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Triple Travel to Juneau

Craig and I had an epiphany a few weeks ago, and decided to make a scheduled work trip into a full family trip to Juneau, with the girls spending day times with Grandma Sue, Auntie Amanda and Papa Lon while we both went into the office each day.

The house was filled with excitement, unsurprisingly, at the thought of 1) riding on an airplane; 2) going to the mysterious Juneau; and 3) seeing Grandma Sue’s house. In fact, over the past year these children continued to call us out about the lack of visiting the infamous Juneau, a detail that is problematic according to all three and cause for complaining.

Our household somehow made it through the entire month of January without catching any significant illnesses, which is a first in our journey of having children. January’s are typically sleepless, full of coughing fits and/or puking and of course darkness due to the dead of winter- all such lovely memories. Healthiness was very welcomed, as I’ve been working late every night for much of this winter, even canceled my rotating Friday off schedule (that I’ve worked for a decade) to accommodate more hours, and have definitely had a fear that something would take the whole family down for a week or more, like the RSV bout in November.

Of course, several days before our trip a new cough started with Emerie, and after a few days she felt better but Harper and Reagan presented symptoms. Luckily it wasn’t significant enough to cancel our plans, and off we went toward adventure! It would turn out that the girls would cough our entire trip- I even have one home from school today as I finish writing this from it- silver lining was when they were calm or sitting (such as on a plane), then one couldn’t even tell they had a cough at all.

Pre-flight photo in the ANC parking garage

We managed to fit the whole family’s clothes and toiletries into two suitcases on the way down, bringing also a carry on suitcase with the important essentials like Reagan’s stuffed pandas (all three), Emerie’s turtle from Dr. Winkle and its baby turtle as well as her purple blanket, and of course Harper’s spotted seal and puppy dog, and then packed an additional tote stocked with winter boots, snow gear and some toys for downtime entertainment at home. In true girly style, several dress-up dresses and the princess heels made the cut, so everyone could strut their stuff at Grandma’s house.

All three rocked matching cupcake themed dresses, Frozen princess coats and grey flower boots for the flight down; excited to show Grandma their outfits on arrival. Emerie demanded to wear her summer sunhat, you know, for all that sun we expected to see over the week in Juneau…

Anchorage received another snow dump the night before our trip, but nothing significant enough to affect airport operations and our flight schedule. With the heavy snow loads this year, we no longer bat an eye at six inches of accumulation; I’m not sure how I really feel about that, but at least it is beautiful out. What a year to enjoy that as a kid! We loaded everything into Craig’s expedition first thing in the morning, including three, folded car seats from my SUV. I dropped him curbside with everything but our kitchen sink, then parked and walked inside with the kids. They complained about the cold and snow as we descended the parking garage, and were instantly excited to see the escalator stairways going down and back up to the ticket counters. Needless to say, the airport is a pretty fun place (I know I am slightly biased but I’m not wrong!). Check in was simple, probably because Craig handled it all while the girls climbed around on the metal carts, a huge difference from our prior experience with Alaska Airlines booking our tickets incorrectly, and by the time we lined up for TSA, Emerie was already insisting she had to pee. Sounds about right.

They pestered the TSA agent with questions, including why everyone everything needed to go into separate bins and shoe removal. The girls were bummed they didn’t get to do the X-ray machine, but that rage vanished as moving airplanes and the snowplow crew came into view in the sterile area.

We rode the horizontal walking escalators a couple times before settling at the windows to wait for boarding. Reagan kept walking backwards on it and enjoyed going the opposite direction, even as we called her back. Of the three, she definitely seems to be the most stressed at the concept of traveling; I also expected Emerie to ask to go home immediately like she usually does. Harper and Emerie counted the parked Alaska Airline jets on the apron and others taxiing for take-off. A few stopped and then raced down the runway to go airborne, prompting everyone to ask a bunch of questions when one 747 cargo plane didn’t immediately start its ascent down the runway, listening to my response they were waiting for the”green light” from the tower controllers to proceed.

We boarded the plane, with the girls quite the hit walking down the aisle toward the back of the full plane. We all sat in one row, and after Reagan refused the window seat, let the lady sit by it instead of in the middle of our family. Reagan and I sat on one side and Craig took the aisle opposite, with Emerie in the middle and Harper looking out her window.

Ultimately it was an uneventful and smooth flight, much to my happiness. The girls were slightly nervous when speeding down the runway as the terminal sped by, and hollered quite loudly we are flying!! once we left the ground. Passengers around us had a good chuckle. Reagan held my arm until we were over the inlet, and then happily watched Aladdin the rest of the ride while the other two watched Monsters Inc.

Harper enjoyed looking out the window at the mountains for the first few minutes before deciding it was way too bright out with the sunlight over the clouds. Since it’s only about a 75 minute flight, we didn’t break out the real snacks and gave each the bag of pretzels. While Reagan snacked on some, she mostly used them to create letters on her tray table. We did learn that preschool sippy cups do pressurize in the air. I perfectly timed my restroom break during this realization, when Reagan went for a drink of juice and it shot all over her and the three unsuspecting passengers sitting a row back.

During the flight, all three undoubtedly had to see the tiny bathrooms, and practically made it back to their seats before either parent could push the flush button, as that was terrifying. And as I predicted, about ten minutes from landing and after one, in-flight relief, Emerie announced a pee emergency- for the record she survived AND didn’t have an accident.

Eventually rental cars were selected, car seats installed (by Craig) in Grandma Sue’s rig, and luggage picked up, and we were off like a herd of turtles for our Juneau adventure.

Each night the girls co-slept next to one another in Grandma’s guest room and then whoever fought the longest was able to sleep next to Craig. It became quite the debate and cause for consternation, until everyone had their turn to snuggle. Overall they all slept quite well, other than their never ending coughs, and didn’t have a night-night nummy (melatonin sliver) even once for the week, which we definitely relied on during past vacations. Only one night Harper wandered out to the couch to spend the rest of the night next to me.

Day 2 – Valentine’s Day!

I still chuckle that my advisory board work trip corresponded with the holiday of love. While Craig and I had a long work day, the girls had a fun filled day with Grandma Sue, Auntie Manda and Papa Cliff. They conned the adults into some good treats (probably more than we even know at this point!), extensively played with pink balloons, and sported their heart boutique dresses I lugged down from Anchorage. They rocked new beaded necklaces and “purses” from Papa Cliff and Grandma Sue attempted heart hairstyles. Everyone decorated heart shaped sugar cookies with sprinkles and licked the sprinkles and icing off a cookie afterwards. The unlicked cookies circulated both the DPS and DOT offices.

During the day the girls ran around town with Grandma and Amanda, made custom cards and drawings for Mom, Dad and grandparents, and dressed up as princesses. They snuggled with Papa Lon and watched some television, once the coughing increased. It was pretty much like a standard weekend day at home. We went to Bull Winkles for dinner, where the girls ate absolutely nothing Craig ordered. And the pizza was pretty good! They did enjoy the arcade games, where we watched them win first place on the motorcycle racing, quite impressive. Who knew they could steer so well?! The girls also demanded to watch Lion King with Amanda later that night.

Day 3 – Clearly going south wasn’t going to equal warmer or less snowy weather, with slushy precipitation falling almost the entire visit. Enough accumulation allowed the girls to make a fancy snowman, and Sue to text me she was teaching the girls how to use spray paint. By nightfall it was melted into a pile of spray paint slop, and the girls called it a flat snowman. Everyone “helped” Papa Lon plow the driveway on the four wheeler, like they do with Craig at home.

With the advisory board meeting taking up my entire work day as well as the entire evening, it was great to know the girls were out having fun with family and keeping their grandparents on their toes! The house wasn’t even on fire by the time I made it home and all kids were fast asleep, not that I harbored any doubt of Grandma Sue’s abilities!

Day 4 – I don’t have a lot to report on this fun day, except that “fun” might not be the descriptive word Craig would use for his day. Grandma and Amanda brought the girls downtown to visit Daddy at work and then headed to lunch. About halfway through my work lunch I received a text from Craig that Reagan puked the contents of her stomach all over him after a cough; getting almost nothing on herself. Luckily Sue and Amanda were able to handle cleanup and kiddos in the moment, and keep any other lunch goers from turning too green in the process.

We enjoyed a deer roast for dinner that night that Lon hunted earlier this winter, with potatoes, veggies and rolls. Emerie scarfed down two servings immediately while her sisters took a bit more convincing. It was delicious!

Day 5 – I took a few hours of leave on Friday in attempts to take the girls to the beach with Grandma and Auntie Manda. Mother Nature didn’t receive the memo and we saw continuous, slushy snow the entire morning and temperatures hovering around freezing. After a Costco run the girls continued coloring at the table and watching movies inside. Their coloring creativity continues to expand and it’s cute to see the little people, animals and flowers that emerge on paper. Harper makes a really cute sunflower! We never made it to the beach, and will have to table that adventure for our next, more summery visit.

We did hit up a couple stores around town to burn some time, and managed to get ourselves immediately kicked out of the only kid play area in town. The lady claimed the girls were coughing too much; but if she had given them five minutes to settle in, they would have calmed down and been fine. Instead she followed them around with sanitary spray and then demanded we leave. Amanda and I took them around the other mall and let them look through a couple knick-knack stores to burn some time. They conned me into purchasing bunny ear headbands in their colors, some kid jewelry (such as the tiara Harper wore the rest of the visit), pretend paper money and click together markers (that were really cool!). After walking out of the first store, Emerie instructed us to wait, Mom, I have to say goodbye to my husbands, turned, and hugged all the mannequins. So random!

Also random, walking down the freezer aisle at Three Bears, we met the aunt of one of the local triplet sets in Juneau that we’ve never met before. It really is a small world; this is the second time this month I’ve met a new triplet family member randomly at the store!

After painting a custom picture at Papa Cliff’s house later in the afternoon, we enjoyed family dinner with cousin Chatum and Auntie Salena. Much to my happiness, Sue made my favorite chicken fried steak, green beans and potatoes, and the kids ran around wreaking havoc.

On the flight home we switched up the seating chart, with me at the window, Emerie in the middle next to an older gentleman who talked about Frozen and Elsa with her, and Craig on the aisle with Harper and Reagan next to him. While the girls asked several times over the week when we would go home, they wished to stay with Grandma when we arrived at the airport. Even with the laid back schedule and crummy weather, they know she makes everything fun and exciting and they greatly enjoy her visits.

We ended the flight with Emerie’s announcement she had to poop, but not before I jotted down some of her ridiculous questions throughout the trip:

  • When does this plane go upside down?
  • Are we going to land on the water?
  • When are we done driving on the clouds?
  • Where are the clouds? (as we were flying in them)
  • Why is that light on (the fasten seat belt sign)? I don’t like it; turn it off.

The girls slept nearly twelve hours on the first night at home, indicating their level of travel exhaustion. It was a great trip and easier than our adventures last year. Not lugging around strollers, a diaper bag and diapers, not to mention easier scheduling without needing to fit naps in each afternoon, made the whole trip much more simplistic. The new headphones were a hit, in their colors of course, so everyone could watch a movie on our iPads. It’s a blessing that they sit that long now, and the plane ride went by pretty quickly because of it. I also learned I should pack more snacks; they didn’t eat any on the way down, but our afternoon flight on the way back, cleared out the whole bag. If it was a longer flight, I would definitely need more.

We are already looking forward to the next one!

❤

The Triple Echo

While our family has so many things to be thankful for in our lives, having the kids feeling well for Thanksgiving this year wasn’t one of them. Having the kids feeling well for Halloween wasn’t one of them either, so fingers crossed for Christmas!

By mid-morning on Thanksgiving, and after Grandma Sue flew up here and created a smorgasbord of treats for the day, we made the call to cancel our meet up with the cousins, as to not share the second crud to enter our house in a month. This one is a bit different than a few weeks ago, with Reagan again instigating with the deep, dry cough, but the other two claiming stomachaches (which later turned to coughs). While Harper had no fever, she clearly felt miserable and put herself down for a nap about 11:30. Emerie, on the other hand, seemed entirely fine, but presented a 101 fever that morning.

So while this probably isn’t holiday for the books, we still have so many things to be thankful for. For example, it’s easy to forget how much easier our daily lives are now that the girls are older, and even easier to forget the barely survivable age three. Don’t lie, we’ve all been there!

We are also extraordinarily lucky to have generally healthy kids, enough food on the table, a warm roof over our heads, plenty of toys and crafts, and a wonderful life in this beautiful state. The girls have built-in playmates, even when they fight, and are now playing games with one another and letting that creativity emerge. They all love their preschool and teachers and have grown to have many friends. Craig and I are very lucky to have good, supporting jobs (and bosses) and stability and flexibility from them. I am constantly reminded that having a supportive boss, who values family and reality that life happens, really improves and relieves some of my daily stress! Sometimes I get in my own head about how hard life can be, and I have to remember how truly lucky we really are.

Now that we are full blown into sickness #2, the “triple echo” is back in effect. I don’t know if this is a random thing, a multiples or sibling thing, or just a full on coincidence, but the girls have once again started echoing each other. For instance, when one gets up and wanders into our bed in the middle of the night from a coughing fit, the other two may be fully asleep but will join that sister in a quick coughing fit and then just roll over back to sleep. When the escapee (to my bed) has other fits throughout the night, it’s almost like the ones sleeping across the hall copy and cough in sync. It’s actually a bit weird!

It works on longer distances too, but this could once again just be coincidental or the sharing of germs in a similar time frame. This week Harper coughed so hard she threw up; luckily she was already home for the day with a fever and not at school. Within about fifteen minutes Craig received a call that Emerie was puking at school, after running around in the gym. Coincidence or triplet thing?

When the girls were newly home from the NICU, for the first three days they co-slept in the master bedroom and would echo one another in baby speak while completely snuggled in their swaddling and cribs. You might think, awww how cute! But in reality, it literally kept my dramatically overtired mom brain from catching a few zzzz’s, listening for any sound that might be off; and exactly why we moved them into the nursery so quickly. The constant echo would be crazy for two, let alone throwing a third in there and it stayed on repeat all night long.

Pedialite popsicles and a pullout couch (and Bluey) for the win.

Now that they are older, the echo seems to stick to the coughing nights, that and the synchronized puke fests, which do happen upon occasion, even at age four. I could do with less of those! Often I witness the coughing ones in the dead of night, when I’ve fallen asleep in the nursery chair after convincing someone to remain in their own bed. One kiddo will start the cough, fully asleep, and after a few seconds the second will respond, and then the third. It’s weird and it doesn’t always wake them up, and just like that, it’s done.

My last guess is since they’ve grown up together, eat and nap and go to bed together, everyone is just in-sync and don’t know anything else. They dislike doing things alone (like sending only one to school for the day) and enjoy the comfort of their siblings, even during the constant fighting. When one is gone, the others will point out they miss them. They truly can be sweet when they want to be!

So for now, we are probably more than halfway through sickness number two of the winter, and hope to be feeling better by the preschool Christmas concert on Friday that I REALLY want to go to. The Christmas tree went up last weekend and everyone was excited to look at all the different ornaments and hang them on the tree. We only had one mishap with Reagan sidestepping off a chair as she leaned to hang one up. She has a pretty nasty bruise on her thigh now. They were all thrilled to see the ones colored last year throughout the winter, and enthusiastically decorated the lower half of the tree. And now we get to enjoy the holiday ambiance over the next month, since it seems like we will be home for a lot of it, avoiding the sub-zero cold weather and resting up.

❤

Falling into Winter

As pretty much all parents of young children know, Bluey is life. What is Bluey? An Australian children’s television show that supports morals and raising good humans, in the form of blue and tan puppy dogs. While it may be repetitive and get stuck in your head, the story lines nevertheless are wonderful and support good family values, sibling love, creative and respectful play, and good life lessons. We managed to avoid Bluey marathons for at least three years, knowing that the girls considered it special when preschool turned it on, and kept it that way. Eventually, as all parents do, we caved and this show now plays SO MUCH. Even more so when everyone is sick and confined at home until fevers reduce and energy returns. The show has actually grown on me and some of the girls’ games are now played after certain episodes are watched, like “Keep-ee-Upie.” In layman’s terms, this is known as keeping a balloon off the ground. I’m pretty certain a few of our chickens have names based on characters in different episodes on the show (Diddums is a favorite, and Telemicus).

You know they are sick when they snuggle in and don’t move!

One of my favorite words to emerge from the show really fits with our current #tripletlife lifestyle. Harper is on a kick of saying things are difficult: people, sisters, parents, a task, everything. It turns out there is an episode on Bluey where Bingo (the little sister) uses the word “trifficult,” and I’ve decided this fits well in our household that deals in everything triple. It’s meant to be tricky and difficult combined, hence trifficult. We have a lot of bedtime routines that I would call trifficult to a tee; so, very, trifficult. Some evening conversations go like this, as the girls are lying in their beds resisting the urge to finish the day and go to sleep.

Harper: Mom, where do narwhals live? (narwhals became quite a discussion after Craig’s return from his Juneau work trip, where he found a pink, purple and teal one)

Mom: They live in the water. (It’s bedtime, so don’t be descriptive or long winded)

Harper: But what kind of water do they live in?

Mom: Well they live in the ocean.

Reagan: But mom, why don’t they live in the sea? Why the ocean? I don’t want them to live in the ocean! *whineeeee

Mom: Well, the ocean is bigger than the sea. They need their space. (this answer is based on no legitimate narwhal knowledge on my part)

Harper: Awwww, I don’t want them to live in the ocean! I want them to live in the sea *more whining. So then where do we live?

Mom: We live on the land, in Alaska. It’s next to the ocean. (the girls are well versed in their home state and a few cities where family lives)

Reagan: Well then why don’t we go to the ocean then? Why don’t you EVER take us to the ocean? WHY? I want to see a narwhal but you NEVER take us. (I now see the trap ensuing)

Harper: Yeah, we never go to the ocean. Why don’t you EVER take us to the ocean?!

Emerie (whose been listening thoughtfully the whole time): Turtles live in the water. I love turtles, they are my favorite. I want to go to the ocean. (Good diversion, kid)

Harper (taking the bait): Otters too, I want to go see otters. And the narwhals, since you never take us.

Mom: How about you just go to sleep. We will go to the ocean eventually.

Harper: My narwhal wants to go to the ocean now; she doesn’t want to sleep. Mom, she wants to go to the ocean. (and it went on from there)

And on and on and on….

Pumpkin carving this year was pretty similar to last year, other than the added enjoyment of Cousin Jaren and Savaya coming over to help with the activity. The girls thoroughly enjoyed watching everyone else clean out the pumpkin guts, but just like last year, Harper was the only one willing to use her hands. Emerie and Reagan “helped” gut with spoons and demanded the adults loosen the seeds to their satisfaction. Eventually they returned to playing and the adults finished things out. Jaren’s puking pumpkin was definitely the winner…if we were competing on designs. The girls thought it was pretty funny.

I also had the joy of watching my children knowingly torture their cousin this time around. For the longest time all three interchange their boy cousins names, but now they are starting to do it on purpose to get a rise out of them. Today in particular, all three whispered to each other go call him Tyler with a maniacal laugh, would shout hi Tyler, and then all run away in overwhelming giggles. It’s funny to know they are purposefully tormenting Jaren now. I wonder where they get that trait from?!

A few more Halloween activities led to more princess dress up and fun. The girls had their annual Halloween party at school, with snacks and goodies and fancy, carved pumpkins. Reagan came down with quite a nasty cough the evening before so she had to miss it, with the doctor telling us that day she had RSV (for the first time at age four…which is pretty good!). She demanded that I take photos of the classroom decorations and that her sisters explained what went down that day. One of the teachers’ aides kindly found a squishy eyeball for her to have like her sisters, which prompted much discussion.

Harper and Emerie gladly wore Encanto’s Isabella (Emerie) and Rapunzel (Harper) AND wore their dress up princess heels, which was very exciting since those are only worn at home. One of the teacher aides asked me what Reagan was supposed to be, which seemed like a strange question until she clarified. The girls were going around telling everyone Reagan doesn’t get a costume because she doesn’t sleep in her bed at night. Well not entirely true kiddos…she doesn’t sleep overnight in her bed, but her staying home sick trumps that! It’s funny how the girls perspective is sometimes.

While the weather temperatures decided to drop for the rest of our fall festivities, that didn’t stop us from attempting them anyway. Extra layers and warm, “cozy (fleece) pants” kept extremities warm long enough to enjoy Trunk or Treat at their school over the weekend. It was not nearly as busy as last year, but the girls saw lots of classmates and friends throughout. I heard a few comments from older kids that those are the triplets. Those triplets are the same age! And so on. I even heard one grade schooler comment that their parents probably never sleep. That’s pretty insightful! So their school celebrity status is still going strong.

Harper and Emerie opted for the same outfits as their school party (plus a pink cape) while Reagan begrudgingly wore Anna, only because she wanted a cape. I sneakily convinced everyone to wear princess gloves, to keep hands warm but also to accessorize! Harper requested her hair be down, which she does at school everyday no matter how it’s styled, Reagan had two braids like Anna, and Emerie rocked her Elsa braid ponytail clip.

Craig prepped the decorations and then headed over early to set up. By the time we showed up, he was pretty cold, and I was sweating getting everyone dressed and into the car! Cold or not, the car looked pretty great and mermaid like. The girls were certainly impressed and tried to grab handfuls of the candy from our bowl, that we were trying to get rid of! So. Much. Candy.

Craig’s fancy truck
Isabella, Anna and Rapunzel
Isabella and Rapunzel @ school

The rest of Halloween weekend was spent at home, resting up from the coughing, RSV ridden and very tired kiddos. We attempted to walk around the neighborhood a bit on Halloween night, simply because the girls were so hyped up about it and have asked me for about 364 days when we could next trick or treat. It was a pretty cold night but mostly snow-less, with the neighborhood really picking up by about 6:30. The cold, crisp air was not doing us any favors; after about a block Emerie and Reagan were blustering continuously and we decided it wasn’t worth the effort. They turned around with Cliff and Craig while Harper and I went a couple more blocks. She is fearless, even without her sisters in tow, and did quite well going up to front doors on her own and ringing the bell. Toward the end of the excursion, she was turning candy down and informing unsuspecting folks she needed the packs of M&M candies from their bowls and nothing else. Silly girl. We trekked over to the fanciest decorated house (with a dragon) and then turned around and came home to warm up the appendages, which were quite cold at that point.

We definitely ended the fall season and threw ourselves straight into winter illnesses with a bang. If we are lucky this will be the worst of it for the year, but since we’ve had snow less than a week and temperatures continue to dip, I’m not optimistic that will happen. I am thankful that this is our first diagnosed bout with RSV- it must be so terrifying for folks that have tiny babies coughing and wheezing like this. It was definitely something we worked super hard to avoid when the girls were still considered preemies, and then with COVID, managed to avoid it until age four and a half. Now let’s avoid it for a few more years please. The week spent at home really displays how much the girls have matured and now play with one another or creatively alone, something they didn’t do nearly as well last winter and definitely didn’t last as long. Not sure how Craig and I would have handled the past week a year ago, so thank goodness we didn’t have to!

We made it through the rest of our sick week with dozens (hundreds?) of Bluey episodes and a lot of princess movies, continuous dressing up (from pajamas to princess dresses and accessories), and a lot of down time. We finally convinced the girls to watch a non-animated movie, Maleficent II, and they didn’t react to the scary bits as much as I expected. And we’ve watching it at least a handful of times; they really enjoy seeing the fairies and all love Maleficent and no longer believe she is the villain of the story.

Craig and I continued to brutally step on the dozens of tiny rocks, ahem “crystals”, that litter the floor of our house from Miss Reagan, who adamantly collects them and using them for everything. If we aren’t stepping on rocks, then it’s the tiny plastic jewelry and sharp edged glass beads that are lying in wait for crushing (skin crushing, soul crushing, stepping on them hurts!). Emerie especially loves to accessorize and the house is covered in beaded necklaces, rings, shoes and other head wear and I can’t for the life of me keep that $hit off the floor!

Reagan now knows what bedtime looks like on the living room clock and will argue if it’s not right at eight when we scoop everyone upstairs. I don’t believe she knows what 8 P.M. actually is, but she knows where the hands sit when it’s the right time. So that’s superrrr fun with an overtired preschooler(s). Other intellectual discussions occurred while at home, and I continue to try to remember to write down Harper epiphanies, simply because they crack me up. The only one documented so far this month is related to the poor kitten getting her tail slammed in the door. Harper’s response? If she doesn’t have a tail, she will no longer be a cat and she will die. Ummm ok? That sounds a bit rough and dramatic. When asked what she would be instead, Harper looked me square in the eye and levelly answered, well she wouldn’t be a cat. Touche kid, touche.

I have to say, watching winter occur from the confines of my own home is far preferable to being out and about in it, so we timed the impending illnesses well for that. The yard looks so beautifully white and undisturbed, mostly because the girls hack up a lung when out in the cold for any amount of time. That and they have no desire to be out there until they feel better, other than for the occasional bundled up four wheeler ride, which is met with just as much excitement so far this year as last. Craig and I are back on the mend and the girls seem to have crushed the fevers, with the cough letting up for the most part. I am really hoping for bedtime to smooth out a little, because triple coughing children after ten days is rough on the sanity, for both the kids and the parents.

Stay warm, my friends. ❤

No Worse for (Winter) Wear

All in all early January was pretty subdued and without too much excitement (good or bad!). The high point of winter means dark days, various illnesses, busy work hours, and a lot of entertaining the littles indoors since the cold air seems to make them cough more.

Craig and I took all three to the doctor this week just to ensure we aren’t missing something on the prolonged coughing fits. It’s been a bit since a triple pediatrician visit and it started out super strong, with all three hanging out and “reading” their mini princess books and cooperating with each other; by the end of the visit they were climbing the walls of the waiting area and ready to go. They all did unusually well at obeying the doctor, who checked lungs, ears, nose and mouth with great cooperation. The pediatrician confirmed everyone just has a viral cough, not croup, not COVID, not RSV, not pneumonia from me (thank goodness), just a mild, fever-less cough. Good news I guess!

A few fun outings have happened in the past two weeks. I ventured out to the valley with Megan and the boys, getting a solid driving nap on our way out, and spent a full afternoon and evening at the play center in Wasilla. It was our first visit and the girls loved the climbing area, spending a lot of time going up and down and chasing each other. At some point Reagan went down the big slide at the top so Emerie followed her, which resulted in a tearful discussion of I went down the REALLY big slide and it was scary. It hurt me! Needless to say, she only went down it once.

We devoured snacks, rode the tiny train and spinner rides multiple times, and played a few games. The girls all enjoyed the basketball one and even made some hoops; watching all three play at once is definitely a good source of entertainment. In several cases the ball hit the rim and immediately ricochet straight into someone’s face- causing quite the moment of laughter. Calm down, the balls were much softer than real basketballs….which aren’t so fun when colliding with your nose. The girls enjoyed any game that involved whacking things and tested out their fruit ninja skills with Oaki. Toward the end of the night we watched a few friends race around the track on the other side of the center, with five very excited littles watching. I did not plan to be out until after 8 on a school night (who are we kidding, any night), but the visit went so well the time passed quickly.

It was wonderful to feel more like what I assume “normal” parents feel like during outings. I wasn’t chasing the kids around the whole time to not lose them, wasn’t stressed out and hoping for time to be over so we could go home; I was actually enjoying an afternoon with my girls and not feeling impending stress. Everyone was clearly tired as we loaded up about the time we’d normally be settling down for bedtime, and managed to keep them awake and entertained (annoyed) the entire hour drive with all the favorite Disney tunes…Frozen, Encanto, Home, and so on. And of course, more snacks.

Outings over the past month or two continue to be stroller-less, which is quite the change over the past three years. I should say, stroller-less AND survivable, for the most part. The snow plays a small factor is containment as we walk into a store or the jump park, but overall we are just getting better at it. Excluding the few horrible times that are sprinkled throughout the good trips, it is wonderful to be able to walk from the car to the destination and not haul a thousand things. Not all times are smooth or wonderful, like the other day when I picked up the girls at preschool. They proceeded to run from the gym across the whole school lobby and to the front door with their dresses pulled down to their waists, shoes littering the floor and bare chests on display, and would not listen or come back to me. Those are the beautiful memories to hold onto when they are older…right? The jump park is another spot that one parent can easily take all three and keep the damage to a minimum and it’s really nice.

The girls are currently all on a dress up kick, and while you’d assume Harper would be leading that charge with her love of all things pink, black and princessery, Emerie is currently the one obsessed with her Snow White two piece outfit from Uncle William at Christmas. The past few weeks she’s worn it to school over her clothes a number of times and every night the battle of convincing her it isn’t pajamas occurs. Harper is more into the tutus, dress up heels and crown headbands while Reagan occasionally accepts an article of clothing, especially when delivered by her sisters; overall her favorite “dress-up” article of clothing is the plain green hat from June and January, which she constantly wears and carts around. The other evening Reagan was wearing a pink princess cloak and Harper called her out, claiming she can’t wear pink, you’re Reagan and you wear blue! It’s funny to say, but we definitely hit the nail on the head on who correlates to what color, since we didn’t make the call based on personality at birth. Harper loves girly and pink things, Emerie likes purple (also blue but not the point) and Reagan appears to be the tomboy and prefers teal and blue when given the option.

Snoozing on the way to the valley’s play center.

And then, when you take away the color from a picture, it’s VERY hard to tell who is who, even more so with eyes shut and sans glasses! Don’t you think?!

We have returned to the question phase about my name, with the constant why do we call you mom but Kaden calls you Becca? Can we call you Becca? Daddy’s name is Craig; my mom’s name is Becca, but we don’t call her Becca. So many complicated thoughts to work out.

Many other kiddo musings are fun to interpret and not often understand unless one is paying attention. These types of things must contribute to mom brain, since the lack of understanding their intent often results in rage and meltdowns…so one must store these jewels in their mind until the kid moves onto the next one. I enjoy writing them down, since it shows their quirks and what things they enjoy and latch onto!

Last year the main example of this related to listening to or watching Pan, more commonly known as Tangled or Rapunzel to everyone else on earthy, and they still call her that to this day, but others are definitely popping up into every day conversation. Like when Emerie asks me to play the castle song or the horse song in the car, can you guess those ones from Frozen? She’s referring to Let It Go, the song where Elsa builds the castle while she sings and the song in Frozen II when she wrangles the horse. Reagan is now a huge Rihanna fan, insisting each night that I play the shadow song, which refers to one of Rihanna’s songs from the movie Home, where she sings about the sun and a shadow. Reagan constantly sings that chorus or hums it to herself. Everyone requests the bubble song from the same movie, referring to the main opening scene when all the Boov people come to earth in their bubbles. As mentioned in a previous blog, my favorite interpretation to anything are the requests for the crack house movie (Encanto).

Who knows what requests will be next, but I can’t wait to see. We are gaining five minutes of daylight a day, everyone is starting to get healthier from their coughs, and I can sit and write this on my long-awaited, new living room couch; things are already starting to look up!

❤

House of Sick

2022 is definitely starting off with a bang, and not exactly a fun one. All three adults managed to pick up pneumonia, likely transmitted through the girls (who didn’t catch it thank goodness!) and to my mom, me and as of this week, Craig. Being down for the count with zero energy the past two weeks means relying on a few friends’ gracious help and sheer will power to keep the household floating! Without some help the past several long weekends would have ended with the house on fire. The delivered meals feel similar to back when the babies were tiny and we got through the first few months in survival mode.

In addition to the sick adults, two of the girls have ear infections and Harper now has the croup, meaning everyone in the entire house is on some form of medication (and it’s not covid yay!). This might be a first! The only bonus with our current sicknesses is that Craig and I spaced ours apart just enough to survive; with my second round of stronger medication kicking in right about the time he started feeling worse and having the major fatigue.

On New Years Day I managed to drag myself to the car and we did a family donut run to Carrs in our pajamas, at negative temperatures! The donut requests started with the girls begging for Grandma Sue’s donuts, which no one was up for accomplishing, and so we drove to the usual local spots that were closed for the day. Everyone enjoyed a frosted donut from Carrs, with Reagan eating the entire sugared one, Emerie eating the top icing and sprinkles off hers like a mouse, and Harper slowly nibbling on all the parts.

Other than this, we haven’t been up to much since the new year started. I thank my lucky stars that this extreme sickness hit our household this year and not last, because the girls have done exceptional at playing at home and entertaining themselves without requiring us to be on our feet and moving the whole time. This, and Megan and Heather’s clans coming over to feed and entertain (thank you friends!).

In addition to all the sickness, we recently made another household change and I feel like I’ve already written a very similar blog to this a year ago when we re-homed our Kalli. Here we are again, doing the same thing for our second dog, Koda, who many of you have loved on and snuggled with over the past five years.

Craig and I mused over this decision the last few months and finally made the call that this is something we can do to ease our stress a little bit, stop the dog versus cat fights that cost a lot of money, and give Koda a better place with more puppy attention, something she deserves! It’s a hard decision to make; ultimately what is best for Koda is a place that can sit and snuggle and love on her, something we seem to do a lot of, just not for her and more for our kiddos. These decisions are never fun.

Our pretty girl

Unlike when we went through this with Kalli, the kids are now a factor in how to play out the situation. Making a big deal of it doesn’t deplete the stress, but neither does a vanishing act with no explanation to the littles that would wonder where she went. We opted for a happy medium of the two, with the explanation that Koda needs to go stay with another “momma that needs help and snuggles” and she is going to have so much fun there! We played it off as something exciting and good for our pup, something she will enjoy and be happy with, and I think it worked! Everyone asked why and thought about it, with Emerie claiming no, she’s my Koda the most of the three. She likes to call our house Koda’s house; when she’s mad at both parents for something, she whines she wants Koda. So we will see how that plays out in future days.

Craig dropped her off at the rescue the other night before picking up the girls from preschool and surprisingly no one questioned where she was- although I think they just didn’t notice. The second night I received more questions about her location and randomly throughout the day Emerie asks where her Koda is, which is sad! I never noticed how often she is mentioned in random conversations the girls have until now, but hopefully that will ease with time and it won’t be a sore spot for them.

The house feels strange without a pup and while Craig and I both feel sad that we had to make this call, it is best for the household going forward. The kitties are already starting to run around and play more freely!

Cheers to the start of a new year, which is relatively rougher than some other year starts. Next thing to solve? Getting everyone, myself included, back to feeling healthy so we can get back to fun adventures and activities.

❤