Two walkers in the house!!!

Pics: Kendall in the front yard. Daddy and Clark (pulling Daddy's hair - a new favorite pasttime is pulling hair!). Emma and Auntie Karen giggling. Clark in the grass. Warren Jr, Cindy, Uncle Warren, Aunt Barbara, Nana and the three kids (Kendall was VERY fond of Cindy but Ems was being fussy at picture-time). Grandpa's special bunny cake. Mealtime at the counter in our clip-on chairs. The carnage below them after dinner. Bring on the FOOD! Emma the paci-theif (note that she has all THREE pacifiers at this point!). Clark and Kendall playing with the keyboard. Kendall watching The Masters (golf) on TV (for the record, we had her dress bunched-up in a rubber band because she kept tripping over it). All three babies in the super zone set up at Grandpa's on Easter Sunday.


Yup, you read it here first...there are TWO walkers in the house. Both girls are officially on two feet these days. Emma was the first to really take the plunge and is already trying to RUN. Kendall has been a little more hesitant, but tonight she was definitely more interested in walking upright than crawling. And boy are they working hard at it! They are constantly tumbling over and just keep getting back up for more. I'm so glad that they don't seem to get very frustrated by their clumsiness. Clark actually took a few steps between Mommy and Erica on Saturday morning, but he doesn't seem to be ready to just let go yet.

They are learning so much and are SO curious. Everything is a new discovery and every trip out of the play area is a new adventure. On Friday and Saturday evening, we had them out in the grass in the front yard. Clark was all over the place and excited to touch grass, leaves, etc. Once they got over the initial fascination, they quit putting every piece of yard waste into their mouths. You can see the sense of wonder on their faces when their bare feet touch the cool grass. They are excited to walk and stumble in it as well.

The babies met their Great Aunt Barbara and Uncle Warren this weekend as well as cousin Warren Jr and Cindy, who drove to Knoxville from Greensboro, NC. We had a really nice visit and managed to get the kiddos to do almost all of their "tricks". We were sorry that we didn't get to see the whole family before they left this morning, but the babies partied a little too hard Saturday evening and didn't get up until 9am today.

All three babies had colds beginning last Thursday and lasted until this Friday. One question I intend to ask God is "Where does all of that snot come from?!?!?" Seriously, it was unbelievable. The kids were pretty miserable at times. We have humidifiers in all three rooms as well as vapor plug-ins to help relieve some of the congestion. It was an all out snot-fest around here, but it looks like we have come to the end of this round. What a relief!

On top of that, Clark was getting TWO new teeth this week. His nickname, "Howler Monkey" really fit this week as he spent most of the day crying or whining. Poor thing. I have to admit, I'm a terrible mommy and really just wanted the whining to STOP. But I did feel so sorry for him because I knew it must feel awful and then the crying created more snot...which means it was a vicious cycle of crying and snot and blowing the nose...you get the idea.

In other news, some of you may know that I've had trouble with my wrist since last summer. I was told that it was tendonitis and very common with new moms because of the motions to change diapers, pick up babies, etc. Multiply that times three babies and I had a problem and no way to "take a break" to let it heal. It was very painful and really limited my ability to hold the kids and do certain tasks and activities. It was hard to give them baths, load them into car seats, etc. Writing and typing were also very uncomfortable (See??? I had a reason for not blogging more!). The good news is that I'm 100% PAIN FREE today! I went to a specialist and he gave me a cortisone shot in my wrist (um, ouch), but I was willing to do just about anything if it meant that I would no longer have wrist pain. I'm SO thankful that the shot worked and hope that it means I can be hauling the kids around easier by myself now.

We had Easter dinner at Grandpa's house last Sunday with Uncle Stevie and Uncle Albert. The adults ate first and then we perched the kids in the clip-on chairs on the bar. They didn't seem to mind being up so high and enjoyed the turkey, sweet potatoes, corn pudding, rolls and Grandpa's special bunny cake! They were all feeling pretty yucky with the colds and Clark was having an especially tough day, but we were glad to get to spend time with family.

Anyway, babies are sleeping peacefully right now and I'm headed for bed as they kept mommy hopping until about 1:30AM last night. We hope to be headed to Nashville in about 10 days or so. Aunt Marsha is getting ready for the onslaught of the Louis family. :) We will welcome the change of scenery.

Saturday in the Park....OK, it was really Sunday, but I like the song....

So, on Sunday, we managed to get to the park for an impromptu picnic. Auntie Karen was even able to meet up with us there and help feed the kiddos lunch and stroll them around a little. She and I also took them to the swings and I had to throw my "Mommy Muscle" around and ask some parents if they could move their kids out of the swings.

NOTE: I should explain that the parents were under a tree talking and barely watching their two children hang in the swing. I say "hang" in the swing because they were not swinging, but just hanging there. The parents didn't bother to stay with them and push them and the kids seemed completely uninterested. After waiting patiently, I decided to ask (ever so politely) if we could use the swings for just a few minutes (the mother understood what I was asking). This was my first experience with "swing set etiquette" and, while I wasn't sure of the protocol, I hoped that if I was REALLY polite it would be OK to ask them if we could have a turn.

Anyway, the girls had a BLAST on the swings. Clark laughs when he watches the girls having so much fun, but he isn't as interested in swinging. He would rather spend his time picking up the little pebbles on the ground (and eat them, of course). He's also good at sliding down the slide with Mommy (something we actually did today during our outing at the park).

Our big news amongst the crew is that the girls are walking. OK, Ems is walking more than Kendall, but both are really working on it. Emma is still mastering her stablility and learning to turn, twist, dance and clap - while walking, but she is doing an excellent job. Kendall is just now starting to get more comfortable standing without assistance and taking those first few steps on her own. I think she is inspired by her sister's movements and wants to be as independent as little Emma is. Clark has been experimenting with the walker and still seems pretty steady, but not really taking any steps without being able to hang onto something.

Emma and Kendall also continue to chat using jibberish and Clark has joined in on the fun. He's really quite talkative, though not saying specific words - although I swear he said "mama" and "dada" yesterday. They all are interacting more and I continue to enjoy overhearing them in the play zone chasing each other and laughing together.

It still amazes me that they are SO very different despite being triplets. They look different and have obviously developed differently. But I have noticed that they seem to follow similar patterns, such as starting to pull up and stand confidently and then they begin to climb onto riding toys. After that, the girls both started walking. I'm hoping that this will continue to be how Clark progresses as well. Only time will tell.

Mealtime continues to be a challenge for me as I hate the monotony of what I am feeding them, but lack the culinary expertise (or the nerve) to try very many new things. We tried zucchini today and I think it didn't agree with little E as she had a complete meltdown (for 40 minutes) followed by three of the biggest burps I've ever heard (Daddy was truly proud of his girl). We are stuck in the fish stick, ham or turkey and cheese, carrots, peas, corn, sweet potatoes, peaches, pears, apples routine. I try to "mix it up a little" by serving ham or turkey on bread (toasted) and then another time as a quesidilla (insert "La Cucaracha" melody here, please). I've added applesauce and cinnamon to plain old boring sweet potatoes. But, in the end, it's the same thing...different day. By the time I've gotten through their meals each day, I'm ready to just have cereal for my dinner because I lack the creativity to think of anything else (and Troy doesn't seem to be interested in fish sticks - go figure).

I've had a long day, so I'm going to pack it in for now. Thanks for checking back with us. We will be back soon with more pictures.