October 2022

 I’ve been meaning to update for a while but I get distracted by something else. I have about an hour before the kids come home from pre-school and there are 100 things I could be doing but I am committed to doing a blog post! So here I am. Coffee in hand, fall candle going, peace and quiet. 

We had a fun and busy summer. The triplets finished their first session of pre-school and the end of July, and had all of August off. They loved school, their bus driver and it was so nice to keep our routine for the summer. Some highlights from the summer were our trip to Duluth to go see Thomas the train, staying in a hotel, riding the train in Osceola with Toms family, the Dakota county fair, a few parades, and lots of backyard splash pad fun.

School started again in Sept and the triplets are now in separate classes. It took me a minute to come around to it but I am SO glad we separated them! They still go at the same time, but we are lucky they had 3 classes so they could each get their own class and teacher. When they started pre-school in February right when they turned 3, they were in a smaller class with kids that needed extra help. After the summer, the teacher thought that Molly and Sam would be able to be moved into the mainstream class but that Elliott could still use some additional classroom support. We fully agreed with that, so Elliott is still in the smaller classroom with his teacher from last year (who we love!) and Molly and Sam are in larger classes. Elliott has done amazing without his siblings and his teachers and speech therapist are so impressed with his skills. He has a tendency to fade into the background with the big personalities of his siblings so it’s been so fun to see him really come into his own and make so much progress. Haven’t heard yet but we are hoping he will be able to go into a mainstream class for 4K!

Sam loves his teachers and friends at school, and so does Molly. Mollys teacher has said she’s doing great and is so sweet. We don’t always see the “sweet” side of her so that was nice to hear ;) Their teachers work together and they mostly do the same things which is nice. They come home every day with projects and stories, it is so fun! My only complaint about school is that they are home by 10:30 AM and we pretty much have the entire day left. The days are longgggggggg. No one is really napping any more but we try to get some quiet time in. When they come home it’s like an explosion of chaos! They all come tumbling off the bus trying to get the first word in ;) 

I thought it would be fun to do some facts about each of them. I read back to my previous blogs and there is so much I’ve already forgotten. Crazy how I spend pretty much all day everyday with them and I still don’t remember. 

Elliott -

Favorite color: RED

Favorite food: pizza

Favorite toy: anything Mickey! 

Favorite movie/TV: Mickey Mouse or paw patrol 

Favorite person: DAD. The love this child has for his dad is unmatched. I am his favorite if dad isn’t around but the minute dad comes home he is helping him take his shoes off, putting his work tablet away, doesn’t want to leave his side. ❤️

He still doing speech therapy at Fraser. After talking to his teacher, and dealing with some challenging at home behavior, we are pretty certain he meets the criteria for autism. It has been an up and down journey as a mom. Somedays I feel like it’s OK and that he will be just fine. Other days, I feel defeated and wish that I could change things for him. I don’t mean to write that for pity.. I just mean I want the best for him and seeing him struggle to be able to articulate his emotions and regulate himself is tough. I am so glad we have taken a proactive approach on all of this though as he has made amazing progress!

Sam - (there is another Samuel in his class, so the teacher asked if he would go by Sam, which is fine! I still use both names so when people ask I don’t know what to say! I guess we will see what he decides!) 

Favorite color: YELLOW. This child is obsessed with all things yellow. 

Favorite food: hot dogs/Mac and cheese/CANDY 😵‍💫

Favorite toy: cars, trucks, trains… anything marketed for a boy he loves it. 

Favorite TV/movie: Blippi or Gabby’s dollhouse 

Favorite person: whoever is with him that moment ;) ha! Actually if he had to pick I’d say his cousin Jaykey! He loves everyone… Mr social butterfly, the class clown and biggest charmer. 

Sam is my most challenging child… because he is so similar to me. He wears his heart on his sleeve and doesn’t mask a single emotion. He is LOUD, and loves his people hard. He can very stubborn and screams a lot when he doesn’t get his way. I have to really work on my patience with him as he pushes my buttons! But he is so fun. He makes a trip to the store memorable and fun for us all. As my mom says “he has the music in his soul.” He loves to laugh and have fun. He has a let’s just say colorful vocabulary. (Thanks to his dad!!) and so we are working on not immediately saying bad words when he is upset. He goes from 0-100 fast! He is full energy from the minute he wakes up to the minute his head hits the pillow. 

Molly - 

Favorite color: pink and purple 

Favorite food: cheese roll ups/peanut butter toast (peanut butter on wheat bread. NOT toasted and 2 separate pieces not put together like  sandwich) That is her personality in a nutshell ;) 

Favorite Toy: little people animals, stuffed animals. Skye and chase are her favorite 

Favorite movie/TV: paw patrol, Bubble Guppies, curious George 

Favorite person: me or my dad. She loves her grandpa so much! She tells people though that I am her best friend ❤️ 

Molly loves doing things that take a lot of detail. She loves doing art projects (NOT my strong suit!) cutting, gluing, painting. She loves to take her plastic animals and wash them in the sink, loves scribble scrubbies and playing with her “pups” which are the mini paw patrol action figures. Anything that is small and detailed she will play with for hours. She plays independently so well. She has an order to everything though and gets VERY upset when her brothers mess up her stuff. She will allow Elliott to play with her but she typically does not want Sam to play, ha! She loves makeup and going through my bathroom drawers. I will many times find random things from my bathroom drawers in her room. My deodorant, q-tips, my contacts.. haha! I am really excited about her being in school with some girls, I think she needs some girlfriends in her life. She is a total night owl and would stay up till 930/10:00 if we let her.

Funny things/quotes lately.. 

Molly “hand washing is very important” 

Sam “I have big muscles I flex!” 

Elliott “we don’t hit people or friends” 

I am still working on getting a decent routine down once they get off the bus. Tues/Thursdays we’ve been going to the gym after school. Mon/Wed we are usually home. Fridays they don’t have school but we typically will go the gym and then do something. The last 2 Fridays we’ve gone to the zoo, which is something they love to do! 

I’ve been working out consistently for about 6 months now and finally feel like I have a good schedule for myself. Strength training 2-3 days a week and cardio (running) 2 days. It works and I am happy to have some goals to focus on. I am running a 5K in a few weeks! I definitely feel stronger and it’s good for my mental health to do something for me. Bonus that the kids love the Y childcare so it makes going easy. They also know that mom does her exercises so I feel like I am instilling good health my habits in them! 

Tom and I celebrated 8 years married last month! I can’t believe it. We got to spend the day together and reminisce about when we had money and free time ;) haha! So thankful for Tom and the work we’ve put into our marriage!

If you’ve made it this far (hi mom!!) congrats ;) I just need to say that this is the hardest part of parenting this far. If you have older kids don’t roll your eyes I am sure there’s more tough times ahead… I am not THAT naive! 3 years old has challenged me more than I expected. I was told oh just wait till they turn 3… (super helpful advice by the way.. NOT) BUT I was not expecting it to rock me the way it has. I am finding myself struggling big time with the emotions and the negotiating every little decision. There are so many parenting styles and we are working on finding the one that works best for us and the kids… it’s HARD. They do not respond to the same kinds of punishments or incentives so we are having to change our approach and it can be draining!! I feel defeated and frustrated many days. Not to say there isn’t huge joys in the stage but most of the time I feel like I am not winning. It’s really challenging. I know I don’t need to say this but I love my kids so damn so much and I want them to be the best they can and at times it feels like I am screwing up at every turn. I know deep down that I am a good mom and that Tom is a good dad and they are loved and well taken care of.  But…. mom guilt is real and sometimes it all just hits me. Molly and E aren’t potty trained, Sam saying naughty words, them misbehaving and being wild in public (shout out to the cashier at the dollar tree who told me and I quote “I had 7 kids and not one acted like this” 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫.) I am trying to give myself grace and remember that even though we are the parents-  we are being taught ourselves by them! This rant is not so that people will feel bad for us or for attention it’s just honest thoughts about this particular stage. Molly, Elliott, Samuel, if you find yourself reading this ever.. just know that I am so proud and inspired by you three everyday and I am thankful that you are here to teach me and grow with me.