Home Sweet Home

                                                         

 Home is the place where I can always go to and nothing ever changes. 
And that is a good thing because it is a place of rest, comfort and love. 

Home is filled with memories. Memories of my childhood that are so close still, I feel as if I can reach out and jump into them.

Home is a little town, 30 miles West of Chicago called Warrenville. 

Home is a muggy Saturday afternoon in July,
a dusty softball field, 
    the  orange dust making my mouth dry...
         Chasing bees in left field, 
              wiping sweat from my visor,
 waiting for a pop fly, 
shielding the sun with my glove,
so I can catch it...
            and be the hero. 
My Mom cheering for me from the bleachers,
and my Dad, the coach, from the dugout. 

Home is cracked sidewalks, 
             peddling my pink bicycle as fast as I can 
with my heavy bag of library books,
  my wobbly bike           
 tipping dangerously to one side... 

perhaps stopping at the penny candy store on the way home. 

Home is mounds and mounds of fluffy snow, 
the hairs in my nostrils freeze with every breath,
watching snowflakes through the slit of my itchy wool scarf. 
The sound of snow makes my ear drums throb. 
The silence is so deep. 
Deep enough that it goes up to my knees
 and down my boots 
and makes my toes numb. 

Home is homemade chicken soup,
after a night of trick or treating.
Warming my chilled hands,
so I can sort through the candy,
and eat it until I feel sick. 

 I swear I still  hear the echos of the neighborhood kids on my street.

 I still have the secret pathways through the forest memorized. 

 I still feel safe when I lay in bed, listening to the crickets outside through my open window. 

I want to introduce the magic of this place to my children.
It is difficult to convey how I feel about the place I grew up in.
So I want them to experience it for themselves.
And I could see that Evelyn was enchanted by it all,
 By the house,
     by the hidden, secret places,
          by the imagination it brings out.


I haven't been home in a year, the longest I've been away in my entire life.
 I expected to be away even longer; but, this opportunity to come home and introduce the boys to my extended family and friends came up suddenly. 
I am so so grateful to be with family, the people who will always be apart of me, no matter the distance. 

The week was a whirlwind of visiting and holding babies and eating cakes. I was so honored to have relatives from near and far venture over to hold and kiss and cuddle my kids. There was constant noise and conversation. There was food and festivity. Some days, the boys had too much love, and we had to let them regroup in the other silent rooms. 

Perhaps the most memorable adventure was our field trip to my Grandma's Catholic church. Every Wednesday she has coffee with a group of women after Mass. Our babies and their story has been a topic of conversation and awe for months and months, and they were all so eager to meet everyone. 

So per my Grandma's request, Amanda, my mom and I loaded up the kids in the mini van; and despite the pouring rain that morning, we unloaded them all into the church and strolled them through the aisle way through Mass and into the "Parish Life" room. 
Upon our entrance, there was a standing welcome and we were immediately taken over by church women. 

The head Priest even held the boys. Amanda and I just stepped back and took it all in. 
We couldn't help but giggle a little bit.

Here we are, about to go through mass...please  don't cry now boys!

The Church Ladies can't get enough of the boys

Evie had a pretty good time too. Sprinkle covered donuts!

Levi looks so happy in this lady's arms!

And they drank coffee...

And held babies...

Until the boys decided they had enough. 

On Sunday when we drove the two cars back to the airport (yes, it took 2 vehicles to make this work...) I found myself eager to go home. 
To my home. 
The place where John and I have our life and raise our family.

It's strange. I'm realizing that Home can be two places, two places where there is love, and comfort and memories. 

 I hope that one day my kids can return to this home and feel the same way I feel about my childhood home. 

And now, here are some pictures from the week!

At PDX headed to Chicago! Let the adventure begin!

Ok, made it through security...

Made it at last! Home sweet home with my Aunts and Mom (and Dog-Cousin, Tinkerbell)

Uncle Rick and Aunt Penny with Levi. He reminds them of their sons,  Big n' Beefy.

Great Grandma Mrumlinski meets her Triplet Great Grandsons!

There was always something fun to do with Grandma!

Sitting around the table: My Grandma, Dad and Mom with the kiddos

My Aunt Penny is already a pro!

My brother Brad thought Caleb was just too cute!

Like I said...always something fun to explore at Grandma's...

Visiting with the fam...just like when I was growing up

Amanda takes a break from holding human babies

Mom, Evie and my 2nd cousin Jennifer's daughter Zolai

Levi gets kisses from Aunt Robin

Never a dull moment for anyone!

My parents and their grandchildren

Great Grandma Love

Multi-tasking

Dad and his namesake, James Gregory

GG is determined to feed this kid

A grandpa and his boys

Finally...a sleeping schedule! :)

It's September…and it really feels like it. This morning the air was crisp and fall- like, and there are already leaves on the ground. The school bus came by too. School started yesterday for the kids and even though I haven’t been teaching for 4 years, I still feel a little anxious and excited at this time of year.  I still  feel the anticipation of something new approaching.

 When fall arrives, it feels like life is a little more organized, there is a little more order, and things run on more of a predictable schedule. There is not much to do outside with three overly heated sticky babies in a black triplet stroller on hot summer days, so I’m looking forward to the cooler weather as well. 

I was thinking this morning that in five years, all my kids will be skipping off to school and the house will be silent and empty…! 
but...
         there is certainly a lot of living to do from now until 5 years….;)

The boys are just about 7 months old. And speaking of schedule, I feel like  finally-FINALLY-they are starting to somewhat fall into a daytime sleep schedule. I want to hold that word loosely because as mamas know, just when you think you’ve figured it out, something is bound to change.

 The days have been very long this summer.  I would wake up at 5 and not know when or if I’d ever have a break or moment of peace until the end of the day.  All the boys cat napped all day long, so I always had a baby or two or three awake.  People recommended books and programs to get them on a schedule. However, everything I tried was difficult and frustrating because I have 3 babies with different sleeping patterns!
 Ideally, I wanted to get them all sleeping at 1:00 when Evie took her nap.  I could get 2 babies on the same sleeping pattern, but there was always that third one who was off.  I finally gave up and decided when fall came, I'd try again.


And sure enough, they are older and their sleep can be manipulated a little easier.  Amanda and I are trying really hard to hold them off from sleeping until they all go down at roughly the same times. Therefore, if all goes according to plan, I have an hour or so in the afternoon when the house is silent and I don’t have anyone to take care of! 

Here is roughly what my day looks like...

5:30 am: My alarm goes off because the boys tend to start waking
6:00: 8 oz bottle for all
7-8: John gets up to help me keep the babies happy and myself sane until Amanda starts her work day at 8:00! They all get super cranky. 
8:00: Amanda and I feed the babies until Evie gets up and then I take care of Evie's needs/wants/demands!
Between 8:30-9:00: Babies go down for morning naps
Between 10-11: Babies wake up and get another bottle
Evie and I are usually together  taking on the day...
12:30: Lunch for Evie
1:00ish: Evie goes down for a nap...and hopefully babies have a small bottle and go down around then too. Sometimes one baby slept a little later than the rest during the morning nap, so I have one up with me for awhile. 
Amanda is "off' after Evie goes down for her nap.

1-3:00ish (or maybe later!) Evie naps, and hopefully so does everyone else!

4:30ish: John gets off work...so, we usually pack everyone up and go to the gym (we sure do get our moneys worth out of the childcare there!)  or we get everyone out for a walk around the neighborhood!
 6:30ish: Commence the craziness! Dinners, baths, bedtime routines for all! Amanda is "on" again to help us out with it all! Thank goodness!

 The goal is to get everyone in bed between 7:30-8:00. 

John usually cooks us all dinner! :) It's always a treat!

We tidy up the downstairs living area and then have a quiet dinner.
 Ahhh! Another day done! 
However, by the time we finish dinner, clean up and prepare for tomorrow, it is nearly 9:00 and I like to try to be in bed by 10:30 at the latest.

We have some fall schedule changes as well. Evie has her preschool starting soon. It’s just one morning a week for like 2 hours, but it will be good for her. She is very ready...and truly growing up so fast! I know she will love her "school." 

She took a little ballet class the other day....oh my....;)

Everyone is growing up. The boys are so much more interactive. Evie is taking charge and is the entertainment to them all. They will all be fussing and she’ll waltz into the room and dance and sing and play peek-a-boo with them. She has them in hysterics sometimes with her little antics. 

The boys notice each other too. They roll around and giggle and touch each other. They have a brother connection that began in the womb and will last forever. 

The days click by…the months and seasons change so fast. 

Five years does seem like a really long time until they are school bound…but I really really don’t want to look towards that momentous event as my goal. 

There is a lot of life to live between then and now, and I don’t want to miss out on a single moment. Everyday I strive to be patient, to appreciate the slow moments and be grateful for this life. 

Our next adventure is Chicago! Our flight leaves Sunday morning, and then begins a very busy week of family, and visitors and exhausting fun! Until then....

August Happings

 Like most Americans, I don’t like to wait. If there is a problem, I want it to be fixed yesterday. Recently, I’ve become a believer in two remedies that seem to offer quick fixes: the amber teething necklace and baby helmets.

Helmet Baby!

 Let’s start with the amber teething necklace. When Evie was a baby, I didn’t see too many babies wearing this interesting stoned adornment. Within the last year, many of my friends have religiously put this natural anti-inflammatory on their teething babies to ease the pain and thus, fussiness. Many of my friends swear it makes a huge difference. 

 So when my friend gave me three of them for my boys, I was eager to give them a try. What harm could it do?! 

They wore them for about a month. And then one day I took them off.

                   Thus began one of the most challenging weeks for us with the boys. 

 There was a very visible change in their personalities, especially in James. They were crabby, inconsolable, chewing on hands and fingers…we didn’t even think about the fact that we had the necklace off until one day I saw the necklace lying on the table and I decided to put it back on.

 Within two days, I had my happy boys back. I will never take that necklace off again. I will warn their wives when they get married to never take it off too! 

And then there’s Caleb and his helmet. He is actually much more comfortable in it than I ever thought. He’s been wearing it for 2 weeks now, and I have so say, it works! His flat head is already round! Every night I take it off for a brief few moments to cool his sweaty head, but I am amazed at the change!

We've had a fun filled summer as best as we can in this season in life. During the past 5 weeks, we’ve had family staying with us.  My Grandma flew out from Chicago mid July and stayed for two weeks and then my mom came out for almost three weeks! 

It really warms my heart to see my mom and Evie share such a special relationship already at 2.5 years old.  My grandma and I have always had a special bond, and I think that Evie and my mom will have the same, no matter the distance.  

Despite the distance, I know they will always be close. Many days she took Evie to the pool. They were there hours, happily floating around and splashing. At the beginning of the month Evie would hardly set her foot in the pool. Now three weeks later after Grandma’s gentle coaching and encouragement, she is putting her head under the water and floating around in the deep end.

We did things that we wouldn’t normally do on an average day. 

                   We went to Oaks Park,

A bit unsure

Levi enjoyed the ride too

Time with Chipper

Happy baby on the train

Marching onward 

and the zoo,

Fun with goats

We took walks and picked blackberries and ate frozen yogurt in the morning.

Berry pickin

Berry eatin

She sat on the deck and sang songs to them for hours and hours in order to keep them calm. She pushed them around and around the block in the afternoon so I could catch up on my sleep. She has always sacrificed for me, and she still does. Whenever my mom leaves, I feel like she leaves us in a better place, emotionally and physically.

I think grandparents have a different perspective on all of this child raising because they are on the other side of it all and see that most of the things us parents stress about are just not worth it. Good thing we have grandparents to shed some light on this situation.

Slurpees at 7-11

 Our good bye today was sad…

                            but 

                             not too sad

                                       because....

 in 2 weeks, John has a business conference in Chicago... and guess who is all going?!! 

Yes, ME! and... Evie, Caleb, Levi, James...

                           And Amanda! (This is not what she signed up for I'm sure...) ;)

Are we crazy? Yes, probably. But there is no better time than the present to introduce my precious three sons to my family who may never get to see them otherwise. And Evie hasn't been there in almost a year and she is excited to go too. 
 Even though we have a slightly less -than- normal child situation right now, I think it's important to live as "normally" as possible. 

So we are flying 2000 miles with three babies and a two year old. Normal. 

                                   Plus, it will be a good blog post! ...so stay tuned....

"Flying is not that hard, right guys?!"

Nap time for all

Eating time

Our little girl eats everything. We started Evie on solid foods at 5 months old and from the first bite, she loved eating and never looked back on her milk days. 

I assumed my experience with the boys would be the same. Although I thought the boys were ready for solid foods at 5 months, the doctor told us that we had to wait until 6 months because they were born 4 weeks prematurely. So, we waited. However, during the past month, I’ve felt guilty eating in front of any of the boys because they looked at my solid food with such longing. 

Finally, a few days ago, I was eating a juicy peach, and Caleb gazed at it, smacking his lips with desire. Close enough. It was time. 

I told John that our boys needed solid food. One week early is not going to hurt anything. So this week, we mixed the boys their first bowl of baby cereal. Now for those of you who have had babies, you know that baby cereal is rather unappetizing.  It looks like wet sand, and I imagine it tastes like that too.  

I was so excited on Tuesday morning when we lined the boys up in their car seats, put their bibs on them and mixed up their breakfast. 

One…two…three…right in a row we fed them their food. 

I sat with eager anticipation of the smiles that were sure to follow such culinary joy; however, instead I was met with the opposite! Instead of smacking their lips for more, James made a face that was a mix between being utterly disgusted and offended. 

"Unfair"

Caleb was a little unsure; he wasn’t excited about it and spit most of it out.

"Don't make me"

 And then there was Levi. Levi’s reaction really surprised me the most. Levi is my hefty boy, my future quarterback. I assumed he was ready for steak and potatoes at 3 months old and that he would be thrilled by the idea of solid foods. However, after his first taste, his face filled with horror, then disgust and then rage! He screamed, kicked his legs in rebellion and twisted his whole body in an attempt to escape this torture known as solid foods.

"I can't believe you'd do this to me!"

 I couldn’t believe it. So, after only a few bites each, we had disgust and rage as a result. The second feeding had to go better right?! 

The next day we again lined up the boys for eating. This time, the minute we strapped on the bibs, they knew what was coming. Levi started crying and twisting his body to escape. James looked utterly devastated that we would put him through this again. And Caleb just cried sorrowfully, voicing his opinion that he’d much prefer babies’ milk. 

Yesterday, Evie declared she wanted salad, with dressing, for dinner. And steamed edamame. 

She devours her pulled pork sandwiches. She’s open to sushi. She’s never had an issue with eating broccoli by the bowl full. My friends would often comment how lucky I was that I had such a good eater. I didn’t know any different because she was my first, and she always liked to eat. Now I understand. Perhaps things will change with the boys; it’s only been a few days in this world of “solid foods.” 

I am constantly reminded that even though I have four kids who all came from the same DNA-3 from the same womb at the same time- they are indeed all very different kids. And, I have to remember to treat them like that as they grow. It would be easy to sign them up for the same sports, the same activities; but, I have to leave room for them to become an individual with their own interests and pursuits. 

Not as healthy, but definitely enjoyable

However, when it comes to meal time, I already know that there are far too many people to accommodate for everyone’s likes and dislikes. So far in the Patton family, everyone is pretty open to eating anything. 

The boys will have to grow into the Patton way. 

Sushi and Indian curry will be a part of their lives. 

For now, it’s cereal time. Open up boys!

The eating table made especially for the boys by John's father!