The week from hell

It's been awhile. I know. Life gets super busy with 3 kids...especially 3 mobile kids!  

Last week the boys turned one. It was a pretty stressful time for me as I thought about my 2 babies turning ONE!!! It made me sad....they're my babies!!  However last week also began a very stressful and exhausting time in our house. 

I didn't have much time to mourn the boys turning one before I had a sick toddler.  

We had all sorts of plans on the boys' birthday. Peyton had dance class, we were going to go out to lunch, and then go to the open gym at our rec center so the kids could play on the trampoline, balance beam and in the foam pit. However, Peyton complained of her tummy hurting in dance. We ended leaving dance early to go home and see if some food would help. Unfortunately before we even made it home, Peyton threw-up in car. We had several more incidents of this throughout the day. Lots of baths and laundry! Needless to say, Trevor and Jensen's birthday was not spent doing fun things.  I was pretty bummed about this. But we had a very sick kid. The next day Peyton was doing better but we spent the day recovering. 

Thursday, the boys had their one year dr appointment. They are growing perfectly and were nice and healthy. 

So when they were super fussy and did minimal sleeping Thursday night we assumed it was from the shots. Friday they were completely inconsolable and had fevers. They wouldn't eat, drink or sleep. And had sudden mass amounts of drool! All they would do was cry. And they both only wanted to lay on mama. 

They wouldn't even let Bryce hold them...they would cry "mama" until I took them. Having one 20 pound baby that only wants to be with you is one thing...having TWO....was challenging and exhausting!  They hardly slept Friday night but seemed to have minimal fevers Saturday. We thought they were coming off their fevers from the shots. Then we noticed they had sores in their mouths and that they were slowly getting a rash. Trevor's was pretty mild compared to Jensen, who had it everywhere. 

We took them to urgent care thinking it was Hand, Foot and Mouth. We were told that the good news, it wasn't that...the bad news, it was a virus that just needed to run its course. So we stocked up on baby pain meds and prepared to fight it out. 

Sunday we noticed the rash growing and turning to blisters. 

When I took the boys to the dr first thing Monday, she was in shock seeing the boys, since she had just seen them a few days ago and they were perfectly fine. 

She had no clue what was wrong with them. Though we had ruled out Hand, Foot and Mouth, and the Chickenpox. They were also sure it was not a reaction to the shots. 

They did a culture on the blisters. So we may hear back in a few days what was going on. Since the dr, most have the blisters have started to scab over. There are still a few on both boys that look pretty bad. But I think we are on the mend. They ate both lunch and dinner Monday and yesterday...which is awesome considering their diet had previously consisted of Popsicles for several days. 

I'm hoping their blisters heal up quickly and nicely. Poor Jensen looks like a leper and I'm hoping to reschedule their one year pictures that were supposed to take place Monday. We have all been mostly house bound for over a week now and I know I am getting stir crazy, I imagine Peyton is as well. I feel like after this week of hell, we deserve some super healthy kids...and maybe a drink! 

Finding time...

The other night I spent some time reminiscing over previous blog posts. Remembering life before the boys and my pregnancy with the boys.  I had lots of laughs and some tears of joy. And the reminder that I haven't had the time, rather the energy, to blog the way I used to it. 

And yes, I think I had more energy pregnant, than I do now with 3 littles....or at least a different kind of energy!

I feel like even when we have "boring" days...we are so busy. You don't realize how much time and energy goes into feeding, changing, potty training (It really is an ongoing ordeal) and entertaining 3 kids until you're in the trenches.

I love seeing their personalities develop and watching them grow and learn. All 3 truly amaze me everyday.  But honestly, it doesn't take long before I start counting down to nap time and bed time, because I am exhausted. 

However, despite all the exhaustion, I have been able to watch as Jensen takes the reigns as "mama's boy"...he may or may not follow me around whining until I pick him up....got 4 teeth in at the same time (still waiting for the 4th one to poke through, it's been a rough few weeks). I get to see Trevor carefully and meticulously figure out how to crawl down our front step and then Jensen see him do it and go at it with no fear....I get to see Trevor teach his brother other awesome things , like standing up in the crib and bathtub. I get to watch Trevor go splash crazy in the tub...earning his nickname of "Phelpster"...seriously, it's a toss up between him and Peyton on who is a bigger water bug...though Jensen does go straight for the toilet water if the lid gets left up. I have had the pleasure and pain of watching as Peyton develops  independence.  She goes pee on her terms, she has recently decided that she will not take a bath with her brothers, and that it is her turn when they are done.  She lets me know when she wants two, "both", piggies or a pony in her hair and would like to wear her princess shoes or sleep in her pretty dress instead of putting on PJs. And while I thought she developed a fondness for Llama Llama books and bought her some more, she has made it very clear that she is only fond of the ONE Llama Llama book. It makes me giggle as Jensen follows her around wanting to play and she calls him "Trevor" EVERYTIME!  Several times a week she asks to go to the zoo to see animals, and on weekends we often give in. 

And as exhausted as I have been lately (the boys have decided they would rather eat in the middle of the night, instead of during the day...we're working on it), writing this all out was a great reminder of all the amazing my day is filled with. 

All over the place

And like THAT I have become a super busy, tired, mom.  Not that I wasn't those things before, but TWO fully mobile babies and a potty training toddler, at the same time, are game changers! 

My days are now filled with chasing babies, picking up toys, cleaning floors, helping Peyton use the potty, feeding 3 kids...really the list goes on and on. Needless to say, my days are exhausting as I watch all three of my babies grow into kiddos and run (crawl) in opposite directions. 

Peyton is growing so fast! I can't believe the things she says sometimes and she's really working on the important life skills of pushing limits and not listening.  And I only foresee these two things getting worse...she's lucky she is cute!

Her potty training is going great!  She is wearing big girl undies most of the time (she occasionally prefers running around naked). She's in a pull-up I feel have a long drive or she's in one of her classes and for nap time. We have not started working on nighttime potty training, she still goes to bed in a diaper...but I kind of feel like that will slowly and naturally develop.  We shall see. 

The boys are all over the place! They like to chase Peyton down or me if they are crabby or tired. Trevor tends to do his own thing, chase a dog to play with her or go in the kitchen and take magnets of the fridge.  He's a pretty chill baby.  I call Jensen my little billy goat. He likes to scale things...legs, toys, tables, stairs, fire places, push cars...pretty much anything in his path.  Jensen is especially known for chasing me down whining because he wants to be held. Jensen also thinks standing is the best thing ever...Trevor has also recently decided he can pull himself up on anything, he's a little more skilled than his brother. 

Both boys have also been experimenting with foods outside of baby purées. It may have all started with pizza crusts....

Now they enjoy eating bread sticks, sweet potato fries, strawberries, mangos, Cheerios, green beans...and whatever else we decide to put in front of them. 

They are both also getting some top teeth in...but they seem to be taking FOREVER to break the gums...it's exhausting!!

She's a big girl now!

For Christmas Peyton got a princess potty and some big girl undies. However, she has consistently refused to even sit on the potty. But I was in no rush, I figured the time would come when she was ready. Periodically I would still ask if she wanted to sit on the potty and usually got the same answer, no!

Just recently she started asking us to more frequently change her diaper, tell us when she went poop, or ask to take her own diaper off. So last week I once again asked if she wanted to sit on the potty....she said yes!!!!!! So she spent a half a day running around the house diaperless and periodically sitting on the potty. She never went the first day...but I thought, if she's ready, we are doing this! And so we have begun potty training. 

A week into it she's doing pretty good. She gets frustrated with us asking her if she has to go pee pee but if she's running around naked (which she frequently is) she'll go into the bathroom and go potty by herself. We are still working on it and we are by no means potty trained...but we are getting there!!

Road trippin'

Let me start by saying that the longest any of the kids ever been in the car is 1 1/2 maybe 2 hours. Peyton has slept away from home...but it has been quite some time and she slept in the pack n' play....while the boys have never slept anywhere overnight. 

That being said we had our first road trip. Bryce's sister had her college graduation on Seward, Nebraska on Saturday...that is roughly a 7 hour drive for us. After much deliberation the plan we came up with was....drive to Bryce's mom's Thursday night to cut 1 1/2 hours off the trip. Friday morning put Peyton in their car so that one of us could ride in the back with boys. The hope was that that would limit the number of stops since we would be able to do bottles in the car and Peyton would have grandma, grandpa, and 2 aunties to entertain her! We could get to Nebraska Friday afternoon, make it to the banquet dinner, graduation Saturday morning, BBQ after, get on the road by 2ish and be home in time for a late bedtime!! But apparently, the weather had a different plan!

All went well Thursday and Friday.  Friday was a LONG day and we had 3 tired and crabby kids but we made it!

Everyone felt a bit refreshed Saturday for the graduation but we started hearing news of all the crazy weather back in Colorado. So following Becca's graduation and a celebration BBQ we hit the road!

We were making great time but learned just as we were hitting Colorado that the road we needed to take to make it home from Bryce's mom's house was closed due to flooding. This was not the news that a tired mama of 3 wanted to hear. I was tired, the kids were all done being in the car. All I wanted was home, my bed and my dogs! But it looked like none of that was going to happen until the next day. 

And so we camped out one more night at Bryce's mom's. Luckily, everyone was so worn out they slept like rocks. I had hoped to wake up at home on Mother's Day to breakfast of my choice and a relaxing day at home with all my loves. Instead the morning was spent driving out of the way around the closed, flooded road with 3 kids who were NOT happy about another long car ride. 

But we eventually made it home!! And Bryce put forth effort to still make my Mother's Day special.  And as exhausting as the trip was, we also built so family memories to carry with us....but next time, we are flying!!!!