The Breathing Machine's side job

My husband has sleep apnea. He is supposed to wear this contraption at night that makes him look more like a pilot from Top Gun. I say Ice Man from Top Gun, but the kids says Elephant and make long swaying motions with their arms to mimic a trunk. Take your pick, I prefer Ice Man. Anyway, over the past few days one of our kids (cough, cough, Aiden, cough, cough) thought it would make the perfect place to store all his crayons.

As Anthony brought the machine to me, I couldn't help but laugh. That is until I got a whiff of how bad it smelled. Water, melted crayons and I guess mold and a bit of crackers also stuffed in there??? Whatever it was it was awful and is pretty much impossible to clean. I am afraid to find out how much it will be to replace this part.

Bedtime routine

In these long days of Summer, I find that the bedtime routine keeps getting later and later. Aiden and Mia start the bath time routine out first. Aiden and Seth usually go potty before bath time. Mia flat out refuses to go potty, but I do have her at least sitting on the potty for my amusement. Seth gets some alone time in the bath after the other two get out. I am a little scared of his ways in the water, he seems to not fear the water like he should. I also use this time to work on his fine motor skills. Of course, they all usually get a song of Slippery Fish or Itsy Bitsy Spider in. After bath, they usually get handed over to dad for drying and to have PJ's put on. Which for the boys is usually Thomas themed and for Mia anything Princess will do. Every night I hope for an easy bedtime, but of course, there are those nights where they stay up till midnight, or there are the times when Seth screams for an hour. These are hard because I have no way of really knowing why he is upset. There are definetly better nights of sleep now, than when they were younger. Now I find that I am so used to not sleeping that even when they sleep...I can't.

Summertime Blur

This summer has been a blur. Fast, long and hot days. My little guys are changing so much daily. My favorite time is when we can just relax for a little bit in the backyard while the little ones play. Jacob has graduated, got his first car and has a great job lined up at a local dairy plant. Skyler is in a summer basketball league and made the volleyball team for her new high school. I tried out a part time job, but found it was too much for Seth and I. We started seeing new behaviors in Seth and are now working twice as hard to get him back where he was. He is having a very hard time at his group meeting once a week. He will have his official diagnoses during August, but it is all too evident that Seth struggles somewhere on the spectrum of autism. I have spent most this summer coming to grips with the realization that I have a special needs child. How will I manage triplets, autism, my sanity, and my marriage? Well, so far...family, faith, tears and a lot a laughter! Oh and the one thing that I must remember to have...perseverance and hope. Focusing on all the love and blessings I do have, rather than dwelling in the thought of how it could be if only.

Bath time fun

Bubbles make bath time fun. I wish I could join in with them but I would need a much, much bigger tub.

Best of cousins

I hope these girls can be there for each other as life's challenges lay ahead. I have been blessed with some great cousins, and I really hope these two will remain friends for life.

Just another Monday morning....

A week from today my triplets will be 2 and a half.

Seth did great in his ABA therapy today. He went pee pee in the potty and did his work session without too much of a fight. It seems he will do anything if he knows Gabba Gabba is next. I am becoming more and more aware that he understands much, much more than I realize. It is easy to think they don't get what is going on, when they can't talk or sign. Then I will see little things happen that tell me he understands more than I give him credit for. For example, I had just finished a load of laundry that had his favorite blanket in it. I didn't announce that it was done. I just took his blanket to my bed and put the rest of the laundry away in the kids room. Seth came in the room, made his motor boat sound, looked at the laundry and then ran to my room. I peeked out of the room to see what he was doing and there went Seth running down the hall with his blanket. Now the key is getting him to be able to communicate appropriately. Seth loves Gabba, dancing, the slide, outdoors, giving kisses, tickling and the color yellow. His curiosity in things is growing a lot lately. His eye contact is increasing, too. Sleeping is not the easiest thing with Seth.


Aiden is doing so good. He knows his shapes, colors, can count to 12 and identify the numbers, and can sing a mean "I am a Pizza." He loves to read. He is the most polite little boy ever. No Thanks, please and your welcome are used all day long. He is very compassionate and has to inspect everything in full detail. With this eye for detail, comes a lot of fearful anxieties he needs to work on. He gets afraid of loud noises or anything that seems a threat to him. He is very friendly with strangers, however. He is my shopping buddy. His love of Cars, seems to be getting trumped by his obsession with Thomas the Train. He has thanked me over a hundred times for his latest engine, Gordon. Aiden still gets up in the nite to be tucked back in and find his binkie. You can read Aiden's thoughts through his many expressions.





Mia. Emilia Ann Delgado....a force to be reckoned with. She is stubborn, strong willed, silly, crazy, loving, shy, awkward, and talkative. She loves dirt, bugs, lollipops, Fancy Nancy, trains, and Marvin. She loves her dog, but can be a little too rough with him. She has a death grip hug she does to him. Mia loves being on her daddy's lap. She loves picking flowers and weeds. She will eat anything and then eat anything you, sister, brother, grandma, grandpa and puppy are eating. She is growing so tall and is yet so thin. Her expressions are priceless. She needs to be moving and rocking. She seems to learn concepts but then doesn't answer what she knows. Everything is green! She sleeps the best. She does not like her hair messed with and is very selective about what she will wear. She loves shoes. I am so glad God gave me at least one little girl. Her hair is crazy, it has a mind of its own.

A good end to a long week

Time is going by so fast. I will look at my kids and think, "when did they get that tall?" I find myself not realizing that they can reach things on the counters now or open a door that I feel is safely closed. I also, find myself watching Jake or Skyler walk across the room and see two young adults. It is even harder to see them growing up. I still think of them as little grade school kids. So I took a picture of them all tonight. Time goes by and I never seem to get a picture of all of them together. I love all my children, step or not, with all my heart. I am glad they are always there for each other.

We have our first grandkid due in June. Jacque is expecting James by June 20th. She is excited and nervous, as any new mom is. She will be a great mom. It is funny to think that Jacque's kid and ours could be in high school together.

Seths Home therapy

Seth had a great day in therapy. He just came off a rough week of being sick, so it was really nice to have a good session. We recently added potty time to his session. We didn't get to go outside because of the rainy weather, but he did just as good. He really likes to go outside. Seth is working on using the PECS to ask for things and also to use them to understand his schedule. He picks the icons that mean different parts of his session. He is doing better at "touch car", shapes and puzzles. He is even trying to do hand movements to some songs. I think he even tried to say bye today to his teacher, which the fact that he even recognized her saying goodbye means alot!

This therapy has greatly improved Seth's eye contact and ability to interact with us, without meltdowns all the time. Of course, he still get those, from time to time.

Seth is also really babbling a lot of sounds, I think he will eventually talk but it may be another year or two.

The family dog

God send us the best family dog ever! Marvin fit right in. He does have separation anxiety, but besides that....he is amazing. He takes Mia and Aiden's beatings without a wince. He will go lay in bed with them, but still prefers to be next to me and Seth. Seth is aware of him and occasionally pets and kisses him. I am completely sold on the poodle breed if they are all like him. He goes with us everywhere, if he can. He loves the car. Of course, someday, I want my standard poodle but Marvin is perfect for our family now. Its crazy that we found him at the local SPCA.

Helping his sister out...