How to know you have boys

I've noticed lately that there seem to be some sure signs that there are boys living in this house.  Granted Devyn is still young and maybe some of these things will be true of her too, but it just seems that certain things scream boy.

1.  I've pointed out to you all that our bathroom has a certain unpleasant odor because their aim is nothing short of terrible at times.  Their room also has a sort of funk.  The smell is so bizzare.  It's this mix of sweat and dirt and gross.  Yet I creep into their room every night to watch them sleep and kiss their sweet faces despite that stink.

2.  They love dirt and dirt loves them.  We're doing a lot of work in our backyard right now and the LOVE to help.  They love to shovel and push wheelbarrows and get dirty.  I clean the floors and within minutes they are covered in dirt again.  I will say Devyn is just as into dirt and digging as her brothers.

 

3.  Cars and trucks are everywhere.  I mean everywhere.  I find cars on my nightstand, in the laundry and this morning I found one in the dishwasher.  They just love to put their cars in the sink in the bathroom and "wash" them.  This picture below is of a power wheel our neighbor was throwing out.  It needs a battery.  Except it doesn't.  They called over the neighbor boys and they all took turns pushing each other around.

4.  They are helpless when asked to find something.  I can ask them to find something that is no more than 1 foot away and they can't find it.  It is somehow impossible for them to find things.  I think their brains are just programmed in a way that makes them unable to find things.  I ask Nate to find things and he can try his hardest and not find them.  I look for 3 seconds and find it.  It's so amazing to me. 

5.   They are helpers.  These boys love their sister.  Do not mess with her.  Ever.  If I step away from the table they swarm her.  They all want to make her say, "more", and then dump food on her tray.  They still call her baby and let me know when she's doing something she shouldn't.  Good luck, Devyn.  You will get away with nothing.

 

The following picture is probably one of my favorite "helper" moments ever.  I took out some paper towels to bring upstairs.  They went missing almost immediately.  No real surprise.  Later in the morning I went into the bathroom to empty the garbage.  This is what I found.  Someone took the toilet paper off the holder and put on the paper towels.  Some precious little guy thought he was helping me out.  I had to take a picture, in part because I was laughing so hard.

 

 





 

Boys are such fantastic little creatures. 

Flashback

Last week was full of flashbacks for me.  It brings back to many memories that have all been smashed into such a short amount of time.  4 years ago we were childless and hoping to be pregnant soon.  Then June started to carry new meaning....

3 years ago last week I was laying in the hospital pregnant with the boys.  I was having preterm labor.  I was taking medication in hopes of stopping labor and staying pregnant.  At that point it looked like I was either delivering very soon or if labor stopped I would be hanging out in the hospital for the next couple of months.  I was utterly depressed by that thought.  Every night when Nate left I cried.  I hated being left there.  I knew it was for the good of my babies, but it stunk.  Then miraculously labor was stopped and they decided I would be happier, sleep better, eat better and hang in longer at home.  Thank the Lord I went home.

2 years ago we were hoping to have just 1 more baby.  Our life was already crazy.  What was one more?

Then 1 very fast year ago a beautiful, feisty little girl made her way into our family.  Holding her and watching the way she sucked her thumb just minutes after being born are moments I will never forget.  Remembering the way she knew my voice brings tears to my eyes.  I held her and rocked her last week Thusrday night, the night before her birthday.  I just looked at her and wondered how that year went by so quickly.  I'm thankful we're past the long nights and figuring out what she needed to feel better.  Still, it was hard to realize my baby is 1.  She has made our family so complete.  She has wrapped her brothers around her finger.  She is a strong and noisy little girl.  (My mom claims she reminds her of me).  She has a toothless smile that will melt your heart and snuggles up to me to let me know that she is my baby. 

It's so strange to think that we're entering a new stage of life.  We're past the honeymoon/young couple stage.  We're past the deciding to have a baby stage.  We're past the expecting babies stage.  We'll never again hold our newborn child.  It's a strange feeling.  I'm sad and relieved all at the same time.  I think back to what it was like to dream about what they would look like, talk like, cry like.  Then I think about not sleeping and I don't ever want to do that again!  I suppose the end of every stage is a bit bittersweet.  So, now we welcome a new era of life. 

Happy Birthday to my sweet girl.

A look back at potty training

I thought I would take a look back at potty training for all of you.  I probably didn't talk about it much at the time because it was one of my least favorite stages thus far.  Anyone who tells you that it's easier to have potty trained kids is lying.  What it really means is you have to clean 100 pairs of pooped in, peed in undies.  You have to know where every bathroom is in every place imaginable.  You have to watch the clock so that everyone can go at the appopriate "scheduled" time.  It's like their little bladders have timers.  It's done though.  They boys have been officially trained for a while now.  They are still not all dry at naptime and bedtime, but we're making progress.  Aiden and Noah take naps in undies (although Noah still has some accidents if he's in a real deep sleep).  They will stay dry at night a couple nights a week too. Reese, not so much. 

Here's a look at what training 3 little boys looks like:

 

What you don't see is Noah peeing all over the floor.  He was too tall for the first potty we got him, so we had to get a different one that was taller. 

 

Aiden was trained first.  Then it took Noah a couple of weeks and Reese a few days.  I'm a little fuzzy on the details.  I think I mentally blocked a lot out because I didn't enjoy it at all.  My mom likes potty training.  I put it right there next to having 3 newborns at nighttime.  Terrible.  That's why she was the one who started training Aiden to get the ball rolling. 

 

We spent days just sitting on the potty and then cleaning up the pee that didn't make it in.  Days cleaning out undies and spraying cleaner on the floor to make sure the pee didn't stink the joint up.  They were thrilled when they finally went and got a mini oreo.  We decided to go big or go home.  No sticker for pee, a little cookie.  It was worth every calorie and potential cavity to get them to pee on the potty.

 

Now that they are all trained and able to hold it long enough to find a bathroom it should be great, right?  Wrong!  Somehow Noah manages to pee everywhere!  Which reminds me...how on earth is a mom supposed to teach little boys how to stand and pee?!?  I found a trick that helped immensely.  Instead of "aiming" they hold onto the back of the potty and lean forward.  No pointing needed.  It works WAY better.  The only problem is Noah like to aim and misses pretty much every time.  I clean our bathroom multiple times a week and sometimes multiple times a day and I can still catch a hint of that pee smell on a humid day.  Ugh.  I guess we'll have to retile when they stop peeing on the floor.  That's only about 16 years away. 

 

I'll share with you a final picture.  It's the first time wearing the special new undies they got when they were all trained.  Enjoy.  They'll be mad at me for this some day...

 



Learning, learning, learning....

There is an explosion of learning going on at our house.  The boys are busy learning things like colors, shapes, counting, letters and other important information like their name.   If you ask Aiden what his name is he will tell you, "Aiden James, Aiden Brouwer, Aiden James Brouwer".  It's never just Aiden.  They are learning their birthdate, town, street and address, age, mom and dad's name and all that other important information for if when we lose one of them.  They got an early birthday gift a few weeks ago that they are trying to figure out.  A bike.  They were so excited to go pick out a bike as a gift from Mimi and Papa (my mom and dad).  I asked for bikes for their birthday, but we picked them up already so they could use them all summer.  They are still trying really hard to learn how to pedal.  Nate and I agreed the other night that we are loving this age.  It most definitely comes with it's challenges and sassy attitudes, but the learning part of it is so much fun.

They are also always learning new vocabulary.  It is so hard to keep a straight face sometimes when they are learning new words or phrases.  Last week while eating somthing with BBQ sauce Noah looked at me and said, "Yum.  I love Q-Bar sauce.".  This morning Reese told me something was, "terrbible".   They talk a lot about going to "buy money".  I try to explain to them why Nate has to go to work and why I have to pay bills.  They just aren't quite old enough to get it yet.

Devyn is also learning like crazy!  In one week she went from barely able to get up on all fours to crawling.  She is suddenly completely mobile.  She crawls right to the dump trucks, play tools and any other toy that belongs to her brothers.  Figures.  She is so happy now that she can move around and get to whatever she wants.  That girl will never let anyone push her around.  She does things when she is ready.  My mom claims that sounds just like me.  Nate agrees.  She is also doing quite a bit of talking.  She says,  "Dada, Mama, go, uh-oh, no and possibly dog (that's up for debate)". 

We have had quite a lot of craziness going on here the last few weeks.  2 weeks ago Devyn woke up from a nap with a 103.7 fever.  About an hour later Aiden bit all the way through his bottom lip.  I glued it shut and the Dr said it was fine to not come in for stitches.  Phew.  Then Noah was struggling with his asthma and I had to take him in for that. That is a story in itself.  He threw up all over the room.  Gross.  Then he came down with a rash that apparently is some rare rash that they don't see very often.  Naturally.  Yet I am totally thrilled because it is warm!  After a painfully long winter we are back outdoors.  This year is by far the easiest.  We put shoes on them and out they go.  They will play as long as we will let them.  They crashed a little while ago for a nap and as soon as they are up we will go right back out.  So thankful that the cold seems to be past us!!! 

A great update!

I apoligize for my absence lately, but our schedule has been really unusual and a bit difficult.  Plus, yesterday was the big day.  It was Devyn's nephrology appoinment.

It was a quick appointment that went really well.  He was quite surprised that she had grown.  He said that when he got her blood work he was concerned mostly about the CO2 level in her blood.  It should be at least 23 and hers was 18.  That told him she had a problem with her kidneys, most likely renal tubular acidosis.  That's why he had them recommend formula for her.  He said she could has the acidosis or she could just have an immature kidney.  Either way her body isn't producing enough growth hormone and that's why she has had so much difficulty growing.  She needs the higher calorie count of formula in order to grow.  He said that he could treat her with a bicarbonate, but that it tastes horrible and has to be given 3 times a day.  He said we could also give her growth hormones, but that seemed too extreme.  So the plan is to just wait.  When she turns 1 we have to do more blood work to check her levels.  We also have to keep an eye on her growth.  At this point we don't have to make a return appointment.  We just have to have the results of the blood work sent to him for him to review.

That's it!  Such a relief.  This was a breeze compared to so many other situations we've been in.  I told the nurse that the nutritionist said she just wasn't eating enough.  She said that the CO2 level alone tells them that it is a kidney issue and not a nutrition issue.  Thank you very much!  I felt vindicated.  She had gained another 3 oz in the last 3 weeks, but it was a different scale.  So, again, I take that with a grain of salt.  All in all we're thrilled with the result of the appointment.

She grew!!!

I am so thrilled to share that Devyn finally grew!  She had her 9 month check-up at the pediatrician last Friday.  I'm pretty sure I held my breath the entire time she was on the scale.  Failure to thrive has been a tough pill to swallow.  I know that she has a suspected underlying condition (the kidney condition), but it still seems like such a judgemental diagnosis.  Anyways, she gained 2 whole pounds!  She's up to 15 lbs. 10 oz.  She also great 3/4 of an inch.  It was so exciting!

The pediatrcian walked in and was just as excited as I was when she saw her growth.  We talked and agreed that the extra calories in the formula we are giving her are a huge help.  I finally decided to switch her over completely to a soy formula.  She can't use a regular formula because of the milk protein intolerance, but the soy seems to be fine for her.  It's a difficult decision to make, but was definitely the right decision for her.  Her body needs the extra calories in order to grow.  She is also pretty much eating table food now.  It's much harder to monitor calories when they eat table food.  Baby food is easy to measure.  Having the consistent calories from formula should help her.  She still can't take as much formula as they like for a baby her age, but our pediatrician is fine with it.  She still thinks she will just be a smaller person...kind of like me.  I'm probably just shy of 5' 3".  She is now back on the charts and we are so thrilled.

When you become a parent

I've been thinking a lot lately about parenting.  When exactly do you earn that title of "parent"?  I think it kind of happens in stages. 

You of course become a parent the moment you find out you are expecting a child (or children in our case).  Before we knew we were having triplets I remember standing in front of the mirror.  I was just 5 or 6 weeks pregnant and thought to myself, "I will never look like this again".  I knew that I was about to sacrifice my body, my life in order to have a child.  It was the strangest feeling.  Little did I know how much I would sacrifice.  The strangest part is that you know it's worth every pain, every stretch mark, every difficult day. 

Then you go through difficult times and you become a parent all over again.  When Reese stopped breathing I suddenly felt myself being shoved into a new role.  I remember getting in the ambulance with him and being asked how much he weighed.  I started to sob.  I wasn't sure how much he weighed.  I guessed he was about 6 pounds (I was right).  It was such an overwhelming feeling of responsibility.  You would think that would have hit me when the boys were born, when we brought Reese home the first time or at a million other moments.  For some reason that day was when the incredibly responsibility hit me.  We were the parents standing in the corner of the ER room watching a team work on my child.  We were the parents signing waivers for our child to be operated on.  I have never felt more overwhlemed, depressed and unsure of myself.  It was exhausting.

I feel like I'm at another new stage of parenting.  Now more than ever I am at the advocacy stage.  I am learning how to fight for my children and for their safety.  I'm willing to look pushy and overbearing if it means getting answers and feeling that my kids are safe.  In the past week I wrote to a state representative about food allergies and restaurants and plan on writing to 2 more.  I stopped a neighbor on the block behind us to ask if she or anyone on her block feeds peanuts to the squirrels.  We keep finding peanut shells in our yard.  That makes our own backyard unsafe for Noah.  It is incredibly frustrating that our own home isn't completely safe.  I, of course, talked to her as a neighbor and a mother.  She completely understood and we ended up having a nice long conversation and she will now help do what she can to keep Noah safe.  (They haven't fed peanuts to the squirrels in years, so I still don't know where they are coming from!)  It's scary to reach out and talk about something I still know so little about.  But, if I don't who will?  If I let someone else do the work it may not get done. It's time for me to step up and advocate for not just my child, but others who walk this scary and uncertain road.  We have learned again and again that you can think, "Not me", but you never know when you will find yourself in a situation you could have never imagined.  It's time to step up and be the parent I want to be.