Drawing!

We purchased some TaDoodles for the boys so they can start expressing their creativity. A TaDoodle is a round holder for crayons that the boys can hold with their full hand.

Daddy created some templates for the boys to use that had their names on the paper. It was fun to watch them draw but the seemed more excited about eating the crayons and tearing up the paper that was taped to the table.

Here are some pics of the boys and their art work....

When Grandma was visiting last weekend, she gave the boys their first drawing experience and pictures of their art work is below. Per Grandma, Jared took right to it and you can see his sweeping motion back and forth across the paper. Wes and Andrew needed a little more help to put crayon to paper. I think their art is just beautiful and we have it proudly displayed on the fridge.

Andrew's art created with Grandma... It's a city skyline! This is definitely a sign of someone very special...
Jared's art created with Grandma....It's a rainbow over a meadow! This is a sign of pure genius....
Wesley's art created with Grandma... It's a horse! This is a sign of a child with a true gift...

I can't believe how clear these pictures are for 15 month olds! It is going to be a challenge to keep these gifted children humble and grounded.

Take care,

Our Morning Coffee

A little shot of caffeine is such a great way to start the day, how could we keep this feeling from the boys. In just a year we have gone from formula to milk to a little morning joe...
This face says "please do not bother me until I finish my first cup of coffee"...

Don't worry, the boys were only playing with the coffee mugs. However, they see Mommy and Daddy drinking from their 'sippy cups' enough that they knew exactly what to do with them.

As if our days are not busy enough, I can not even imagine how wild this crew would be with a caffeine boost! Please let me know if this is ever going to happen so I can put something 'special' in my morning sippy to help me enjoy that little experiment!

Take care,

Grandma's Working Weekend!

Grandma might not live right around the corner but she is always there for us when we need an extended sitter. I had a work presentation that involved me working in the office on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. When we told Grandma about this, she agreed to be there and spend some quality alone time with the boys. So Grandma took on the care of the terrific (or terrible) trio for four days! During the weekend Grandma took the boys outside to play, helped them color for the very first time and helped us teach them that it really is not ok to climb (or stand) on top of the glass end tables. Maybe if they hear the "don't stand on the end tables" message from a third adult, they will finally listen!

I do not have many pictures from the weekend since I was at the office while the boys were having fun with Grandma. On Sunday, I was able to spend a portion of the morning home with everyone and was able to catch the full crew taking a little relaxing break while rocking on the love seat. I find it interesting but there seems to be a pattern that on Sunday, the boys are actually more relaxed and even sleep longer. I don't know the reason but I like it!!! I am not sure who needed the relaxing time more at this point, Grandma or the boys.

Here is a little video of the foursome relaxing...

When we purchased the rocking love seat, I envisioned rocking three newborns but it is getting much more use with rocking toddlers. They even climb up their on their own and try to rock it back and forth.

Grandma, we thank you again for coming all the way up to Tallahassee to spend time with us. We hope that you will return in the very near future for a relaxing weekend and not just for a baby sitting weekend!

Take care,

Daddy is Home!

Daddy arrives home and all of his boys are eagerly waiting for him to take off his boots... Oh wait... now, ALL of his boys are eagerly waiting for him to take off his boots...
The boys sure do love their Daddy!

Take care,

Happy 4th of July!!

Happy 4th of July!!!

I can't believe it is already the 4th of July!!! I remember well, this time last year. Our first 4th of July was marked with the struggle of surviving with newborns in the middle of Florida summer without air conditioning. Luckily, this year was much improved and the A/C was working very well this 4th. The greatest challenge I had on this day was trying to figure out how I was going to get a decent group picture of the boys in their red, white and blue patriotic t-shirts without a helper to corral the boys.

It was not easy but I was able to get the picture above by sitting the boys on top of the toy box. The height (while not very high) was enough to get them to sit still long enough for me to grab the camera and take a few pictures. I started to get a little cocky and even took the boys outside to try and snap some pics and here is the best one I could get.... At least they are all in the same frame! While I was enjoying the holiday with the boys, I really missed Mike today. As of July 14th, it will be a full year since I returned to work. Once I returned to work, we started working alternate days so one of us was always home with the boys and the other one was at work. The biggest challenges so far has been trying to cope with parenting triplets without any family close by and very litte time together as a family. Now, the boys are on a great routine and the days are becoming very "Groundhog Day" with every day being the same version of the day prior. This is a great thing because the days are very predictable... it could be worse. However, we are ready to start doing a lot more with the boys... as a family with Mommy & Daddy. Stay tuned as there are some changes in store for Team Darnell... good changes!

After I spent the morning sulking about not having Daddy home on the holiday, the phone rang and Daddy was done with work early.... yeah!!!! We all got very excited and we welcomed Daddy home with open arms. Once Daddy got home, we suited up the boys and headed outside to enjoy the kiddie pool and the swing set.

Here are some pics from our afternoon outside...

Daddy was teaching the boys to blow bubbles and they took to it like fish to water. Everyone started blowing bubbles... Andrew would stick his entire face in the water and blow bubbles. He really loved it... More bubble blowing...
Once we had enough of the pool, the boys took to the swings...
Taking a swing break to hydrate...

Andrew and Wes both looking at us on the patio with the look of... "you want us to walk on the grass... with no shoes on... seriously???"

Once the boys were in bed, Daddy and I had dinner and then enjoyed the local fireworks from our back porch. Before writing this post, I read the 4th of July post from last year. Last year I commented on how we watched the fireworks and talked about the boys staying up to watch the fireworks this year. Well, little did I know how much these boys would love their routine and their sleep AND how much I would love their routine and sleeping babies. Daddy and I did the same thing this year and talked about how next year we would let the boys stay up and enjoy the fireworks. We imagined them running in the yard and sitting in the fort to watch the fireworks. Next year boys, next year!

Take care,

Playing Outside

Now that we have our swing set assembled, I could not wait to get the boys outside to enjoy the back yard. With triplets being cared for by one parent at a time, it is a little challenging... let me rephrase that... impossible to take the boys out to play at a park. I am sure that we could take them and strategically move the in and out of the stroller one at a time to play but I don't think any of us would have fun. Now, we have our own playground right in the safety of our fenced in back yard. Run boys, run!!!

We went out in the morning so it was not too hot and we spent a little time swinging in our new swings. The boys really enjoyed it... Here is a little video. You have to love a Mother's silly sound effects...

We set up the bubble blower but the boys seemed more interested in checking out the strange green carpet.... Don't worry! Our little engineer was determined to figure out how this magical bubble blowing contraption works.... Andrew was not to crazy about walking in the grass. Once we were done swinging, I set them down in the grass while running the bubble blower. Andrew sat for a minute and then got up to make his way back to the patio. He gingerly walked about half way back and then froze in his tracks. I had to help him back to the patio. This is a rare picture of him actually walking in the grass... Once back up on the patio, the boys discovered a pile of wood left over from Daddy's swing set building project. The boys decided they would help Daddy finish off the final touches of the swing set...Wes is going either going to secure the swing set or he plans on hunting some Vampires tonight (Mommy may be watching too much TrueBlood)... Jared gets into the act... Check out this lifting technique! Andrew's body is build for lifting heavy weights. He may look chunky but he is SOLID.... "solid as a rock"....

After the boys had played on the patio for a while, they started to get brave and explore the yard. Jared and Wesley started to wander around the swing set and the tree in the back yard. After a few minutes, Jared, Wesley and I were out in the yard and Andrew clearly wanted to join us. As mentioned previously, he was not crazy about walking in the grass and he started to cry (from frustration) and pace back and forth on the patio. As any good Mother would do, I decided to take a little video. He was acting like the grass was molten lava or some other substance that was just as dangerous. I sure do love you, Andrew....

I am sure as more time passes, the boys will become more and more comfortable in the back yard and we will have more and more things to do out there other than play with some wood. It will be very exciting to watch the boys grow into the swing set!

Take care,

Our Swing Set!!!

The day has finally arrived! For several months, we have been selling the boys clothes and other baby stuff through Our Memorabilia blog. We have raised over $1,000 towards the purchase of the boys' swing set. To all of you that gave us something we were able to resell, thank you very much because you have helped us purchase our swing set!

We ordered our swing set it arrived in many pieces. Over the next couple weeks, Daddy worked during nap time and after the boys went to bed to put the swing set together all by himself. Yep, that's right... all by himself!! Daddy stays home by himself with the boys three days a week and he used nap time and after the boys went to bed to focus on the swing set. I should also mention that nap time is from 12:30-3pm each day and it was pushing 100 degrees on the days when he was working on this swing set. His hard work finally paid off and our swing set is all put together.

Here are some pics over the course of this project... .

This is how she arrived...

Daddy starts his project with Murray's help, of course...
Daddy very pleased to see that I am busy taking photographs...
More of the starting phase....

The structure starts to take shape....

After Daddy started putting the swing set together, he realized that they did not ship the slides. Here is Daddy showing off the 'finished' product. The only thing left is to attach the slides when they arrive.

Super Daddy!!! He should really have a cape...

The back of the swing set where the rock wall and tire swing can be found...

Yahoo... the slides are here! Here is the finished swing set...

The boys are still a little too young to really enjoy the swing set. But, I am confident that over the next few years, they will spend a lot of time out here! Thank you again to everyone that gave us items to sell and to those that purchased some of Our Memorabilia. Most of all, thank you to Daddy for putting this together for us!!!

Take care,