http://jjaezlenzendorf.blogspot.com/2008/07/17-months-oldcan-you-believe-it

Where has the time gone?!?!? Our three little miracles are 17 months old today. I have been thinking a lot about our journey...different things have randomly popped into my head...like the day I found the Triplet Connection Forum...the operating room and our reaction after we heard Alex cry...the first day I was by myself with them - all the doubts and worries...the two weeks I took off of work after the embryo transfer...the different milestones...and on and on! Some times it is like a film playing. It's hard to remember what life was like before the kids.
On Monday we tried out our new pool for the first time. The kids loved it. We were swimming for a little over an hour. The Lenzendorf pool opened at 1:30 on Tuesday and Grandma joined us for a swim. Auntie Jean and Alexis were to join us as well but showed up late. Even though the kids were napping Alexis got to enjoy the water with us adults. So today I was hoping to get the pool cleaned and filled back up but did not get to it as we spent the morning going to Costco with Auntie Jean. They enjoyed going but it tuckered them out especially since we missed our morning nap. The afternoon was pretty much normal. Below is a picture Jeremy took of me and the kids right before bedtime tonight.
Love, Jen
To Alexander, Elizabeth and Zachary - there will be a day that you will read this and I wanted to take this opportunity to tell you how lucky I am to be your mommy! I would not trade this for the world! The three of you simply amaze me! You have taught me so much! We love you more than words can describe!

http://jjaezlenzendorf.blogspot.com/2008/07/leg-holding-stage.html

The kids are in that toddler stage of holding onto legs. There have been many falls as the kids grab for our legs as we are walking or may not notice that they are reaching for them. I just had to post this picture as it is so sweet. As you may know, Alex is very attached to his daddy. He gets extremely happy when daddy comes home from work. Today Jeremy arrived home from work while the kids were napping. When Alex woke up and saw daddy for the first time he went straight for his leg.
Love, Jen

http://jjaezlenzendorf.blogspot.com/2008/07/wonderful-week.html

I seem to have a lot of pictures taken within the last week so I thought I would share them. As I was downloading them last night, I realized I downloaded them from most recent to least recent. And quite honestly I did not want to take the time to fix it.
These first pictures are of the kids enjoy outside yesterday with Grandma as Grandpa was raking the hay field. They went out to wave to him. Grandma was nice enough to watch them as I got dinner ready. They gave Grandma a run for her money (it was a little comical to watch from the house). Zach and Liz kept running in two different direction, non-stop. Luckily Alex did not moved a lot due to him not being the biggest fan of bare feet in the grass. The first picture is Grandma going to get Zach. The 2nd is Alex enjoying the outdoors and the great breeze. The 3rd is Ms. Liz playing with one of their lawn mowers. Thanks to Grandma for letting me get dinner started with out all the interruptions. I am sure she slept well last night. Gotta love toddlers!



Yesterday we also pulled another toy out of the closet that our mailman had given to us. It is a stroller with a baby. The kids loved it. We also brought back two trucks that we had been taking outside. The pictures below are of Liz first taking the baby for a ride. The 2nd picture is what Liz really wanted to take for a ride....much better than the baby!

Saturday is when Grandpa cut the hay field that is next and behind our house. Jean and Alexis had stopped by to see us for a little while before the kids took their afternoon nap. So all four grandkids got to wave at Grandpa. Then after the kids woke from their nap and just as Grandpa was getting ready to leave, the kids and Roxy kept a close on eye on Grandpa as he drove away. Too cute!!!
Saturday I decided it was time to try utensils again. The kids were showing signs that they could be ready for them with out too big of a mess. So I prepared the messiest meal I could...yup Chef Boyardee's Ravioli! The kids did amazingly well with their new tools to eat!


On Friday night Grandma stopped by with a prescription for me that she had picked up for me. Liz was showing off her new look....her fur (the blanket)....her bracelets (the rings)...and her purse. Isn't she stunning???

http://jjaezlenzendorf.blogspot.com/2008/07/celebrating-8-great-years-of-ma

Today Jeremy and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary. Gosh the things we have been thru in 8 years. In the ten years that we have been together we have live in 5 different places in two different cities. We have had a roller coaster ride to have the 3 most amazing people in the world. We have grown closer and closer. I was lucky enough to marry my best friend. He is my soul mate. He is an amazing father. I could not imagine life without him. So for all of you who don't believe in whirlwind relationships or love at first sight, we are proof it works. We had our first date April 19th 1998 and engaged on July 3rd, 1998. We did wait a bit to get married, so the engagement part was more "normal". Anyways, just wanted to share with everyone how lucky I am. Below is a picture of the 4 loves of my life. Love, Jen

http://jjaezlenzendorf.blogspot.com/2008/07/diva-verses-princess.html

What is a Princess? A princess always looks her best-dressed nicely in girlie clothes, clean face and hair. She always wears the most "in style" stuff. She would never be caught with a blemish on her face. She always acts like a lady.
What is a Diva? A diva may look out of sorts but still thinks she looks great. She wears what she feels is "in style" and does not care what others think about it. If she has a blemish on her face, she makes it to be no big deal. She may not be the most lady like.
So you may ask what does this have to do with the kids. Well it has to do with Liz. She is a diva for sure!!! Today she has put on quite the show. First, she has a shiner from hitting her cheek bone on Zach's head. Second, she had a leaky diaper and was stripped down to her diaper. Finally, she has quite the girlie expression on her face. All these things and she she strutts around like she is all that...she is too funny.
I hope you enjoy these pictures of our little diva, Liz.
Love, Jen
Fabulous hat...yup that is the shape sorter box...
I am too sexy for my diaper...
Yea, I you should see how the other kid looks...

http://jjaezlenzendorf.blogspot.com/2008/07/happy-4th-of-july.html

Our holiday weekend started out by taking the kids to the West Bend parade on Friday. What a waste of our time. It is NOT the parade I remember. My sister went to the Campbellsport and said it was excellent, so now we know where we will be going next year. The rest of the day was working...I cleaned the house top to bottom while Grandma watched the kids and Jeremy continued to work on the pond. We had our friends Dan, Tandi and Isabelle over for supper that night. No fireworks this year as it is past the kids bedtime not to mention the mosquito factor, so we chose to wait until next year. Not the most exciting 4th for us, but the house is completely clean (done in one day...that has not happened in a LONG time).
Saturday Jeremy was going to help my dad with baling hay, so I decided to take the kids over to their place right away in the morning and spend the whole day. So after breakfast I packed all of the stuff we needed up in the truck and headed over. The kids spent some time playing inside with Grandma's toys and then went down for their morning nap. After we ate lunch it was time to get wet!!! Grandma has Tuggy the Tugboat, which can be filled with sand or water. The kids had a good time. They dried off by playing int he front yard with Grandma's outdoor toys. After their afternoon nap (which was very late due to playing) we ate supper. It was a full table with Grandma and Grandpa, Great Uncle John, Uncle Willie and Auntie Jean and Alexis and us 5. Yes, four highchairs at one table! We headed home just in time for the kids to go to bed...they were exhausted!
Sunday was very similar to Saturday...another day of baling hay, so Jeremy went to help after breakfast. The kids took a nice long nap, so I got a few things while they slept. Once the woke, I got them ready to go grocery shopping with me and Grandma. By the time I got to Grandma's I decided to just have her watch them while I ran. Even though it is not fun time, it is a little alone time for me. I picked up a pool for them and the groceries, of course. After putting the groceries away, Roxy and I headed back out to the farm (Grandma's). The kids were playing outside when I got there. We proceeded to get wet again. This time it was with a small kiddy playarea (it is a very shallow pool with water that sprinkles around the edges. The kids had a blast again (as did Grandma)! After we got dried off and dressed, we headed home for a late afternoon nap. By the time I got them in the house, it was 4:45 (they normally nap at 3).
So that was our "water weekend". The kids are getting better with the water and now with a pool we will try to get out often. I have included pictures from Saturday. Enjoy!
Love, Jen

http://jjaezlenzendorf.blogspot.com/2008/07/snack-table-closet-hangers-and-

Weird title, eh? Well this post is a mixture of the many things that have gone on in our house in the last 48 hours.
On Tuesday while the kids and I were at the beach Roxy was at the doctor. No there is nothing wrong (thank goodness) she just needed to have her teeth cleaned. When I picked her up from the doctor she was very happy to see me. I knew she would be tired. Rewind for a moment...the kids got some money from Great Aunt Elaine for Christmas that we used towards some cute papasan chairs...unfortunately the kids were just too small for them to use. Fast forward to a few days ago...the kids have been very interested in climbing the dining room chairs...so out came the papasan chairs...they were a hit. Ok back to Roxy and being tired...so I had the chairs setup and Roxy jumped up into one and got comfy to rest a little. Do you think she likes her new home?!?!?

Yesterday Liz and Roxy had some funny moments together. First was in the morning, I had Liz's papasan chair folded down and Roxy thought it made a good bed. Liz thought it was funny that the dog was in her chair...
Then last night after dinner both Liz and Roxy needed to rest. This time Roxy shared her bed with Liz. Roxy does love the kids!!!

Yesterday was a long day on mommy, in fact one out of three was actually behaving. Mr. Alexander was a good little boy yesterday and was full of smiles for mommy to help make me feel better. How can you not love this little boy???

http://jjaezlenzendorf.blogspot.com/2008/07/day-at-beach.html

Last year around the 4th of July my sister and I took the kids (Alex, Liz, Zach and Alexis) to the beach for the very first time. The kids were too small to really enjoy any part of it, but at least we tried. As a refresher here is a picture of the kids last year on the 4th.
We decided to try again this year. My sister did not have to work today and it was suppose to be great weather. So the plan was made...meet at Jean's and go to the park/pool behind her house. So I packed a picnic lunch for the kids and got them alraedy to go while they napped this morning. My mom came right before I woke the kids. We loaded up everything and were headed to Jean's. We played for a bit in the house and then changed the kids into their suits. Here is Alexis in her beautiful swimming suit.
Here are my kids playing with the kitchen that they have too.
Liz, are you ready to go swimming???
We had quite the crew....My mom came to help me with the kids as well as enjoy her grandkids, then there was Jean and Alexis and also Tammy, Jean's friend, and her two boys, Cole & Mason. Everyone enjoyed the afternoon.
Zach throwing sand...
Alex playing in sand...

http://jjaezlenzendorf.blogspot.com/2008/06/our-good-ole-dog-baylee.html

It has been ~10 years since I convinced Jeremy that we just had to go get this dog. We drove a couple hours from Macomb, IL (where we lived at the time) to the Quad Cities one night in February 1999. There was snow on the ground. I remember telling the owners we would give him the best life we could and we did.
Unfortunately our beloved dog, Baylee was put to sleep this morning. He has been ill for awhile - having seizures as well as old age. His doctor did all he could to help him but just ran out of options.
I am not even sure where to start to describe Baylee. He was our very first dog. He was devoted to us from the time we picked him up. He was a young one when we got him, only 4 years old. We changed his life, he was use to a fenced in yard and people around 24/7. We both were gone during the day and we had no fence. We had to travel, so car rides were a must. But he did wonderful with adapting to our life, no matter how it changed through the years. Baylee was our kid, he just had fur and 4 legs. He gave us his all.
There are so many things to remember about him...10 years is a long time. I remember while we lived in Macomb we had a waterbed. Baylee's bed was on the floor next to my side. Every morning we would find him in bed with us and not know how he got up and on the waterbed without waking either of us. While our first house was being built he lived with us at my parent's house. He put two German Shepherd in there place...you would think he owned the place. Our first house has a ton of memories from it...like the day it was snowing and there was already plenty of snow onthe ground. He jumped off the deck into the snow and bounced around. Due to his long hair he had snowballs stuck in his ears, behind his legs, on his tail and on his undercarriage. Or playing catch with him. We had a tri-level so you would throw his toy upstairs and he'd bring it back and then you would throw it downstairs and we would do this until he went under the dining room table because he was tired. He would wrestle with his toys and growl when you played tug of war with him. He LOVED going out to the farm (my parent's house)...he would find all the old bones that the boys had finished chewing on and drag them out like they were treasures. If the boys would go chasing something, so would Baylee...he may have been much smaller than the 100+ pound shepherd but he did his darndest to keep up. He loved having the backyard at our current house. He was such a good listener, he would not run off and he was not afraid to tell other to stay away (although some times he would tuck his tail and run after barking).
I remember the day that Jeremy came home from being gone in September 2004 and him jumping up to the couch to see him and him slipping the disk in his back and being paralyzed. We could not afford the surgery that could possibly not work, so we tried acupuncture and by January 2005 he was back to normal.
He was there through every failed attempt to get pregnant. He laid with me while we waited the two long weeks before finding out the last attempt worked. He was my protector. It broke my heart to be put on bedrest and not see him. After getting home without the kids he was what kept me together. And then when the kids did come home...you would have thought that he gave birth to them. He was awesome with them, even when he was not feeling the best. He was a great dog and they loved him just as much.
He watched his two little girls, Doris and Sam get sick and passaway, but still had enough love in his heart to accept Roxy. In his last few days he had a little spunk to him, so he was enjoying life. Well now he will enjoy life at the Rainbow bridge with his sisters- pain free- and wait for us to meet him there.
So here's to Baylee, you are very loved and will be missed dearly. So when you see your pet today give them an extra treat and hug, for they are not around forever even though we want them to be.
Love, Jen

http://jjaezlenzendorf.blogspot.com/2008/06/vacation-day-3trip-home.html

This morning we woke and began the process of packing up at 7:30. Thankfully we had a better night. The kids were exhausted! Zach woke about 3am to join us in bed but went back to sleep immediately. Surprisingly we were all packed up and driving out of the hotel parking lot by 10. Two and half hours....not bad! As you can see we had a LOT of things for this trip...

With the kids all strapped in and the truck filled with gas, we left town. The kids napped for a bit and then began entertaining themselves.
First Zach thought his feet were the best toy...
and towards the end of the trip Liz thought Zach's feet were a good toy. Goofy kids!!!
We made it home in 3 hours. We did not stop for lunch and took a much better route with little detours. We are glad to be home and the dogs and cats are happy as well.
It was a sucessful vacation. We tried a lot of things we have not done yet. The kids got to experience sleeping in a hotel amongst many other things. Looking forward to the next one.
Love, Jen