Bragging Alert: Best Parents Ever?

I'm going to take a few minutes out of your day and just brag for a while.

First of all: Lil'Dude has had four straight weeks without a yellow. Pure greens and blues baby, and that's with ADHD. Of course any second now the school will probably call informing me different, but until then I am sopping this UP. He is doing so good with his reading and read a book that has been "too hard" for a while now pretty easily last night. Boom. Shakalaka. Boom.

Second: Lil'Guy is doing better. By better I mean slightly less annoyed with Lil'Miss. He loves playing with her...if he could just forget that he is annoyed with her for taking his baby spot in the family he would do amazing! There is a light at the end of the tunnel though because he WANTS her to play with them. It's like they are all watching each other's backs. It's so cute. Lil'Guy also does great in school consistently...it's just normal for him so we don't brag on it nearly enough. That's kind of crappy of us, so I'm going to now. He's super smart and a pretty all around awesome kid.

Third: Okay so this is why I decided to write the blog. This is the cherry on top of the cake. Or if you are me, the huge chocolate chunk on top of the mint chocolate chip ice cream covered in chocolate crackle and thin mints. What? I'm hungry. Anyways...Lil'Miss is doing AMAZING and now we have proof. ECI (Early Childhood Intervention) came today. She was in ECI before but in another state. We didn't really see anything concerning to warrant ECI, but decided to have them come anyways.

Well...not only does this child NOT qualify for ECI but she is on the cognitive (only test they decided to do) level of a 4 year old!! She is way ahead in speech and motor skills as well. This kid is super smart. They watched her for maybe 30 minutes and most was just us talking back and forth about how she was doing and them being curious. They were also blown away by her attachment to us and how healthy it is. She doesn't have any concerns there attachment wise (she wouldn't go to them at all until I prompted her to have them help feed the baby). That is such a beautiful thing to us. These are professionals (one worked with CPS prior to her position now) and they were almost speechless. We told them some of the prior concerns and they not only didn't see anything concerning, they went on and on about how ahead she is and how well she speaks.

See? She IS a rock star. Now we have proof.

We are willing to take all the credit too. It's our awesome parenting skillz that got her this far. You are welcome Lil'Miss.

Psh.

She really is just that smart. I mean for her to come so far in so little time just blows me out of the water. She has probably doubled her speech and I would say it's gotten at least 2 - 3 times easier to understand...in just six weeks!

Amazing.


Right now I'm riding high on this cloud I call Parenting Prowess.

If you need me, I'll be putting the finishing touches on my soon-to-be-released "How to be a Better Parent and Only Half as Awesome as Me" book. Due in stores on December 32, 2012.

If this is annoying to you, just remember Triplet Parenting Wins only happen once in a blue moon. It's about as rare as getting a good picture with all three kids smiling. While they are wearing church clothes. But less so.


This weekend is THE CHRISTMAS PARADE!!!!!! You know...THIS one. We have some very special guests coming too to visit this weekend. I'm so excited! I just can't hide it! I'm about to lose control and I think I like it. (Song in head. Your welcome. I just couldn't end the blog without giving all 3 of my faithful readers a gift from my heart.)


Oh. And Ian Peanut came back three nights ago. They are always SO excited to wake up and see him in another spot. Unfortunately due to lazy parents, he  "came back to the same spot because he loved it so much" on the second night. Oops. Okay so these parenting wins don't last that long....not unlike when that stupid Elf finally does move...it just makes it more special.

Kindergarten Thanksgiving Feast

Last Friday was Lil'Dude's Thanksgiving Feast at his school. It was so fun to go to!

I got "dessert" and was only one of TWO so the pressure was on. I wanted to do something fun for the kids and had a few ideas. I then threw out all those ideas because they were all way too much work so in the midst of finding something easier, I decided on doing cookie sandwiches.

Then I wanted to do something colorful that Lil'Dude could help with, so I turned them into monsters with eyes.

Of course, after that I went to the candy aisle and wanted to add arms and hair.

THEN I found some "candy melts" that I have had forever and decided to add mouths and teeth and fun little spikes.

Halloween-Thanksgiving Monster Cookie Sandwiches

So in the end, these bad boys took probably three times the amount of time all those "other" ideas would have. Whatevs. They really make great Halloween Thanksgiving treats for his class.

What matters most is that everyone was thoroughly impressed...I mean...uh....that the kids loved them. They had a ton of fun picking out "their favorite" monster. "Mine has THREE eyes!" and "Mine has green spikes!"

Plus they thought it was so cool that Lil'Dude helped decorate them. They all went up to him and thanked them for their cookies, which was so cute. But wrong. He just slapped some candy on them, c'mon I should be thanked. Kidding! Kind of.

Before the "feast" began, each kid said what they are thankful for. My little boy says "I'm thankful for my mom." Awwwww. Heart = melted. Then as they were waiting on their turn to get food, Lil'Miss runs up to Lil'Dude and hugs his neck and jumps all around and over him. She kept kissing his head and Lil'Dude was so proud of his sister. Everyone kept asking about her and he had the sweetest look of pride on his face as he told them her name and hugged her back. Adorable!

I had a great giggle about giving the kids cookies topped with sugar topped with candy and then leaving at noon. Then the teacher pulled a fast one and "gave the option" of leaving with your child...except she said it in front of the child. Not exactly easy to get out of that one. This Kindergarten teacher is an evil genius!!

All in all it was a fantastic start to my school party years. It wasn't until I was walking out that I realized my mistake. I should have started out low. What have I done!?! Now the expectation is there and I will have to do something better the next time. You don't lay out all your cards the VERY FIRST YEAR!


Crap!

I really need these things explained to me.

Next time I'm signing up for rolls.

Welcome Home Lil'Miss!

We made it home!

Okay so we made it home like...three weeks ago? Wow. Time has flown!

We were so blessed to only have a four day ICPC. These things can take weeks, so four days is beyond awesome. We were also blessed to have a home to stay in during our short wait. I am not sure we would have been able to hold it together in a hotel room with three kids five and under. Whew.

So it's been a bit of a roller coaster ride since she has been home. Amazing, tough, emotional, and just all around adjusting. Some days are really wonderful, other days are a little tougher. I was pretty shocked that we have been going through some strong emotions ourselves. It just didn't feel real at first, and that can be tough because your world has literally been turned upside down.

Third full week back and we are in more of a routine. In many ways, things are smoother, easier...and in some ways things are getting tougher.

Lil'Dude is great with Lil'Miss. He loves playing with her and plays with her dolls as he shows her all the things she can do with them. It's quite adorable. He loves tickling her and rubbing her head. It's funny watching her touch her in little ways as he is imitating our touches. He will rub her back, hold her hand, put his hand on her cheek.

Lil'Guy...well Lil'Guy also plays well but with only about 2 years in between them, things are more up and down. He likes her, but he is definitely the one we are seeing the tougher adjustment from, which makes sense as he is the one whose place in the family has changed going from the baby to the middle. I try really hard to do things they can do together, but for the most part I think it just has to work itself out. Luckily Lil'Miss doesn't take it, so you hear her fire right back at him. Sibling love, right? What is sweet is when he forgets to be jealous, he is super protective over her.

Lil'Miss is a freaking rock star. Seriously this kid is just amazing. She is tough, and she is so relaxed. She is very easy going, but at the same time she is still two. She loves opening and closing things, and gets none too happy if she sees a missed opportunity. I have literally snuck in laundry during nap time to hurry it up. She loves her dolls, or pretty much any toy really. She is a girly girl that hates getting dirty but loves throwing rocks in the lake. The best thing of all? This new baby of ours sleeps all through the night! She seems to be attaching really well to us, more and more each day. We are keeping things consistent and quiet and I think that has helped.

Lil'Miss is giggly and smart. She reads people and situations easily. She is speaking so well for her age, and getting better each week. She is getting stronger, gaining weight (2 lbs!) and inches (1.5 inches)! She is a great little climber, and adores swinging. She loves her baby doll, though it's the cheapest ones she likes the most (go figure). She likes bows in her hair and shoes on her feet.


As far as how we are doing as the parents? Well we are getting adjusting, and attaching. I am getting used to being at home during the day, which is an adjustmenty to itself. I go back to work in a few weeks and I must admit I am looking forward to it but also worried how it will effect her. I am trusting God on this one and my instincts. He gave her to us for a reason, and I have to hope that he thinks we might know what we are doing. A little anyways.

Going from two kids to three was tough too. You feel like you are on 110% of the time. I had multiple people warn me how hard it is, I completely brushed it off. Well folks, it's tough. You get over it though after a week or so. Things just start jiving again as you find your new normal.

The biggest, most difficult thing that has happened is dealing with myself. I put some pretty tough expectations on myself. I took her experiences and I guess I expected to become supermom for her. That is not only not realistic, it's emotionally exhausting. I couldn't relax because I was reading in to everything. I was so afraid to screw things up that I forgot to just breathe and be who I am, faults and all. I wanted to give her this version of a mom that not only doesn't exist, but I am just not that person. It backfired big time and made me just want to sit down and cry, or run. It wasn't until I got past that, and realized that what she needs is me...just me. She needs us to live our lives as we normally do, be consistent and fair.

She needs someone who is going to love her even if she does refuse to eat dinner because you made her set her drink down. She needs someone who will make her smile and giggle when she is feeling sad. She doesn't have to have someone who is going to do pinterest projects with her day in and down out. She needs someone who will take her to the park and let her throw rocks in the mud, then quickly wipe off her hands each time.

She needs someone who will get frustrated then come back and apologize when she is feeling stressed. She just needs me to be there.

It wasn't until I finally realized all that, when I finally could enjoy things. I relaxed and, once I relaxed, I could literally feel my heart swelling to make room for one more. It's true that saying....your heart grows with each child. At first it felt like I was forcing my heart to grow...like it was so full and there just wasn't enough room. Now it feels like it's bursting and in the best way possible.


So welcome home Lil'Miss. We have been waiting for you and we are pretty darned happy you are finally in your forever home. I can't wait to see what the future holds.

Swinging Smiles

Happy Halloween!

Attitude

First Family Photo
Note to self: family photos AFTER lunch next time

Placement Day in her gorgeous dress she picked out!

God is full of surprises! (I mean, come on, the last thing I ever thought this next child would look like is strawberry blond haired with blue eyes.)