Monday I turned 40 and we had a very special day planned. Megan came a little later than usual so she could stay late while Jason and I went out for dinner. I had a lovely morning with the kids and it was warm enough to go outside after breakfast.

We found a frog on our toy chest! And the boys got new sunglasses as a gift from Megan. Such cool cats.

We have entered the phase where the kids, especially Amaya, want a say in what they wear. It makes for some amazing toddler ensembles. For sure I’d say it’s less about fashion and more about exerting control over what she wears, which I totally understand. For the boys, it’s more about the content of their outfits – wearing a woo woo truck or a digger, for example.

As a big birthday treat, Megan and I took the kids to meet Jason for lunch! It was Jason’s first workday lunch with the kids and very special for me.

Of course Mr. Sam Man fell asleep on the drive to lunch. In our toddler yearbook he’s definitely voted “most likely to fall asleep in the car.”

Family lunch!

On the way home, Steven and Amaya held hands at Amaya’s request.

In the afternoon, we donned some eclectic head wear and headed outside again to enjoy the sun. We finally busted out our chalk that Grandma Sunshine gave us for our 2nd birthday. It’s perfect for coloring on the deck!

This girl.

I had a great birthday, capped off my dinner with Jason and this amazing video.

Everyone had moments of great participation at music on Tuesday especially Steven who was playing up a storm. All three kids wanted to get in the action as Miss Marie’s helpers.

At school on Thursday we had lots of age appropriate activities we can make ourselves with items in our home.

These sealed sensory jars are full of all sorts of different foods: beans, noodles, rice, soda & more.

We will NOT try this at home. It’s birdseed!! The kids loved it. They spent a long time playing and spooning/shoveling birdseed into cups. It’s nice that they have these opportunities for this type of play.

I will try this at home. They’re colored sticks from the dollar store and Amaya’s pushing them into little holes in an empty oatmeal container. It’s great for fine motor skills.

Mr. Sam Man fell asleep on the way home from school much to the amusement of his brother and sister.

Sammy has a squishy face like his daddy.

Back in November I bought Hannukah shirts for the kids. I was very excited about them until my mom reminded me that shirts referencing matzah are not for Hanukkah. Uh, OOPS! I really don’t know what I was thinking. But the good news is that they’re perfect for Passover.

Here’s Amaya and her Matzo Matzo Men!

This year the kids are eating matzah for the holiday. They’re not keeping Passover but we’re still enjoying traditions where we can. We call it “matzah crackers” because they need some context for what they’re eating.

Raise your hands if you’re eating matzah!

Nana and Papa got us a bag of plush plagues that the kids are enjoying. You haven’t enjoyed Passover until you’ve experienced plush darkness. I could live without the plush boil, though. The definitely don’t get the point yet, but it’s a nice foundation at this age. I’m a big fan of the holiday. I love the traditions and I love the idea of acknowledging our freedom. It’s one I hope the kids love, too.

This week we made some new art for our art center in the playroom. The Halloween ghosts and Thanksgiving turkeys were getting a bit old. Amaya can sit and color for ages. She loves when I trace her hand. Sammy focuses for a short while but he’s usually done first. Steven colors in spurts and is almost always the first to rip his paper off the table. You can’t see it here but the table and one of the chairs are covered in crayon. It’s much better than the wall but we’re still working on the concept of only coloring on our paper.

A highlight of the week was a play date with a triplet family from outside Indianapolis. Courtney and I grew close from our 2014 triplet group and couldn’t miss the chance to get our families together while they were in town for a family event in Ann Arbor. It was so much fun and surprisingly easy. Everyone played well together and, at lunch, Amaya even wanted to sit with two of her new friends rather than in her seat at the table. I honestly can’t imagine doing this without the support and friendship of the triplet moms I’ve gotten to know over the past 2+ years.

Photos below are all shared with Courtney’s permission.

Now that it’s warmer I’m trying to get outside with SSA as often as possible. We have our cool shades for walks in the wagon and also hats, courtesy of Chase and Charlie. They looooooove the hats. I never know who’s going to want to wear which hat in any given moment. Today it was Chase’s tan fisherman’s hat for Steven, Charlie’s white hat for Amaya (too small) and Charlie’s pale pink hat for Sammy (close to too small). But one of the last things I’ll fight over are hats. It’s win/win if they love wearing them this summer.

TV time this week!

Amaya asked to sit on Sammy’s lap. Every now and then he’d say, “Amaya sit up.” She’d sit up for a minute and then he’d say, “Amaya sit back.” Too much for my heart!

Friday night, after seeing a video of our trip to the beach in August, all 3 of my children were adamant that I show them videos of kids on the beach. Thank goodness for YouTube! I think about how they’re growing up in this generation where they can make these kind of requests and I can fulfill them very easily. (Steven, Sammy and Amaya – if you’re reading this: when I was a kid there was no internet in people’s homes. YouTube did not exist. FaceTime did not exist. There was no such thing as a selfie. Ask me more. I’ll blow your minds.)

Auntie! This is for you. Amaya brought me this flash card and said “Auntie’s apple.” (For everyone else, when Aunt Anita came to visit 3 weeks ago she ate an apple. The kids still remember that.)

Helping Daddy clean for the guests.

Tonight I made chicken in my Instant Pot (pressure cooker) and the kids know there will be a steam release at the end. They never want to get too close when I do the quick release so here they are huddled with Daddy to watch.

Steven, this week!

He loves his hats from Chase & Charlie!

Wearing Charlie’s hat, looking out the window to see if he can see Nana’s airplane.

At dinner, Steven was holding his bib in his hands and dipping the end of his bib in his sauce & licking it off. (He was also putting it up his nose but that’s an entirely different story.) I firmly told him he had to wear his bib.His solution was to hold his bib up under his neck but, instead of closing it, he still found a way to use the end of his bib to eat up his sauce. Frankly, it was ingenious. He fulfilled my request and still got what he wanted.

Steven holding baby Jenna who is wearing a hat Grandma Sunshine made.

Sammy, this week!

This FACE.

Loving Charlie’s pink hat. Pink is Sammy’s signature color. He wears it well.

No one can lounge like this kid. His daddy tries but Sammy’s got size on his side.

Amaya, this week!

I just love Amaya in a back pony with a clip.

Can you believe this kid? She’s ready for her closeup.

And that glint in her eyes!

This is Amaya’s face when she’s taken something she shouldn’t have and doesn’t intend to give it back. My girl.

That’s all she wrote! Have a great week and Happy Passover to everyone celebrating!

I don’t know how so much happens in the week of three 2 year olds. They are busy kids! This week was our first dentist appointment. Yikes!! There are a handful of things that intimidate me to do in 3’s and this was one of them. We survived, though! The dentist and hygienists were totally prepared for us. We were in a double room so we could just switch sides between kids and not have to wait for them to get everything set up again. Everyone was initially taken by all of the toys the had available to play with.

Steven was first. He cried, cried, cried. Poor Bobo. Fortunately it’s a quick process. As expected, the dentist told me that Steven’s mouth is severely crowded. One of his top teeth came in crooked and, just looking in his mouth, you can see that he doesn’t have as much room as Sammy and Amaya. The dentist said “very, very crowded” more than once and also said that it gets worse when adult teeth come in so we’re going to have to start saving for Steven’s orthodontics fund now!

Sammy was up next. He cried, cried, cried. Poor Sam Man. But, again, it was over quickly. Great report for Sammy! No major issues.

Finally it was Amaya’s turn and she was as cool as a cucumber. Not a single tear from Miss Amaya. Atta-girl! Amaya’s mouth looks good but she does have some enamel issues on her two front teeth. Apparently it’s a fairly common preemie issue tied to halting the development of enamel when they’re born. The dentist said it could impact her adult front teeth and 6 year molars but we don’t know for sure and I didn’t ask what “impact” really means. I’ll follow-up on that in 6 months when we go back.

Thanks to Megan for being an amazing set of extra hands, as always.

Now that the weather is nicer we’ve resumed sleepovers with Grandma Sunshine. It was Sammy’s turn this week and he had a great time!

I love this photo of Grandma Sunshine and her babies. We took this when Sammy was returned home safe & sound. Steven and, especially, Amaya were very excited to have their brother home.

Sometimes it seems like Steven, Sammy and Amaya can’t be bothered with each other and other times all they want to do is hug and kiss. I guess that’s what it means to grow up siblings. Amaya was particularly focused on Sammy this week after missing him while he was at Grandma Sunshine’s house.

This Steven/Amaya hug started when they both wanted to hug Sammy and he was all done. I suggested they hug each other instead. <3

A big ol’ pile-on!

Evening tv time is still our wind down hour. Megan leaves and Steven says, “TV on.” I could set my watch to it.

This was sweet. Amaya sat with her leg on Steven and he played with her toes while he watched tv.

Sunglasses! I decided to see if the infant sunglasses from the past two summers still fit. They do. Sort of. But Megan magicked 2 pair of regular toddler sunglasses out of her car and the kids love them. Their old ones, too, but especially these. We sat through a few meals made more manageable for the fact that the kids were in their shades.

(Megan photobomb!)

Our big adventure of the week was a visit from Nana and Papa!! They came to celebrate my pre-birthday weekend with me and arrived early Friday afternoon. We were fortunate to have a gorgeous weekend and spent a lot of time outside.

Neighborhood walk on Friday afternoon.

Bedtime stories with Nana.

On Saturday we all went to the Farm Center at Kensington Metro Park. Nana and I had been there with the kids once before in the fall. It’s a great space for kids and they are all much more familiar with the specific animals this spring. Steven is still intrepid and adventurous and walked right up to all of the animals.

In the afternoon, we spent time exploring our own backyard. We’ve spent most of the past 2 summers on our deck so the unfenced yard is still a new experience.

Apparently we all got the “blue shirt” memo.

Saturday night the grown-ups all went out to dinner to celebrate my birthday. I had a special moment with Amaya while I got ready. It was the first time she helped me get read to go out. The first time of many, many, many, I hope!

Sammy was sad to see Nana leave for dinner but Steffie held down the fort and got him back on track.

Desert at home after dinner! Such a great night!

This morning, Nana, Papa, SSA and I took advantage of the great weather and went to play at Maybury Park.

When we were walking along this path to the playground, Amaya got agitated and wanted me to pick her up. I asked her what was upsetting her, what was making her nervous and she said, “Nervous about trees.” In Jason’s words, the kids’ ability to talk is going to be handy. I was able to pick Amaya up, calm her down, and then get her comfortable with the big trees. We had a great time at the park!

Daddy is doing a fantastic job priming the kids for ball cards. They’re already obsessed.

And we rounded out our weekend with a Sunday afternoon walk. Sammy wanted to stay in with Jason so Nana, Papa and I took Steven and Amaya on a walk around the neighborhood.

We loved having you here, Nana & Papa!!

Just a few more highlights from earlier in the week.

Music class!

Sammy, before we asked him to smile.

Sammy, after we asked him to smile.

My children eating their food with no hands. I don’t know. They might be channeling Sally.

Steven and Amaya rubbing Sammy’s back.

The morning devastation to the playroom.

Steven, this week!

Steven is so imaginative these days. Here he was having his monkey play the piano. He reads books all the time and tells stories about the pictures. He says hi to everything. Trees, cars, animals, every character in his books. He turns his food into objects that he’s eating – boats, cows, cars, trucks. I love it.

Sammy, this week!

The kids were in bed when I got back from taking Nana and Papa to the airport. Amaya was crying so I went into the nursery and Sammy said, “Mommy got off the plane. Came home to Bubba.” Despite what Jason had told him he thought I was getting on the airplane. And then he thought I got off and came home to him. LOVE.

Smelling his feet.

Amaya, this week!

French braid!

Have a great week!

Adventure time!! Over the past two and a half years I’ve been so fortunate to build amazing friendships with other triplet moms. I can’t imagine this journey without friends who understand the ins and outs of this wild ride. We brainstorm together, share ideas, support each other and many of us have become great friends. I “met” Heather back when we were both pregnant and our babies were born within weeks of each other. Today we had the opportunity to finally meet in person! Our families met in Toledo at the Imagination Station and then went out for dinner.

The Imagination Station was awesome. The little kids section has a ton of activities including a small doll hospital, a grocery store, a tree house, and water tables. We lucked out with the grocery store because, when we packed up to head to Toldeo, Sammy was really hoping we were going to the grocery store.

Amaya tending to a baby in an isolette, just like the one she was in when she was born.

Playing with the water tables. There were a number of different set ups, all certain to soak an eager 2 year old.

Steven cared for a patient in the ambulance.

Driving a tractor!

Amaya and her buddy Hadley. I can’t believe the similarities between Amaya and Hadley. Same coloring, same size, same hair. Heather and I noticed it in photos but it was even more striking in person.

The restaurant was fun and chaotic. Everyone else there was lucky there was a back room to stick our group because we had some hangry kids when we arrived. Just loud, rambunctious and fussy. A little applesauce did the trick, though, and magically calmed 6 toddlers in an instant.

The whole gang!

It was a great day, and an exhausting one!

Even outside of our trip to Toledo it was a busy week! On Monday, Megan and Stephanie took the kids to the mall play area and for pizza and chinese food in the food court. It’s a fast and relatively easy way to get out of the house.

Tuesday was music class. It’s actually called “Play and Make Music” which is why there are so many photos of the kids playing. This week Steven and Sammy were very excited to swing in Dolphin and Caterpillar and Amaya was eager to help them out.

Mommy lending a hand.

As always, my kids are Miss Marie’s helpers.

Thursday was school. On the way to school Steven kept saying, “Bike at school. Bike at school.” Well there is a bike at school and Steven spent a good 20 minutes riding it. They have three bikes. One has a push handle for adults. One is self propelled by little toddlers. Then there’s this bike that’s too advanced for Steven to ride on is own but doesn’t have a push handle. Of course it’s the one he wanted to ride so I sacrificed my back to help him to up and down the hall again and again and again. He was in heaven!

After school we went to Boston Market. A first for us! It’s actually a great place to go with the kids. They have inexpensive kids meals with turkey or chicken, cornbread and a side and the offer milk and table service. Thumbs up!

On Friday we had our bi-weekly play date with Ben & Sam. This week we went to Ben & Sam’s house for the first time.

Watching backyard construction. The kids saw real-life cement mixer!

On Saturday, my friend Molly got married and it was an all day affair so we were lucky that Stephanie was available to babysit from 1pm- 11pm. SSA love Steffie. They woke up this morning still talking about her.

These don’t look like kids worried about waking up from their nap to find Steffie there instead of mommy and daddy.

And these don’t look like two parents who had any reason to be worried about their kids. Aren’t we all lucky!?!

So, peas. PEAS. Steven, Sammy and Amaya like to eat peas but, today, they decided all of their peas were better off on the floor. So many peas. Jason decided they could clean the peas up themselves so we got them little cups and put them to work. It’s definitely a game to them but it got the job done. No more peas for a little while.

Bath time

Lots of together time!

We’re working on smoothies as a way to add calories to Steven’s diet. The kids like emotional support while the smoothies are blending. The noise unnerves them.

Steven work up from a nap and was still tired so we cuddled for a bit. Amaya wanted in on the action and spent some time rubbing Steven’s back. They love to rub each other’s backs.

Sammy being Sammy.

Evening tv time.

Amaya went to the grocery store to get groceries for family. When she came home, she showed her purchases to her brothers and daddy.

Steven this week.

Trying to decide what he thinks about smoothies.

Megan was doing her best to convince Steven to give it a try. She was explaining that his trucks like to eat smoothies, too.

This face is classic Steven. He was agreeing with Megan about how the trucks love to drink smoothies.

Curls

Pre-bath cuddles.

Ready for a haircut from daddy! Well, sort of ready. It took some cajoling but he did great.

Adorable to the extreme. We put baseball highlights on tv and Steven put on his baseball hat and then went into the playroom to get his baseball bat and tee.

He’s ready for baseball season.

Sammy this week.

Cheese!

Oh, sad about something. Sorry Bubba!

Amaya this week.

Amaya’s focus can be incredible. She was putting small blocks in this container, taking them out, & putting them in again. When she’s busy with a task of her choosing, she’s intense.

Have a great week!

This weekend, Nana came to visit and brought Auntie with her! A sister trip to see Steven, Sammy and Amaya. We’re so lucky! It was Auntie’s first time out to MI since SSA were born and it was a thrill to have her with us. When Steven went up to nap on Friday he was awake for a while talking. “Nana. Auntie. Mommy go get. Auntie come home.” LOVE.

It was quite the treat to wake up from naps to Nana and Auntie! Steven was so funny. He just kept silently looking back and forth between them.

Looking at these photos, it’s hard to believe it took the kids a few minutes to warm up.

The kids were obsessed with photos on Auntie’s iPad. Steven, in particular, couldn’t get enough of a photo of Auntie’s car buried under snow.

Saturday we went to the Ann Arbor Hands On Museum. It was only our second visit and the last was in July so it’s was neat to see how differently the kids explore the space at this age. Aunt Anita was Steven’s buddy, I was with Amaya and Nana was with Sammy.

Amaya was incredibly independent at the museum. She’d look for me know and then but spent a good portion of the visit just exploring and playing on her own.

Lunch out in Ann Arbor after the museum visit.

Nana’s regular seat in the van. She did a great job keeping everyone awake until we got home!

We had lots of downtime in the house, too.

We capped off the weekend with brunch at Deadwood. This was the first restaurant I ever went to with Steven, Sammy and Amaya back when they were 3 or 4 months old. Jason and I have been back with the kids many times and even Nana has been 4 or 5 times. Good food, great space and welcoming staff. We can’t do much better!

Steven, playing hide & seek with his menu. He was giggling and giggling and giggling.

Daddy had some fun times this weekend, too.

Watching baseball’s season opener with his boys.

He helped them take good care of baby Jenna.

And Daddy went to Target with the kids!! He needed some clippers to cut Sammy’s hair and asked who wanted to go with him. The answer was EVERYONE. So I stayed home and Daddy had an adventure with his favorite trio.

Of course it involved presents…

…and food.

After dinner, Daddy got down to business. Sammy was a little nervous but Jason did an awesome job getting him comfortable with the clippers. Ideally he’ll be able to use scissors, as well, but he just ordered bigger clippers to allow for a longer cut.

The finished product – short-haired Sam Man!

Next up, the Bobes. Hopefully with scissors. Here he is showing off two of the Target presents, and elephant and Mickey, to go with the cool truck in the photo above. Amaya picked the elephant, Sammy picked Mickey and Steven picked the truck.

More from the week…

Fun bath time!

At their specific request, watching Mommy play a basketball game on my phone.

Pile-on!

Fun at music class.

Three Bees watching Mother Goose Club

Amaya was rubbing Sammy’s back. She can be so nurturing. It’s on her terms, but she can really take great care of her brothers when she wants to.

This picture cracks me up.

Steven this week!

Patting Jenna on her back after he tucked her in and then telling everyone, “shhhhhh.”

Sammy this week!

Sammy spent a long time working on my zipper. His concentration is incredible.

Amaya this week!

Have a great week!