Family

June 1st - 3 tornados tore through MA.  I have family in Monson - one of the towns that was hit directly.  So Thursday I drove up there with the girls.  I brought some supplies but had no idea what would be needed.  All I knew was that my cousin, her daughter and my aunt were alive and all ok, no one had power, my aunts street was pretty much non existent any longer and that everyone in the town needed help.  So I brought lots of non parishible food, water, gatorade and some shovels.  Unforuntately I couldn't get to my family.  The streets were unpassible via vehicle and it was too dangerous to walk with the kids.  So I left what I brought at my cousins house (which was fine). 

Friday I still had to drive to VA (I already had a plane ticket to fly back on Sat night and the car needed to get down there).  So I drove to VA, had an awesome visit with my niece and her family down there and then flew back on Sat night. 

Sunday I drove back up to MA to help my aunt pack up her house.  Her house is still standing...barely.  She's one of the lucky ones to be able to have 'things' to retrieve.  But she has to get all of her things and get out - it's restricted access only. 

I'm headed back there today.  More to blog about but for now...I'll just post these pictures:

http://www.boston.com/news/weather/gallery/2011tornado_aerials/?s_campaign=8315

Trip

I'm making a power trip to VA this weekend.  Leaving Friday morning to drive down there and then flying back Saturday night.  I will be accomplishing 3 things:
1: Delivering a car to my brother-in-law
2: Seeing my niece who we all miss very very very much
3: Getting some ME time! (10 hours in the car officially constitutes as 'me' time in my book). 

The car needs to get to VA and it needs to be there soon.  Joey and I went back and forth as to what to do and who should drive it down there.  It was a battle because we ALL want to see Christina.  She can't come up here right now (or I would take her for the whole summer).  So if we want to see her - we need to go down there.  Joey has to work.  Pete has to work.  A vacation isn't really an option this week.  Soooo - off I go!!!  (I'm excited about this actually.  But bummed that I'll have less than 24 hours to spend with her).  We are hoping we can make a family trip down there sooner than later.  But for now - I'll take what I can get :)

Memorial Day Parade

I took the girls to a Memorial Day Parade today.  My friend Lucy lives right on the street the parade goes down so we had prime seating.  I remembered the parade I took them to back in March - they didn't score any candy because we were too far back and no one was 'throwing' candy at that parade.  They just kind of handed it out and since weren't sitting on the curb...we didn't get any.  With our prime spot today - I figured the girls would be able to get a little bit (probably just enough to make them happy little parade goers.).   But little did I know they would score a TON OF LOOT.  I'm not sure if it was because they are triplets and they were dressed exceptionally cute today (and all were matching) or if it was just the parade itself.  But they did score a lot of it. 

Dressing them alike wasn't planned for the parade.  I actually had no idea about the parade until I was on my way to the gym and my friend called to tell me about it.  So I turned around, came back home, got the kids and left.  The problem with dressing them alike is the attention it attracts.  The girls aren't very fond of the attention and they're starting to show their dislike of complete strangers telling them how pretty and cute they are.  Before the parade began - someone came up and SAT ON OUR BLANKET right next to them.  She started talking to them and Emily slowly turned herself around so her back was to the woman.  None of them said a word.  The woman left.  The people sitting directly next to us kept trying to get her daughter to come and play with the 'cute little triplets' but the girls were just content to sit on the blanket and wait for the parade to start so they didn't want to play.  During the parade - we were pelted with candy...and lots of it.  People saw the girls and for some reason felt the need to inundate them with sugary goodness.  There was also a guy that walked up with a camera and started taking pictures of the girls (he wasn't part of any news station or newspaper...just a random guy).  Someone that was sitting behind us but also part of 'our' crowd looked at me and said "That gets pretty annoying huh?"  Yeah - and it's only been 45 minutes. 

After the parade we headed to Friendly's for lunch.  More comments, and even an interrupted lunch by the manager who came over to say "Wow!  You don't see that often!"  My reply was "Actually I see it everyday."  People point and say "TRIPLETS!?", people stop other people their with to make them turn around and look, people come up and talk to us asking inappropriate questions.  I love people...for the most part.  But days like today I'm not a big fan.  The girls aren't big fans either - and it's no wonder why. 

Aside from all the interruptions...we had a fantastic time.  The girls loved the parade and we all had a nice lunch.  Hopefully they get to sleep early tonight since they didn't nap today!!!!

Not ALL better

I don't intentionally let this blog go unattended for days at a time.  I'm just BUSY!  And by the end of the night I'm tired and don't feel like even turning the computer on.  It's 8:44 and I JUST NOW finished my day and sat down. 

Tuesday and Wednesday Emily was sick.  She was throwing up and had a high fever.  Wednesday afternoon (yesterday) Pete came home sick.  Fever, throwing up and diarrhea.  He's still sick today and spent the day in bed. 

That leaves Hailey, me and LB.  Lord help us if I get sick..........

So since Pete was home sick I figured I'd take the girls out of the house today and let him puke in peace (I know...the niceness is just drooling off of me).  My plan was to keep them busy all day and be nap free so they'd go to bed early tonight. 

We got up, chilled out for a bit, gave them baths, got 'em dressed and headed to the mall.  We hung around the mall for a while and then came home just long enough to use the potty and grab the wagon.  We then headed to the park where we fed the fish, played in the sand and swung on the swings.  We'd have stayed longer but Hailey pooped her pants.  (see above in this same paragraph where we DID IN FACT come home to use the potty!).  So we left and came home.

I was frustrated with Hailey and when we got home LB was home.  He was about to go upstairs to take a shower but I said "You have to wait.  Hailey shit her pants." So as I'm bringing Hailey upstairs he says to her "What happened?"  Hannah was all to eager to answer that with "She shit her pants.  She just shit herself."  HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I think my stomach hurts still from laughing so hard.  No worries - I explained that she is NEVER to use that word again.  (After I was done laughing my ass off).  I think what makes it so funny is the innocence that comes with it. 

Ok - I finished changing them (Hannah decided it was ok to shit herself while I was cleaning Hailey) and then we went back outside to play.  We didn't really come back in until around 4:30.  The girls played for a bit and LB went to the store with Kristin to get stuff for the grill for dinner.  I gave the girls another bath (it was needed) and then we all (sans Pete) sat down for dinner.  Even Rosemary came over to join us for some food!!!! 

The girls went to bed no problems tonight but it wasn't until 7:00.  My plan to get them in bed early failed.  But it's ok - I'm hoping they sleep thru the night and wake up around 8:00.......hoping. lol

Tomorrow I'm working all day cleaning so the girls are going to Pete's moms house.  He will be home again from work I'm sure.  He's still pretty sick :(

Ok - see how time flies?  It's now 8:58.  I have 2 episodes of Las Vegas that I really want to watch!  So I'm watching them NOW!

All better!

Hannah is BETTER!  SWEEEEEEEEET!  And the other 2 are good so far............

Emily is a beast lately with her attitude.  She seems to think the world revolves around her and everyone here is here to serve only her.  The way she speaks to me is unreal sometimes.  "I need a napkin."  So I'll say "Excuse me?" trying to prompt her to use nicer words.  She'll say "I SAID I NEED A NAPKIN."  Ugh.  I really do use nice words when requesting them to do something so I'm not sure where she gets this attitude.............lol

Hopefully on the road to recovery

After 3 full days and 3 full nights of nothing but puking and diarrhea - I think Hannah is on the road to recovery.  She woke up today with her bossy attitude and was hungry/thirsty.  YAY!  She still hasn't peed yet but she only had 2 loose poops and that was earlier in the day.  Let's hope this is IT and the other 2 don't get it but....I'm a realist so I'm on the 'wait and see' list. 

This morning Pete and I split up so we could divide and conquer.  I took Hailey & Emily to church while he took Hannah to the grocery store.  After church I took the 2 I had to the mall where we met up with my friend Kim.  We didn't stay too long - then we met up with Pete and Hannah at home.  

Now after nap - it's time the them to go to Pete's parents for dinner and for my 'me' time.  I think I'm headed out with my older bro to go play BINGO!  Yay!!!!!! 

Tomorrow starts a new week.  I need patience.  This week really took a toll on me in terms of having patience with the girls.  We were stuck inside all week due to the weather.  Plus Thu and Fri I had 1 sick kid while the other 2 were full of energy.  THAT is something I wasn't prepared for.  It's gonna take some working on but I'll figure something out for when this happens again. 

Hannah is sickie

At 1:00 this morning Hannah woke up and was crying (per usual night routine).  We did the whole "ignore her and she'll go back to sleep" thing but eventually she said "I threw up."  So I got up - and I was pissed because I thought she threw up from crying.  But I changed her, her bed sheets, cleaned her up and calmed her down before putting her back to bed.  I went back to bed and about 25 minutes later she threw up again.  This is the 'f*ck she's really sick' moment.  And this time she needed to get a bath in addition to changing her sheets and clothes.  I think it was around 3:30 when I was able to fall asleep again. 

Pete went to work (lucky guy) and I got to stay home with the girls.  I was totally preparing myself for the worst.  But really it worked out ok.  All 3 of them sat and watched cartoons for almost 3 hours today (this has NEVER been done before!).  But today was a TV day for sure.  Hannah threw up (dry heaving) most of the day and eventually I called the doctor to have something called in for her.  They called in some Zofran and after she had 1 dose it worked :)

The other 2 were really receptive to the fact that Hannah was sick and they kinda just hung out on their own.  I expected a ton of competition when it came to attention but it didn't turn out that way.  They also were very kind to Hannah and getting her anything her little heart desired - though she was too sick to take full advantage of it! 

I'm hoping that this doesn't pass through the whole house but only time will tell. 

On a better note:  Here's a conversation I had with Emily yesterday (or the day before...I can't remember).

Me: "Emily would you PLEASE pick up your crayons off the floor."
Emily: "I need to think about it.  It depends on your attitude mom."