MUST HAVE DVDs for Little Ones

We have a lot of the Disney and other children's movies and the kids enjoy them all, but these have been all time favorites in our home.

When the babies were 17 months old we made an 8 hour drive to Oklahoma and literally watched this movie the entire way. Baby Genius Favorite-Sing-Alongs which we purchased at Walmart.... To this day I can sing all the songs (although my mind has tried to forget). Perfect DVD for very young children.

Our favorite car videos today however are The Brother's Grimm Fairy Tales which can be purchased from QVC. There are 13 discs in one easy to transport case with 2 movies on each disc. Each movie is about 25 minutes which is perfect for car rides. LOVE LOVE LOVE THESE MOVIES!!!!! We keep them in the car and it gives the kids some variety. Movies include:

Little Red Riding Hood
The Goosemaiden
Snow White
The Wolf and the Seven Little Kids
The Bremen Town Musicians
Tom Thumb
Cinderella
Puss in Boots
Rapunzel
Rumpelstiltskin
Sleeping Beauty
The Two Princesses
The Frog King
And more
Run time is approximately 650 minutes"

Our final pick is The Read and See DVD Bible. It is a book and DVD, but we have just used the DVD. We started watching bible stories everyday before naps a long long time ago. The babies were very young and to this day it is still a favorite in our home. A short bible story is told and then it's follow-up with a song. The kids have learned many of the songs and LOVE this video!!!!

Tomorrow, we are heading to San Antonio for a 4 night vacation and we won't be leaving home without these videos.

Overwhelmed? Don't fret it has a name....

By the end of the day I am exhausted, literally exhausted by the constant discipline required to raise all these babies. I often pray, "Dear Heavenly Father, please give me the strength to cope with my blessings." From sun up to sun down, I am correcting their behavior in one way or another. "Don't climb on the sofa," "Don't pull your sisters hair," "Don't tee tee in your pants," "Don't pick your nose," "Don't bite your nails," "Be quiet during prayers," "Eat, don't feed the dogs," "Be gentle with toys," etc.... all day long. When Jerry gets home from work, sometimes I just have to mentally check out... I hear the crying and misbehaving and I let him take over. I'm just too exhausted. All in all, I think the kids are well behaved and great, but it takes a LOT OF WORK and I try to balance all the "Don'ts" with "Good jobs". I was happy to learn there is a name for what I'm dealing with, Twin Escalation Syndrome (TES). Here is a clip from an article I read... enjoy. I'm sure all mothers can relate in one way or another.

"There's a condition that afflicts multiples. It's Twin Escalation Syndrome, the tendency of multiples to intensify and expand their behaviors in reaction to each other. For example, when Twin A cries, Twin B cries louder. In turn, Twin A cries even louder. And so on, and so on... Until the parents are crying the loudest of all.
Or, consider two school-aged twins. Their main passion in life is to amuse each other. At any normal mealtime, you'll find the following scenario: one twin slurps his milk to get his brother's attention. Not to be outdone, his brother blows bubbles into his cup. Twin One ups the ante by standing up in his chair to sing "Yankee Doodle Dandy" while gargling his milk. Then when Twin Two stands in his chair to attempt an even more outrageous stunt, he falls and knocks his milk over. Twin One laughs uproariously until he snorts milk out of his nose. Mom and Dad shake their heads (and fists!) in frustration, victims yet again of TES.
Let's face it. Twin Escalation Syndrome is incurable. If you have twins, you have TES. If you have triplets, quadruplets, or higher order multiples, you have it really three, four or more times as bad. You can't get rid of it, but you can control it. Here are some measures that parents can take to reduce flare-ups and preserve family safety and sanity." See the full article for suggestions.

Mommy tips and tools

I was recently talking with a friend who complained about my blog... We talk regularly, but she never heard me talk about the 10 count method, then she read about it on the blog. She asked that I include more tips and tricks, favorite products, etc. So I've added a new blog category, "Mommy's tips and tools." I'll try to pass along my favorite products and lessons learned along the way. In return, I ask you to share your little secrets with me as well (especially when it comes to getting your kids to eat).

The Ten Count Method - Miracle Tool for this Mom

The Ten Count is a tool we use OFTEN around the Hopkins home. Why it works we don't know, but it works most of the time for us.

One night I was brushing the kids teeth and they kept grabbing the toothbrush to try and help me. I told them, "It's Mommy's turn right now, when I am done you can have a turn." When I finished brushing I gave them the toothbrush and told them I was going to count to ten and at ten they had to give the toothbrush back to me. It worked!! When I got to ten, they would each happily turn over the toothbrush. This went on every morning and evening (and continues). It was so successful we then started using it for other things....

"Ok, it's time to get out of the pool..." count to ten and everyone happily gets out.
"You aren't pottying... give Kaylee a turn she needs to go. Ok, you have ten..." At ten a happy child gets off the potty.
"Ok, you can get a drink for ten, then give Addison a turn." At ten the cup is happily handed over.
"Ok, you can touch (fill in the blank) for 10, then you have to put it back" Once again happy child complies.

I've asked Jadon to do things in the past and he says, "Mommy, count." I count and he cooperates.

It works for everything... I don't know why.... but it works and I have shocked many a Mom who has witnessed the miracle of a ten count.

Blog to Book

Got a blog? Make a book! Learn how here. If you're on the Blogger platform (http://blogname.blogspot.com) and have a public blog, you can turn it into a professionally-published Blog Book. I have wondered how I was going to preserve my blog for the kids and ran across this site. So excited to know I can make a book out of it. I hope to be making blog books each year for years to come...

One of the most frequently asked questions:

We are always asked if we get any sleep in our house. That question is quickly followed up with how did you sleep train your kids.

Jerry and I have been very fortunate and only have our sanity in that our kids are all good sleepers/nappers. The kids go down around 8:30 and I wake them at 7:00 and they all nap from 1:00 to 3:00 or later daily (required nap is 1 to 3) and the triplets never protest when it's time to lay down. Whether luck or training we can never know for sure, but we get LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of questions as to how we handled sleep problems. It's probably one of the most asked questions by other parents. My question to other parents is how do you get picky eaters to EAT???

At our 1st pediatric appt after the kids left the NICU, the NICU pediatrician told us to no longer wake the babies to eat and gave us the following instructions:
1. They only get up to eat if they are crying (not whining or moaning). Never get up for whining or moaning, in fact move the baby monitor far enough away that you don't hear whining and moaning.
2. No cuddling, cooing, playing during the night... it's all business with dim lights then straight back to bed.
3. Establish a bedtime routine; Bath, bottle, bed was our routine.
4. Let them cry 5 minutes, then go calm them a minute to refocus them. Try not to pick them up. (If I had to pick them up, I held them next to the crib without eye contact or talking and laid them down after they calmed a bit at which time they went bonkers again). Then leave. Don't spend more than a minute or two if possible.
5. Let them cry 10 minutes then repeat calming, then 15 minutes, etc. (we didn't do this by the clock, but got a feel for when they needed to be calmed and when they needed to cry.) After calming them and leaving the room, the crying is worse for a few minutes, but eventually the length of crying shortens and they calm down faster as they learn it doesn't get them what they want. The calming is really just to refocus them since they sometimes get so worked up they need help shutting it down.
6. We also have a naptime routine which has changed as they got older, but we always used the same cry method.

It is painful to listen to your little one cry, but with triplets we had no choice and we were tough with Cody because we had seen it work with the triplets and he is now also a great sleeper. Cody still screams when we lay him down in bed, but stops almost immediately when the door closes. He has learned his protests are futile.

It also only takes breaking this routine once to screw things up again. One night when Kaylee was just over one, I think, her diaper leaked during the night. We got her up, took her downstairs, changed her, let her lay in our bed a few minutes until she calmed down, etc. She woke every night for about 4 days crying until I managed to get her retrained. Jadon used to nap about 45 minutes then wake crying. I'd go get him and rock him back down until I finally decided this was ridiculous and decided to make naps a two hour minimum. The 1st day when he woke 45 minutes into the nap he cried until the two hours were up. The 2nd day he cried maybe 5 minutes and hasn't cried since.

I don't think we could have done this had it not been a necessity with triplets, but we have found it worked for us. We were never sleep deprived parents and the kids have learned we set the bedtime and wake time. We may be lucky that we just have good sleepers while other parents have good eaters, but since we get asked so often I thought I'd share our strategy.

An apple a day....

I have a new found respect for dietary fiber ever since Jadon suffered terrible constipation recently. He literally suffered for 24 hours and after a couple enemas, a call to the ped, and a call to a pharmasist he was finally successful, but he was in pain. It's true love literally helping your little one pass a "poopie".

Jadon is the pickiest eater in the family and tends to gravitate to dairy products... cheese, milk, and yogurt are his favorites. He refuses all fruits except bananas (which are also system cloggers). I have started sneaking oat bran and wheat germ into everything I can trying to get his little system back in proper working order.

To all the new moms out there... fiber, fiber, fiber.... because what Jadon went through was horrible....

Great Financial Quotes to Live By....

In light of today's economy I thought a posting on the importance of savings might be of interest.

"Why bother to become a better saver? Because boosting your saving prowess can have a huge emotional payoff. Nine out of ten savers say they're 'happy' with their lives. Savers are more likely than spenders to be happy with their lifestyle, self-esteem, even their appearance. They're more likely to feel confident and content, less likely to feel stressed and restless. Spenders are just the opposite: They're more likely to be frustrated with their lot in life."
— Jean Chatzky

"Doing what is right for you — including making sure you'll have what you need in any sitution — may mean giving up what you want right now to pay for what you could need later on. I hope you decide to do this, for you'll be amazed at how much control over your life you will feel with your emergency fund standing behind you."
— Suze Orman

"The basic truth is that you must plan for the unexpected, because it will happen. Although we don't know what form it will take, it will come. To think otherwise is naive. So you have to plan for it. Saving into an emergency fund is an essential element for financial peace."
— Dave Ramsey

"There is no greater power known to man than compounding interest."
- Albert Einstein

"When you're starting out financially, you need to take four steps:
. Find a low-cost checking account.
. Eliminate debt.
. Build an emergency fund.
. Start saving for long-term goals."
- Laura Rowley

An interesting person to study is Warren Buffett. He was ranked by Forbes as the richest person in the world during the first half of 2008, with an estimated net worth of $62.0 billion. Buffett is noted for his adherence to the value investing philosophy and for his personal frugality despite his immense wealth. In 1979 despite having a net worth of $620 million, placing him on the Forbes 400 for the first time, he lived solely on his salary of $50,000 per year. He currently lives in the same house in the central Dundee neighborhood of Omaha that he bought in 1958 for $31,500, today valued at around $700,000. Jerry loves to study him and Jerry's favorite quote from him is "I will tell you how to become rich. Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful." Great advice perhaps, but easier said than done as we contemplate when to start aggressively investing in the stock market again....

Happy savings...