January

You know it's time to clean your carpets when you wipe up a spit-up stain the color of squash and the spot left behind is five shades lighter in your white carpet. Gross. David's squash must not have agreed with him because after lunch I was dealing with little orange spots everywhere. Now, I just have little white spots. Hey Mom, can I borrow the carpet cleaner sometime?

We have a little boy who can get wherever he wants to go pretty quickly now. David is pulling himself by the arms in an army crawl sort of way. I have to make sure no cords are within reach because he will see them and get to them fast. We sit and watch him in amazement. It's so much fun. Dan baby-proofed the cupboards in the livingroom today. David can open and shut them. We were going to remove some of his temptations by replacing the open changing table with a dresser. He likes to tug on the baskets right now and explore their contents. Dan and I carried down the dressers this weekend. As I was beginning to load the drawers with diapers and such, David spotted a new conquest. He prompted scooted over and started opening and shutting drawers! There isn't a convenient way to baby proof those. We thanked David for his valuable, time-saving trick and hauled the dresser away. Plan B. Wonder what that will be?

Levi is the little man with a million faces. My favorite lately is when he sucks in the sides of his upper lip and then smiles at me. Sooo cute! He likes his tummy time more and more. I am hoping this leads to more crawling motions soon. I have to have the other two be able to get away from David when he is not being gentle! Levi is pulling himself forward on his hands and can also move. He is sitting up pretty well now, but I don't leave him there for long. He can topple over easily.

One Wednesday night, we were doing baths. David was just finishing up and was having a ball splashing around in the water. We have just started sitting him up in the bath and he loves it! Dan brought Levi in and sat him in the tub with David. This was our first co-bathing experience. Levi must have been in a great mood because he thought David splashing was the funniest thing he had ever seen. One thing I love about Levi is he laughs very easily! It is fun to entertain him. Anyway, Levi just giggled and giggled at David splashing in the water. Dan and I sat there and laughed too for probably 5 minutes. Poor Aria was missing out! Finally, Dan took David back downstairs and I finished up with Levi. He figured out how to splash and kept up the good times.

Aria is almost sitting up. She will stay there for a about 30 seconds but tips easily. She is strong enough to sit up, definitely. We just have to convince her that that is something she needs to do! She is quite opinionated about everything... as much as an eight month old can be. She is also very smiley and has a huge open mouth-scrunched up nose grin. I love it! I love making her smile because it lights up the room.

Let's see, what have I failed to post here lately? Hmmm... everything! January 9th, we had their well-baby check-up. They were seven months old, and most people do it at 6 months, but we've always been a month behind. Their weights and heights looked great. Here they were as of a few weeks ago:

David: 20 lbs. 7 oz., 28 & 3/4 inches long
Aria: 16 lbs. 11 oz., 28 & 1/2 inches long
Levi: 19 lbs. 5 oz., 29 & 1/4 inches long

The boys are really pulling ahead of Aria. She is bent on staying our little peanut. I try and force food (well, not literally) down her whenever I can but she doesn't tolerate it very well. She has stayed in the 50th percentile for weight, so the doctor said not to think twice about it. She's growing well.

After their appointment, we went to Grandma and Grandpa Nebelsick's for the weekend. Uncle Jonny had a basketball game on Friday night. We went to our first game and I thought they would fuss and be tired. They LOVED it! The loved the band, the game and all the other sights and sounds. It was awesome! They followed the action up and down the court.

Levi with Uncle Ben, Aria with Aunt Amber


Cousin William had a baby shower on Saturday morning and was baptized on Sunday. The shower was very nice and it was social hour for the kids! There were other babies there to play with... not that they get lonely or anything. Aria was a big hit with her Grandma when she kept scrunching her nose in delight at Grandma and others. David liked playing on the one step up from the living room. Levi liked all the attention he got too.

Babies galore!

Aria and Grandma

Cassidy and the boys. I'm not quite sure why David had a pink blanket around him. Oh well. Sometimes, pink happens.

David playing on the step.

Great-Grandma Nebelsick and Levi.

Great-Grandma Titze and the guest of honor, William. They match!


This was Aria later that night. For some reason she clung on to my arm and held it next to her tightly for at least five minutes. Guess she needed some Mommy time. I was glad to oblige!


The weekend was over before we knew it and we settled in at home long enough for me to get another wild hair for travel. My brother, Doug(man it's hard not to say Douglas... I think I get to still say Douglas since they all still call me Beth! Anyhoo...) Douglas and Kara were going to be driving to Gillette on Thursday. They were crazy enough to think that a trip with me and the triplets would be fun. Grandma Rigsby had called and suggested we come along for the ride and initially I thought there was no way. Mostly, I thought this because I knew Dan would consider committing me to the hospital for insanity. I never think any travel is an impossibility. Hmmm, I wonder why I thought having triplets would change me? Sooo, guess what? We ended up going to Gillette for a three day weekend! I have to tell you, the kids are turning into quite the traveling group! (Ha ha, my plan is working!) They do really well for 8 to 10 hours of trucking across South Dakota. When they don't do well, we stick in the Baby Einstein music CD and turn up the speakers and they quiet down every time. Amazing!


Aria enjoying the drivers seat. She was having a ball.

David had some major static going on.

More happiness with uncle Doug.

While in Gillette, we took in our second basketball game. Aunt MiMi made sure we had seats right behind her at the scorers table. The kids behaved beautifully again. We lost a bottle somewhere there. Just disappeared. I am not sure where I set it but the bleachers were hungry and ate it. David, Aria and Levi wore their shirts they got for their shower in August. They all have their names across the back and have a camel on the front. Yes, the camel was my high school mascot, for those who didn't know. You can laugh, Dan will laugh with you, just don't let me know about it!!

Levi's funny face.

Aria intently watching the little girls and their cheerleading routine.

Kara and David.




On Friday, January 23rd, we got some more teeth in the family! Levi got his first tooth on the bottom. David's second tooth FINALLY came through. I've been looking for that one to pop through for a month. Aria, whom the doctor thought was closest to getting teeth in November, has yet to have any teeth show up. But, she still drools along with the best of them. We'll keep you posted.

They are getting soooo fun! Levi regularly laughs at his siblings now. He just watches them and giggles. It's awesome! He also had some GREAT faces today. I don't know if his teeth were bothering him, or his nose itched, or what, but these he made me laugh and laugh!!







I think I may be getting this Mom thing down. It sure has gotten easier as they have grown. Yay! I've recently been telling my family that I have noticed I no longer live for the days I get help. This is a big thing. Throughout the summer, we had constant help in and out of our house. We were constantly in "survival mode." Then, when I started having to do it on my own, I would live for the couple hours a week Anne or Lori from church would come in to help me. I would fiercely crave a nap. I would count down the days until more family would be coming to spend time with us, or when we would go to them. I think I just kept promising my body it would sleep someday again. Then, around November, the kids became really great sleepers. We got them all sleeping through the night. Next came the morning nap. I am terribly protective of my morning nap. When they go down, I sleep too. By the afternoon, their schedules have taken different paces so they are hardly asleep at the same time again. But, that is okay because I get individual time with them in the afternoon. So now, when I go to bed at night, I don't have to worry about the next day. My old mantra used to be, "I did it yesterday, I can do it today." I haven't had to think that in a long time. I have three wonderful babies who, for the most part, are very good to me. I thank God for sleeping babies. He has been good to us!

One of these days, I am going to make sure I break this up into smaller bits of triplet fun, but for now, you have to put up with my mega posts!

Lots of Love,
Elizabeth