Cleaning Up

Cleaning up after triplets is a lot like blowing up a balloon with a hole in it. - Lesa Rhoton, Author of Angus and the Triplets

This post is to share some frustration with our fellow moms and dads of multiples, especially high order multiples. When they get to the toddler stage life can be very chaotic. This too shall pass....

I couldn't find any really good mess pictures (not the photos I want to look at years from now), but this sums up our daily life with our four little ones. It is amazing how fast toddlers can create a disaster. The current bane of our existence is cleaning up the kitchen. Some friends who have multiples close to the same age feel our pain.

Poised to strike.

Add in big brother and we can make a mess in an awful big hurray. This room was clean 30 seconds prior. This is a small mess, but created with lightening speed.

Zoo Monkeys Followed Us Home

We took the kids to the Atlanta Zoo today. You haven't seen the zoo until the people at the zoo have treated you like an attraction. Just like every adventure, we got more looks than the animals at some exhibits.

The kids really loved it though, and everyone but John zonked out on the ride home. From supper time to bed time I would swear that we brought the monkeys home with us. It was a zoo in my house.

After supper we had to go directly to the bath. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200. And no get out of bath free card. It was work getting ravioli, banana, and peas out of their hair and off of their faces. Clif wasn't going to be home until after their bed time, so this was a solo event for mommy.

The triplets were so messy I didn't even want to carry them. I stripped them down to their diapers and walked them into my bathroom. While I was busy trying to get the three little ones into the tub, Austin, decided that he needed to poo and chose not to go the potty. He hasn't had many accidents lately, but today we slipped a little.

I was so busy trying to coral my three mobile toddlers I didn't notice Austin trying to take care of his own problem. The poo was still in the "numberwear", but instead of trying to get a wipe or toilet tissue, he used the clean towels that were neatly stacked by the tub to wrap up the slippery toddlers to clean himself. I thought that I caught him at towel number 3, but no....he had gotten poo on all 4 clean towels. Lovely. Fortunately, I had extra towels in my cabinet. One more load of laundry to do tonight.

From bath time to bed time my crazy little zoo animals were diffusing all of their pent up energy. Austin was tired from walking all day and the babies were in need of some exercise from being in the stroller all day. Craziness turned into loads of giggling fun and the babies are sleeping like logs.

If you get the chance, some see Mei Lan (Atlanta Beauty). She's the little panda bear who was born at the Atlanta Zoo late last year. If you can't come see her in person, check out her Panda Cam Monday-Friday, 10am-5pm Eastern.

Wipe Party!

Excluding sick days, we have a great deal of fun in our full house. With this many little ones, you can't turn your head for a minute. That's why I usually post after 10pm and many times it's even later than that. I try to get the housework done before I do stuff for just me. But they've learned to be quiet. I was sitting at the table next to them when this happened!

Rotavirus?

Oh, c.r.a.p. Yes, the pun is most certainly intended. It looks like all 4 of our kids have Rotavirus. Somebody call the Calgon truck! (...and the Lysol truck...and the carpet cleaner people!)

Last Saturday night, about 1am, John started throwing up. The vomiting lasted through the night and then the diarrhea showed up. That lasted until Wednesday night with a final up-chuck to end his sickness. We were starting to wonder what was going on because the other 3 hadn't shown any signs of anything.

Stomach bugs can be so very contagious. Could it be food poisoning? Or something else? I did comment to the nurse that the diapers really smelled. Typically, Austin brings home something from preschool and the triplets end up sick at the same time a few days after him. We have been hermits during cold and flu months last year and this year due to their preemie status. This time, it was different. The only place John had been alone was the doctor's office. Hmmm.

Thursday morning confirmed that whatever the illness, it was contagious. Lauren threw up at breakfast and lunch time. Friday morning Tyler threw up and at 2:30 pm Austin threw up. When it was just John, it was a piece of cake. Today is a different story. Thank goodness John is better. He has been our entertainment this afternoon. Lauren and Tyler are starting to show signs of getting better, but Austin's temp went to 104 late this afternoon. (Note to self....ORDER MORE DIAPERS and WIPES!)

Tonight warranted an after hours call to the pediatrician. as Austin's temp didn't come down much on Tylenol. Our doc was so busy it took over an hour to get a return call. After our discussion and a subsequent Google search, Clif and I are pretty certain that it's Rotavirus. She asked all of the questions that pointed us in that direction and suggested that it sounded like that, but Austin's high fever had her concerned about him. So we're I'm on fever watch. Clif is supposed to be taking the early morning shift...he's already snoring.

If you've never had a child with Rotavirus imagine the worst poopy diaper that you've ever changed and multiply the smell by 10. This is the nastiest stuff I've ever dealt with. Having triplets, (and a not so much older brother) on several mornings we've walked into kids' rooms and have faced 4 dirty diapers at the same time. I used to think that smell was brutal. Boy, was I wrong.

BTW, everything I read tonight said it could last 3-8 days. What? I surely don't have enough diapers and wipes. (Note to self...re-read the earlier note to self.)

Potty Party

He's finally getting it! Over the weekend our 3 year old was saying "I go potty!" and actually meant 'I need to go potty'. This usually means 'I already went potty...just thought you'd like to clean up some poo poo or pee pee.' He kept dry underwear all day, which included a trip to Clif's brother's house (about an hour away).

Potty training his has been the toughest chore of parenthood for us because the triplets were born when Austin was 20 months old. It's hard to pay attention to everyone, every moment in time. Today is a great example. In the midst of our cheering and celebrating our big boy initiating going to the potty without being prompted, he got too excited to remember to shut the door behind him. Mommy and Daddy got too excited to double check him. You can guess what followed: P O T T Y P A R T Y ! ! !

Lauren was trying to climb into the dishwasher as I unloaded it (a favorite game of all three little ones). At the same time I noticed her pants were wet before she got on top of the door, Clif was saying, "They've got pee all over them!"

All three boys were in the potty...literally in the Winnie the Poo potty chair. Lauren had made her escape toward the dishwasher after crawling through the spilled pee pee. Austin had decided to clean up with toilet paper. He finished off by wrapping about 1/4 of a roll around his hand and wrist and taking off on his tricycle.

John, Lauren and Tyler are fascinated by their big brother doing anything. And this potty thing, well that just really cool. I'm hoping this translates into them wanting to train earlier. Wishful thinking...I know.

This photo was taken yesterday. Milton Berle said, "If evolution really works, how come mothers only have two hands?" This might be one of the last pictures of this mommy holding her triplets. They're now about 65lbs. total. Most days I could use more than two hands!

Sharpie Does Clean Off of Plastic

You probably guessed by the title that one of our 4 found a sharpie; a RED sharpie. The picture is our "sharpie mugshot" and the plastic victim {sorry Frances}. The victim is our new slide! I was marking clothing tags last night and apparently didn't secure the "inking weapon".

This morning started off with a 45 minute power outage during our wake up time. Things were a little hectic trying to get everyone fed and dressed to get Austin off to preschool. I heard Grammy Poe say, "Ohhhh, Austin!" He had decorated himself and the new slide with a brilliant shade of Sharpie Red.

I hit the Internet to find out what to use to get the slide clean {Austin could wait}. I'm happy to report that rubbing alcohol and elbow grease gets Sharpie off of plastic. Just in case you encounter this at home and it isn't plastic. Here's the link to stain removal at Sharpie. I'm bookmarking this myself, because I'm anticipating another mess like this in the future! I have no recollection of where I left the marker last night, so that could definitely happen again in the future.

I promise...we keep the toxic stuff under lock and key! Our cabinets are so child proof, that Clif, my husband, can't open them very quickly. {I will definitely know if he continues to read the blog now that I mentioned this to the world.}