The Gear. On the go with triplets! Part I

A shot I couldn't resist, the triplets posed in their Tripledecker near a Murcielago Lamborghini.  The blue was exceptional!

This is Part I of how we get our triplets around when we want to be out and about. There aren't a lot of options for getting around with 3 kids the same age but we have been very pleased with the options we did choose. Our picks have made things easy, the last thing you need is to be wrestling with gear when you have 3 kids on your hands. 


The baby stroller -  I'll call the first form of transportation the baby stroller since this is how we got our triplets around during their first year.  We LOVED our tripledecker stroller, it was purchased through this company called DoubleDeckerStroller, pretty straight forward.  This company offers strollers for families with twins, triplets or twins plus a singleton.
It was important for me to feel like I could easily take the kids out on my own.  The tripledecker was so easy to set up, light weight and hardly took up any room in the car.  We have a Nissan Murano so it was important for us to be able to fit 3 car seats across and found that the basic Graco infant seat fit perfectly side by side.  This worked out nicely w/the tripledecker Graco model.  I can't tell you how nice it was to get the triplets in their snap & go car seats, carry them to the car, snap in, drive to destination, set up stroller, snap out of car, snap into stroller!   Why is that any different or easier?  because I only ever had to buckle the kids into one seat, no buckling them out of car seats, into stroller and back out again. 

We were gifted this stroller by family but worth the price, you really don't need more things to worry about and life with triplets means things need to be efficient.  Also, it had good resale value on Craig's list when we grew out grew it.

St. Patrick's Day craft fun

Shamrock Handprint

This was an easy craft to do with my 3 toddlers it just takes a little paint and some hand prints.  The result was to a fun way to remember St. Patrick's Day and also just how small my kids were at one time.  We made a 3 leaf clover perfect if you have 3 kids or in our case triplets :-)  We also made an extra keepsake shamrock print for the grandparents who were over the moon to receive a fun surprise in the mail.

Photo Leprechauns

No handmade St. Patrick's day card would be complete with out a little Leprechaun cheekiness.  We over ordered our Christmas cards so I saw the opportunity to create something silly with the extras.  Using some Microsoft Leprechaun clipart in a Word document sized to accommodate the faces from the leftover greeting cards I printed them out, cut out the faces and added in some of my own. 

Receiving Blanket Rag Quilt Pillow Cover

This sewing project was easy, a pillow form, receiving blankets, a tape measure, scissors and a sewing machine and voila!  a fun way to capture a piece of the past.  Pictures coming.....

1.  Choose any pillow form

2.  Measure the pillow and then divide into squares

3.  Cut squares adding 2" per inch of desired width (8" x 8" cut 10"x10")

4.  Start by placing two squares together w/print side facing OUT and sew seam of 1"

5.  Add on squares as needed to achieve desired lengh & width, seam should be on the patterned, outside of pillow

6.  Measure out two backs, measuring width by 2" and length add 3" or 4" on

7.  Overlap the two pieces so that they overlap making it easy to add/remove the pillow

8. With right sides now facing each other attach the front to the back

6.  Last but not least snip vertical cuts to give the raw edge a fringe

7.  Throw in wash to make it look ragged and not just like fringe

Receiving blankets seem to pop up on everyone's registries it is only certain that if you have had a baby a few have passed through your household.  In our case, with our triplets at 10 weeks premature, receiving blankets were one of the few personal items we could bring to them in the NICU.  Two of the triplets were in the hospital for 2 months and the third nearly 4 months.  In the NICU the nurses used the blankets in their little hospital beds, called isolates, as bedding to line the isolate as well to swaddle them. Since these blankets are tied into the first months of my children's lives whether adorning their isolate or when snuggling with them it seemed like they should continue on.  I knew I wanted to do something quilted since we had a fair amount to work with but wasn't sure what.  After the kids no longer needed them I remembered being intrigued by rag quilts.  A rag quilt seem easy enough and also since I was going to do it on a smaller scale by making pillow covers.  These pillows are in their beds and come out on the rare occasion that they get to watch a movie or when they just want to have something fluffy and soft to sit on. 

Valentine's Day Canvas

I wanted a fun art project for my toddlers and keepsake for Valentine's day.  Keeping it simple and cheap I figured why not just help them make an actual piece of canvas art.  I had brushes and craft paint on hand already and headed to the dollar store to pick up some 8x10 blank canvases & contact paper (the kind you line drawers).

Keep it fun, keep it simple!

1.  Measure out the contact paper and cut out desired design and stick it to the canvas - 

2. Give the kids some brushes & paint and let them create -

3. After giving the canvases plenty of time to dry it's time to remove the 'sticker' design from the canvas -

4. Voila!  Fun, pretty art for Valentine's Day!