State Fair, Here We Come!

Boy, oh boy have we been busy this summer! It seems like Austin just got out and suddenly summer is over! Austin starts middle school next week and we have his orientation Monday night. How did THAT happen?!?A lot has happened lately and I will try to remember it all!Austin had fair last week and did awesome! He received blue ribbons for his photo series with all his brothers together on the inside and each alone on the outside and blue for his Consumer Savvy where he compared three kinds of cake and then wrote up what he learned. One of his pictures is going on to State Fair! He also got Best of Show on that picture!!! That is such an honor and he is only a second year junior! We are so very proud of all his hard work…it really paid off for him!He also did very well with his rabbits. He received blues for two of his rabbits and they received first and second place in their class (junior doe fancy breed). His other senior doe also received first place and a blue. His buck received a blue, then went on to get Grand Champion fancy breeds!!! That is awesome. The thing we are most proud of is that he received Grand Champion Junior Showmanship!!! He did an excellent job with his rabbit and was awesome! Last year he was reserve Junior Showman, this year he got it! So awesome! What a lot of people don’t see and don’t understand is that he doesn’t just do it and show up at fair. All the prior work for him is a lot more difficult and takes a lot more time and effort for him. For example, the cakes took over five hours to do because of difficulties with the measurements and his motor skills and meltdowns in between because “this is impossible!” The rabbits he works with for hours every day to get them ready. He took well over 200 pictures to get SIX that he could actually show. It took him another five hours to mat them just so and get them ready. Then it comes time for fair day and he hops in the car, ready to go…no projects, no goal sheets, no exhibit labels, nothing. Doesn’t even faze him that he has forgotten it all, until Steve or I remind him to go get it. When we get there, he is overwhelmed by all the people and very nervous, but he works through it all with breathing, etc. This is just a *sampling* of what goes on for him to get ready for fair and he does his projects himself, with very minimal help from Steve and I and that is why we are even more proud of him. At least he knows he can accomplish things if he wants to! We are going to State Fair Sunday and I will update then to let you all know how he showed at the state level. That is not conference judging, it is the picture all alone with his goal sheet…he cannot explain it or anything, so it is a little more difficult, but it doesn’t even matter what he gets…he did incredible to get there!Aidan is getting ready for preschool and oh so excited! We have an open house August 21 and then we find out when he starts. He will go three days a week in the afternoons. I know he needs to be away from me a little more, so we are starting him now. He is very needy still and always wants to be with me…to the point that lately he sobs when I leave. Not good.Now for the babies. Boy has a lot happened!! Noah is sitting…sitting!! He doesn’t do it for very long, but it is a bona fide sit! Ethan is slump-sitting and Nathanial is happy as a lark on the floor! Ethan is getting up on all fours and rocking back and forth, ready to crawl! He will, in fact, move a few inches even! Ethan and Nathanial got their two bottom teeth in and did so with relative ease. Noah, not so much. He FINALLY broke through his bottom tooth and is working on another, but man has he been a BEAR throughout this process! Nothing easy with that little man! Ethan has been having a little separation anxiety when I lay him down for naps and bedtime. He cries, then I go back in for about 3 minutes, then he is fine when I leave. The other two haven’t started that yet, but they are all a little leery when I leave the room or get out of sight of them. They are all such loves. I love going through every stage with them and they are so much fun. I had read in several different books when I was pregnant that the first year with triplets is a blur and you don’t really get to know your babies because it is all work, work, work. I was a little disheartened, but figured there had to be SOME positives to the first year. I have found that to be false for us. I know each baby very well, as well as I did with the older two. They all have their own little preferences and slight differences (major in Noah) in personalities and I really don’t feel like it has ALL been work. They are on an awesome schedule and are very good babies, so maybe that helps! They had their six month appointment today. I cannot believe they are six months old already! Nathanial was 16 lb, 5 oz and 27”, head was 16.5”; Ethan 16 lb, 7 oz, 26.5”, 16.5” head; Noah 17 lb 1 oz, 26.5”, 17” head. They are all getting to be the same size, and most exciting, they didn’t need to be on the preemie chart anymore!!! They each got three shots and that wasn’t fun at all. Ethan didn’t say a lot about it. Noah SCREAMED….he hated it and he made sure you knew it! Nathanial did not like it either, did great for the first one, but then screamed through the second two, then was OK. They all came home and are sound asleep now. Hopefully they will sleep off the worst of it! I’ll update again after Sunday on State Fair results! If you want to see pictures, they are at www.dropshots.com/5boysmom . There are also some of Austin at www.bremercountyfair.com and then you click on “buy pictures.” (You don’t have to buy, you can just look.)