Dancing Fools

Yesterday the kids and I were home and I turned the radio on. I picked up James and started dancing with him (the song was "Call Me Al"; a good dancing song!) and he was laughing and laughing so hard and smiling and just having a great 'ol time. It made me laugh and smile too and I thought, this is what it's all about...this makes up for the hard moments/hard days.

Ahhh--good times, good times :)

Our Trip to California: Day 2-Disneyland

So we decided to take the kids to Disneyland. At first I thought it was a crazy idea, but after hours of research online, by telephone, and having a few friends come with us (thanks to Kathleen, Jenny, and the Gonzalez family!!!) I thought it might not be so bad.

We arrived at Disneyland at 7:30 a.m. and got in line to get in (the park opens at 8:00). Once it opened we went inside and rented strollers, then we headed straight to Fantasyland. Our first ride was Peter Pan. There were other people in line ahead of us, but we pretty much just walked right up to get on. I was so excited! It was so cool to be at Disneyland with my kids! I think James and I were more excited than the kids were! (mainly because they didn't know how much fun they were going to have!)

As we were waiting we told Joshua that we were going to ride on a boat. He started saying "no boat, no boat" and I was worried. I thought, ok great, here's our first ride and he is going to freak out. Well, Jenny, Joshua, and I got on the boat. Daddy and Elizabeth got on the second one, and Kathleen took James on the next one. As my boat is pulling away I can hear James starting to cry. There's two unhappy kids, I think. Well, as we go into the ride, I now remember from my hours of Internet research, that Peter Pan is an inside "dark" ride and that I really should have taken them on either an outside ride or a ride that is not so dark first...oops...well, too late now. So we make it through the ride an the first thing Joshua says to me is "more boat, more boat" :) Then Daddy and Elizabeth come out, looking happy and last is Kathleen and James, also looking happy. YEA! We all survived! Daddy and I decided that James probably started crying because he saw Mommy leave and then Daddy leave. But then once on the ride, he was ok.

On to the next rides: Dumbo, the carousel, the circus train, and the storybook canal boats. Fun, fun, fun, fun. After that we put the kids into the strollers and headed towards Tomorrowland. We went on Buzz Lightyear. We got a fast pass for Autotopia, had a snack, went to Toon Town, went back to Autotopia and rode it (had to wait a little for that one, even with the fastpass). I think I'm forgetting something here-I might have to edit this later if someone remembers what I forgot!

Then we had lunch. Elizabeth took a little nap in her stroller during lunch. After lunch we went on Winnie the Pooh; then to Mark Twain's Riverboat to try to have the boys take a cat nap. James fell asleep with Daddy--well, Daddy fell asleep too. Next we went on the Jungle Cruise.

After the cruise we had a YUMMY treat called Pineapple Whip. We sat and ate those and just as we were finishing them, some characters came up. So we took some pictures with the characters. Then we went on the train that goes around the park. Nap time for anyone? No, just Daddy :)Then we listened to the Main Street Band with Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse.

We went into "The First 50 Years" exhibit which was nice and cool and we were waiting to see a movie that lasts 15 minutes. Nap time again, anyone? But as we were waiting for the movie, James started to have meltdown. We decided that we had all had enough for the day, and we should go home.

I think we got to see and do a lot, and the kids' behavior that day was AMAZING! Especially considering we had been out of the house since 7 a.m., it was now 3:00, and besides a short cat nap that Elizabeth and James had had, it was 3 and 1/2 hours past their nap time.

We had a great time and were very happy we decided to go. The kids had an early bedtime again and then Jennifer stayed home with them while they slept so that we could have some adult time at Disneyland. (Thanks Jennifer!!!) James and I went back with our friends Kathleen, Jenny, and her husband Corey. We got to go on Space Mountain (which I had not been on since they re-did it) It was so fast! I loved it!!! We went on the Matterhorn and after that ride I thought, damm, I'm too old for this! That ride seemed really bumpy! :( We also went on Pirates (which seemed really slow to me) and we got to see the fireworks. We were done by then-it had been a very busy day!

Looking forward to tomorrow-BBQ at Andrea's house!

Our Trip to California: Day 1

So we just got back from a road trip to L.A. Yea! Overall, it was a great trip. It started with us leaving the house at 1:30 in the morning (yes, that was done on purpose). Here's the back story to that: When we moved to AZ from CA we packed the kids up at 7:00 p.m. --their bedtime-- and drove over. It was great, the kids slept the whole time--until we got to our new house at 1 or 2 in the morning...well, now they had just had a great nap and they were ready to play!!! They were wide awake, much to our dismay since we were sooooo tired from all the packing, moving, and driving. But they wanted to explore the new house!

So James and I decided that we didn't want that to happen again. We decided to let them sleep, then we would move them very carefully as to not wake them....they would be sleepy still since it's 1:30 in the morning, and they would fall right back asleep with the nice motion of the car.....James and I would drive in the the still of the dark, quiet night and arrive to California just in time for the kids to wake up at their normal morning wake up time, all fresh and rested none-the-wiser that their nighttime sleep was actually in the car.

that was the plan.....
you see where I'm going with this?! :)

Well, they woke up when we moved them into the van, and they stayed awake until 3:30!!! But, it wasn't that bad because they didn't fuss. They just sat in their chairs, looking around, not saying a word. It wasn't bad except for later in the day when the lack of sleep caught up to them.... They fell asleep around 3:30/4:00 but woke back up again around 5 a.m., again just sitting, looking around.

When we got to CA our first stop was at our friend Andrea's house to pick up a pack 'n play we were borrowing from her. Then our friend Kathleen came to meet us at Denny's for breakfast. After breakfast, we drove to James' former work to visit his work friends. Then we went to a nearby park to play for a little before finally arriving at our friend Jennifer's house where we were going to be staying. The kids were getting tired by then (I couldn't blame them...) so they had an early lunch and went to bed early. After nap, Jennifer had invited some people over to visit (my former work friends--former work of course, not former friends). It was a lot of fun to see all of them again! The kids had an early bed time again--they needed their sleep for the next day-DISNEYLAND!!!!!!

to be continued.....

triplets are interesting?

******WARNING! LONG POST AHEAD!!!******

Hello again....it's been a while....which brings me to the subject for today. The other day I was talking to my friend Jennifer (not Jenn or Jenny, but Jennifer) and she was giving me a hard time about not having posted anything in a while. I told her that nothing interesting was going on. And I feel like I should wait until something interesting happens before I bore you with lame stories on my blog. She said "but you have *triplets*!! Everything is interesting".

I told her how we took the kids to swimming lessons but had to skip a few days because we didn't have an extra person to go with us since we have to have one adult per child. She said, now that is interesting, going swimming with triplets (I don't know if it is interesting or she just doesn't get out much....heeheheh). I guess the things we do seem normal to us because we are used to living with triplets. And there are things that we deal with everyday that other people never had to think of--like having to have 3 adults to go to swimming lessons.

But I do want to tell you about how good the kids did these last couple of days of swimming "lessons" (I say "lessons" because these "lessons" done through the city are really just to get the kids more comfortable in the water and have them practice kicking and blowing bubbles. The first couple days I was kinda upset because I thought it was a waste of time, but when I really thought about what the purpose of this class for little ones aged 6 months-36 months was, then I was ok with it) Anyways, the kids really are more comfortable now. They were all getting---what's a nice way of saying dunked?---I don't know----they were all getting dunked under water...the teacher called it "underwater exploration" I called it getting dunked---they were all getting dunked under water but they were coming up with big smiles on their faces, everyone was holding their breaths, it was great! On the last day, Elizabeth was jumping in from the side to Jenn (our third adult that day--thanks Jenn!!!). And James was with Daddy. He was doing a lot of "underwater exploration" and was picking up toys from underwater. I was swimming with Joshua and he was laying on his stomach and kicking and I said can you kick *and* blow bubbles?! And he did. It was awesome. He was kicking so far (to retrieve a toy that I threw pretty far) that he blew so many bubbles and he ran out of air. So then he took a breath and kept blowing more bubbles!! It was pretty darn cool! I think one reason I am so excited about this is because this is coming from someone who still plugs her nose as she jumps in the water! :)

**********

I was interviewing for a part time job a few weeks ago and the interviewer asked me to tell about a time I had to multi-task. Hummm...let me think about that for a minute---Uh, how about everyday?!! Like today for example, I was reading Good Night Moon with Elizabeth, James was grunting next to me, and Joshua was climbing on the couch. So I looked over to help James with whatever he was fussing about at that time, while I kept "reading" Good Night Moon which I was really just reciting from memory after having read it a million times, and while I turned the page I told Joshua to be careful climbing. While I was doing that I was thinking "how's that for multi-tasking?!" I'm sure there is a million more times a day that I am multi tasking and I don't even realize it. And I'm sure every mom, one kid or three, multi-tasks throughout the day.

So I will try to post every few days, and I will post things that I might not think is interesting, but in hindsight it might be nice to have written down. And if the posts are not that interesting after all, then feel free to skim or skip as much as you want! :)

too much?!

I know that I don't feed my kids too much fast food, but every time we pass a McDonald's James starts saying "eat, eat!"

I know we don't watch too much t.v., but when the kids pick up a remote, they know to point it towards the t.v. and press buttons.

I also know we don't listen to the Wiggles CD too much, but Elizabeth can tell me what song is coming on next before it has started.

I know there are some parents that *never* give their kids fast food, or let them watch t.v. but I think that everything is ok in moderation.

James does say "eat, eat" when we pass a McDonald's, but I think he has started to say it when we pass any building. My kids just like to eat! Today for breakfast between the three of them, they had 4 waffles, 2 containers of yogurt, and milk. That is pretty typical. At McDonald's they can eat 10 pieces of chicken McNuggets, a cheeseburger, and a medium french fry. But who can't eat that? :) James and I often shake our heads and think if they eat this much *now* what's going to happen when they are teenagers? And he tells me about how much his brother and he used to eat and how his mom would say "you can't be hungry AGAIN!!!"

We do watch t.v., but only Judge Judy. Just kidding! They love Sesame Street, the Wiggles, and Barney. And I'll tell you what, my kids (in varying degrees) can sing the Alphabet song, can recognize letters and numbers, some days they can count to 10, some days even to 20 (well they pass a few teens), and they can identify colors. And I'm sure a lot of this has to do with Sesame Street. And the flashcards I make them practice 3 hours a day! :) joking, joking....

It is just interesting all the things the kids do now and how much they absorb from the world around them.

Toddler talk

Can you guess what this toddler is saying? (Answers are below)

James: "nektareeen"
Elizabeth: "sha-shua"
Joshua: "ba-coon"

They are all saying more and more every day. Somethings come out very clear, some things they try and try to tell me and I have no idea, and there are some things (like the above items)
that might need to be translated to other adults.
Just writing the way they say these words doesn't give them justice to how cute they sound coming out.

James: "nektareeen"= nectarine
Elizabeth: "sha-shua"= Joshua
Joshua: "ba-coon"= raccoon

Looking back

So I was going through some old paperwork today and I found this consent form I had signed when I saw a fertility doctor. It was called "Clomiphene Citrate Informed Consent". A consent form I had to sign to take a drug called Clomid. Here is one of the reasons I had to sign it:

The Principle Risks of Clomiphene therapy include:

Multiple Births: Approximately 15% of the pregnancies obtained with Clomiphene have resulted in multiple births, with the large majority of these being twins. The chance of higher multiples (such as triplets or quadruplets) exists, though extremely small.

Well I just F*ed up his statistics!!
"It exists though extremely small"!!! Well, it's not that small!

I do remember the doctor telling me that I was his only patient that has taken clomid and ended up with triplets (Although FYI- the Triplet Connection Website I belong to has many, many women that have taken clomid and ended up with triplets, it was just *this* docotr that has not had that happen before).

But looking back, I'm glad I signed that form, took clomid, and F*ed up his statistics, because I have the most wonderful babies in the world!

So I told my husband today that I started a blog and he said "what do you have to blog about?" Thanks! :)

Good times, good times....

Hi! Welcome to my blog!

So I realized that I didn't start this blog saying hi--I guess I had really wanted to tell my soda story... So I thought I would say hi now. HI!!!

You can thank my friend Eden for me starting this blog. She started one herself a little while ago and she told me "it's really easy" so I started one. I enjoy reading her blog and my other friend Andrea's blog, so I thought, why not? My husband already thinks I'm addicted to the Internet, I might as well do something productive :)

I wanted to start this blog so my friends and family can get to see little snippets of our daily life. And so I can record some of what's going on in our life because God knows my memory is shot and I'll forget it if I don't write it down.

This blog is titled "Good Times at the Gillis House" because most of the time we are having a good time here, but also because it's a phase that my husband and I use. However, it's usually when things are *not* going too well that you will hear one of us saying "good times, good times" or "good times at the Gillis House".

So I hope you enjoy the ramblings of a mom of toddler triplets. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the Good Times at the Gillis House!

Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper? Sure--all over!

So my kitchen was sprayed with Cherry Vanilla Diet Dr. Pepper today. And I have no one to blame execpt myself.....

The kids were all strapped into their highchairs for snack and I was debating if I should sit down for a snack myself, or maybe read a magazine, or maybe just sit....so many choices, so many choices.....but first, let me put a new 12 pack of soda into the fridge....and then I dropped it on the floor!!! Luckily only one can busted open--but it sprayed EVERYWHERE. Well, I know what I'm doing during snack time now. Yippee! Cleaning the floor! and the cabinets. and the counters. FYI-Cherry Vanilla Diet Dr. Pepper stains counters very quickly.

I couldn't help but laugh as I was cleaning this up. It reminded me of the time that our good friend Kathleen had come to babysit the kids (when we lived in CA) and had put a soda in the freezer to cool it off. Then she forgot about it. And it wasn't until James and I got home that we heard the "pop" and looked in the freezer to see Diet Pepsi ALL OVER the freezer. First in liquid form, then as little Diet Pepsi stalactites hanging from the roof of the freezer....

ah, good times, good times :)