2012

Happy New Year from the Krug Family in Austin, Texas. We realize that it has been a long time since there has been a new blog. It turns out, that having triplets that are mobile is very time consuming. Carrie and I are never bored. There is always something to do or someone that needs something. We almost never sit around and think, "Wow, I really wish someone would start yelling." The house has been divided into zones. The kitchen and living room are pretty much triplet proof. Conventional devices to keep cabinets shut were deemed ineffective, and quickly replaced by bungee cords. A gate was installed. The television had to be remounted. A loose triplet will have the dog water tipped over in less than 15 seconds, so pet water and pet food had to be repositioned causing great confusion for the pets. The office is an all out war zone. Books are removed from shelves and left in piles. Anything that you don't want destroyed better be pushed to the center of a desk or table. A drink left on a coffee table for more than 3 seconds will be poured down the front of a child. If you are going to hang out over here, you better bring your A game. These boys will spot any opening and all three will rush towards it with an intensity that is astounding. Even the dog is surprised. The shell shocked look that Tess has on her face sometimes tells the whole story. She looks at me as if to say, "You would never let me get away with this. Do we have to keep them?" She is so patient with them. They can pull on her ears, her tail, pet her the wrong way, and she just lays there.

I have learned several things from being a triplet Dad. These things can apply to all fathers. The first rule is, you will never be as good at the whole thing as Mom is. Moms know things before they even happen. It's some sort of Sixth Mom Sense. I swear that Carrie will say, "What was that?", and THEN one of the boys will yell. She is like Radar O'Reilly on MASH. If one of the boys falls down particularly hard, she has already picked him up, surveyed the damage, and is comforting him before I even realize he fell. They fall down all the time, and most of them time we let them get over it on their own. However, when something bad happens, Carrie moves like a ghost. I can be the one closest to the boy, but she seems to fly through the air driven by some sort of Mom Jet Pack.

The next thing I have learned is that a Mom needs her rest. This morning for instance, I got up early and I heard that one of the boys was up. How? Well, they like to stand up in their cribs and smack the wall as hard as they can. I thought I would get them up and dressed, feed them breakfast, and let Carrie sleep a bit. This turned into an Epic Fail. The boys yelled and screamed and carried on, and Mom woke up. Hey, I tried. I have learned to be aware that Mom needs rest and I try and allow this to happen.

Another neat trick I have learned that as a Dad, you often stand there wondering what you can do to help. You can never go wrong with having a dishrag in your hand wiping something down. Check the high chairs. I bet they need cleaning. Check the counter tops. They can always use a good wipe down. The refrigerator is covered with little hand prints. Wipe them off. This was a learned behavior on my part. Before, there could have been an inch of mud pretty much everywhere, and I wouldn't have noticed, but now, I do my best to help out. One thing I never think about is emptying the dishwasher. I mean it NEVER occurs to me. I realize dishes get used, and then they go somewhere, but how they get back into the cabinet has been a complete mystery to me for some time. Turns out, Carrie was unloading the dishwasher and I was not noticing. This is a VERY important rule for you Dads out there. A clean kitchen calms the mind of a Mom. I have also learned that it calms my mind as well. I like waking up in the morning to a clean kitchen. It's a nice way to start the day. Who knew?

Another fact that I have learned is that dressing an 18 month old child is pretty much like trying to put clothes on an octopus. They seem to have more than two arms and two legs during this process. They flip over. They grab anything within reach and throw it. They twist and turn, and this can make it very frustrating. A trick that can work is to hand them something to distract them while you're putting their clothes on. Hand them their shirt, and while they are messing with that, put their pants on them. The pants are by far the hardest thing for me. Once they are on, the shirt can be smooth sailing. However, let's say you screw up and do the shirt first. Those pants are going to be hard to get on. Legs will kick. Twists and turns will be made, and then when you have totally failed, you have to call Mom in to literally hold the boy down while you put his pants on.

These are just a few pointers.

On to Christmas. Christmas was fun. The boys knew something was up. They enjoyed tearing open the packages and playing with their toys. The old rule stood firm that the boxes were more fun. We have several pictures here.

Here you can see the start of the present opening party that took quite a while.

Here' s Cash with some paper.

Some things took longer to open. Dad needed to help.

Zane is rocking the key board

Cash is clapping for Elmo.

Zane likes his new pillow a lot

It didn't take them long to figure out that Christmas is pretty awesome.

Zane digs Elmo. A lot.

But in the end Cash fell asleep on one of his new toys.

The boys also like going to the park. They love to swing, but more than that, they like to dig in dirt or whatever else they can do to get dirty. Here are a few pictures from the park.

Here is Zane.

Here is Cash.

More of Zane.

This is Cade.

Finally another of Cash. He wouldn't' keep his tongue in his mouth for this one.

That's a lot of pictures for one blog. All in all things are really good here. We are having lots of fun with our boys. It's a lot of fun watching them learn and grow. It's going really really fast.