Woolsey Family Chronicles

I have been receiving a fair amount of complaints about a long lag time between blog postings from places as far away as Australia. I don't have any good excuses other than my normal four kids under four excuse. I am basically unmotivated to use my brain in any way right now and since the weather has been so beautiful I spend every amount of extra time I have outside summerizing my house. It is interesting to realize how much guilt I feel when it has been past a week and I have not updated my blog.

So, where shall I begin in recapping the last couple weeks raising all these kids. Today I picked up Ava and as I was making the long walk from the car to the gate where I retreive her I hear her yelling something in her little excited voice. As I get closer I realize she is yelling at me that for her art project today they took a whole fish and used it to paint with. Hmmmmm. What? Oh yes, Miss Teri bought an entire Talapia fish and the kids took that fish carcasse, slapped it in some different paints and worked that lifeless body into the paper to create quite an impressive work of art that is now hanging on our wall. Fish art. Gross, but very cool at the same time.

This evening at 5:30 Ava had try-outs to be on the Sharks swim team. Ava was trying out for the 6 and under and if she swam well enough she would be placed on the actual swim team where they compete every Saturday in what has been described to me as "tent city". If the coaches determine Ava needs quite a bit of work on her swimming she would be placed in the "mini sharks" where she would not really race and it would not be as competitive. Chris and I have been working this day up all week and Ava has taken the bait. She is all about the Sharks and swimming on the swim team and doing the best she can today at the try-outs and above all, having the most fun possible. So, we show up at the pool and there are tons of little Sharks 6 and under ready to show their stuff. I am a nervous mom. I am not nervous because I care one stinking bit whether Ava is a mini-shark or a big Shark. I am nervouse that in the moment of pressure, Ava with only 4 1/2 years of emotional maturity under her belt, will crumble. Maybe she will refuse to swim in the pool when it is her turn. Maybe she will start to swim when people start to cheer for her she will do her standard "don't clap" bit. Oh, let me count the ways that this moment can turn bad. It is funny though, because in all the ways I played out the bad scenarios in my head I had not thought of the one that actually happened.

Well, Ava did briefly disclose to me prior to her try-out that she had a stomach ache. I computed the comment and promptly pushed it to the recesses of my brain. Ava got into the pool and swam her little heart out. She swam the crawl better than I have ever seen her swim. Believe me, her technique needs a lot of work, but that little girl just hopped right in that pool and swam her best to one of the instructors and back with huge confidence. The mothership was proud. She got out of the pool and then she started acting strange. I wrapped her in a towel and she layed on my lap and didn't want anyone to talk to her and did not want to have a sleepover at Gigi and Gramps' house - unheard of. I started to get annoyed. What is wrong with this child? Does she always have to be so difficult? She just landed herself a spot on the Sharks swimteam (not the mini Sharks) and had a great time doing it and now with the attitude. So, we got up and walked out of the pool area and Ava barfed two huge barfs on the lawn right outside the pool for all the future Sharks and their moms to see. Ava had the stomach flu. When you are a parent you can just never predict how your life is going to play out minute by minute. The good news is that Ava is officially a Shark and she is going to have a great summer filled with swim lessons and swim meets.

Over the last couple of weeks Chris and I brought in landscapers to rip out our big Redwood trees that were in the back corner of our yard and replace them with a big piece of lawn fully fenced in. Now we have a place for the kids to play all summer. I had already acquired a cool slide play unit from a fellow triplet mom and have a few other fun summer items to fill up the lawn area and provide the kids a safe place (away from the pool and concrete) to play all summer. I think it will end up being a very good investment.

On to the babies. The babies are now 14 months old which is unbelievable. Nobody is walking yet but Elsa takes about 5 steps before she falls. She is going to be up and walking any day now. Just today I actually saw her try and walk on her own initiative which told me that she is going to be walking on her own very soon. Preston could walk if he had the confidence but I've learned that Preston takes things very slowly and doesn't do anything until he can do it very well. Violet. Oh sweet Violet. She probably will be about 16 months before she walks because she doesn't show much interest and I think because her left foot turns in when she stands. Our pediatrician assures me that there is nothing wrong with her feet and that once she starts walking her muscles will strengthen and her foot will straighten out.

My days have been filled with lots of cute triplet moments lately. The best one happened about a week ago. I was in Ava's bedroom watching the baby girls play. Elsa was doing funny things and Violet was laughing hysterically at her. When Elsa realized she was making Violet laugh she would repeat what she was doing and Violet would laugh hysterically again and then Elsa would join in and laugh at herself. Elsa would make funny noises, girate her body, throw herself on the ground and Violet would laugh like it was the funniest thing she has ever seen in her entire life. When they were winding down the comedy show, Violet had been laughing so hard she was trying to catch her breath. I then saw Violet crawl over to Elsa and wrap her little arms around Elsa's neck and give her a big hug. It was as if Violet was saying, "thanks for making me laugh Elsa. Thanks for making my day bright." It made me want to cry because it was so sweet and cute. This is the stuff that makes having multiples so special.

Tonight when Chris and I were at the swim meet with Ava and Laura was watching the babies for us, apparently Preston and Elsa played peek-a-boo with each other for 10 minutes. They are are really enjoining (as Ava would say) each other these days.

Of course Ava is all the babies' one wild woman comedy show. Her sisters and brother find her hysterical and Ronin thinks Ava is just about the best thing on Earth. Ava was throwing a bag of wipes across the room the other day and Ronin was laughing so hard I could not believe it. It is the simple things that kids do that is so entertaining to babies I guess. Us adults are so boring. I don't suppose you see many adults throwing a bag of wipes across the room very often, although I am sure it has happened in those not so proud mommy moments. I have had those moments but instead of wipes it was one of those candle lighters. Don't ask.

Another funny thing that happened tonight is that Violet threw her first legitamite tantrum. Chris showed up in front of the playroom and then left apparently without saying goodbye to Violet. Violet threw her little body down on the ground in a fit of hysteria and instead of kicking her arms and legs she rolled herself around the whole playroom. Everytime I looked at her she would elevate the tantrum and do another couple of rolls. It was absolutely hysterical. I tried so hard not to laugh out loud so Violet wouldn't think I wasn't taking her tantrum seriously. But I did enjoy watching the tantrum for about 3 minutes before I picked her up and saved her from another series of screaming rolls around the room.

Today is the 2 year anniversary of our little friend Trevor Austin Kott's death. Trevor is Bob and Angela's son and Kendall and Lauren's brother. He died of leukemia two years ago today. He was a special little boy. If you haven't done so already, I urge you to get swabbed and placed in the bone marrow registry. If Trevor had found his bone marrow match he may still be with us today. Maybe you could be the match and save somebody's life. Go to http://www.trevorkott.com/ and click on Be The Match for more information.

Until next time, the mothership is signing off.