I would so love to be a 'good photographer'!!! I do manage to get some good shots occasionally but they tend to come to me by fluke or because I took 100 shots of the same thing. I rarely get it set up just so and get a good candid on purpose. The posed portraits come out decently but the on the fly stuff? Forget it. Shelley R, I'm not.
But guess WHAT???? She goes to my church, comes to our playgroup and led my course for The Purpose Driven Life and after overcoming my starstruck shyness, I managed to talk to her a few times. One day she was complaining that she was having trouble finding an assistant to work on some weddings with her this summer. I almost tripped over myself in my haste to volunteer! Then when I wasn't sure if she knew I was serious, I phoned and begged for the 'job' on her voicemail. Anyway, grovelling works & I'm in! I get to work with her this summer. She does such amazing stuff and I love her pictures. If I can pick up anything from watching her work, I'll be soooo thrilled. Hopefully she won't go all Donald Trump on me before I learn anything!!
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Training Complete!!!!
Well, pretty darn close I'd say. All 3 girls are in panties full time during the day and ever since their flu epidemic cleared up, there've been almost no accidents. I am soooooooo excited to have finally reached this stage.
We've been putting them on the toilet since they were 6 months old but I think it has paid off. I would have liked to have tried the EC method with a singleton to see if it really works but it just wasn't feasible to do it justice with 3 at a time. It was a lot of extra time in the bathroom and but we're now done so in my opinion, it was worth it. I was here all day every day anyway, what difference if I spent an extra 10 minutes in the bathroom or if I was in the living room instead?
When I first talked to the local triplet moms who had kids that were 3, 2 & 1, none of them were trained at all and everything I'd read on triplet connection seemed to indicate that no one started trying to potty train until the triplets were 3 or 4 years old. I groaned at the thought of up to 2 extra years of buying, changing and throwing away diapers. Mum said my brother & I were both trained before we turned 2 so I didn't see any reason I should wait til they were FOUR! Besides, if they say it can't be done, then I've got to try and take that challenge!!!
I know not everyone agrees on this subject and to each her own. I realized that training 3 at once would be a little harder than just working on a singleton so decided I wouldn't really aim for age 2. I figured I deserved an extra six months to accomplish the task. Other than Honey, I failed to meet my deadline! When she put it all together before her 2nd birthday I was thrilled & was sure it would only be a short while before Lovey & Sweetie followed suit. They all hit the other milestones within a month or so of each other, surely this would be the same??? But alas, it didn't happen that way. Some things just take more time than others I guess. I'm so proud of how well they're all doing now. Outings are worry free as long as we make sure to make a pit stop every hour or so. Maybe soon I can stop lugging the diaper bag???
Now the bad part is that Sweetie is starting to get the idea that she doesn't need to wear a diaper at night time either. Two nights when I was out this week, Murray couldn't convince her otherwise and then a couple hours after she fell asleep, he'd take her to pee and then put the diaper on. Tonight she was pretty adamant until I told her Sarah didn't want to get peed on & wouldn't sleep with her if she was wearing panties. Lucky for me Sarah's such a hard ass! Sweetie didn't question it & quickly gave up the panties & requested a diaper. Hopefully Sarah will be able to retain this air of authority for awhile. I did buy two vinyl fitted sheets today though, just in case that rabbit lets me down!!!
We've been putting them on the toilet since they were 6 months old but I think it has paid off. I would have liked to have tried the EC method with a singleton to see if it really works but it just wasn't feasible to do it justice with 3 at a time. It was a lot of extra time in the bathroom and but we're now done so in my opinion, it was worth it. I was here all day every day anyway, what difference if I spent an extra 10 minutes in the bathroom or if I was in the living room instead?
When I first talked to the local triplet moms who had kids that were 3, 2 & 1, none of them were trained at all and everything I'd read on triplet connection seemed to indicate that no one started trying to potty train until the triplets were 3 or 4 years old. I groaned at the thought of up to 2 extra years of buying, changing and throwing away diapers. Mum said my brother & I were both trained before we turned 2 so I didn't see any reason I should wait til they were FOUR! Besides, if they say it can't be done, then I've got to try and take that challenge!!!
I know not everyone agrees on this subject and to each her own. I realized that training 3 at once would be a little harder than just working on a singleton so decided I wouldn't really aim for age 2. I figured I deserved an extra six months to accomplish the task. Other than Honey, I failed to meet my deadline! When she put it all together before her 2nd birthday I was thrilled & was sure it would only be a short while before Lovey & Sweetie followed suit. They all hit the other milestones within a month or so of each other, surely this would be the same??? But alas, it didn't happen that way. Some things just take more time than others I guess. I'm so proud of how well they're all doing now. Outings are worry free as long as we make sure to make a pit stop every hour or so. Maybe soon I can stop lugging the diaper bag???
Now the bad part is that Sweetie is starting to get the idea that she doesn't need to wear a diaper at night time either. Two nights when I was out this week, Murray couldn't convince her otherwise and then a couple hours after she fell asleep, he'd take her to pee and then put the diaper on. Tonight she was pretty adamant until I told her Sarah didn't want to get peed on & wouldn't sleep with her if she was wearing panties. Lucky for me Sarah's such a hard ass! Sweetie didn't question it & quickly gave up the panties & requested a diaper. Hopefully Sarah will be able to retain this air of authority for awhile. I did buy two vinyl fitted sheets today though, just in case that rabbit lets me down!!!
Saturday Family Fun
Another fun filled busy day around here! Murray let me sleep in this morning til 9 (mind you I was up a few times in the night & handled Miss Fuss & Whine Sweetie from 5am-6am!!!). I suppose this means it'll be his turn tomorrow?
Once I was up I got some laundry in & then got the girls to help me make cookies for church tomorrow. It's appreciation Sunday for all the volunteer teachers. I explained that their teachers were nice to them so we were going to do something nice for them & bring the cookies but I'm not sure how much of that registered. They got to wear their GG aprons, measure, pour & sample so they were pretty happy about all that. After lunch we hightailed it out of here & went to " 'nastics". Honey likes to roam around the room, constantly saying "I wanna try something else!" and never stays with any one piece of equipment too long. Sweetie is very much in her element there as you see her hang off the rings, zip across the balance beam etc. but surprisingly, I'd say it's Lovey that loves 'nastics the most. She has the biggest grin the whole time we're there and loooooooooves every station we go to, trampoline, balance beam, foam pit, rings. They all love to go and there's no hesitation in anything we ask in preparation to leave the house. A last bathroom run is not questioned in the least, they race to get their shoes on and scramble into their car seats without a fuss.
After 'nastics we went to the mall to pick up some needed items and got ice cream at McD's afterwards. They had a pretty full day and were pretty happy. After supper I did their bath as Murray cleaned up the kitchen, living room & rec room (you go guy!)
Notable conversations today included a fight over who the alphabet song belongs to and exactly who's allowed to sing it and Sweetie informing us "I'm just a little kid".
After bedtime, I threw in more laundry, vacuumed and mopped the kitchen & bathroom, did more laundry and re upholstered the kitchen table. Ok well, so I plasticated the kitchen table then. I got a tip from one of my MOM friends that Walmart sells heavy plastic & I picked some up today while we were out. After seeing my mother in law's well forked wooden table, I've been pretty diligent about not letting the surface of ours be exposed (especially if Andrew's coming over!). I have a quilted pad, then a table cloth on top of that & then a clear vinyl table cloth over that with all the edges taped to the underside of the table. So far so good, no major dents or scratches so far. However, the flimsy table cloth kept getting poked or ripped and exposing a small section of the cloth underneath which very quickly became filthy! After buying about 3 or 4 of these clear table cloths I was getting frustrated and was very happy to find an alternative. After washing my nice blue tablecloth tonight, I put it back on and put my new heavy duty cover over top and staplegunned it to the underside. It feels nice & thick so I'm hopeful that this will last longer....
Once I was up I got some laundry in & then got the girls to help me make cookies for church tomorrow. It's appreciation Sunday for all the volunteer teachers. I explained that their teachers were nice to them so we were going to do something nice for them & bring the cookies but I'm not sure how much of that registered. They got to wear their GG aprons, measure, pour & sample so they were pretty happy about all that. After lunch we hightailed it out of here & went to " 'nastics". Honey likes to roam around the room, constantly saying "I wanna try something else!" and never stays with any one piece of equipment too long. Sweetie is very much in her element there as you see her hang off the rings, zip across the balance beam etc. but surprisingly, I'd say it's Lovey that loves 'nastics the most. She has the biggest grin the whole time we're there and loooooooooves every station we go to, trampoline, balance beam, foam pit, rings. They all love to go and there's no hesitation in anything we ask in preparation to leave the house. A last bathroom run is not questioned in the least, they race to get their shoes on and scramble into their car seats without a fuss.
After 'nastics we went to the mall to pick up some needed items and got ice cream at McD's afterwards. They had a pretty full day and were pretty happy. After supper I did their bath as Murray cleaned up the kitchen, living room & rec room (you go guy!)
Notable conversations today included a fight over who the alphabet song belongs to and exactly who's allowed to sing it and Sweetie informing us "I'm just a little kid".
After bedtime, I threw in more laundry, vacuumed and mopped the kitchen & bathroom, did more laundry and re upholstered the kitchen table. Ok well, so I plasticated the kitchen table then. I got a tip from one of my MOM friends that Walmart sells heavy plastic & I picked some up today while we were out. After seeing my mother in law's well forked wooden table, I've been pretty diligent about not letting the surface of ours be exposed (especially if Andrew's coming over!). I have a quilted pad, then a table cloth on top of that & then a clear vinyl table cloth over that with all the edges taped to the underside of the table. So far so good, no major dents or scratches so far. However, the flimsy table cloth kept getting poked or ripped and exposing a small section of the cloth underneath which very quickly became filthy! After buying about 3 or 4 of these clear table cloths I was getting frustrated and was very happy to find an alternative. After washing my nice blue tablecloth tonight, I put it back on and put my new heavy duty cover over top and staplegunned it to the underside. It feels nice & thick so I'm hopeful that this will last longer....
Look how smooth & shiny it is! Beautiful, isn't it?Puddle Runnin'
(my attempt to get more Mandy-like artistic shots)
A few weeks ago (April 12th to be exact), in between snowstorms, I was thrilled to have a warm day and the girls were even happier to have free reign with our big puddle. For an hour they raced & tore and stomped & jumped in the muddy water. I just let them go and took almost 150 pictures of them doing it. It's taken me this long just to sort through & pick out my favourites, get them edited, cropped, enhanced etc.
Sweetie managed to catch some air!
Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuup....
DOWN!
Lovey really got into her work & I got some of the best action shots from her antics.
Ok, anyone want to guess who's girl this is? Is that profile identical to her dad's OR WHAT?
I love how the water's all stirred up around their feet.
A stompin' good time!
Honey didn't quite seem to share her sisters' enthusiasm for Puddle Runnin'. She hung back and stood on the sidelines for quite awhile before giving it a whirl. She almost seemed doubtful but seeing how much they seemed to enjoy it, had to check it out. She's a little more hesitant to make a mess and get dirty and was holding back a little.
They were good and soaked by the end but it was such fun to watch them and just be outdoors in the sun, that I didn't even care. Besides, I got lots of practice with my manual settings. I'm still slow but I hope it'll all start to come more naturally if I keep at it.
Note the water pouring out of the boot!!!
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Transitionless!
Looks like we're jumping right from winter into summer! Yesterday's weather was awesome!!! A week ago we were shovelling out, this week there's hardly any snow to be seen & I'm sure I saw the thermometer hit the 30's yesterday!
I wasted no time in getting a load of wash in & putting it out on my clothesline (stupid or not!). I'm not sure why, but somehow, hanging my clothes out on the line feels good! I like how it makes me feel all domestic and June Cleaverish (without the nice coif, pumps & pearls), I love looking around the yard and seeing the fabrics fluttering in the breeze. I think it makes my yard look more 'homey' or something. Maybe because it's a familiar scene from my happy childhood? Mum, her mum, my dad's mum & all my aunts, always hung out their laundry. Not to mention the $.45 of electricity I'm probably saving!! Woohoo!
They were calling for rain today but I was happy to see clear skies! We had music class this morning so didn't get outside til after lunch but we went for a good walk in the stroller and played in the backyard (put out more laundry!) for awhile before rushing in for bathtime.
I was cleaning the kitchen this morning and listening to the girls playing & chattering amongst themselves. Even though I got to bed late last night (or should I say early this morning?) and was woken up less than 5½ hours later, I was enjoying them and happy to have what I have. Sometimes (in the middle of screaming fits usually) I'm not so appreciative of my little trio and today I felt really lucky to have such good little girls (overall) and such healthy, beautiful children (well I think so anyway!). The night before Sweetie was putting me through my paces and I was really annoyed and thinking about what a brat she was being but today they were all really good, really helpful, played well together and gave me their best smiles, hugs & kisses all day long. (ok, maybe one or two minor fits but on the whole it was one of those 'good' days). I've got it pretty good though don't you think????
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Happy Birthday Mumma!
It's my mother's birthday tomorrow but we celebrated early since Dale has the day off. The girls still aren't feeling 100% and I was feeling queasy this morning & fairly exhausted. I made it to church and got the birthday shopping done and that was enough to tucker me out! I fell asleep on the drive to M&D's, then curled up on the couch and zonked out for an hour when we got there and I'm still tired now! This sale business seems to have taken alot out of me.
We had some tasty bbq steak and birthday cake of course! I felt much better after my nap and had healthy portions of everything. The girls helped Mum blow out her candles and open her presents. Those girls love a birthday! Sweetie spent even more time sleeping there than I did and when she was awake she wasn't very happy (as you can see!)Turd Sighting!
Oh my gosh! I have never been so excited to see a piece of crap in my whole life! After 7 days of the trots & countless foul accidents, Lovey finally produced something solid! However, Honey has picked up where Lovey left off. Lucky for us Honey has more control and better timing and can usually get to the bathroom on time.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)