the bathroom

As I was standing in the 2 stall bathroom at Burger King, holding the doors shut for the "privacy" my three so much desired, I started thinking about just HOW MUCH TIME I spend in the darn bathroom.

It isn't as though I am not in there enough, on my own accord... but add 4 kiddos to the mix (yes, although Abby isn't potty trained, she is constantly crawling into the bathroom to either "honey dip" into the toilet, or stand on the step stool to wash her hands in the sink) and I find myself spending a good portion of my day in the bathroom.

I am either wiping hineys, or washing hands, or cleaning up the "I peed my pants and sprayed the wall" (insert-thank you, Mateo), or switching toilets while I am mid stream because someone "can only go on that potty, mommy!" It is the room where we all gather to sing songs, or read books, or talk about our day... because doing these activities in the family room would require us to spread out and be comfortable... not crowded and holding our noses because of the stench.

Public restrooms seem to be the favorite and most frequent of the children since they can't go alone... "grimy, I have to touch every toilet handle" public restrooms... And then, even after I have lined the toilet seat with TP, and step outside the stall to give them the "privacy" to poop (and of course we have to poop every time we are out of the house) they jump off to lock the door (because me holding it isn't enough) and then they can't get back on the toilet seat without knocking the TP off the seat.... so it is a never-ending circle. And if I get lucky, they figure out how to unlock the stall door and let themselves out.

Sometimes we just "try" to go potty... other times we are "waiting it out to see what happens".. and sometimes it is an "emergen-C".

Back and forth... in and out.... the bathroom is OUR favorite place to be.

Happy Birthday, Grammy

Mateo was 18mo when this picture was taken. Happy 70th Birthday, Grammy... we miss you.

It's never to early...

to teach them how to help out around the house.

a lesson in giving

Last weekend, when Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Michele were in town, we went with Uncle Jeremy (and Aunt Cas, Aunt Hilary, and all of our cousins) to the Kamm's Corner Hooley. (A street party from our old neighborhood.) During the torrential downpour, the kiddo's were lucky enough to be under a craft tent and had plenty of opportunity to make some things and wait out the storm. Gabby made a foam visor and gave it to Uncle Jeremy.

This week, Gabrielle received the most awesome thank you note from Uncle Jeremy. He detailed his enthusiasm for spending time with not only Gabby, but her siblings and cousins, and expressed how much her thoughtful gift meant to him. Saying that Gabby was ecstatic to receive such a note is putting it mildly.

And I was happy because I found it to be a great opportunity to teach the kids about giving and thanking. After they saw (and heard) Uncle Jeremy's thank you note, they were each scrambling to find something of their own to give....

WooHoo! Score a point for humanity.

biggest STUNT to date

When I was pregnant, I heard many (MANY) stories from Moms of multiples (and friends of Moms of multiples) as to the horrendous stunts that kiddo's can pull when they put their minds together. And I admit, I was worried. Disastrous, safety-concern stunts that make a Mom quake with fear.

And then my three, precious ones were born...and were no trouble at all. And even as they have gotten older, (and I may complain about how hard it is to raise them) they have been relatively calm in their shenanigans. Rolls of toilet paper dragged around the house, or obstacle courses made out of furniture... or some spilled water/juice here and there are the worst that I have faced. Even Abigail has been more trouble-some than her 3 siblings combined!

But the time has come for me to face fact that they are older and although innocent (and relatively naive) they will pull stunts that will scare me- like last night.

As I did my nightly routine check on all 4, I thought that something was amiss in their beds. I didn't see the lumpy, bumpy figures of 3, each in their own bed. Upon further inspection, I realized that NONE of them were in their beds. So I checked the spare room thinking they were all snuggled together in one bed... nope. And as Lou came up the stairs I informed him that they weren't in their beds and to check our room. They were most certainly in there! Nope. Quick check in Abby's room on the floor... nope! Panic started to settle in as I was trying to imagine where all 3 could be? As I headed back to their room to check the closets, I heard a faint breathing noise...(you know, sort of a "sigh"/"click"/"thumb suck") coming from under Mary's bed. But I couldn't SEE under Mary's bed because the trundle bed was pulled up close to the edge of Mary's bed (as it normally is when Gabby is sleeping in said trundle bed). I looked at Lou and said... "are they under there?" As we started to pull Gabby's trundle bed out from under Mary's bed we found all 3 kiddo's snuggled together... with their pillows, on the carpeted floor.

A game of hide & seek that went a little too far.

G8

As parents, we try to imitate good behavior for our children. But sometimes we fail.. and Lou's and my back-up plan is to spell out or abbreviate any words that we don't want our kids to use or know about. (I guess if we were the "perfect" parents, we would live in a pollyanna bubble and there wouldn't be a need to spell out any bad words!)

The most often *censored* word in the Garcia home is jacka$$. Why is it a favorite? I don't know- the idea of it just seems to roll off our lips...constantly. Its most frequent use is in the car and it has been abbreviated down to the letters "J.A."

At first the trio didn't pay attention to us. But as time went on, they thought it was the name to a person, so they would start to ask where J.A. was? Where's Daddy's friend, J.A.? Do you know J.A.?

Recently, we were alone with Mateo in the car and again, a situation arose where Lou had to acknowledge the JA on the road. Mateo, not being the most attentative listener, thought that Lou had said "G8" instead of J.A. So now, he is on the hunt to find the G8 that was slowly pulling the rock across the street which was tying up traffic and almost lead to a car accident. But he can't tackle this task on his own. Oh no. He has called upon his sisters to help him. So now, every time we get into the car (and yes, it is EVERY time we get into the car).... we search for orange clues (G8 was wearing an orange construction vest) which will inevitably lead us to G8.

Could we be so lucky as to find him?

are we still together friends?

It has been an amazing experience to watch the changes in the triplets over the last 6 months. The little tykes that used to "play" side by side (i.e. called parallel playing because they wouldn't interact, but would physically be close to one another as they played on their own) really interact with each other... all day long... and use their imagination. If they aren't playing "teacher" (or, instructor) and following along with the leader, then they are building obstacle courses that they have at school, or making up songs in their "mind" (as Gabby would say) to sing together. I love the imagination!

Lately, however, I have seen a little bit of insecurity or perhaps, just a phase, where they need to constantly ask each other if they are "still together friends?" It is the first thing they ask each other in the morning... and especially after fights throughout the day...they want to be sure that they are still together friends... (and sometimes, BEST friends.)

I hope the bond they share never grows thin!

white belt

I feel like I just did a post about our Taekwondo class... hmm... On Tuesday, the trio's instructor, Master Park, informed me that he thought the kids were ready to test for their white belt. (This is the first belt in the series to obtaining the highest level- black belt. Or, blue belt if you are Mateo. When the instructor asked him last week what belt he wanted, Mateo responded with "blue!" After a short coaxing Mateo realized that he was supposed to want a black belt.)

The main criteria in passing was good attention/focus and confidence... and all three passed with flying colors!

Mary had to break another board... and I am not sure if she was distracted because Daddy was holding the board...but it took several attempts before she broke it.

Mateo really surprised me during his test. His focus was the BEST I had ever seen from him and he broke his board on the very first try!

Gabby, who had broken her board on the first try last week, had to take a break from trying to break it during her test because her hand hurt so bad. Again, not sure if it was a distraction to have Daddy hold the board that she was breaking or she just wasn't hitting it hard enough... but the little trooper didn't give up and eventually broke her board the 2nd time around.

Disney 1st Visit

Disney offers what is called a "photo pass" when you visit... you pick up a card with a bar code on it and every time you want a picture taken by one of Disney's finest photographers, you give them the card to scan and - voila - you have a digital album of your trip! The "taking" of the pictures is free (and free to view) but the ordering for download or print isn't....

I really wanted a good one with the fam and the mice (I can't believe I put those two words together) and this was the best I could find on our photo pass...

The trio still talk about our visit and think that it is such an easy jont to head over to "downtown disney" for lunch and shopping... I guess a 15hr drive is worth it... he he

hair gone wild

Abby's hair has gone wild...no doubt about it! She had pulled out her hair twistie (she hates it but it is the only way for her to see) and B.O.I.N.G!!! A complete hair mess (to match her face and clothes).

"I can do it, Sir!"

The triplets have been enrolled in Taekwondo school for a few months now. (We moved to a new instructor about 6wks ago and they really like him... and I really like HOW he teaches.)

Their instructor has a program where he hands out a certain number of "champion" stickers at the end of class - the number based on how well the students did that day (i.e. listening, paying attention, etc.). After they fill their sheet with these stickers (ours took almost 6wks to fill), they are able to break a board. It feels almost like a graduation of sorts...they get a star to iron on their uniform, along with the prestige of breaking the board. They shout: "1, sir... 2, sir... 3 sir... I can do it, sir!" (and then swung!) What a confidence booster - I was super proud!

after around 4 tries, Mateo broke his board

Gabby of course broke hers on the first try

Mary broke hers after 3 tries