We made it!

We made it home from Tahoe yesterday. Overall, we had a great time! We finally got everything in the car and hit the road by 11:00 on Saturday. I don't think I've seen our car that packed before, but somehow we got it all! We met up with Grandma Lynnie and Grandpa Tommy at McDonald's in Truckee. This was the first time since the triplets were just a few months old that we've gone out to eat as a family. Everyone did great, although we could only find 2 highchairs for the kids. We left McDonald's and Jon and Grandpa took Jacob and Megan to the park at Common's Beach in Tahoe City while mom, Ryan, Dylan and I went to the grocery store and then to pick up the key to the house. I think this was the first time that Dylan has ever been grocery shopping! We picked up the troops from the park and heading to the house in Homewood. The house was great! It was nice to have 3 full bathrooms and a seperate TV room for Jacob to watch movies. We got settled in and got dinner going. Before we knew it, it was bedtime for the kids and the adults enjoyed a night of Skip-Bo and the Olympics. Mom and I whooped the boys in Skip-Bo (even though they were cheating the entire game!). OH - I almost forgot the best part of the night!! Mom and dad took Jacob out for an after-dinner walk and they saw a bear! Needless to say, the walk ended quickly!

Sunday morning started off a bit too early for us ... Megan was awake at 6:13am! I went in to get her and Dylan was standing up in his bed too, ready to get up. Next thing you know, it's 6:30 and all the Allingham's are up for the day. Oh joy. We had breakfast, the babies went back down for a nap and finally by 11:30 we were ready to head to the beach. Poor Jacob was ready at 6:30 for the beach... he kept asking "go to the lake, daddy?". But, as you can imagine, it takes a long time to sunscreen 4 kids up (plus ourselves), get swimsuits on, get lunch made, get sand toys, blankets, binkys, chairs, towels, beach umbrella, etc, etc, etc in the car.

I have to admit - the first beach day was a little stressful for me. I didn't know what to expect with the babies. But, overall, they did ok. Of course there was sand in their mouths and sand in their hair, but I tried to let them have fun and explore the new terrain. I realized how sheltered they have been at home. I mean, we don't get them out in different enviornments very much, so this must have been weird for them. Jacob had a great time - playing with his sand toys and going in the lake. He thought the lake was cold at first, but once he got used to it, he didn't want to get out! 3 is a great age for the beach. He just played in the sand and occasionally asked for a snack or drink. After a few hours, everyone had had enough, so we headed back to the house for clean-up, dinner and another round of butt-whooping by mom and me in Skip-Bo. Oh yeah, and more Olympics. It was great that the Olympics were on!

Monday morning came a little later than Sunday... the kids were up about 7:30 and again, it was breakfast and getting ready for the beach. The second beach day was great. We adjusted a few things from the first day ... we moved closer to the water, we had a little bigger blanket and we created more shade for the babies so they could play in the sand. Mom and dad were so great - they stayed back at the house while the babies were napping so Jon and I could spend a little time with Jacob down at the beach. It was so much fun! We got to play right on the shore, making sand castles and splashing each other. By about 3:00, the babies had it and it was time to pack up. Thankfully, they took a nice nap when we got back to the house, which gave us a little quiet time. That night, Jon and I took the kids out for a walk (no bears this time!) while mom and dad cooked dinner. And I'm sad to report that the boys (Jon and dad) beat us girls that night in Skip-Bo! :o( Oh well... we had a lot of laughs and great memories.

Tuesday was our last day at the house and it came so quickly. We all said we could stay a few more days and that the kids were doing great. It seemed like the longer we were at the house, the more comfortable they got and it was getting a little easier. We were all sad to pack up and head home. We stopped at the visitor's center on Hwy 89, close to Camp Richardson on our way out. They have a really fun nature trail that leads to a fish habitat that Jacob loved! We stopped for lunch and then it was time to head back home.

I have to say, we absolutely could not have made this trip happen without the help of my mom and dad. They were extremely helpful and loved spending a few days with the kids. All I can say is THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

I'll post some photos below! Enjoy!!
- Lisa

The Allingham's at Lake Tahoe

Daddy and Jacob making sandcastles

Mommy and Dylan

Grandma and Ryan

Grandpa and Megan

Mommy and Megan

Jacob enjoying some watermelon

Daddy and Ryan in the lake

Megan and Dylan playing in the sand

Ryan eating watermelon

Daddy and Megan on our nature walk

Jacob checking out the tiny fish in the stream

Grandma Lynnie and Grandpa Tommy

Tahoe here we come!

We're heading to Tahoe tomorrow morning with Grandma Lynnie and Papa Tommy. We've rented a cabin in Homewood for a few nights. Jacob is really excited to swim in the lake... I wonder if he realizes how cold Lake Tahoe actually is!? Oh well, I remember swimming in the lake as a kid and didn't care that it was freezing. It feels like we have the entire house packed up, but we still have those last minute things to throw together in the morning.

Dylan is walking like crazy today! Every time I look over at him, he's walking somewhere! He's getting really good. Ryan has discovered that he can open the doors now. Our doors have handles instead of regular door knobs so they are much easier for little hands to open. I remember when Jacob went through this phase... opening cabinets, opening doors, playing with the DVD player ... pretty much anything at their level they are trying to get in to. It just seems worse than Jacob because there are 3 of them!

Check back next week for Lake Tahoe photos. I'm sure there will be some cute ones!

- Lisa

P.S. Happy 10th wedding anniversary to Heather and David!! Congratulations guys!

Breakfast with the triplets

Here are a few cute photos taken this morning at breakfast and playtime.

More food please, mom! Ryan loves to eat. He shovels it in as fast as he can, usually taking fistfulls of food at a time. When he runs out of food on his tray, he screams at the top of his lungs for more... it's precious! I always say that his scream "literally hurts my ears!" Sometimes he'll laugh with a mouth full of food and he's got like 10 little pieces of chicken in there! He is usually the messiest of the three, but he's always smiling and waving "hi" while he eats.

I'm saving that piece of banana on my nose for later!

Megan is little miss manners when she eats. Well, except for the occasional burp she lets out after guzzling her milk or juice cup! She eats one piece of food at a time and she barely needs to be wiped up after the meal. She is very neat and seems to enjoy foods with bright colors. If I give her a little piece of bread, she always wants the brightly colored cheese or fruit instead. She loves to play peek-a-boo with daddy and laughs hysterically if Bailey or Brandy is close to her highchair.

Dylan is the cutest eater of the group. He'll crunch snacks with his front teeth and he started the saying "ah da" which is "all done" in 1 year old world. He hates it when Ryan steals his bedtime sippy cup of milk (and I don't blame him!). Dylan is starting to pass up Ryan in the volume department. He can put the food away just a fast, but he'll do it one at a time. Dylan has struggled with ezcema since he was about 4 months old (as you may be able to see in his photo) so we try to be careful what he eats. But so far, he seems to love everything!

This is the babies favorite pastime. They love playing at the train table. The train track isn't set up, because they constantly take it apart. But they love pushing the trains or just playing with all the other toys. Oh, by the way, this is in our livingroom, in case you were wondering... :o)

Cutie-pie Megan playing in Jacob's Spider-Man chair. She loves to sit in this chair and read books.

Dylan walking!!

Common questions

Last night the kids and I went to Jon's softball game and we got all the usual stares and comments. For some odd reason, people are shocked to see a mother pushing a triple stroller, constantly telling her 3 year old to "hold on to the stroller!" (because God forbid he would take off, what in the world would I do?!) and carrying what feels like the largest diaper bag on the planet! So I thought it would be fun to share some of those good comments and questions (and what we think about them!) ...

"Do you have twins?" Aahh, did we forget one at home? Nope, ok, well I guess it's triplets then isn't it? And to be honest, forgetting one at home crosses my mind every time we leave the house. There have been a few times where we get about 2 miles from our house and I have to whip my head around and make sure we got everybody in the back of the 'ole minivan!

"Do you have a nanny?" Yeah, and a housekeeper and personal chef! Nope, it's just the two of us. "How do you do it then?" Lots of organization, planning, praying and teamwork between the two of us.

"How is your 3 year old handling the change?" In my opinion, I think Jacob has adjusted very well. He's your typical 3 year old with jealousy issues, tantrums and whining. But he's also very loving to all the babies and extremely helpful (when he wants to be :o)).

"Do multiples run in your family?" Nope, they run at the fertility clinic.

"Did you nurse them?" 2 boobs, 3 babies ... you do the math.

"Wow, instant family. You guys are done now, right?" This one kind of bugs me. I remember one time Jon and I were out with all the kids and someone said this and Jon's reply was "no, we want to see how many kids we can have so we can get our own show on TLC!" I loved it!

That's all that I can think of now. It's getting too late (9:54pm) and my brain is slowly shutting down!

Signing off for now,
Lisa

Home from preschool

Success! Jacob made it through his first day of preschool! Miss Kathy said he did awesome. He played well with the other kids, he painted his first picture, he had Goldfish and juice for snack, he followed directions and he was a good listener... if only I could get those last 2 things at home more! Jacob and I picked up Taco Bell for lunch, which is what my mom and I would do after my preschool when I was a little girl ... sniff, sniff again :o) ... and heading home to tell daddy and the babies all about his day. We can only hope every day at school will be this easy!

First day of school! First day of school!

Today is Jacob's first day of preschool. We started the school year with a new Lightning McQueen backpack, that looks adorable on his back! Such a big boy now!

This morning we had special "first day of preschool pancakes" shaped like an apple. Then it was time to get dressed and head off to school. He wore his favorite red baseball t-shirt and his firetruck light-up sneakers. I have to admit, my stomach hurt all morning, just with excitment and nervousness for him. It's hard to think that he won't be here, even though it's only 2 mornings a week.

After kisses and hugs for daddy, Megan, Ryan and Dylan it was off to school! When we got to his school, he was a little hesitant... saying "stay in the car, mommy". But once I grabbed his new backpack and said "let's go to school, buddy", he had no problem. I got him signed in, his backpack went in his cubby and off he went to play with toys... sniff, sniff! It's so hard to believe our little Jacob is off to school (even if it is just 2 mornings a week!). He said "bye mommy!" and went to play with some other kids. After I said goodbye about a hundred times, I headed out the door with a stiff upper lip, trying to hold back the tears. I did pretty good, no actual tears, just a little sadness knowing our little buddy is growing up! After leaving the school, I headed to the grocery store by myself (which is always a treat!), got home to Jon giving the triplets a bath (yeah!!) and unloaded my groceries. Now it's already almost time to go pick Jacob up! I have a feeling the time that Jacob is at school is going to fly by! I'll post more later on how the rest of the day went!!