Triple Trouble

Tyler is getting so big.  He's doing much better at going to preschool.  It's like he decides when he is going to cry and when he won't.  Sometimes before school now he tells me "I'm not even going to cry today, mom."  So sweet!  He's REALLY in to tractors and farming stuff right now.  He has this tractor video that he'd watch all day if I'd let him.  This weekend he is with Evan's parents riding in the combine.  He was SO excited he could hardly speak when we told him! 

Here he is on his second day of preschool. 

And here are the babes.  Nights are still kind of a disaster.  Will this ever end??  Now Micah is getting his top two teeth, so he is waking up quite a bit during the night.  Derek is just always a stinker with his sleeping.  He reminds us so much of Tyler.  We have no idea what wakes him up, but he is up at least a few times every night.  So last night, for example, it was my night.  I went to bed around 10:30, then was up with Derek by 11:30, and finally got him settled back down around 12:30.  I finally just laid him in the pack 'n play in our room and let him cry for awhile, and Evan got up and went downstairs to sleep.    Micah woke up in pain from teeth at 5 a.m., and wouldn't let me lay him back down without screaming, so I held him and gave him ibuprofen.  He finally went back to sleep at 6 a.m., and by 6:30 Derek was awake for the day. So I got up, fed him, and then let him go into his room and wake up his brothers.  If we don't keep them on the same schedule, it's a disaster!  They do much better waking up when one of their brothers crawls in their room and makes noise.  They usually wake up laughing then.  :)    That wasn't such a bad night.  Sometimes they are much worse.  We are just used to functioning on no sleep....but it's kind of miserable sometimes!!

Here are the babes in the hallway.  They love playing with that vent!  Andrew is growing in this picture for some reason.  :)  Micah and Derek are crawling and pulling themselves up on to everything, so I run after them all day long!  Andrew scoots all over the place, and is starting to get up on his knees, and is trying to pull himself up, too.  Pretty soon we will have 3 very mobile babies!!

Don't they just look like trouble here?!  Derek and Micah...

Evan with his boys....Derek, Andrew, Micah

And me....they are getting harder for me to hold all at the same time.  They are SO squirmy and want to stand up constantly!  One of the most fun things to do right now is for me to lay down flat in the middle of the room.  No matter where the babies are, they come flying over and climb on me.  There is nothing more fun than being attacked by your three babies!  Derek is usually trying to pull my hair, Micah gives me big sloppy kisses on my cheeks, and Andrew usually is just squealing and trying to crawl on top of me.  It's the most fun thing ever.  And if Tyler is there, he usually joins in, too.  I love having rowdy boys!!

Time to eat!  Derek, Micah, Andrew.  Eating time is such chaos.  Micah whimpers the whole time b/c he hates waiting for his turn to get food.  He'd like it if I could just shovel it in his mouth the whole time.  He's such a little piggy!  Andrew sucks his thumb in between every bite, so I have to pull it out to get the spoon in.  Derek is usually trying to grab someone else's sippy cup off of their tray, or is turned around playing with the tag on his chair, or is trying to pull his bib off. 

Derek...he loves to get messy!

Micah...

Andrew....just started saying "mama" today, and last week started doing peek a boo by himself.  SO sweet! 

What is cuter than three naked babies in the tub together?  I have to make a total fool of myself trying to get them to all look at the camera at the same time, b/c they love their bath toys so much.  Usually Derek splashes the entire time they are in the tub.  I am soaked by the time bath time is over!  They love it though!

Micah has long hair only on the sides and back of his head.  This is as close to pigtails as we'll ever get in our house! 

Derek loves it! 

Andrew with his mohawk.  He's the only one with hair!!

Micah and Andrew....

Andrew:  "Ooh!!  I just love you so much I could kiss you!!"

 Micah:  "What are you doing, man?"

 Andrew:  "I'm kissing your face, now I'm sucking on your arm...."

 "...I'm rubbing your bald head...."

Micah:  "Well then, let me feel your head, too..."

"...In fact, let me suck on it a minute."

" It's okay, Andrew....I won't do it again."

"Just kidding.  Maybe I will..  Come here..."

:) 


Andrew...

Derek loves to pull himself up and look out the window in his room.  It's so sweet.  He'll stand there for a long time and just watch what's going on outside...

Notice the shirts....they say, "Here comes triple trouble!"  M, A, D

Bumper cars!

Cutie pie Tyler....

My dad with Andrew.  Lots of people think they look alike...including me! 

Andrew's fuzzy hair...

People keep asking me if our situation is getting easier.  In some ways yes, and in some ways it's getting harder. It's easier b/c they can hold their own bottles, etc., but harder b/c the more mobile they get, the harder it is to keep Tyler away from them, the more they bump their heads, etc.  It's hard to watch one baby all the time during this stage, so multiplied times 3 is crazy!  I still have those really stressful moments throughout the day, but I'd say it's getting to be less and less times that I feel like that.  For example, the other day I was trying to get the babies all down for morning naps.  I tell Tyler that he has to stay downstairs during that time so I can get them all down and then he and I can go outside and play, or whatever.  So I put Micah down, and 2 min. later he starts screaming.  Then I lay Derek down in his pack and play in our room, and he just always needs to cry for a few min to settle down.  Two babies crying.  Then I'm holding Andrew trying to settle him down, and Tyler comes upstairs and hears the other two babies screaming, so then he starts screaming, too.  This makes Andrew scream.  I have no where to lay Andrew down b/c both rooms upstairs have screaming babies in them, and Tyler is standing at the top of the steps screaming. 4 out of 4 screaming babies.  Eventually I get everyone settled down, but it's times like that that seem so crazy.  Many times a day I tell myself to rise above the situation, and just take a step back.  It's only crying babies, and if someone else were watching, they'd probably think it was a little funny.  So I try to laugh and not lose my patience.  God gives me a lot of grace each day to get through it all...that's for sure! 

Tyler is definitely still the hardest part of all of this.  I feel like all day my main goal is to keep him away from the babies b/c he likes to play too rough with them, and tries to be naughty to get attention, it seems like.  I can't leave the room for a second when he's in there with the babies.  He doesn't like it when they pull himself up on the couch if he's sitting there, so he'll pry their hands off and make them fall down.  The babies all crawl all over each other, so he tries to crawl on top of them, too, etc.  Sometimes I feel like all I do is feed these boys and love them, and then keep them from hurting each other.  I feel a lot of times like I can't go above and beyond that, or give them any special attention.  That's a hard thing for me.  But I love them more than they can imagine....and I know that goes a long way.