The week started with Grandma and Nancy holding down the fort during the first part of the day, before Rosie starts her shift at 3:30pm. The timing was perfect because Nancy was already coming from the University of Iowa to stay with Sherry so the kids had two awesome caregivers Monday through Wednesday.

FaceTime with Aunt Ouize, Uncle Todd and Abe

Steven and Sammy are working on a play doh project together.

On Tuesday the kids brought all sorts of fun Thanksgiving crafts home from school!

Rosie, wrangling Bobo

On Wednesday, Nancy stayed home with Sammy and Amaya while Grandma Sunshine took Steven to PT with Meredith.

A slide for 3!

Building a blue bus

Cuddles with Rosie

Sammy, the firefighting ballerina

Happy Thanksgiving from my sweet little turkeys!

Aunt Ouize, Uncle Todd and Abe arrived around 11pm on Wednesday night and were ready to play when SSA woke up on Thanksgiving morning.

Aunt Ouize brought crafts that kept the kids occupied for hours. Especially Amaya! She just sat there and glued and glued and glued.

My children watching a performance from Cats. I will admit I teared up a little. Oh! And this year they’re finally old enough to appreciate the parade. Steven, in particular, loved the balloons.

Doesn’t everyone pee with a bike helmet on?

Pilgrim Sammy!

Lunchtime with Aunt Ouize

Selfies!!

Even after naps, the craft table was the place to be.

Steven, modeling his bedazzled pilgrim hat.

Amaya loves the men in her life. She’s cuddled up to Uncle Todd and Abe all weekend.

On Friday morning Steven was oddly lethargic. He actually fell back to sleep in my arms shortly after I got him up.

Little face.

I think his morning milk perked him up because he was fine for the rest of the day.

I had the day off from work so we had a lazy PJ day at home. Amaya was clingy and fussy most of the day but we did have a few fun shenanigans.

Amaya is peeing on the potty like a champ. She hasn’t had an accident in days and it holding it really well. Pooping on the potty is more of a challenge which, I suppose, can be expected. I made the mistake of giving her my iPad to keep her on the potty to keep trying. That was a 2 hour experiment that I won’t repeat. She kept asking to sit on the potty for the sole reason of using my iPad. I had to shut that down pretty quickly.

On the potty trying to poop. I asked her to make her “trying to poop face”, lol.

Steven, Sammy and Amaya love helping me make eggs.

In the afternoon, I went to the movies while Sherry and then Rosie held down the fort.

Steven’s magnatile creation.

Pushing Big Monkey in the stroller.

Bike rides!

And here’s sweet Baby Taco! Over a week old already! She just needs to maintain her temp and pass her car seat test. If all goes well, she’ll be home on Tuesday!

Saturday morning we have Playroom Pancakes for breakfast which always makes for a nice, lazy start to the day. This morning, Steven decided to actually cook his pancakes in his kitchen and Sammy and Amaya came over to help.

When you’re two, packing paper makes for all sorts of adventures.

With the holiday, we’ve had a few days at home so it was time to get out. We decided to check out Tiny Town, the location we picked for SSA’s 3rd birthday party in January.

So much fun! There’s a chalk wall, a salon, a pet hospital, a grocery store and a construction room. The center area has all sorts of fun toys to play with including a ball pit and a trampoline.

Amaya knew that letting go of the grocery cart would mean it was up for grabs so she held on to it while she rode on the car.

Definitely a good pick and somewhere we’ll visit again, even outside of their birthday party.

Aunt Ouize, Uncle Todd and Abe were back to the Land of Cheltenham during lunch and got to help out with hair cuts. After the original hysterics, the boys are doing great!

Sammy, cuddling with Grandma before his haircut.

Sammy’s turn!

When Steven and Sammy were done with their haircuts we started cleaning up but Amaya wasn’t having it. She wanted her haircut, too! Daddy gives the best pretend haircuts.

I love how Amaya is looking at Jason here.

For dinner we had the opportunity to go out for dinner with Todd’s brother and his family. Amaya wanted salad with chicken and the boys wanted cheeseburgers. In the end, Steven picked apart his bun and ate none of his meat but it turns out he loves malt vinegar. Sammy had 2 bites of his burger and grazed everyone else’s food. Amaya skipped the chicken in favor of salad with ranch, ketchup and honey mustard for dressing and then ate 1/2 of my ahi tuna wrap. Total toddlers at mealtime. (Maybe with the exception of the ahi tuna.)

Amaya did great with the potty at the restaurant but she’s giving us a run for our money. She went five times while we were there.

This morning Rosie joined us again to continue training on our daytime routine. Rosie has been a great fit for our family. The kids love her and she manages to walk the line between very caring and firm. She even got Amaya to poop on the potty for the 2nd time. It takes a lot of patience which Rosie has in spades. Thankfully.

Building on Steven 🙂

Sam-urai is back with a pony on top of his head, watching Grandma Sunshine drive away.

All morning the kids took turns combing my hair.

When Amaya wears this shirt, Jason calls her “flashdance”. So cute.

A mommy pile-on

Amaya, doing Sammy’s hair

Playing piano with music man, Daddy

During lunch, Nana and Ames arrived! Nana is helping hold down the fort this week and Ames is in town for business and staying the night with Team Cline.

The kids helping Nana unload groceries.

The kids clamoring for cheese sticks.

It was cold, but a sunny, crisp kind of cold so we went out for a short walk. Steven was afraid of the lawnmowers and of course a guy was out on his ride-on so Steven wanted to be carried the entire time. The kid is getting heavy! And of course Amaya only wanted to hold the hand I was carrying him with. Life with toddlers.

Sammy, Nana and Ames holding hands on the walk.

When we got back, Steven was slow to relinquish Nana’s gloves.

And then the 6 of us went out for dinner. We had bad, slow service but a good time out together. The bonus was that Amaya only used the potty 2 times, not 5!

That’s it for this week! Have a good one!

Baby Taco arrived this week in dramatic fashion! I got a call from Megan on Wednesday afternoon to tell me that her water broke. What!?!? It wasn’t time yet! In fact, Megan was just 33 weeks and 1 day pregnant, a day past the gestation I delivered Steven, Sammy and Amaya. No one saw this coming.

Megan rushed off to the hospital and I started rallying the troops (Grandma Sunshine, Nana and Rosie) to cover care for the kids because this was not the plan.

The hospital confirmed that Megan’s water broke and she settled in for some time on hospital bed rest. Baby Taco had other plans, though, and arrived early in the morning on Thursday, 11/17. Sweet Baby Taco. Everlee as her mommy and daddy call her.

She’s doing well and is a feeder and grower in the NICU for hopefully not too much longer. Megan is a pro at this after caring for SSA when they were still in the NICU and you can see from these photos how well motherhood suits our wonderful, wonderful May May. We are all so thrilled to share this journey with the Wright family.

Today Megan and Mike came by to pick up something at the house. This was all a whirlwind for the kids because Megan left at nap time on Wednesday and obviously didn’t come back to work. I’m so glad they were able to see her. Sammy said, “If Baby Taco isn’t in your belly, are you getting littler.” Good use of opposites, Sammy!

Steven and May May. Look at that love.

Jason and I are very lucky to have an incredible village around us as we cobble together care until Rosie can start full time. Grandma Sunshine and Nana immediately came to the rescue for which we say THANK YOU. <3

Earlier this week we got the kids first school photos! “Here, hold a pumpkin.”

It’s hard to believe but Nana was still here last Monday. That feels like a lifetime ago! Megan and Nana took the kids to Funtastic for open play.

Nana helping Amaya wash her hands after using the potty.

Tuesday morning I took Nana to the airport and Steven was a little concerned I was going on an airplane so I sent this photo to Megan to show Steven that I was just working in my office after the airport run. It did the trick!

Play doh continues to be all the rage in our house.

Steven made a band-aid for his hand.

Little miss fashionista decided to try on my low heel boot.

Then she added a backpack.

On Wednesday, Megan took Steven to PT like it was a normal day. NOT A NORMAL DAY! This is the last photo Megan took for us between the birth of her baby and the end of her maternity leave. I know that might not seem like a big deal but Megan and I have been a team since before SSA even came home from the NICU. I’ve never really parented without her! And that is not at all to suggest there’s a lack of confidence on my part. I’m mom and I’ve got this. But Megan, Jason and I are a well oiled machine and it’s a big adjustment.

Wednesday afternoon it was Grandma Sunshine to the rescue! Sherry came from Lansing on Wednesday afternoon to hold down the fort Thursday morning and Friday morning until Rosie arrived.

This is totally random, but I realized that the kids can eat whole apples now. Maybe they could have for a while but this was the first time we didn’t slice the apples for them. Steven needed his peeled a bit. The skin was a little tough for him.

On Thursday, SSA were happy kids at home with Grandma. They didn’t skip a beat!

Thursday was also prematurity awareness day which is always a meaningful time to take stock on how far Steven, Sammy and Amaya have com The timing couldn’t be more perfect as it was also Baby Taco’s birth day. 33 weekers rock!

We had amazing weather at the end of the week and Rosie made a point to get the kids outside to enjoy these last few days of fall temperatures.

Friday morning, Sherry and I woke up early to take Steven for his cardiac echo. Because Sherry had never been to the kids’ school, the easiest plan was for us all to go to the appointment and then all drive to school together.

The typical morning scene is Amaya on the potty with her brothers close by.

Sammy and Amaya were so patient while they waited for Steven. I think they’re getting good at waiting for Steven’s various appointments!

Just like with his ekg, Steven was beside himself at the idea of taking off his shirt. The night before we’d watched a youtube video of a child getting the procedure but he was still very upset. Our compromise was that he wore his zip up hoodie during the test. It was all he needed to get comfortable.

And then, after the test and confirmation that everything is looking good, it was off to school! Grandma practiced walking all 3 kids in on her own. We’re lucky to have such good listeners.

Friday afternoon everyone played outside in 70 degree weather and said a final farewell to fall.  Boooooo.

Toddlers goofing around before dinner.

Saturday was a BIG day for Amaya! We’d decided it was time to move from pull-ups to big girl underwear and this was the day. My little girl is such a big girl. I really can’t believe it.

She did such a great job! On Saturday she had 3 accidents in the morning and then nothing for the rest of the day. Same for today. She had a few early morning accidents and then got into the swing of things. She’s on her way! No turning back!

Saturday morning silliness.

Jason went out to do some yard work and the kids wanted to bundle up to watch.

Amaya didn’t last long. Once it started to precipitate (rain? sleet? snow?) she was inside in a flash.

Saturday evening my former colleague Molly came by to see us before Molly and I went out for dinner.

Today Rosie came to spend the morning to start learning the routine for the early part of the day. The kids love her and she’s great with them. We really lucked out!

Playing “pat clap” with Sammy.

Cuddling my Amaya.

Steven’s turn for the big backpack!

Helping Daddy with laundry.

UGH. So, Sammy’s transition to his own room has not gone well. He’s a hot mess at bedtime and wakes up every night around 11pm and 5am. It’s awful. We thought it might be because he’s not so ready to be on his own so we moved him back in with Steven and Amaya. Either something else is going on or the past 3 weeks have done a number on him because he’s still a wreck at bedtime and still waking up at night. I hope he works through this quickly because it’s affecting the whole house and the poor kid seems pretty miserable. 🙁

Back to three. Though, Amaya has been napping in a travel crib in her own room. I like that arrangement because I think they all nap better with fewer distractions and Amaya is most often the nap time instigator.

Finally, on Monday Jason and I met with Miss Penny for SSA’s first parent-teacher conferences!  The assessment is also for 4 year olds so there are some things the kids aren’t doing yet that aren’t age appropriate but, overall, they’re pretty much right where they should be. Their fine motor skills are very good and, as we all know, their gross motor skills still need some development.

It was interesting to hear about how they act when we’re not there. It wasn’t surprising to hear that Sammy is most likely to look for his brother and sister. Amaya just takes off to play without any concern for where her brothers are and has from day one. Steven is finally adjusting and has adapted to school.

Miss Penny told us how they needed to pair up in music class and Steven went right over to someone. On the other hand, another boy came to Sammy and Sammy burst into tears. My bubba.

It was also fascinating to hear about how quiet Amaya is in school. She’s a total chatterbox at home but is just starting to talk in school. I guess it makes sense. Everything is on Amaya’s terms. 🙂 Oh, and I absolutely love that when asked if she’s a boy or a girl, Amaya said she’s a “lady”.

Have a great week and a wonderful Thanksgiving!

It’s been a busy week. I was in NM for work Tuesday through Thursday and Nana came to visit on Friday. We went to a fire station, celebrated Baby Taco at Megan’s shower and went to a pet show!

Monday was PT where Steven worked on a puzzle while suspended in this net. Megan said he was absolutely exhausted afterward.

Cheering on their brother.

 

This week, Amaya and Sammy both got to take turns riding cars in the PT gym.

Monday afternoon, the nice weather continued and Rosie got the kids outside.

Tuesday, the kids had school and a quiet afternoon at home. Here’s Miss Fashonista in her classroom.

My brave with Sally is getting braver. I’m so glad she’s feeling more at ease with the kids. Now, if only she’ll let them pet her more regularly.

Playing with the car tower on Wednesday.

SSA were carrying Julia Giraffe “to the doctor”. Steven also likes to give his stuffed friends pretend “pokes”.

Sammy’s been fighting a cold for even longer than I have. He had a particularly bad morning on Thursday but rebounded after some tylenol and a good nap. My poor Bubba.

We’re on such a play doh kick lately! I’m going to need to get more, soon, and I think the kids are about ready for some more advanced play doh accessories. I can’t wait until they’re ready for the barber shop!

He put the roof on.

Apparently Sammy had more interesting things to do than play with play doh.

Bath time! The kids’ first bath in their new bathroom. It doesn’t look a bit different from the photos, does it?

And here I am! Home with my kiddos! There’s nothing like Steven, Sammy and Amaya snuggles after days away.

On Friday, Nana came! Yay!! The first order of business was a trip to the grocery store with Nana and Rosie.

In preparation for Baby Taco’s baby shower, on Saturday morning we all took a trip to Babies R Us. It’s pretty amazing we got out of the store without any stuffed animals.

We’re about a week and a half into Amaya’s potty training and she’s doing great. She’s still in pull-ups but I definitely feel like she’s making progress. While we were out on Saturday we had our first experience using the potty in the car and she did great. She’s also very good about going in public bathrooms and I’m getting used to toting the potty seat wherever we go.

After a recent CPR class Jason left a jacket at the fire station, so we stopped by to pick it up when we were out running our errands. The fire fighter on duty was awesome. He opened up the truck for us, turned on the lights, put down the ladder and gave everyone fire fighting goodies (hats, stickers, coloring books) before we left. What a cool treat for the kids! Novi Fire Station #4 rocks!

Unsurprisingly, Steven was the most interested.

Amaya and Sammy wanted to hold my hand and look from a distance.

On Saturday afternoon, Amaya, Nana and headed to the baby shower for Baby Taco!

Here’s Amaya taking stock.

In the car she told me that Hoppy was going to come to the party and sit on a chair next to her. Mission accomplished! She’s sharing her chip with Hoppy.

She spied the tower of cupcakes right away and was not going to wait to dig in.

That face. <3

We got to visit with Anna at the party!

Amaya was very interested in the presents that Megan and Mike were opening.

While we were at the shower, the boys all went to a ball card store and then the 6 of us met up for dinner out.

My mom got some photos of us all at bedtime.

Steven was showing his ball cards to Amaya.

Today, while Jason was at the office, Nana and I took the kids to the a local pet show.

Watching the birds.

Steven was the only one game for pony rides. He was nervous that the “horse would fall down” but did insist on riding the big horse, not the little pony.

Sammy was not into it today and  Amaya wouldn’t even get close.

While Nana and Sammy stayed at a dog show, Amaya and Steven checked out chinchillas, mice and bunnies.

How cute is this? When Nana and Sammy came back to us, Sammy came running to me and Steven ran into Nana’s arms. I think we’d been separated for 10 minutes.

We had a lazy afternoon at home, full of cuddles, and that’s all she wrote! Have a great week!

Last Monday Megan started off the week with a trip to the mall play space and some Chinese food for lunch at the food court. Simple pleasures for 2 years olds!

They look so big! Megan reported that Amaya polished off her entire meal. She loves egg rolls.

In the afternoon, Rosie started a week long play doh fun-fest with the kids. She made Sammy this bird (which is a lot more creative than I’ve ever gotten)!

(Deranged toddler smile.)

Amaya wanted to make her own bird!! I love it.

(Deranged toddler smile.)

And Steven did, too! I love the creativity.

(Normal smile!)

Is Amaya looking like a big kid or what?

Tuesday afternoon was nice enough to get outside. It’s been like that all week! We’re trying to make the most if it while we can.

Using the diving board to propel their friends into the water table.

Rosie taught the kids to blow bubbles. I had no idea they could do that but they’re getting the hang of it!

Yes, Amaya again. She’s obsessed with this sweatshirt from Charlie (would wear it every day) and I think the top knot that Megan did is so cute. It’s fun to play around with her hairstyles now that she actually has enough hair to do it!

Despite how bored he looks, Sammy and Amaya were as patient and interested as always during Steven’s PT.

To this Steven said, “I love it!!”

Watching Steven, Sammy and Amaya interact is amazing. They’re little people. Little creative people. Here they are together – being a car. Why not, right?

Wednesday night, chilling with my Daniel Tiger zombies.

Sally and the kids are finally, sort of starting to get more comfortable around each other. Sally on the couch with the kids was, I believe, a first for us. She’s a good big sister cat.

A visit from Steffie!

On Thursday Steven and I got up early to go get an EKG. It’s follow-up from the neurology appointment to be sure his heart muscle isn’t weak. I’d be shocked if there’s an issue but of course we’re doing the testing.

“Daddy sat in that green chair yesterday.” We have no idea if Jason actually sat in a green chair when he went to the appointment with Steven but we’re putting our odds on Steven’s memory and saying he’s right.

He didn’t want his shirt off. 🙁 Once all of the leads were on we placed his shirt on his chest and he was fine.

You get an extra friend when you get an EKG. Black bear is the new addition to our growing animal menagerie.

Our friend Bethany needed some get well wishes on Thursday and Steven, Sammy and Amaya were up to the task!!

Oh! On Wednesday we for real started potty training Amaya. We’re using pull-ups for the first few weeks but she’s definitely ready and so proud when she goes on the potty. She’s even, at times, letting us know she needs to go rather than just going on our hourly schedule. There’s no pressure, but she’s on her way!

The boys? Not so much.

Saturday we got outside again. No jackets in November! The gang is blowing bubbles. It still amazes me. I know some working moms feel like they miss out but I get such a kick of Megan, and now Rosie, giving my kids opportunities I hadn’t though of or teaching them things I didn’t think they were ready for. We have a great village and I think our family is better for it.

Sammy is giving Steven a haircut. Love, love, love.

This morning started off with an art class with Professor Daddy.

We had a birthday party for our triplet friends at Funtastic. Good ol’ funtastic! SSA are so much more comfortable there than they were a year ago. It’s pretty easy to go alone with all 3 now, even with Amaya’s potty breaks.

Finally, we rounded out the weekend with more time outside. Can you see those gorgeous fall colors in the background?

It’s hard to see how steep that hill is but they love going “high”.

And that’s our week! Have a good one!