Life Is Sweet

All has been going wonderfully here... I have lots of new updates!

WE FINALLY SOLD THE OLD HOUSE last week! It seemed to drag on and on FOREVER, but it's finally OVER! Although it appraised, we had some issues getting it checked for termites (since the crawl space was so tight) and had a ton of hold ups from the buyers and them getting approved and getting the paperwork done. What a mess it was, and an extra stress we are so glad to be rid of! Being free of it, makes me love my new house that much more! Here are some pics of the new house...

Izzy's pink monkey room



Guest Bath


Girls' Jack & Jill Bath (between Ally and Abby's room)


Ally's Bee and ladybug room


Abby's purple birdy room


Big Living room


Big kitchen and dining

Awesome pool in the backyard!

My bathroom/tub... my fav spot in the house!

Master bedroom



Ok, now that you've seen my new home, let me fill you in on how the girls are doing! They're all little recorders right now... repeating EVERYTHING they hear... which is proving to not always be good ;)

Here's a recent pic of them (Izzy, Abby and Ally)

The other day, I was having family over for dinner in the evening and was draining hot pasta in the sink. Some of the hot water got on me and I spilled half the pasta in the sink, and a curse word slipped out. I turned around to see Ally watching me at the fence, but didn't think much about it, preoccupied with my burning hand and ruined pasta. That night, my mom was playing with Ally as she was playing on her play kitchen. Mom said she intentionally knocked something off behind the kitchen and bent over, saying a curse word over and over. (Mimicking me to the tee!) Mom, of course, got tickled, which encouraged the behavior, and Ally came out to repeat the word to the family as we were eating dinner. I ordered everyone to stop laughing, but then all 3 of them started repeating it, trying to get laughs! It was very embarrassing, but very funny!

Needless to say, they're all talking very well! All 3 know their colors and can identify many animals. They're doing pretty good with counting to ten, but don't have one-to-one correspondence yet... they have just memorized the order of numbers and how it sounds. They love love love to sing. They love to sing their ABC's, Twinkle Twinkle, Jesus Loves Me and Baa Baa Black Sheep. They still love to be read to, and like to sit and pretend to read books to themselves. They also love to rip up books, which they get in trouble for often.

The girls love to swim in the new pool, although we've only done it a few times (It is A LOT of work)! They're fearless (which is a little scary).... they don't mind to get their faces wet and blow in the water and they love to jump off the edge to mommy or daddy, although I've decided to put an end to that for now, for many reasons - 1) they don't know how far to jump out to avoid injury (we had a close call with Ally bonking her head on the side and 2) It's probably not a good habit to encourage, just in case they don't understand it's only to be done if we're standing right there. It's been too hot this summer to play outside much, but I talk to them all the time about only going into the pool if mommy or daddy are in there and only if they have their swimsuits on. It's looking like the fence isn't going to happen until Spring, so we're still keeping everything under lock down and careful supervision.

They are all getting much easier to tote around now, because they can climb up into the van and into their seats. They can't buckle themselves in yet, but that'll be helpful one day!

Some of their favorite games right now: They love to play a game we call "tiger", where they walk around on all fours and roar at everyone. They like to "get" each other and the others run and jump up on the couches to escape the tiger. Daddy started the tiger game, but now the girls play with each other, even when daddy's at work. They've also started playing follow the leader all over the house. It's so cute to watch them and they sing, "follow the leader, follow the leader" as they go. They also love to climb in boxes or bins, whenever they can... here's a pic of us having some diaper box derbies earlier this month:



They love to play "horsey" with daddy and ride on his back. Though they usually take turns, the other day, we doubled up, since Andi Mae (and her mommy and daddy) were over for dinner:

They get into trouble the most for: messing with doors (opening and shutting them), ripping books, climbing things, or taking their clothes or diapers off. They also get in trouble for getting a hold of my things when I'm out of the room, like my cell phone. Yesterday, they called their daddy and talked to him for a minute or two before I realized he was on the phone!

We took the girls for their 2 year check-up a few weeks ago, and they're still right on track and doing great!
Here was their Length and weight:
Izzy: 33" (25th percentile), 24.10 lbs. (25th percentile)
Abby: 33" (25th percentile), 23lbs .6 oz (9th percentile)
Ally: 34.5 " (70th percentile), 25 lbs. .1 oz (30th percentile)

As you can see, they're all a little underweight than average, but nothing to be concerned about. They eat very well, for the most part. Abby eats anything and everything and look how small she is!

For the Dr's appointment, I drove the girls to Tulsa by myself and met Matt at his office. They went up to his work for everyone to see, then he helped me take them to the Dr. I could've had help taking them to the Dr, but sometimes I find satisfaction in doing these things myself, like a normal mom... without having to ask for help all the time. Besides, Matt can take time off of work, and he enjoys doing things like this... he's a very hands-on kind of daddy. Here's a pic of Ally and Izzy in the office next to Matt's... they got right to work!



With the new house, and each girl having their own room, comes a new bedtime routine. After picking up all the toys we rotate which girl gets put in bed first. The others come along with us and tuck them in. I always say, "I'll be back for prayers", and go tuck the other ones in. Then come back and do prayers with each one. (More on that in a minute). Well, the girls love to pretend they're the mommy, so now, each night, they say, "I'll be back a prayers!" along with me, as they tuck their sisters in... it's really cute. They're still in their cribs, because it's still working for us at this point, and we stick with whatever works, until it doesn't work anymore.

Here's a little about each baby...


IZZY

Izzy is doing really well. She's still a bit ornery, but I find she goes through phases... a bit mischievous at times, but a really good little girl for the most part. When she prays at night, she repeats me as I go through the people we thank God for... Izzy always repeats everything really fast, then takes forever with her own "unscripted" part of the prayer... praying for everyones' boo boos and including people she's only met a few times, like our realtor! Izzy is definitely the best about cleaning up toys and following directions during clean up time. She's the WORST about taking her pants and diaper off, and still has to sleep in zip-up jammies (in the middle of 105 degree heat) because she won't stop taking her diaper off when she's supposed to be sleeping! She also has the funniest hair! Matt says it's like troll hair....you know, the kind where you can run your fingers through it and stays up! It's like cotton! Here's a pic of the hair:

One more thing about Izzer... anytime I ask her something that requires a confirmation, her favorite way to answer is, "Yep!" Sometimes, she'll even add in a "mmm hmm, yep!" I love her spunk... always has a little bounce in her step and so cute!



ABBY

Abby: Still my lil doe... sometimes I even call her my lil hoot owl, because she still kind of coos in her bed or when we're cuddling. She is definitely still a little cuddle bug. She would probably spend all day on my lap , if I'd let her. She's talking a lot, but is probably the hardest to understand, and I'm not sure it's not related to her hearing or tubes in her ears. When she says her prayers, she's so sweet. I always have them ask God to keep them "safe and healthy" and she'll say, "keep me fafe and felfy". Every time she does it, Matt and I can't help but giggle a little. If you ask me to sum up Abby with one word, it would be "sweet". She's such a little sweet girl. She still loves her Srog, and has to have him all the time (though I don't let her take him in public places). She has a certain way she always holds srog when she's cuddling him: She puts his arm up under her nose (like she's smelling it), and keeps her pointer finger in her mouth. This has been the same hold for a long long time. Here's a pic of it:


We had to give Srog a bath the other day, and it was a very big ordeal that everyone had to get involved with... I took a pic of the commotion:


Abby has a tendency to be a little whiney, which can grate on the nerves every now and again, so we've been working on trying to use a big girl voice when she needs something.


ALLY


Ally: If I had to use one word to sum up Ally, it would be: Bossy! My mom calls her "sarge". The other day, she was bossing me around, and I said, :you don't boss mommy!" and she said, "Daddy bosses mommy!" and I said, "No... nobody bosses mommy!" (Matt found this really funny, and said, "she obviously doesn't know how the world works  yet, does she?") She is a very clear talker... definitely the clearest of the three girls. When she prays, she is very thorough and clear. Ally doesn't cuddle me as often as she used to, but every now and then, she'll cuddle me real big while we rock and say, "I luz you, I luz you". It is the BEST feeling in the whole wide world! Sometimes, she'll even take my face between her hands and lay a big kiss on me! I live for moments like that! She is VERY smart and learns very quickly. (This may be why she's turning into such a boss and so ready to put everyone into their place). Ally is finally getting a little more hair, and we're even able to put the top of her hair into a little pony. Here's a pic:


We're having to work on Ally's attitude a bit, because she can definitely be difficult at times. Matt says she sounds like a ppterodactyl in the other room screeching at sisters for taking a toy or getting in her way. She's definitely very stubborn. During prayers, I have her pray that God helps her attitude be good, and that Mommy doesn't go crazy...


This is all I have for now... we're supposed to get professional pics done tomorrow, so I'm sure I'll be uploading them soon!

The girls 2nd Birthday Party & A Few Random Pics

The girls celebrated their 2nd birthday in May. We had their birthday party at the fellowship hall of our church on May 22nd and had a few close friends and family there. It was rather thrown together, since we had just closed on our new home on the 20th, and work began that evening! Here are a few pics of the party:

I made cupcakes instead of having a birthday cake...

 The girls received LOADS of presents!

We didn't splurge on the cake this year, but we did have Rib Crib for dinner

 Here's a pic of the girls opening their gifts...

After blowing out their birthday candle, they chowed on their cupcakes! Here's a pic of Izzy and Abby getting started.

Sweet lil Abby enjoying her cupcake

This is serious business for Ally...

Not quite as messy as last year! (Abby, Izzy and Ally)

After opening presents and eating BBQ and cake, we all moved to the gym where we had a bouncy castle set up (borrowed from the church) and we rode our motorized cars. Since our friend Andi Mae was there, my niece, Madison, brought her old motorized jeep to give rides to the 4th girl (not riding her own car). I think Madison may have had more fun than the babies! :)

In this pic Ally is riding the car on the far right, Abby is riding her car, and Madison is giving Andi Mae a ride in the jeep.

Matt's dad helping Izzy get out of a jam

Madison and Izzy

Ally

The bouncy castle was lots of fun too!

Our intent was for the girls to have a great time at their own party, and I think we accomplished it. Unfortunately, with everything we had going, it was a big relief to get it over with and move on to the next thing on the to-do list!

Matt's mom bought the girls new swimsuits for our new pool! Here's a few pics of the sun bathing beauties...
Ally, Abby and Izzy

Here's a pic I took today of the girls eating their lunch in our new kitchen... THERE'S SO MUCH ROOM!!! I love it!

The dining room

I'll post more pics of the house (and girls) soon...

Blog post... another item checked off the list! (CHECK!)

Long time, no blog!

A LOT has happened since my last post! The girls had their 2nd birthday and WE MOVED INTO OUR NEW HOUSE!!!! In this blog post, I'm going to do my best to highlight what's been going on with my little family.

We moved into our beautiful, glorious, spacious, new home last weekend (June 25th)! We had a lot of help patching, scraping, painting, cleaning and preparing this amazing house we found for our family! As I mentioned in a previous post, this particular house had been repossessed by the bank, as the previous owners had defaulted on their loan. The first time we saw the house, we saw that we loved the layout, but there was quite a bit of work to be done to get it looking the way we wanted and we weren't sure we were ready for all that work. (The house is only 12 years old, but had quite a bit of wall paper, popcorn ceilings and ugly paint that we weren't too keen on) Well... when the house dropped to an amazing price, we made our bid, regardless of the work. Two other buyers jumped too, but we just happened to be first, so it was ours! Just to recap, it has 4 bedrooms, 3 full baths, and lots of room! I CAN BREATHE AGAIN!!! We were definitely experiencing some growing pains in the 1400 sq foot home, that was once Matt's bachelor pad. We made the best with what we had, but God sure answered prayers by allowing us to move into what will be our home for many, many years to come. It also has a nice, big pool in the backyard, which is proving to be a lot of work, but is also very fun! I love to look out my back windows at the sparkling blue water! Don't worry... we are making every precaution and then some, to make sure the babies are protected. We have had many bids on a fence that goes around it, and will be having that done as soon as the other house is sold (more on that in a minute). We were also given a pool alarm as a housewarming gift by a good friend, we have a dead bolt lock and child proof handle on the back door and a gate separating the babies from the kitchen, which leads to the backyard. AND... I'm not going to let all of these precautions let my guard down. They still have a very aware mommy and daddy, so have no fear about the babies' safety and the pool. To wrap up about the new house... Matt and I agree - the grass is greener, the flowers smell better and life is just plain sweeter in our new home!

As for the old home, we are looking to close on July 20th. It has been pushed back time and time again for one thing or another (waiting on the buyers' credit score, getting the foundation repaired at the buyer's request, etc.) There have been quite a few hiccups along the way, which makes us that much more happy to get this sell over with!!! At this point, the only thing left is the appraisal, which should be this week... let's hope and pray it appraises for what we sold it for, or we are going to have a problem! It will be a HUGE weight off of our shoulders to be done with that sale and only own one home, so please pray it goes smoothly from here on out.

The girls are doing wonderfully and they absolutely love our new house! As a matter of fact, I brought them with me to vacuum the old house a few days after we moved in and they cried when I pulled in the driveway and said, "new house, new house"! They each have their own room, and are now sleeping separately. The first night, they cried for about 30 minutes before falling asleep and sleeping soundly thru the night. Every night after that, they've done great. Abby is probably taking it the hardest, whimpering a bit each night, but she settles very quickly. Ally and Izzy are more concerned with the fact that the other two are going night night too.... they don't want to be the only ones having to go to bed. Each night they help me and Matt put sisters to bed (rotating who goes first each night). They also help me get sisters up and say, "Good morning, Sunshine!" as they greet each other in the morning. I'm finding they're sleeping really well (as am I) with the new arrangement.

They're doing all sorts of new things since my last blog. What I hear most every day: "I help, I help". They love to help me do anything and everything. They want to fasten themselves in their car seats and high chairs, they want to put their own clothes and shoes on, etc. I'm trying my best not to stifle their new-found autonomy, but (between you and me) they really are very little help! Another new thing: They've really started role-playing with each other. For example, 2 of them act like the mommy and daddy and the other is the baby and has to go to time out or "Pime out" (as Abby calls it). The baby cries, the other 2 cuddle her, change her diaper, etc. It's really neat to watch how their play has evolved. They love to pretend to change each other's diapers, which sometimes goes a little further than pretend, and they walk around with their diapers hanging half off until I see it, but what can you do? I guess I could potty train them, but I'm still just dreading it. It's going to be a lot of work.... let me rest for just a little while longer....

A friend of ours gave us a cd of a song she sings with the girls, "Sing" by Karen Carpenter. You know the old song that goes, "Sing... sing a song... sing out loud, sing out strong!" Anyway, the girls absolutely LOVE this song. They sing it in the car and it's so cute to watch them sing it. I'm going to try to get a video of them singing it, and will post for you to see. It completely warms my heart. They have also learned their colors! Abby and Ally do the best... Izzy doesn't pay much attention when we're learning them. They know red, yellow, blue, green, orange, purple, pink, black and white! I think Izzy will start paying more attention soon, because she's seeing the other two getting lots of praise, so she's starting to focus a little more! :)

They're all talking quite a bit, putting sentences together and often surprising me with words they know. Ally cracks me up, because she mimicks everything I say. I swear, she thinks she is Abby and Izzy's mommy, which is funny because technically she's the youngest. Anything I say, she repeats: "sit on your bottom", "don't shut the door", "eat your green beans". Matt pointed out yesterday, she has so much fun going around with me putting the other ones to bed, until she realizes she's really not the momma and has to go to bed too. She's quite the informer when a sister (ok... Izzy) is doing something she shouldn't, and often, I can send Ally to check on Izzy and make sure she's being good. She'll come back and say "Izzy's good" or "Izzy climbing" or "Izzy shut the door" and she's pretty much spot on every time. Izzy tends to go thru stages... one week she'll be a little doll, minding her mommy and not getting into trouble and one week she's just full of mischief.

Our Pastor and good friend, Andrew, used our family as a sermon example a few weeks ago in church. It was a bit embarrassing, but very true. His point was about how God knows each of us intimately and loves everything about us, each of us as individuals. He talked about how the girls were all born on the same day, but how different they all are. He talked about how different each little girl is: How Abby has a lot of light brown hair with big eyes and is timid, like a little doe. He talked about how Izzy has a little bit of blonde fuzzy hair and is a "firecracker", and he said Ally had very little hair. Ok, so he didn't say much about Ally, except that she is bald, so I'm going to add that she is a little bossy pants, but gives the best cuddles of any baby on the planet and cracks her mommy up every day. He described how the girls can be in a different room from us, and Matt or I will know who's laughing or talking or crying just by the sound. How even though they were all born on the same day, we know each one of them intimately and love every individual quality, just like God does each of us. Being a parent really does give you a new look at how God must view us as His children and how great His love is for us.

Yesterday was July 4th, and we took the girls swimming in the pool for the first time. All three of them loved it immediately. My grandparents and mom came over to help and we all had a lot of fun.The girls wore their little bikinis and hats and rode on their little floaties. They also jumped off the stairs and the edge of the pool to us and weren't afraid to get their little faces in the water. I think they'll all eventually be really strong swimmers. I was so busy taking care of babies, I didn't take any pics, but I think my mom took a few and I will post them (as long as the pics don't have me in a bathing suit for all the world to see)!

I will post pics from the girls' 2nd birthday party this week and will also add some recent videos and pics of the girlies very soon, but for now, naps are over and so is my blogging time!

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!