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Thursday, 1 May 2008
May 2008 Blog
5/30/08  I have to post quickly again (since Lucas has effectively given up naptime), but I had to share an incident that happened last night. I laughed so hard... my daughter is officially part of her generation- the DVR generation. We were talking to my parents on Skype (webcams- for those of you who are a bit technologically behind) and Sophia decided she had to use the bathroom. We were running back to the bathroom and she turns around and asks me, "Mommy, why didn't you pause Nana?" AWESOME! Welcome to the DVR- immediate gratification generation. Gotta love it!
5/28/08   I don't have a whole lot of time to post (although there are a ton of new pix and videos up), so I'm going to just post a quick list of things I've learned this week. Enjoy!

Things I’ve learned this week

  1. that a kid afraid to poop in the potty can hold it for 3+ days, and then when said kid goes (in their big kid underwear), they can clog an adult sized potty
  2. that 3 toddlers can consume an entire container of (lightly) sautéed mushrooms in one sitting and still beg for more
  3. When 1 kid has to go to the potty, they truly believe they deserve and need my full, undivided attention, when 2 kids have to go potty at the same time, potty training can be a full contact sport, and when 3 think they should train at the same time, potty training can be a full time job (to the exclusion of other less important tasks, like learning, cleaning, cooking, eating, drinking, napping etc.)
  4. That, although the most common word in an 18 month old’s vocabulary is typically Mine, it can quickly be changed to Why? at the prompting of two 3 yr. old siblings (and when asked, a true answer is expected)
  5. that regardless of how much kids want them and beg and plead, popsicles need to freeze overnight before they are actually “popsicles” and not just icy limeade
  6. that 3 ½ year olds are DEFINITELY old enough to repeat things they have heard even days ago (Ex. Will likes to crank the volume on the TV. Turns out Lucas pays attention when I repeatedly respond with, “Jesus that’s loud!” and has no problem nonchalantly repeating it to me when I turned up the volume a bit to hear Caillou)
  7. That in 18 month lingo, “mushies”(pronounced muh-shies) and “marshies”(pronounces mah-shies) are actually 2 different things, one being of the vegetable family (mushrooms) and the other in the dessert category (marshmallows)
5/19/08   Ok, so since I last posted, Bella got the same fever virus, and so did Sophia, although she fought it off much better than the other two. I got some bizarre form of it, and still haven't completely gotten my voice back. Having no voice makes it really difficult to be a mom. For example, I can't warn Sophia that her brother is just around the corner swinging a baseball bat (albeit a nerf one) and that she is about to run right into it. I also can't warn Bella that standing on a plastic stool on a hardwood floor and then leaning over to try to grab a table isn't the best of ideas because the stool will slip. Finally, I can't warn Lucas (again) that jumping from couch to couch really isn't the greatest of ideas and will probably end in major ouchies. (all of which happened this week). Oh well, we all survived and are finally on the mend.
   Today actually felt like a REAL summer day. The kids are on "summer break" from school and it is about 90 degrees outside today. We got up late (EVERYONE- except Will- slept in until after 8am), we got up and had a leisurely breakfast. Then we got dressed, jumped in the car and headed to WalMart to buy a pool for the backyard! We also got hats to help block the sun. We had a picnic lunch outside and played outside until naptime (now) in shorts and tanktops. HELLLLLLOOOO SUMMER!
   Bella went on the potty again today, and this time, she knew it was coming. Her new phrases are, "Up HIGH!", "Eat it?" - (she asks before she puts things in her mouth now), TWO babies (you know, one for each arm), and various other phrases, both in English and Spanish- thanks to Dora.
   Sophia insists on dressing herself everyday now, and her newest favorite word is CERTAINLY!She likes to throw b it into conversation like when I ask her if she can set the table. She replies, "yes mommy! I certainly can!"
   Lucas, I swear, has a photographic memory. He knows so many things, and when he doesn't, he figures them out and makes sure to use them in conversation. He busted out the word stupendous in the car the other day-learned it on Sesame Street, and makes me get out the thesaurus  daily. We had a rough trip to the grocery store on Sunday, and I was telling the kids that I didn't like the way they acted. Lucas asked, "what's acted?" I said, " the way you behaved." He said "what's behaved?" I said, "behave is the things you do and the things you say." He got this perplexed look on his face, then said, "well I don't think I like your acting either then." hmm... well at least he learned what "acting" is???\
    a few of our other accomplishments recently have been asking to be excused from the table, all 3 carry their plates to the sink, the older two drink from big kid cups all the time, all 3 use "big kid" toothpaste (the older two have dora and diego spinny toothbrushes too), they feed the dog, let her out, help clean their rooms, help load and unload the dishwasher, sweep the floors, wash the table, and various other household chores. SO HELPFUL!
     We're up from naps now and it's time for me to get ready for my mothers of multiples meeting (tonight's our mom's pamper party- massages and "mom talk" time!)  
5/12/08    It's been a crazy week since I updated! First of all, Lucas got sick (REALLY sick) and we ended up taking him to the ER one night because his fever spiked to 104. Turns out it was all viral, but we felt we needed to make sure. He was VERY lethargic last week, which if you know Lucas at all, you know that is NOT like him. His fever finally broke Saturday morning though, and I think we are on the mend. We had a GREAT mother's day, and I got some STELLAR gifts. Lucas and Sophia made candle holders for me at school. The teachers helped them decoupage them with tissue paper and glitter, and they are gorgeous. I put them by my tub. Bella made a handprint flower for me at school with a poem, and I am going to frame it and put in my room. SO CUTE. I also got a subscription to DropShots.... which means that I now have unlimited storage for videos. GET EXCITED. I will be posting tons of videos in the near future, even ones from when Lucas and Sophia were tiny babies, so be sure to check them out! I am so excited to be able to store all our videos in the same place.:)
     For Mother's Day, the kids (and daddy) made my favorite breakfast (french toast and bacon), then we went to the mall and let the kids ride on the elevators. They have been begging since I took them to the playground in the mall, so we took a trip to JC Penney and let them pick out some new pajamas (they just keep Growing and we can't keep them in clothes that fit!). Daddy grilled ribs for me for dinner, which I was actually outeaten by Sophia. She probably ate 5 bones worth of ribs (1/2 rack almost!) to which she replied, "I love Wibs! I ate ribs a LOT so I must have been hungry!" Overall, a great day, check out our pics too!
   Bella has fallen in love with a blanket that my mom knitted (actually for Sophia). She has named it "Mungy". I think she is trying to say "blankie" since that is what Sophia calls hers, but it came out as mungy and now that's offically it's name.
    We're on our last week of school before summer break (2 weeks), and we're looking forward to a summer filled with school (1 day a week), zoo trips (we're becoming members), library story times, and lots of outdoor time (i'm gonna be one tan mama!). Keep checking back for updates, we'll be busy!
5/2/08   I know, it's late and we haven't even gotten the kids to bed yet, but I seeing as how this is the essentially the kids' life stories, I had to get it down tonight to commemorate this event. Here's the news.... BELLA WENT PEEPEE IN THE POTTY FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME TONIGHT! 
    She's been sitting on the potty regularly since the kids are almost completely potty trained during the day, but she's never actually done it before. Tonight, I sat her on the little potty, then went to check on Sophia. When I got back, she stood up and SHE HAD GONE!
We'll see the end of diapers before we know it with any luck! Yeah for Bella boo!
5/1/08    Our walk last weekend went REALLY well! We had great weather and the kids didn't get TOO bored because there were SO many people there! We finished the walk, and then the kids get to eat a little lunch, play in a bouncehouse (because honestly, what event is complete without a bouncehouse?), make a build-a-bear with a March of Dimes t-shirt, and the biggest thrill of all, they got see DORA! Overall, the event was a smashing success, and we are so grateful to everyone for contributing and enabling our team to raise over $1765! As the kids say, we got make lots of money for the sick babies at the hospital! :)
    On to the rest of the week. We have had an interesting time since Lucas has decided lately he doesn't want to take naps. This would be alright, however he feels like no one should take a nap if he doesn't. For example, yesterday, he screamed (not crying, just playing) over and over just so Sophia would wake up, which she did. Then she screamed(crying) because she was tired, which in turn woke Bella up. Neither would go back to sleep, so we had some grouchy kids all afternoon:( Overall though, the kids have been pretty healthy and happy.
    Last Sunday, it rained and Will took Lucas to the grocery store (during naptime of course, because let me repeat, he refuses to nap). Lucas came home and told me, "Mama, guess what. The rain fell out of the sky and landed on my arm. Then it dried up into the air and that's called EVAPORATION!" Say WHAT kiddo? That's right, daddy taught him about evaporation, and not only can he say the word, he know what it is too. 
    We were racing around to get ready for "school" this morning and i ran into my room and got dressed. Since it's just now finally warm, I pulled out a pair of capri's I haven't worn since last fall and pulled them on. Sophia saw me and said, "Mommy! I really like your pants! They are so nice!" Wow, affirmations always feel good first thing in the morning:) Seriously though, she is really getting into clothes and fashion lately. She insists on dressing herself, she frequently picks out Daddy's outfits in the morning (and I RARELY have to veto them), and she insists on picking out everyones pajamas at night.
    Bella picked up the words "Aunt Neenee" and "Gockley" this week, among others. She has been very insistent lately that she wants to go "Siiiiiide!" meaning outside. We also went to a dinner at a friends' house last weekend. They had a little girl who turned 2 in December (Hailey) and she and Bella really buddied up! At one point, all the kids were playing outside, and Bella walked up to Hailey with a little baby stroller. She said, "Here, You" and gave Hailey the stroller. Then she walked away and went back to their garage and got another baby stroller. She came back and the two girls went walking down the cul de sac (called a cove in the south) next to eachother pushing the strollers. They were chatting the whole way. I heard Hailey talking and then Bella replied, "No." Then more conversation. How cute!
    Ok, gotta get back to cleaning up in the few minutes I have, but I wanted to let y'all know that I was wrong last week about the vocabulary testing with the kids. Lucas apparantly made it 1/2 way through the 10 year old words, not the 7 year old words. Sophia made it 1/2 way through the 8 year old words and then fizzled out. The speech therapist said that she believes it was not because Sophia didn't know the words, but that they had gotten a late start and Sophia appeared really tired (hey, it was RIGHT in the middle of naptime). Still though, not bad for 3 year olds!

Posted by our3babies at 10:13 AM CDT
Tuesday, 1 April 2008
April 2008 Blog
4/22/08   
     Just a reminder, our March of Dimes March for Babies walk is THIS Saturday. Thanks to all who have supported us, and if you wanted to and haven't, it's NOT too late. There is a link to our March Of Dimes website right by the link to our pictures. Check it out if you still want to donate! THANKS!
      That being said, It's safe to say that I am not only absolutely in love with my kids, but that they find ways to amaze me and make me laugh daily. Don't get me wrong, they also find way to make me want to scream and pull out my hair, but overall, those times are fewer and farther between than the good ones (that's why we keep them, right?):)
    Lucas and Sophia are still in speech therapy, mostly because they haven't retested them and been kicked out due to progress yet. Today, the speech therapist tested Lucas's vocabulary. She was hoping to get both Lucas and Sophia done today, but she ran out of time. Let me tell you why... She said that she shows the kids pictures and asks them for the word. They have to get 8 wrong in a row t o stop the testing. Not only did Lucas make it 1/2 way through the 7 year old words, he had a story for most of them. Seriously. For example, she showed him a harmonica. Lucas says (and she wrote it down verbatim to tell me), "That's a harmonica. Uncle Jake plays one of those and he taught me and Sophia to play one too. ALSO, he calls it a harp too. " That was  one picture. No wonder it took over a 1/2 hour to get through it. She also said when she showed him pictures of things he didn't know and asked him if he knew what that was, he replied, "No, I don't know that one yet." YET! That's great! He apparantly knew other words like xylophone and trolley too. I swear, he's just like that kid from Jerry McGuire... You know, the little blonde kid with glasses... wait.....
     He also is full into the "WHY" stage, which I am happy to report that I have yet to resort to "Because I said so." it's only a matter of time though, because I certainly don't know all the answers, and the questioning of my directives (It's time for bed/dinner/baths) gets old quickly.
    Sophia has really gotten me lately with her newly developed sense of humor and sarcasm. Really? 3 year olds understand sarcasm? It's hard to believe, because sometimes when I get frustrated and I get a wee bit sarcastic, they often take it as real. For example, I say "Thanks Sophia, I REALLY wanted spaghetti sauce in my hair." She replies, "Oh, ok mama, here you go." and adds a bit more. Not quite grasping the sarcasm here kid!
    BUT, she HAS taken a few choice phrases and slings 'em back at me. Some of my favorites are, " Good to know mommy" (which is used when they get  into relentless descriptions of what they are doing or whatever), "OH my goodness, really?" (which is used back at me when I say things like "You should try the asparagus, I like it."), and finally my personal favorite, I ask serious questions, such as "How did this cracker get crushed into the rug?" and I get, "It was the ______" - fill in with the most random plant/animal/vegetable/mineral/object/weather condition/etc. you can imagine. I ask, "Where is your other shoe?" I get " The birdie outside is wearing it." WHAT? I ask, "What do you want for breakfast?" I get, "TORNADOES!" again...WHAT?
    Bella keeps amazing me with everything. She climbed completely on top  of the cozy coupe yesterday. She was sitting on it, and singing about Elmo when I found her. Her new favorite game is CATCH! which she screams and then hurls whatever is closest to her at me (sometimes it is herself). She loves the game, now we just have to explain to her WHY certain things are not really suitable to be tossed without warning, such as full sippy cups (they are HEAVY and hard!), food (especially ones with sauces), and sand (I don't care who throws it, it is UNCATCHABLE and messy to boot). She cracks me up lately at bedtime. She will be rolling around trying to get to sleep, drowsy as can be, and right before she drifts off, she'll sit up completely, wave at the bedroom door and say, "Night night sissy. Night night Bubby." and then fall down and crash into sleep. How flippin adorable is that? She is SO in love with them. Luckily, the feeling is mutual.  Now that we are in shorts/capris most days, Bella has discovered and fallen in love with her knees. She has a little dance she does where she hunches down and touches both knees, then wobbles around in circles singing, "Knee, knee, knee, knee, knee, knee, etc." It's always at the most random times and the song has gone on for a record 3 minutes straight that I have heard.
   Ok, enough rambling. Just wanted to share some of the things that make me laugh, and hopefully they brightened your day too. Keep smiling! 
4/14/08    So I know y'all have been on pins and needles wondering how the wedding went....:)
      They did GREAT! We did a "dry run" on Thursday to just see the aisle and the church. Then Friday they got to meet the other two ring bearers (they all ended up chasing eachother up and down the pew aisles- friends at first glance). Lucas decided he wanted to RUN down the aisle, but we convinced him that if he ran, no one would get to see his special tuxedo shoes, so he changed his mind. At the rehearsal, Bella chased me down the aisle, effectively cutting off the bridesmaid following me, so we decided that she would just walk with me down the aisle, which worked out perfectly. (The smallest ring bearer walked with his aunt- Melissa's sister), so it all worked out. The day of, the kids were pretty buzzed with energy, but when it got to be time they settled down. Bella walked with me down the aisle, and then we found Nana, Papa, and Aunt NeeNee a few pews from the front, and she sat with them. Then the two older ones had their turn. Lucas decided he needed to drop some petals too, in addition to carrying the pillow with the "cruise keys" so the couple could go on their "honey trip". We gave him a few handfuls of petals but at the last minute, he decided to fight Sophia for the basket. They tusselled a little bit for the petals, but the photographer was close and "broke it up" but encouraging them to walk. They both walked perfectly down the aisle after that. Lucas carried the pillow elegantly and Sophia dropped the petals all the way down the aisle! What BIG kids!!!! They too sat with my family during the ceremony and were quiet (WHAT???). They had a BLAST at the reception too. They all actually walked in together when  they were announced, and then proceeded to dance the night away (ok, until 8 or so when they all pretty much passed out and we had to go home). I have some GREAT videos and pix of them dancing too!
   The visit to Indy was great too. We got to feed the ducks, we got haircuts from Aunt Neenee, we got to go to her house and a park in her neighborhood, we got to go in the hottub, and lots of other fun activities too! The kids had a blast and did NOT want to come home. We ARE back though, and slowly recovering.
    While we were there, Nana got out the "backup monkey" we bought when Lucas originally got so attached to his monkey. He took the new one to bed one night, and while we were getting ready for sleep, he asked me, "Mama, where's my stinky monkey?" He swears now that both monkeys are clean, but he will now forever be known as stinky monkey.
    Sophia has taken on the role of translator for our family. For example, Bella will be fussing and Soph will say to her, "What do you need Bella?" Bella inevitably says, "Na Na" (nursing). Sophia then says "Mama, Bella says she wants to Na Na." I say, "Not right now, we have to keep our seatbelts on while we're driving." Sophia replies, " Bella, Mama says not right now, We have to wear our seatbelts. Ok?" Bella says, "Kay" and Sophia says "Mama, Bella says ok." Mind you, were are all sitting within 4 feet of eachother and I am pretty sure we all have adequate hearing, but she feels the need to make sure everyone knows what everyone else says.
    Bella has increased her vocabulary exponentially. She points to the house next door at my parents and said, "dew!" - Mr. Drew lives there. She know their neighborhood cat, Nick and calls him by name. She tells me "Hurt" when she gets hurt, and knows pretty much every body part by name. She knows the true meanings of yes and no, and also ok. There are many more, but we have limited space (and time) here.
   Ok, I'll try to recall more fun stories and post again soon,but for now, I gotta put away groceries and catch up on laundry before the kids get home from school. Have a great Monday!
4/4/08  I know, I know, I just posted yesterday. But I have a few things to share before we embark on our big journey tomorrow. First of all, ok ready? everyone say AWWWWW, I'm sick. I finally went to the doctor today and found out I have a severe sinus infection and I'm starting double ear infections, hence the intense pain in my face and head, and the dizziness when I stand up or turn around too fast. Lovely.
   As for the kiddos, I asked Lucas what he talked about in school yesterday, and he replied, "Hot air balloons fly up in the air BUUUUT people ride underneath in big baskets." Sophia then continued with, "Hot air balloons come in lots of colors. They are red, blue, green, pink, yellow..." And in my head, I'm thinking "baked shrimp, boiled shrimp, shrimp scampee, shrimp gumbo, etc." The good news is, it only took about 3 minutes to make it through all the colors and designs she could think of. Bella calls all birds (including ducks) quack quacks. Bunnies are hop hop hops, and cows are muh's. She also tells me "NO mama" and tonight at dinner, she picked up a noodle, tasted and and said, "HOT" then proceeded to blow on it and also on her entire plate.
     Now, for my list. I have been compiling a list in my head of people/companies who need to be sought out and beaten (or at least reprimanded sternly). I consider myself a fairly laid back person, not one who really hates anyone, but these individuals make me rethink that. I think i've mentioned some of these before, but here goes
1. anyone who creates children's clothes that are dry clean only
2. the makers of pedialyte. I appreciate the thought, but anyone who makes a product for vomiting children, and then proceeds to include a staining dye in it..... enough said
3. Grocery/Retail store designers who put the candy on the bottom shelves by the register
4. People who design the order of commercials, specifically those after Sesame street (PBS i guess?) Ex. The end of Sesame street is fun to watch because there is catchy music and children dancing. THEN, Immediately following, as I am running for the remote/cable box because I know what is coming next (from experience), the TV blares..."Stay tuned for - insert following program here" to which I slow my jog to the beat of screaming children begging to watch the next program.
5. Finally, people who ask me when I'm out with the kids, "Are they ALL yours?" - especially when they are in the triplet stroller. No people, I own a triplet stroller for my health and i picked these kids up on the side of the road...
Ok, that's my rant. I know I know, get over it, but seriously, WHY people? why?
   Have a great week, and check back later for vacation and wedding stories!
4/3/08    We are finally getting healthy... finally. The kids are feeling better and sleeping better, which is good because mama and dada need sleep to get better too. We're all boucing back though (some faster than others), and are gearing up for a trip to indy. We leave Saturday and spend the week in indy (while Will is in Nevada on business) and then next Saturday is..... MELISS AND STEVEN'S WEDDING!!!! We are all very stoked about it :)
     I may not get to update next week, but rest assured, we'll be back with lots of stories and pictures, and maybe even a video or two from the wedding. :)
      In the mean time, you can laugh along with us at this week's adventures in the lives of the Gockleys.
    First of all, Bella's words have exploded. Her newest, which is frickin adorable, is "pippy". She calls her sippy cup a pippy. So all day, I hear, "Mama, My pippy! Pippy!!" Doesn't matter how many times I tell her it's a sippy, like Sissy (which she can say), she continues to call it pippy:)
     The older two astound me every day too. For example, on Tuesday, we were all reading a book about a bunny. Lucas turns to me and says, (quite clearly) "Bunnies and Chinchillas have big eyes and really big ears to help them see in the dark and also (yes, he said also) to hear if scary animals are close by." WHAT???? I stuttered back, "Yes, that's right, I think." He says "I know, I know so many things now because I'm getting to be a grown up." At that, he walked away and went to play. I stood there with my mouth hanging open. Here are a few of the thoughts that were running though my head.
1. Oh my God, he's getting so big, how many words were in that sentence anyway? Did he really just say Also?
2. THIS is my preemie?
3. Maybe we're watching too much Dora and Diego?
4. What the crap is a chinchilla? aren't they like gerbils or something? Looks like it's time to google it, and get the google image too 
     Sophia is jumping in on the Dora action too. We were walking down the sidewalk and went down and up a wheelchair ramp. I hear a little singsong voice next to the stroller saying "Abajo" when we went down the ramp, and "Arriba!" when we went back up. For real? She's not only repeating Spanish words, she's understanding them and using them appropriately? Wow. Again, too much Dora? She also corrects me all the time, for example, I told her to go get her sneakers and she says, "They're called shoes mommy, not sneakers." We go through similar conversations daily. So much for small vocabularies.
    They are amazing, and we are truly blessed to have such astute, intelligent, wonderful kids, even if they ARE ornery butts :)

Posted by our3babies at 11:38 AM CDT
Saturday, 1 March 2008
March 2008 Blog
3/24/08   Well we were on Spring Break last week (from Mother's Day out and therapy services). Of course the kids are all sick THIS week. Lucas is on the tail end of it, and Sophia and Bella are in the thick of it right now. All have/had fevers coughs, congestion and basic days of feeling like crap. We're laying low today, but it certainly didn't stop our Easter antics this weekend! We went to the church where the kids go to "school" for a community Easter egg hunt. The kids got to decorate pictures, make necklaces, and of course, hunt for eggs. Bella was in the baby hunt, so she ruled the pack, but Phia and Lucas were with some older kids (4 yr olds) so they got a little intimidated. Overall, everyone had a great time. we decorated eggs here at home too, and did our own easter egg hunt. The kids got to open easter baskets and the bunny even left them a sand and water table to play with! Besides "bunny time" last week was filled with crafts and several new phrases. One that I keep forgetting to post is from Sophia. When she cries (and I mean CRIES, not fusses) she inevitably stops right in the middle and asks me, "Mommy, what is that coming out of my eyes?" Tears. What a concept:)
   Sophia also has started calling me Mom, and she calls her baby Pop (short for poppypee). She calls Lucas "Luke" but so far, Bella is still Bellaboo, and daddy is still daddy.
     Lucas has developed a new negotiating technique. When he wants something like the blue plate at dinner he tells Sophia, "I'm wearing a blue shirt, so I need the blue plate." Or "That doll has blonde hair like me, so I need that doll." Hmm... pretty convincing. Also what is pretty convincing is when he does things he knows he isn't supposed to do and goes to timeout he sits there and says all the things he KNOWS will make me laugh, like "Mommy I LOVE YOU SO MUCH, but please don't eat my monkey." GRRR... He knows my buttons. However one I have yet to find humor in is when he takes things from his sisters (or they are trying to take it from him and he would rather ditch it than have them play with it too) and he throws the toy over the gate to the dining room (the only gated off room in the house). He ALWAYS follows this action up with the commentary "I guess it's too late now!"
    Bella has figured out how to climb on the roof of Sophia's dollhouse bed, we knew it was only a matter of time. She's pretty proud of herself. She's learning new words everyday. She says tree, shoes, pajamas, eggs, bunny, and her favorite now, MINE! Whaddya gonna do, right?
3/13/08   So I'm back from my trip to indy, and don't worry, everyone survived. I'm completely anti-Northwest Airlines  now (thanks to spending a total of 8 hours on planes when I should have spent 2 1/2), but whatever. The kids had a great time playing with daddy, since we recieved 5 inches of snow.. that's right, here in Memphis. There are pictures up in the march album, the kids didn't know what to do with themselves. Then, daddy took them to Chuckie Cheese for a birhtday party (one of Will's friend's kid's birthday) and they got to explore the wonderful world of CC. There's pictures of that too, and Will took a great video of them dancing, but I gotta get it up on dropshots. It appears that their dancing skills are not just limited to the confines of our home....
   Lucas has been telling me ever since I got back that he missed me so much when I was at nana and papa's house, and when I was on the plane. He continues to remind me daily that he missed me, which is WAY sweet. I know this sounds crazy, but I swear he is so close to reading. He is recognizing words and letters so well now, and "reads" things that I swear he shouldn't know what it says. He also had us laughing at the doctor's office. The doctor told us that he was going to be the "referee" for Sophia (he said that PT's would recommend Pt and bracing for her leg, neurologists would recommend scans and botox, and surgeons would typically recommend surgery to lengthen the tendon if it gets that tight but that someone has to oversee the best interest for the child.) Lucas, of course, had a comment. He busts out "He's the referee! He needs a whistle!" The doctor just laughed and said "That's classic!"
    Sophia is doing great, and has really taken to her fuzzy pink blanket. She carries it everywhere and insists that I wrap her up in it all the time. She tries to bring it to the table when we eat, she even wanted to bring it in the tub with her! She continues to ask questions ALL the time, which we're still trying to stifle a bit. I know, kids are inquisitive, but it's WAY beyond that now. She asked me yesterday, "Mommy, what does no mean? Mommy what does Sophia mean?" GRRR...
   Bella is just seconds away from riding the tricycle. She is Soooo close to getting the footwork, she just always tries to pedal backwards. She'll get it soon though and I'm sure then I will have to be chasing her even more (and faster). she has started getting really confident in climbing. She climbs stairs, beds, sofas, window sills, and I'm sure walls soon. She is still obsessed with babies and anytime she sees one, she HAS to go over and say hi. She requires that we read books about babies at least 25 times a day and is now just like her big sister in that she won't be seen without at least one baby under her arm. Who knew i'd have such little mommies?
    One more little funny in that same vein, I've taken to telling Sophia all the time, "Let ME do that, you are not the mommy, I'M the mommy" since she insists on doing all the things that are my jobs (ex. changing diapers, getting down from her booster to get things other people dropped from the table, brushing Bella's hair- a true challenge). Now, when Sophia does things that are "my job" or tries to get all bossy and tell Lucas or Bella what to do, Lucas chimes in with, "Sophia, YOU are NOT the mommy!" They keep us laughing!:) 
3/6/08   Whew! It's been a week! Will has been out of town since Monday, so it's been me and the kiddos all week. HMMM... Lucas is stuck in a serious ornery streak! He's taken to jumping over the gates, pulling anything and everything he can off the counter, and straight up laughing in my face when I try to discipline.... I know someone said something about terrible two's but this is REDICULOUS! He's so damn cute though that it's hard to stay mad, especially since his newest comeback when he knows he's in trouble is, "Mama, I love you so much!" Uh huh, I love you too BUT... has become one of my catchphrases this week.
   Sophia is stuck in asking questions ALL the time. She asks about things she knows, she asks about things she doesn't know, she asks about things just to be asking. For example, I asked Bella, " Do you want a bite of broccoli?" Sophia says, "mama, ask me if I want a bite of broccoli." " Ok, Sophia, do YOU want a bite of broccoli?" "No." Just matter of factly- No. GRRRR.... She also has taken to asking me every other second of the day if I want to say hi to her Poppypee (her doll). I am NOT allowed to just say hi, because if I do, she tells me that I have to look at her, then wait until she turns her around so she can see me. She did however, after about 20 times of this the other day, tell me, "I wish poppypee could talk." She's completely into roleplaying and imagination now too. Everyday she tells me she is someone else. She has been Lucy and Molly (my cousins), Lucas, Nana, Dada, and just about everyone else she knows. She also has renamed her dolls about as frequently. To illustrate the randomness of name choices, she told me on Monday that her dolls were named Teetah and BeeBoh. Yeah, ok, whatever...
     Bella has gone full throttle into hoarding. I'm not sure if this is a response (and a necessary one at that) to the kids dominating the toys, but she carries her most valued toys around with her, clutched to her chest, day and night. She has been known to fall down because she's carrying so much at one time. I've tried to show her the value of bags and purses, but i think she feels they are too capable of being snatch away, and then she loses all at once. She is so funny to watch though, she'll walk up to a toy she likes, and then many times have to decide which toy she's carrying to switch it out for because she can't carry all of them. She has also started putting 2 words together! She started saying "Hi Nana/Dada/Sissy/Bubba/Mama!" this week. It's SO darned cute! 
   On a personal note, I'm flying to Indy this weekend.... ALONE.... It's Meliss's bachelorette party and I'm leaving Friday and returning Sunday.... all by myself. I've NEVER been away from the kids that long, especially all together, and it's gonna be different. Will is also taking an adventure this weekend. He'll be here with all 3 (which he's never done either), and has a trip with the Mothers of Multiples club to the indoor bouncehouse party, as well as a birthday party to Chuckie Cheese planned! I expect to come home to a worn out husband AND children. :)
 

Posted by our3babies at 10:58 AM CST
Friday, 1 February 2008
February 2008 Blog
2/25/08  ** A NOTE! We are doing the March of Dimes March for Babies again this year to raise money for research and support of premature births. See our page at http://www.marchforbabies.org/teamgockley
I will put the link over by the links to our photos and videos too! THANKS!!!! :)
 Well, we're back from New Orleans and TIRED! It was a long weekend! Wwe had a great time though and got to see Chloe and baby Zachary (Will's cousin's kids). We went for their baptism, but also got a chance to experience the "big easy" while we were there. We drove through the French Quarter, saw Bourbon Street, walked around Jackson Square where the kids saw performers, fortune tellers, painters and caricaturists, a giant paddlewheel steamboat, and lots of people. We even saw a couple getting married in Jackson Square! (The kids got to watch the end and cheer when they kissed!) Lucas's favorite part though were the street musicians. He was absolutely enchanted by them and even got a chance to walk up and put money in one of their buckets. We saw all kids of musicians, from kids tap dancing and singing, to acoustic guitars, but the electric violin and bass duo was his absolute favorite.
Sophia liked the wedding (she said the bride looked like a princess) and Bella's favorite was all the dogs we saw (of course). We got to spend some quality time with Chloe and Zachary, and then we had to make the long drive home (we didn't get home until after 9pm, so the kids were DONE!). Lucas and Sophia are at school today, and while I was busy unpacking, Bella started running in her socks and slipped and smacked her forehead directly into the corner of the cabinet. She has a GIANT purple bump on her head, but seems to be ok. She even held the frozen corn on her head for me while I changed her diaper!
   Hope y'all are having a good Monday and I'll get the pictures up soon!
2/21/08     I wanted to update again before these little things get away from me. I forgot to mention that last week, when we were in indy, I was putting Lucas to bed. He had his monkey (a stuffed animal he picked out himself when he and Sophia were about a year old) and we were snuggling into the bed and talking. I told him about what we were doing the next day and then I kissed him and told him I loved him. He replied, "I love you so much mommy, but please don't eat my monkey." WHAT????? That is quite possibly the most random thing he has ever said to me. I stumbled a little, since I have never even jokingly threatened to eat his monkey, and I said, 'What? Lucas, I wouldn 't eat your monkey. Where in the world did that come from?" - (this was all between hysterical laughter). Lucas replied, "That's enough mommy. It's time for bed now. Shush." Wow, what do you say to that?
    Are you ready for this? Sophia was busy "nursing" her babydoll this morning from her belly button (since that IS where the milk comes from) and she walked up to me and informed me, "Mama, I'm gonna have a baby." Just matter of fact-ly. I, being stunned and this being prior to any caffiene, asked her, "Oh really? When?" She told me today, and then proceeded to talk about having a baby all morning. Yup folks, that's right, my 3 year old is having a baby today. Guess it's a little late for the "birds and the bees" talk?
    Bella is now absolutely baby crazy. I swear she has started earlier on this than Sophia did. You will never find her anywhere anymore without at least one babydoll under her arm. Typically she has two, and is willing to have all out brawls to keep them (she and Sophia go at it when one tries to take the other's doll). We only have about 25 dolls in this house, but they insist on fighting over about 4 of them. Bella is so proud when she rocks/ feeds/ covers up/ carries her babies, and she says, "BabEEEE!" and then claps for herself. It's way cute.
   Anyway, wanted to share the madness that is our lives. Have a great one!
2/18/08   We just got back from a week long trip to  Indianapolis. The kids had a blast and we got to go to Miss Melissa's wedding shower! The girls had a great time and I even found dresses for the girls that had little dresses for their baby dolls that matched! Sophia was elated, but Bella was less than pleased until we realized that the little dress also fit Elmo perfectly. Problem solved, we just called him Elma for the day:)
     While we were in Indy, Bella got another ear infection, so sleeping was not so great, but she's finally feeling better now, so hopefully we'll recover some of those missed Z's this week.
    As for the kids, they say the funniest things. During dinner one night, we were having the bazillionth discussion of what condiments are, when Sophia proclaimed that Uncle Ryan was, in fact, a condiment. Thus started a long discussion of which condiment we would be if we could be one. I'm still sticking with dill pickle relish...
    We have been talking alot about Melissa and Steven's wedding (the kids are ring bearer and flower girls) and Lucas has always been upset about the idea of Sophia dropping petals. He kept telling us that he did NOT want to step on the petals that Sophia dropped and we couldn't figure out why he was so upset about it. Turns out, he didn't know the word "petal" but does know the word "puddle" and he didn't want to  ruin his new black shoes by stepping in the "puddles" that Sophia would be dropping in the aisle. I tell you what, I absolutely fell out when I heard that one :)
   Bella is talking so clearly now! We picked up dinner on our way home last night and I SWEAR she said Spaghetti. Will and I both looked and eachother and then looked back at her. We couldn't believe our ears.
   Today, we went to the grocery store, and since there is a Starbucks across the street (my guilty little pleasure), I decided to stop and get my favorite. I ordered and when we got up to the drive thru, Lucas says from the backseat, "Mama, I want a venti white chocolate mocha...." to which Bella  chimes is, "VENTI! VENTI!" I couldn't even get my money out I was laughing so hard. I think the people at Starbucks thought I was insane, but there's something about a 3 year old being able to order a $5 coffee that struck me as hysterical. (not to mention his 1 year old sister being able to scream Venti!)
    Keep checking back for more "daily giggles", and I finally got a February picture folder up! Have a great one! 
2/4/08   We've had quite a bit of adventure and change since I last posted. First, last week we found out that Will's grandmother, Beatrice Gockley, passed away. We decided last minute to fly out to Pennsylvania for the funeral this past weekend. We loaded up and flew out last Thursday. The kids really actually enjoyed the flights (layover in Charlotte) and after a little blip with the rental car, we were on our way to the hotel and to Will's dad's house. During the trip, we had one emergency room visit at 3am the first night(Lucas has/had croupe... again), and all three kids have coughs and runny noses, but we were really glad to see most of Will's family and the kids had a GREAT time playing with cousins Maydee and Jeff again. The funeral was very nice, although the explanation was a little more difficult. The kids sort of understand dying and heaven, since we've been talking about Emma their entire lives, however, the concept of heaven being up, and then the plane ride up in the clouds got a little hairy. They also were very curious about the burial, but after running up and NEEDING to look down as the casket was lowered, they blew kisses to Will's grandma and then entertained all the guests at the following luncheon with their antics and playing.
   On the plus side, Bella slept through the night for the first time while we were away!!! Of course, of all the nights to do it, she managed to get a full nights' sleep when both the older two were in the same room up all night coughing. It's AMAZING! But she IS sleeping better and we're just about ready to move her into Sophia's room for good now. Both girls are really excited about it and Lucas now wants to sleep in there too (go figure).
  Anyway, I'm running around crazy trying to get unpacked and cleaned while the kids are in school (which by the way, we registered them for preschool today for the fall!!!!! - OMG we're getting old), because we are taking off again this weekend for a week long trip to Indianapolis! Will post again soon!

Posted by our3babies at 9:45 AM CST
Updated: Monday, 24 March 2008 9:47 AM CDT
Tuesday, 1 January 2008
January 2008 Blog

1/28/08     My babies are growing up!!!! Sophia finally tried going on the big potty and now she's hooked! She is so proud of herself everytime she goes (We're so proud too!) and she said to me yesterday when she went, "Mommy, I heard a little tinkle!" Lucas is insanely jealous that she can make the tinkle sound, because when he stands up (which used to be the cause of jealousy in our house), he's just barely over the rim so it doesn't "tinkle" per se. Yesterday, he decided he needed to go sitting down so he could hear the tinkle sound too. Funny what gets them jealous, isn't it? :)  Sophia also flushed the big potty this weekend, which is a huge feat for her. She held my hand and did it, and the noise scared her a little, but once she realized she had control over when the noise happens, she just grinned. Another major obstacle, overcome.

    Bella is talking like CRAZY! When I took her in for her 15 month, the doctor asked if she had any words. I was like, "YEAH! probably 15 or more." Apparantly that's pretty advanced for her age. Her newest words are Chocolate, which sounds like Shashalette (as well as HOT shashalette), and cereal, which sounds like seesee uhl. Close enough for me! No more grunting and pointing in this house! She also has decided that she needs a chocolate and a sticker everytime the kids get one, which is when they go in the potty. She SCREAMS until she gets one, and then stands under the sticker chart until we lift her up and let her put hers on too. Don't tell her she isn't 3, she doesn't know it yet...

   Lucas has taken to singing EVERY nursery rhyme known to man. He knows them ALL, from do you know the muffin man, to found a peanut (which by the way, I've banned. Did you know the person singing dies in it? To which Lucas replied - That's sad... did he know by the sad music????). He always surprises me with a new one that he has learned, and has put fun little twists on some of them. Recently, I've been singing songs to him with silly words added in just to see if he's listening (ex. Mary had a little hippo...). He had me howling the other day with his rendition of Twinkle Twinkle little oatmeal....

   We've got a wild bunch here and we are starting to get seriously stir crazy inside. Can't wait for the warmer weather!!!!

 

1/22/08    Ok I'm gonna start with the vital statistics, and then share some funny stories. First, we had a doctor appt. today. Lucas and Sophia had their 3 yr. appt. Lucas weighed in at 36 lbs and is 39 inches tall. Sophia weighs 34 lbs. and is 38 1/2 inches tall. Bella is 26 lbs and is 33 inches tall. All are in the top 25% or so  in weight and height. They're gonna be BIG kids!

    As for what's going on here....

   Lucas has "found" Honey Dodey again (for those of you who missed the previous blog about him - Honey Dodey is his imaginary friend). Honey Dodey appeared at the grocery store the other day, and has somehow found his way into songs. He replaced Yankee Doodle yesterday, which ended up sounding like, "Honey Dodey went to town, riding on a Honey Dodey pony..." Looks silly, sounds even sillier. Lucas has also created a new word. He runs around talking about "castinators". We still aren't sure what a castinator is, but over Christmas he showed us a timer for the lights (you know, for when you are away) and called that one, but then the other day, he told me Bella had a castinator (she wasn't holding anything) so I can only assume it's an additional appendage or something???

    Sophia has always had a flair for naming things. She has dolls named Poppypee, poppypee purple, and potato. She now apparantly has named her nightlight. It is shaped like a little person (tykelight) and it's pink. It's name is..... wait for it..... Apple juice. At least she makes it interesting. She has also decided, completely of her own volition to start calling Lucas "Luke", which is fairly amusing since her L sound isn't completely developed, so he ends up being called Yuke alot. Finally, after our Dr. appt today, we were headed out to the car. I had the double stroller, but instead of being smart and putting 2 kids in it, I had Bella and the diaper bag in it. Lucas was up ahead and Sophia was lagging a bit behind me. I guess I was going too fast for her taste because she called up to me, "Mama! Mama, you are forgetting something.... It's ME!" I had to laugh, what a character.

    Bella boo is developing her language like crazy! She grabbed the kids earplugs the other day and said, completely unprompted, Eeepuu! Seems like she picks up a new word or two every day. I also tried putting Bella's hair up into pigtails. As soon as they were in, I looked at her and all I could think of was Boo from Monsters Inc. I included a picture of her, next to a picture of Boo, so you can compare too. Fairly convincing! Bella also decided that she likes asparagus. We decided to try it with the kids last night (Will and I love it). It wasn't even cooked very tender, but she ate about 6 stalks, one after the other. Check out the picture!

Speaking of pictures, I taught the kids the "art" of disco dancing. There's a video, enough said. :) We'll bring back the 70's if it kills us!

 

1/15/07    Bella has learned up/down now. She figured it out with the light switch, but has now applied it to various other settings. I realized she had it down when she was nursing. I know I know, a very bizarre time to realize it, but she was nursing, then she popped her head up from under my shirt, smiled and said, "UP!" Then immediately DOVE back down under and I hear a little voice say, "Dow (we aren't sure where the n went on the end)", followed by a little giggle, and of course, in true 1 year old style, a repeat performance about 40 times until I cut her off. What a character. Also, she still refuses to sleep. Check out the video of what mama goes through on a daily basis.

    Lucas went to the eye doctor yesterday to pick up his new glasses. I wasn't there (just Will took him) and it was supposed to be a quick in and out trip, but when they gave Lucas his new glasses to try on, he exclaimed (to the delight of the entire waiting room), "These are messed up! These are too messed up and I don't like them. Take them back, I like my old glasses." Wow, apparantly everyone in the waiting room laughed and then the nurses scrambled to check prescriptions and verify they had the glasses right. So far, they claim everything is right so we're still trying to figure out why he's so opposed to the new ones.

     Sophia has a best friend at "school" named Mary. Mary just got potty trained, so now Sophia is WAY interested in it too. She's also very interested in the chocolate that comes along with going in the potty (not to mention a sticker! and the promise of princess training pants). She's also very interested in "coloring her name" and telling me,"hands back mommy, i do it all by myself. NO HELP!". Quite the independant one these days. Finally, a new installment of "Lyrics by Sophia". Sophia was singing to me at breakfast this morning and created her own medley of songs. I will do my best to recount how it went, since I was laughing so hard it was difficult to hear. I believe it went something like this. "Row row row the boat, moley moley, like a diamond in the sky, twinkle twinkle little lamb, little lamb little lamb, followed her to school one day where they sing the ABCDEFGHIJK L O P, pee pee in the potty and I get a chocolate, Chocolate, where are we going? Chocolate tree! (that's dora for the kid's show impaired)". This went on for about 5 minutes until I was laughing so hard that she stopped singing to ask me why I was laughing.

     What am I going to do with these kids????

1/9/07 Where is the rest of the blog? And why did the page load so much faster???? :)

That's the goal here. Things are changing a little bit on our page, hopefully to make it easier (and faster) for you to get your kiddo updates (they're like crack, aren't they?) Anyway, I will be posting the current month's blog on this page from now on, and then archiving the rest. You can always go to the archive and read up on what has happened in previous months at  https://our3babies.tripod.com/updates/

This link will remain at the top of the page so you can access it whenever you want. I'll also try to do better at keeping the pictures on this page updated too. Keep checking our videos and pictures too! Thanks!

 

1/8/08     Ok, there is no possible way I could update you on everything that has happened since I last posted. So here are highlights and a few stories to make you giggle :)

     First, Happy New Year! Today the kids had their first dentist appt. All 3 are cavity free and the dentist said they look great! They did really well. They were a little nervous at first, but the dentist's office is set up for kids, so they got prizes and got to play in the playroom too.

   Christmas was a BLAST! Check out all the pix in the December album for a recap. The kids got everything they could imagine and more. They had so much fun opening presents and I think they were in gift shock (maybe still are). They continue to ask for presents now every day when they wake up. Maybe it's because they opened on Christmas, they opened again when we got to Nana and Papa's house, then again at a Christmas party there, then again when Meliss and Steven came to visit, then again when we got to Grandma Barbara's house, then again when we got home! Hmmm..... I wonder why they think they should have presents all the time???? We had a great trip though and the kids got to see cousins they haven't seen in a long time (or ever in the case of Baby Jeff!). They had a blast playing with their cousin Maydee who is just 2 months younger than they are. I will post a video of them playing together shortly.

    None of us made it till midnight on New Years, but that's ok with me. We have PLENTY of years ahead for that.

   As for stories, here's a little bit of a "racy" one. Sophia and Lucas were in the bathroom at my mom's house using the potty. They are used to going at our house where they sit next to eachother or in seperate rooms, so the "little powder room" downstairs was different for them, being in such close quarters. Sophia was sitting on her little potty and Lucas was trying to go in the big potty right in front of her (which by the way, did you know 3 year olds get "stage fright"?) He obviously had his pants down and was facing away from Sophia, who kept poking at his "cheeks". Lucas tried to push the peepee out and farted, to which Sophia replied, "Lucas, what is your bottom SAYING?" I about died (and she probably will too years later when she reads this).

     Also, while we were there, the kids were playing with my parents' manger scene . We were explaining to them that the baby is Jesus and Christmas is his birthday. Then we moved on to the other people there. We showed them Mary, to which Lucas immediatly asks, "Where is her little lamb?" ok, how do you explain that one. We didn't, luckily the set came with a lamb (or sheep, close enough). We moved on to the shepard, who was holding his crook (bent over cane). Lucas decided that it was the man holding the giant candy cane. Sure, whatever. Then we got to the Wise men, who bring Jesus gifts. Well, since one had a beard, he immediately became Santa Claus because obviously, Santa brings presents on Christmas, which is Jesus's birthday. Did you know Santa was around during the birth of Christ? It suffices to say that it was a very interesting manger scene. (By the way, Lucas also swears there is a Moose in the manger scene).

     As for Bella boo, she is saying a whole bunch of words now. She says, all done, more, Elmo (although it still sounds like Elbow), doggie, Sadie, Sissy, Bubby, Mama, Dada, Nana, Night night, Dora, Backpack, Cookie, and many more. It's hard to believe she is only 14 months old.

    Hope ya'll are having a wonderful new year and check out our pictures, which I put all in the December 2007 album. I will also get new videos up soon!


Posted by our3babies at 12:08 PM CST
Updated: Monday, 4 February 2008 12:09 PM CST
Saturday, 1 December 2007
December 2007 blog

12/17/07   Just a few stories to brighten up your Monday! Here are a few of the things going on at our house that keep us laughing...

   Sophia was singing to her babydoll, who was in a basket which Sophia had decided was a boat. She was rocking the "boat" back and forth singing "Row Row Row your boat" to the doll. The end, which kep getting repeated over and over sounded like this. "Moley, Moley, Moley (merrily?), Like a Butter dream..."

     Sophia had what we call a "whiney day" the other day. Not sure if she wasn't feeling well or just whiney but she just WOULDN'T stop whining. We were all getting fed up with it until Lucas deicded on a solution. Everytime Sophia whined, Lucas pointed his finger at her and screamed as loud as he could, "WHINE! WHINE! WHINE! Sophia is a Whiner Butt!" (Ok, so he got the name from me, but she really WAS being a whiner butt!) I fell out laughing and of course, the rest of the day, everytime anyone whined, they got the "WHINE!" treatment. The good news is, it was so sudden it even got Sophia laughing :)

     Bella has fallen in love with Elmo. She has a little Elmo doll (courtesy of Aunt Melissa and Uncle Steven) whom she hugs constantly. This wouldn't be all that humorous except that she calls him Elbow. I've tried to tell her over and over that it is El MO, but she just won't give in. It's a riot to see her lovin' on her little "Elbow".

   Have a great day!

12/16/07   And so here we are again. Today is the 3 year anniversary of the day we lost our little Emma. Amidst all the excitement of birthdays and the holidays, we took a few minutes to light Emma's candle and think about the few wonderful days we shared with her. We are so lucky to have a few pictures of her and we sat down with the kids and talked to them about each picture (and all the ultrasounds, there are about 30 of them). We love her so much and miss her. The kids don't really understand yet, just that she's in heaven. Lucas still asks to hold her keys and wants to know if she has a car. Sophia is pretty content to just cuddle Emma's stuffed animal lamb. Will and I wish it was that easy for us too:(

   Feel free to send up a little prayer for her and let her know we are doing ok and we miss her. We've sent up ours today and know that she's watching over us and the kiddos.  

12/13/07   Since my last update, the kids had their 3rd birthday! They had a great time. First. PawPaw was in town (Will's dad). The kids (all 3) really bonded with him and had a great time playing with and showing off for him. For their birthday, the kids got birthday doughnuts, then opened presents (this happened all day long). We all piled inthe car and went to the "Enchanted Forest) where the kids got to see lots of neat Christmas trees, and even a peek at Santa himself. There was also a really huge train set with.... THOMAS!!! (a favorite around our house these days). The kids got Chik Fila for lunch, then they wanted pizza for dinner. Overall, a very successful birthday. Check out the pix in the December folder!

   Some new phrases have been flying around our house. Lucas's new favorite is, "That's not right." He likes to throw it out there when someone does something they shouldn't be doing, like pulling hair or throwing things. Sophia's newest favorite is asking us a BILLION questions every second. We finally got the, "Why? Why? Why?" conversation. We also hear, "What's that?" for things she already knows what it is, but I think it gives her some sort of satisfaction that she can make us answer.

   Bella Boo learned a new trick and has mastered it already. She can crawl up on a chair and onto the table in about 2 seconds flat. We have had to lay all of the chairs around the table down on their backs if no one is sitting in them. Otherwise, we find her sitting in the middle of the table (or standing). She has figured out that she has to lay on her tummy and scoot backwards to get down,. but sometimes she misses the chair, so she's no longer allowed on the table (ok, she wasn't every REALLY allowed on it, but we're being really careful now.)

   Anyway, keep checking pix. We're updating alot recently, and also some new videos will be up shortly. Have a great Thursday!!!

12/6/07   Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me!ok, so now that THAT is out of my system :) (hey, I had to! It's my last birthday in the 20's!) Lucas and Sophia are getting really excited for Saturday (their 3rd birthday). Sophia saw the presents the other day (wrapped) and tried to barter with me to open "just one" now. She is definitely MY daughter. This is her new tactic with just about everything. She asks for one, and then if she is granted that, she automatically needs two. She'll even make it sound like a deal by saying, "I need JUST two." What a character.

    Bella is dancing up a storm these days - you can tell from the new videos. Will thinks she looks epileptic in her "dancing with glow worm video", but I contend that she is bringing back grunge, complete with headbanging.

   Lucas has started to tell us that everything is funny and/or goofy. He has really started to notice humor in little things, which cracks me up. He has the most adorable laugh something tickles his funny bone and he has no problem yuckin it up. He's been sure lately to tell everyone, "I'm a funny guy." How cute is that?

    The kids got to see the Christmas parade here in Bartlett last weekend. They were pretty amazed at all the lights and floats. We didn't expect it to last so long, so after an hour, we decided to call it quits (it started at 5 and we hadn't had dinner yet). They were tired anyway from a BIG outing to pick out our Christmas tree at the Christmas tree farm. We opted out of sawing down our own since we only had two adults and three small kids around, so picked a precut one. The kids got to help pick and we chose a 10 foot tall one. Wow, it looked big on the lot, but we got it home to our 10 foot ceilings and realized that they slightly underestimated the size of the tree. A few chops later and it fits perfectly! See the pix in our December album! The kids have had a blast decorating it, especially when they realized they could wear the ornaments as earrings (i love the picture of Lucas's mismatched ball earrings!).

    We're having family pix taken tomorrow, and I think we are going to try to visit the "real" Santa at the mall tomorrow too. Then the kids' birthday is Saturday. We get to "help Santa" and deliver the presents the kids picked out on Monday, then it's ALMOST CHRISTMAS! I'll update again soon, but check out our new pictures and videos! 


Posted by our3babies at 7:42 AM CST
Thursday, 1 November 2007
November 2007 blog

11/29/07    We're gearing up bigtime for the holidays now. The kids have stickers on the calendar so they exactly when the next events happen. First we have PawPaw coming to visit (and my birthday), then THEIR 3rd birthday, then Nana/Papa, and Aunt Neenee/Uncle Ryan are coming in, then CHRISTMAS!!!! After that, it's off to Indy. We've got a busy month planned! We are counting days on the calendar (they know up to 15 by heart, then they know the rest on and off).

    I heard our first REAL conversation yesterday and was totally astounded. We waited so long for words and worked so hard on sounds and then I turn around and they are having their own independant conversations. It's CRAZY! I was getting Bella's shoes on her to go outside and Lucas and Sophia were already heading out the back door. (Noise outside)- Sophia "What's that noise?" - Lu "That's a choo choo train." - Phia " No it's not. It's an airplane." - "No Sophia, it's a choo choo train!" (as he said that, the train honked) - Sophia "Oh yeah, it's a choo choo train! U right! Let's go!." Wow. And then they ran out the door like it was no big deal, leaving me standing there with my mouth hanging open...

    Bella pointed to a balloon in the store the other day and said, "Baboo". She also knows the fan goes "RaRaRa - round and round". And when you ask her to do it, she spins round and round too. It's WAY cute. She has also learned to pat her chest when she wants a turn, and lift her arms and say "uh-puh!" When does this happen? Where are my babies??

   We got to "help Santa" the other day. We went to the store and got some presents for local foster kids. I told the kids that sometimes Santa can't make enough toys for everyone, so sometimes he calls families that he knows have really helpful kids and asks them to help. Santa called our house and asked that Lucas and Sophia help pick out some presents for two special kids this year. We are going to take them to "the office" where Santa's helpers work and they will give them to Santa. The kids are really geared up about helping Santa and they had a great time picking out some gifts for the kids. They are such sweet kids, all three of them. We are truly blessed. Despite the whining, the crying, the occasional thrown food, the shouts of "NO!", the refusals to go to bed, the hitting and pushing, and tantrums, Will and I catch ourselves almost every day laughing at something one (or all) of them is doing or saying. We are constantly amazed at the progress that all three have made and how resiliant they are after all they've been through. I can't imagine my life without my kiddos, I do know that it wouldn't be nearly as fun or exciting. (I also would be rested and showered, but come on, who needs showers and sleep??? :) It's the little things that matter the most, like the big comfy blanket the kids call the "Family blanket" because we all huddle under it like a tent and laugh at eachothers' static-y hair, or the marching parades we have all around the house as a family, all with random instruments (I seem to always get stuck with the spoons...) which typically end in complete tickle-meltdown. I always wanted to be a mom, but I never realized that I would learn so much, laugh so much, that my heart would ache so much with hurt when they hurt, pride when they learn new things, and a sense that of love so big that it overtakes my senses. I have to say, it is the most beautiful thing in the world to whisper to my kids that I love the, and get back, "I love you SO MUCH mommy!" (and I get a big kiss blown to me from Bella when I say it to her.) I am quite possibly the luckiest person in the world. Someday, when my kids go back and read this blog (I hope to print it for their baby books), I hope they realize that they, along with their daddy, are the most beautiful things in the whole world. Happy holidays... now let's WRAP PRESENTS! :) 

11/15/07    so it's been a while. All three kids have been sick in the meantime, and we're all finally recovering. Gotta love the first real "sick" of the season :(

But now, with the fevers gone and the snot drying up (i know, lovely visual, right?), we're back to our rambunctious selves and doing (and saying) some pretty crazy stuff. Here are a few favorites recently to brighten your day.

    Will and I were standing in the kitchen the other day talking and Lucas "pulled up" in his cozy coupe car. He "drove" right up to Will, and Will, having experienced the bruised ankles and shins that usually come along with Lucas's driving style, instinctively put his foot up on the front of the car. He sat there for a minute and we continued our conversation. Will gave Lucas's car a little push with his foot and Lucas looked right and Will and said (very sternly), "William Gockley, Don't DO THAT!" I promise, I almost fell on the floor laughing. Will just sat there with a shocked look on his face...

    Sophia's new phrase that we aren't so sure we appreciate is, "I do it anyway. I go to Timeout." hmmm... I guess timeout isn't painful enough to prevent the behavior, maybe we need a new approach...

    Bella has started to talk a little too. She is saying "Chips", "Socks", and "Shoes." She also understands when someone says hi or goodbye that she should wave, and when daddy leaves in the morning, she blows him kisses every day. She also took me by surprise with her astuteness. We were talking about the ceiling fan (what is it about babies and ceiling fans???) and how it goes round and round. About 15 minutes later, we were on the floor playing with the crib aquarium and she figured out that the lever makes the starfish spin around. I saidn "look Bella, the starfish is spinning round and round!" to which she imeediately pointed and looked up at the fan and said "RaRa (I'm assuming that's round and round)". Hmmm, pretty clever! Bella finally had her 1 year checkup. She's 31 inches tall and 24 lbs. For all of you counting, that's the 90th % for weight and the 95% for height. She's gonna be a big'un!

    Lucas has continued his intense fear of the dark, but has now become curious about things that happen in the dark. He has become very interesed in bats and ghosts (thanks alot Halloween). Lucas and Sophia also like to tell me all the things they like and don't like now. All day, I hear, "mommy,. i don't like broccoli" or "Mommy I like playing outside." We get a rundown of all the things they like and dislike just about every hour on the hour. Lucas finally ran out of things to tell me yesterday and so he just said, "I don't like....anything." Spectacular....

     Phia is still obsessed with dolls and we NEVER see her anywhere without one. Everytime we get ready to leave, we have a lengthy conversation about how many dolls she needs to bring with us (the rule is 1, but somehow, she feels the need to argue it every time). We forever hear, "OH! I forgot my babydoll. I be right back." She's started to walk with her foot down (out of tiptoe) now even with the leg brace off! It honestly hasn't hampered her at all. We're still running, jumping, dancing and somersaulting all the time!

    Happy Thanksgiving!!!!  

     

11/6/07      Well. trick or treating was certainly interesting. The kids enjoyed carving the pumpkin and by was it a letdown to see what was actually inside. Still, they were pretty impressed with the jackolantern once the candle was inside. After costuming, we went to a few houses where the kids actually knew people, but after weeks of practicing, they immediately became mute. They refused to say trick or treat at all (however we got a tiii tee from Bella!). We squeezed out a Happy Halloween at one house with the promise of another piece of candy. Actually,as we were leaving that same house, the kids practiced saying (AND SCREAMING) their trick or treats, so at least the neighbors got to hear that they could in fact speak :)

     Lucas has developed a method for easing his fears about the dark. He has created an imaginary friend named, ok are you ready for this?, Honey Dodey (pronounced hoe-knee doh-dee). Honey Dodey sleep with Lucas and as Lucas put it, "watches over me all night." So far, Honey Dodey hasn't made it out of Lucas's bed, but I did manage to get out of him that he is a boy, he's big, and he has straight hair. What an imagination!

    Sophia has begun randomly reciting entire nursery rhymes that I didn't realize she knew. She busted out Humpty Dumpty yesterday, and today she told me all about the crooked man who walked a crooked mile. These are recited only between the million recitations daily of the alphabet and counting (which is now to 15 in English and 6 in Spanish).

    As for Bella boo, shes' a year going on 4. She's climbing everything, her favorite game is "Chase me!" as she RUNS away, and she has started calling Lucas "Dawdy", - Sophia's nickname for Lucas. She still has ear infections (Sophia is sick now too), so we have a sick visit planned to the pediatrician tomorrow morning (too bad her 1 yr. appt is scheduled for Thursday!).

    Have a great day and I'll update again soon!


Posted by our3babies at 7:40 AM CDT
Monday, 1 October 2007
October 2007 blog

10/31/07     Happy Halloween! Brace yourself for the update of all updates :) So we've been gone awhile.. I got alot to say :)

      We spent the last week at Nana and Papa's house. The kisd tried a million new things, from S'mores from Aunt Neenee's firepit, to Costume Parades in Nana and Papa's neighborhood. They got to feed ducks up close and personal, and they even got a chance to eat out (Boston Market, let's just say we had the restaurant to ourselves by the time we were done eating). I'm going to have a really difficult time remembering all the wonderful things that were said and done since I updated last, but it suffices to say that they are older and wiser than they were before we left.

    Let's see, Bella Boo... SHE'S 1 Now!!!! Bella had her first birthday on October 24th, and we celebrated in style. She got to spend the day with our friend Melissa, and got some presents too. Then on Friday when daddy came into town, Bella had her party with presents and cake! Check out the pictures! She walks exclusively now, and can run too. When we got home, she climbed the entire play structure in the backyard by herself, then went down the slide by herself (w/ supervision of course). She is starting to say some words and repeat some too, like Dada, mama, doggy, nana, papa, sissy, bubby, kitty. etc. She took a major spill the day before her birthday and tore up her face pretty bad, but she's healed and now knows better than to fall onto wooden magazine buckets. :(

    Sophia has picked up some new words like Jalepeno and Guacamole. She also cheers for everyone, (ex."YEAH mommy! Nice JOB!") all the time and declares that everything is SO PRETTY! Sophia got her leg brace on Monday. I had nightmares before we got it of putting it on her and having her fall down and not be able to walk. Again, she continues to amaze me. We put the brace on her and she literally took off running. She played for hours without it even phasing her. She even climbed the slide without hesitation (mind you, she cannot point her foot past a 90 degree angle). NOTHING slows this child down. She is very proud of the brace too, so I guess it's really just MY hangup with the whole thing. It's amazing what we learn from our children. Not only does she wear it without complaint, but now she runs smoother, falls less, and walks almost completely "normally". What an amazing kid.

    Lucas has really kept us on our toes recently.  We had to call poison control (he climbed onto the table and tasted Purell), find Will's only set of keys for his truck (which took two days, and he only has one set because Lucas already lost the other set- Will had to carpool to work), clean up Bella after Lucas fingerpainted her face and hair with Boudreaux's Butt Paste (diaper rash cream) - which by the way, Bella stood completely still for, and fix various other scenarios in which he finds himself. He's OUT OF CONTROL! On another note, he keeps us wondering about where he gets his phrases. Recently he has told us, "I dont' see well in the dark either.", When I asked him if he was going to give me a kiss or what, he replied, "WHAT!", and yesterday at dinner, he held out his hand to Will and said, "Hi Daddy! Nice to meet you!". HMMM..... Lucas has also developed a serious fear of the dark. We've been trying to quell it with nightlights, but he is terrified to go into any room that has the lights off, and somewhere he heard about ghosts, so we have to keep reminding him that there are no such thing as ghosts. We also set him up at night with a spray bottle full of "ghost repellant", which of course everyone knows that ghosts are scared of a single spray of water with vanilla in it! :) 

    Overall, it's been a pretty entertaining week! I'm putting up pictures of our trip in the October folder, but look for Halloween Trick or Treating pix in the new November folder, coming soon! Have a great day and thanks for being interested in our kiddos!

10/15/07     Our words have gotten out of control! Our newest favorite words are Tapioca (a favorite for obvious reasons) and daddy got them saying Encyclopedia. I don't think they have a clue what it is, but they sure like to scream it! We've gotten fun new phrases like, "Cool Daddy-o!" and "C'mon Bella, Walk to me! Let's DANCE!" We've also mastered several new songs, including Yankee Doodle, Pick a, Pick a Pumpkin, and Where is Thumbkin. We're up to 13 now in counting (Did you know there were numbers beyond 10? The kids were shocked!). We've also been discussing lately what is inside a pumpkin. Rather than just tell them, we asked the kids to tell us what THEY think is inside. So far, we have gotten answers such as popcorn, leaves, lettuce, and booka booka (we're still not sure what this means). Won't it be a shock when we carve the pumpkin and all they see is slime and seeds?? Imaginations are a wonderful thing :)

    As for miss Bella, we couldn't figure out why she's been fussy again, and one evening, as she threw her head back to wail, Will looked in her mouth and saw 2 new teeth! She now has 4 on top and 2 on the bottom! Go figure. She got all 4 top teeth in about 2 weeks! Bella's birthday is next week and we are really looking forward to seeing her devour cake and ice cream. The kids still aren't sure it's ok for her to get presents (and they don't), but I keep reminding them that theirs isn't far off. Gotta get new video of Bella walking, she's a MANIAC!

   We'll be in Indianapolis next week, so I may or may not get an update done! See ya when we get back! 

10/11/07    And just when I thought we were past the terrible 2's!!! In the last two days, the kids have managaed to break into my room and dump an entire bottle of nail polish remover onto the carpet (one of them had to scale the dresser to get it) and an entire bottle of sunscreen onto the computer desk (luckily, it didn't get in the keyboard). GRRR.... Time to update the child locks!

     Our favorite phrase around here is "Watch me mommy!" Both Lucas aned Sophia demand to be watched for every little thing they do, and when mommy is busy, it's not uncommon to hear, "Watch me Lucas, Watch me Bella, Watch me Sophia, Watch me Sadie!" When Daddy is home, he gets the pleasure of watching every bite at dinner, every dance move, every jump, etc. too. They LOVE to put on shows for us, showcasing all of their talents :)

    Bella boo is walking almost exclusively now. She got so steady on her feet SO fast. She balances really well and catches herself before she falls most times now. She's started talking some too. She says Bye bye, YES, uh oh, mama, dada, and nana.

     A note about Sophia: We have been noticing that Sophia's left ankle has been getting tighter/ stiffer lately. When we pointed it out to the Physical Therapist, he told us that it's common for this to happen during growth spurts when kids have been through what Phia has. For those of you who don't know or don't remember, Sophia has a stroke when she was 3 weeks old and we were told then that she may never crawl/walk or be able to use her left side. She has been pretty amazing at overcoming this, but still has always had some weakness in her left leg. We had Sophia fitted for a leg brace this week and she will wear it for a while to make sure she maintains flexibility while she strengthens her muscles in her left leg. I was feeling pretty sad about this (i know i know, it's not group therapy here) but Sophia is so positive and I had to laugh when she got to pick out her the specifics of the brace. The orthotist gave us a whole book of colors and patterns to pick from and what did my little girl pick? Pastel hearts, pink velcro and purple foam. I swear we tried so hard to get them gender neutral toys and treat them the same, but somehow, she turned into a girly girl when I wasn't looking. Oh well, at least she knows what she likes! Which speaking of, the other day we were picking out what clothes to wear and Sohpia (who now thinks she should exclusively pick out her own clothes) says to me, " Mama, I want to wear these jeans. They match my flower shirt." WHAT? They MATCH???? Boy do we have our hands full :)

10/4/07     All about Sophia...... Well, the other day, we were outside playing and Sophia was busy demanding things/trying to get me to do things. Ater a barrage of "mommy, i want to swing, mommy hold my babydoll, mommy push me, mommy help me....etc." She decided she was thirsty. She then said, "Mommy, go get my sippycup." I told her that we would get it when we went back inside. She continued asking over and over, which I ignored sinceI had already given her my answer. The insisting escalated, and she eventually shouted, " Mommy, go get my sippy cup RIGHT NOW! " Needless to say, I was  a little shocked at this brash demand. She caught on to my reaction, and continued to demand until I told her that I would not listen to her bossing me around and that she didn't get to demand things like that. She replied, "Mommy, go get my sippy cup right now... please." :)

     Sophia's newest favorite phrase is "Watch MY!" Meaning Watch me. I've tried telling her it's ME and not MY, but she doesn't care. All I hear all day long from her is, "Mommy, Watch MY swing, Watch MY jump, Watch my run, (typically followed by, ooh! i run SO FAST!)etc.So the new phrase on the street..... WATCH MY!

    She is also really into telling me how pretty everything is. At dinner alone the other day, she told me that my limeade was SOOO PRETTY and that her egg noodle was so pretty too. She finished up with, "ooh! Mommy is SO pretty!" which I of course didn't mind. :)

     ok, the other two kids? Lucas sings songs all day. He's memorized yankee doodle, oh my darlin', shoo fly, skip to my lou, and several others. he loves to dance and sing. THe other day, he walked up to me and said, Mama, I love you too." Completely out of the blue. Love the sentiment, need to work on the delivery/concept :)

    Bella is walking so much and is talking too. She calls Will Daddy and me mama. She answers questions with "YES" and when she wants to say no, she says BA. Confused? So are we. They are all getting cuter everyday, but i guess I'm a little biased. :)

10/1/07     First of all, check out our new videos! We've got a bunch of new ones up, and it shows everything from walking, singing, dancing, and much, much more! Entertainment for the whole family (or of the whole family, or something like that...)

    The kids are getting so big~! They are are getting really excited about Halloween and are really starting to grasp the concept of Trick or Treat (well, they know they get candy, that seems to be enough for them to get excited).

    We've been working on a special present for Nana's birthday this week, which got us talking about birthdays. I was telling the kids about the upcoming birthdays (Bella's, then mine, theirs, and daddy's). I told Lucas and Soph, "Mama's gonna be 29! Is mama old?" I know, loaded question. Lucas looks at me and says, "No mama, not old. Mama is NEW." AWWWWW, ok, so he was my favorite that day :)

     Sophia has started imitating EVERYTHING I say to Bella. She repeats it to her baby dolls. Yesterday, we heard her in the backseat of the car saying, "Walk to me poppypee, walk to me." Good job poppypee!" Hmmm. exact words from me to Bella.. She also tells everyone "Good job!" for instance, today, she threw a ball and said, "I threw the ball! Wow! Good job me!" She definitely keep us laughing with all the funny things she says.

    Bella actually prefers to walk now! she's walking probably at least 50% of the time, and really enjoys it. She is starting to talk too! We were in the store today and she waved at a man walking by and said, "bye bye!" Of course she wouldn't repeat it (words or wave) to the cashier when we left, but whatever. So she doesn't want to perform on command....

     Overall, we're having a great time, and getting a lot done! I finally got Sophia's (and hopefully Bella's soon) room painted. It's light pinkish peach. Now I have to do the faux finish and the turrets for the complete princess room (hey, it's what Sophia requested). Hope y'all are having a GREAT start to October!


Posted by our3babies at 7:39 AM CDT
Saturday, 1 September 2007
September 2007 blog

9/24/07    So, as you can see from the vieos, Lucas and Sophia have mastered the alphabet (well, pretty much- we still miss a few letters between l and p, and Sophia ends the song with now my ABC's, you with me. And lucas ends it with, Now I said ABC's, next time won't you ABC's, next time won't you ABC's, next time....). But, overall, they pretty much have it down :) We're also really starting to figure out this potty thing too. Thank goodness, I can start to imagine a day where I'm not changing diapers every few hours (instead, making frantic trips to the closest bathroom and praying for no accidents- wait, why am I excited about this again:) We've also got numbers from 1-10 down in English, still working on French and Spanish though.

    Bella has really taken off walking, although she refuses to do it for the camera, so i'm still working on getting video of it. She's getting really steady on her feet and really adventurous and confident too. She finally started to pop that 4th tooth through, so we're hoping for a short break after this one from teething. We'll see.

    you can see from the pictures that we went to the fair this weekend! I LOVE the fair, but you can really tell that we are city folks when it was a really special treat to see the farm animals. The kids were in awe of them, and even somewhat frightened (I think when the rooster crowed, it really got them). They got to try fair food again (Bella for the first time) and Lucas and Sophia got to go on their first carnival rides! Lucas tried the motorcycle ride with Logan, but they had to stop the ride to get him off because he FREAKED out! He was still hesitant, but better on the bumblebee ride with Daddy, and Phia and I rode together too (she refused to let me make the bumblebee go up though). All in all, a great trip and even no sunburns!

9/20/07    I know, I know... it's been too long. It's been crazy around here! We've been to the water park, played outside ALOT since it's been a bit cooler, and perfected the art of play doh towers. We're almost done mastering the alphabet, colors, and numbers (ok, well up to 10) but we're learning them in English, French AND Spanish!  The kids have picked up many new phrases like "Shoo fly, don't bother me", " That's Hot!" (Paris Hilton would be so proud), and my personal favorite," I'm at the end of my rope!". They are singing songs like Wheels on the Bus, He'll be coming down the Chimney (to the tune of she'll be coming round the mountain) and Twinkle Twinkle little star. Oddly enough, they can recite about 5 books each (it's really sad that we never read to them) and even know when to turn the pages in those books! It's amazing how fast they are growing up.

    Bella has decided that even though she can take steps on her own, walking is for the birds... or the big kids anyway. She can't keep up with them trying to walk, so she's sticking with speed crawling for now. She has started to say certain words like Mama and Dada appropriately and definitely gets her point across when she doesn't have the right words.

    Will just got back from a business trip, so I'm looking forward to a little help the next few days, since it's just been me and the kiddos since Monday morning. We did all sorts of fun stuff though, like cooking, picnics in the backyard, slumber parties (the only way I could get them all down at once), and library trips. Speaking of, the library is a new obsession in our family. We actually can BRIBE the kids with new library books. How WONDERFUL is that?? They love new books and reading SO much that we can get them to do just about anything with the promise of a new book to read, or in the case of major bribery, a trip to the library.

    Keep checking our pictures and videos, they are being updated pretty regularly. Stay tuned to the videos for the kids' newest trick- potty races! You have to see it to believe it....

9/5/07     Just a quick update to brighten your day. Last night at dinner, we were practicing our ABC's. Sophia was getting involved for one of the first times (she wouldn't participate at all, then last night she busted out with ABCDEFG, and about 1/2 the other letters!). We got to W, I said "Say W(double-u)!" She grinned and said, "Double-ME!"

      We were at the doctor's office this morning (Lucas and Bella and Mama- Phia was at Mother's day out). We had to wait a really long time and ech time another kid got called, Lucas would say, "That little girl/boy got called." Finally, when the nurse opened the door to call another kid back, Lucas looked at her and yelled, "Call US!" Needless to say, the whole waiting room plus the nurse fell out laughing. (BTW, turns out Bella has ANOTHER ear infection. That's why we're not sleeping!)

Have a GREAT day! :)

9/3/07     Happy Labor Day! We got to visit with Nana and Papa this weekend!The kids had a blast and now we're getting ready for a new week, and Fall (supposedly, it's still in the 90's here). The kids are growing up so fast! We're in full swing with the potty training (the kids get a chocolate each time they go in the potty). Lucas is getting REALLY close to being totally potty trained, while Soph is still kind of struggling with the concept.  The emergence of potty training has brought up some interesting discussions though, like the differences between boys and girls. We've been trying to teach the kids the appropriate and biological names for things instead of using "cute" terms. While Nana was here this weekend, Sophia was sitting on the potty, and I asked her, "When we sit on the potty, what does Lucas have that you don't?" Obviously in an effort to get her to name the gender-specific parts, however she looked me dead in the face and said, "Chocolate..." Hmmm, note to self, ask more specific questions :)

    Also in the category of asking the "correct" question, Lucas and Nana were singing a little song, "1,2,3- monkey in a tree... 3,4,5- honey in a hive..." Nana got to "6,7,8" and then asked Lucas, " ok, what comes next?" Looking for "Hurry don't be late". Lucas looks at her and answers, "9, 10" Smartypants....

     The kids are also getting more clever in their talents at findng ways around rules. For exmple, we've been discussing how it isn't nice to knock down other people's block towers. Sophia got in trouble for crashing one of Lucas's big towers. We had the discussion for the millionth time about how you can only knock down your OWN towers and it isn't nice to knock down other people's towers unless they say it's ok. During this whole talk, Lucas was rebuilding his tower. I finally asked Sophia, "Do you understand?" To which she responded "Yes." She then proceeded to grab Lucas's hand and swing it so that he technically knocked over his own tower. SNEAKY! The good news is, this time anyway, Lucas thought it was funny.

     Bella has become a little monkey! She is climbing EVERYTHING and thinks she is 2 1/2. She climbs on the picnic table, the kids' chairs, the rocking horses (which she holds the handles, STANDS on, and rocks), and finally conquered the couch this weekend. She can officially climb on the couch all by herself. Time to start padding the floors for those inevitable falls! She is vocalizing like crazy and repeats some words, although she can't do it consistantly yet. She waves all the time though! She also wants to be JUST like the big kids. For example, Lucas and Sophia were drinking from sippies and spitting the water out on the floor  new favorite way to get in trouble. They got caught (primarily from the HUGE giggles coming from the other room) and I told them they had to wipe up the mess. They both got down on the floor and started cleaning up with towels. Bella was sitting there watching them, then put her hnds together on the floor and started rubbing the floor back and forth just like she was scrubbing it, like they were doing! She repeats what they do all the time... now if we can just filter out the ornery behavior and get her to focus on the good stuff:) Yeah right.... 


Posted by our3babies at 7:35 AM CDT
Wednesday, 1 August 2007
August 2007 blog

8/23/07    Words are developing like crazy around here. Sounds that were missing just a few weeks ago have been found and perfected (like SH and F) and the sentences are getting clearer and clearer! Makes for much more pleasant conversation around here when I can completely understand what they are saying!

Lucas and Sophia got a crash course in pizza making last night. The favorites were pepperoni and mushrooms. I think they ate half the toppings before they ever even made it on the pizza! 

    Bella is taking a few steps at a time now, and is balancing when she does it, not just falling forward. She FINALLY popped through the top tooth she has been working on for about 3 weeks now, so the mood is a little better :)

     I'm off to exchange library books, a newfound love in the Gockley household. Thy can't get enough reading! Have a great week! 

8/16/07     It's a day of mixed emotions for mama. Today, I dropped all three kids off at Mother's Day out. Lucas and Sophia have graduated to the bigger kids class, and Miss Bella is starting to go one day a week. I am at home, it's quiet, and I have no children crying, laughing, talking, needing diaper changes, or anything. It's wonderful, and sad at the same time. They are growing up so fast! Hope everyone has a wonderful day, and I'll let you know how the first day went after I pick them all up from school (and after my nap! :)

8/13/07     This week has been a doozy! Sophia's ear got water in it, and since she has tubes, it started bleeding, so she's on ear drops, which she HATES. Bella has an ear infection, so she's on antibiotics, which tear up her tummy. So she's in a pretty foul mood (and sleep deprived to boot!). Lucas has just been plain ornery this week! It doesn't help that we can't really go outside since the heat index is about 110 degrees, so the kids are stuck inside the majority of the day (except evenings when we hit the blow up pool).

    The sentences are coming in full force these days with Lucas and Phia. Lucas told me the other day at lunch, "Mommy, Mac and Cheese tastes good to me." WOW, i was impressed. Sophia came to me crying yesterday and I asked her where she had been." In my bed." When I asked her what was wrong, she told me, "Poppypee hurt my arm!" Ok, so Lucas threw the doll, which hit Phia's arm, but she got the basics right!

   Bella is taking two consecutive steps in a row now. She also learned to climb the stairs, as well as onto the top of the kids' little picnic table. She is pretty proud of herself too :) She stand indefinitely playing with things, but still crawls in warp speed when she wants to get somewhere (ie when the kids leave the room).

    So Lucas was watching Will fill up the tires on his bike the other day with his air compressor. The kids don't really like it because it's pretty loud when it fills, but he was watching nonetheless. Will came out after putting Lucas to bed that night laughing and told me that after doing his nebulizer treatment, Lucas pulled the mask off the hose as usual. Will went to turn off the nebulizer, and Lucas said, "No turn off!" So Will left it on and Lucas took the hose and put it next to the axle of the wheel of his little people firetruck. I never would have put the two together, but it definitely makes sense! He was filling up the air in the tires! What a smart kid!

     Keep checking our videos frequently! We're putting up new ones all the time, which means we have to erase the old ones because our free membership has limited storage. :(

8/6/07      So I think she was just waiting for me to update, but I have HUGE news! BELLA TOOK HER FIRST STEPS THIS EVENING! She took a step toward the play table, AND she took another one outside standing up in the pool! What a little overachiever. She was a little shocked at first, but was so proud of herself. Go Bella!

8/6/07      IT'S HOT!!!!!!! We've been doing our best to stay cool by playing inside, as well as in our blow up pool and the sprinkler. I think we've also hit up everyone we know around here who has a big pool to play in too. We have a heat warning in 106 degrees today, and it's actually supposed to get hotter as the week goes on.... :(

    The kids are officially talking in sentences, and repeating EVERYTHING they hear. Sophia has gotten bossier than ever, and has recently become the "timeout" police. Anytime anyone does anything wrong, she orders them to timeout and persists until she feels they have "served their time." She has even ordered Bella and Sadie to timeonut (they both look at her like she's nuts). She went so far as to try to send ME to timeout yesterday. That's when we officially had the "Mommy and Daddy decide who goes to timeout, not Sophia" talk. We'll see if it sticks...

    Lucas is a wild man these days. He jumps off everything, from the couch to the coffee table, to stairs. He jumps into the pool, and off the ladder for the slide. He jumps on the trampoline and on my bed (even though he knows he isn't supposed to jump on/from 99% of these places). He sings a million songs, ranging from the alphabet (most of it), to Old McDonald. Some of his favorites still are Baby got back (thanks Uncle Jake) and Vanilla Ice Ice Baby. When the kids aren't singing songs they know, they are making up new ones. It's a riot to hear what they come up with.

    Bella has turned into a serious crabapple the past few days. She's working hard to gether top two teeth in, and it is apparantly killing her because she can't eat or sleep. She's a mess! In her good moments, she's cruising like a pro and standing by herself. She wants so desperately to take that first step, she's just not quite there yet. She is still absolutely in love with the kids, and the feeling is mutual. Neither kid EVER eats anything without breaking off a tiny piece for Bella . Bella has to be included in every game, storytime, and group hug or tickle session (by decree of Luca and Phia). Bella just eats it up. When nothing else cheers her up, the kids can always bring a smile to her face. It chokes me up sometimes how much they love eachother. Yesterday, we were in the car and Bella was overtired and screaming. Lucas and Sophia got these worried looks on their faces and when I told them that she was ok, just tired, they spent the next 15 minutes (until we got home) alternating back and forth singing songs to her to keep her entertained. When we went to get them all out of the car, we saw that they had both given her their sippy cups and they were all holding hands too. Maybe it won't last, but for now, I couldn't be prouder of my kids for being so kind and loving. Even in their bad moments, they really are sweet kids. :)  


Posted by our3babies at 7:31 AM CDT

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