Update 23.5 months!

With all that is going on around here, it's been hard for me to update the blog. I think I'll be doing good to update once a month this summer, as we get settled into our new house.

Here's the latest on the house front: We're still in the old house, but we're supposed to close on the new house on May 20th. The family buying our house is supposed to close on June 20th. This works out well, because we can do the work that we want to do on the new house, while still living comfortably in the old one. In the new house, we have plans to re texture the ceilings, get new carpet throughout, and tile in a few places that currently have linoleum. We're also painting every room, so it will probably be mid-June before we start the moving process. So far, I've been dealing with contractors, trying to get the best price for different jobs. (We'll be doing all the painting ourselves though.) In the old house, I've been cleaning out all our drawers and closets and had a Yard Sale last weekend, so we'll just be moving things we want, rather than moving clothes that don't fit, etc. Please pray that everything continues to go smoothly in selling our house and buying the new one. We already had the inspection on the old house, and he found a few things, but so far, we haven't heard from the buyers demanding anything else be fixed. Hopefully, they won't, because we're running out of money. Also, the appraisal of the old house still has to happen, so that needs to work out too. Lots of things still have to fall into place... Matt and I will have a HUGE weight lifted off of us when we have closed on both houses.... HUGE!

The girls are doing so great! They are putting words together to form 3 or 4 word sentences, and are constantly talking. Just last night, Ally said, "Andi Mae so funny", referring to her little friend who came to visit. They also say, "Where did daddy go?", "I don't know", "There he is", "I see it", "I like it", "I no like it", "I sit down", "Izzy's turn" (or Abby or Ally), etc. These are just some examples, they say a lot and amaze me every day by what they know!

All 3 girls love to sing songs. Right now, it seems like Izzy has the best pitch and rhythm. When dancing to a song, she's always in rhythm as she sways. When singing a song, she really gets the pitch just right and learns fast. I love to hear them sing "Jesus Loves Me". They always sing the "Loves Me" part really well and point to themselves as they sing. It warms my heart, and I think to myself, "He sure does! How could he not love you little cuties?!" Ally will sing it the most readily. She emphasizes the words, "He is STRONG", "Loves Meeee", and "SO" (at the end). She tends to stay a little lower than the note I'm singing. Izzy is right on pitch, and Abby sails way above it, with the sweetest little shrill! There you have it! The Martin Triplet band... coming soon! Anytime we sing a song to them, they have to immediately run and get the item related to the song we're singing. For example, they have a book of Nursery Rhyme type songs, and if I start singing one of the songs from that book, they stop what they're doing, find the book, and turn to the page with the song on it, before we can continue. If I sing "The B-I-B-L-E" song, they run and get their little Bible, etc. Right now, they love the Alphabet song. Izzy can sing it pretty well all the way up to the letter G!

A little more about Izzy: She had her first hair cut a few weeks ago. She was so good thru the whole thing too! For some odd reason, I decided to tell her my name is Kami, and now she calls me "Kimmy" all the time. She knows I think it's funny, so she just runs up and down the hallway, yelling, "Kimmy, Kimmy, Kimmy!" She's been a lot less ornery lately, and has been a little sweet heart... even keeping the other two in line at times. She still gets into things when she's not supposed to, but I'm seeing a different side of her lately and she really likes to please her mommy.

Abby had her first hair cut along with Izzy, a few weeks ago. She was also good... though I was very surprised. I think it worked, because she got to watch Izzy have hers cut first, so she wasn't too afraid of it. She's getting a little more brave lately and loves to get her sisters' bellies! I love to watch it.... Ally will lay on the ground and Abby will lift up her shirt and blow on her belly to make her laugh. It is so cute! Abby is still pretty solemn in public, but at home she lets out the sweetest little giggles and smiles. She reserves her sweetness for those she loves the most.

Ally didn't have to get a hair cut with her sisters... she's getting more hair, but is still one of the baldest babies I've ever seen at almost 2 years old! Although she just has a little bit of blond hair, she pulls it off well and has such a beautiful, perfect little face. She is definitely the best talker of the 3, at this stage, and is probably the most comical to watch. She's always doing something funny. She's still quite the little cuddler and has even learned to manipulate people with her cuddles. If she's laying on me cuddling at night, and I say it's time for bed, she'll say, "stay mommy, stay mommy" and cuddle harder. It's worked quite a few times, I must say. Lately, Ally has been the fussiest of the 3 too. She's has the kind of personality where things have to be done just so, and if the other sisters are not playing like she wants them to play, she will throw a fit. I have no idea where she gets this trait ;)

A few cute things the girls have been doing: I taught them to shake their booties. They put their little hands on their knees, stick out their booties and shake shake shake! It's so cute. Also, they form a choo-choo train, by holding on to each other shirts and chugga chugga all over the house til they fall all over each other. People say they're so lucky to have each other to play with, and this is true... but they also constantly have each other to fight with! We still have a bite every now and then, but that's not happening as often as it was for a little while. At this point, it's usually just screaming and fussing at each other.

They're such little recorders lately! Everything I say, they repeat. Kind of a scary thing! If I call Matt, "honey", I'll hear another little voice in the background say, "honey". If I get on to one of the girls and yell their name, the others yell their name too! It's so funny.

For their upcoming 2nd birthday, we're going to have a pretty laid back family picnic in our back yard. I'm ordering a little bouncy castle  for the girls to jump in, and we'll have cupcakes and burgers... I was going to wait until we got in the new house, but that's looking like it'll be further out than I would like to put off their bday party.

Here are a few pics from this month:

Palm Sunday Picnic at our Church. Here's a pic of the girls holding hands and going to the toddler area to hunt eggs! (Abby, Izzy and Ally)

Abby hunting eggs

 Izzy hunting eggs

 Ally hunting eggs

 Abby jumping in the bouncy castle

 Ally jumping in the bouncy castle (Abby in the background)

 Izzy in the bouncy castle

 Izzy's first hair cut at my cousin Carrie's salon

 Abby's first hair cut.

 Easter Sunday - Ally, Abby and Izzy with cousins, Damon and Madison

 Easter Sunday was very rainy, so we hunted eggs in Meemaw and Papaw's bedroom. (Luckily, we had also hunted eggs on Palm Sunday when the weather was nice). Here's a pic of Abby gathering her eggs...

 Ally hunting eggs

 All 3 girls opened the eggs and began stuffing their face with the candy that was inside!

 My busy little bees... (Abby, Izzy and Ally)

Mother's Day, we went to my grandparent's house and ate lunch with some of my family. Here's a pic of Mamaw spinning and pushing the girls in one of her dining room chairs! What a fun Great Mamaw they have!

This is all I have for now... I have a feeling my next update will be just after their birthday, with pics from their little party!

Great News!

God is SOOOO Good! I'm so excited to say, We have accepted an offer on our house and have made an offer on another house, which has also been accepted! They are set to close on the same day in late May.

We have had our eye on this 4-bedroom 3-full bath, 2500 sq foot house for a little over a month now. It needs a few updates, but the bones and layout of the house are like it was built for our family! As a matter of fact, all 3 bathrooms have double sinks! Someday, each girl will have their own mirror/sink space as they're getting ready for school. It has a HUGE living room and a nice, big kitchen and dining room, as well as big bedrooms. Oh yeah... it also has a POOL, covered patio and deck in the backyard! To me, the backyard just looks like a party waiting to happen! We wanted the house, but it was a little higher price than we wanted to spend (at the top of our range, especially since it needs quite a few updates, though it's only 11 years old). The house just happened to be repossessed by the bank, so we were planning on making a low offer once we got an offer on our house. Well... my realtor called me last week (out of breath) and said, "Kami, they just dropped that house by another $15,000... it's going to go fast, If you want it, you better put in an offer!" We were already preapproved and had a couple pretty interested in our current house, so we decided to take the leap of faith and go for it. At one point we thought we were in a bidding war over the house, but as it turns out, we got our offer in first and the bank accepted it, so WE GOT THE HOUSE!!! And would you believe, the VERY SAME DAY, we got an offer on our house!? So, after having our house on the market for a year, we sold it and bought another in ONE very busy day!!! Isn't God amazing?! I just know it took us this long to sell our house, because God wanted us to have this specific house for our little family! I keep listening to Miranda Lambert's song, "The House That Built Me", because this is the house our little girls will grow up in and create tons of memories!

As for the girls, they're just doing wonderful. They're talking SO much and are so smart!The other day, I sneezed and Ally said, "Bess you, mommy!" I just started cracking up. Now, Abby blesses herself everytime she sneezes too. They are SO their daddy's daughters too, because everytime one of them toots or burps they just laugh and laugh. They think it's the funniest thing ever! I'm trying to teach them some manners, so they now say "scuse me" after giggling at their burp! :)

In my last post, I mentioned that the girls had stopped climbing out of their cribs, but of course the next day, Izzy escaped like 5 times during nap, so we had to make some changes. Matt's dad came over that night, and we basically took the platforms out of Izzy and Ally's beds. So the mattresses are on the floor, but the crib is still all around it like a little cage! This should work for a little while longer until I think they'll actually stay in toddler beds. I think once we get in the new house and they get comfortable in their own rooms, I can probably try the toddler beds (right now they're all in the same room, and I know they'll stay up and play all night if not in cribs). Abby's bed did not need to be changed because we know lil doe won't try to escape since she's afraid of her own shadow.

The girls LOVE LOVE LOVE to dance, and they do it all the time! They have a book with all kinds of nursery rhyme songs, like: Itsy Bitsy Spider, If You're Happy and you Know it, 5 Little Monkeys jumping on the bed, etc. If you start to sing one of the songs, they go find the book and turn it to the page with the song on it, and dance to the song. I took a few videos of it last night, though it seems as soon as I pull the camera out, they no longer like to perform. They also sing pretty well. For example, If I sing "Row Row Row your Boat gently down the stream....", They'll go "mellily mellily mellily millily" ("merrily" in the right pitch) and finish the song. It's really cute!

Izzy is still getting into everything she's not supposed to as soon as you leave the room and is a bit ornery, but can also be the sweetest little thing ever. Matt says she's the momma's girl, asking for me when I'm not here. Her hair is really filling in and getting thicker. She's also getting to where she likes to wear bows like a little girlie girl! Anytime somebody leaves the room, Izzy will say, "Where did [daddy] go?" (with her hands turned up in confusion). Izzy looks so much like her daddy and his side of the family, it's not even funny. She's Martin thru and thru.

When Abby dances, she makes the cutest little dance poses, like she's being a gymnast or something.... it's so cute and I have no idea where she gets it! I think I'm definitely going to have to get that girl in gymnastics or dance. She seems to have a natural grace about her... which she definitely did not get from her mommy. Abby seems to be getting a little more independent lately and doesn't have to be clinging to me quite as often as she used to. We get a lot of mixed reviews on who Abby looks like, so we just say she looks like Abby.

Ally is such a little love bug and is a very affectionate baby. The other day she climbed into my lap, threw her arms around my neck and said, "I yuh you!" (said like she really meant it). She's also turned into a little boss to her sisters. She tells them "no" or "not ok" when they're doing something they shouldn't, tries to spank them and even checks their diapers to check if they're poopy. I think she thinks she's the mommy. My brother came to visit recently, and he just calls her "little Kami" everytime he sees her. My mom and family always say she acts and looks exactly like I did when I was that age (except I had more hair)!

I think the girls are probably ready to be potty trained, but I'm really in no hurry. I think I'm going to wait until the summer, when we're settled in our new house (tee hee). I feel like once they're potty trained, it's going to be a lot more work for me than when they're in diapers. Right now, they can pee as much as they want, and I just have to change them every couple of hours, but when they're potty trained, I'll have to take them to the bathrooom like 15 times an hour at first! I'm just really not in a hurry at this point.... I assure you, they'll be potty trained by the time they go to school!

On Friday, I had a procedure called an Endometrial Ablasion. Basically, having triplets is still taking it's toll on my uterus and I've been having some issues, so this should fix it. It was an outpatient procedure, but I had to be put under for it, with the IV, breathing tube, etc which I ABSOLUTELY HATE! So, I took it easy this weekend and took pain pills while Matt did all the work. It's sad that I was actually looking forward to surgery, so I could have an excuse to stay in bed for a few days with no guilt! I'm feeling a lot better today, but still taking it pretty easy and just doing the bare minimum to take care of the girls.

A couple of weeks ago some friends of ours got two new puppies and brought them over to see the girls. My girls are SCARED TO DEATH of dogs, but even these cute, tiny little fur balls freaked them out! Here's a pic of the girls looking at the puppies...

Ally had her little panic attack moments... I swear it's how I would act if someone was asking me to pet a snake or something, not a sweet little puppy!

They're very sweet lil pups...

But after a while, Ally and Izzy started to warm up to them... Abby still didn't want any part of them.

My brother and his family came home from Colorado for a few days last week, and we all had a nice dinner at my mom's house. Here's a pic of the girls eating ice cream and brownies on the kitchen window sill with their Lala.

My brother's dog, Rudy, was there too... so Izzy and Ally were brave with their daddy by their side. Again, Abby didn't want a thing to do with the doggie.

Cousins! Ally, Abby, Andie and Izzy on Lala's porch swing.

Here are some short videos of the girls dancing to their favorite songs last night:

March 2011/ 21.5 Months

Here's a little update on what's been going on in our world:

The girls are all well and doing new things every day. They love to be read to, love to play with their kitchen/play pretend and love to play dress up and put on hats, shirts, shoes, etc and walk around. They've started watching Sesame Street and are all obsessed with Elmo or "Melmo" as they call him. Izzy is especially fond of him and has to sleep with him as well as "Wigga Wigga" the chicken. Ally is still very attached to "bunny" and her "Paci" when going to sleep and promptly requests them if she knows it's time for "night night". Abby has even started verbalizing her requests for Srog the Frog or "Sraw" as she calls him. They're talking so much and I'm very proud of all they're doing and how they're developing. The lady from Parents as Teachers still comes once a month and she's always so impressed with how well they talk and follow directions. She always brings them new books or puzzles and plays with them while she's here. She affirms me and the job I'm doing as a mommy, which is very nice to hear too.

Last time I updated, I mentioned that Izzy and Ally had climbed out of their cribs a few times, but THANKFULLY this has stopped! We took the bumpers out of the cribs (where they were getting a few extra inches leverage), so we still have a few more months before looking to move to toddler beds. I mentioned getting those crib tent things, but they make me a little nervous... afraid a baby could get caught up in it and suffocate or something. They ARE NOT READY for toddler beds! I don't care what other people have done in the past... these girls will not stay in a bed... they would roam all over the place and get into all kinds of trouble in a toddler bed. So... we're sticking with cribs as long as we possibly can.

The weather has been getting nicer and nicer, so I took the girls out in the backyard to play last week and took a few pics, while chasing them down!



Ally riding her 4-wheeler



Izzy



Abby (with her lil pony tail)



Ally about to slide, Abby swinging, Izzy waiting her turn



Ally's very good at sliding...


Here are a few pics of the girls playing in their jammies one day:


Ally pushing her bus all over the house



Sweet lil doe with srog



Izzy hoarding all the Elmo dolls

 Two weeks ago, I was cleaning house and I took the trash outside. While out there, the girls figured out how to lock the front door!!! I had NO IDEA they could do that! Luckily, since I was cleaning, I had a Baby Einstein video going and everything was baby proofed in the area they could roam. I ran next door, used the neighbor's phone and called Matt's mom, since she has a key. I played with the girls through the front windows while she booked it over here. It probably took about 7 minutes from the time I figured out I was locked out, but it felt like an ETERNITY!!!  I stayed calm, except for one moment at the neighbor's house when I almost started crying! It's funny when it's all over and everyone is safe, but I felt SO helpless, knowing they were in here and I couldn't get to them (without breaking a window, anyway, which did cross my mind)!

On Saturday, we took the babies to the Baby and Family Fest at the Expo Building in Tulsa. They advertised a petting zoo (which was not there by the way), but we had fun anyway. They had a group leading some dancing and fun activities for little kids. The girls ran around to music, played with balloons, and made a few new friends (especially Izzy). Here are some pics from our fun time:



Izzy playing with balloon



Izzy and Ally playing with their balloons. (The blue harness is for keeping them on little leashes. Some people may think it's inhumane.... I think it's the only way to go when you have 3 toddlers!)



Izzy, Abby, Ally and Andi Mae (in plaid shirt and jeans) playing with balloons. Our friends, Andrew and Courtney came with us.



Here's the J2 Crew leading the dance... Izzy was mezmerized. The other kids are in line following orders. Izzy is standing in the middle of the dance floor! So cute!

Izzy in middle of floor... Ally and Abby off to the left.

My girls holding hands and dancing

The J2 Crew wanted their pics taken with the "cute triplets"

Izzy made a little friend. She just walked right up and took this little girl's hand!

Andi Mae and Abby

Izzy and her friend

Abby kept guard over the strollers.

There was a Cute Baby Contest at the Baby Fest thing, and I said, "ok, I'll enter them if all you have to do is show them a baby and that's it". Well, the contest was exactly that! So... we showed them our babies and just knew we had the competition clinched! Ok, I just knew we had it clinched... Matt didn't care. Would you BELIEVE they DID NOT pick these babies as the cutest?! I think the whole thing had to be a rigged or something ;)

The girls are getting pretty good about holding hands with each other and walking places, which is SO NICE! Yesterday, after church, the 5 of us walked out holding hands: baby-mommy-baby-daddy-baby. This is a lot less work than carrying all of them everywhere we go! Also, we went to eat at Goldie's and, as we were leaving, we told the girls to hold hands. The 3 of them held hands with each other and nicely walked to the door! I was BEAMING as everyone looked at my lil cuties!!!

We have had some recent activity on the house lately. We lowered the price, added a bonus for the realtor that brings the buyer, and added a one-year warranty to the buyer, hoping this would boost interest. Well, it seemed to work, because we have a couple that looked last week and decided they want the house. Unfortunately, they can’t make an offer for 30 days… we’re thinking it has something to do with the financing (has to be at his job a certain amount of time, something to do with credit, etc). As Matt says though, we can’t be sure until the money’s in the bank, so it’s still quite “iffy”. Although we were planning on building when we sell this one, we did find a nice home that has 4 bedrooms, 3 baths and 2500 square feet within our budget, here in Pryor. We really liked it, though it needs a lot of updates. (It’s very hard to find a 4 bedroom, 2000 sq ft plus house within our budget, which is why we were opting to build). This house has been repossessed by the finance company, so we were hoping to get a good deal on it. Unfortunately, they won’t take a contract with a contingency of selling your own house… so, now we’re stuck waiting to sell ours and really hoping this one doesn’t sell to someone else in the meantime. Please pray everything works out for us… I have been extremely patient about selling ours, up until now. Now it’s consuming my mind and stressing me out! We know God has worked in amazing ways before, so please keep this situation in your prayers.

Snow Play, Valentine's Pics and Dancing Videos

The girls got to play in snow for the first time last week! Ally loved it, Izzy liked it, Abby tolerated it. Izzy and Abby pretty much stayed in this spot the whole time, but Ally trekked through the snow and had a great time!

These are some pics from about a month ago, I forgot to post - the girls were playing in Lala's hat and scarf.

Izzy

Abby

Ally giving me a "bite" while trying to take her pic

Valentine's Day - Meemaw and Papaw got the girls their first Build-A-Bears 

The girls cuddled their meemaw after playing with their bears...

Here are a few videos from last night of the girls dancing and hugging



What we've been up to...

I haven't updated in a while... mainly because I've been lazy. Also, Matt got me an Ipad for my birthday, so I guess I've been getting my computer "fix" with that, and haven't wanted to get on the laptop and update.

Speaking of my 32nd birthday, I had a great one! Matt took the day off and his mom watched the girls. I went and got a facial and massage in the morning, then Matt and I went to Tulsa in the afternoon. We saw a movie, shopped a little, and went to eat. It was very nice! I love love love my babies, but it's so nice to get some time away just with Matt. I about fell out of my chair when I opened the Ipad, but I LOVE IT and use it all the time!

The babies and I were sick with colds a week or so ago, but THANKFULLY, everyone seems to be well now. I figured out: I can handle triplets... I can even handle sick triplets... but I cannot handle sick triplets when I'm sick too. THAT IS MY BREAKING POINT!

We've also had a TON of snow this past week! It came in last Monday night and snowed all day on Tuesday. So much so, that Matt was unable to go to work on Tuesday or Wednesday. Our car doesn't do so well when there's 14 inches of snow on the roadways and he has a 45 minute drive to work. Since it's the first of the month and month-end close, he HAD to be there by Thursday, so his mom and dad took him in their 4wd truck. He took an air mattress and some food and just spent the night in his office, so he could get caught up. Poor guy hardly slept a wink, but his parents went back and got him Friday night and brought him back home. He says our next vehicle will be a 4wd, no matter what it costs. Here are some pics from the blizzard...

The girls' swingset...

Matt trekking out to the shed

Our shoveled walkway and cars

Check out the bushes and bench... that's a lot of snow!

Our little house...

Mom was snowed in too. When she knew the snow was coming, she packed her bag and stayed with Mamaw and Papaw, but came over to stay with me when Matt was gone. So...because of the snow, between my mom and Matt, I pretty much had constant companionship and help with the babies for a week straight! It was really nice. Today, it's back to reality, as everyone's back at work. Though... we're supposed to get more snow tomorrow night... ugh!

We had quite a surprise the other morning with Ally. We heard crying outside our room, and came out to find Ally! She climbed out of her crib and had pretty much ransacked the whole house before we knew she had "escaped"! Her path was obvious: She pulled clothes out of her nursery drawers and even shared the wealth by giving her sisters some clothes through the bars in their cribs. (I can just imagine Abby and Izzy watching her run free from their little jail cells). She must've become bored of the nursery, because she ventured to the bathroom, where she played in the toilet for awhile (evident by her wet arms, all the way up to her shoulders). After that, she appeared to raid the kitchen, placing the Windex bottle on the table and bringing the laptop into the living room. She pretty much played everywhere she's usually not able to go by herself! You're probably wondering why we didn't hear this... well, I was bad and turned the monitors down when they woke up earlier than normal that morning. The ONE morning I did that, of course, she figures out how to climb out! We also saw Izzy starting to try it too, so I don't know what we're going to do! I may look into getting crib tents, that prevent them from crawling out. Some people might say it's time to switch them to toddler beds, but I say "NOOOO way!" Mine will probably be in cribs until they're at least 3! And the only people I'll allow to judge are ones that have had 20 month old triplets! :)

I am seriously unhappy to report the following: Unfortunately, I'm noticing the girls are starting to wake up earlier. I knew this day would come, and the 9:00 am wake up was way too good to be true, but the past few days, 7:30 is the new wake up time. I know, I know, this is stilll good... most people think no sleep is synonymous with having triplets, but I've been SOOO happy with the 9 am time!

As far as what they're currently doing: they're saying more and more words and even singing! It is very cute! Their favorites are: "This Little Light of Mine", "Baa Baa Black Sheep", and "Itsy Bitsy Spider". They like to do the motions and sometimes try to sing along.

My favorite is when I tell them I love them and they just say it back: "I uh you". Sometimes it surprises me because I'm not used to getting a response, and not saying it because I want one.

On a not so cute note, Izzy has started telling me "no". I'll ask her to do something and she'll say "no". Then I'll say, "you do not tell your mommy 'no'", and she'll say, "no, no, no, no." She gets spanked or put in time out, but man does it burn me!!!

That's all I can think of to update for now, as Abigail would say, "see ya"!