Back Country Day 4

Stoney Indian Lake to Fifty Mountain

Distance: 8.2 miles
Elevation Gain: 2,000 (approximately)
Elevation Loss: 1,700 (approximately)
Difficulty: Moderately Strenuous

Activities
Day hike to Kootenai Lake (moose)

Do you think David is starting to miss us yet?...hugs from his adorable children, his soft bed, shower and delicious home cooked meals.

Oh wait, he is probably eating better with the dried backpacking food packets than what he has been getting at home these days. And actually our shower is broken.

Will's First Words

Will learned how to say 'uh oh' this week and 'no' (witnessed by Grandma G).

I've been a bit concerned about Will because Lily and Evan were saying words and he wasn't. Although he does 'talk' a lot, maybe we just don't understand him. Lily and Evan babble more, repeating syllables and the words they know while Will says things like 'Gr ba hu Trub!' with much emotion. I think many babies don't talk until they turn one, I don't mean to rush things. It's just hard not to compare the three.

Lily and Evan have been clapping for a while now and just this week started waving bye-bye. We have been practicing clapping with Will but he is still not that interested. He prefers to flap his arms up and down or play peek-a-boo with us.

Lily has started pointing - with her left thumb. It is pretty cute, she likes to point to the animals and 'gugs' in her books and give them kisses. We got our Halloween costumes in the mail last night, and they got kisses too.

Word Tally

Lily: dada, mama, duck, gug (bug), go

Evan: dada, mama, duck, hey baby, Evan

Will: dada, uh oh, no ('na' or 'na na' when i tell him or a sibling no no)

Back Country Day 3

Glenns Lake to Stoney Indian Lake

Distance: 7.3 miles
Elevation Gain: 2,000 feet
Elevation Loss: 600 feet
Difficulty: Moderate

Activities
Puiota and Atsina Falls
Fishing

Sounds like a beautiful day - high is 63 degrees with a chance of showers, but another chilly night with low of 35 degrees. The next few days are forecasted to be sunny again.

I found this photo of Glenns Lake online.

We got a tiny cool front here in Austin, just enough to bring the high down into the 80's and have a break from the scorching heat.

Back Country Day 2

Elizabeth Lake to Glenns Lake Head

Distance: 8.3 miles
Elevation Gain: 500 feet
Elevation Loss: 400 feet
Difficulty: Moderate

Activities
Day hike to Bear Mountain Point

Evening hike to Mokowanis Lake

Fishing

Twinkle Toes

Mom and I bought Lily some adorable Pediped's tonight, my favorite baby shoes. A girl who is walking needs pretty shoes. She has almost completely given up crawling.

It's so nice to have at least one girl to play dress up with. She is going to look so smart at the birthday parties next Saturday.

Which pair is your favorite?


Nina Black Patent

Zoe Pink Metalic

Glorious Choo Choo!

I've been ebay-ing and lost two separate auctions for the Choo Choo trailers (extra car). They sold for over $100 each. I even contacted the current seller and offered him $100 for the one he has listed now. He turned me down.

I checked back at Step 2 tonight and to our good fortune they were back in stock! I ordered one more for the trio and one for Quatro at $65 each. Woo-hoo!

They should arrive sometime around the trio's first birthday, September 19th. Perfect.

Back Country Day 1

David and the guys spent the last two nights at Village End at the trail head. Today they set off into the back country.


Day 1 Itinerary:

Many Glacier to Elizabeth Lake Head

Distance: 10.1 miles
Elevation Gain: 2,480 feet
Elevation Loss: 2,518 feet
Difficulty: Moderately Strenuous

Activities
Evening hike to Helen Lake
Fishing

I checked out the weekly forecast. It looks chilly tonight, especially for sleeping in a tent. I think it's time for me to go get into my cozy warm bed with my fluffy down comforter and sleep 'snow angle' style since I have the whole bed to myself.

Cruising Together

Quick cruise before bedtime.


Baby you can share my car.


Brothers.

Goodnight ya'll.

Off into the Wilderness

David set off to Montana's Glacier National Park this morning with the guys for a nine day backpacking trip. Grizzly territory.

I hope lugging three twenty pound babies is good enough training for hiking seven to eleven miles a day in back country with a forty pound plus pack.


David packed and ready to head out. We are all up bright and early to say our goodbyes.

Chad, Brandt and David about to head to the airport. Chad M. and John T. will fly from Houston and NY and meet up with them in Montana.

All is Right in the World

Grandparents have arrived! My mom flew in from Florida on Monday and David's parents Grammy and Papa returned from their Colorado trip and visited us several times this week. They swooped in with lots of hugs and presents. Babies are in hog heaven.

Lily was showboating for Grandma G on Monday, walking back and forth across the den, pivoting, picking up toys. She was well aware of the grand attention she was getting. She wasn't the only one. Will caught on that Lily was getting more than her fair share of attention and decided to take a couple of strong steps for grandma too, looking to make sure she saw him.

Will gets so excited about his new skill that he can't contain himself and crashes.

For the record Evan has been taking a few stable steps here and there the past week or two as well. He just is more deliberate and ensures that there is a clear destination he can steadily reach before taking off. Unlike Lily's crash and burn and get back in the game technique.

Grandma G brought lots of clothes and ordered a Choo Choo Wagon! It arrived yesterday - unfortunately the third car is out of stock indefinitely. The separate Choo Choo trailer is a hot item on ebay these days. Let's hope I have the winning bid.

Papa and Grandma brought a fabulous pony on wheels. Lily was giving the horse lots of kisses today and they all enjoyed taking turns pushing or riding on the horse.

And big relief, Carmen is working out great. The babies ADORE her. Lily and Will cried when she left the other day! Lily often won't let her put her down. Carmen is very motherly and they are definitely fond of her.

I'm pretty fond of her too. The house is serene and sparkling when she leaves. Ahh. Nanny searching was very stressful and time consuming. And I'm quite relieved things have worked out so well.

Even work is going well. I'm leading an exciting new online project at Dell. More on that later once I can disclose the details.

And I can feel 'Quatro' kicking now that I've reached the half way mark for my pregnancy - 20 weeks.

Hey Baby

Evan is now saying 'hey baby', but most of the time it comes out more like 'hey bey'.

Lily is determined to walk. She keeps trying, taking a few steps then stumbling and starting over again. She gets a bit further each day and today was going well over 20 steps at a try. She must be sore from all her tumbles. She's also been a little monster having quite a few meltdowns, which is unusual for her. I think she is getting a flurry of teeth. I can feel little rough nubs peaking through.

And Will can fly.

Flying over GG bridge.

Shoes

The tunnel arrived! We had a solid thirty minutes of fun then needed something else to do. Will, Evan and Lily managed to pry open David's closet - voila! instant fun. We played with all David's shoes for another good thirty minutes before I got tired of putting them back in the closet while the babies flung them out and closed the closet. Party over.

The grandmas can't arrive soon enough, surely they will have some ideas on fun things to do.

'More'

Evan signed 'more' today at Pacha for Sarah. She was doling out bits of muffin to the trio and her son Camden while I was ordering our iced lattes. When asked, "Who wants more?" Evan signed 'more'. He did it several times. We were both surprised. I guess the signing we have been doing is beginning to sink in.

Note from our Developmental Therapist

Hey Jennifer!

I think it is a fabulous idea to immerse children in a language as early as possible, and there is no research that shows it is detrimental. Multiples can be delayed but often they communicate effectively with each other in their 'own' language. If you start to see them get frustrated simple baby sign is a way to help.

Keep me posted! Wow, almost 1 year old...I am so glad they are doing well.

MEP

Waiting for the Mail...

Can't wait for the new play tunnel I ordered to get here. I'm running out of ideas to entertain these babies.

Maybe it's just me but I think we are getting stir crazy in this house. They have so much fun when we get out. It's time to start taking them to Gymboree or music class and more playdates.

They enjoy playing in the yard, but even David and I both can't keep up with the three of them. The divide and GO, and want to put everything into their mouth. I have already fished out several acorns from tiny mouths. The squirrels are starting to get irritated.

At least we are still getting a lot of mileage from the sofa fort...

Operation Team Freas Nanny Update

Nanny #4 We found another terrific nanny who speaks English but no Spanish. The babies really enjoyed her.

It's a difficult decision to make but we are leaning towards hiring nanny #1 for the bulk of the time. She is working for us this week. Nanny #1 is great with the babies AND has the energy and resourcefulness to keep our household running smoothly. We have the laundry machine and dishwasher running all day. We are constantly picking up bottles and toys and cleaning the floors. If the nanny doesn't pitch in, I am doing it while the nanny plays with the babies.

We also still haven't given up on the idea of exposing our babies to both English and Spanish. I think speaking at least two languages is going to be increasingly important in our global society. Bilingual babies appear to have a bit of a language delay but once they start talking they speak both languages well and catch up. I don't know if being a triplet compounds the delay though. I'm going to give our developmental therapist a call today.

We would still like to hire nanny #4 for ten hours a week (if she will accept that offer). She wants a full time job but may be able to work out two part time positions. I hope so! Would love to have them both.

We feel lucky that both these nannies have a strong rapport with the babies already. I guess good nannies love babies, and they can feel that.

Birthday Party Circuit

We've been on the birthday party circuit lately. Last weekend Will and I went to Max's first birthday party. Yesterday Evan and I went to Jack's second birthday party. It was a truck themed party and they had trucks of all sizes and a big pile of dirt to play on - cool! I'm making mental notes of all these great party ideas for later.


Camden and Evan.

Evan taking a turn driving.

Goodnight

Watermelon Capers

Before we had children, I always wondered who would be the heavy – me or David? So far, it looks like David. I let the kids do things that he finds totally unacceptable, like looking into the refrigerator for a few minutes while I check my blogmates daily entries. I figure I’m wasting a bit of energy, but I’m also fostering their curiosity.

Well, today while I was reading about a fellow triplet mom and an unfortunate Sharpie magic marker incident I looked over to discover this.


Our trio had banded together to pull the watermelon out of the fridge, open the package and begin to enjoy their spoils. What a mess. You know I’m an addicted blogger when the first thing I think of is, 'At least this will make a good blog post.'


Partners in crime.

Did I mention our housekeeper Isabel just came. She left maybe an hour ago leaving us with a spotless house. I’m glad she is not here to see this violation to her clean floors.

Baby Steps

Lily walked today - twelve steps! She started walking across the kitchen, took a few steps, wobbled a bit, regained her balance and kept going. I counted them off as she went.

My mom said I walked at ten months. I didn't believe her at first but I guess it's possible, Lily turned eleven months this weekend - ten if you adjust her age for her early birth.


I made blueberry muffins tonight after work. Did you know it was possible for three eleven month olds to polish off a blueberry muffin in less than ten seconds?...after having dinner none the less. They ended up eating two. I must make good muffins.

Couch Potato

Here is Lily sitting on the sofa. It is funny how she crawls up, sits and then leans way back trying imitate us.

We had a playdate with three sets of twins at Jenny's house today. Nine babies, but it was surprisingly harmonious. Lucy was fond of Lily, giving her lots of kisses while Lily was giggling away. The kisses became hugs and progressed to tackles before the playdate was over but everyone was having a good time. Here are some action photos Jenny captured and posted on Harper and Lucy's blog. As Jenny says 'love hurts'.




More playdate snapshots...

Lily looking for Murdoch. Evan, Wilson and Lucy in the background.

Evan and Lily loved Murdoch. Should we get a dog?

I'm definitely ordering a tunnel like this one, worth hours of entertainment.

Will

Lily