Yes, I AM Lucky

We all went to Costco today and of course, the babies attract a fair bit of attention.  I'd say the most typical comment I get is: "wow, you must have your hands full!".  Today though, one lady said "wow, you are so lucky!" How great to hear a positive comment... and it got me thinking... that yes, I AM very lucky.  I have four beautiful children and with just a few more days left before Christmas, I can hardly wait to see their eyes light up with all the magic of the holidays. 

And speaking of beautiful children, I have some great photos of them to share!  A few weeks ago, I finally made arrangements to have some family photos done so that I could send out Christmas cards.  I think I had left it to the last minute because I was dreading doing a photo shoot - I had visions of spending hours acting like a fool, desparately trying to get all the kids to look at the camera and look somewhat happy.  Well, I was more than pleasantly surprised at how well our session went... in fact, I am still OVER THE MOON with how great our photographer was!  We arrived at the park at 1pm and after unloading four children and a stroller, walking over to a spot in the trees, setting everyone up, taking photos, and then loading everyone and the stroller back into the van... I was absolutely shocked that the clock said 1:20.  And I was even more thrilled after I saw the beautiful photos Jen took.  So I must share her blog with you - poppymallowmoon.blog.com  There's a full post from our session on there - she does fabulous work.. and is a sweetheart to boot ;)

Here are a couple of my faves:

 

Ho Ho Ho

Pretty impressive that not one child was afraid of Mr. & Mrs. Claus!  In fact, Gibsyn thought Santa was pretty funny.

They were so happy to be out and about that we spent a couple hours in the mall.  The water fountain was a big hit!  I can't get over little girls with tights and fancy shoes... they're the cutest cankles I ever saw - teehee!

Griff got a little carried away with the fountain... haha... I hope the older gentlemen in the background don't mind being apart of my blog!



I LOVE Christmas time... I have carols playing all day long, hot chocolate has become a staple, and I've let some things slide in order to make time to do some christmas crafting during nap-time/bed-time.  It's busy around here, but so warm and cheery!  And that is my excuse/explanation for the lack of blog posts ;)

Little Stars

A while ago we were asked to submit a Christmas themed photo of our kids to be featured on the cover of a quarterly magazine that comes out with the local newspaper.  I was so excited to finally see the end result yesterday!  I feel so overwhelmingly blessed to have such beautiful, healthy children!  I scanned a copy of the magazine to share:
 left to right: Fletcher, Sunny, Griffin, Gibsyn... Fletcher and Sunny were actually on the back cover - I guess its tough to fit 4 kids on the front!



They also wrote up an article about our family.  My interview with the journalist was very casual and conversational... I thought we were just chatting and that he would ask me some formal questions at some point.  Turns out our "chat" was the interview and so I feel like my quotes are maybe not as informational slash intelligent as I would have liked to sound... haha, then again, I guess that is a more realistic interview! I'm just a regular mom who has had far too many brain cells sucked up by far too many umbilical cords.

Happy 10 Months Babies!

The babies are 10 months old today!

We brought out the play kitchen for them and it has been a big hit...

Yesterday Fletcher had an appointment with a pediatric cardiologist from Alberta Children's Hospital who hosts a clinic in Medicine Hat once a month.  Our pediatrician was concerned about the shape of Fletcher's heart (it looked slightly elongated on a few chest x-rays) so he wanted the cardiologist to check him out. We were very relieved to find out that his heart is perfectly healthy and although it may be slightly mishapen, it works just fine.  Here's a picture of my little red-haired boy... my handsome AND HEALTHY little man:

And my other two handsome (and GOOFY) boys... acting like "gangstas" after dinner tonight:

Sea Turtle!

Today Griffin had his last swimming lesson... he started off a little timid in the water but this week he got really brave and tried his best to do everything his instructor asked.  I was so proud of him!  Here he is with his report card... he passed!  Next up - Sea Otter! 

What do you mean it's NOVEMBER already??!

I've been saying, "I can't believe it's <insert month here> already?!!" ever since I had the babies back in January.  This year has gone by faster than any other... I was looking at these pictures that I took yesterday and I just can't get over these big kids I live with!  They are growing up so quickly and although I often find myself thinking, "oh, if only they could walk, we'd be able to do more things", or "if only they'd cut out their morning nap, maybe we could get out more" and so on, and so on.  But then I look at these pictures and think where are my tiny little babies??! Before I know it, they'll all be in school and I'll be missing baby cuddles.  Another tough thing about triplets... you get baby overload for a year and then suddenly, all your kids are grown up all at once! 

I am quite certain that December will be here before I know it.... better get started on Christmas!!!



Gibs, Fletcher, Sunny - practicing standing!

 I just love how they all look so different... different features, sizes, PERSONALITIES!

The girls really like cuddling their teddy bears... well, Sunny likes to scream into her bear's fur, but I think that's her cuddling... haha! 

Couple of cuties - Griffin showing his buddy Beau how to play word games on my iPhone. 



BARF-O-WEEN

You can probably tell by the title what kind of a Halloween I had this year.  I woke up in the middle of the night with an awful stomach flu that lasted much longer than seemed fair.  I was soooo excited to take the kids out for Halloween - they had the cutest costumes to show off!!  So I dragged myself out of bed that afternoon, snapped a few photos, stopped at a few houses, then passed out in my bed, fully clothed, at 7pm.  Don't worry, I was lucky enough to have Natalie, Tara, Krista, and Troy to care for the kids that day.  All of whom eventually experienced the same nastly flu (along with their families).  I feel terrible for spreading it around :(   We are just starting to feel normal again!

So, the pictures aren't great, but I'm glad I got some.  Now I'm thinking I could probably get them to squeeze into these costumes next year too... it'd probably be even cuter when they can walk around in them!

Here's my little cowboy and his baby farm animals....


Sunny the moo cow, Gibby the lil piggy, and Fletcher the fluffy duck






And in their outfits from Auntie Krista... I love these little skirts with tights... wish there was another occasion they could wear them for!

What a Week

Its been an interesting, busy, and tiring week!

Last Saturday, Griffin came down with a terrible flu and couldn't keep anything down.  Then on the Sunday, Fletcher and Gibsyn both got their first tooth.  And on Monday, I took Fletcher to a walk-in clinic because he was very wheezey.  The girls were also sick, but I always worry when it comes to Fletcher's breathing.  Turns out I had reason to worry, as they admitted him to the hospital right away.  He and I spent the night there and he seemed a lot better the next day so the doctor let us go home on pass for the night.  When we returned Wednesday morning his chest sounded a lot better so we were officially discharged.  He has to use a nebulizer 4 times a day for two weeks, but I'm so happy that we are able to do that at home and it has really helped him breath easier.  The hospital brought back bad memories for both of us and I was so torn since Griffin was still getting over the flu and I really wanted to take care of him as well.  Thankfully my mom and Troy took very good care of him and the girls!
Wednesday was also the babies 9 month mark.  They are currently weighing in at 19.5lbs for Fletcher, 17.5lbs for Gibsyn, and 16.5lbs for Sunny.  None of them are crawling yet, but I have a feeling somebody will soon!
Also Wednesday was Griffin's first non-parented swimming lesson.  He was a little nervous but put on a brave face and did pretty good - it'll be interesting to see what he thinks this week!

Here are a couple pictures from the week... they're pretty random, but I'm tired and I just can't do any better right now ;)

Fletcher loving on Sunny

Cuddling on the couch in the morning

A good look at the size difference between Sunny and Fletcher!

Fletcher getting some extra TLC from daddy :)

Sippy cup time!

One night Troy and I stopped running around for a moment and looked around our house... we shared a good laugh and took a quick photo of the chaos we are living in. Hahaha... we did clean up after but I thought it was a good reflection of this past week.

Soothers

The babies are already starting to fight over toys and one of the most coveted items seems to be the soother... not the soother that belongs to them, but the soother attached to the baby beside them! 

Water Run

This past Saturday we had a great time completing the 3km walk/run to help raise money to bring water to people in Kenya.  I really hadn't expected to be able to raise a whole lot of pledges since I don't have much time to go collecting... but thanks mostly to this blog I suspect, I was able to hand-in $700!  Thank you so much everyone who donated: Auntie Carolyn, Auntie Shirley, Auntie Deanna, mom & dad, Mila, Natalie, Pam, Nathan, Linda, Tara, Jade, Donna, Deb, Krista, and Troy!  You guys are all awesome!  My friend Mallory, who has 5 month old triplets, asked me to join her for this... her dad is actually going to Kenya this week to drill more wells and bring food to the people there.  It was so nice to know exactly who and what was going to happen with all the money raised - just under $50,000 total!  Here's a shot of Mallory and her kiddos along with myself and my kids!  It rained for two days before the race and then that day it was gorgeous out...

Little Buddies

Triplets are a lot of work (in case I haven't said it enough already), but boy is it fun watching them interact with eachother.  They're really starting to play now that they're sitting up really well.  Here's a short video of them "talking" to one another.  Sooooo cute!!

Water Run Update

For those of you interested in pledging us for the water run, here are some instructions for how to donate online:
Go to http://www.giving.runningroom.com/hm/ and click on Pledge an Athlete... Enter Christa Aadland in the search box and hit search. Then click on my name once it appears and you'll see a button to Sponsor. Donations over $20 will be issued a tax receipt. Thank you so much to those of you who have donated already or plan to do so!

Looking for Pledges

On October 8th, the babies and I (and our big stroller!) are registered to run/walk in "The Water Run 2011".  My friend Mallory asked me to join her and her 4 month old triplets in the race.  The EIGHT of us should be quite the sight!  Sooooooo.... I'm currently collecting donations... the money will be used to bring clean water to the Turkana people of Northern Kenya.  For more information, you can visit http://www.thewaterrun.ca/   If you are interested in donating, please let me know (either comment here, or message me on facebook, send me an email, give me a call... whatever's easiest!) 

Last time I visited Mallory, we tried to snap a picture of all 6 babies, but of course, one of them was sleeping.  She has two boys and a girl, so we should have some fun playdates in our future with three girls and three boys!  Here's a pic of 5 of them...

Gibsyn, Sunny, Fletcher, Tatum, Hudson (missing from photo: sleepy head Nixon)

 

First Day of Preschool

I had been looking forward to Griffin being able to go to preschool.  He was excited and I thought it'd be nice for him to get out of the house and do some "big boy" activities.  Last night however, I suddenly became overwhelmed with the idea of him now becoming a "school kid" and feeling like he is now sprinting down the path towards adulthood.  I know it may sound a little silly, since he is only going two mornings a week, but still, I'm sure you moms out there understand these feelings... right?  If he had shown any indication of discontent, I probably would have pulled him out and waited until next year.  After all, he still has two years to go before kindergarten.  However, he was sooooo excited to go this morning and I choke up just thinking about how proud I am of him.  I was terrified of starting school as a kid (actually I was terrified of starting anything new) and so to watch my excited little boy march into his classroom filled me with admiration.  Although I could tell he was a bit intimidated, he plastered a nervous smile on his face and bravely gave me an extra 4 or 5 hugs and kisses and went and sat down with the other kids.  He was beaming when I picked him up 3 hours later.  And now I can't help but wonder... how on earth will I deal with my three babies starting school one day??!

How cute are little kids with back packs??!

Come on mommy!

In his classroom... what a little man :)



Cutie Pies

I think the babies have started to hit that awesome age where they start to become a little less work and A LOT more fun!  They are 7 1/2 months now and starting to sit on their own and enjoy playing with toys and eachother.  Plus, they sleep pretty good now and have somewhat of a nap schedule happening... which means more breaks for me!

Here are some pictures taken one morning once everyone was up... it was a pajama party in my bed! 

Griffin entertaining them all:

Trying to get them all to smile... come on Sunny!

There we go!

Gibsyn trying out Griffin's hat... she thought she was pretty funny!

Sunny has been a lot "sunnier" these days... she's such a cutie:

Fletcher after eating... his new favourite past time!

And a picture of Griffin when he was the same age as the babies are now... such a cutie pie!  Man they grow up too fast!