It's over 200 pages long and some have joked it's the Martin Triplet encyclopedia! I need to have more copies printed so each of the girls can have one, but for now, I just feel much more safe having a hard copy.
Thanksgiving this year was very laid back, but enjoyable. It was the first year I've EVER hosted Thanksgiving at my house or made a whole turkey! Matt's parents came over for lunch and we had a very nice time. Later that evening, we took my mom a plate since she wasn't feeling well, and visited with her for a while.
At Christmas, my brother and his family were visiting from Colorado, so we had many get-togethers while he was home. The girls, as usual, "cleaned up" at Christmas and received loads of gifts! They got a big play house, a new play kitchen, a teeter totter built for 3, a new easel, baby dolls, puzzles, Dora stuff, musical instruments, a grocery cart, 2 strollers, a Dr. kit, a microphone, DVDs and TONS of pretend play kitchen stuff. This is just some of what they got. They were some very excited little girls. Christmas was a lot of fun this year, because of the girls' age. Matt and I got to be "Santa" for the first time. We did the milk and cookies, presents from Santa, etc and both of us thought it was lots of fun. We also did an advent calendar each day in December where we counted down the days to Christmas. The girls loved taking turns hanging the ornament each day and counting the days.
I took this pic as we were leaving my mom's house on Christmas Eve. Left to Right - Izzy, Ally and Abby.
The girls were in their first Christmas Pageant too! They were the sheep in the Nativity. I took their old 3 blind mice shirts from Halloween and glued cotton balls all over it with fabric glue. It took a long time, and ended up being a huge, fuzzy mess, but looked really cute! They learned "Away in a Manger" and loved singing it for everyone, but were too enamoured by all the kids on stage to actually sing in the Nativity. We also went to the Pryor Christmas parade this year, and the girls had lots of fun. They loved seeing Santa at the end, and decided they REALLY like marching bands! We went to my mom's on Christmas Eve, Church on Sunday morning, and Matt's parents' house on Christmas day. A very good Holiday!
The Pryor Christmas Parade - Abby had the best seat in the house:
Izzy & Ally sat in the strollers, but had front row seating
The girls loved the marching bands, and now pretend to be a marching band playing their "instruments" all over the house.
Here's a cute pic of the girls in front of the Christmas tree in an outfit their Meemaw got them and boots my mom got them.
Here's a pic of the girls' new play house
Their new kitchen...
Their new easel and loot from Santa
Pics from Christmas at my mom's house:
My brother and Izzy did a puzzle!
Izzy's already playing with her dress up stuff in this pic
Pics from Christmas at Matt's Parents' house:
I took my own pics for the Christmas card this year, instead of having it professionally done. It was very hard, because Abby blinks EVERY time the flash goes off, and the color was weird without the flash. Here are some outtakes as I was messing with my camera and taking pics of the girls:
Abby kissing Izzy
Ally hugging Abby
Izzy "hugging" Abby. This pic cracks me up!
Izzy
Abby
Ally
The two pics that made the card:
The girls got some dress up stuff for Christmas too, and this is how they look every day, soon after they wake up:
Izzy
Abby
Ally
Here's a pic of Izzy's bed, aka the scene of the crime...
We switched them to toddler beds because I will be having a hysterectomy the 2nd week in February. (The Dr. referred to my uterus as "trashed" and said our bodies are not meant to carry three babies at once... I've been having trouble since the babies were born, so it's for the best.) Although I will have help taking care of the girls for as long as I need, I won't be able to lift them for a month or more, so now they can climb in and out of their own little beds without me lifting them. We still use high chairs, but I'll most likely pull their small table and chairs into the kitchen while I'm recovering, so they can eat there and I won't have to lift them.
The girls are still not fully potty trained at this point. They're ready and willing to be trained, I still just keep putting on the brakes since I think my life is easier with them in diapers. I can go HOURS without worrying about it at this point, and I know it will change dramatically once they're going in the potty. People say, "well, eventually they'll be able to go by themselves." Yes, I see that... however, mine are still playing in the toilet any chance they get, so I'm not seeing the "hands off" approach happening anytime soon for me. When I say they're not fully potty trained, it's because they'll usually go when I sit them on the potty, they just haven't figured out to tell me they need to go yet and I haven't pushed it or gotten "hard core" about it yet. I vow, however, that they WILL be potty trained by their 3rd birthday.
A little about each girl:
Izzy
I already mentioned her getting up most days at nap. She's also usually the instigator when it comes to playing in the toilets. Needless to say, she still has her ornery moments. We've developed a new nickname for her now: "Pep in her step". She always bounces or gallops all over the house, and has a pep in her step almost always. A funny story about Izzy - the week that we changed them to toddler beds, Izzy would get out of her bed at night too. One evening, after the girls had gone to bed, Matt was out in the garage working on something on the car and I went to take a bath. When Matt went into the kitchen, he walked straight past the dining room into the kitchen and heard typing behind him on the laptop. He figured it was me, but when he turned around he saw Izzy, sitting at the kitchen table, staring up at him over the computer, still typing away. He said, "OH MY GOSH!" since it was so shocking to see her there. She immediately knew she was in trouble and started bawling her eyes out. As a matter of fact, she was so remorseful on her own, we just told her it was a no no and put her back in bed. We also woke to her standing in our room a few mornings in a row, which was a little creepy. Matt called it "Children of the corn", since she was just standing there all quiet when we woke up. Since then, I've added a child proof door knob cover on the inside of her door so she's not wandering the house all hours of the night. It works great!
Abby
Abby - Abby is still lil doe, but is getting a little more brave as she gets older. For example, she didn't want to ride the teeter totter at first, but Matt put her on anyway, and now she wants to ride it all the time. I hardly ever catch her in trouble or doing something she shouldn't be doing. However, when I do catch her, she is so upset. The other day, when Matt and I were putting the girls to bed, Abby got out of her bed, rang the door bell to the house in Ally's room and then ran back to her bed. Matt and I caught her and told her to get in her bed. From that moment on, I could not get her to stop being sad. She just takes it so hard when she gets in trouble. I try really hard to make sure they know they're in trouble for what they were doing, but they're not bad... that's it the behavior, not them. Needless to say, Abby is just the sweetest little thing I think I've ever seen. She probably likes to play dress up the most, and is always walking around in high heels or slippers. She's become adamant that her name is lil doe, and not Abby. One very strange thing about Abby: She loves to smell people's breath! For example, if I've been drinking coffee, she'll climb up on my lap and say, "let me smell you breaf mommy." She's very big intosmells, and is always hoping for a crumb of whatever I'm eating or drinking. Abby loves to curl up next to me in what Matt calls the "crevice" on the couch. She gets her srog and snuggles in for the night. Seriously sweet.
Ally
The other day, my mom stopped in to see the girls. As she was leaving, Izzy and Abby ran to her and gave her a hug and kiss. Ally, on the other hand, said "I'll kiss you, but I don't want no hug". ATTITUDE! The last few months, she's been making this sulky face all the time... especially when we have company over. She frowns and sticks her bottom lip out. Some people think it's cute, but I for one, do NOT! It bugs me!!! I don't want to see my kid sulking all day because something is not going her way. And, let me tell ya, things often do not go her way. She's been having a tough time sharing lately, but we're working on it. Ally is still very much a mommy's girl and still loves to cuddle me a lot. She kind of talks with a little lisp and is VERY bossy. Some people in my family even call her "Sarge". Even though she's the youngest of the three, she thinks she knows much much more. For example, while driving in the van, Izzy might say "Oh there's the school." and Ally will say, "No, Izzy, that's not the school... the school's on Ally's side." or something of that nature. It happens all the time! Although she's very bossy, she's extremely smart, and is actually right most of the time when she's correcting her sisters. She also likes to pretend to be the mommy a lot as the girls play together. She's always putting them to bed and bossing them around.
One time, somebody asked me who's the most trouble of the 3 girls, or who requires the most energy. It's funny because, just like they all have positive qualities, they all also have some negative ones... Izzy is obviously the one that is mischievous. Abby is a bit more needy and clingy, so that can be draining. Ally definitely has the attitude and will only do things when SHE wants to do them. So, although I may talk about Izzy being "ornery" a lot, or Ally's attitude, they can all be a handful at times.
It seems now that the girls are a little older, when I need a sitter, they go to visit their grandma's houses more often than their grandma's come to watch them at my house. This is turning out to be pretty neat, because both grandmas always plan a great time for the girls and they have SO much fun! At their Meemaw's house (Matt's mom), they have a toy train they can set up and ride, they do crafts, play with play doh, etc. She also reads something called "Read to Me Grandma", which has a ton of finger plays and songs in it that they LOVE to do. At Lala's house (my mom), they swing on the porch swing, make cookies with candies on them, look for deer with flash lights from the porch, etc. When they're coming, she basically "stages" her house with all kinds of toys for them to play with, including a big Barbie Doll house upstairs. When they come home, they won't stop talking about the fun times they had at their Grandparents' houses.
Here's a pic of the girls watching Dora in our bed as Matt and I were getting ready for church one Sunday morning. I love seeing them all snuggled together!
This last Sunday, my mom watched the girls while Matt and I went to Tulsa to celebrate my birthday. We went to dinner and a movie, and when we got home, my mom had orchestrated a surprise birthday party that the girls got to help with. She made it a "Hello Kitty" theme, so they were really excited. They had on Hello Kitty shirts, there was a cake, a present, etc. They jumped out and yelled surprise when we got home and were so excited to show me the cake, the present and what they had done. It was very sweet! Here's a pic of them with the cake:
That's all I have for now. I'll try not to wait so long before posting again!
