Special Edition: Charli Kate Walking

Today Charli Kate took her first few steps.  We were in the nursery and she stood up right next to me.  I held out my hands and told her to come here and she took about four steps and then fell into my arms!  For the rest of the night we would practice and by the end of the night she became comfortable enough that she let go of her little push car and walked a couple of steps to the windowsill.  Here is a video of her practicing tonight.

Wordless Wednesday: Reminiscing

Teaching Triplets Tuesday: Week Six

This week we concluded our Unit on body parts with mouth.  We also touched on teeth, since the kids already knew teeth and they enjoy saying 'teeth'.   Here's how our lessons went for this week:

Prayer:

Lord I give you today

All I think and do and say

All my work and all my play

This I give to you today

Calendar Time:

(Tune to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star)

When we do the calendar

We learn the month, date and year

Every week day has a name

And there's lots of numbers to count the days

So let's begin to show you how

We'll learn the calendar right now

(Tune to Farajaka)

Today is Tuesday, Today is Tuesday

All day long, All day long

Yesterday was Monday,

Tomorrow will be Wednesday,

Oh what fun, Oh what fun

Weather:

Drawn onto a large desk calendar and then showed to the kids

Phonics:

This week I showed and taught the kids the word 'mouth' and 'teeth', repeatedly

I then did the same with the Russian version.

I also taught them the signed version

Songs (we watch these on YouTube):

Our Chapter Song is "Head and Shoulders Knees and Toes"

For the chapter on mouth we used "Mouth Music" and "If Elmo had Teeth", both from Sesame Street

Activities:

Day One- We blew bubbles, exaggerating the mouth.  I then gave each baby a turn to try to blow bubbles, which, of course, they are not quite able to do yet

Day Two- We learned how to give and blow kisses

Day Three- We added a spoon to our glove, socks, ear phones, and sunglasses from the previous lessons.  

At the end of the week, we did a review and the kids can correctly identify all of their body parts that we discussed.  It was a successful unit!

My Family Monday: Everyday Life With Triplets

It has been a fun week here!  The kids are no longer sick and they are not teething, so their moods have been pleasant and we've been having a great time.  The first part of the week started off pretty routine, but on Friday we had company over for the evening.  Of course the kids were the center of attention.  On Saturday, I let Jenya put the triplets to bed and I headed to downtown Austin to participate in the Keep Austin Weird 5K.  Boy were there a ton of people.  I got there with only 15 minutes until the race began and my bib number was 1957, so I think around 2,000 people would be a good estimate.  Next time I participate in a big race like this, I will make sure to head up to the front.  For the first half mile I struggled to break away from the pack.  I don't even think I was able to move until 15 seconds after the start of the race.  All in all, I think I did pretty well.  I'm not too sure about my results as they are not posted, but my time was 25:41 and they were counting off the top 25 females when I crossed the finish line and I think they counted me as either 9th or 10th or somewhere around there.  I'll take it considering that I was practically walking the first part.  The other big thing that happened is that Charli Kate is now standing up.  I guess technically it wasn't  last week; she just started doing it today, but there's no way I'll remember to mention it next Monday.  Still no steps, yet, but all three are developing, growing, learning, and healthy.

Sunday Saying: Farewell

“We Only Part to Meet Again”- John Gay


This week we said goodbye to our babysitter, Eisha.  We are so happy that she was offered a very good full time position.  Although she'll be able to babysit for the occasional evening or weekend, we will miss seeing her every Friday.

Wordless Wednesday: Cool in the Pool

Teaching Triplets Tuesdays: Week Five

  This week was kind of an off week for us.  The triplets started getting sick in the middle of the week, but we still did our morning calendar time, songs and videos, and phonics.  We skipped out on one of the activities.  This week we focused on the nose, so we learned the sign language for nose, the Russian form of nose (nos), and we watched Sesame Street videos on the nose; "Anyone's Nose", "N is for Nose", and "That's What I call a Nose".
  As for the activities, we did:
1) learned to blow our noses....Adrik really didn't get it, but Charli Kate and Tali had previously learned to do a "Tali face" and we used this to blow our noses.
2) we learned Eskimo kisses
3) we played with nose glasses party favors to emphasize noses.
  The activity that we didn't get to was 'pin the nose on the drawing'.  I was going to print off a smiley face and we would pin different noses on it.  Here is the smiley face:

 and these were the noses we were going to use:

My Family Monday: Everyday Life with Triplets

  Its been a tough week for us.  Thursday afternoon, Adrik spiked a temperature and by Saturday all three were sick.  Friday night/Saturday morning was the toughest I have ever witnessed.  For the first part of the night, Adrik was waking up every thirty minutes or so.  I finally got him settled down for good at about midnight.  About an hour to an hour and a half went by, and then Tali started waking up about every 30 minutes.  By 4am, her temperature had spiked to 104.5 and she was refusing to go to sleep, pour baby. And so for pretty much of the remainder of the morning I lay down with her in Jenya's man cave (Adrik was sleeping in the play pen in the living room).  At 5:40am, she had enough and loudly voiced her opinion, waking up her brother and sister.  There was nothing for me to do, but to sit them in their cribs, screaming, while I prepared their milk.  It was a wonderful moment in parenting triplets. Three sick babies, that had been awake for most of the night, screaming on the top of their lungs. To make matters worse (for me, that is), Jenya had gone to some horse races down in San Antonio, so I had to manage this all by myself.  Anyway, we got through it and now the babies are as healthy as can be.
  We had a pretty low key father's day.  On Saturday, we took my dad out to lunch after the 5K and on Sunday, Jenya and his father went to see a movie.  A ton of thanks to everyone that voted for Jenya in the photo contest.  Good news is we won!!!! Yay!  The bad news is that they gave the prize to the second place winner since we weren't local (Booo Saratoga Observer!).  Oh, well; I hope that in this situation the thought is what counts.  Below is the newspaper article announcing our victory.

 

Sunday Sayings: Happy Father's Day

It is much easier to become a father than to be one.  ~Kent Nerburn, Letters to My Son: Reflections on Becoming a Man, 1994

Saturday Sprints: Vern's No Frills 5K

  

  Today I ran my first 5K and, I have to admit, I'm pretty satisfied with my results!  Out of 109 female contestants, I placed 8th and out of the total 219 contestants, I placed 44th (here is a link to the results).  My time was 24 minutes and 41 seconds; just under an 8 minute/mile pace.  Not too bad for competing in my longest race to date and my last competition being around fourteen years ago.  I'm proud of myself.  Now on to the mudrun!

Freeday Friday: The Colorado River Foundation

  Today I had my training to become an Environmental Educator Docent for the Colorado River Foundation.  It was very educational full of fun facts and interesting history.  Did you know that the name 'Colorado' means red?  You Austinites might find this a bit confusing, because the Colorado River is not red at all.  In fact, the entire area is covered in limestone, which is white; not even close to what you would expect for a 'red' river.  So how did the Colorado end up with that name?  Well, when Cabeza de Vaca (you remember him from junior high history, right?) mapped the rivers of Texas, he named one of the rivers "Brazos" because the rivers that flowed into the main river looked like arms (brazos means arms).  And he named another river "Colorado" because the red clay found on the bottom of the riverbed turned the river red.  Well, silly Cabeza de Vaca returned to Spain and flipped the two rivers, so now the Colorado River will be mistakenly called 'red' for all eternity.  Anyway, here's a short little video about the Colorado River Foundation:

Special Addition: Tali Standing

Yesterday, after we had finished dinner, Tali stood up all by herself.  And then today, again after we finished dinner, she went on a standing spree!  She kept standing up all by herself and every time she would get so excited she would just stand there and scream.  It was adorable and we caught it on video!  Its hard to imagine that just weeks ago, she wasn't even crawling properly and now, she's our first one to stand!  Go, Tali!

Wordless Wednesday: Fathers, Grandfathers, and Great Grandfathers

Teaching Triplets Tuesday: Week Four

Last week I taught the triplets about their eyes.  We did our prayer and our calendar like usual (which you can find at this link) and I also taught them the Russian word for eye- glauss.
I've got to admit,  I skimped on lessons last week.  It seemed like we would always run out of time, but I did add a pair of sunglasses to the glove, sock, and headphones (see previous link). We also played peek-a-boo covering our eyes with our hands.  For our videos last week, we used "Head and Shoulders" as our Unit song and then for our chapter videos we used this The Cat in the Hat (go to the link and then search "Different Eyes" in videos) video about animal eyes and this "Eye of the Tiger" animated video.

Sunday Saying: Play

“You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.”Plato

Freeday Friday: Marathon Fever

 

Last week I received an unexpected and tremendous compliment.  After I was finished with my morning  run, one of the regular bikers pulled his bike up next to me as I was loading the kids into the van.  He then proceeded to say, "Young lady, what you do is incredible!"  Being used to this kind of reaction about taking care of one year old triplets, I shrugged it off and muttered, "Thanks."  And then he went on, "Do you know how much that stroller weighs?  Its got to be at least 100 pounds and you just pushed it up a huge hill all while jogging.  I don't think you realize that that is a 7% incline!  I have never seen anything like that!  I had to stop and watch you."  I then got to know a little bit more about my new friend. Apparently, he knows his stuff when it comes to running.  Back in his day, he ran the Boston in 2:50; quite an amazing task.  That inspired me. Right before I got pregnant with the triplets, I was training for a marathon and I want to continue that dream.  So here is my plan; I'm going to run three 5K's, two 10K's, one half marathon, and then finish it up with a marathon.  Below is a list of the races I decided to compete in:
Vern's No Thrills 5K here in Georgetown, TX- June 16th, 2012
The Hardcore Mud Series 5K in Flower Mound, Tx- July 14th, 2012
Sand Crab 5K Nighttime Beach Run in Galveston, TX - August 11th, 2012
IBM Uptown Classic 10K in Austin, TX-October 7, 2012
Turkey Trot 10K in Fort Worth, TX- November 22, 2012
Dare to Ascend Trail Half Marathon in Georgetown, TX (actually at the same lake that I currently run at)
  September 28, 2013
The Disney World Marathon in Orlando, FL-January 13th, 2014

I'm sure you noticed that there is quite a bit of time between the half marathon and the 10K's, but its actually difficult to find really good half marathons.  Ideally I would want to run in the summer (not such a far stretch between the 10Ks and plenty of time for recovery before the marathon), but it is actually not a really good idea to run a half marathon in Texas in the summer....13.1 miles in 115 degree weather; no thank you!
  I picked the Disney World Marathon in the hopes that all of my family will come out to watch me.  I will admit, watching someone run for 26.2 miles is not very entertaining, but watching someone run for five minutes and then go ride rides for an hour and then watch someone run for five more minutes and then go ride more ride and so on sounds a lot more fun.  Anyway, I'll keep you posted on my progress.  Needless to say, I'm super excited.

Thursday Threes: The Babywise Method for Triplets

  Shortly after we got home from the hospital, I started the kids on the Babywise method and I swear by it.  As defined by Wikipedia, "Baby Wise presents an infant care program which the authors say will cause babies to sleep through the night beginning between seven and nine weeks of age. It emphasizes parental control of the infant's sleep, play and feeding schedule rather than allowing the baby to decide when to eat, play and sleep." Bare bones, the book teaches parents to adapt their babies to a schedule of sleep, eat, play, and then repeat.  I highly recommend this method for mothers of multiples.
  I started my kids on Babywise at around four months and  I still continue a version of this original schedule today.  Below I have listed the different schedules I used for the triplets at different stages of life; just click on the link to view:
Four Months
Ten Months
Eleven Months
Thirteen Months

  Keep in mind that my kids were two and a half months premature, so at four months their adjusted age was one and half months, at ten months they were seven and a half months, eleven months = nine and a half months, and thirteen months = eleven and a half months.  My kids started to sleep through the night when they were four months old, which I think is awesome.  If you have any questions about Babywise, please feel free to post it in my comments and I will reply ASAP.

Special Edition: Father's Day Contest

  

This year for father's day, I entered Jenya and the triplets in a photo contest.   Voting starts on June 7th and goes until Sunday  June 10th.  You can vote as many times as you like and a link to our picture is here.  Please, I encourage everyone to vote multiple times and ask everyone you know to vote, as well.  Jenya has been a great dad and it has been a challenge sometimes.  Since I am a stay at home mom without an income, this is what he's getting for father's day, so I appreciate any support.  I'll keep you posted on if we win!

Teaching Triplets Tuesday: Week Three

  For this week's lesson, we learned about our ears.  Again, we pretty much kept the same bones of our original lesson, but repeated it with ears (repetition is key for teaching babies).  So here is how our lessons went:
Prayer:

Lord I give you today

All I think and do and say

All my work and all my play

This I give to you today

Calendar Time:

(Tune to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star)

When we do the calendar

We learn the month, date and year

Every week day has a name

And there's lots of numbers to count the days

So let's begin to show you how

We'll learn the calendar right now

(Tune to Farajaka)

Today is Tuesday, Today is Tuesday

All day long, All day long

Yesterday was Monday,

Tomorrow will be Wednesday,

Oh what fun, Oh what fun

Weather:

We changed up the calendar a bit this week.  Instead of pasting pictures onto the calendar, I drew the pictures and then showed what I drew to the kids.  It worked out better...There was less fighting.

Phonics:

This week I showed and taught the kids the word 'ear', repeatedly

I then did the same with the Russian version 'ooha'

I also taught them the signed version

Songs (we watch these on YouTube):

Our Chapter Song is "Head and Shoulders Knees and Toes"

For our ear chapter we used Barney's version of "Do your Ears Hang Low" 

Video (again we used YouTube):

I couldn't find a video for ear, but I did find a Russian cartoon about a character called "The Big Ear" that teaches a wolf to listen.  It's kind of long, so we only watched half of the video.  

Story:

This week we read Toes, Ears, and Nose by Marion Dane Bauer and Karen Katz, The Ear Book by Theo L.Sieg and B. Tobey, and Why Mosquitoes Buzz in Peoples Ears by Verna Aardema, Leo Dillon and Diane Dillon

Activities:

Activity One- We headed outside to the driveway and I drew chalk pictures of  animals and pointed out the ears (dog, cat, and rabbit)

Activity Two- Musical Feet....I printed some foot prints and stuck them to the floor.  The real activity is to like musical chairs only the kids have to stop on a pair of feet when the music stops.  I just played their lesson songs and let them crawl around collecting all the feet.  They had a blast. 

Activity Three- Putting on and taking off headphones.  I also retrieved the gloves and the socks from the previous weeks and I would ask the kids, "Which goes on your hand?  Which goes on your feet? Which goes on your ears?"

So this video isn't actually of the kids doing their lessons, but it is so darn cute and I don't have any pictures or videos from last week, so I'm just going to post it here.  It is of the kids dancing to Will I Am singing What I Am on Sesame Street...Enjoy!

Sunday Saying: Summer

May your summer be like a roll of toilet paper long and useful.

Freeday Friday: What to Put in a Wedding Emergency Kit

(Note: This is not the actual kit I put together, forgot to take pictures of that one, but just found this at http://mymojuba.com just so you can get the idea)

A few weeks has past since my good friend, Nikki, got married, and although I wish I could have helped her out more during the planning, I did make sure that she had a proper emergency kit.  If you know someone that is getting married soon, an emergency kit would be a great kit.  I filled mine with the practical necessities, but you can also add a lot of those cute little Miss Oops products that are out there.  You should expect to shell out some cash for this...It takes about $200+ to make, but it is worth it on wedding day and the bride-to-be can use a lot the stuff after the wedding is over.  Scrapbook bags work great. I used an old Leah Sophia bag I had laying around along with a bead case (or fishing tackle case) for the small items and a Buxton shoulder bag. So here's the list of items I included in Nikki's emergency kit (I actually printed off this list of items in alphabetical order and stuck it to the front of the bag with the location of the items listed, as well):

Agenda (shoulder bag-front pocket)

Allergy medication (first aid kit)

Anti-Diarrheal (first aid Kit)

Baby powder (shoulder bag-back inside pocket)

Black socks-men’s (shoulder bag-main pocket)

Bobby Pins (bead case)

Bubbles for send-off back-up (main case)

Bug Spray (main case)

Cake cutting set (main case)

Chap Stick (shoulder bag-lipstick pocket)

Clear nail polish (shoulder bag-back inside pocket)

Clothes Pins (shoulder bag- back pocket)

ContactSolution/case(main bag)

Corsage Pins (bead case)

Cotton balls (bead case)

Deodorant (main case)

Dryer Sheets-for static cling (main case)

Ear ring backs (bead case)

Emery board (shoulder bag-back inside pocket)

Energy Drink-5 Hour Energy (shoulder bag-front inside pocket)

Extension cord (main case)

Eye drops (first aid kit)

Eye Hook (shoulder bag- inside flap)

Eyelashes/Eyelash Glue (shoulder bag-front inside pocket)

Fake rings (bead case)

Fingernail Clippers (bead case)

Fingernail polish remover (main case)

Fingernails (shoulder bag-back inside pocket)

First Aid Kit (main case)

French tip nail pen (shoulder bag-back inside pocket)

Garter (main case)

Gas Relief (first aid kit)

Gloves-for cake (bead box)

Glue Stick-great for sticking material to skin (shoulder bag-back inside pocket)

Goldfish Crackers (main case)

Hair ties (bead case)

Hair brush/comb (shoulder bag-front inside pocket)

Hairspray (main kit)

Hand Sanitizer (shoulder bag-front pocket)

Itch relief (first aid kit)

Lighters2-long necked (shoulder bag- front pocket & inside)

Lint Roller (main kit)

Lotion (shoulder bag-back inside pocket)

Mints (shoulder bag- front pocket)

Mirror (main case)

Pads/Pantiliners  (main case)

Pain reliever (first aid kit)

Pens (shoulder bag-inside flap)

Peptobismol (first aid kit)

Push pins (bead case)

Q-tips (shoulder bag-front inside pocket)

Razors (main kit)

Reserved Signs (main case)

Ribbon (bead case)

Safety Pins (bead case)

Scissors3 (shoulder bag-front & back pocket)

Sewing kit (shoulder bag-front pocket)

Sharpie (shoulder bag-inside flap)

Snacks-Kashi granola bars (main case)

Spot Remover (shoulder bag-back pocket)

Straws (shoulder bag-front main pocket)

Sunblock (shoulder bag-back inside pocket

Super Glue (shoulder bag-back inside pocket)

Tampons (main bag)

Tape-double side (shoulder bag-back inside pocket)

Tissues (shoulder bag-front pocket)

Tooth picks (bead case)

Toothbrush/Paste (shoulder bag-front main pocket)

Tweezers (shoulder bag-front inside pocket)

Urinary pain relief (first aid kit)

Water (main case)