees (it is so sweet). You should know that you don’t want to eat after Lela ever because chances are good that she has chewed up food and then spit it back into her bowl/cup/plate or whatnot (I have grabbed many a handful of abc snack mix, will I ever learn). You should know that Landis finds it hilarious if you tickle her around her neck and will hardy har har as loud as she can. The last thing you should know is how grateful I am for my children, my husband and the life that I have.

Today Piper told me I looked like Winnie the Pooh. I had twisted up my shirt so it looked like a half shirt because I was being silly so I can only assume she saw my big belly jutting out and decided I looked just like Pooh. Okay, so I guess I finally have to get serious about taking off these 10 lbs:)

And as a follow up to my birthday present from the girls (the best morning nap ever) it turns out we have all caught a summer cold. Nothing major, not a sinus infection as I suspected, just a head cold. It makes us tired and snotty but no other symptoms. I answered the clue phone last night when Piper said she wanted to go to bed and then fell right asleep (that NEVER happens). I figured she would be illin’ today and I was right. The girls napped this afternoon for a couple hours and Landis has a runny nose and is pretty sleepy. Oh I should mention that Jason hasn’t caught the bug so we will all breathe on him at night and hope he gets it, just kidding we know he is the saddest of the bunch when he gets sick so I hope he doesn’t get it.

I am not sure tha tthe girls will be able to top this years birthday present. You know as you get older there are fewer things that I really want (I am finding this out the hard way by being an anti consumer and it turns out I don’t “need” much:). Anyway, I got up for my morning exercise and was accompanied by Piper in her pull up and Lela in her silk jammies and Otto in all his furriness. Generally I take my morning exercise alone since I am a bit of a grump in the morning but this morning everyone wanted to go, everyone but Landis who was trying to sleep in. So I took the girls with me and Landis got some cuddle time with Daddy. I get home, feed the dogs and my other chores and come inside, so far not a stellar birthday since I am already grumpy.

The present part comes in after I take my shower. I have a sinus infection so I am a bit under the weather so I was really tired. I put Landis to sleep and then laid her in her crib (something new for her). Then, I laid down on the sofa and Lela starts asking for some toast, I tell her I will get it in a minute and she decides to lay in front of me. Soon enough Piper comes over and starts to play with my hair. Before I know it I am asleep at 9:45 in the morning and I wake up at 11:15. When I wake up I find Lela curled up in my arms, Piper curled up on my legs and Landis still sleeping in her crib. It was the most awesome birthday present EVER. We all woke up rested and happy around 11:30 and had a relaxing rest of the day. Jason took me out to the movie in the evening and Kelly stayed with the girls, when we got home we watched the finale of SYTYCD and it was a GREAT great 38th birthday.

This morning turned out a little different than yesterday. First of all, I got up and ran (yeah me). Secondly the girls got up happily (I was already home which means they slept in a bit, yeah) and came out to their little table. Then wonder of all wonders they (on their own) said the following:

Lela: Piper can have the cereal first and I can have it second
Piper: Lela can have the milk first and I can have it second

Jason began to weep tears of joy. I rolled my eyes. Landis crawled around on the floor eating bits of food from yesterday.

Well I have been feeling like a lazy maisy lately. I don’t know if the summer is wearing me down or if I am actually being a lazy parent. I mean where are all the crafts and science projects? I suspect the heat has something to do with it because we went out front to play in the shade today and the girls lasted a mere 15 min, hardly worth all the effort now that I have a crawling toddler that puts everything in her mouth (think bird poo, ewww gross). We did do stamping today (thanks Nana Peggy) but that is about as crafty as we got.

I think I just need to get my act together and make us out a plan for each week. The girls are so fun and active that I know they will enjoy anything we do. On another note we managed to get by with just 20 min of TV today which is a shocker. Generally we have to watch about an hour a day to satisfy Lela who craves TV. I don’t know how it all happened but we managed to stay entertained during the rough patch 2-4PM and then it was dinner, clean up and a quick bike ride around the block before bed (that really wiped them out). Here is to crafting motivation!

I wonder if other families with multiples in the higher numbers (triplets, quads etc.) have as much of the competition thing going on. I mean when you are one of six you learn early on that you may never be first. If they have what we have then mercy on you:) The competition for first place is really heating up around here, most days I am so thankful that we have two toilets since everyone has to compete to get on the potty and the mere mention of the potty sends the other one screaming and holding her legs together that she has to GO NOW!

Just this morning I was lounging in bed (yes I am that lazy wife) while Jason had all three girls out in the kitchen. Now he has all three girls every morning out in the kitchen but I am usually running but my running partner has a pulled groin so I am taking full advantage of my days off. Anyway, I could hear Jason out in the kitchen working through the first heat of the day….the cereal race. They were both so intent on being the first to get their cereal, Jason came up with an excellent compromise which did not sit well with Piper who howled on and on for 15 minutes about being first. She doesn’t seem to get that after someone else goes you cannot be first and that we can’t take it back and suddenly make her first (lord knows I have tried).

Needless to say it all died down and by the time I dragged my butt out of bed they were running around happy as can be.