PITTS TRIP'S: the Pittsenbarger identical triplets saga

Little Trail Blazers!

2013-06-17T16:58:00.003-07:00

Since the boys have really good stamina for walking we thought it wasn't too soon to get those little legs on a trail. Phil and I liked to hike before we had the boys but all the hikes we know and used to do have big drop off's and big elevation changes so not very kid friendly and especially not toddler friendly. After asking around someone recommended this book (see pic below) so we could find some safer places to take the kids hiking. So on Saturday we tested the waters and did a 2 mile hike and the boys loved it! We picked salmon berries, looked at slugs, examined animal poop and found cool sticks. The last quarter mile we were at almost a standstill and we kept having to poke the boys with sticks (yes literally) to keep them moving. They didn't seem too tired but kept getting side tracked by sticks and various stuff they saw along the way. But all things considered they did pretty good in my book!

Lots of the hikes in here are within minutes of us so I'm really glad we got it!

EPC: The boys always pull their hats too low : )

T and dad

Blazing up the trail!

Eli

Checking out horse poop after getting to meet and pet a horse along the trail!

ETC: The boys would greet other hikers by yelling "iking!"

Forest hugs

Here we were so close to the parking lot but the boys all wanted turns in the tree stump : )

After a nap at home we went out for pizza again

T, Phil and our friend R

Cuttin the rug like they like to do

Playing outside of the Re-building Center after pizza

On Sunday we went over to our friend K's house for dinner where the boys had a blast playing with all of Oscar's cool toys.
What a fun weekend!

Play Time!

2013-06-13T16:03:00.000-07:00

Fighting is all too common among siblings and as any MOM would agree, it's worse among multiples. The fights started as soon as they could crawl, one boy would take something from the other resulting in one bawling his eyes out. A little older, the victim would try to take it back. And then a little older the victim would hit the offender and the offender would hit back as well! All day long I break up fights, I guess that's my job, among other things. Being the same age, same sex, and sharing the same interests is a recipe for lots of fights but that can also be a recipe for best friends. As a side note, for three little people who don't have the most extensive vocabulary they sure do argue a lot with eachother! Back and forth they jibber jabber, 'no go' 'no stop' 'no (insert word).' To some extent the boys have always played with each other, just maybe not in the way I thought they would or would like them too. Well lately the boys have been playing REALLY well. It feels like the gap between fights is getting longer and longer. Although the fights are more intense and take longer to blow over but this seems better to me than endless little conflict after little conflict. It used to be that Phil would come home and assume duties as referee so I could cook dinner. Well for what ever reason post nap has become their best "playing together" time. The last few days Phil and I have sat on the couch observing them chase each other back and forth or pretend being a train by running around in a single file and yelling "choo-choo." They even make each other laugh all the time. It's very cute and feel like I'm reaping the rewards of having multiples since they provide entertainment for each other. They are also much better at taking turns and sharing too (but there is plenty of room for improvement).

I was doing some stuff online (like paying bills) and all I could hear was their chitter chatter and giggling coming from their bedroom. Well after several minutes I checked in on them and this is what I saw, it continued for approximately 45 minutes without a single fight!

T backwards "reading" elephabet (very weird book but also really awesome!)

Eli looking like he's contemplating a major life decision

Eli telling me that the sea turtle sculpture has two eyes

Thomas got to go with dad to the store since his brothers were still asleep. I can't help but get excited for them when they go on mini parent dates : )

The silly faces of Caleb (he just had to ride in the backpack after he saw Thomas on it when they got back from the store)

he's such a sweet boy!

The boys look like they are straight out of the movie The Sandlot with their chucks, jeans, t-shirt and baseball cap. I like the "all American" boy look on them : )

Up a steep hill (I can barely do it)

pot belly : )

Impromptu Photo Shoot!

2013-06-10T07:00:00.000-07:00

We were all ready for meeting yesterday; bathed, dressed and I even put gel in the boys hair to spike it up for the very first time. Since we had some time to kill (very very rare in itself) I brought out the camera and told the boys to line up for a picture and to my chagrin they complied. And even better, smiled and looked right at the camera! I couldn't help but take like a million pictures! Great group pictures of these boys is a very rare occurrence these days. I can't even bribe them to smile so these pics are extra special, they are my favorite since their Hawaii group picture (the one that I have on the top right side bar of this blog). Sorry if they seem to repeat them selves but I liked all their different expressions : )

CTE

These shirts were hand me downs that we got soon after the boys were born. I don't even remember who gave them to us but thank you! They look so cute in them : )

What do you think of the spiky hair, it's a good look for them don't you think?

ECT

End Photo Shoot

Water Balloons!

2013-06-07T16:47:00.001-07:00

We had a really fun morning today, first we stopped by Phil's work and showed off the boys to his new co-workers. Of course everyone was delighted to see triplets! Haha, I love having triplets! Every one is always telling me how awesome and adorable my children are, unlike "your hand are full," THAT ONE never gets old! After this Phil took the boys to a park that is conveniently located across the street from his work, while I ran a quick errand downtown. I walked by some really awesome fountains full of little kids playing so I can't wait for the next hot day to go to with the boys!

Leaving the park downtown

A couple hours later the boys had a little social gathering for their pre-preschool program. One of the activities was water balloons. This was their very first experience with water balloons and they were in heaven popping them! Just look at those faces, it's smiles ear to ear : )

C and E

Oh the insanity of it all!!!

After water balloons they played in the play ground

Just doesn't get cutter than this!

Jail birds!

Then some tasty lunch!

Here is a little video so you can all see how much they were loving the water balloons (btw the woman with blonde hair is their teacher)...

Grass Patch

2013-06-04T16:18:00.000-07:00

Adding a patch of grass in the otherwise dirt filled corner of the yard was the best idea ever. The boys were getting so dirty after playing back there and it was a chore to clean them up each time! Three weeks after we laid down the sod, the grass patch was looking rather lonely so we needed to put it to good use, especially now that the immediate weather is looking fantastic. I put the boys picnic table back there and I figured it would be a great spot for their pool on hot days (now the pool water won't turn into mud after 20min!). But since there was still a lot of space left I thought of getting the boys one of those little plastic teeter totters but after looking on craigslist for a while and not finding anything I figured I'd just buy it new since they were only like $50. I was close to getting it when this teeter totter popped up on craigslist! It's close to $200 brand new and I scored it for only $40 and best of all it spins! If I get the balance just right I can spin them till they are good and dizzy. The first day we got it the boys spent like three solid hours taking turns on it, they love it and for now it's the funnest thing to do in the back yard : )

A little dirty but hardly was used by it's last owner!

making bubbles on the grass patch

TEC

Chasing bubbles

Eli lookin so cool

More teeter totter please!

The boys on a mission to torture our friend K

The boys love building really tall hammers, the only trouble is that it's only good for one tap before it breaks (and it makes them pretty mad)

doggy pile!

I thought this picture of T was really cute.
Doesn't he look like a chipmunk?

Here are a couple of goofy videos of the boys...

After turning on the tv Thomas started dancing to it and I wasn't about to change the channel until I saw how it was going to play out. I also love how funny Eli looks with his big ol' belly and flip flops. Make sure to watch his closing little dance!
This next one is funny because at one point Thomas starts doing this weird dance and immediately Eli starts copying him. Then theirs the little tug of war at the end : )

Hiking (2yrs+8mo!)

2013-05-31T15:58:00.000-07:00

CET 2 yrs + 8 mo old!
(Eli and Thomas are saying 'cheese' which I guess doesn't necessarily produce a smile)

I'm gonna getcha!

FYI I uploaded 3 more pictures onto my last post in case anyone is interested, I forgot to include them in the original post : )

Here are more pictures from our super fun weekend...

We told the boys we were "hiking" so they all started chanting "iking, iking, iking!"

We decided to check out the Columbia River Gorge from the Washington side then loop around to the Oregon side on the way back.
We got to see some of the same scenes from a different angle and they were spectacular!

Thomas (top) and Caleb looking glamorous!

The boys really enjoyed Aaron and Jonny's visit!

Other than a few sprinkles here and there the rain held out for us most of the day : )

We decided to hike up a short trail but turned around 1/3rd of the way up because it was too scary with the boys in tow. You can see the trail in the corner, scary! I'm sure the view was even better up top!

We found a cute playground to eat lunch at.

At Multn. Falls

Updates

The boys were weighed and measured exactly on their mirthday:
Caleb 26.0 lbs, 34.5 inches
Eli 25.0 lbs, 34 inches
Thomas 26.0 lbs, 34.5 inches
Not totally out of the normal but a bit of a coincidence that they were all exactly 26 or 25 lbs! And that Caleb and Thomas are exactly the same weight and height! Even for identical triplets they are freakishly alike (except in looks, says I).

In other news Eli has been demonstrating his counting skills and has been counting everything he sees. He says a few numbers but mostly he shows me with his fingers. He's so cute and smart : )

We all have pesky colds right now so we are looking forward to a low key weekend and especially because Phil has his last and final test on Sunday! Looks like I'll be planning another party soon : ) Have a good weekend everyone!

It's Potty Time!

2013-05-30T11:25:00.001-07:00

I didn't have the time or the resources to "go all out" for this but I think it turned out quite lovely : )

I made invitations but mostly just for fun since I think I only passed out 2 : )

It was supposed to rain so we started off inside but quickly took it out side when the weather turned for the better

I made this bad boy from scratch (no box mixes or canned frosting), I started early because it was the trickiest thing I had to make that day. I set the cakes outside to cool (like I did my practice cake), and two hours before the party was set to start I went out to get my cakes and start frosting them. Only to find that my cakes were destroyed by stupid crows! I ran to the grocery store for more ingredients and whipped up another one! I mostly wanted the potty cake for the novelty since I also made plenty of cupcakes just in case my cake was a bust, it was close!

My buttermilk vanilla cupcakes with cream cheese frosting!
Yes, I'm not a chocolate girl, I'll pick vanilla over chocolate any day : )

Party Time! The boys loved getting bonked over the head by Oscar

I let the boys pig out on cupcakes, I figured since I made them from scratch that they're not all bad : )

Eli's cake face

Caleb

Our cute little guests : )

The dirty stairwell was just so much fun!

We played a couple of games, first was a frog hunt and then pin the tail on the donkey. The frog hunt was a bit of a bust since they didn't quite get the concept (except for Oz).

Pin the tail on the donkey went a little better but still I think they are a bit young for this : )

Prizes!

Checking out their prizes : )

Caleb taking a break from the frog hunt (I told you they didn't "get it!")

It was quite the challenge to get everything ready by noon, like I told you, I had to make a second cake but also in the process of making it I burnt my beans! I had Phil run to the store 30 min before the party to buy cans of beans because there was no time to start from scratch! Anyways, we had a yummy lunch of bbq'ed chicken, mex rice, beans, and homemade roasted salsa. It was quite handy to have our out of town friends visiting because they helped out a lot, they bbq'ed the chicken and blew up balloons among other things, hats off to them : ) The boys had a blast playing and pigging out on cupcakes, we even let them skip their nap. They were fine till about 7 pm and then started having melt downs from being so tired, it was nice for us because we put them to bed early, ha!

I should also update you on the boys potty trained status, I had been steadily seeing less and less accidents before our trip to California, they weren't having very many at all really. I definitely saw some regression when we went on vacation to California, I don't recommend big trips soon after potty training (we had already planned this trip before I even thought to try potty training). It took a little while after we got back, but all the boys are now doing better then before we left. Eli has the most accidents, maybe one every other day and its usually when he's having a lot of fun and doesn't want to stop what he's doing to go to the bathroom. Thomas has maybe one a week. Caleb doesn't have accidents, I can't remember the last one he had, it's been weeks, in Cali he had maybe one max! They all don't stay dry at night but that's still a bonus in my book, I don't really care, it'll happen someday but until then I'm working on eliminating the cost of disposable pull ups.

Let's face it pull ups are pretty much diapers only more expensive, the cheapest I've found are 26 cents each but they average about 30 cents a piece. That's almost $1/day for us or $2/day if we also used them at nap time. We switched over to them because I told the boys that diapers where for babies and that the pull ups were night time underwear. They go on like underwear and are easier to put on than traditional diapers. I also figured the pull ups would buy some time while I researched cloth diaper pull ups. I still feel strongly that one of the reasons my boys potty trained so early (for American standards anyways) was that they always wore cloth diapers. Since pull ups, like diapers, suck away moisture I wonder if they are doing the boys a disfavor in not letting them feel wet and thus no connection in the brain is being made to stop this. Maybe it's developmental and it will happen when it will happen but since we can't say for sure it's definitely a variable that I would like to eliminate.

My SIL introduced me to Bummis Training Pants:

which I like and are perfect for nap time but don't have enough absorbency to go all night. Also, if you have a poopy accident there is no clean way to take them off, if it's not real solid it will probably smear all over their legs as you take them off. A plus, they are on the cheaper side ($11-13 each) and since our poopy accident's are few I'm willing to invest in a few of these for nap time. But for night time I found Kissa's Training Pants an excellent fit for what I need. It has snaps so a poopy accident is easier to clean, and two snaps to accommodate growth and elastic in the back that makes it easy to pull on and off like underwear.

These are essentially a pocket cloth diaper (like the all in ones), the 2T runs in between a medium and a large cloth diaper cover (so this might be a better buy than buying a large all in one if your kid is close to potty training). It comes with a layer that can absorb (which for us, sadly isn't quite enough for nap time) but you can buy a separate insert to add enough absorbency to go all night (it goes in the pocket so it stays in place)! I bought Thirsties Hemp Inserts which I also recommend. Cloth diaper pull ups/training pants for triplets is quite the pricey investment, $15 each plus $4 for one insert (so about $19 each), but I think it will pay for it's self before long! Better for your wallet, better for your kid (no chemicals and they will feel wet), and better for the environment! It's a win win in my book : )

Mississippi Pizza!

2013-05-28T13:44:00.000-07:00

We had quite the FUNtastic weekend, not only did we have friends visiting but we also had our potty party! We have lots of good pictures so I'll have to cover the weekends proceeding over three separate blog posts. Friday night we all went out to my favorite pizza place in Portland, it's the most perfect place to take toddlers because of the fact that they serve one of the most kid friendly meals, PIZZA! And because they have live music to entertain and mask any screaming or tantrums that might happen. Thankfully no one even got a smidge upset, the boys had a great time!

As a side note, I realize that today the boys turn 2yrs and 8mo old but I forgot to take a picture. I'll try to take it tomorrow since we've had a busy morning : )

Dad and Caleb with the all too common hand in the mouth, are we reverting back to 4 months old!

Eli, you can't see it because I cropped the picture but I'm holding down his hand because he had it in his mouth, what the heck! Why won't they stop doing that! (ok so they don't always have a hand in the mouth, just when I want to take a picture!)

Thomas eating raisins and waiting like a good boy for the pizza : )

I taught the boys to eat their pizza like this since it's less messy and easier than trying to pick it up : )
Doesn't that pizza make your mouth water!

Bravo! Bravo! Caleb loves the music!

Caleb playing with our friend Johnny
A slice of sausage, artichoke, & sundried tomatoes anyone?

Checking out the band

Decided to get a closer look

Eli was inspired to play his guitar

The boys started a dancing circle with a little boy who befriended them : )

For being such good boys we went out for ice cream!

Next post, the potty party!....

Expressions

2013-05-23T12:35:00.001-07:00

The boys have very expressive faces, maybe it's just because it's more obvious from their pronounced dark eyebrows : )

Caleb loving his kitty

Very rare but a group time out was needed!

I wish I could remember what they were watching

Eli eating strawberries

Caleb

Hey! Where's my strawberry!?
This is a very common expression on Thomas' face, he always looks like he's in agonizing pain!

Thomas looking like a Pittsenbarger. He reminds me of someone here, any wild guesses?

Bubbles!

arm in arm

I love it!

story time

I keep trying to organize my triplets but they keep jumping out!

Eli

It's the end of the world! My banana broke in half!
(toddlers have it so hard)

Caleb is getting way too comfortable in the bath tub. I hope that's a good sign that swimming lessons will go well!
With all the money we are saving on diapers we can soon sign up the boys for swimming lessons but we have to wait till they turn 3 so you don't need a 1:1 parent child ratio...can't wait!

One of Phil and I's favorite things to hear the boys say, "mama guck, baby guck, papa guck."

I love the boys' sweet high pitched baby voices, I think I'll miss it so much when it's gone. Just listen to the way I'm greeted frequently by Eli in this video, it melts my heart each time : )

Dozer Day 2013

2013-05-21T15:20:00.002-07:00

Dozer Day is a charity event where kids get to "drive" heavy construction equipment. It is sure to satisfy any truck obsessed little boy's (or girl's) dreams!

Eli and dad waiting in line

"There are trucks as far as I can see!"

Mr. T

Mr T was very photogenic this day, as you can tell by all the pics we have of him on this post : )

To pass time, while we waited in line, the boys collected rocks into their hats and would dump them our periodically.
It was a trend started by one of my boys and spread like wild fire, all the kids around us started doing the same : )

It's T's turn!
I thought Phil or I would have to carry them there or worse, be too scared to ride at all after waiting for so long!
What big brave boys!

Riding the "dig dig," I put a close up of Thomas' face because I like his expression : )
We took video clips of the other two boys so I only have pics of Thomas on it.

Riding a DUMP TRUCK! (notice the people next to us realizing we have triplets)

This picture is really cute, too bad it's so over exposed : (

Cement mixer

TCE

rockin' all our construction shirts

With my boys : )

If you don't already know, the boys are REALLY obsessed with trucks or anything with a motor for that matter. Typical boys right? Once I heard of Dozer Day I couldn't wait to take the boys. It was pretty awesome but the place was packed out with other little truck affection-ados and the lines were really long. So hoping the boys are more patient next year and can ride on more trucks next time.

Oh Crap! #52-60

2013-05-15T15:19:00.002-07:00

These go way back, as you can see by the long hair! Cozy up it's a long one... : )

Oh Crap! moment #52

I hate when they climb on to tables and for the most part I keep it under control. On a mental lapse I let it slide since it looked harmless and they were having so much fun jumping into the bounce thing. As soon as this happened I had to shut it down!

No one was hurt but really annoyed and lots of crying ensued until his brother got off of him!

Oh Crap! moment #53

This corner met Caleb's face

And that's after we warned him to stop driving his car so closely to the corner!

Oh Crap! moment #54

More random crap I've found in their mouths! It's a piece of a porcelain type lamp they broke and I guess I missed a piece when cleaning up the mess. Look at those sharp corners!

Oh Crap! moment #55

The dangerous stance we found T in. We quickly removed him from there but while we were doing that Caleb was on the other side doing something similar and fell.

And there is Caleb post fall

Oh Crap! moment #56

Caleb would like to demonstrate why you should never trust a 2 year old with a bungy cord.

I smelled a freak accident coming so I quickly took it away!

Oh Crap! moment #57

Here is evidence that Eli knows his lowercase alphabet, I mean how else could he bite such a perfectly marked 'e'!

Oh Crap! moment #58

We had just arrived in California on our last trip and the boys were busy playing in my mom's backyard. At one point Eli approaches me to tell me he had an accident of the poopy kind. Ok so I take him to the bathroom to clean him up, and it's a bad one. The kind that takes about 10 baby wipes and you still don't feel good about the clean up job. So I get the water going to give him a quick bath when I hear some commotion outside. As I finish up the job I walk out to find out the "little mess" the other two made as they were unattended a few minutes. Caleb and Thomas had gotten into the laundry room and poured out an entire bottle of bleach onto the floor. Their shoes and the lower part of their pants got covered in bleach and some sprinkled onto their shirts. They were caught just seconds after they had dumped it out and it was assessed that, THANK GOD no one had drank any! I didn't bother taking a picture or trying to salvage their pants, they were toast. But the shoes I quickly threw in the wash to try and stop the bleach from doing further damage. The other two also got impromptu baths. Naturally I was very upset that they had ruined perfectly good shoes that I really liked! After my cousin suggested it, I went out an bought a fabric marker and colored the bleach spots. I did a pretty good job because you can't hardly tell what happened to them : )

the before picture (sorry no after picture, just trust me, they look good)

Oh Crap! moment #59

So the park around the corner from Phil's parents house has a really big concrete slide. When I lived in Davis and was dating Phil he'd once or twice suggested we go down it. I always thought ok maybe but then when I'd get to the top I quickly would chicken out because I hate thrill rides. My whole childhood I was tormented by the fact that I hated any type roller coaster or ride that drops. Ugh I hate that feeling! Field trips to Great America or Knotts Berry Farms were always a downer as my friends happily rode on them and I'd be at the bottom waiting for them and not having a very fun time. Years later as an adult I've come to terms with my fear or maybe you can say I've embraced it. "So what if I don't like those stupid things and I'm not going to torture myself over it anymore!" Meaning I'm not going to try and muster up the courage and go on one every 5 years and scare the crap out of myself so badly that it takes another 5 years get myself to try it again.

Ok so back to the park, Phil gets a piece of cardboard and down he goes as the boys watch him from below. Of course they all want to go on it. I'm naturally very apprehensive about it but eventually I give in because it doesn't seem too dangerous and after all I'm the scaredy cat so I figure most people would think it's safe. Phil starts giving everyone turns and they are loving it but he can't keep up with the demands so he urges me to try it so I too can give the boys rides on it. Curses! I'm pressured yet again and since I do everything I can to please my children I say, "ok let me try it first so I'm comfortable and then I'll take a kid with me." I get up there and quickly I say, "no never mind I don't want to do it!" But Phil is down there egging me on and I'm thinking it looks too scary. Then Phil's aunt, who was with us, tells me the words of comfort I needed to hear "it looks steep but when you are on it it really doesn't feel like you are going that fast." Since it's concrete I figure yeah there's probably lots of friction so you must not be able to go that fast. So I let go and down I go. It's fine the first 1.5 seconds and then it picks up a notch and I'm going down faster than ever. I start screaming at the top of my lungs and want to bail sooooo bad but I know it will be much much worse if I do. I'm wearing short sleeves, shorts and flipflops so I think of all the scabbed up flesh and possible broken bones if I bail so I just hold on tighter than ever and keep screaming till I get to the bottom. Which took approximately 10 minutes!

NEVER AGAIN!!! Oh crap!!! I can't believe my little boys were on such a frightful thing. NEVER AGAIN will they ride that thing until they are like 12 years old!!!

The view from the bottom, not so menacing right?

The view from the top, scary right!? And Phil used to ride his bike down it as a kid!!!

My precious boys, they look terrified but believe me, they couldn't get enough!

Oh Crap! moment #60

Thomas has had a death wish lately. The boy has had so many falls and injury's lately that I wonder if he isn't going through a growth spurt that's making him more clumsy or something (which I've heard could happen?).

here he got his first scraped chin

his first bloody nose when he fell off the couch face first

Then there's the time he fell off of a bench at the indoor park, bam right on his head!

Just two nights ago, I realized he had crawled into bed with us when we heard a crash proceeded by crying because he had fallen off the bed!

And this one takes the cake. So you know the boys love cutting paper with scissors, possibly one of their favorite activities. On this particular day we failed to put the scissors away after they were done cutting paper. Later that day we were all outside preparing a plot of dirt while Phil went to Lowe's to pick up some sod to lay on that plot. The back door was wide open and Thomas snuck off back into the house, after about a minute I hear him crying and I look into the house. Thomas is holding his hand and has blood running down his hand and onto the floor. I run over and apply pressure to his finger while I ask him what happened. He tell's me the scissors did it. I hadn't gotten a good look at the cut because of the blood so after a solid 2 minutes I take the tissue off of it to see if the bleeding had stopped. It looked like someone had scooped a chunk of skin out of the tip of his finger. And no, the bleeding had not stopped so I continue to apply pressure. I wait another 2 minutes and check again. Nope still bleeding, where the heck is Phil, he should be back already! I'm getting nervous because I can't let go of Thomas' finger and the other two are still outside unattended. As best I could I pick up Thomas and we walk outside so I can get my phone and tell the other two to get inside. As I'm calling Phil I see him pull up. I tell him to call the pediatrician and ask them what we should do. They tell us to take a picture of it and email it to them so they can better know what's going on. I can't get a good picture of it because the bleeding distorts the view of the wound. But whatever, I proceed to try and email it when Phil announces that the bleeding has stopped. Huge sigh of relief! I rinse off the cut and put some Neosporin on it and a band aid. The nurse calls us back and we tell her the bleeding has stopped and she tells us they start to worry if the bleeding doesn't stop after 10 minutes and I'm pretty sure we were very close to 10 minutes!

I later found the scissors along with his skin, how do you cut off such a big chunk!
The boy must have a delayed sense of pain!

close up, you can see the fingerprints!

The picture I took to send to the nurse

One day later, the hole has filled out.

Post four days and it's just a tiny little scab, kids sure do heal fast! Thomas has been really careful with his wounded finger. The first day he didn't use that hand at all and the next he used it very gingerly. By day three he was totally fine but still had a band aid on it. Yesterday I noticed his band aid was missing and he was playing with some gravel just fine. I grabbed his hand to look at it and thought maybe he could go on now with out a band aid but then that's when he noticed it was gone and could do nothing else until he had one on again. My poor baby, I hope this accident prone streak is over!

Train museum

2013-05-10T15:58:00.001-07:00

These are the last pics from our Cali Trip, we are at Phil's parents house in Davis...

Piano pictures never get old!

Eli makin muzak!

CET, pretty guys!

Story time with cousin Korina : )

Is that Thomas under there?!

Train museum with papa Ed and mama Sue

I can get them to hold hands again!

Can you tell he likes trains?

The boys promised to be good at meetings if we got them each a brief case like this.
I don't believe it for a second!

In heaven!

Thomas and papa Ed

Of course Caleb found the firetruck train : )

It's tradition to get candy when in Old Sac (especially bc we can validate parking with it).
Eli here picked some random chocolate candy that I've never heard of.

Thomas picked a watermelon slice.
Can't remember what Caleb got but I think he was disappointed.

So tired after ogling all those trains!

snuggles

Mr. T looking as handsome as ever next to dad's old new bike
that we hauled all the way back to PDX on the roof of our car, yikes!

We didn't have a lot of time in Davis on this trip but I made sure to take the boys to the train museum in Sacramento. It is really impressive and the boys really loved it! I'm sure if we lived in town we'd have a membership there : )

We are settling back into our old routines and I'm especially glad we are back to our old potty routines. Not gonna lie, it probably wasn't a good idea to take such a big trip with THREE freshly potty trained boys (they are about two months out). Initially there were lots of pee accidents but those quickly went away to almost less than back at home. Disgustingly enough we had way too many poop accidents on this trip from Eli and Thomas. Caleb surprisingly had maybe one if any at all and in fact he surprised us on the way home when he started complaining and saying 'caca caca' so we pulled over at the nearest exist and sat him on his potty. Sure enough, he made a big ol' poop! Impressive, especially if you remember that he was the last one to potty train and that they aren't that great at telling me when they need to go (at home they just go on their own when the need to). Anyways looking forward to the weekend with service and lots and lots of much needed yard work! It's been beautiful here and it already feels like summer, hope it's nice were you are. Have a fun weekend everyone! : )

Home Again!

2013-05-06T17:01:00.000-07:00

Last day in the south bay, we tried to do a little photo shoot but it was just too sunny...

with mama Elda

With my sister, B-I-L, and mom

gotta love Caleb's (blue) expression, "are we done yet?"

Eli walking with uncle "Mikey!" and "tia yeya"

Doesn't Eli look like such a big kid here? Like he could be 10 years old!

Please, can I watch dis?

Next we moved on to the east bay to visit Phil's brother and family...

At the water fountains.
If I had known the temps in Cali were going to be 15-20 degrees above normal I would have packed swim trunks!

Thomas got cold, how sweet!

Caleb

When Caleb went missing it was no surprise that we found him with the chickens trying to hug and kiss them!

If all you saw was this sweet smile you'd never know what whippersnapper Eli is!

So handsome : )

Getting in some more bike riding

6 out of 7 Pitts grand-kids!

Even though I easily could have stayed another two weeks, it's good to be home! Every time we roll back into town after a long trip I get this warm fuzzy feeling at the sight of a beautiful city nestled in the green hills with lots and lots of green trees (and not to mention a snow caped Mt Hood in the not too far distance). It always reminds me that I LOVE living in Portland : )

We got back home Saturday evening after 12 hours on the road (9 driving hours + 3hrs of stopping). The boys did exceptionally well on the drive to Cali but not so great on the way home. Two weeks prior to our trip I had been getting them all excited and filling their heads with what was going to happen soon and all the fun we would have in Cali. So naturally they were bursting at the seams with excitement when I woke them up at 3:30 am in the morning and found my mom and sister sleeping on the couch. We ended up leaving at 4:30am and arrived at about 5:30pm (11 driving hours + 2 stopping hrs). I was nervous enough that I splurged for a portable DVD player just in case they were terrors in the car but honestly they didn't really need it. We turned it on just to try it out and let them watch bob the builder. On the way home it was a different story, even though the drive up is 2hrs closer the DVD player was essential! They watched a movie, then charged it up again and played another full length movie. Getting it was a good call : )

As I mentioned the temps in Cali were well above normal, which was fine by me since I enjoy 80-90 degree weather (I draw the line at 95 though) but I just wish I had known it was coming so I could pack accordingly! I packed half light sweater weather clothes and half summer clothes, so of course, we pretty much only used our summer clothes. The last 5 days or so were super windy, boo!, which I blame for the terrible allergies I had, at least I didn't have them the whole time.

We miss everyone a lot and had so much fun. I've made up my mind that next year I can do this trip alone with the boys and will stay longer!

I still have a bunch more pictures from the rest of our trip to look through, so more coming up!

Happy Hallow 2013

2013-05-01T15:17:00.001-07:00

Caleb and T (bellow) were not scared to ride the carousel like last year, yay!

T and my mom, E chose a bench seat with my sister tightly hugging him, what a scaredy cat!

C is such an animal lover, it's so obvious too!

E brushing a goat

After playing in the crooked house for more than an hour, and by play I mean going up the stairs and down the slide like a million times!

Lady bug ride!

Can you tell who is who? Look for the clue : )

woohoo!

This place is called Happy Hallow Park & Zoo but admittedly we skipped all the animals, except the goats of course. We took advantage of the free kiddie rides since we go the the zoo quite regularly in Portland. Now that the boys are a little older they enjoyed the park so much more, I can imagine next year will be even funner!

2 yrs + 7 mo !

2013-04-28T22:28:00.000-07:00

Everybody loves a blog post with lots of pictures, so here you go!

2 years and 7 months old
My only requirement for their monthly picture is that I can see every ones faces, check!
(and they have to be in birth order of course)

my sister and the boys

Eli at the San Jose Flea Market

weeeeeee!!!

the boys got some prezee's : )

I hope Caleb's cat obsession doesn't have him thinking he's one too!

This would have been their monthly picture only someone, of course, had their hands in their mouth!

CTE

Even though C has dirt all over his face, isn't he the cutest!?

biking to the park

A casual picture of Sam and one of the boys, in the back Phil is getting cozy with my brother, haha!

Sadly I had to turn the boys forward facing because with all the crap in our car it would have been impossible to get them out of the car from the back. I wanted to at least make it to three, oh well : ( Of course they like it way better but I don't have peace of mind anymore that they are WAAAY safer rear facing (this is me feeling guilty).

The boys getting the full Ikea shopping experience with breakfast and all, they actually had a blast!

Out side of my sisters work, the boys got to meet some of her co-workers, one of which is a really big fan of them : )

We are still in Cali having a blast and we get to spend another week here. Phil flew in a couple of days ago to join us. Today we left my mom's house after 1.5 weeks which seems like a long time but it always goes too fast! I'm way backed up on pictures so you'll see more South Bay pics later. We are currently in the East Bay with Phil's brother, I'll check in later : )

Cali Trip pt 1

2013-04-24T16:10:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the brief hiatus, I haven't had any down time (which is a good thing!) and am just today opening up my laptop to dump all the pictures from my phone and camera. There are a ton already so here are a few cute ones from the first couple of days.

Superhero Caleb

Super hero Thomas

Super hero Eli

Got to meet the latest addition to the family.
Me, my sister, my cousin, and my cousin's 3 week old baby.
Not the best picture of us but at least we are all together!

My aunt came over and made 90 empanadas, I probably gained 5lbs that day!
And probably 10lbs so far, we've been eating sooo good : )

Eli

Caleb

Cool dude Caleb or Thomas
(I'm not sure the exact identity, I remember this being Thomas but the orange bike is Caleb's)

Eli making hotwheel ice cubes!

WARNING: Eating apple sauce out of the lid with a straw can be dangerous, helmets are recommended.

You'll notice an abundance of pictures of the boys on their bikes over the next few posts. Bringing them was the best idea I've had since deciding to buy them, all they want to do is ride them! The weather down here is perfect right now and I'm so glad we came this time of year. We're having a blast and hopefully I can post again in a couple of days : )

Historic Fire Station Tour

2013-04-17T08:00:00.000-07:00

C found the ax

T is the standing firefighter

I could not get Caleb out of the Firetruck cabin, you'll see why in the next pic

The windows are actually screens showing real footage of firefighters responding to calls in Portland
(anyone recognize the turnabout?)

This is when I finally convinced Caleb to get out after spending most of the time inside

See Caleb, there are other fun things to see and do!

all the boys were pro's at sliding down the pole

me and my boys!

Mr. T looking like a little man : )

My mom and sister flew in yesterday to help me with the drive down to Cali (yes I know they are crazy and I told them so). Phil will join us next week since he can't take too much time off because of his new job. We are hoping to make the drive down all in one go, I'm very nervous about it since the boys are newly potty trained and aren't good car travelers! Perhaps as you are reading this we might be somewhere along I-5 right now or better yet at our final destination! The car is loaded mostly with the boys stuff and I packed all my light sweaters so I think we're all set, SF Bay Area here we come!

Will report back in a couple of days : )

Pretend Scenes

2013-04-15T16:39:00.000-07:00

Unbeknownst to me, Thomas was hungry so he went to the fridge pulled out his milk and yogurt and grabbed himself a spoon. He sat down and so he started eating. I turn around thinking where is Thomas? This boy isn't gonna starve anytime soon!

Caleb's pretend scene #1 (shall we start a new series???). I wonder what the cats where doing? Are they putting out the fire or are they being saved from the fire?

Pretend scene #2. All the boys have an understanding, the pig lives in the tow truck of course!
He's been in there for several days even after each boy has played with it.

Took the boys to the train museum, we were fortunate enough to see some construction equipment before going in!

I thought it was so cute how Thomas kept his hands in his pockets!

It's so hard to keep pants on these kids, so 1 out of 3 ain't bad!

These are serious push ups considering that's 50 lbs on Phil's back!

It's spring! Blueberry bushes, strawberry patch, mini apple tree, and raspberry vines are all in bloom!
Here to hoping the boys don't eat everything the minute it's visible like last year!

It's crunch time at the Pittsenbarger house, in just a couple of days we'll be heading out to Cali! We are so excited to see everyone again and enjoy warmer weather filled with the glorious SUN!

But I'm starting to panic because I suddenly remember how bad my allergies get down there in the spring time. Oh no, is my plan to avoid the scorching summer heat backfiring on me?!? We shall see I guess...

Together or Apart?

2013-04-11T15:57:00.000-07:00

Best Friends Forever!

I ran into this very informative article that shows an infographic about the latest research on how multiples do in school when either in the same class room or in separate class rooms. This is a very hot topic among parents of multiples and for a while now I've been feeling guilty that I cared so little about the topic even though I think a lot about life after the boys go off to school. The reason I felt guilty is because I want to keep my boys together as long as possible so that I don't have to deal with three different teachers and three different sets of homework packets each night. Yes I'm selfish and want to take the easy road (see, sometimes it is easier to have multiples!). Over and over again I hear the argument about multiples needing to be separated in school so that they become individuals and less co-dependent. It makes sense but still, I don't want to deal with three different sets of homework every night!

So, along comes this article Twins in the Classroom and now I feel like I have a clearer view of things. If you don't feel like reading it, I will summarize the main points:

1. Multiples separated early had more anxiety and emotional distress than those kept in the same classroom. And that this is especially true of IDENTICAL multiples. (red flag for me!)

2. Multiples separated had LOWER reading scores than those kept in the same classroom.

Fraternal vs Identical

1. Identical multiples separated in school showed higher levels of depression, anxiety, social withdrawal and other internalizing problems.

2. Identical multiples when separated at age 7 had poorer reading abilities.

3. Fraternal multiples separated after one year in school together worked harder in school than those kept together

It just goes to show what a special and unique bond identical multiples have and that it is a different kind of bond than those seen in fraternal multiples (and of course frat multiples share a unique bond that is different from fraternal siblings).

I read all of the sources that were used to write this article and found an insightful quote about the argument of separating multiples so they become individuals,

…”Many people may think this might be micro-parenting . . . but this idea that twins won’t be individuals if they stay in the same classroom is so misguided and not based on research,” said Nancy L. Segal, a psychology professor and director of the Twins Studies Center at California State University, Fullerton. (taken from here)

This argument has always bothered me a little since the same thing can be said about sharing the same room. Are your children doomed for life because you can't afford a house with more rooms? Or what of kids who are home schooled, are they doomed too? I'm very glad to hear it has no real basis and is contrary to what research has found.

And another one of the sources argues this:

"There's research that suggests that when friends are in the same class, they're more exploratory, they cling to the teacher less,"..."So if we're worried about individuality, why do we let best friends go to school together?"(taken from here)

At least for me that seals the deal and I feel better about feeling the way I felt before. I want to keep my boys in the same classroom at least until they are old enough to tell me they want to be separated or when they start middle school, whichever comes first. At the moment I don't feel like my guys are overly co-dependent of each other and love to go places with mom and dad one on one. Of course I can't see into the future so if there are issues that need to be addressed that would be solved by separating them I would definitely consider it, we all know our children the best so it's certainly up to the parents to make the decisions that they feel are right regardless of what research shows.

Imaginary M&M's

2013-04-08T15:54:00.000-07:00

Didn't I tell you that Caleb loves his kitties : )
I must add, what a handsome boy I have!

KH basement play time to get our wiggles out!

What we caught Eli doing while doing his business in the bathroom.
The boy has the Bible out!

Caleb came to see what all the fuss is about

I thought it a shame that we can't do something out side when it's raining and not too cold.
So I made a little porch sandbox/mini construction site!

Updates

So Caleb if you all remember was the only one I had to bribe to get him to use the potty. Well it's been over 2 weeks since I weaned him off of it and so now every time he uses the bathroom he gives himself imaginary m&m's. It's too funny to see him say "m&m" and then grab at the air and put the imaginary m&m in his mouth!

I've been noticing Caleb's pretend play lasting longer and longer these days. He's been playing with his wooden fire truck a lot and he'll move the firemen up and down the ladder and have them put out fires. It's so cute to watch and I think more intense pretend play is just around the corner for these guys. I can't wait and can even see myself joining in on their fun!

As you saw in the pictures above Eli has been "reading" books as he does his morning business in the bathroom. He likes refiling though our bookshelf that's near the bathroom and picks out something to "read." I must adds that this bookshelf is filled with either Bible literature or Phil and I's old college textbooks (which I'm not sure why we still keep around we surely need the space!). He'll go back and forth several times getting different stuff before he's said and done in the bathroom. He's been spending almost 20 minutes in the bathroom some days!

Recently I filled out a 30 month (2.5yrs) ASQ to track the boys development since it was mandatory for the boys nursery school program. In almost every category, except speech of course, the boys scored ahead of the curve! In fact one of the questions asks "can your child point to at least 7 different body parts?" I immediately marked off 'yes' but then I thought about it and said to my self "they can do it in both Spanish and English!" I have some smart boys, most American adults can't do that!

Friday Flashback!

2013-04-05T06:00:00.000-07:00

This video depicts why the boys, who were born at exactly 34 weeks, could not come home right away. This is day two of life and the boys had only had an iv in to keep them hydrated so it was time to get them eating. For the first few days once feedings had commenced the boys were fed 20 ml (that a little more than half and ounce) every three hours. And as you will see it kind of went like this most days and wouldn't even finish half their bottles! I question the term 'learning how to eat' as is often used and think the time in the NICU was spent catching up developmentally so they could nourish them selves sufficiently via a bottle (as we all know the breast came much later). They came home drinking 30 ml every three hours and it took them 20 minutes to drink it and hence why we got such little time to sleep! At this age you could not feed all three at once if one person was doing the feedings : (

So anyways prepare for some serious cuteness as mama Sue attempts to give Caleb his first bottle (sadly I had to miss this since I was too weak to get out of bed that day). WARNING: Those with feeble health need not watch, it may induce a cuteness over load!

Tulip Festival 2013

2013-04-02T06:00:00.000-07:00

CET

group shots weren't going to be coming easy today...well are they ever?

with my three little ducks : )

E clogging it up!

Best grin of the day goes to Eli!

the guys

I love this picture, wish I had thought to take my sunglasses off, it would have been a framer!

Dith? (this)

my three lovelys : )

so beautiful!

up they go

final group shot try, they are waiting for me to hand them mints.
Bribery, it sort of works : (

Cute little video of Caleb with a lady bug he found. Translation for what he says, "spider spider, WOW"

The boys let out a weeks worth of energy out in a matter of 3 hours! They were moving so fast we couldn't hardly keep up with them. Last year at the tulip fest we got much better pictures of them since they weren't nearly as fast! It was a beautiful day at 75 degrees and not a single cloud in the sky (not the best for pictures though). Till next year!

Exactly 2.5 Years Old!

2013-03-28T16:05:00.000-07:00

They are getting so BIG and quickly shedding the remaining remnants of baby-hood : (

More pics from last weekend...

Caleb and I on a very chilly Saturday

Eli and dad

C and E

In case anyone wonders how we leave the park without kicking and screaming...bribery!
I always come prepared with graham crackers : )

Little feet

Phil took Monday off because he was starting a new job on Tuesday. It was a beautiful day to spend outside as a family so glad he had the day off! The boys got to dust off their bikes and spent several hours riding them!

Thomas is getting really good on his bike and can balance on it for really long stretches!

The boys love riding up and over the pitchers mound

Getting coffee after the park

Updates

I think Caleb has been swatted at enough times by our crazy cat that now he blames all injuries on the cat. One day Phil came out after shaving and was bleeding because he cut himself and Caleb quickly points to it and says 'diddle diddle?' (kitty). Same thing when he gets hurt, he points to where he bumped himself and says 'diddle diddle' and makes me kiss the boo boo. He is certainly not afraid of cats in fact he is crazy about them (definitely more than his brothers)! He is always trying to pick them up and give them kisses. Whenever we are out we look for neighborhood cats and pet them. I'm giving my self a 'well done' for turning my boys into cat people. It's not a first, I did the same thing with my brother, with my sister's help of course : )

So like I mentioned in their 2.5 year picture the boys are quickly shedding all remaining baby like qualities. Along with diapers we also just ditched their high chairs and traded them in for booster seats. We could have done it sooner but I wanted to protect my table a little longer (it may just be the only nice thing left in my house). Now that throwing while eating isn't as big of an issue, it should be a little safer but I just need to be careful not to give them real silverware so they don't scratch or dent it. Here's to hoping. The next if not last baby thing to ditch is cribs. Phil has one more test to take before getting his licence so after that and our trip to Cali next month he'll get cracking on building their super cool toddler beds. I intended on keeping them in cribs till at least 3 (it's triplet policy to milk the crib thing as long as possible, if you have triplets you know what I mean) but I think once we see the beds built it will be too tempting not to try them out!

Oaks Park

2013-03-26T14:01:00.001-07:00

It felt like we hadn't done anything new or fun with the boys in a while so after brainstorming ideas we decided to take the boys to Oaks Park. It's basically a permanent carnival but it has a small train that's pretty cool. I normally don't like carnival's but for some reason it's permanence makes this one a little less creepy. We thought the boys would really like the train but would be scared of the kiddie rides. Let's see how they did...

loving the train...ate their lunch while gawking at it

Caleb and dad riding on the train

It was supposed to be sunny and a lot warmer but they got it wrong and I was freezing!

Eli and I were watching from down below

C&T, the brave boys that rode this scary ride!

Eli finally got brave enough to try a ride, this might have been their favorite!

The bouncy boat scared the crap out of Caleb!

CET, not wanting to leave the park!

Thomas gets the bravery award since he rode each ride and liked them all! Caleb was just scared by the last ride and Eli didn't get on two out of the 5 rides. Each time they were on a ride I couldn't help but think that someone would try to jump out and wished it was over faster. I have to keep telling myself to let go and not be so over protective! It was our little splurge for the boys, not realizing they would like the rides so much we bought individual tickets : ( Next time we'll do wrist bands for unlimited rides even though it's still very pricey : )

Here is a video of the boys on rides, it's not that interesting so this is mostly for grandparents and aunties : ) If you watch it notice how after the little car ride is over Thomas (red) and Caleb (dark blue) say 'mas mas mas' (more). And you may not see Caleb but you'll hear him yelling in the background while riding the boat ride!

I Deem Thee...

2013-03-22T14:52:00.003-07:00

POTTY TRAINED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CET

We were just waiting on Caleb to catch up to his brothers to make it official, funny he's also the one we were waiting on to leave the NICU, I guess some things never change! Of course potty training is a process and we are still a little rough around the edges but for the most part we are all daytime potty trained! A few days ago Caleb took a turn for the better and has not only been pooping in the potty consistently but he also tells me when he needs to go. And it gets even better, I don't put anything special on Caleb for nap time, he always wakes up dry! I can almost say it for bed time but the problem is that he wakes up crazy early (like 5:45am), and I have to draw the line somewhere, I refuse to get out of bed before 6:15am! He climbs into bed with us and since he's happy to just snuggle till then, I've been taking it! The times I've gotten up before him he is usually dry, so I think he wakes up dry and then just lets it go after a few minutes because he has now realized that the pull up will not feel wet (curse modern day convenience!). Ok so maybe I need to change and make the effort to take him to the bathroom within minutes of his waking, but it's just sooooo haaard. I need to get over it and experiment with sending him to bed in underwear and get my butt out of bed the minute I hear him wake up...we'll see. The other two are still 50/50 in that department.

Where They Are At

When we are at home they all tell me when they need to use the potty and I always go with them to help (mostly because I'm afraid of someone falling into the toilet, it's happened twice already). If they only have undies on or a soft pair of pants they can pull them down and up themselves but a lot of the time I have to help because the elastic gets all twisted. Eli almost exclusively uses the toilet (not a little potty), which is fine by me, less to clean up! Caleb mostly pee's in the toilet but likes to poop in a little potty. Thomas prefers his little potty for both but when we are out he is fine with using the toilet.

All bets are off when we aren't at home. They get very distracted and forget to tell me when they need to go (they do a lot of the time but can't be trusted just yet), so it's up to me to keep track and just take them to the bathroom without asking them. I don't think they can go more than 2 hrs so ideally I take them every 1.5 hrs when we are out (small bladders run in this family).

Accidents are still happening but each week it feels like there are less and less, at the moment we have one maybe two tops each day (that's between all of them, so each boy has maybe one accident every other or third day). Today no one has had any accidents : )

What I've learned

My patience has gone way up since starting potty training mostly because I wanted to be diaper free more than anything! I really tried to figure out what was upsetting each kid (for unrelated potty matters) and keep them as happy as possible so they would be more cooperative in the bathroom. Instead of giving up after a few seconds or just sending them to time out because they were being unreasonable I worked harder to make everyone happy. Not easy but it payed off!

My Two Cents

Here's what I've concluded after everything I've heard, read and all we've been through. Most kids are developmentally capable of potty training by 18 mo (as can be seen in recent history or in other countries, click here if don't believe me this is actually really interesting). BUT you really do have to start when they are very young, like before they can walk. From what I've read it's not a daunting time consuming process. You just start off by taking them to the potty once a day and making it a fun event. From there you keep building up, twice a day, three times a day. If by coincidence baby goes in the potty give it lots of praise! Babies are VERY smart, they will catch on quickly and you can kiss your diaper bill goodbye before you kid(s) turn 2. WHY OH WHY didn't I know this sooner! I should have registered for potty's not Bumbos!!!

So if you start late (after 2 yrs) like I did, plain and simple, you are at you kids mercy! If you've ever dealt with a kid during the terrible two's (or three's for that matter) you know what I mean! Who know's what's going on in their brains, with all their crazy whims, impulsiveness, and tantrums. Honestly, it's a miracle that any kid potty trains between the ages of 2-4! The term 'potty training readiness' really should be changed to 'does your child want to.' With the little resistance Caleb gave me I realized you cannot make a child do something that they don't want to! I struck gold with my three, yes I'm bragging, I deserve this one after all those sleepless nights, living attached to a pump for 4 months, and sacrificing everything else I've sacrificed since their conception! 'Thank you, thank you my boys for giving me this precious gift!' I just could not imagine another year of diapers! No No No No NO! Even though I was all stressed out, after thinking what it could have been like, it really was a piece of cake! I can't take a lot of credit, it was mostly them, they wanted to and they did. But a lot can be said about being as patient as possible and being as encouraging as you can be while the process is taking place. So that's my two cents and that's probably all it's worth, ha!

And a very special thanks to all that gave me advice, you know who you are! : )