The Threes: Terrible or Terrific?

I'll give you both sides and let you decide on your own.

First, the case of terrific....

-The girls actually know their colors, are learning letters slowly, and can do big kid puzzles (with some help)! Not the easy ones, the actual jig-saw variety.

Madeline working on her puzzle.

-Overall, the girls have known how to act when interacting with Will. They like touching him very gently but aren't all in his face. I feel like when my girls were 2 they wouldn't have understood that.

While watching a show, Madeline cuddled close to Will and interacted with him off and on.

Love this picture! 

-I love listening to them talk. They are especially talkative when they are not too wound up (during story time at night in particular). They talk about "yesterday" and "tomorrow", and who likes what, etc.  So fun!

-Once in awhile they will play with other kids! (They have played with their cousins for awhile now.) They stick together and are pretty cliquey at ECFE, but they recently made a friend at tot time open gym and had a blast with Anna and Elsa (my friend, Leah's kids).

Ring around the rosy, pocket full of posies.... (with Anna and Elsa)

We all fall down!

-I don't need to use the stroller for many outings. I can count on them to stay close in the parking lot. We're not to the point where they would stay with me during a grocery store trip or anything, but it's progress!

-They are still impatient, but I can reason with them on why we can't have dinner yet (we're waiting for dad!)

-Potty trained! (kinda)

Here is the case for terrible...

-This:

The girls were happily giggling while Dan and I were in another room. We had no idea what they were up to.

-This:

This was at 10 pm, more than an hour after we put them to bed (and had already told them to stop talking and go to sleep multiple times). They had taken their PJs and diapers off and were trying on clothes I had stored in their dresser.

Not cool. (Although we laughed after they couldn't see us!)

-This:

OK, so playing in the mud isn't a big deal, but it is if grandpa told them to stop and they just ignored him and kept doing it! Where are my good listeners?

-I can't just dress them how I want anymore! They know who has to wear what color and often insist on particular shirts, even if it's for the third day in a row. I say, pick your battles! I do know this is a very normal toddler type of phase and they are just craving independence, yada, yada, yada. (Sometimes I purposely put a TV show on that distracts them because then they won't notice what I'm putting them in- HA!)

-It seems like they get into more stuff now than when they were two. They never would have helped themselves to Resolve carpet cleaner and some wash cloths and cleaned the front door as two year olds, but YUP, they did that yesterday. Next time I'll show them where the Windex is.  (Just kidding, we're finally getting a lock for the cupboards.)

-Neediness and tantrums are still full-blown sometimes. Sofia is having the hardest time lately with neediness, but it is tied in with the whole baby adjustment, I believe.

-Potty training. It's on both sides because although they are basically potty-trained they still have accidents and it's stressful being out in public  After so many accidents you just want them back in diapers!! I never thought about how easy diapers make your life until it was time to lose them.

What I look forward to is for them to be "independent" potty-trained, for them to dress themselves (they're working on it), and for me to trust them when they're in another room. I am not wishing time away, but I can fondly anticipate the future, right?

Here are a couple more pics...

Leah practicing holding a newborn again! (She's due to have her 3rd child- a BOY- in March).

Sofia playing Jake and the Pirates

Josie happy to be showing off her "meow's yarn" (a loofah).

Meanwhile, Will (three weeks old now) is a very laid-back newborn. He only cries when he's hungry and when he's sleeping we barely remember he's there! Last week he was giving me good stretches at night, but the last three nights he wants to be fed every two hours still. I'm lucky, though. I know that he will get more demanding, but I'm hoping it's at the same time the girls get less demanding, more independent, and/or more trustworthy. (I know those are lofty hopes and dreams but maybe I'll be so lucky!)

Will! 

Nice outfit! (Thanks, Jimmy and Susie!)

Luckily, I have had great help since Will has been born (Thanks, Deb and Mike and mom and dad!) A new baby makes everything more complicated, but I'm slowly getting the hang of it and won't need as much help. The hardest part to do alone is from dinner until the girls' bedtime because Will naturally cluster feeds. Since Dan is home during that time it's great, but he is set to travel next week.

Hope you are all doing well!

Introducing Our Newest Love, William James Klopp

He's here, he's here! I'm so over the moon in love with our son, William ("Will"). Pregnancy, labor and delivery, and our son are all I could ever dreamed for. The quad pregnancy was very unique and it produced my first loves, but I am so happy that I could experience the normal singleton pregnancy, too. If you have some time, here's my birth story. Sorry if it's too long! If you want to skip the story and just see some pics, there's a link at the end of the post!

The Birth Story- UNABRIDGED!

Honestly, I was getting quite impatient for our son to make his appearance. I wasn't that uncomfortable, really, but was ready to see him and not have a big belly in the way! The 39 week OB check-up showed some progress that my body was starting to get ready, but of course the nurse practitioner couldn't give me a good guess when he'd come. I was planning on trying for a VBAC (vaginal birth after Cesarean) so there was no scheduled C-section and I also was hoping to avoid being induced. Soooo....I started going on some good walks! I had a good walk the day after Christmas trudging through snow, a good walk on Friday, and then another with just Odin on Saturday morning. Anyways, earlier that same Saturday I woke up at 3:30am with contractions that felt much different than the Braxton-Hicks that I had been experiencing lately. I couldn't sleep once they started because I was so excited and nervous that labor could actually be starting!

    Saturday morning, the contractions were irregular but still felt different. I decided to take Odin for a nice walk for some peace and to see if it could start labor. When we put the girls down for a nap, I started paying attention to contractions and they seemed to get more regular at 10 min apart or so. By the time the girls woke up, they were getting painful so I put a movie in so I could lay down and continue timing them. (Meanwhile, Dan went ice fishing - which I condoned - before the nap because I thought labor had stalled and was a false alarm). Throughout the movie I realized these contractions were coming every 4 to 5 minutes and I had to concentrate and try to relax my breathing. When Dan came home, he said he was going to cook us crappies, but I said, NO....we're going to the hospital. He was shocked and started freaking out! It was kind of funny to watch! He hadn't packed anything beforehand for himself and he was just scrambling trying to get ready. I called Dan's aunt Mary and uncle Dave to come watch the girls and they got to our house very quickly. 

    The ride to the hospital was kind of like you see in the movies. I was yelling at Dan to "ease into those stops!!!!" because I was getting really uncomfortable, plus Dan was probably driving faster than he should have. When we checked into Labor and Delivery, they said they would monitor the contractions and see if my cervix progressed. (The first cervix check was 3 cm..the last appointment it was 1 1/2 cm) The nurses told me if my cervix didn't progress they would send me home even though I was getting contractions every 3-4 min at the time. I was so scared they were going to send me home like that! I couldn't wrap my head around the fact I might *not* be in labor. Well, after less than an hour of monitoring, the nurses told me the doctor reviewed my charts and said I should stay since I'm relatively high risk (VBAC and positive group B). That was a relief! Soon after, the nurses checked me and I was at 4 cm, so I would have stayed anyways.

   Originally, I was hoping I could cope through contractions, but I didn't have my mind set on going drug-free. I hadn't taken any birthing classes- it was too hard to find the time and spend hours on Saturdays. Anyways, I quickly realized I was not prepared and basically begged for an epidural. I just could not relax my body. Once the epidural kicked in, I was the happiest girl ever! After an hour on the epidural, my water naturally broke, and things really picked up the pace. I was at 8 cm before I knew it, and half an hour later I was fully dilated and ready to push. It really struck a chord when the nurses brought in the baby warmer. That was probably the most surreal part before the actual delivery.

   I pushed through 5 contractions- which ended up being 20 minutes because the contractions spaced out a little more. He was out and my world changed! Dan and I were in complete and utter awe and what just happened. I can just picture seeing William on my belly and Dan's reaction. It was such a great experience. I want to cry just thinking of it again! We arrived at the hospital 7:30pm (?) and he was here at 1:15 am. Pretty quick!

   William weighed in at 8 pounds, 5 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches long. His head circumference was 14 inches. His Apgar scores were both 9. During labor, Dan and I quickly made our guesses on weight. Dan guessed 7 lbs 10 and I guessed 8 lbs 1. He's a good-sized boy! It is sad to think about, but he weighed more than all four quadruplets combined. 

   Overall, I had a great birth experience.

Coming home felt great and the girls have been interested in him. They also seem like they need adjustment time too which is to be expected. When I'm not nursing him, I try to give them a lot of attention, but there is so much to do!
    Speaking of nursing, that has been going well- of course it's still painful but he is vigorous and hungry. I'm glad he's a "Madeline" eater and not a "Sofia" eater! (Sofia as a baby was quite lazy and often didn't want to eat.) He's still too new to have much of a schedule and he's been unpredictable. Usually he'll want to eat every 2 hours. At night he has given me 3 whole hours! Woohoo! Yup, I'm pretty tired....
    I'm putting all the pictures on Flickr again because it's much faster, and frankly it has taken a couple different attempts to finally get this blog up! Hope you all had a fabulous New Years (I barely knew there was a holiday)!!!
     Lastly, Dan and I want to thank ALL of our help these last couple of days. You know who you are and we greatly appreciate it all. What would we do without family? 

Merry Christmas from the Klopps!

Three Years Old!

We recently celebrated the girls' third birthday! Around the time they were born there was a storm, there was a big storm on their 1st birthday (the Metrodome collapsed from all the snow), nothing last year, then another huge storm this year. Most of our family drove from Duluth before the storm, but some had to brave it! It was beautiful to look at, though. I think we got around one foot.
At our little (extended) family party, the girls did well this year- no meltdowns and no crying when we sang to them. Before we started presents, we noticed that they were awfully quiet in the sunroom. It turned out they had started opening presents without any of us there! Stinkers! We caught them early enough so they didn't get very far.

The girls had their 3 year check-up with the pediatrician. No vaccines this year! They are pretty darn healthy- especially for preemies- and nothing much to report besides weights...

*Sofia- 24.8 lbs and 34 1/2 inches tall. Her percentiles were: less than 5th and 5th
*Madeline- 26.6 lbs and 35 inches tall. Percentiles: 10th and 10th
*Josephine- 26.2 lbs and 35 inches tall. Percentiles 10th and 10th

The good part about Sofia's weight was that she was closer to the 5th percentile than before! Woohoo! They attempted to check hearing and sight but the girls weren't cooperative. I would not have imagined they would be, though!

Here are some "interview" videos: Sofia, Madeline, and Josephine. It would be fun to do this each year to get a taste of what they are into. It's so funny, because some of their answers would change from take to take. For instance, Sofia has never said her favorite color is blue (she gravitates towards orange and pink).

Here are some pictures... I included a bunch I took while trying to get a decent "3 year pic" for each girl. Then of course some party pics too. Oh, I am 37 weeks pregnant today and still doing well. I am so happy to reach 37 weeks because that is considered "full-term" (whereas some 36 weekers don't always automatically go home immediately). I could go any day now and he would be healthy (knock on wood- I'm not trying to be too confident!) We are really close to being all ready before he comes. I'll have to post some pics next time of our paint jobs!

Hope all is well!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

We had a great Thanksgiving holiday. Wednesday was the early meal with my parents and brother Andy and sister-in-law Aimee. It was held at my house but I didn't have to do any of the cooking! Not a bad deal at all! The girls LOVE turkey and pumpkin pie. (If they didn't love pumpkin pie I would question whether they are really mine...) Thursday morning we drove up to Duluth for Dan's side of the family's meal. This get-together included a lot more people and the girls ate well again. We are not a "Black Friday" family, so the day after Thanksgiving we hunted down our Christmas tree. Dan is a perfectionist so our tree is pretty nice. It's not up yet and I'm hoping it fits in our house!

Duluth actually got a good snowfall while we were there and the girls had an absolute blast playing in it. I was so happy because last year they were always less than thrilled in their snowsuits trying to maneuver  around. The biggest bummer with winter-time fun is getting them all ready to go play outside. Especially with me being not too agile with my belly. It's totally worth it to get some fresh air, though.

I'm 35 weeks today and feeling just fine. I just had another appointment a couple of days ago but I didn't learn anything new. Regular prenatal appointments are boring (in a good way). I'm big enough now where it's not easy to get off the floor but I'm still up and down all the time. The girls take no pity on me! I am still lucky with pregnancy being good to me. I'm not even sure if it's hitting me how close I am. The painting is done in the nursery so the girls' room is up next. Hopefully this weekend we can finish since it would be nice to finish before their 3rd birthday on December 9th.

Nap is so hit-or-miss right now! I HAVE to be in the room if I want them to fall asleep and lately it takes about 45 min or longer for them to all fall asleep. Then, they'll sleep for too long and will have a big party at night until 9 or 10. They seem to be on the cusp of how much sleep they need and it seems like I have to choose: a break during the day or an earlier bedtime. If they skip a nap I still need a break, but they get into total mischief if I leave them alone in their room for "quiet time". (Clothes/nap diapers off, mattresses off the cribs, making a total mess with toys and clothes.)

Tidbits of the girls...

-Lately, they have been asking about all their toys and books and who bought them. It's good practice for me to remember, but the funniest one was when they asked who bought them! Ummm, isn't it too early to be asking these kinds of questions!? Haha!

-They totally are into Santa, Rudolph, Frosty the Snowman, etc. I'm pretty sure if we go meet Santa again we'll have the same reaction as last year, however (all-out bawling?) It's fun to relive being excited about Santa coming and just the magic of Christmas again. It's so different as a parent, but so fun!

-One time I couldn't find one of their favorite books at bedtime. Dan was at the cabin hunting so I told them that daddy took it to the cabin because he wanted to read it at night (Dr. Seuess' The Thinks You Can Think). It's pretty humorous picturing Dan reading it at night in bed with a flashlight. So now, any time we can't find something they think daddy took it to the cabin or to work. Oooops!

Blogger told me that I ran out of room for photos. I'm not sure if this is a glitch or really true, but here is a link to Flickr to show the pictures I was going to include.

This is all for now... have a great rest of the week, everyone!

Checking in!

It's been too long since I last updated. Not much has been happening around here besides my tummy getting bigger. I'm already 31 weeks and still feel pretty good. I passed the gestational diabetes test at my 28 week appointment! The last couple of days it has been getting harder to breathe deeply and after a long day I feel sore. Sometimes I feel painful twinges that I'm assuming is sciatica (nerve pain). Nothing I can complain much about though. I'm so much smaller than last time still.

The guest bedroom set is already out of the nursery and in the bedroom downstairs, so after we paint (hopefully soon!) we will put one of the girls' cribs in there and swap in a toddler bed borrowed from cousin Peter. We also want to paint the girls' room too. The next three weekends are deer season, then it's Thanksgiving, then we're into December! Looks like painting will be a weeknight project, not a weekend one. THEN, I have to start washing/organizing baby boy clothes! (Lara has lent me a ton of clothes...I won't really have to buy much at all)

The girls still enjoy their weekly ECFE class. Of course they are more the observers than the participants when it comes to circle time (songs, movement/dances, etc). I really like their teacher, and the teacher loves to observe them. They are starting to warm up to the teachers and will actually talk to them a little. She said that when it comes time for songs or dance games, they look at each other as if to decide whether they will participate or blow it off. They really operate as a unit. This can work to my advantage or my disadvantage. If I see one run off in public I know the others will follow (big disadvantage unless they all run the same way then it's not too bad). A positive from this is if one is trying a new food or doing really well at dinner, the others will usually follow suit. They have such a special, unique bond at such a young age. Another example is when one gets hurt, the others will ask the hurt one if she's OK and if she needs a kiss. I cannot even imagine how their bond will grow even more in the future!

Josie

Madeline

Sofia

Halloween was fun! The girls have worn their costumes a lot in the last couple of weeks. Josie as a cat, Madeline as a cow, and Sofia as a dog. (The cat costume is actually a jaguar and it dates back to Dan's toddler years! Dan's grandma Peterson sewed it and siblings and cousins all wore it for Halloweens!) It has been hard to get them to take off their costumes to eat, sleep, play outside, etc. Last night as we were finally getting them dressed to go trick-or-treating, Josie decided she wanted to be a dog! All this time she has been obsessed with wearing her cat costumes and cats in general. All of a sudden she wants to be a dog!? Sofia protested at first, but then just gave her costume to Josie on her own free will. Thank you, Sofia, for keeping the peace!

Sofia, Josie, Madeline (they all chose a pumpkin face from a bunch of pictures on Google images...) Don't mind Dan in the reflection in the window.

     Last year for trick-or-treating, we pulled the choo-choo and they walked a little, but this year they walked the whole way. We even got to more houses than last year! It just cracks me up watching them. This is how it went most houses:
*Attempt to ring door bell- NOPE still too short!
*Say a "trick or treat" that is actually audible- too bad no one has opened the door yet...
*When the door opens, Josie usually quickly turns around and tries to bolt...
*Sofia and Madeline slowly back up giving no regards to potentially falling off the front step (luckily we were there there to catch them if they got too close)...
*Refusal to let them put candy in their bag- they HAD to take it and do it themselves...

*Awkward leaving... Love this age- too funny! 

        At one house, the husband and wife were sitting on their front porch wearing masks of the dwarves from Snow White. You couldn't see any of their face. We were like, "Oh, this will go over real well!" There was no crying (surprising!), but they would NOT take candy from them. I guess that's kinda smart of them! The "dwarves" ended up just handing me the candy to give to them. I can't imagine if they were wearing actual scary masks. We probably would have had to skip that house.

On a mission! Those bags are getting heavy!

One their way to candy!

Sofia, Madeline, and Josie after trick-or-treaing.

I just had to go to Target today to see what they had for clearance costumes. I was hoping to find another cat costume because I don't want Josie's cat costume to get too warn out since it is basically a family heirloom. :)   I found these and I'm afraid I created monsters! I've never been one to want to encourage the whole princess culture, but oh well! As long as they still like tromping around in the woods, all is good! When they put these costumes on, they were positively giddy. Twirling and bouncing around the house. I'm afraid they won't want to ever take them off...

Hope you all have been well!

Sofia is a mermaid, Josie is a fairy, and Madeline is Snow White!

27 weeks and 1 day....

I made it through the early AM without my water breaking! No, of course I'm not expecting it to break, but that's when it happened with the quads. I cannot imagine delivering today. It's really bittersweet thinking about that day with my last pregnancy. It's weird because last time my water broke during a big (weather) pressure change and there's a big pressure change in Minnesota today too. My body just knows it has a long way to go, thankfully.

27 Weeks 2012

27 Weeks 2009!

Happy belated birthday to Dan this past September 21st (he's the big 2-9!) and to my sis-in-law, Lara this past October 1! We celebrated Dan's birthday with cake and Buffalo Wild Wings- his favorite.

Last weekend I had a weekend away for my friend, Kelly's wedding in Colorado. It was so great seeing some friends and having no responsibility. Thanks again to Dan's parents, Mike and Deb for watching the girls on Friday. (And I'm sure Dan appreciated help/company over the weekend!!)

Steph, Liza, and I after Kelly's wedding- old CU friends!

Lindsay and Hailey- I got to hang out with this babe a lot!

The girls have had some great playground days and we even made it to an apple orchard with Lara, Charlie, Dane, and Peter over Dan's birthday weekend. This weekend we're up north again for a wedding. I do love Duluth in the fall!

Madeline in the hay maze at the apple orchard

We couldn't get 5 to look at the camera in the same pic, but here they are! (Madeline, Josie, Sofia, Peter, and Dane)

Charlie, Lara, Peter and Dane after the exciting hayride!

Our family at the end of the hayride. 

They got a kick out of the goats! (Sofia)

Since my last entry, the girls have started up ECFE (Early Childhood/ Family Education). It's one day a week and half the session the moms are separated for a discussion. It's kind of a  pre-preschool and I love it! The girls are really quiet during circle time and don't participate in the songs or dancing. Maybe they will over time. During playtime they keep to themselves and the teachers say they are quite independent. I bet it's common for multiples to stick to each other but hopefully they will branch out at some point.

Sofia, Josie, and Madeline! They thought it was fun standing on the back of the couch. Whatever it takes to get smiles!

Madeline and Sofia sitting with the bear

Normal occurrence now (J, M, S). (At the Teddy Bear Park)

They were quite excited when the UPS delivered their new turtle booster seats. They are still too short for the table, though!  (J, S, M)

The next 3 weekends of October we have to reserve for getting the nursery ready (and painting the girls room finally). November is deer hunting and obviously Thanksgiving and December is just plain crazy! It seems like January will be here too soon! Since we know this baby will be our last (our plan) I am really savoring this pregnancy. I have loved it so far. (I know, I know- farther along I may not be so enamored.)