Trick or Treat

A light meal before we go out.

Ready to go! (They are supposed to be the Three Blind Mice. Batman is hiding)
Everyone together - the neighbor was mowing the lawn, so Nathanial was checking that out, Noah was checking on Hannah. At least Ethan, Aidan, and Austin looked at me. 50/50, not bad.

Halloween in Iowa is unpredictable at best. Every other year, it is freezing cold and we need winter coats. This year, I bought Aidan's costume large enough to put several layers under. The triplets got long johns and thick costumes. Then this happens:

We finish at the hospital and nursing home and we have three sweaty, hot babies:

(Nathanial is not happy - and I did buckle them the rest of the way, in case you were wondering)
Aidan is so hot:So we went home and stripped down to nothing for a few hours...and ate tons of sugar. Then we headed back out. The boys had so much fun. They got a little confused at first. At the hospital, you go through inside the building. At the nursing home, you even get to go into some of the residents rooms. So, of course, you are supposed to go into everyone's homes, right? After the first several houses, they finally got the hang of it. Around the third block, the sugar high turned into a sugar coma and they were good to go. Austin was very helpful to me the entire night - he got as much of a workout as I did. People felt sorry for him, so he got quite a haul of candy, too. We got home at 6:45 and the triplets were not hungry, just exhausted, so straight to bed they went. Thank goodness I gave them a light supper before we left!

[I must thank Austin for the use of his camera while we are still awaiting the arrival of my new one!]

Pumpkin Fun

Austin and Aidan got to carve pumpkins, while Nathanial, Ethan, and Noah got to paint theirs. We wanted them to be a part of the activities in some way and this seemed like a good idea - until Noah began painting himself more than his pumpkin! Oh, well. Fun was had by all.
We can't wait to start! (Noah, Nathanial, Ethan)Daddy's in the thick of things (Nathanial, Ethan, Noah)Austin's working on getting all his seeds outAidan's waiting to get startedWorking hard on the seedsNathanial can't wait to start with his pumpkinNathanial gets only a little messyEthan is so excitedWorking hard (Ethan)Ethan got a little messy, tooNoah has BIG plansWorking hard on his creationWonder what he worked harder to paint - his pumpkin or himself?Hannah is a little boredFinished pumpkins! (Aidan, Nathanial, Ethan, Austin, Noah, and Hannah's pumpkin)

So Excited!

Motherwear has posted a guest post by me. I am so excited! You can check it out by clicking the link (motherwear) or by clicking on the Motherwear box on the sidebar.

Ahhhh - Sleep!

Hannah has had her days and nights mixed up since long before she was born. As with all of my children, when I was pregnant, her party time started at 11 pm. Contrary to the rest of the family, it still is. All the boys very quickly settled into a correct day/night routine. The triplets we even had to wake up, because they were so tiny, to make sure they ate every 1.5 hours, 24 hours a day, for the first while. As soon as we were given the go ahead to let them sleep, they did. And at night. Aidan was up every 3 hours at night by the time he was about a month old. Prior to that, he was up every hour and a half 24 hours a day. Austin was a fantastic sleeper, all the time. I had to wake him up and by a month old, he was sleeping through the night.

Hannah has decided to be difficult. She does not like to be awake so much during the day. She does like to be awake in the morning for a little while. She wakes up at 1:00 to be up for a few hours (conveniently when her brothers are napping and at school). She then sleeps until right about 6:15 - perfect for when we're trying to eat supper. Then she's up. She catnaps, but generally she's awake. Until at least 12:30 am. Ahh!! Then she sleeps for about an hour and a half and is ready to go again. That's right - around 2 am. She will then go back to sleep right around 6:30 am. Just in time for everyone else to be up.

She has gradually gotten a tiny bit better, but not a lot. She's started to stretch her 12:30 time to about 3:30. It felt like hours of sleep. Plus, by about 4, Steve is pretty much OK with getting up with her and taking her downstairs. He's not thrilled, but he does it. He's so loving and knows how much I value my sleep.

Then, last night, she did it. She slept!!! Sweet, blissful sleep. She slept from 11 p.m. until 4:30 this morning!!!! It was awesome. And then, she went back to sleep! And slept from 5:30 until 8:30! And the triplets slept until 9!! Everyone slept!!! It was so wonderful. Granted, the triplets are pretty sick (nasty noses/some coughing), so that is why they slept, but at least they slept.

Now I can just pray she does it again...and soon!

New Wheels

We finally got our "new wheels" - that is, our new quad stroller. I was so excited. Mama now has her freedom back! Aidan claimed the umbrella stroller we were using for Noah while waiting for the quad to arrive. He now puts in three stuffed animals and takes them everywhere we go. We have a little trouble navigating it through our grocery stores door, so I park it outside and take everyone in. We've done it twice and so far, everyone has been very well behaved. This is saying something because it's the first time the triplets have ever been allowed to not be in a cart/stroller in a store. Big milestone for them!

Nathanial (left) and Ethan (R)


Hannah and Noah
Everyone is ready to go!
Aidan with his stroller of babies
Aidan's "babies"