Woolsey Family Chronicles

Trevor

2010-04-29T07:18:00.001-07:00

Last Sunday April 23^rd was the 3^rd anniversary of Trevor's passing and friends gathered at the Folsom lake to enjoy the beautiful day and remember a beautiful boy. Some people there, including Bob, were doing a mini triathlon in preparation for the Wildflower triathlon this coming weekend. It took Chris and I over an hour to get out the door in the morning and meet Chris's parents at the lake (they were in town). By the time we got everyone dressed, hair fixed, lunch packed, bike packed and got ourselves ready, Chris and I had already run a mini-triathlon and were slightly stressed and exhausted.

It was worth the effort though. Just to sit on the grass and watch the kids run freely and happily in the sunshine was a treat. Ava rode laps on her bike and then I saw her hop off her bike and start jogging on the trail, helmet and all. She got a few yards in her jog and stopped because she was exhausted. That was Ava's attempt at a mini-tri.

It was a beautiful day to celebrate Trevor. That night I told Bob how absolutely amazing and admirable it is that he and Angela turned the death of their little boy into a positive force in their lives. The statistics say that many couples who experience the death of a child end up in divorce because of the tragedy. Bob and Angela run races and set up booths at the events to raise awareness about the importance of getting on the bone marrow registry. Trevor would be proud.

Please take a moment to vote for Brenda Bisharat so she can be recognized as the #1 Best Photographer in Sacramento. Those who follow my blog know about Brenda and all the wonderful professional and charitable work she does. She took this picture of Trevor and was there when the triplets were born, snapping away.

Ava-ism:
Ava told Grandma "I love you Googolplex." Grandma confidently responded with "well, I love you more than Googolplex." Ava quickly responded back with, "no, you can't. Googolplex is where all the numbers stop." As it turns out, Ava is pretty much right. Googolplex is not just a large number – it's the largest number we can discuss with any clarity. Just how big is googolplex? Try this out: it would take the fastest computer on earth 4 X 10⁸¹ centuries to count to googolplex. That's a lot of love for Grandma.

Multiples Secret Language

2010-04-22T20:38:00.001-07:00

The kids are all at a very cute age. I didn't say it was an easy age, but cute for sure. People always talk about multiples having their own language. Some moms of multiples say this wasn't true for their kids at all while others claim that their kids needed a speech therapist because they just talked to each other in their own language. It is very cute because I am definitely noticing more and more that the little kids are talking to each other. They ask each other questions, answer each other's questions and then I have seen them mutually laugh at something that they are communicating about. Sometimes I can understand what they are saying, but a lot of the time it is just their own language.

I have also noticed, even though they are only two, the little kids play together all the time. I would say Preston has the highest propensity to be a loner and just play with his trains by himself. The girls do puzzles together with the help of their big sis, play on the play structures together and wrestle. The little girls love to wrestle. They grab and tackle each other from behind, throw each other to the ground, lay on each other, and this usually goes on until someone gets hurt.

Now that the blessed sun has been out more lately, we go outside to play on the playground in the backyard after dinner. I prop my buttocks on the blue lounge chair and monitor the kids as the go up and down the slide a thousand times, catapult themselves through the structures windows, and chase each other.

Tonight I was setting up Ava's Barbie house with her and it reminded me of a memory I had. Chris and I were traveling through France with our friends Nicola and Paul around 2002. We ended up at this quaint little house in Saumur in the heart of the Loire Valley. We were making ourselves dinner as the sun was setting on the vineyards around us and Nicola and I were going back and forth about how we would raise our kids. We were both years away from having kids ourselves, but boy did we know a lot about how these future kids were going to be brought up. No toys guns for boys, and no Barbies for girls. We would not have sexualized models of women with their perfect bodies and perfectly long illustrious hair held up as models for our girls to feel that they had to live up to. No way were we going to be into that.

Fast forward eight years and I have amassed through gifts and charitable contributions to the Woolsey household, if I were to count, 30 gorgeous Barbies, 60 different Barbie outfits, furniture to fill a few Barbie mansions and of course, the three story Barbie house. As Ava and I finish up working on furniture and Barbie placement in the Barbie house it strikes me that this looks a lot like a Barbie Hollywood whore house. It has all the makings of a scandalous scene, with scantily clad Barbies draped over the couches (possibly drunk) and crowding the beds (no comment) and then there are Barbies skinny dipping in the outdoor hot tub. There are hot plastic ladies everywhere. So my standards for allowing my girls to own Barbies have given way to our cultural and societal norms; this is sometimes the difference between idealistic parenting and realistic parenting I suppose. But I don't have any fake guns in my house yet!

Meanwhile I am engaged in a very tough conversation. In our Barbie Hollywood whore house decoration party, Ava and I have run across the tooth fairy pillow that my mom made me when I was a little girl. I explained to Ava that when she loses her first tooth she will place it in the pocket of the pillow and we will place this pillow under her pillow and then a tooth fairy will come by and take her tooth and replace it with something special. Ava challenged me big time on the tooth fairy. She asked several times in a few different ways how the tooth fairy knows that the pillow with the tooth in it is under her pillow. She asked me what she is going to give for the tooth. I said when I was little it was money. Ava has no use for money yet, so she suggested that a toy would be better. I told her that if she got money she could buy her own toy. She totally disregarded this brilliant idea and replaced it with her own sensible idea that really the tooth fairy should just get her a new toothbrush. Great idea, I said. Then about five minutes later Ava said, Mom, is there really a tooth fairy? I had to think quick but I pulled one out of Angela's playbook and said, "of course there is a tooth fairy if you believe in her." Phew. Tonight I am going to believe in my own kind of tooth fairy, the kind that leaves spa gift certificates under my pillow.

Until next time, the mothership is signing off.

Adventures With Violet

2010-04-14T20:25:00.001-07:00

Tonight Violet locked herself in her bedroom. This kind of adventure usually does happen when Chris is not here. I have never tried to open a locked door before so I just used my common sense and got a very small screwdriver and stuck it in the little hole to try and rig it open. I think most of the problem for me was that I was not confident in my abilities to jimmy this thing open so I called the other Jimmy to come on over and do "mans work". Violet was hysterical locked in the bedroom. I had shoved a binkie under the door to calm her down and then I shoved my fingers under and we held fingers together waiting for Gramps.

Meanwhile Ava was laying on one of the stairs and Elsa and Preston were stepping on her and rolling over her down the stairs, all of them laughing hysterically. Gramps showed up to save the day. It took him exactly 2.5 seconds to get the door open. Poor V was beside herself with fear. It wouldn't be a day in the Woolsey household without some sort of adventure.

Chris and I went on a little overnight getaway last week to Sonoma. It was absolutely blissful. We stayed at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn and did nothing but eat, participate in the bathing ritual, swim in the nice warm mineral pools, read and sleep. I felt so unbelievably rejuvenated, and it was so nice for Chris and I to spend some quality time in a less stressful and demanding environment than home is right now. I loved it so much that I think we shall go back on Chris and my 10 year anniversary this summer.

Elsa is starting to talk in sentences now – she can string about three words together and it is so cute to hear. Preston is a quiet boy, but can repeat any word you say. Violet is making great progress with her speech, saying more and more words each week. The biggest thing I have notices about Violet is that she is feeling confident enough to try and say more words now. I took Violet to the doctor and she still weighs 20 pounds. Her doctor says that she weighs as much as a one year old. I told him that I feed her as much fat in her foods as I can and that I really don't know what to do because I cannot force her to eat. The doctor thinks that it is better to be skinny than fat as long as she is healthy, which she is. I will continue to give her whole milk (and the other little kids as well), butter everything, give whole milk yogurt, etc. I think she will always just be a skinny kid though.

Ava-ism:

Ava saw a book at the doctor's office and it was called "I Aint Gonna Paint No More". Ava looks really hard at it and then reads it again out loud. She then turns to me and says, "that sounds funny. Is that Spanish?"

I guess she is educated already.

Until next time, the mothership is signing off.

Hell No, We Won’t Go! (again)

2010-04-06T17:11:00.001-07:00

This trip to Monterey is the first time Chris and I have embarked on a hotel expedition with all of the kids. Normally we go to Chris's parent's home where we are fully set up with all of the essentials of traveling with four small children.

Our trip probably wouldn't have felt like such a failure if Preston didn't come down with a fever yesterday afternoon. He was fussy and burning up. Also, the little kids were too young to fully appreciate the awesome sights at the aquarium like Ava did. I feel Ava got a little shortchanges (and so did we) because the little kids were tired and were done with the fish after the first tank. Thankfully my parents were with us to help with the kids; one kid per adult is a very ideal situation for us, and it was nice having them along.

We first stopped in beautiful San Juan Bautista to see the donkeys, chickens and cats at my Aunts and Uncles house and that was really fun for the kids. We did some swimming in the hotel pool, we went to a very awesome park called the Denise The Menace Park and had some fun and then we went out to The Fisherman's Grotto for dinner right on the wharf. Everybody was very accommodating to us in Monterey. The Embassy Suites provided us the three pack n plays for sleeping, and for breakfast everyone ran around getting booster seats and providing Chris and I with a therapeutic cup of coffee amidst the madness. Of course, we ran into another triplet family – 8 year old triplets – who told me 3 years old was their worst year and it only got better from there. Three years old was Ava's hardest year, so triplet mom's comment did not surprise me.

Oh yes, we "had our hands full" a majority of this trip. If I had to do it all over again, would I do it? Hell no. Our next family trip will be taking place in 2012. Until then, we will stick to day trips and experiencing the beauty out our back door, so to speak. As Chris reminds me, we pay the big bucks to live in California because it is a wonderful state with so much to do and see.

The good news is that we got our first second night at the hotel comp'd because the air conditioner was broken (rendering the Woolsey 6 sweltering in our hotel room) and then we got the rest of the bill comp'd when Chris told the hotel reservation worker that he liked his jacket. Seriously. I guess that guy needed a little pump up that day. We all have those days don't we, where we need someone to say something nice to us and put a smile on our face.

Well, at least we tried. I think the highlight of the trip were the hours we spent in the sunshine at Dennis The Menace Park. Our life is a learning lesson from one day to the next and an exercise in regrouping, refocusing and moving on. It is what it is.

Until next time, the mothership is signing off.

It Is Just The Way It Is

2010-04-06T17:10:00.001-07:00

Our ambitious week long trip to Monterey for a few days and then on to our favorite San Luis Obispo destination was shortened to just a few days in Monterey. We have had the toughest few weeks with illness and other interesting personal dilemmas, which led me to enter Chris's office a few days ago in tears. I didn't want to go on the exhausting road trip that sounded like too much work. Chris and I have been through the ringer this winter and our "vacation" just sounded like more work.

I anticipated a long and miserable winter and that is what was delivered to me. A self fulfilling prophesy perhaps, or just the way life is when you have four kids five and under who get sick all winter. Chris says I should just call it like it is, a Whale's a**hole, whatever that means. So I asked Chris what the heck that expression means and it actually has a fairly funny and interesting answer. Apparently the whale's anatomy down under is grossly undersized for the amount of food ingested by a ginormous whale, which would cause pause and wonder as to why the whale wasn't given a bigger area for excretion. The answer to the riddle? It is just the way it is.

We have four kids who are all little and need to be taken care of at each waking hour of the day, and sometimes into the night. It is winter about four months out of the year. We are destined to be ill three of those four months during the winter. I am destined to be miserable for those four months. It is just the way it is. Then the sun comes out and we emerge from our cave and put on our bathing suits and play in water all summer; a much better collection of months for the Woolsey 6.

So Chris came up with the best idea I have heard all year long. We will only do the Monterey portion of our trip which the kids will enjoy the most, and then we will head home Tuesday. This is where it gets really good: Chris and I have booked a night at the Sonoma Fairmont Mission Inn at the end of the week where we will drink, eat, sleep and partake in the bathing ritual at the hotel. Bliss.

We are in the car headed for San Juan Bautista to see my Aunt Jill and Uncle Robert. They have five cats, two donkeys, and a few roosters on their property and the kids are going to love getting up close and personal with the animals. We are leaving for our hotel in Monterey today around naptime and starting tomorrow we will have two days of Aquarium madness.

Traveling with Ava is pretty simple at 5. Traveling with three 2 year olds is more complicated; they still need binkies, blankets (2 each), sippy cups, strollers, small utensils, cribs, diapers, wipes, their special stuffed animals, etc. It is a lot of work but at the end of the day, it is an adventure and an experience that the kids may not remember, but will perhaps help shape them and give them a few life lessons to learn from.

Until next time, the mothership is signing off.

Jesus in our Heart, But Snot in Our Nose

2010-03-29T19:24:00.001-07:00

Preston is a relaxed kind of guy

close your mouths girls or you may catch flies

We were teased by a little bit of lovely spring weather and now it is 40 degrees outside and we are stuck indoors. The little kids all have a virus. Preston has bronchitis again. He is wheezing and coughing this horrible hacking cough. On Friday he had "shiny clean eardrums". He had clear lungs. He didn't have any visible mucus, but he was acting very strange and had a fever. My Monday, bronchitis. Violet has bronchitis and an ear infection. Elsa has a sinus infection. Ava and I have the common cold. The little kids are not eating much food. Violet is down to 20 pounds again. She almost weighed a whopping 22 pounds before this illness struck.

We have had to postpone our trip to Monterey and San Luis Obispo to next Sunday because of illnesses and rainy weather in SLO. I figure, if we are taking all of these little kids on a "vacation", the conditions must at least be positive. Healthy kids and good weather would be helpful. Let's face it, the trip is going to be challenging enough without the added adverse conditions.

Perhaps Ava's singing will help us all feel better for our trip. Ava belts out tunes about the lord each day. And when I say belts, I mean she really sings it as loudly and passionately as possible. There is a lot of nonsensical filler that Chris and I cannot quite make out, but when she belts out her chorus, Got Jesus in your heart, we all feel blessed. Maybe the nonsensical filler in between the main chorus is Ava speaking in tongues, I am not quite sure. But believe me, we are definitely feeling blessed and holy at the same time in our house.
I feel that I haven't blogged in awhile and I should have more to say, but alas, I am tired and I have this past season of Mad Men waiting for me, calling my name, in my bedroom.

Ava-isms:
Ava asked me the other day where daddy is. I said, "he is at Starbucks working." She said in her most disbelieving tone of voice "he's passing out scones to people?" I said, "no, he isn't working behind the counter at Starbucks, he brought his laptop to Starbucks and is doing his job at Starbucks.

I asked Ava if she is sure she wants to wear her new fancy sparkly gemmy sandals to the park and in the sandbox and she replied "but mom, that is why they are called sandals. Get it, Sand-als?" Outsmarted again.

Until next time, the mothership is signing off.

Irony

2010-03-12T20:33:00.000-08:00

Elsa cuddling with Ava . . . Ava is in heaven

The kids playing at McKinley Park in Sacramento

Preston insisted on wearing a headband like his sisters

A rare moment where they are all actually sitting watching a Baby Einstein

Preston shoved this little girl right out of the way since

she was interfering with his train connecting project. Look

how dejected she looks in the background.

**New Blog Design In Progress**

Mom’s need to take every moment of refuge that they can find in a day. Mine is dinner making time at precisely 5pm. I am released from kid duty around 5pm each night when Chris is in town, and I nearly run to the kitchen to get dinner prepared. Why am I running, you may ask? One: because I am free from kid duty. Two: because I have only ½ an hour to prepare a full dinner. Three: sometimes I pour myself a generous glass of wine to take the edge off while I am frantically preparing dinner, and that I look forward to. I get iTunes playing through my speakers in the kitchen and go to work. Since I have 30 minutes to prepare a dinner, lately my go-to cookbook is Rachel Ray 30 Minute Meals. It is really fantastic because while I cannot get my kids to eat many of my dinners, I can if I cook it out of Rachel Ray.

Ava continues to keep us on our toes. Most the time we don’t know what to do with her, but we do our very best, that is for sure. Her recent passion is spelling. She spells everything. When we get in the car Ava usually says to me, “mom, can we do some spelling? This means that I think of words and she needs to spell them. She spells most words correctly. She can spell Mississippi forwards and backwards. Another one of Ava’s less admirable passions these days is lying. She likes to tell me stories about anything and everything, and she will go to great lengths to lie in order to get out of trouble. She will lie about lying; it is a tangled web she weaves. I know it is just a phase but I am beginning to take it seriously. Today Ava spent the afternoon hanging out by herself in her room as punishment for lying. Hanging out in her room by herself is Ava’s worst nightmare. We all know by now what a social butterfly Ava is and that she does not like to be by herself when there are social opportunities to be had. While Ava was banned to her bedroom I was in the front yard and the little kids were pushing their lawnmowers, strollers and bikes to the edge of the drop off of our very steep driveway for the sole purpose of driving me to the edge of sanity. All the while Ava was at the second story window knocking on it and waving emphatically at us from her “prison quarters”.

I have been taking the kids, the triple threat that is, to Tumble Time Gymnastics by myself on Wednesdays because I don’t have a nanny on that day anymore. We have our very own class that they opened up just for the Woolsey triplets, which has been really great. This last week, though, a mom and dad brought their 2 year old son to “our” class. I was quite proud of myself as the mothership and my three precious cargo for managing to get from the parking lot through the front door safely, with all of them holding hands with each other. It was definitely one of the cutest things I have seen in a while, and a proud mommy moment. So, the first thing the dad of the 2 year old says to me upon inspection of my situation is “triplets?” Yep, I say. “Ohhhhhh, I’m soooo sorry.” I have heard this strange insult to my wonderful children a few times now and to that I always say “oh you shouldn’t be sorry because they are just the most wonderful kids.”

Now I have heard a few rude things since conceiving triplets, most of which I have listed on this blog before. My personal favorites are “that is my worst nightmare” and “I would kill myself.” The “I’m so sorry” comment is one that always catches me off guard. You feel sorry for me? Okay, I can understand thinking that, but saying it out loud? Really? Yet, there was an irony in his comment that I came to realize after the hour gymnastics class was up. I was by myself with the three and my three kids did everything that was asked of them. Not one of the ever uttered one complaint and were happy fully participating gymnasts. I easily managed the three of them through the obstacle courses, then lined them up on the bench and put their shoes, socks and sweaters on and ushered them out of the door. Meanwhile, it took mom and dad to manage their unruly 2 year old who only seemed to know how to say one word very loudly, and this word he abused . . . NO! He threw tantrums when he was asked to do something he didn’t want to do, he screamed at the top of his lungs at random. At one point his mom muttered under her breath, “this is embarrassing.” So, as it turns out, I am the one who should have told them I felt sorry for them. Humph.

Today I took my boy Pres to the train museum with Molly and Ronin. Preston spent most of the time running back and forth on the train as fast as he could. He loved it. Then we went to the top level where there are Thomas the Train tables set up and all the kids can play. Preston collected all the trains he could find on this massive table and lined them up in a row, and then strong-armed anyone who tried to take one of the trains from his newly formed collection. It was a mommy/son day and I know that we all thoroughly enjoyed it.

Ava-ism:

Did you know that there are three people watching us all the time?

Who?

Jesus, God and Santa Claus

Until next time, the mothership is signing off.

Mitz'vah

2010-03-01T14:28:00.001-08:00

I experienced a Monday morning Mitz'vah today. I loaded all the kids up to take Ava to piano class. The little kids and I play in the park for about 45 minutes while Ava tries her hands at becoming the next Mozart. On the way home I thought I could really use a mocha from Starbucks, and it is the perfect Starbucks because there is a drive through, and because it is directly on my way home. I pulled up to the order speaker and Ava had already placed her Starbucks order with me – a vanilla milk – and then I realized I had not brought my purse. I told the Starbucks employee that I just realized I have no money to buy our drinks so I will just have to drive on through. Ava let out a long disappointed moan from the backseat. Then the Starbucks employee told me that I should just order whatever I want and they will take care of it. So, I ordered my mocha and Ava's vanilla milk but nothing for the little kids in the very back of the car. Well, now that they are two, they are pretty insistent on getting a little something from Starbucks as well when we are there. But since I didn't have any money to pay today, I thought I may be an imposition to order FOUR vanilla milks. Elsa was so angry about the fact that she didn't get a vanilla milk that she cried the entire rest of the way home. Oh well, Ava and I were pretty happy. Ava said, "that was the nicest thing anybody has done all day!" Thank you Starbucks for spotting me some cash for my coffee this morning!!

A few days ago my Triplet Connection magazine for higher order multiples came in the mail. It comes very sporadically and infrequently, but because I am part of this fairly small segment of the population of people who are raising triplets, I find the articles totally interesting.

Moms and dads share their stories of having and raising triplets and the ups and downs they experience as parent of higher order multiples. One article was written by a mom of triplets and an older child that are now all in college. She told her tragic story about when her older child was four and her triplets were two, and her 35 year old husband died of a massive heart attack in his car on the way to work. I couldn't even imagine how she survived each day by herself with all those little kids and the loss of her husband. It put my life in perspective.

In the back of the magazine there is this section called "Our Hearts Are With You" extending sympathy to the people around the world who have lost one or all of their triplets. It is heart wrenching. This section is always hard to read. Even with all of the information out there, while I was pregnant with the triplets I turned a blind eye to the many sad outcomes of triplet pregnancies. Today, as I read about the little tiny babies that didn't survive their multiple gestation, I was cuddling my precious 2 year old triplets on either side of me. I was thinking that even though I have had a rough couple of weeks managing all of these kids and have been pretty grumpy along the way, I have so much to be thankful for. My outcome could've been devastating like these families in The Triplet Connection. Again, my life was put in perspective.

Violet June made some big strides in speech therapy last week. She repeated almost every word the speech therapist asked her to. She did this for about 40 minutes until she because too tired of talking and then she would just shake her head when asked to say something. I am so proud of her.

Ava-ism:

"Mommy I want to have my own baby," Ava proclaims. "But you already have three babies and that is a lot more than a lot of kids have," I reply. "No, I want to have my own baby growing inside my belly," said Ava. "Oh, well you are too young to have your own baby in your tummy," I explained. "How about when I am 7?" "Nope, you will still be too young. Maybe when you are 25 or 30 you can have your own baby," I tell Ava. Ava processes this for a few. "Oh! I know why I can't have a baby when I am 7! Because I won't have any boobies yet and you need boobies to feed babies!"

My Babies Turn 2!

2010-02-23T20:06:00.000-08:00

Yum, Yum, birthday cake. I think I will eat extra and
store it in my cheeks
Cake is delicious

What kind of fun presents did Auntie bring us? what? a bubble blower? Awesome!

My handsome Preston James (who needs a haircut)
My beautiful Elsa Marin (she knows it!)
My beautiful Violet June

Well, I was going to be a really super terrific dedicated perfect mommy and write each one of my little ones a note on their birthday but here it is 8:30 the day after their birthday and I am just too tired to put that much love and energy into that project.

Here is what I'll say to my babies who I can't call babies anymore I guess: each one of you are unique and special in this world and unique and special from each other. You have so much love inside of you and so much loyalty to your family. You are definitely a lot to handle as you turn two, but you are each a wonderful addition to this family and we are grateful to have you in our lives. I can't wait to see how you blossom this year of life.

We love you wholeheartedly,
Mommy, Daddy and Ava Rose

Until next time, the mothership is signing off.

We are Serpents of The Lord

2010-02-21T22:18:00.000-08:00

Those of you who know Chris and I know that we are not religious folk. We do not attend church. We do not say grace. Yet, Ava is in her third week of a church choir program where kids practice singing biblical songs, and then perform a concert in May.

Back in December Ava attended this church concert as a spectator watching her friends performing the songs and dancing. Ava LOVED it. Randomly, about a month ago Ava said “mom, do you remember that singing concert I went to where my friends were singing in front of all the people?” I said, “you mean the Christmas church choir concert?” And she said, “yes. I want to do something like that.” I told Ava that I think that was just a Christmas thing, but if she really wants to she could do it next year.

Very coincidentally, the very next day my friend Kari called and asked if Ava would want to participate in the “Good News Cruise” choir that is starting up again at the church. I told Ava about it and she was ecstatic and ready to sing her little heart out.

So Ava is into her third week of the Good News Cruise where they have to know a whole CD of songs and their hand movements. After the first practice session, Ava came home and said, “all they talk about is God, God, God. I get so tired of hearing about God.” I said, “well Ava, you are going to be hearing a lot about God and Jesus and the Lord, so if you don’t like it you may not want to do the choir.” But Ava was willing to overlook multiple mentions of God to continue singing and get herself to the ultimate prize: singing on stage in front of an audience. By the second practice session Ava knew all three songs perfectly, along with the accompanying dance movements; she is an enthusiastic participant in the Good News Cruise.

One of the songs is called “We are Servants of the Lord”, which Ava thinks is “We are Serpents of the Lord”. We haven’t corrected her because it is just so darn cute when she belts out the serpents part.

Well, it is official. Chris and I had a mini-conference in the bedroom today and decided that this age the triplets are in right now, turning two, is by far the hardest age we have experienced with them insofar. If we had any one of the kids singly life would be easy, but with three two year olds, we are dealing with a lot of rebellion and pushing the limits in the house.

For instance, If they are all in a bedroom, they climb onto the bed and start jumping around like three little jumping beans, just a misstep away from falling off the bed and getting a broken arm. Today I had the wrapping paper out in the bedroom because Ava and I were wrapping their birthday presents. Within a few seconds, they had worked as a team and unraveled a very long segment of the wrapping paper and were running and sliding across it like it was a slip and slide, and wrapping themselves up in it like three little presents. If they are in the bathroom they unravel the toilet paper, climb into the bathtub and throw toys around, and one time I found the girls playing in the toilet water like it was a warm summer day splashing around in the plastic kiddie pool. If they are in the kitchen they are climbing onto the kitchen table to get anything that was left on it, or trying to send emails on my computer. One time I left a big knife on the bread board and seconds later Preston was walking around the kitchen with it. If, heaven forbid, I leave the pantry door unlocked, they are helping themselves to raisins and other snacks, as well as opening up all the juice boxes and squirting them everywhere. If they are in the family room at the kid craft table, all three of them will climb on top of the table and start throwing crayons and colored pencils everywhere. I had to put all the coloring utensils in sealed containers. If one of the little kids is in the pack n play in a timeout, the other two come over to the pack n play laughing and taunting the person in the time out. Today we were sitting on the couch trying to relax for a few moments with a Baby Einstein when all three decided to make an Olympic sport out of launching themselves off the back of the couch. If you leave one of the doors in our house unlocked, Preston will let himself out and wander around the front yard by himself. So now we have to pay special attention that all the doors in the house are always locked.

It is hectic and dangerous around this house. It can never be underestimated how each of the triplets influences each other to do things that they wouldn’t necessarily do if they were a singleton. Elsa has been the instigator of all things naughty from the beginning, but now the lines are blurred as to who is starting the most mayhem in the household.

While Ava and I were at the grocery store today Chris was feeling ambitious and he laid out a big mat and put stamping materials, a few washable markers, some safe pens and paper down to let the little kids do some arts and crafts. We really haven’t done this before, but we figured since they were a day away from the big #2 that they may be ready to advance their art skills. Before they even got started on their project, Preston was eating the markers and Violet had stamped her entire face and Elsa had taken one of the markers and was doodling all over the windows. Then Chris took all the markers away and as he puts it, each one of them through a ginormous tantrum. Then Preston took a poop so big that it filled up the feet of his pajamas, and arts and craft time was over before it began.

They have also learned to say no, and it is very popular. Elsa started it of course. Elsa, can you please bring me that toy. Noooooooooooo. Elsa, please get off the table before you hurt yourself. Noooooooooooooo. And it is a very precocious no, long and drawn out. Then Preston got wind of the word no and all of its power and he began to assert his refusal all around the house. Violet just shakes her head at us all day. So now instead of having our authority simply ignored, we are flatly told, noooooooooooo, by our 2 year olds.

Lastly in the kid updates, Elsa has taken to stripping completely down to nothing when she wakes up from her nap, every single day. Every day I walk in her room and she is totally naked, hopping around her crib delighted with the freedom of her nude body. Her diapers and clothing are strewn about the crib as if she were stripping one item at a time and flinging them carefree and haphazardly about. I shutter every day to see if there is a fun little surprise awaiting me on the mattress; something that should perhaps be in her diaper that should be on her body, but so far she is just an innocent nudist. Today Violet and Elsa woke up at the same time and so Violet got her first glimpse of Elsa’s random nudity and she let out a little chuckle. Elsa chuckled back.

Where I used to say that all three little kids put together are easier than Ava, the tables have quickly turned. Ava is still demanding and high maintenance (because that is her personality), but she is also self sufficient and she listens to what I say (most of the time) and isn’t spending the better part of the day performing dangerous stunts.

I have a feeling that we have a challenging year ahead of us in the twos. Well, at least we are serpents of the lord. We do have that going for us, which is nice.

Tomorrow I will do a post for the kids on their birthday. I can't believe that they are two already.

Until next time, the mothership is signing off.

Triplet Tantrums

2010-02-15T19:25:00.000-08:00

It is one week until the little kids are two which is simply unbelievable to me. About a month ago when the Kapic triplets were over Emily asked me if mine were throwing tantrums because she said hers were throwing a lot of tantrums lately. I said that mine really weren't throwing too many tantrums, and if they did throw a tantrum it was pretty mild and short lived. Fast forward a month later and we are being assaulted by triplet tantrums. Most people are accustomed to the single child tantrum, but the triplet tantrum takes the terrible twos to a new level.

Our biggest tantrum offender is Violet. She is so sweet and loving and good . . . until she throws a tantrum and then she becomes lucifer-like. She throws her body around and arches her back and screams really loud. Then the tears come; they are big and round and they roll down her cheeks in a steady stream. Last week when the speech therapist was here Violet through one of her biggest tantrums yet. I was on an important phone call and usually Violet does fine one-on-one with the speech therapist so I left the playroom. Violet was displeased with my departure and began her tantrum. By the time I got into the room a couple of minutes later, the tantrum had escalated to the point where she was throwing herself around the room, and throwing thing out of her hands in anger. The speech therapist told me that her second son was the worst tantrum thrower of all time, and if he had been born first, that she probably wouldn't have had another child. I laughed out loud at that honest comment. She told me not to touch Violet and she and I would just play by ourselves until Violet snapped out of it. Sure enough, about 5 minutes later Violet decided she was done with her tantrum.

My second worst tantrum offender is my sweet boy Preston. Don't even try to take something away from him or tell him that he can't do something he wants to do. The good thing about Preston's tantrums is that they really do not last very long.

Elsa does not throw many tantrums but she is the biggest drama queen of the triplets. She works hard with facial expressions to get as much sympathy as possible when she has been violated or hurt herself. It works very well for her.

These triplet tantrums do not even come close to comparing to the tantrums that my dear eldest child used to throw. Ava used to wake up from her afternoon naps and throw tantrums that lasted half an hour long. I used to have to close us in her bedroom door and sit in front her dresser so she wouldn't catapult herself into it. I believe I may still be traumatized by Ava's tantrums.

Last week we acquired a very nice piano. I would like to give a shout out to Chris's brother Uncle Wago and sister-in-law Aunt Peggy for giving us their piano. I am including a link on YouTube of Ava's reaction to the new piano. I think you may find her reaction unique and unexpected. As you may or may not know, Ava has been taking piano lessons for many months now, and is getting very good.

Ava ended up filling the entire page up with notes that she wrote and then played. I guess she wrote her first song.

Meg's Favs

I would like to encourage anyone who has not gone out and watched the movie Avatar on the big screen with 3D glasses, to do so. It is the most fantastic movie Chris and I have seen in a long time and it would be sad if everyone didn't go see it in the theater. The scenery and effects are incredible. Don't miss it!

Until next time, the Mothership is signing off.

Ava's Social Calendar

2010-02-04T20:19:00.000-08:00

Tonight I ate cheesecake and drank Dr. Pepper for dinner. I am going to write a book on my health plan and it is going to be called “How to Gain 5 Pounds In Two Days on the Triplet Plus One Diet”. I think it will be a bestseller among the “I don’t give a crap” crowd.

My 5 year old has quite the social calendar these days and it must not go unrecognized. I only wish my days were filled with such social events. On Saturday Ava spent the entire day with Bob, Angela, Kendall, Lauren and Ivy (another neighbor friend) at the UOP college swim meet and then we all stayed for dinner and came home at 9pm to crash into slumber. On Wednesday Ava again went over to Kendall and Lauren’s with a couple other neighbor friends to play all afternoon and then she invited herself to stay for dinner. Again, she came home only to sleep. Today she went to her Kindergarten friend’s house and ate sweets and played non-stop until 5pm.

While the little kids were in their bath tonight I looked downstairs and Ava was viewing our Hawaii pictures from last year on the television. She moped upstairs and proclaimed that she was crying a little bit downstairs because she missed Hawaii so much and wants to go again soon. I told her we could go to Hawaii in two years when the little kids are four years old and manageable on an airplane. Next thing I know, Ava called Gigi and Gramps and invited them on our trip to Hawaii coming up in two years. Gigi and Gramps accepted Ava’s invitation and Ava hung up victorious. Next, Ava called Kendall and Lauren and lamented about when we all went to Hawaii and how she longed to go again. Ava said to Lauren, “remember when we watched those Hawaiian Mexican dancers?” I said, “Ava, do you mean Hula dancers?”and she said confidently into the phone, “remember when we saw the Hallelujah dancers?” Ava proceeded to have a 45 minute conversation with both Lauren and Kendall all night until it was bedtime. Bottom line: Kendall and Lauren are on board with Ava for the 2012 Hawaii trip. They have even decided to stay on the same island at the same hotel: the Hyatt Kauai.

I hope they plan on getting some jobs.

I may have to get Ava her own dedicated phone line soon so she can keep up with her social conversations and fill her social calendar. I would like to also mention that Ava has plans for dinner and a movie at a Kindergarten friend’s house on Saturday night, whereas Chris and I will most certainly be hanging around the house that night. Ohhhhh, to be Ava.

Right now Ava is writing a long letter to one of her friends and painstakingly spelling each word out loud as she writes it down on paper.

The teenage years ought to be interesting around here.

But I don’t have to think about that yet. I can just sit back and enjoy my five year old as dynamic and spirited as she is now, because she is growing up so fast.

Until next time, the mothership is signing off.

The Triplets Take on Starbucks

2010-02-01T21:52:00.001-08:00

Eating Ice Cream

When you have sisters, you end up with a clip ponytail in your hair

My nanny hours changed last week and I am in the middle of trying to adjust to having Monday and Wednesdays by myself with this pack of wolves I have. I am down to help three days a week which is actually, in reality, probably good for me. In an ideal world I would have a nanny from 7am to 7pm every single day (hey, why not? It is good for everyone. In a realistic world I will have to start pairing down my nanny hours a little since the triplets are turning two this month. The ironic thing about the statement I just made is that I think I may benefit from the help of a nanny now more than ever since they have entered the mobile, verbal, tantrum stage of life.

I really think nannies are an underused commodity in this country. I mean, other cultures have that “village” to raise kids and get help from all kinds of different family and neighborhood sources. Our American culture isn’t structured like that so it is left to a single person who doesn’t work outside the home to grocery shop, cook all meals, clean up after every meal, take kids to and from school and to and from extracurricular activities, take care of homework and organize all school paperwork, while actually taking care of all the kids. We all need nannies a few days a week. Maybe I will write Obama and encourage him to include in his new health care bill a nanny allowance for all moms. With the nanny allowance I guarantee a happier nation.

I digress. Last Monday I was feeling ambitious. It was my first Monday sans Nanny for probably two years and I decided to conquer this new challenge with a positive attitude. I woke up very cheerful and with a zest for triplet plus one motherhood; this is a rare event. I knew I had a crazy morning ahead of me because I had to get all four kids breakfast, get them all dressed, pack Ava’s lunch for school, load the stroller, then load four kids into their car seats and head out to Ava’s piano lesson by 9am. It was all going smoothly so far since I was well prepared the night before with all their clothes laid out. That morning I actually pried my half asleep body out of my ultra comfortable Chatam and Wells bed at 6:30am and took a shower and was prepared for the day by 7am. By 8:45 I had all kids locked and loaded into the minivan and we were headed for piano. I called my sister on the way and told her I was bringing all three little kids into Starbucks and she was dubious about the success of this event. So was I, but I had to do it.

At Starbucks I loaded the little girls into the stroller but I did not buckle them in since we were just going from the parking lot to the inside of Starbucks. This turned out to be a big mistake. I held Preston’s hand instead of putting him in the stroller. This too, was a big mistake. Preston finds it hilarious to make me drag him from one destination to the other by his arm as he laughs hysterically. So here I am pushing a double stroller with one arm and dragging a kid by his arm with the other arm, diaper bag heaved over my shoulder, hoping some charitable soul will at least grab the door for me. As I order our goodies at the counter I turn around and both girls are climbing out of the stroller because I did not secure them in. They look like little monkeys. As I tell them to sit down, and then manually sit them back down in their seats again, they immediately start climbing out. Meanwhile Preston is running amuck shouting out his demands and orders. He knows that there are good things to be had at Starbucks like coffee cake, apple juice, scones and chocolate milk, and by god, he does not want to miss out on that kind of snacking. His English is unintelligible but his point is being made: get me a god damn scone now before I let loose one of my high pitches girl screams. I am literally starting to sweat. I am getting the “glad that isn’t me” stare from moms left and right and the “you have your hands full” comment from the rest of the patrons. I order my stuff quickly and we sit down at a table and I pray for peace since I have in my possession the cinnamon coffee cake. Unfortunately the Woolsey triplets make even more of a scene when apparently Preston wants the entire bag with the coffee cake in it to himself and I am not feeding the girls fast enough either. I buckle the girls up fast, leave my beloved coffee and remaining crumbs of coffee cake and head out the door as fast as I can. I later retrieve my coffee but forget my wallet. I guess we all know what is most important in my life. A nice lady run out to hand me my wallet and leaves me with a parting “you have your hands full” comment which I never get tired of hearing (ha ha). I was really embarrassed at the end of my Starbucks experience, but it was yet another learning lesson in the mothering of triplets: strap them down and give them raisins before walking into Starbucks.

So I decided Mondays must be structured differently in order for Ava to continue taking piano lessons each Monday. Today I brought the choo choo wagon and the little kids and I went for a walk around the neighborhood where Ava takes her lessons, and then stopped off at the park and the kids went down the slide about 100 times. Well, that was a better idea.

I made it through another day.

Until next time, the mothership is signing off.

Travel Itch

2010-01-21T12:46:00.000-08:00

I am itching to travel. I don’t say it out loud to anyone because then I get the very unsympathetic, “but you just went to Hawaii and Paris” comment. Yes, I did just go to Hawaii and Paris, but I want to see Thailand and Australia and South America and Greece, to name a small few. There is so much to see and so many cultures to explore, but that will all have to wait a little while.

My sister and I have been talking about a weekend getaway for many months now, and with our new babies it just hasn’t happened yet. I texted her yesterday and asked her where we should go. She texted back “Italy”. She was speaking my language. I immediately put myself in Italy with the Mediterranean sun beating against my face, sipping wine and eating cheese, salami and slurping homemade pasta. It was exhilarating for about 10 seconds. When I got home I told Chris about the text exchange and he said, “you should just go! Take our airline miles and go to Italy.” What? First of all, he is far more generous and giving than I am. Secondly, my sister and I can’t go to Italy right now. It just isn’t realistic in my life or hers. But I thought that was such a sweet and giving thing to say in response to a dreamy text message.

In light of my travel itch that I cannot scratch, I have picked up Eat, Pray, Love to read . . . again. The first time I picked it up the babies were very little and after reading a little less than a quarter of the book I gave it up. Elizabeth Gilbert and I were having a hard time relating to one another at the time. I couldn’t relate to her free spirited life of travel and leisure and her inability to see herself as a wife and mother. If she were reading my blog, she would not be able to relate to my life with newborn triplets and their sleepless nights, countless poopy diapers to change each day, not to mention laundry, bottles and a strong-willed overly-verbal three year old red head with an attitude. As I am getting back into the book with more sleep and less diapers and laundry, I am very much appreciating traveling with Liz through her cultural experiences and personal crossroads.

If I were to write my own book about cultural experiences and personal crossroads right now it would go something like this: I have no cultural experiences right now but my personal crossroad is how to take care of four puking kids with the stomach flu and still maintain a good attitude. Luckily, when all four kids were throwing up all over the house (the stairs, the playroom, the cribs, the bed, the couch, and even down that little crevasse in my bed between the mattress and the footboard – that hard to reach area) this last weekend, Chris was still in good health. We tag teamed the quadruple stomach flu all day on Sunday. While one of us stripped the kid that just threw up and bathed them or wiped them down, the other stripped sheets or cleaned the carpet and started yet another load of laundry. I didn’t have the stomach flu myself, in fact I was the only one who didn’t get it (even Nanny Laura got it), but let me tell you that I believe t hat I was just as miserable as the puke pack. Chris got the flu Sunday night and was down and out until Tuesday. Monday Nanny Laura called in sick with the flu, which left the mothership to manage a crew full of ailing and weary passengers . . . alone. Woes me.
We are finally all feeling better and there are two fun things happening around the house as far as almost 2 year old and their development. One is that Preston can repeat almost any word you ask him to. Ava, our speech therapist, has Preston repeat words that she says and he can repeat anything. Now, because he is a quite little man, he doesn’t talk a lot throughout the day, but it is exciting to know that if he is asked to talk, he can.

Also, we have been puzzling like crazy these days. It brings back memories of doing puzzle after puzzle with Ava starting when she was one. I think we have every Melissa and Doug puzzle ever made and at least half of the Ravensburger puzzles in existence. Doing these puzzles brings back mixed emotions: I loved spending this time with Ava doing puzzles, but I wished I wasn’t spending all my days doing puzzles. But now Ava will do puzzles with the babies and they all enjoy it very much. It is really wonderful to watch them work on these puzzles together and witness Ava be so proud of them and praise them when they get all the pieces into their proper spots.

So in my last email I mentioned how Violet perseveres. Well, she was determined to learn the right technique to doing puzzles and the other night she figured out just how to turn the puzzle piece to fit it in the spot perfectly. She must have done about 15 puzzles perfectly. This is what I love about her. She will keep trying to do something until she can do it well. She is starting to do this with speech. Before she wouldn’t even try to say something because I think she wasn’t ready, now she attempts to say so many words. I tell the speech therapist (the real one, not Ava) that she says a lot of words but it isn’t always pretty, and the speech therapist said it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t sound right, what matters is that she is trying to say the words.
As it rains and pours here I long for the sun. Oh sun how I love you so.

Until next time, the mothership is signing off.

Triplet Moms Are Cool

2010-01-11T13:11:00.000-08:00

Ava holding Kaely and Daniel's precious Finley
Triplets times two in full play
Violet and Fletcher playing nicely together

Preston and Bailey
All of us - Elsa missed the "get on your mom's lap" memo

Bailey and Elsa were working on sharing this toy
Elsa and Parker
Grilled Cheese sandwiches coming right up!

I

Ring around the rosy

The guilt has been building up and now I must write my blog because it has been almost two weeks again. Yes, I must admit that laying in bed watching television at the end of the day is somewhat more appealing than trying to turn on my brain and write. But in an effort to keep brain activity working at a steady level, I am using nap time to write some thoughts down.

I just picked up a message from the neurologist who got the results back from Violet's MRI and all he said as that the results are consistent with Cerebral Palsy. I take that to mean that she has some brain injury in the area of her brain that is consistent with people who have CP. I called the doctor because I needed to know more. He said the damage is mild and she will only get better from here. I asked him if it was because she lacked oxygen in the womb at some point and he said that was most likely the case. He said she would probably need physical therapy. I said that she doesn't need physical therapy because she walks and runs and jumps just as well as her brother and sister . . . maybe even better. I told him that she is in speech therapy and trying to say new words every day.

Okay, so now I know. Am I glad I know? I don't know the answer to that yet. I just know that I had myself a short little cry because I feel somewhat responsible for Violet's mild CP. I don't mean to be lame and blame myself when I was doing the best I could, like mom's tend to do. I just think that Violet was so smooshed in her section of the womb and I was maybe up on my feet a little too much at week 30 and it was just too much for both of us.

So, now I will move past my little piece of motherly guilt and know that Violet's CP will most likely be unrecognizable throughout her life; it is virtually unrecognizable now. She is smart and she perseveres and she is just about the happiest most loving little kid I have ever seen. We love her so.

The most fun and interesting thing that happened in my week last week was our triplet playdate. My friend Emily who has two boys and one girl triplets that are a month older than mine brought her brood up to play with the Woolsey triplets for awhile. I met Emily when I was 15 weeks and she was 19 weeks at a El Dorado Mother's of Multiples Baby Sale. I looked at her, a month ahead of me and said to myself, "good god, is my belly going to be THAT big in a month?" Anyway, all the kids were very good and very cute. I noticed with all six kids in the playroom together that an enormous mess emassed rather quickly (to be expected). I also noticed that the only hitting, biting, pushing, grabbing and hair pulling that occurred were committed by siblings to one another. In other words, the Kapic triplets did not inflict harm on the Woolsey triplets, or visa-a-versa. We pretty much had our own little in-home preschool that day so we did things like Simon Says and Ring Around the Rosie. The rest of the time Emily and I tried to have a conversation and get some best practice ideas from each other. It went something like this: Emily says "so what is the . . . Parker don't do that." Or I start to say, "I think it is fun when . . . Violet don't you hit." It is hard to have a conversation with two sets of triplets in the room. They are a cute six little six pack, and we will be seeing much more of our triplet friends now that Molly, Nima and Ronin will be living right down the street from them in Sacramento.

I think triplet moms are fun. We are part of a specialized segment of motherhood and only we can possibly understand each others lives. I met an awesome triplet mom in Costco the other day. Chris and I were shoving greasy Costco pizza down our kids before shopping and this nice woman comes up to me and says, "I hope this isn't too nosy, but are those triplets?" I am used to this but usually people aren't so polite with their inquiries. I said, yes they are. She said, "well, I just had to come up to you because I am the mom to 10 year old triplets, and I have three older daughters." She said, "being the mom to triplets is the most wonderful thing in the world." She said that the first five years were hard, but now it is just wonderful and fun and exciting. Then the weirdest thing happened. I was in Starbucks the next day and I ran into her again. She told me that her older girls are always looking for ways to help people out and that they would love to watch the triplets for us. She said her girls are obviously very good with triplets. I whipped my Mothership business card out immediately (yes, I do have those) and passed it over to my new triplet mom friend.

Our house is very loud lately. Ava talks non-stop. I am not exaggerating. She has always been loud and boisterous but now she has taken her lively personality the next step with constant communication. Sometimes I hit my breaking point and I just say "Ava stop talking." I usually have to repeat that request about five to ten times before she actually stops talking. Then she is offended because she feels that everything she says is very interesting and of utmost importance. "THAT IS NOT VERY NICE!!" she tell me. Preston has been screaming like a girl. He literally screams bloody murder when he wants something. It is not cool. Elsa screams bloody murder when she feels threatened or is assaulted in some way. She has always screamed though. Violet is the quietest but she definitely has her loud moments also. Tonight at the dinner table they were all chanting this noise that sounded like a bunch of wild animals that just scored a kill at Kruger National Park "eeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaa" as loud as they could . . .all four of them. We will never have a quiet, serene household. I had many years of quiet and serene . . . and it was boring.

Until next time, the mothership is signing off.

Happy New Year

2009-12-31T19:20:00.000-08:00

This is what happens when you have three sisters:
you find yourself vacuuming in a pink tutu

The Woolsey 6 are partying hard this year on New Year's. For example, it is 7:21 on New Year's Eve and I am writing my blog. Chris is busy making cookies with Ava while talking in some sort of . . . I think it is supposed to be a French accent. The babies have gone to bed already. Although we actually could have gone out and partied hard since Nanny Kathy told me she could babysit tonight, I really just felt like having a mellow night at home with my family. It was a wise decision considering how my day turned out today.

Chris and I have been debating whether to get our sweet, precious Violet an MRI for about 6 months now. I am usually the kind of person that is willing to do any and every test out there if it will give us more information on a medical issue. This MRI for Violet has been a tough decision though, since Violet will have to be put out and it would obviously be uncomfortable for her. Even after our second neurologist told us he would probably get Violet an MRI if it her his child, we were still having a hard time deciding whether to go through with it. So, we put a call in to the great, wise, all-knowing Dr. Lehrman; a family friend who I have known all my life and trust implicitly. He told us that the MRI is to a neurologist what looking in the ear is the a GP. He said the MRI may provide some important information and that it doesn't have any radiation that could potentially harm Violet, so in conclusion, he thinks we should do it. Then a couple of days ago the office called to tell us Violet was moved to 2pm instead of 9am. This was bad news because she has to fast for 8 hours leading up to the MRI. Poor Violet was going to starve all day.

Chris and I woke up this morning and felt like we were on the fence again. Did we really want to put Violet through this? Did it even matter what the MRI told us since we already know Violet is perfect? How are we going to not feed our 22 month old all day long? In the end, we worked it out. We kept Violet away from having to watch her siblings enjoy their breakfast, their snack and then their lunch. Then I loaded her up and we headed to Sacramento.

Violet was very brave. She sat and waited for an hour with me in the waiting room with the top of both of her hands lathered in numbing cream. Then we held her down to the hospital bed while the anesthesiologist stuck her tiny hand with a needle and injected the sleeping medicine into her. Within 5 seconds she went limp and sat layed there perfectly still with her eyes open. It was creepy. Luckily the nurse had warned me that it might look scary or unnatural when Violet goes to sleep. They carried her away while I finished my book in the waiting room. An hour later they brought me a very agitated skinny little red head. I held her and she was still really drugged and out of it. Then she started flailing her body around and crying and I just had to sit there and hold her tight so she didn't fly out of my arms. Then she cried the whole way home. I tried to give her juice and snacks because I know she must have been starving, but she did not want anything. She was pissed. I had this weird feeling that she was holding me responsible for her crappy day at the hospital. She is like Ava in that she knows things she shouldn't know, and I feel like she remembered that I held her down on the bed and let the doctor stick her with that needle. All was well when she had a couple of pieces of pizza, a couple of sippy cups full of milk and a whole bunch of ice cream dibs.

In the end, we are so glad we got Violet an MRI and so happy that the whole experience is behind us. So, I am happy to be ringing in the new year with my family in my home. There will be a time to party at New Year's again one day, and that time is not now.

This morning Ava, big sister extraordinaire, was teaching the babies how to talk. Her first word in the lesson was none other than the word Ava. She would say to Violet, say AAAAAAA. Violet would say it. Then she would say, Violet say vvvvvvvvvvvvv, and Violet would say the sound vvvvvvv. Ava then said, to say ahhhhhhhhhhhhh. Violet would say ahhhhhhhhhh. She was a great teacher and I couldn't believe when all the babies were copying all the sounds that Ava was teaching. Maybe I should pay Ava like $1 allowance a week to give Violet speech therapy; that would be a huge cost savings for us.

Here is a short list of the things that I liked in 2009:

My babies turned 1 year old
Barack Obama was elected President
Trip to Paris
Trip to Hawaii
Christmas and the two nights leading up to it
Snowstorm in Cameron Park
Ava starting Kindergarten
Ava learned to read
Getting my iPhone
Chris losing 30 pounds and ran a marathon in honor of Trevor
The song Just Breath by Pearl Jam

Here is a short list of the things I did not like in 2009:

Poop in the bathtub
Ava badgering me about snacks and play dates
The real estate market
The genocide in Darfur
Sara Palin

In 2010 I have one or two personal endeavors that I hope to get started. Oh yes, there is always the whole "i am going to get in shape and lose 10 pounds" resolution that I have made and not accomplished every single year for the past 10 years. This year will be different. I have more interesting goals in mind and if I can pull it off it should be pretty cool.

Speaking of cool, my good friend and neighbor Angela was on KGO radio tonight talking about Trevor and the importance of getting swabbed and put into the bone marrow registry. Make it a goal for 2010 my friends . . . get swabbed. It is easy, painless, and free. Just think how great you would feel if you were the match for someone and saved their life this coming year. Just think if you were the match for Trevor and saved his life and today he was a happy, healthy 3 year old little boy. That would be a life changing moment.
www.bethematch.org.

I wish everyone the best 2010. I hope this is a great year for all of us.

Until next time, the mothership is signing off.

Christmastime All Wrapped Up

2009-12-28T20:57:00.001-08:00

Last night Chris and I went out with my parents to dinner and a movie. I looked forward to it for two days. We saw the movie Up In The Air with George Clooney. What started out as a movie about a man who really knows the ins and outs of business travel, turned into a deeper movie about family and the importance of nurturing and appreciating those relationships in your life. This is why I like the holidays so much; for nurturing and appreciating family and friends. While Christmas time has come and gone in a flash, with the decorations strewn about my house, the frenzy of mass consumerism, Christmas music, shopping centers all lit up, Santas everywhere you turn (with Ava asking me if that is the real Santa or not), and parties of course. What we are left with is a very messy house and toys overflowing every room in our house; or at least, that is what it feels like. More importantly, we are also left with a rekindling of relationships that fall astray with the chaos of life. The holidays bring us together and let us love each other up for a a few short weeks before the year ends. It is our opportunity to hold hands with each other and tell our friends and family that we love them. Seeing the movie last night reminded me about how special it is to have close relationships in our lives, and how the holidays help us nurture those relationships.

Preston received a mini-Dyson vacuum cleaner for Christmas this year. It was time he said goodbye to the pink vacuum that is falling apart due to overuse, and welcome the more manly Pottery Barn Kids Dyson into his life. The response to his gift has been overwhelming. Today he wanted to sleep with the vacuum and eat with the vacuum resting on his food tray. He is busy vacuuming all day, whether it be upright traditional style, or whether he decides he needs to get those hard to reach places at which time he removes the hose from its upright position and gets down on his hands and knees. I do hope he carries his love for vacuuming with him through life so I can get him to clean my floors for me.

Elsa, because she is a princess, received some girlie attire. Nanny Laura gave her a ballerina skirt and headband, while Auntie, Uncle Nima and Ronin gave her a talking purse with lipstick and a mirror in it, as well as some beautiful polka dot shoes. Elsa does love her shoes.

Violet loves books, stuffed animals and balloons more than anything, so one of her favorite gifts was a balloon blowing kit with the types of balloons you can manipulate into different shapes. She also got some new books that she likes to sit and quietly read to herself.

Ava is very into arts and crafts, and we are too since they keep her busy, so she got tons of sticker books and pens and markers and paints and has been working diligently on those projects ever since.

In the meantime, the decorations have been taken down, and I feel sad to see my perfect Christmas tree get thrown to the curb, literally, today. What a waste of a perfect Douglas Fir. I am happy to have de-cluttered the house and rid my life of fallen pine needles though.

Today we took all the kids to get their flu shots. Boy was that special. The babies had no idea what they were in for, and Ava was surprisingly oblivious to her purpose at the doctor's office today until in the waiting room she says confidently, "I'm not getting a shot today right?" I said, "yes you are Ava. You have to get your . . " WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. Literal meltdown right there in the waiting room. Ava lost it and screamed like she was 2 years old. She went through some of the stages of grief right there in the Peds office: there was sadness (waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa), anger (I am NOT going to get a flu shot today!), denial (you said I am not getting a shot for a week and it hasn't been a week yet), and bargaining ( I don't even care if I get sick if I don't have to get the flu shot). So, Chris thought maybe it would help if he got a shot. Chris says to the nurse, "do you have an empty needle you could stick me with?" She looked at him like "are you freakin serious?" Chris looked back like, "I'll do anything for my kids so now stick me with a damn needle." The nurse scurried out of the room and came back with a needle. Chris proceeded to strip himself down to his tighty whities and encouraged Ava to watch how daddy could get stuck with a needle and not even flinch. The nurse apprehensively stuck Chris with the needle, Ava watches, and remains unimpressed. I am sitting in the corner with Elsa in one arm and Violet in the other, and we are all watching in disbelief. Chris pulled up his pants, no mickey mouse bandage necessary and those hairy thighs. Ava is still wailing and moaning with great anxiety and anticipation. I say to the nurse, "just give her the shots and make it speedy and we can all be done with this." I surely wasn't going to be next to pull down my pants and get stuck with an empty needle. So as Chris restrained Ava's arms and legs like she was being put into a straightjacket, she was stuck with seasonal flu on one leg and H1N1 in the other. The screaming and wailing immediately stopped . . . and I do mean immediately. The little girls had their shots and let out a short little cry and moved on with life. Before the nurse left the room she said, "you must really love your kids if you were willing to pull down your pants in a pediatric office."

I had some really great Ava-isms which I wrote down and then forgot to save and now I am so sad because of course I forgot them. I do remember one of them though. Ava asked me, "when we die does our body fall apart?" I thought this was such a weird, morbid question but I admired her for asking it. Now I usually tell Ava the truth about anything she asks me because I want to always be open and honest with her. We talk openly about death a lot. She loves scary things like ghosts and witches, but is scared of wolves. With this particular question I could not bring myself to tell her the truth. I could just imagine her little mind spinning with images of arms and legs and noses and ears falling off of bodies and I couldn't do this to her, so I simply said "no".

Until next time, the mothership is signing off.

Snow Storm

2009-12-14T16:56:00.000-08:00

The snowy scene from our front door
Ava playing in the snow in the backyard

Ava very excited when she woke up in the morning and saw the snow
This is the Christmas spirit - the lights, the snow through the back windows
From the front of our house . . .

Lauren, Kendall and Ava eating some of Auntie's Pasta

Molly and Ronin

The Polar Express - Ava and her old pals

Hot chocolate on the Polar Express

Wendy, Kari and I on the Polar Express

It snowed 8 inches in Cameron Park last Monday. Chris got up at 4am to catch a plane to Miami that day and all I heard at the wee hours that morning was “oh my gosh”. We looked out the window and our yard was covered in the most beautiful fresh white snow, and it was still snowing. School was cancelled and Chris couldn’t get down our driveway to make it to the airport. So instead he took Ava and Sage out to the road where all of the neighbor kids were throwing snowballs in the street and sledding down driveways. Later our friend Kathy brought everyone hot chocolate out to warm them up. It was like a scene out of a Normal Rockwell painting. I have to say that this is what I have always loved about our neighborhood – all of our neighbors know each other. The moms and dads are friends and the kids are friends with each other. It is like what I would imagine a neighborhood out of the 50s would’ve been like. Chris caught a flight out at noon, but he did get to enjoy the snow that morning with Ava and Sage.

We have a bathtub pooper culprit but we don’t know who it is yet. For three baths in a row someone has pooped in the bathtub. It isn’t Elsa because she is always first out, so we have been able to narrow it down to Preston or Violet. Each time it happens Preston and Violet are just sitting in the bathtub both looking up at us with this guilty look, which has made it difficult to determine who is dreaded bathtub pooper. It takes about a half an hour to sanitize all the toys and the tub. Now we are afraid of bathtime. This too shall pass.

Last night Ava, Chris and I went with some of our friends to the Polar Express in Sacramento. We all hopped on a train and rode it to the “North Pole” where Santa was waiting to board the train and pass out bells. The story was read on the train. My friend Kari got knocked in the face by the bell by her son and I felt a near child abuse moment when Ava gave a friendly old Santa’s helper a dirty look. Other than that, the Polar Express was a success. Or I thought it was a success until this morning Ava said that she was “a bit disappointed in the North Pole” and “thought she was going to be able to watch the movie on the train.” I would’ve normally been furious that I took her on a nice excursion and she was complaining about it the next day but both of her points were valid: the North Pole was extremely cheesy and we couldn’t even hear the book being read very well so that was disappointing. We still had fun though.

The kids are all keeping us laughing throughout this holiday season. Ava has taken to spelling in the middle of sentences which is interesting. She will say, "can we go to the p-a-r-k and p-l-a-y?" or "mommy am I being g-o-o-d?" She breaks out into spell almost every sentence she utters, which means I can no longer spell things out that I don't want her to know about. The babies are so cute and sweet right now. They are learning new words to say (not spell) each day and are so fun to take out and be with. I always say that they are just the best behaved little kids, but because there are three of them, this is a hard stage for me.

When I was first pregnant with the triplets Chris ran into a mom of triplet boys who were three years old. Chris told her that I was newly pregnant with triplets and she said, maybe in jest and maybe not, "i wouldn't wish this on anybody," referring to having triplets. Chris didn't tell me about that comment for a long time. Today we ran into this triplet mom again and this time we had our triplets with us. She said, "look at this, now I am by myself shopping and you have your triplets with you!" She told us that her boys started all day Kindergarten this year and her whole life changed. She has days to herself now and she said that all of the years of hard work are paying off and the boys are giving back big time now that they are five and in Kindergarten. I think my triplets give me back so much every day, but I must admit it will be nice when they are in school and I can have some true time to myself. I won't rush to get there though. Elsa, Violet and Preston are still cute little babies that I can hold and cuddle and rock and love. I will never get that back when it is gone.

I hope everyone is having a great holiday season. Ten more days until Christmas, according to Ava who is keeping close track.

Until next time, the mothership is signing off.

SoCal Trip and Back Home Again

2009-11-28T19:55:00.000-08:00

The fabulous five: the five second cousins all born in the same

year - all five are five years old

Violet painting her head with water

Ava spent most of Thanksgiving week perfecting the

jump from the swing

I started to write this blog two weeks ago and here I am on a Tuesday night in December trying to finish it.

I dyed my hair a very dark brown with red accents. I needed a change and I was tired of watching my roots creep back to my natural brown color only a month after paying all that money to get the highlights done. So, I did it. My hairdresser was reluctant, but in the end I won the battle for dark hair. The red highlights are secretly just a small attempt to be red-headed enough that people won’t constantly ask me “where did your kids get their red hair?”, but it probably won’t work.

While we were still in Southern California, we took Ava and Violet to the park. I hopped in Coffee Bean Tea Leaf quickly. Violet was standing right beside me as I put cream in my coffee. I could hear Chris calling my name while standing only about 10 feet from me. Then he called Violet to come over to him. I turned to look at him and that is when he realized that I was his wife and Violet was safely standing next to her mom. Chris didn’t recognize me. It felt kind of liberating to be so incognito and unrecognizable even to my own husband. For now, I am embracing the new hair color, as change feels good in my life right now. Next I am going to get a nose ring. Just kidding. No I’m not. Okay, I am.

We had a very nice time in Thousand Oak with Chris's parents. The weather was about 75 degrees the entire week which was so very pleasant. We took the kids to the park every single day and played. We took everyone out to dinner twice which is quite and undertaking but manageable with four adults. I am always proud that the kids can hang in there through a sit down dinner and we make it out with an acceptable amount of food on the ground. Ava went ice skating and loved it so much that she told Chris "I am not coming off the ice until the man gets on the loudspeaker and says we have to."

Back home it was business as usual with our Monday morning starting off at a neurologist office. I decided that I was fairly frazzled at the first neurologist appointment where Violet was initially diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy. It was only four days before out big trip to Paris and I was trying to pack and get my kids situated for having missing parents for seven days. Plus, the front office staff are such a bunch of . . . well, let me just be nice and say that they are very incompetent . . . and after waiting an hour and a half with Violet we finally got in to see the doctor. I feel that I didn't get to ask him all the questions I wanted to ask him. I got the CP diagnosis but I didn't know anything else about it really. I figured instead of subjecting myself to the office staff again I would get a second opinion from a different neurologist and get my questions answered at the same time.

The thing about Violet is that she is so smart and does everything that her brother and sister do, and more, except for talk. I suppose the talking is going to come in handy one day, and shouldn't be downplayed, which is why a speech therapist comes to our house twice a week to help her. But if Violet did have CP, it must be a very mild case, which is why we got the second opinion done. The new neurologist we saw did a very nice job of explaining cerebral palsy and why it occurs and what it means. He observed Violet and tested her reflexes. We got through 95% of the appointment with the neurologist thinking that Violet does not have Cerebral Palsy. The last 5 minutes of the appointment he observed Violet walking a little forward on her toes and he determined that she must have a very mild form of CP - nothing that will slow her down in life with the right kind of parenting and speech therapy. Shoot, I thought, we almost made it out of there without having that terrible cerebral palsy phrase attached to our Violet. But, Chris says that it is almost a relief to know that she does have just a mild form of CP because as her parents, we knew when she was 18 months old that some things were just a little more challenging for Violet.

I told the neurologist that Violet has amazing empathy for people that seems unusual in a child her age. I like his response very much. Very quickly he said, "well, she learned that early on from everything that she has been through." It is so true. It must have been tough being crammed into the upper right quadrant of my abdomen, probably being constantly kicked and elbowed from her brother and then being born so tiny and having to learn how to eat from a bottle and try to grow so big so quickly. Then to get home and have to share all the attention with three other little people in the house. And have had to work so hard all by herself to get up and walk, and muster up enough might to say the few words that she says. She is a hard worker and we admire her very much. All three of the triplets have great empathy and I know 100 percent for sure that this is because they have grown up amongst each other and Ava and have learned how to love and feel from very early on.

Preston has really blossomed over this past couple weeks. He says new words each day and is mister happy-go-lucky. He is playing nicely with his sisters when he isn't banging them over the head with his toys, and being a mischievous little boy. I don't know what to make of him sometimes. He is definitely different from the girls and I find he plays independently of them a lot, but is much more social than he used to be. Instead of running for his mommy's lap when the girls are all roughhousing, he has decided to join in and get crazy. Although tonight about 10 second into the roughhousing Ava didn't see him and ran full force body slam into him and he flew across the room and face planted into the ground, so I am not sure if he will want to continue to partake.

Chris is gone to Miami this whole week. We miss him very much when he is gone. Ava mentioned about a dozen times tonight how much she misses him and wishes he was home. It is hard on us when he is gone but someone has to bring home the diaper and food money.

Ava is officially reading. In about one month she went from just knowing about 10 site words to literally reading books. It is amazing and exciting and I am proud of her. School is just going to come easy for Ava, just like driving me crazy also comes easy for her. Oh Chris and I have paid a price for Ava's intellectual power over the years, but I know there will be great reward down the road when she is running a Fortune 500 company and buying us a vacation house on the San Juan Islands. A mom can only dream.

Until next time, the mothership is signing off.

Sick Kids, Road Trip and Chauncy the Fly

2009-11-19T20:21:00.000-08:00

I don't know why my blogs are so disgusting lately. I guess it is just my life with all these little alien creatures expelling bodily fluids here and there and everywhere.

The other morning I was out the door before 7am to get my blood drawn. I have had a well woman lab panel to get done for a routine physical for about one year but I could never seem to find time to do it. First of all, it was difficult to wrap my mind around actually leaving the house without having coffee, which was necessary since this was a fasting blood draw. Secondly, 7am is a busy time in the Woolsey household; difficult to escape the trenches. By the time I got home at 7:45am, one of the crew had fallen ill.

Chris and Elsa were on the couch, Elsa looking particularly sad and pathetic. About half an hour later Elsa barfed all over Chris and then we knew what was wrong with her: the stomach flu. Chris, being the good daddy he is, took getting barfed on in stride and carried Elsa to the shower. The only thing that stood between them was a layer of barf. It was so sweet. They took a nice long shower and got all cleaned up and dressed and smelling nice and then Elsa barfed all over Chris again. He started the cleanup process all over again.

Elsa is generally a good sick person because all she does is sleep most of the day and all night when she is sick. But, when she is awake she had to be held by me the entire time and I was not allowed to sit down while holding her.

By night time Chris was holding Elsa again, and again, she barfed all over him twice. I found it fascinating that I had Elsa the entire day and she did not barf on me once, but when Chris started to hold her she barfed again . . . twice. The event that really made me laugh for a very long time, though, was right before we went to bed Preston was playing and running around and Chris was lying on the ground. Preston walked up to Chris and had a spitup all over Chris's shirt. Preston doesn't even spitup very much anymore and I found it overly amusing that he chose that night on that person to fall back on old habits. I escaped the entire day without any bodily fluid landing on me. A successful day indeed!

The Road Trip

Saturday night we packed up the house and the car and got ready for our Thanksgiving trip down to Thousand Oaks with the domestics. Chris and I are actually a good team because I pack everyone's clothes and accessories, which takes me about four hours, while Chris meticulously loads every square inch of our minivan.

Today didn't go exactly as planned, but nothing ever really does in our lives. Nevertheless, Chris and I woke up early in the morning and we were pumped. We were ready for our getaway and a nice change of scenery. We poured our coffee and sipped on it as we put the finishing touches on our packing job. Ava gets up and deposits herself in her carseat in the minivan; she is ready to go by 7am. I go upstairs to get Elsa and I immediately smell an unnatural stench in her room. I go to change her diaper and I realize that this is a blowout that not even an entire package of Pampers wipes could resolve. I strip her naked and carry her under her arms and as far away from my body as possible all the way to the shower. Then I go to get Preston, and again with the unnatural stench. He doesn't require a shower, but he does require about 30 wipes and new pajamas.

The trip started out okay with hardly a complaint; we had a Baby Einstein marathon going on the DVD player and a plethora of snack items to fill their little tummies. Things really began to go South when Preston threw up the first time. We had to do a pull over stop off the freeway and take Preston's shirt off and clean up the puke that blanketed the straps of the carseat.

It was about this time that a fly entered our car and wouldn't leave for the next few days. Chris named him Chauncy. No matter how many times I batted Chauncy with my magazine and rolled down my window in hopes that he would fly out, Chauncy had grown attached to us and just would not leave. I must admit that we grew to love Chauncy a little also. This leads me to the Haiku that Chris made up as we were about 1/2 an hour from our destination:

slowly going mad

four munchkins threatening chaos

crossing the grapevine

This Haiku kind of explains why Chris named a fly.

We had almost made it to the domestics house when Preston puked an adult sized puke all over himself and his car seat again. The poor kid was throwing up so much he could hardly breathe. So, precisely one minute before landing at the house Chris called his parents and told them of the unfortunate accident and when we pulled up we saw them coming toward us with a bucket of water and cloths. At that point I felt badly that the domestics couldn't have some better houseguests that week than us.

Fast forward a half an hour later and we were basking in the Southern California sunshine in the backyard of the domestics home. We had stripped Preston down to his birthday suit and he was frolicking around the yard. We were joyous and happy because we had arrived safely and Preston seemed to be feeling better. I turn around to check on naked little Preston and notice he was walking a little funny. Right then he had an explosion diahrrea all over the domestics prestine patio. Nobody knew what to do with it right off the bat except for the dog Katie. I won't go there. Dick said "who thought it was a good idea to leave Preston without a diaper on?" Ummmm, that would be the mothership. Lesson learned: DO NOT LEAVE A KID WITH THE STOMACH FLU TO RUN AROUND WITHOUT A DIAPER ON. We are truly nightmare houseguests. But here I must insert our motto for 2009: "it could've been worse." Preston could've pooped on the carpet instead.

Until next time, the mothership is signing off.

Mutiny

2009-11-13T12:45:00.000-08:00

By the end of the day yesterday:

The number of times I said “no” = approximately 35 times
The number of times Chris and I cleaned a poopy diaper = 10 (seriously)
The number of threats I had to give my children to get what I wanted = 10
The amount of trays to booster seats I cleaned = 20
The number of times I swept the floor = 3 (but should’ve been 5)
The awake hours of the day I was holding children = 11
The number of trips to Starbucks to get us through the day = 2 (should’ve been more)
The number of times I told Chris I am going to put the kids in their cribs and go to a bar = 1 time The number of times I threatened to give my dog away = 1 time
The number of cups of water thrown outside the bathtub by the babies during bathtime = 12ish
The number of times I laughed at how adorable my kids are = countless

There is mutiny on board the mothership. The crew is starting to work together and turn against their captain. This morning we had a frenzy of throwing valuable cargo overboard: breakfast sausage, English muffin, fruit. So, I said in my fed up stern captain voice, “that’s it! There will be no more food for you Elsa!” At this time I took her tray off and as I was washing it I looked behind me and Violet was passing food over to Elsa. I heard her little “tank too” which is “thank you” and then she proceeded to throw Violet’s food on the ground. They were working together against me. It is starting already.

We had our family photos taken yesterday. I think I dread family photos more than anything else in the world. Why? Because my kids are never happy at the photo shoot and Chris and I are outnumbered which becomes unmanageable while out on a photo shoot. The children are inevitably grumpy and therefore I feel grumpy. I usually don’t let too many things stress me out in my life otherwise I would just be stressed out and miserable all the time, but the photo shoot was at 9am and by 7:30am I had a raging headache. The outfit decisions, the runny noses, and the anticipation of the photo shoot were killing me. We changed Ava’s clothes about five times trying to find the right thing and she was very annoyed at us. I had to fix five heads of hair including my own which I hardly ever fix. The photo shoot was as miserable as I expected it would be. Preston tends to be a grumpy old man a lot anyway, but with the cold and the fact that he was extremely tired that morning, he was severely grumpy. He cried most of the morning and would not stop unless I was holding him. The photographers did a great job and were very patient in working with us. I am sure out of all the photos they took there should be a least a few good ones. At one point the photographer said to us “wow, you must have to have a lot of patience huh?” No comment.

I forgot to add this on to the blog the first time I sent it out but our very own Ava Rose Woolsey, against all odds, made her first game-ending goal last Saturday. It was Chris's proudest parent moment he said. She went from literally standing on the field picking grass and wrapping her hair around her fingers at the beginning of the soccer season to jumping into action and dribbling the ball all the way down the field to score a goal. Chris put it on youtube if you want to check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxbK5NpBnp8

I don’t usually throw out endorsements in my blog, I but I feel compelled to start. Why? I don’t know. Maybe I have just been feeling strongly about things lately – everything from dishwashing detergent to movies. So, here is my endorsement for the day:

Food, Inc. – rent it. Very interesting and disturbing, but most definitely a must see.

Until next time, the mothership is signing off.

The Grossest Mom Moment EVER

2009-11-04T19:52:00.000-08:00

I wanted to throw up or at least hide under the bed with the covers pulled over my head but I couldn't do either because I am a mom and mom's have to do gross things all the time. But this took the cake.

Chris took Ava to the GI doctor yesterday morning to check and make sure she doesn't have any problems in her belly or intestines. She seems to get stomach aches a lot, and has a lot of gas in her belly all the time causing bloating, etc. Ava endured getting 8 vials of blood taken out of her arm and an x-ray. She went to the blood draw kicking and screaming but once she saw the blood leaving she was fascinated and at peace. Strange child. And then getting an x-ray was just about the best thing that could've happened in her week. She LOVES and is intrigued by the x-ray. The x-ray showed tons of gas on one side of her body and tons of poop on the other. The doctor said this was too much gas and sent Chris home with series of fecal sample tests.

So, today while I was at Nordstrom picking up some new jeans with my sister I got a text from Laura. It said "Ava pooped in the bowl. I put it in the laundry room sink so the babies don't get it . . . that would not be good." My mind immediately wandered to the triplets with their hands elbow deep in the poop, playing and laughing with delight. And then I realized what I had to do when I got home. Wait a minute! Chris said he would do the poop but he is out of town tonight. How unfair. What great timing on his part.

So I got home and Preston was crying very dramatically for me to hold him so I had to hold him. Then I had to go deal with the poop. I couldn't put Preston down because he needed me really badly at that very moment. So I said to him, lets go do the poop Pres. With one arm holding Preston and one hand holding the wooden stick, I went in. I was required to scoop some poop from the bowl, smear it two different places on the sample area and then close it up. During this process two bad things happened since I was holding Preston and trying to collect poop samples: one, while I wasn't looking Preston was using his pen to play in my one already placed poop sample; two, I dropped the poop sample poop side down on the ground. Sigh. It was a poopy start.

Then I needed to actually take chunks of poop and insert them in a liquid preservative. That is the part where I really wanted to throw up but I kept my cool. Preston and I did our job and moved on with our lives. Do I feel like a better mom for doing this hideous job? No, absolutely not. Will I have nightmares about poop? Probably.

I decided my reward for the poop experience was some fabulous new jeans and shirts that I bought myself at Nordstroms 1/2 yearly sale.

Now I am pooped.

Until next time, the mothership is signing off.

Halloween with the Wild Things

2009-11-02T13:40:00.000-08:00

Apple Hill with the Woolseys and the Hosseinis getting pumpkins and
eating apple donuts . . . our little tradition

Nima thinks he was picking out the best pumpkins . . . ha!

Bunch of dirt faces. Doesn't the mom ever bathe them?

Playing with bubbles

The kids throwing dirt and rocks while on a hike at Lake Tahoe

Gigi and Elsa

Sage looking very sphelt and stoic

Spaghetti is so messy but so yummy

I will try and take a relaxing moment wherever I can -- even

if it is at the park on the bark being mauled by little people

Ava starting her rock climbing career

Once Violet gets a hold of this pink soccer ball she will

not share it with anyone at any time

Violet needs a 12-step program by the looks of it

Preston needs a 12-step program for compulsive crayon eating-

look at his blue teeth

The clown strolling the tiger on Halloween

The happy family - we love Halloween! Yeah!

It is a circus

Ava looking cute for Auntie Kaely's baby shower

My life seems so busy taking care of the needs and schedules of all these little monkeys that sometimes I feel when we get to a holiday I feel dread. Rather than being excited about getting them all dressed up for Halloween and meeting all of our neighbor friends in the park before trick or treating, I felt this overwhelming desire for it all just to be over. Then I felt disappointed in myself. Of course we got them all dressed up and once we were at the park I poured myself a glass of wine and worked on enjoying the moment. Part of the problem is that the babies don’t really enjoy these things yet, so it feels a little like a waste of energy putting all of us through the process just to have crying clingy babies a the park.

Ava on the other hand, fully appreciates and enjoys every second of Halloween. Up until yesterday, she was Max from The Wild Things, which we borrowed from Angela. On Halloween she switched it up and decided to be a clown, which I had borrowed from my neighbor friend Gianna earlier in the month. While we were trick or treating all I could see from a distance was Ava in this bright colored clown costume and crazy wig zipping full speed from one house to the next with her friends. I am excited for when the babies are old enough to have fun trick or treating with their big sis.

The kids are starting to play very well with each other. Every night the girl’s rough house and I sit there watching in horror as they yank each other to the ground and dog pile and pull hair and laugh hysterically. Every night someone ends up crying, but they have so much fun together playing that I can’t stop them. Meanwhile, Preston takes refuge on my lap with his little froggie blanket and watches the girls going crazy screaming and running and jumping on each other. It is a little too much for them and he is going to leave all that wild behavior to his sisters. You can’t really blame him since right now he has a huge red welt on the side of his face where Violet bit him. It is sad because she didn’t even bite him out of anger, but rather just because she thought it was funny.

On a different note, Elsa is always up from her naps first. The other day I put Elsa down for her nap about 45 minutes earlier than the other two because she was just too grumpy. So, of course, she woke up earlier than them. While I was cleaning up the kitchen I heard this, “HI!” and then a second later I heard another “HI!”. I ran upstairs and found that Elsa had gone into Violets room and woke her up, and then she moved to Preston’s room and woke him up. They were both standing up in their cribs clutching their blankets looking at me with these sleepy groggy eyes. I grabbed Elsa and ran downstairs and had myself a little cry. This happened on Tuesday, the only day I don’t have any help; the day I really need them all to take a good nap. Despite my efforts, nobody continued sleeping. We all survived and I learned to always close the gate leading upstairs after I get Elsa up from her nap.

I continue to work hard at getting the triplets to do things for themselves - we are working toward self sufficiency each day. Ava is pretty good as she is able to get herself dressed, get her own drinks, wipe her own bottom, etc. I am in the process of transitioning her to a shower where she can soap her own body and wash her hair. Then we will work on her combing her own hair - oh that will be the day.

The babies are starting to try to put their own socks and shoes on. I got the potty seat out from under the house because I am going to try to get them potty trained ASAP. They are very interested in watching me go potty so maybe that means they want to try also. They are doing a great job eating with spoons and forks like big people. I try to always walk to and from the car holding their hands instead of carrying them so they learn that they must hold my hand and they have to walk with me until we get to our destination. We are setting up a pack n play in our dining room for time outs for them. I guess they aren't babies anymore so they need to have consequences for naughty behavior like biting their brother on his cheek and leaving him with a vampire like mark, or hitting each other over the head with hard objects.

Raising triplets is a lot of fun and also a huge game of strategy. It is constantly thinking and rethinking how we are doing things and if we are using techniques that will create an easier life for our family as well as kids. How soon can we get them to know what is expected of them and how to act appropriately in public. I don't expect perfect kids, but I do expect that they follow the rules so I don't have to end up institutionalized.

Until next time, the mothership is signing off.

The Amazing Race

2009-10-20T22:00:00.000-07:00

TEAM TREVOR!!!!!!

Angela and Bob the day before the race at the Nike Expo

Chris pointing to his name on the wall of runners outside of Nike

Chris's ultra organized almost to the point of anal, stuff

he needed for the marathon the next day

Team Trevor marathoners before the race began. Bob

is wearing the King outfit Angela got him because he received

his triple crown after this race.

Ed looking so strong he turned around and ran back toward us

for a picture

Chris and Kathy

Bob looking good at mile 10

The cheering squad Chris at mile 15

Chris coming across the finish line. The announcers always

announced when Team Trevor was coming across so I was able to get

pictures

Chris and Bob at the finish line

Chris giving Peck a hug of gratitude after the finish

Angela giving an emotional Chris a squeeze at the end of the race

Bob, Chris and Ed just after Chris finished the race

Almost a week later I am finally taking at moment at naptime on Friday to write our experiences from the San Francisco Nike Women’s Marathon.

I will begin by explaining what Chris and I got out of the marathon: I received a beautiful Tiffany necklace that finishers of the marathon received (assuming most of them are women, the necklace is a fitting finishing gift), while Chris got Rhabdomyolysis.

I am enjoying my necklace right now, wearing it proudly as a person who has never and will never run a marathon, but did a fantastic job as a spectator on Sunday. Chris is slowly recovery from his condition. Rhabdomyolysis is the breakdown of muscle tissue. When this happens there is a release of toxins in the bloodstream caused by muscle trauma or strenuous exercise, such as a marathon. In healthy people, the kidneys filter out the toxins and with tons of hydration the body just heals itself. In unhealthy people, Rhabdomyolysis can cause kidney damage. Luckily Chris falls into the healthy person category.

Chris is insisting that I mention that other than the Rhabdomyolysis, he also got a tremendous sense of accomplishment and a real emotional connection to those people fighting blood cancer, or who have lost someone they love to blood cancer.

So, I will condense a very interesting experience for me, with many stories to tell, into an abbreviated tale with just the most important points covered.

We woke up at 5:30am Sunday morning and Chris geared up like he was someone going out for battle. We realized late how accurate this analogy actually is. He had layers of clothes, gu galore (the energy gu runners consume during the race), iPod, electrolyte supplements, racing bib, Garmin GPS watch, and his belt ‘o waters. We got out there in the dark and the energy was amazing. Tens of thousands of people filled the streets and lined the sidewalks waiting for the race to begin. There were so many people in the race that it took Chris, Bob and Ed 10 minutes to cross the start line after the starting gun was fired . After they passed us at the starting line Angela, Heidi and I got ourselves a Starbucks and headed out for a morning of spectating and cheering.

I didn’t realize ahead of time that I was on this journey with the “super spectator” or I like to cal her the “spectator nazi”, my dear friend Angela. I was the driver and Angela and Heidi led us to the next place to get out and cheer the boys on. Angela had her map that outlined at which mile they would be at approximately what time and we would drive like maniacs around the city, find a park and run to the spot and watch for them to come by. We had our Team Trevor banner that we held up at each spot and I quickly realized how important this must be and how much it means to Bob and Angela to be at these races. Runners and walkers would come by and yell “go Team Trevor” at us and kiss Trevor’s face on the poster, which made me realize that these races really keep Trevor’s memory alive and well.

By the end of the race, we made it to the finish line and watched as each of the guys, who had gotten separated during the race, came across the finish line. Chris was in tears at the sheer difficulty and emotional achievement of the 26.2 mile run. There were difficult hills and times when Chris wasn’t sure he could go on but he had so much support along the way. Our neighbor and friend Kathy stuck with him up until the last 10 miles supporting him. Then another friend Peck stepped in the last 10 miles and kept him going all the way through to the finish line. Chris says he may not have finished the race without Peck supporting him that last ten miles. When Chris was having one of his lowest moments of the race, when he hit “the wall,” a woman ran by him and yelled “Team Trevor – woo hoo!” then turned around and ran back when she realized Chris was having a difficult time. She said “I want to tell you how much this means to me what you are doing. You are the real honoree of this race. Because I am a cancer survivor they always want me to speak at these events but I never do because I always feel like the real heroes are the people who are fighting for the cure and raising money and doing all they can to cure cancer. “ Chris was running along feeling like he was barely alive when this woman came along. Her name was Kelly and her boyfriend’s name was Op. They ran with Chris the rest of the six miles to the finish line. Ten minutes before crossing Chris said to Op, “tell me about your name Op” and he said, it is short for Optimism. Chris finished in 5 hours.

It was a very amazing weekend with lots of new experiences for Chris and I. I would like to thank Angela, the spectator nazi, for making this last weekend amazing for everyone, especially our running husbands. Thanks for the cool hats and all of the organization on race day. Trevor is proud of his parents for sure. I am proud of Chris for raising more than $6,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and for persevering through the pain and finishing the race.

Until next time, the mothership is signing off.

Marathon

2009-10-17T16:23:00.001-07:00

We are in San Francisco preparing to go out to the big pasta feed Team and Training puts on before the big Nike Women's Marathon tomorrow. We have dispersed our kids among the grandparents and I do miss them already. I need a break but I don't want to be away from them at the same time. We drove down to the city bright and early with Bob and Angela and then cruised over to the Marathon Expo at Union Square donning our very cool purple hats with the "Get Swabbed" pins all over them that Angela put a lot of hard work into making last night. It has never crossed my mind to run a marathon and I am quite sure it won't ever cross my mind, but I have enjoyed being a spectator and feeling the energy of the participants all around for the few hours I have been here. Tomorrow Angela, Heidi (also a neighbor and friend) and I will be marathon chasers, trying to find our husbands as they make their way through San Francisco.

Chris and I had a nice café lunch with our old pals Nicola and Paul in Union Square and then we hooked up with our other college friend Michele who happened to be in the city with a girlfriend. It was a mini-reunion and a great way to start off our marathon weekend.

On the kid front, Ava has found a new passion for soccer. She won all ten team sprints to the ball in a row at her last practice, going undefeated. In addition to blossoming in soccer, Ava has decided that she is going to start trying to read and write on her own. We will be driving in the car and she will say, "S-T-O-P spells stop and I didn't even see a stop sign." Last night she handed me a fire safety poster that was supposed to be colored and instead she had spelled words written all over it such as "my emergency" which was random and spelled phonetically. Then she filled the entire paper up with different phrases and words that she had done by herself. The mothership was proud.

The babies are blossoming in their own ways. Preston hits his sisters over the head with plastic pots and pans. Yesterday he chose the big plastic singing Elmo to bash atop Violet's head and she was not happy. Elsa walks around all day trying to find jewelry and shoes to put on. She is a girl through and through; very sweet and capable of manipulating people with her adorable face and friendly personality. Violet is very independent and easy to take care of. She eats the food she is given, she plays by herself or with Ava and she has a wonderful sense of humor. Violet is always ready for a good time with her brother and sister's and her laugh is infectious.

Although their clinginess is overwhelming and irritating sometimes, I miss those little monkeys when I am not with them.

I will update after Chris, Bob and Ed run their race. Run boys run! And yeah to Team Trevor for raising close to $23,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma society.

Ava-ism:

Ava says to Chris as he is putting her to bed "daddy are you running in the half marathon tomorrow?" Chris told her that he was running in the half marathon but that he was nervous because his knee hurt. Ava said, "why don't you try running differently?" Chris asked Ava what she meant. Ava said, "try running on the front of your feet, you know, like on your toes more." During the half marathon Chris says that he saw a lot of good runners running on the front of their feet. . . on their toes.

A word Ava made up, "that car is hunormous".

Until next time, the mothership is signing off.

Triplet Cling-Ons

2009-10-07T19:39:00.000-07:00

Gigi and Elsie hanging out

The little men sitting and watching a little Baby Einstein together

Ava and all her siblings

. . . adoring Ava and everything she has to show them

Little Vee Vee enjoying her morning cuppa milk

Poser Preston

Elsa is kicked back in her special chair for her morning milk

Elsa climbed up into Ava's lap for a snuggle and Ava was so happy

Look at these red heads on the field. They both look so enthusiastic

about the game

Ava dribbling. We are always happy when she isn't

playing with grass or twiddling her hair during a game

It is Thursday night at 8:30pm and I am steaming a 16 oz. box of spinach batch by batch in order to make tofu nuggets for my kids for lunches over the next month. I make huge amounts and freeze some of them for later. I have to wonder what my life has come to as I am making tofu nuggets on a Thursday night. I am not impressed with myself but I do feel like at least I will be providing some healthy snacks for my kids which makes me feel somewhat satisfied.

Well, 19 months is not, I repeat, is not my favorite age. This stage with triplets is much harder than the infant stage for sure. My kids doctor told me today that 19 months -- the slide into the big "terrible twos" stage can be the worst of them all. The tantrums, the slamming doors repeatedly now that they learned how to do so, the slamming the toilet lids (yes, I know I need to do some additional childproofing), the refusing my dinners rudely by screaming crying and throwing their food across the room. The worst part of it all is that they have become unbearably clingy to me. Today when I got home I wanted so badly to just sit in the car and stare at the windshield, or maybe read the mail on the floor of my car; anything but go into my house where I would surely be attacked by triplets. The urge to be a good mom always wins over my urge to run away, thankfully for my kids.

Preston has always been a momma's boy, which I have felt was sweet and endearing up until now. Now he whines and cries and clings to my leg and has me walk around the house with his whole self attached to my leg. If I am holding him and another baby approaches he thrashes his body around and cries out and tries to hit his sisters to keep them away from me. I told my doctor today that I don't think Preston wanted to be a triplet. Preston would have been very happy and good as a single baby boy.

Elsa tends to act like a cling-on like her brother, while Violet is very independent and likes to sit herself down at a task and work it out. Violet sees the other two going crazy all over me and it is like she decides she isn't even going to bother. For that, I love her even more. Plus, Violet has her special relationship with Ava and they hang out and play a lot of the time. It is very sweet.

So, in light of my very hectic and complicated life, I have decided to take measures to make things more convenient at least. I have decided NOT to drive the 30 minutes each way to take Violet to speech therapy, but instead pay the out of network cost to have a very nice speech therapist in my area drive to my house and do her visits with Violet. And instead of driving 25 minutes to My Gym with the babies I stopped my membership there and we just started going to Tumble Time Gymnastics about 5 minutes away from my house.

The kids dropped their morning nap so we have one nap a day now which has also been a big adjustment for us all. It does give us the freedom to go out and play each morning but it also is a lot more work with half the naps during the day now - lots more entertaining.

Ava got her first Progress Report home and she exceeded all of the standards of what she needed to know at her stage in Kindergarten. It kind of makes up for all the grief she has given us over the years. The good report card: we have that going for us, which is nice.

Chris ran the Cowtown Half Marathon last weekend and Ava, Violet and I surprised him at the finish line. He did fantastic, running it in 2 hours! We are off to San Francisco for the full marathon on October 18th, which should be very exciting.

I am finding it very hard to muster up the energy to write this blog during this busy time in my life but I am determined to carry on. It makes me feel like I am actually doing something for myself and it will also be a great gift to my kids one day, even though they may not appreciate everything I have to say about them.

Until next time, the mothership is signing off.

The Dismantling of a Guest Room

2009-09-25T21:56:00.001-07:00

We load up the car for a couple hours at Cameron Park Lake Free spirited Violet

Wacky wet Ava

Super poser Ava Roser

Preston doing his best grumpy old Jewish man impersonation

Remember #4 of the last blog entry in my "top 10 reasons life is getting crazy in the Woolsey household" about the fact that the girls learned to climb on the bed and may end up killing themselves? Well, a few days ago I was putting away clothes in Ava's bedroom when I heard Elsa crying hard. I walked into the guest bedroom and Ava was trying to console Elsa and Elsa was so upset. I asked Ava what happened but I cannot rely on her information much more than "she fell off the bed" because Ava was afraid she would be blamed for the incident so she would be willing to tell just about any lie to cover her ass. So, I picked Elsa up and cuddled her but she cried for about an hour. Chris tried rocking her and I tried holding her downstairs in a new environment. We eventually realized that she wasn't using her right arm at all. We tried putting a binkie in her hand and she would just drop it. Of course we thought she probably broke it. We put her to bed with some Motrin and rubbed her back until she was almost asleep. I worried about her rolling over on her arm and screaming in pain, but that little girl slept all the way until 7am without a peep. The next day I got the first appointment for the doctor. Ava insisted on going with me because the doctor's office is one of her favorite places to be. The doctor took Elsa's arm and wiggled it all around while Elsa screamed in pain. He told me he thought her elbow was out of the socket but he may have just heard it pop back in but we still had to go get x-rays. At the end of the day, the x-rays showed no damage – no broken bones or joints out of their socket – just a healthy little arm that escaped serious injury this time. Chris took down the guest bed that day. And so begins the dismantling of the guest bedroom

I can't help but to mourn the loss of my guest bedroom a little. I took great care and interest to create a comfortable and attractive guest room with Van Gogh and Degas prints and little touches of France throughout. The guest room was always a beautiful room to me because it is very spacious and has nice views (including the snow capped Sierra in the winter) and its own bathroom. I feel that my house is slowly turning into a children's play center, one room at a time. First it was the billiard room complete with beautiful billiard table and accompanying artwork, later turned playroom. Now that I didn't mind because no one ever really played pool and it was a big waste of space. As a playroom it may not be as attractive but it certainly is functional. Now my beautiful French style guest bedroom is being torn apart to become yet another kid area of the home. My beautiful comforter packed up and vacuum sealed, my random antique night stand now sits homeless and alone in the other corner of the room, the bed frame disassembled to go under the house, the box spring lying against the armoire, and the mattress is lying on the ground being physically abused by four small children at every opportunity. We moved Elsa's crib back in there because as much as I would like them to all sleep together in one room, I think the dynamics work better when Elsa has her own room. Let's face it, everyone gets to sleep a little longer and getting a good sleep takes a high ranking in my top 5 most important things in life. The kids and their toys have fully taken over the upstairs and part of the downstairs. Can I write off most of my house at tax season and call it a preschool or day care center? I guess not since they are my small creatures and not someone else's.

I am having a hard time giving up the babies' morning nap. I put them down at 9am this morning and by 10am I went to check on everyone and they were all just sitting up there in their cribs messing around. I brought them down and implemented plan B which was two babies on a walk with Laura and one baby to Costco with me. Ava was on a field trip to the zoo. So afternoon naps it is. It was a nice long run with the two naps a day but I guess it is time for the babies and I to give them up. We are getting older now and they don't need as much daytime sleep and I need to get a morning routine so we aren't all bored every morning at home. If anyone has any fun and interesting ideas or activities for three toddlers, please comment on it. Our current list of activities are as follows: park play requiring two adults namely nanny Laura or Kathy and myself in which kids throw bark and then laugh hysterically followed by risking their lives atop the play structure nearly falling out of every open area at the very top concluding with swinging and then home; the Costco trip requiring two adults to push three kids in two carts wherein lots of samples are consumed and many "triplets" commentary are tolerated; the toy store rampage – this one is where I take the kids by myself to a toy store and let them run wild crashing carts into displays and touching every toy they can find while I chase them around picking up toys and making sure they don't leave the store or bother other patrons; take the kids to the Roseville Galleria where there are indoor play structure that the kids play and we have one adult on the inside managing the kids and one adult at the exit so we don't have to find one of our kids wandering through Sears again.

In other news, I made four home cooked meals this week. I cooked, cleaned and took care of my kids, and that is a very full life. I am truly a homemaker. I really need to find a hobby.

Until next time, the mothership is signing off.

Crazy Times List

2009-09-16T22:08:00.001-07:00

Things are getting crazy around here. Here is a list of the top 10 reasons why:

Ava has a boyfriend at Kindergarten. He is quite a gentleman my sources tell me. They may or may not get married; only time will tell.
Elsa and Preston hate each other right now. Elsa has a signature squawk that makes Preston so very angry.
The babies are fighting over everything. They pull hair, bite and hit each other over the head with hard objects. It is madness.
The baby girls have learned how to climb up onto the bed. They get up there and it is party central. Add Ava to the mix and it is just pure danger. Preston stands at the bottom of the bed and grunts hoping someone will throw him a bone and help him up but his sisters just ignore him. Tonight, in an effort to keep my children from killing themselves on the bed, I took a mattress out of one of the cribs and let them jump and play on that. They still got hurt.
Violet invented the new Olympic sport of climbing up onto the top of the Lego table and catapulting herself off in the hopes that I am below to catch her. Sometimes I am there to catch her, sometimes I am not. A few days ago I was body slammed from the left by a flying Violet. Now Elsa is doing it also. Preston just plays with his pink vacuum.
Ava is pouring her own beverages.
Elsa is going on day #3 of not wanting me to put her down. . . ever. I am to hold her nonstop during her waking hours. HELLO! You are a triplet.
Nobody wants to be put in their car seat or the stroller. I get the arched back, screaming hysteria if I attempt to do so. I have to pin them down and attempt to hook them while they flail their limbs and try and push themselves out.
Ava enjoys using the word crap – the other day in the hot tub she proclaimed that she "can't get through the crap of babies."
In order to free myself from the madness for 20 minutes while I cook dinner I put on a Baby Einstein. I say, "who wants to watch a Baby Eistein?" and they all stampede into the family room and stand in front of the TV. Then I position them nicely on the couch and they squeal with joy as the cute caterpillar comes on before the show starts. They watch it for 5 minutes and then they wander into the kitchen to see what I am doing and there goes my 20 free minutes.

With that said, they are excellent kids. They are just 18 months old now and they are exploring everything and voicing their opinions constantly. One 18 month old is challenging and three is, well, just crazy.

Until next time, the mothership is signing off.

Simplify

2009-09-13T20:27:00.001-07:00

I had the most amazing dream last night - at least it felt amazing while I was dreaming it. I know that hearing about other people's dreams are boring but this is my blog so I have to write my moments down. I was in this small town in Germany that had a name that I probably made up but now I can't remember it. I was enjoying a glass of wine at one of those long wooden community tables that is so common in Germany. I ran across a man who was German but speaking in a perfect English dialect and he told me that he had singlehandedly eliminated religious extremism in Germany and I told him that we need him over in America. Random. But perhaps this part of my dream stems from the fact that so many schools are banning Obama's speech about staying in school and working hard – even my school that I attended from Kindergarten through 8^th grade has banned it from being played. Next in my dream I went on this pleasant walk down a wooded path all by myself. I took in the air and the trees and enjoyed just hearing my feet crunch the earth below. Next thing I knew I came upon this adorable little village with cobblestone streets and small white buildings with quaint storefronts. I walked into one of the shops and it was filled with beautiful things – elegant night gowns, antique household items, fragrant soaps. I stood in the middle of the store and just looked around. I remember feeling at peace in my dream just enjoying some stress free moments in a foreign country. And then I heard a little voice . . . mommy, can I have my warm apple cider? Then I wasn't in Germany any more. I was in my bedroom being woken by my five year old daughter who demands things from me all day. I just hoped that before Chris left on his 18 – yes 18 mile run -- that he prepared it for Ava and I could get a few more minutes in bed. And he did.

My life feels very full right now; a little too full I must say. My life is busier and more complicated than it has ever been and I think it is just going to get busier and more complicated before it is all over. Violet's speech therapy and physical therapy are starting this next week and I have to drive deep into Folsom (25 minutes each way) to get to these appointments between naps and picking and dropping Ava off to Kindergarten and all the other things that life brings my way. Violet has had one speech therapy appointment and she did a great job. She still isn't really saying any words other than mommamommamomma but I can tell that she will come a long way with therapy because she is smart and determined. The therapist was adamant that red heads are stubborn beyond belief but they are smart and they do well. Within five minutes with Violet, she had determined that Violet fit this mold.

Ava had her first soccer game on Saturday which we had to bend over backwards to get her to. Chris ran his 18 miles and then had to do some business down in Sacramento. I had all the kids by myself. I had to call in my dad to come and stay with the babies so I could take Ava to this soccer game. It was a pathetic display. Let's just say soccer is not Ava's best game, and it wasn't my proudest moment as the mothership watching Ava "play" in this game. Ava's soccer practices have been a test of Chris's patience every Monday night so I was prepared for a mediocre display of soccer playing by Ava. We got to the soccer game and Ava immediately turned in to mopey Ava. She had a frown on her face and no matter how enthusiastic and encouraging I was, it wasn't going to make Ava like the game of soccer. First of all, the team has to do a quiet cheer especially designed for Ava who cannot tolerate loud cheers for some reason. Then the coach generously started Ava in the game and Ava meandered out to the field, fiddled with some grass that was in her hands at the time, and when she got into her first little scuffle with the ball and the other players, she began to cry. The coach took her out, I stopped my videotape rolling and tried to muster up all the patience within me to ask her why she was crying and if she wanted another shot in the game. Then it began to rain the most enormous rain drops and I stood in the rain and watched Ava mope around the field completely uninterested in the sport of soccer. The only time I ever saw Ava light up was when the game was over and snacks were served. I only have about 10 more games of this. I want to quit.

In other news, happy 1^st birthday to my cute nephew Ronin! We had a birthday party for him and he got presents, the company and friends, and of course, cake. What could be better really?

I yearn for simplification in my life that I most certainly do not have, but I am sure I am on this path for a reason. I am supposed to be here on this rocky path headed to the unknown. I must admit that sometimes I want to veer off the path and run for the hills, but this family is a team and we all need each other equally. So I will stay the course and see where this path leads me and hope that it is Hawaii. Okay, so it may not be Hawaii but perhaps it could end up somewhere peaceful and happy and maybe a little more simple.

Until next time, the mothership is signing off.

New Suicide-Inducing Schedule

2009-09-06T21:42:00.000-07:00

After watching the movie Julie and Julia one week ago today I had such good intentions to do my blog writing more often in a week and to cook more delicious meals for my family. Instead, I seem to be stuck just writing my once a week blog because this is what my life dictates that I do. I cannot possibly find the time or the subject matter to fill more than one blog a week at this point, and that is just fine. The cooking on the other hand is a disappointment. I discovered in a week that I think I only cooked two home cooked meals. Ava eats almost nothing I prepare for dinner, as I have previously blogged ("oh mom, we're having this!" in her most disgusted voice) and the babies have taken to throwing more food on the ground than in their mouths. Sometimes I even get the fake out - I'm going to throw it on the ground hand gesture to the ground motion. . . no, I am going to eat it hand gesture to the mouth. . . just kidding, I am going to really throw it on the ground with food flying in all directions. I have found food on my blinds and all over my walls. My point being I feel that my cooking is underappreciated and sometimes I wonder if it is at all worth my time. But Ava hating dinner and the babies throwing food is merely an excuse not to take the time -- oh so much time - to plan, shop and prepare meals. On Friday night Chris had cereal and I had popcorn for dinner. Pathetic.

Anyway, I have been seriously strugging with some changes from my year long routine that I have come to cherish more than I knew until it was gone. Ava is no longer out of the house and in school in the mornings, but instead she is in school in the afternoons. Preston has decided against the morning nap which usually puts all the babies back in bed by 8:30 or 9am until around 11am. Last year this gave me a whopping 2 hours of alone time to catch up on housework, read, write my blog, get myself a mocha or just do whatever I pleased in the morning hours. Now I find myself the morning entertainment for Ava who is certifiably high maintenance and Preston who is high maintenance only on account of the fact that he is only 18 months old. My nannies don't come until 10am and that is a long stretch of rigorous activity from the time we are up at 6:30am until relief arrives. Just before I was about to either run away or end it all, Chris came up with a simple solution: shift the nanny to earlier the morning and leaving earlier in the day. Superb. He saw that the mothership was about to sink and he figured out a way to bucket the water out just in the nick of time. The new plan goes into effect this coming week and I am currently working on a new schedule to occupy the kids in the awake hours throughout the day.

I have posted below some pictures from Ava's 5th birthday party at Cake Stuff today. Ava and her friends decorated cookies to take home with them and then they had ice cream sundaes. Ava had lots of fun and so did her friends. Ava's real birthday is on Tuesday and although she doesn't care much about asking for presents or what she is getting for presents on her birthday, she did want to make sure that I had the house decorated with a Happy Birthday banner ON her ACTUAL birthday and that I had birthday cake.

I would like to note that there is a picture of the back of Preston's head because what the &%$# is up with that weird frizz head? And then the random picture of Violet is there to display what her hair is becoming . . . more mullet folks. Chris stated tonight she could possibly win the bad hair of the year award with her persistently thick shaggy mullet. I hereby refuse to cut either one of these heads of hair because I am curious as to what these strange heads of hair are going to amount to month to month. The color, lovely. The texture, frizzy. The style, manely atrocious.

The birthday girl and the chosen one just moments before departure Ronin enjoying the partay
Ava very much enjoying her sundae

The girls are decorating

Pirate/chef Cole and his lovely apprentice

A true cookie decorator isn't afraid to get her hands messy

My girlfriends

Ava showing off her work to Auntie

Elsa puts on her bakers hat

Ava-ism:

I asked Ava why she thinks it's okay to not tell the truth. Ava said "because I keep forgetting to put my thinking into my memory." Chris texted me this Ava-ism after she said this on the way to soccer practice last Monday. If you ever tell a lie, you may want to refer to this Ava-ism because it worked rather well for Ava.

Blogging and Cooking

2009-08-30T20:40:00.000-07:00

Tonight I went out to dinner with my good friends to see Julie and Julia, which by the way, is a fantastic movie. It was an inspiration for me because it was really about writing/blogging (Julie Powell) and cooking (Julia Child), two of my favorite things to do in life. I have a hard time these days finding all the time I want to do a good job cooking or writing as much as I want to. I made a decision before I saw the movie tonight that I would write less words more often, rather than trying to cram one or two weeks worth of thoughts and events into one blog entry which gets to be overwhelming and dauting to me at times. Seeing the movie tonight just inspired me to do more writing and cooking and that your goals and ambitions in life are so reachable if you really want them to be yours.

Julia Child once said "find something you're passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it.” I think this is really a recipe for success and this is what got Julia's cookbook Mastering The Art of French Cooking came to be published after many long years of writing and trying to get it published.

I came home from the movie and had to check out Julie's blog, being a fellow blogger myself (http://juliepowell.blogspot.com/) which seemed kind of just like a normal person like you or I writing her thoughts about everyday events and things happening in her life and her political and other opinions. She is famous with her blog because she had a fresh original idea that people connected to and followed day after day. I do admire that.

At one point during all her blogging, Julie thought "who is reading my blog out there in the world?" So she asked if anyone was reading what she had to say and she received comments. I know some of you who are reading my blog, but not all I am sure. If you are out there reading this, give me a shout out in my comments section at the very bottom of each post so I know who you are.

We had a fun barbecue at Bob and Angela's over the weekend. The kids LOVE the pool. Violet is already jumping from the side of the pool and going all the way under. She absolutely loves the water and throws one of her adorable tantrums when we get her out.

Note two blog changes:

--Check out the updated "Trip Tips" - lessons learned in triplet rearing or just child rearing in general.

-- Sign up to be automatically sent my blog (on the top right side of the page) when I update it and that way I don't have to bulk email you anymore. Your email will only be used to get updates on my blogs and will not be sold for mass marketing email campaigns, rest assured.

If I were Julia Child I would say ""This is Julia Child. Bon appétit!".

But I am the mothership so I say . . .

Until next time, the mothership is signing off.

A Weekend Down Memory Lane

2009-08-26T09:19:00.001-07:00

Last weekend Ava, Chris and I took a wonderful trip to San Diego. It was a trip we took for Chris's work called "Home Team" which basically is a team building, no work all fun trip with kid attendance optional. Ava has heard a lot about San Diego over the years since Chris goes there for work from time to time and she knows that mommy and daddy lived there once upon a time before she was born.

I haven't been back to San Diego since I was five months pregnant with Ava. I have to admit that I have been hesitant to go back since I have so many fond memories of living there for eight years and I didn't want to suffer too much from nostalgia. San Diego is such a wonderful place of beauty and an irresistable ocean. Chris and I bought our first home there in Carlsbad - a charming three bedroom home only miles from the beach. One day when I was working Chris called me up and said "Megan! I can see the ocean from our balcony! We have an ocean view." We were both so excited to be able to enjoy that stretch of ocean from a distance when you were standing just right on our balcony on a perfectly clear day. Back then I worked for a "luxury lifestyle" magazine out of La Jolla, Del Mar and Rancho Santa Fe, which gave me my own freelance writing schedule as well as access to the most beautiful homes, people and events around. I once had breakfast with Audrey Geisel, wife to the famous Dr. Suess, a sophisticated lady who taught me that coffee really is better when the cream is heated up just so. Another time I got a private tour from the owner of a $40 million home in Rancho Santa Fe. The owner's EX husband was a surgeon and the inventor of a heart tansplant device. I would get free spa treatments for including the companies in my articles, rides in Aston Martin's and attend high class fashion shows. Oh, it was the life. Life was so simple then, and when I think back on my San Diego days, it brings me a smile.

So, going back to San Diego was very special to me. My life is so stressful and busy these days and I wasn't in the best mood the morning Ava and I left to meet Chris. We made the drive from the airport up to the Four Seasons Aviara and the minute I stepped out of our car on to the grounds of the resort I breathed in a deep breath and was filled with some happiness that I knew I needed. Ava and I dropped off our stuff in the beautiful room and headed down to the very fancy California Bistro in the hotel and sat outside to have our lunch. I ordered not one, but two fruity cocktails. I told the kind waitress to bring me something fruity with vodka in it. I enjoyed a steak sandwhich while Ava munched on her chicken tenders and drank her smoothie. We just sat there and took our time cherishing each and every bite while we breathed in the fresh San Diego air. I kept my nostalgia at bay.

Our lunch spot on the balcony

It was just a magical weekend. The babies were at home being cared for by the domestics from Southern California so I didn't have to worry about them and I could relax and spend quality time with Chris and Ava. The Four Seasons Aviara is so amazing because of how kid friendly it is. They have a playground, a kid pool and jacuzzi and an arcade. When we went down for breakfast each morning the servers provided princess silverware and special cups. Breakfast was free for kids under 5 which I thought was a pretty awesome deal.

That night after a good long swim in the pool we went to an old favorite place on the beach in Carlsbad called Harbor Fish. It is this hole in the wall outdoor fish n chips and fish tacos joint. Chris's entire work team was there with all of their kids and I must say that they were collectively the most beautiful bunch of kids I have ever seen sitting at one table together. They were well behaved as they colored and ate their dinners. It was a peaceful evening.
The next day we went to the Wild Animal Park which I highly recommend. Ava was a little tired from her partying the night before but I still think it was worth it for everyone. We took a tram through the property to see the gazelle and giraffe, zebras and rhinocerosis. We even got to see a baby Carabou being born - the feet dangled out of the momma as she trotted around the perimeter of the fence looking very stressed and intruded upon during what was supposed to be a private moment. Ava slept in the car for the next 1 1/2 hours while Chris and I drove around Carlsbad reflecting back on the old days. We drove by our first home and I peeked over the fence and admired all of the landscaping that Chris and I slaved to complete every weekend. I felt the cool breeze coming up from the ocean that we would enjoy year round - I especially thought of that since I had a $600 electric bill waiting for me at home for all the air conditioning necessary to keep our house at 80 degrees for one month. Sigh.

When we got back to the hotel I snuck down to the tranquility pool that plays relaxing music under water. I layed on my back and floated and felt truly relaxed for the first time in awhile. As I floated a waft of marijuana floated past my nostrils. The roudy crowd in the Cabana to my right were partying hard. I went up to the hot tub and there were some rowdy adults up there as well. I thought to myself, the kid pool and spa consists of better behaved humans that the adult one I believe.

The Tranquility Pool

That night we went to our old favorite restaurant in Encinitas called Vigilucci's. It is seriously the best Italian food you may have outside of Italy. We had great wine and pasta dishes. Ava had a fantastic spaghetti with meatballs and then we enjoyed some Gelato and chocolate cake as the Italians do and headed down to the beach. It was a dark night and there was a glow on the waves from the lifeguard tower. Ava has been really timid around the ocean for several years. We haven't even been able to get her very close to the waves. I walked right out and stood in the low tide and let the water wash over my feet and legs. Ava saw this and recognized potential for adventure so she followed me in. For the next hour we ran along the beach and in and out of the waves. In the end, Ava and I were soaking wet and full of sand. Ava told us that she wanted to live at the beach. It was a very special night we will always remember.

Meanwhile back at home after our lovely little weekend vaca, Violet has been undergoing many an evaluation to see if she qualifies for in-home physical and speech therapy. Her gross motor skills are behind since she just started walking and has a little disability in her left leg (for now). Her speech is behind also. Cognitively she scores at a two year old level. This is great because this means that her brain is working well, but she just needs some therapy to smooth out her walking, strengthen her mid-section and some speech therapy to learn to say words. She will do very well with this early intervention.

With Kindergarten in full swing, there is a lot of juggling a new schedule for me. My head is spinning. I have to figure out things for Ava to do in the morning before school, and activities for her after school (otherwise she gets bored and drives us crazy) and then I have to figure out activities for the babies to get them out of the house and activities for them to stay stimulated in the house. I still work around two naps a day for the babies because they are great little sleepers. Some days, like today, when we load all the babies up and take them to the park, I wonder if it is all worth it. Are they getting a lot out of it or is it just a major amount of work for me? I got all their suits on and took them in the new fountains that spray water everywhere. They liked it for about five minutes and then they were over it, so I changed them all into regular clothes and took them over to the park section where they really just wanted to eat snacks and hook up their stroller straps more than play on the play structure. I was left feeling like I should've just put them in the backyard with a bunch of food and strollers and let them have at it. Seriously. If I really wanted to accommodate each of the babies' needs I would line up the booster chairs for Elsa to hook up, gather a bunch of books for Violet to read by herself (she would rather read by herself than be read to right now) and turn the hose on a wee bit or get the pink vacuum out for Preston and call it a day. Oh, if life were that simple for me.

Until next time, the mothership is signing off.

Kindergarten

2009-08-17T19:29:00.000-07:00

I could not sleep last night. My tolerance for ultra depressing movies has wained since having my own kids. The movie was called Boy, Interrupted and it was a documentary about a 15-year old boy who committed suicide. It was particularly haunting because the movie was done by this boy's mother and father who are filmmakers and took us on a journey of this boy's intense suffering with bipolar depression. This boy talked very matter of fact from a very early age about how he wanted to kill himself and he eventually succeeded at the very young age of 15. As a mom I cannot even begin to imagine the suffering this family went through trying to manage this boy's depression and keep him from harming himself. I just kept thinking about my kids and worrying about them and wishing that they never suffer like this kid suffered. It was a good documentary though, even if it did keep me up way past my bedtime.

Today Ava started Kindergarten and we were all very excited. She took a nice long bath, got her pretty dress on and then I fixed her hair in a braid. I have been waiting for this day for a long time; Ava is ready for Kindergarten and I am ready for her to go also. Auntie and Ronin came to send Ava off and wish her a fun first day as a big Kindergartner. As ready as I was, the strangest thing happened to me after Chris and I dropped her off. As we peaked through the window I saw Ava quietly reading her book on the ground and I became overwhelmed with emotions. I felt my eyes start to water and then my mom came to greet Ava and I burst into tears. My mom held me like I was a baby as I sobbed. I honestly would've never in a million years thought I would have been one of those moms who cries when they drop their kid off at their first day of school. In fact, I scoffed at those moms in years past, joking that I was going to party and celebrate the day I dropped Ava off for Kindergarten. I guess I just felt like where the hell did those five years go and that elementary school is such a big milestone for my baby. My mom consoled me and told me that she did the same thing when she dropped me off for my first day of Kindergarten.

Chris captured the pathetic display on camera for all of us to remember forever; the day that Ava did just fine on her first day of Kindergarten but I didn't. As Ava would say, hmff.

The babies are doing so great. They are such a pleasure. We took all of the kids to the mall yesterday because on hot days it is a great place to let the kids run loose in the two play areas they have built. There is also a merry go round at the mall, and for the bargain of $12 all the kids get a one minute whirl around in a circle on the animal of their choice. I decided that it looked pretty fun and instead of standing by the kids holding them on their horse, I would hop on the tiger and catch myself a fun ride. That lasted for half a rotation before the 16 year old merry go round attendant scolded me and told me to get off the ride and make sure my children do not fall off their animals. Hmff again. Can't a mom get a cheap thrill once in awhile I ask?

So the babies let lose in these little play areas that are made entirely of rubber. It is really

good for them because they climb up rubber mountains and slide down and run around free bumping into all the other little kids playing also. For some reason all the other kids were very interested in groping the babies this day. These boys were coming up to them and rubbing their heads and faces and interfering in their personal space. Well, this was just not acceptable to big sister Ava, the intimidator (not a word). She would literally see these kids groping one of the babies and walk up and stand over them with her hands on her hips and a scowl on her face. It scared me. At one point I told one of the kids he better just back away because he doesn't want to tangle with the crazy red head. I must say it does give me piece of mind to see Ava watching over the babies and protecting them. At one point she said, "mom, Elsa!" as Elsa was making her way out of the play area and into Sears. It is difficult watching four kids at the same time. We lost track of Elsa at one point in the day and I saw that she had climbed up on a bench and was enjoying the ice from some body's cup that they left behind. Gross. Chris and I didn't mention or want to talk about that again. . . ever.

There is more to say but because I am exhausted from subjecting myself to depressing television viewing rendering me unable to sleep for a long time, I must adjourn to bed.

Until next time, the mothership is signing off.

We'll Always Have Paris

2009-08-08T20:36:00.000-07:00

Unexpected Pleasures of Paris:

Lemons in every coke
Warm nights
French Onion soup (I despise onions)
Beautifully dressed Parisians – I knew the men and women of Paris were fashionable, but I didn’t realize how they dressed up so impeccably during the day. It made me feel very lame and sloppy in my shorts and thongs.

Unexpected Displeasures of Paris:

Parisians are very abrasive (maybe not so unexpected)
Cab drivers have no idea where anything is in Paris. Hmmmm.
Everything is way too expensive
In mine and Chris's opinion, French food is not very good. I will give them the cheese, baguettes and sweets, but the meals themselves were not as tasty as home.

Our trip to Paris did not begin as I would’ve liked. We arrived to the airport in San Francisco three hours early and didn’t get our business class status upgrade on the leg from SF to Chicago (we had it confirmed from Chicago to Paris) which was disappointing but manageable. We boarded the plane that looked like it was built in 1920, an hour late and then the captain said there were mechanical issues and to stay tuned. An hour later, they sent us off the plane and told us they would let us know the status in a few hours. We just missed our connecting flight to Paris from Chicago. Chris, in Chris style, ran from the plane to the customer service desk where we were next in line. We had the United rep working furiously to find us a new flight. She got our ticket transferred over to Air France for a 3:30pm flight straight to Paris. She told us she know a guy down in baggage and is going to get him to pull some strings to go retrieve our bags from the hundreds of bags in the plane and move them over to Air France. She flirted and sweet talked him on the phone. I get the feeling there were some inappropriate comments and potential workplace sexual harassment directed toward our customer service lady, but ultimately, all was agreed. He would retrieve our bags and have them transferred. Or would he?

Day One: August 1st

When we arrived in Paris we waited for about an hour for each and every bag to come down that conveyer belt until there weren’t any bags left and we were the last men/women standing and waiting. We went to the lost bags area where a French man explained to us about ten different times what we should’ve done to possibly prevent this mess. At one point I snapped “where are our bags? How can you get our bags to us. We need our bags.” We filed a claim and walked out of the airport to find a very cute French lady holding a Takeda Cresset sign waiting to escort us to the Westin. She had been waiting for us since 6am. It was now 3pm. She was as happy to see us as we were to see her. We got into our car and silently (due to exhaustion) drive to our beautiful hotel in the ritzy Place Vendome. Place Vendome used to be the area filled with mansion back in the 1600s. Today, it is a place of fancy hotels (like the Ritz) and high priced shopping.

That night, on the recommendation of the snooty and unfriendly concierge staff, we headed to Barlotti for dinner. The food was delicious – it was the concierge’s second favorite Italian restaurant around, his first pick was closed for August vacation time. I have decided on this trip to document my food because food is such a memorable part of every trip and the details are usually left behind when you arrive home. So here is what we enjoyed at Barlotti’s:

Appetizer: Carpaccio Di Carcioti – thinly sliced artichoke with truffle oil, balsamic vinegar and shaved parmesan cheese
Dinner: Fusilla Al Gamderi – jumbo shrimp, sundried tomato, zucchini, smoked scampi and a touch of cream
Tagliolini Pomodoro E Basilico – pasta with fresh tomatoes and basil
Drinks:
1 limonade martini
3 glasses of red wine

Day Two: August 2nd

I told myself when I left for Paris that I would not bring my stresses from home with me on this glorious trip. When our luggage didn’t come for the second day in Paris, and we were forced to wear our dirty old airplane clothes yet again and miss the opening reception party thrown by Takeda, my stresses from home flew thousands of miles to meet me in Paris. Missing the opening reception party that Takeda throws which is always so much fun was so disappointing to me. Chris handled it better than me and it is his company and his people he knows so well. At past Cresset reward trips, I have found this opening reception parties to be very fancy and fun where you dress up and become acquainted with all the other people we know as well as new friends we may enjoy the city with.

I threw out some expletives and we headed out to dinner on our own in our grubby smelly clothes that we left home in. We dined at Bennett and it was only okay food, but very good wine. Here is our dining experience:

Appetizer: Bennett – mozzarella fritters with green salad
Chevre – goat cheese, lardoons, crusts salad
Entrée: Noix dest – Jacques au Curry, curry with scallops and basmati and Chris had a steak dish that was not very good
Wine: Bourgogne, BeaJolais Nuits-Saint George Frederick Maguien– 1 bottle

Day 3: August 3rd

On Monday morning at 2am our bags arrived at the hotel and they brought them right up to us. Our missing bags had become quite a saga around the hotel and everyone was on high alert for their arrival. A couple of Takeda women friends of ours had begun a campaign to collect clothes and shoes for me to wear if my bags did not arrive today. When the bags showed up at 2am, the thought of fresh and clean clothes for the next day made me feel giddy.

I woke up at 4:30am because my body is not adjusting well to the nine hour time change, and I decided I was sending my worries back home again. I ordered myself a nice French press coffee with real cream, a chocolate croissant and an egg from room service and at it while being serenaded by some French music I found on the television. Of course, when breakfast came I had a huge mound of chocolate croissants and baguettes, a mound of different toasts and two eggs instead of one that came to 90 euros. There is much that gets lost in translation here, and I will take responsibility since I have a total of three French words to my vocabulary.

While I was dining, Chris was running to the Eiffel Tower and back. That morning we had a tour of lle de la Cite, which is the island in the middle of the Seine River. This island is home to the famous Notre Dame as well as La Conciergerie, a royal palace later turned into a feared prison where Marie Antoinette, among others, were held in their cell before their beheading. I was so exhausted and the tour guide was so longwinded that I actually almost nodded off standing up a few times. The section of Paris was beautiful and the cathedral was a sight to see, but the tour guide was bland and I was tired. We headed back for a two-hour nap after that tour and were refreshed and ready for our evening.

We ended our evening in Paris with a dinner cruise on the Seine amidst the Paris lights. As we were boarded on the very elegant boat on a very beautiful warm late afternoon, we were greeted with champagne and hor de ourves. We went down and sat around tables and were served elegant courses of authentic French food while enjoying the sparkling Eiffel Tower as we floated by. I must say, the food was not very good this night. The John Dory fish preparation left little to be desired, but it didn’t matter because it was a special night.

Day 4: August 4, 2009

Today was the first day I was able to sleep past 4:30am. I felt like a new person when Chris came in the room and woke me up a little after 8am. We had a cooking class at 9am and I was so excited to experience that. I have to admit that compared to all the cuisines in the world, French food is not my favorite. I am particular about meat, and the French are not. They will eat any animal and they will eat any part of that animal, and that scares me a bit. Despite this, how fun it was to walk down this tiny Paris street and enter a courtyard where there are tall glass windows flanked in bright blue trim, no signage, and a very handsome French man greeting us and preparing us for our class. The mothership was pleased.

The cooking class was delightful. There were 20 of us prepared to get down and dirty in a kitchen surrounded by glass on all sides and filled with stainless steel tables and the mother of all stovetops. We chose a station with some friends and began chopping and dicing and peeling like the professionals. I discovered a new type of grater that does an excellent job of grating things like red pepper and tomatoes.

First we peeled and chopped vegetables for the Ratatouille, then we cooked them over the largest flame I had ever seen for the longest amount of time I have ever seen vegetables cook. We took cookie cutters to filo dough and created crisps. We whipped goat cheese for the top. It was beautiful Ratatouille. Next we de-boned sea bass fillets, covered them in tarragon leaves and folded them over to steam atop the stove. During this time, we brought crème and real vanilla beans to a boil for a custard and whipped egg whites and sugar for our floating island dessert.

Our menu at L’atelier des Chefs:
Starter:
Ratatouille: Provencal vegetables topped with crisp, sesame seed filo pastry and goat’s cheese honey emulsion, served with tapenade toasts
Main Course:
Steamed sea bass with tarragon, mousseline potatoes with horseradish and a crisp salad of apple and fennel
Dessert:
Foating island, custard

At the end of our preparations we sat down at a very long wooden table set beautifully for all 12 and enjoyed our work. Our lunch was accompanied by red and white wine and finished off with teas and coffees. Afterward, of course, I had to buy some of the unique sauces and tools used for the recipes . . . I just couldn’t resist. I love a good kitchen tool. The added bonus is that every time I get it out to use it in my kitchen, I will think of Paris.

That night, after an evening at Willie’s Wine Bar, I got sick. I spent the whole rest of the night and the next day in bed with some sort of stomach virus. At least I could be sick in peace.

Day 6: August 6
Our last day in Paris was a good one. I was mixed with disappointment that our wonderful trip was over but I knew it was time to get back to the kids. From the daily updates we were receiving, all the kids were doing great under grandparent and nanny care. We missed them terribly.

We started off the day with a trip to Musee de Orsay, the best museum I have ever been to. I had been there before when I was 23 backpacking through Europe. This time we had a tour guide to give us some of the cool history behind the artists, the building itself and the art.
The really special part was that night, the last night of the trip, when we got all dressed up and headed out to our gala. Chris’s company rented out the Palace of Versailles and we walked from our bus to the entrance on a red carpet with tourists taking our pictures. They were sure we all had to be someone famous if we were dressed so fancy walking on a red carpet. It was really funny. We had cocktails and appetizers in the back of the palace which was spectacular (pictures in the slideshow above). Then we headed in for an elegant sit down dinner. It was a great way to end our trip in Paris. I feel fortunate to have been able to go on this trip. I would like to thank Dick and Sherri, my parents, my sister and my nannies for helping us with the kids – without you, no trip.

The slide show is above. There are some cool shots of Paris that Chris took. Now back to the real world.

Until next time, the mothership is signing off.

Our Lovely Violet

2009-08-02T05:27:00.000-07:00

On February 1, 2008 I was admitted to the hospital at 30 weeks with contractions. After monitoring me they found that my contractions were making baby B’s heart rate go down to a dangerously slow pace. Baby B was Violet. The next day after I was admitted I was talking to my nurse on duty that day and she said that usually the baby is not affected by a heart rate drop unless it last for longer than three minutes. She told me as she was looking over the heart rate print out for Violet that she doesn’t think she experienced any drops that lasted that long. Oh, but wait, here is one, she exclaimed. Great, I thought. Violet may have some sort of brain damage or trauma over these contractions I was having the night before. I put that worrisome little tidbit out of my head as quickly as possible, but I did worry every waking hour about her in the hospital. I worried when they put the heart rate monitor on me that her heart rate would drop and they wouldn’t be able to get it back up again. But I never worried about the three minute heart rate drop and how it could’ve caused her damage in the womb again until now.

Recently, though, worries have been lurking in the back of my mind. My protective self-conscience kicked in and made me forget. Then about two months ago Chris was watching a special on a mom who had quadruplets, two set of identical twins that were four years old. The mom was explaining that one of the girls was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy (CP) and they showed how she exhibited some mild problems in walking and talking that required some therapy. They showed how she walked and had difficulties with certain coordination functions in walking and skipping and jumping. I had watched this special about a month before. When he was done he walked out to the kitchen and asked me if I thought it was possible that Violet had some mild CP. I said yes right away.

I didn’t know much about CP but what I did know seemed familiar to me when I watched Violet. Violet seemed to have a hard time with her left leg. Her feet were definitely turned in, but what concerned me extended beyond that. When she walked her left leg would swing in a circular fashion turning her whole body a little to the right. That seemed strange when I watched her. The other thing that concerned me was the fact that I know Violet is very smart and understands everything I say to her, yet she really couldn’t produce a word. I know that 16 month old children aren’t really required to say words yet – heck, Preston didn’t. I know there are perfectly normal 18 month old kids who don’t walk yet. Yet, something didn’t sit right with me.

When Violet went to the developmental clinic for her routine examination they didn’t mention CP, so I did. I asked if they think she may have CP and they said maybe. They could not confirm or deny that diagnosis. So, I brought her to see a Pediatric Neurologist in Sacramento. The doctor simply observed Violet for a while, grabbing objects, walking, examined what she did when she was lifted into the air. After about a half an hour I asked if Violet has CP and he said yes. He thinks it is a mild case based on her ability to walk, among other things.

I was prepared for this, as prepared as I could be. You see, I had already gone through many emotions and denials up to this point. The first night Chris and I discussed the possibility I cried and cried and I felt so worried for Violet. I thought for sure she had CP. About a week later, after observing Violet closely Chris and I changed our minds. We didn’t think she had CP, but rather just a beginners walking style that had to do wither turned in feet. Then, about a week before the appointment I silently came to terms with my motherly opinion that Violet had a mild version of CP. So, when the doctor told me the news very matter of fact, there wasn’t a jolt of shock, there weren’t tears, there wasn’t a huge sadness that overcame me. I simply wanted to know what to do next. The doctor told me that he thinks by about first grade one would never know that Violet was diagnosed with CP, which was comforting. He said that he thinks Violet is very smart and he enjoyed her contagious laugh, her social nature and her great sense of humor.
I just wanted to know what to do next. Violet is young and her potential is huge. She is a fighter and she is strong. The next day I called Alta, which is a group that will come to your home and provide physical and speech therapy to children. It is unknown how little or how much therapy Violet will need but we will do anything for her.

Although Violet has been diagnosed with this ugly Cerebral Palsy term, I think she is perfect. If you told me five years ago that I would have a child with CP I probably would’ve had a nervous breakdown. Today, I watch Violet and I think, how could I have been given such a perfect and wonderful child as this? It doesn’t matter what kind of label she is given or how hard she has to work to reach her developmental goals because we will do it together and she will succeed.

So, here I am writing this sitting in the airport at the Air France gate and I have tears running down my face and I am surrounded on all sides by French people staring at me like, oh those crazy Americans. Chris and I are literally the only Americans on this entire flight from what I can see. Who knows what they are saying about me since I am not a native speaker.

I am not sad about Violet. I am interested in all the unexpected that life brings and what you can get out of it if you pay attention. I will not let this be a disability for Violet, but instead an opportunity for us to work hard to achieve something great. Violet has taught me that although your child can be faced with challenges or disabilities that do not fall in line with our need and desire to have a “perfect” child, perfection is indeed how we perceive it to be. Violet is perfect in our eyes. CP will never define Violet. Instead, Violet will be judged on her vivacious personality, her awesome laugh and how she loves her family so well.

More from Paris later. . .

au revoir.

Until next time, the mothership is signing off.

Southern California Pictures

2009-07-30T08:37:00.000-07:00

Our trip to Santa Monica beach with all the kids including
my two nieces

All the cousins. Preston wasn't into it.

The Skirball Museum

Playing with the kid pool in grandma and papa's backyard

Moms Barf, Too (future children's book???)

2009-07-26T15:54:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we started the long journey home from Los Angeles. I was beyond miserable because I had made an interesting choice the night before. We all went out to dinner to Mastro’s in Thousand Oaks to celebrate Greg’s (Chris’s brothers) 40th birthday party. We had a wonderful time celebrating and eating delicious food and drinking spectacular wine.

We got home at 11:30pm and were heading back to Sacramento the next morning leaving at 6:30am. At dinner I had about four glasses of wine, two lobster tails, creamed corn, gorgonzola macaroni and cheese, jumbo shrimp and mozzarella and tomato salad. For dessert we had a gigantic butter cake with ice cream. By the time I got home I was beyond full and slightly drunk. Chris collected some Ambien from his mom for when we go to France so we could sleep on the plane. I thought it would just be a genius idea to pop one of those so I could actually sleep before our big trip home. You see, when I eat too much food too late into the night, I tend to not be able to sleep at all that night. I needed a good sleep for our labor intensive trip home the next day. So I swallowed one of those little purple pills and the next thing I remember is that I was being woken up by Chris at 6:30am telling me we had to get going. I could barely move. I popped out of bed but then I was walking like a drunk and every word I tried to say was a huge effort. I barely could get my clothes on. I walked around in a stupor, worthless to the packing process. I think I may have done some concentric circles around the house before Chris said “Megan, the kids have been sitting in the car for 40 minutes ---we have to go!” Sherri poured me some ginger ale in a to-go cup and I went to the car to get the kids organized. I told Sherri I have to throw up now so I hopped out of the car and threw up in the bushes next to where Dick seemed to be teaching one of the kids something about the plants or flowers or nature. Baarrrrffff. To save myself further humiliation I made it into the bathroom for a little more barfing. Of course Ava followed me in to watch my misery because she would never miss out on a moment like this.

“What are you doing mommy?” asked Ava. I am throwing up. I feel horrible. “Why are you throwing up?”asked Ava. Because mommy ate too much food, drank too much wine and in a moment of extreme poor judgment, took a sleeping pill. That’s why. I’m a disaster. And now I get to sit in the car for seven hours trying to make four kids happy while I risk my life climbing all over the moving vehicle.

At one point on this drive as we stopped at Denny’s for lunch I was so tired and drugged up from my one little Ambien that I just started laughing and couldn’t stop. Ava had her headphones on and was singing so annoyingly loud and out of key, and from time to time she yelled out “I see the McDonald’s sign!” really loudly waving her arms enthusiastically. Violet would laugh at that enthusiastically from the back seat. Chris would say, “they really got you,” referring to the golden arches advertising reeling in our 4 year old. The babies were telling us that they needed a break from their car seat so we pulled up to Denny’s and had a disgusting meal with all the kids. The mess on the table and the floor warranted an extra big tip at the end of it all.

After our awesome lunch we all got loaded back into the car and on the road I was actually able to keep my eyes open and carry on somewhat intelligible conversation.

Our trip was a big success. Ava had a very fun time playing with her cousins the entire week and the babies loved being in a different environment and they adjusted to their new surroundings immediately. Violet decided to walk full time while she was at grandma and pappa’s house. They played outside everyday in buckets and with paintbrushes, went on many walks, had many visitors and even went to the beach.

We loaded everyone up to go to the beach and dragged Dick and Sherri along and my nieces Briana and Sophia also went with us. The babies weren’t so sure about having sand all over their bodies and in between every finger. They went into the water just a bit but the waves and currents were really big that day. We could not have asked for more beautiful beach weather. It was sunny and warm and we got to take lots of pictures of the kids in the sand. We only stayed a couple of hours and then we de-sanded everyone which was a huge job and headed back for naps. I was so exhausted that I fell asleep in the car also. Ava and I slept together in the car long after the car was home. Chris said I was like a three year old he had to leave behind in the car to sleep. I don’t care though, because my nice little nap left me feeling refreshed the rest of the day.

On a scale of 1 to 10 on the success of the trip with four small kids driving the minivan down to Los Angeles and spending the week at a house other than our own, which is quite a task when you have three 17 month old babies, I give it a 10. Dick and Sherri’s house is pleasingly equipped for small children with cribs, strollers, high chair booster seats, toys, etc. The kids were great on the drives . . . as good as they could be. The babies were extremely adaptable and well behaved the entire trip . . . Ava was a pain in the tookie half the trip and good the other half. We got to do fun activities like go to the Skirball Museum with Ava and Elsa and the beach, and see friends and family. We enjoyed a very nice dinner out which can never be undervalued in my life. And the trip to Southern California granted us all a change of scenery which was much needed.

Ava-ism for the trip:
Uncle Ron, who is a pretty strict guy, was taking Ava for the day to go swimming at Uncle Greg’s house with all the cousins. Chris and I were staying home with the babies. Chris, Ron and Ava went outside to go over the rules. Ron says in his most serious stern voice, “okay Ava, rule #1 is you will listen to me at all times. And rule #2 is that you will listen to me at all times.” Chris says, “Ava, please repeat the rules back to Uncle Ron.” Ava sat there for about 30 seconds thinking and then she looked up at Uncle Ron and said very seriously, “I’m going to make up my own rules.” I think Uncle Ron was a little scared since he was used to his super easy, very sweet and accommodating nine and 11 year old girls.

I will send tons of great pictures of the past week through very soon.

Until next time, the mothership is signing off.

On the Road

2009-07-22T21:41:00.000-07:00

On Thursday through Saturday Preston had a fever over 103 degrees. It was scary because I have never had a child with a fever that high. I brought him to the doctor and since he doesn’t exhibit any other symptoms the doctor determined he probably just has a virus his body is trying to fight off. As a side note, the doctor said that if he gets a rash all over his body he probably has Roseola. Sure enough on Sunday morning his fever had broken and been replaced by an ugly rash. I just wish his fever wasn’t so high. He just wants to cuddle and sleep all day. Roseola it is. My poor buddy. So far his sister’s aren’t sick and I just have to hope it stays that way.

Ava had her last swim meet of the year last Saturday and within one minute of getting to the race at 6:30am I had already spilled my coffee all over my white shirt and Ava had already fallen and scraped her knee up. Ava did her best racing yet – I believe she was still last place but her time and her strokes were improved. She did her backstroke all by herself the entire length of the pool without a coach verbally assisting her along.

In other news, a week ago (July 14th) Violet decided she would get up and walk. We were all upstairs playing and the babies were running around laughing and falling and being silly and Violet got up and started doing laps around the room. She finally decided it was her time to walk. I was so excited for her. She was a good little walker and she was so happy about her new accomplishment that I could hardly put her to bed because she just wanted to walk.

On Tuesday we hit the road to Los Angeles on a seven hour road trip that could go very wrong and Chris and I had not a clue what to expect. On our previous road trips we had left at 6:30pm and the kids slept the entire way. This trip we were leaving at 6:30am and we hoped for peace, contentment and a few naps. The babies in the back can reach each other from their car seats so we see a lot of sweet interactions such as hand holding and games of footsie, and then there are naughty things like Elsa taking Violet’s blanket and Violet taking Elsa’s binkie and then they get mad at each other. Elsa is definitely the rebel rouser of the group, trying to take everything she can that belongs to Violet so she can get a reaction out of her. Most of the time Violet is very easy going about this kind of sisterly bullying, but nobody messes with Violet’s monkey. As soon as Elsa takes Violet’s monkey there is screaming, pinching, biting, or any other torture Violet can inflict on Elsa in order to get her precious monkey back.

About half way through our road trip we stopped at a gas station and brought all the kids in to pick out some snacks. Elsa had a candy paintbrush in each hand that she was waving around, nearly missing customers as they walked by her. Preston was on the ground sorting through a variety of chocolate bars and Elsa had chosen one candy and was coveting it calmly. Ava had chosen the most gigantic bag of sour gummy worms that she could find and coincidentally that was the same candy I had chosen. Like mother like daughter. We loaded up on snacks and packed them back in the car. So far no one had taken a nap so we were hoping for some shuteye from the back seats. Our wish was granted as right before we started the journey through the grapevine around noon we looked back and all four kids were sound asleep. I was so excited I could hardly contain myself. This was an easy road trip so far.

And then we made a terrible error in judgment. At 12:45 pm Violet woke up and then she woke Elsa up and then they woke Ava and Preston up. By 1pm everyone was already up from their nap and they were not just hungry, they were starving. There were four starving, grumpy, screaming kids and two stressed adults in our Toyota Sienna and we couldn’t get to food fast enough. I jumped in the back and sat on the ground trying to calm and entertain them. We finally found fast food heaven by 1:15pm and quickly stopped at McDonalds. We ordered our chicken nuggets and hamburgers with screaming kids in the back and I guiltily broke off pieces of the disgusting greasy chicken nuggets for my babies to eat. The children were temporarily consoled. We had 45 minutes of the drive left and let me tell you that was a long 45 minutes. The babies pretty much cried off and on the entire rest of the drive and Ava cried AND complained the rest of the way. It is a six to seven hour drive and the kids were done. I felt badly for them but we made it 5.5 hours with hardly a complaint so that was nice.

When we got to Dick and Sherri’s the kids were ecstatic. They played with all the toys that were laid out for them, waded in the kid pool and then went to bed and slept well until morning hallelujah.

Today we went had Chris’s cousin Jill and her two sons visit as well as his Aunt. It was a crazy house full with our four, my nieces Briana and Sophia who are also at Dick and Sherri’s for the week and Jill’s two kids– we were like Jon and Kate plus 8 without the crazy marital drama.
Later that day we visited Marshie and Hermie (Chris’s grandparents) in the Valley. Hermie has been suffering through Cellulitis and other ailments. He has been fairly miserable and was lying in bed when were arrived. By the end of the visit he was up and out of his room with a big smile on his face. He said that this made him happier than he has been for awhile having all the kids around him. It was nice to see Hermie so happy. It is funny though because as Chris describes, being in Marshie and Hermie’s house is like being in a Chinese museum. There are three low lying glass tables situated around the family room and each one is decorated with very breakable Chinese glass items. It was very funny trying to keep three 17 month old babies from breaking any of the decorations at their reach. They did all have fun messing with the vertical blinds though.

Tomorrow we are off to Zuma beach with the kids and then Chris and I are going out to dinner with a couple of Chris’s old friends.

Ava-isms:

In the car Ava was talking on a kid phone. We asked her who she was talking to and she answered Barack Obama. We told her to ask him something she wanted to know about her President and she said, “um, Barack Obama, can you please go into your pantry and see if you have any cookies?”

We were on our way to Costco the other day with all the kids and Ava asks out of the blue “when the babies get bigger can we all be twins?” and I said “sure you can”. Ava continued with “we can all wear the same clothes and the same shoes and we can die Elsa’s hair red.”

I thought it was such a cute thing to say because it was Ava’s way of trying to include herself in the triplet world. She wants to be one and the same with her brother and sisters and not feel like the outsider so she is imagining ways in which she can make that happen for herself. I asked Ava if she thinks that Elsa will feel left out when she grows up and realizes that she is the only one without red hair. Ava had a solution to that potential problem: we will just dye it she said.

Until next time, the mothership is signing off.

Preston and His Pink Vacuum

2009-07-13T10:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Chris turned 35 years old and we celebrated by getting Nanny Kathy to watch all four kids so we could go wine tasting and out to dinner in Amador. The weather was perfect and we started out with a lovely picnic that my parent’s provided. By 2pm I think we could’ve all taken a snooze on a wine barrel somewhere between sipping wine and sitting in the warm sun. Angela and Bob met the four of us at a cool restaurant in the funky little Podunk town of Plymouth – a diamond in the rough – and we had a wonderful four course dinner and of course more wine. Chris had a nice birthday which he deserved. Everyone deserves to have a nice birthday because it is your one special day that is all your own out of the whole year.

Ava is at Country Days camp all day every day this week which takes immense pressure off of me to figure out how to keep her busy all day without too much computer time. Even though she is at camp from 9 to 3 everyday bouncing in the bouncehouse, riding horses, swimming in a pool, and dabbling in arts and crafts, when I pick her up this afternoon she will still ask me “what are we doing today?” and “who is coming over today?” Oh the ways that my four year old can make me feel like I am suffering a slow and torturous decline into insanity. That is one way. The other way is her new particularity about what she wears and how her hair is done. Ava has all of these nice clothes and shoes, yet she will only wear a select few because she doesn’t like the way her shorts and pants feel around her waist or the way her shoes fit her on that particular day. She will only have her hair partially pulled up on the sides, where I then have the choice of doing a ponytail or a braid. I had to pull out my patients that are kept in reserves to get through the dressing this morning. Oh well, just another way that children try to gain independence from their parents I suppose. Sigh.

Ava and I had a very special trip to San Francisco a week ago. We met Nicola and Kei and went to the Aquarium at Pier 39 and to the new Academy of Science at Golden Gate Park where there is a four story Rainforest and another Aquarium. We had a wonderful day of culture which is hard to come by in Cameron Park! Later that night Nicola and I went to this cool spot for dinner, A16, in the Marina district and had lots of wine, good food and caught up on old times. We have been friends since our first year of college so it is a special history we share even though we don’t get to see each other much with our busy schedules. The next day Ava and I headed to the Discovery Museum which is made just for small kids and it was a very cool place. Ava tells people she got to paint windows and then squeegee them. She painted carpet squares and stamped them onto paper. She played in moon sand. There was a fantastic playground overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge where everything seemed to be a learning experience. There was a cultural center that taught the kids about the Chinese culture this month. We spent a few hours there and then we headed to Sausalito for pizza on the water. Ava slept the whole way home. We can’t wait to go again soon.

Meanwhile, Elsa is becoming an expert on animal sounds. She does the scariest lion you will ever hear, reaching down to her gut to pull that roar out just right. This morning she perfected the “neigh” and she can also do a very good “moooooo”. We are working on “meow” which is a more difficult combination of sounds. Elsa is averaging about one new word a day. Meanwhile her adorable brother and sister prefer to not say much of anything. Violet can take any direction you give her and she knows exactly what you are saying. She is a thinker and does very well playing by herself and putting things together quietly. I have one word for Preston – boy. He is like, duh, I am just going to scream and grunt and throw things and run my toys into the walls and bang my cars on the windows and that is how I will communicate with the world. Preston has also formed a very interesting relationship with his toy vacuum which is at times loving and other times adversarial. He drives that pink vacuum all over the house looking like a professional janitor until it gets stuck in the corner or gets tweaked out of position and then he gets pissed. He stands there and screams at it and cries and gets very ornery. The other day Chris and I couldn’t take it anymore – Preston and his unhealthy relationship with the pink vacuum – so we took it and hid it behind a bunch of clothes in the closet. The next day Preston had already found his special vacuum friend and was cruising it around the house.

The babies’ interactions with each other are very interesting these days. Violet gets along with everyone is very easy-going and good natured. The others take toys from her all day and she just moves on and finds something else to play with. She gets along well with all her siblings and they love her also. Preston and Elsa are not getting along. They scream at each other just because they aren’t getting along. I had to move Violet to the middle booster chair to avoid all out screaming wars between Preston and Elsa that ultimately ends up with crying. So now when Preston is on one side and Elsa is on the way other and Violet isn’t in her seat yet, Preston will look over at Elsa and give her a little warning scream to show her who is boss. She will give him a short scream back to tell him that she is still the leader of the pack.

In light of Preston and Elsa’s unfriendly interaction lately, we have decided to put Violet in the middle of Elsa and Preston in the car also. It was so sweet because on the way home from My Gym on Friday I looked back and Violet was reaching her hand over to Preston and reaching her other hand over to Elsa and they were all holding hands with each other. Violet is our little peacemaker.

We have a busy couple of weeks ahead of us. This weekend is Ava’s last swim meet and then early next week we head to Thousand Oaks to stay with Dick and Sherri. I plan to do beach day trips, museums, lots of walks, and just enjoy the Southern California scene. By the end of the next week Chris and I head to Paris. There is so much to do to get ready to leave my precious kids that it is overwhelming to think about. I will have to be very organized and plan on making many meals to freeze so everyone can have good lunches and dinners while we are gone. It will be a whirlwind but it will all get done and when I am sitting on that plane I can take a deep breath and enjoy each moment that comes my way.
Until next time, the mothership is signing off.

Violet

2009-07-05T13:42:00.000-07:00

Elsa the naked flutest

Climbing the stairs for bedtime

The babies were outside playing with the hose

Preston is sad

Lots of pictures of Pres because I love these pictures of my boy

Watching a baby Einstein together.

Me and my girl with the wild red headed mullet

I don't have much time this morning but I wanted to give a quick update about my sweet Violet June. I took her to the doctor last week about her legs and they gave her a full physical exam. She screamed bloody murder through the entire painless exam. I asked him if Violet is the worst patient he has ever had. No reply. So, after a thorough exam the doctor determined that Violet just has turned in feet which will completely correct all by itself by the time she is three. He think at 16 months she is doing a fabulous job of walking -- or her messy attempt at walking that is. He was most impressed by her ability to figure out how to work the tiny tape measure that he gave her to distract her. So, we were all very relieved and Violet is walking more and more each day. She is such a good little girl . . . although not a good little patient.

Ava returned from her awesome vacation around California with Gigi and Gramps and had a great time. That is why there aren't any pictures of her above. They all had a great time on their trip and it sure was wonderful that Gigi and Gramps included Ava in on their fun adventures. Ava was so happy to see us and the babies all screamed and ran around for 10 minutes when Ava showed up on Thursday evening. She was missed.

Now Ava and I are off to San Francisco to meet my good old friend Nicola and her son Kei and we are taking the kids to get some Fish n Chips in Sausalito and then to the Exploratorium. Later tonight Paul and Nicola's parents are watching the kids and Nicola and I are going to have a wonderful dinner out. Then we will have a sleepover. It will be so much fun. Nanny Laura and Chris are going to make sure the babies are well taken care of.

Well, more later as I am trying to get us out the door for the day and take care of four kids and right in my blog and drink my coffee. Phew - talk about multi-tasking.

Until next time, the mothership is signing off.

A Big Blow Out . . . And I'm Not Talking Diapers

2009-06-29T14:17:00.000-07:00

Who knows what life is going to bring you each day when you wake up. Life seems to bring me an intesting combination of pleasures and disasters that keeps me interested and curious about what may happen next. One day I learn I am going to Paris for a week kid-free and on another day my tire explodes on the freeway while I am driving all the babies to My Gym class.

Okay, so I will back up and start from the beginning. Last Friday Chris took the entire day off so we could hang out together and take the babies to their My Gym class and then go swimming and just enjoy our day. Chris was meeting me in Folsom. As I was driving down Cameron Park Drive my "tire needs air" light came on. That light is always coming on so I didn't think too much of it, except then I had the weirdest ESP moment. I most definitely had a very strong feeling that my tire was going to blow on my trip down to Folsom. Of course, I dismissed it. As I was driving 70mph on the Freeway I heard this big bam bam pow and I thought a rock hit the side of my car. I cursed to myself wondering what kind of damage that big of a rock could've caused my beautiful minivan. Then another bam bam pow and my whole car fell down on one side and I was virtually unable to drive it anymore. I tried very hard to make it to the next exit and off the freeway so I wouldn't be stuck on the side of the freeway with my three 16 month old kids. But alas, the minivan wouldn't go any farther. I pulled over as far as I could over the cement curb and into the tall weeds that line the freeway. The car was tilted sideways and for a brief moment I pondered the possibility of the whole car tipping over since there was probably no longer a tire on my front right wheel as it was. I quickly called Chris who was waiting for us at My Gym and told him to hurry himself on over to the side of the freeway and rescue us. No, we don't have Triple A, but I had Chris who I thought could be to us quickly and maybe change the tire and save us on a towing service. Of course, on this Friday all the power was out in Folsom which meant that the street lights were not working and so it took Chris 1/2 an hour to get to us. While me and the babes sat on the side of the road leaning ever so slightly to out right, I sang every song I could imagine: Old McDonald, Wheels on the Bus which I thought was suitable for our situation, Twinkle Twinkle, You are my Sunshine which was too boring for our dire situation, and our favorite, If You're Happy and you Know it Clap Your Hands. Preston was pissed. He has four molars coming in and he was in no mood to lolligag on the side of the busy freeway listening to my cheery songs. The girls took our misfortune in stride and enjoyed my singing and the crispy crackers I provided for our surprise adventure.

When Chris arrived after what seemed like an eternity we discovered that the door on the right farthest away from the freeway was no longer in service. The tire explosion had somehow disarmed the sliding door and so we had to get all the car seats out and then the babies out on the freeway side which, needless to say, was a bit dangerous. One by one Chris grabbed a car seat, hooked it in his car, and then one by one Chris grabbed a baby and hooked them up in the car. I then got in the car and drove them home. Meanwhile, poor Chris who had taken the day off to have some family enjoyment, spent the next four hours on the side of the freeway. He tried to put the spare on but that was fruitless. Then he called for a tow truck and they were quoting him 1 1/2 hours. Chris was not happy. He was starving, hot, tired, and generally weary of this stupid situation. He ended up waiting over two hours for the tow truck to come.

The Toyota dealership called at 6pm to tell me that it took four guys two hours to remove the shredded remnants of my tire from the rim. When I picked up my car the next day the service guy held up his cell phone and said, "maam, you had a hole this big in your tire which means a nail that big went into your tire and it exploded. It was crazy." He doesn't know how crazy it was really to be on the side of the freeway with a blown tire and three babies in the back looking at me like "what the f*@%k is going on?"

So that happened.

In other news, I am taking little Violet to the orthopedic pediatric doctor in Sacramento on Wednesday to find out what is going on with her left leg. I am pretty sure something is wrong with it but I am not worried about her. I think whatever it is is probably a result of being crammed in the womb and she probably needs some physical therapy and stretches to get it working properly. She can stand up and she can walk but it is hard for her and she doesn't consistently walk. Something about that left leg is causing her problems. I can't wait to find out what the problem is so we can start working on it and get Violet walking and running like her brother and sisters.

The best thing, in my opinion, about having multiples is watching them love each other and play and laugh together. The babies are playing more with each other each day. They make up games to play like their version of peekaboo and hide-n-seek. This morning Violet went and hid beside the bed where Preston and Elsa couldn't see her. Then Preston and Elsa would run over and right before they would get there Violet would jump out and scare them and everyone laughed hysterically. This brings me so much joy. I love to see them enjoying each other and playing together. They will have a lifetime of playing and loving and fighting together and they will always have a special bond.

This past weekend Chris and I spent a lot of time in our swimming pool with the babies. They love to go swimming. They each have their own style in the pool. Elsa likes to jump off the side of the pool already and she enjoys spending as much time as she can under the water. Each time she goes under she comes up with a big smile on her face. Violet like to venture out in the water and float with her water wings. She flails around like a maniac sometimes in the water but you can tell she is having the time of her life. Preston prefers to stick close to the steps antagonizing everyone by splashing them with his shovels from the comfort of the top step of the pool. Chris retaliates by taking a bucket and flinging a massive stream of water at Preston and he laughs hysterically.

Ava is at Disneyland today. Gigi and Gramps took Ava to Yosemite where she had a nature camp and lots of swimming at the pool. From there they headed south to visit some old friends in Redondo Beach where she spend the day making sand castles. Today they are at Disneyland and Ava called me this morning to tell me where she was. What a wonderful time she is having and wonderful grandparents to take Ava and let her experience all of these wonderful places with them. The fact that Gramps is at Disneyland today shows how much he loves Ava since on the top of the list of things Gramps doesn't like are lines and crowds. Ava is a lucky girl.

Until next time, the mothership is signing off.

16 Months Old Already

2009-06-22T09:11:00.000-07:00

As the cool spring mornings give way to warm summer days we have busier schedules and a happier mom. Right now I am sitting at a swim meet at 7am in tent city with my friends and Ava’s friends and we are getting ready to race. Ava has already informed all of her friends that she has come with her swim cap and she is going to win. She wanted to know if everyone was happy for her that she was going to win. Oy, I have my hands full with her. I just love the swim team and so does Ava. I sit around the pool on a nice morning and wait to be notified when Ava swims for exactly 1 minute and 18 seconds that it takes her to get across the pool to her self-proclaimed winning finish and then I head back to the tent to relax and read magazines or write my blog as I am doing today. Ava is a social butterfly and she makes some new friends and then she goes around introducing her new friend to her older friends . . . “Bella do you know Delaney?”

On the baby front, Elsa, Violet and Preston are 16 months old today and Elsa and Preston are FINALLY walking as their main mode of transportation. Elsa is saying new words and trying new things each day. The cutest word Elsie says is Sage; just the way it comes out of her mouth is so sweet. Our Elsie has really emerged as the ring leader of the pack which I didn’t predict in the beginning. Based on Violet’s strong and funny personality, I figured she would be the ring leader. Instead, Violet is more of an observer while Elsa is a doer, taking toys from others as she pleases and figuring out naughty things to do before everyone else. For example, we had to go to Home Depot on our date night and buy a large piece of wood and three ridiculous looking clamps to hold the piece of wood onto our gate at the top of the stairs. Months ago Elsa figured out how to slither her tiny body under the gate like a snake and climb up and down the stairs as she pleased. Then Violet copied her and I had two tiny creatures playing on the stairs and risking a big tumble.

Our little Violet still isn’t walking but she is still standing up by herself and trying to take some steps. She is either lacking the confidence due to her turned in feet or she truly has a problem with her legs or her feet. We continue to watch her closely and try to help her when she needs it but she still holds the title as the fastest crawler west of the Mississippi I am sure.
I signed the babies up for a place called My Gym. It is a cool indoor play/gymnastics class that is structured and created specifically for 14-22 month old kids. I was impressed with the teachers, the facilities and my kids who jumped right in there and utilized all the activities and tried the gymnastics. Elsa immediately latched on to the instructor at My Gym who is a man and followed him around the whole class pleading with him to pick her up and carry her around. She is such a lush. Meanwhile Violet is attached to me like a parasite lately. I am Violet’s partner, I bring Laura and she is with Preston and Elsa finds herself a man and forces him to be her partner. It works out great. I figured my Violet with her intense stranger danger may resist the teachers taking her and trying to make her do somersaults and hang on the parallel bars, but instead I could tell that she found it exhilarating. Ava gets to do so many fun activities in her life that I wanted to do something for the babies that would be good for their physical and social development.

While the babies do fight with each other a lot throughout the day, they also play nicely with each other and give each other a lot of love. Yesterday we took the babies to Costco, which we like to do. We put Elsa in her own cart because she is the disturber afterall, and Preston and Violet get to sit in the same cart together. While we pushed the cart up and down aisles, Violet and Preston leaned their heads in together and wrapped their little arms around each other giving love. Elsa gives a lot of love in between her thievery of toys. I also saw Violet and Elsa working together to play with a toy which was interesting. Violet would place a coin in the pig’s back but wouldn’t push it far enough down to make the fun noise and hear it crash to the bottom, so Elsa came in and precisely placed her pointer finger down the hole to push Violet’s coin down. It was a nice example of teamwork.

Ava leaves on her big road trip with Gigi and Gramps this week which will be fun. Ava gets to see things that even I have never seen such as Yosemite and Lake Arrowhead. She also gets to go to Disneyland. It is very nice of Gigi and Gramps to take Ava along on their vacation and Ava will love every second of it. We will miss her but she will be so well taken care of and having such a great time. You know, Ava needs to be kept busy all the time or we all go crazy! She still asks me two to three times a day, “mommy, who is coming today? And where are we going today?” She is concerned that her social calendar will not be filled to her satisfaction.
Meanwhile, Chris has been training with the Lymphoma and Leukemia Society’s Team in Training to run a marathon in October. He has also been eating very well and has lost 20 pounds in two months which has made him feel great. Chris is training with Bob Kott and Ed Smith for Team Trevor (www.trevorkott.com) and they will be doing some great fundraising activities to make money for the cause. Chris has been so dedicated to this marathon and this cause that he gets up at 5am some mornings to run his miles. I am proud of him for committing to this big run and for the wonderful cause. I will be sending out Chris’s fundraising letter for Team in Training in the next couple of days.

Ava-ism for today:
Ava was riding in the car with Gramps and Ava said “I love your combertivle Gramps.” Gramps quickly corrected Ava's pronunciation of "convertible". But Ava held strong and insisted that you pronounce it "combertivle". Gramps asked Ava how she knows it is "combertivle" and not "convertible" and Ava said, "because my daddy told me that is how you say it and he is really smart because he can touch the ceiling."

Hope all those dad's had a great Father's Day.

Until next time, the mothership is signing off.

Ahhhhh Pari . . . C'est la vie

2009-06-08T09:10:00.000-07:00

For the first time ever, I wrote a bunch down and added to my blog from this morning and I lost everything that I added. That does not make me happy. But what does make me happy is that Chris called a couple hours ago and informed me that he earned his company's trip to Paris this August. A week in the wonderful glorious city of Paris paid for by Takeda Pharmaceuticals - a dream come true! So we immediately called the Domestics down in Southern California and told them that we won a trip to Paris and they won a trip to Northern California to watch all of our kids! They wanted to switch prizes but se la vie.

This morning I was thinking about how most people are sad when Monday rolls around and the weekend fun is over, but not me. I celebrate when I wake up on Monday mornings because that means I get my nanny back. Weekends in our house are busy, messy, crazy, sometimes boring if you can believe that. Weekends are good family time, but when the weekdays roll around I can actually have a few hours to myself here and there and my nanny's are so great at helping with housework.

My kids are eating me out of house and home - whatever that old saying is supposed to mean I don't know. But I buy so many groceries at the store and there isn't any food that goes wasted in this house. At this point I think each of the babies eat more than Ava, which isn't saying too much, but is still worth noting. Every night I fix dinner and cut whatever we are eating up into small pieces for the babies and they love it! They eat pretty much anything, but their favorite are pizza and pasta with meat sauce. I love cooking for people who appreciate my food! Every time I put dinner down on the table for Ava she says, and I quote, "Ewwwww, I don't like this! I don't want to eat this. Can you make me something else?" It actually kind of amuses me at this point. I don't know what I would do if Ava didn't find my meals so offensive and disgusting.

My little Violet hit a developmental milestone over the weekend and I was so proud of her. After determining that Violet may never walk, she decided to get up from the ground and stand on her feet and take six steps. I was blown away. How it happened is Elsa and Preston were walking back and forth and we were cheering and clapping and there was poor little Violet on the sidelines curiously watching as her brother and sister got all the accolades. All of a sudden it is like she just said "hey, I can do that!" and she went from sitting and got up on those little feet and walked. Then she proceeded to do it over and over and over again about 50 times because she decided it was a new skill that was quite fun.

So now it is like night of the living dead at my house. I'll say "Violet, stand up and walk over here" and next thing I know all three babies have stopped whatever they were doing and are teetering toward me with their arms out, stiff legs and swaying all over the place. It is such a funny scene. Preston definitely looks like Frankenstein when he walks. They still use crawling as their major mode of transportation but this weekend I saw both Elsa and Preston walking to get from one place to another which was precious.

Ava has now had two swim races. I debated about whether to put Ava on the Shark's Swim Team this year since she is only 4 years old and I was not sure if she would be able to emotionally handle going to swim practice every day and swim meets all day on Saturdays (not to mention if our family could handle it). I must say Ava has impressed me with her enthusiasm and her winning spirit so far. She got out there on both race days with a big smile on her face, ready to win! By the way, she still thinks she has won all the races she is in. Last Saturday the coaches put Ava in the backstroke for one of her races. Ava just learned how to do backstroke and it is shaky at best. She was nervous to do this stroke mainly because she thought that she may hit her head on the side of the pool. I remember worrying about that when I was a kid also. I asked that one of the coaches get in the pool with her and verbally guide her along and get her down to the other end of the pool to touch the side. All the other backstrokers were done a good minute before Ava but I was so proud of her because she stayed on her back and moved those little arms and made her way to the end all by herself. When she touched the wall the crowd cheered so loudly for her and I felt emotional because she tried her best and she did not give up or cry or complain. What more could I ever ask for? When she got out she literally thought that she had won that race and she commented how no one was even in the pool which she translated into a win for herself.

Along with the actual races, I also really think the process of race day is special for us. A lot of our neighbor friends are Sharks and so everyone sets up tents all around the outside of thle pool and I mooch off all my friends tents and the kids draw sharks all over their bodies, paint their nails the team colors, play games and just have fun all day in between races. I am so clueless about the process that luckily I have about four different friends who come running up to me when Ava is about to race. Phew.

So last night we went to a barbecue at the Kott's house across the street and enjoyed their super delux awesome new outdoor kitchen and we brought all the kids. Luckily, the only way it works is all our friends who step in and help hold babies and watch babies. Bob Kott, Bob Gerstle and Ed Smith spent a good portion of their evening holding Elsa and Preston instead of relaxing and drinking their Sangria. Angela took Violet for me so I could eat in peace for a few minutes while Kathy and Heidi made sure my Sangria was close by and filled my plate up with more food. People I didn't even know were holding Elsa at certain points in the evening because otherwise she would be trying to take a swim on her own in the pool. It takes a whole neighborhood to help the Woolseys go to a barbecue / pool party. We love you friends!

Lastly, I want to thank my husband for doing all of our dreaded household chores this weekend while helping so much with the kids. Oh, and thanks for winning us a week in Paris! You are the best.

Until next time, the mothership is signing off.