Scrapbooking

I finally got a night out scrapbooking last night! The new pastor put together a craft night at church and I got to go. It was awesome. I didn't get a whole lot done, I was rather in awe of having a Friday night alone, but I did get some things done. Steve looked a little frazzled when I left him. The babies were needing to eat supper and they were all really torked. He was trying to make at least one happy by continuing to just feed him, when he looked at me and asked when the other two got a turn. I told him he needed to haul ass and whip as fast as possible from one to the next to the next. Then he looked at the amount of food I had prepared and couldn't quite believe they would eat all of it. He seriously underestimates the power of three. They didn't even have that much, in my humble opinion. They had two jars (yes, jars...I can't do meat) of chicken and vegetables and a bowl of pears. That's not a lot for them. I also told him that if he put stars or sippy cups on their trays, they get enthralled with that and after the initial starvation wears off (ie, a few bites), they are less fussy and mess with those. It doesn't hurt that they LOVE stars and haven't figured the sippy cup out yet! He ended up doing just fine, got them fed supper and bottles, into pajamas and in bed by 7:oo. Yay!!

I got home around 11:30 and much to my surprise, Steve waited up for me! It was very nice to come home to a bright house (I usually come home to pitch black when I've been out scrapping that late) and be able to talk. We didn't get to bed until 1:00. Amazing, for a man who loves to be in bed by 9 every night if possible (hasn't been since before we had the triplets), and was planning to "catch up" on sleep that night by going to bed as soon as Austin and Aidan were in bed.

Babies, Babies Everywhere!!!

All three are on the move! They are everywhere! I cannot believe how quickly they can realize that they are mobile and just up and take off. Ethan is the worst because he has completely mastered crawling. Nathanial does a couple of "real" crawl steps, then whips himself forward to grab whatever it is that he isn't supposed to have. Noah still does a crawl, army crawl, scoot combo. But do they ever move quick! And the stuff they find!! I am vacuuming three times a day and they still find stuff to eat! They get soooo mad when you move them, also. We lovely refer to Nathanial as "Larry" (as in Larry the Cable Guy) because he is so attracted to our cable cord. I have been a little slow on the baby proofing thing and he is so enamored with that thing, I am constantly pulling him away. To be honest, Aidan was so easy that we didn't have to do a lot of baby proofing. A few plugs in outlets and we were good to go. Not so much with these guys. I have been searching for cord covers (which I found online), more outlet covers (what happens to all those things???), baby gates (don't really care for them to discover the house has more than one room that they can adventure to yet), and all sorts of fun stuff. Man alive, I never knew they would get into so much!!

Another tooth!

Nathanial cut his third tooth today! He teeths so easy compared to the other two that I didn't even know it was coming. He had a lot of drooling and chewing on everything in sight, but he never gets cranky or anything else. He now has one "fang" on his upper right side. That was how Aidan got his first two teeth, both fangs. Lovely. Hopefully there will be more to follow shortly!

MOPS

Today we had MOPS again and I decided to try Nathanial, Ethan, and Noah in the nursery. I was really nervous about it, but decided that I really needed a break and if it ended up being only five minutes, then at least I tried. I did feel bad dropping three 7 1/2 month olds on the ladies, though, and one did appear a little nervous about it. I brought in Ethan first and set him down, and he started wailing instantly. When I brought in Nathanial and Noah, though, he seemed a little happier. Then another baby got upset, which in turn made Nathanial upset, which in turn made Ethan and Noah upset. Ugh! But I got them all in their little circle, then gave them toys and a kiss and explained everything to the ladies. Around 10 (an hour later!!!), they came in and I was worried. It turns out that Noah was just refusing to eat, like always. I told them not to worry about it. They ended up lasting until about 10:25 when the boys had had it and the ladies came and got me. I got an hour and a half free!!! I ate breakfast...without anyone hanging on me!!! It was so wonderful. I felt bad about leaving them and I felt bad about putting all three of them on the nursery ladies (who were awesome), but it really seemed to work out OK. They said they were fine, so I am going to try it again next time...and hopefully, if they're not OK with it, they'll let me know because I'm OK taking them into the meeting with me. It's just nice to get a little break once in a while!

Noah's ER Visit

Poor Austin got the shaft on his actual birthday. Noah decided that he would choose this afternoon to do something to his eye. Everything was fine and dandy when we went to get Aidan from school and rush to get pictures taken after picking up Aidan before picking up Austin. So I get the babies out and start loading them in their stroller, when I notice that Noah isn't opening his one eye. And when I pried it open, it was bright red. Fantastic. I figured he just poked himself in the eye and everything would be fine (he does that a lot). When we got home from picking up Austin, he was still weird with his eye. So I decided to check it and really look at it around 4:45, so I would have time to call the doctor if need be. Well, when I looked at it closely, I could have sworn I saw a huge scratch on his eye. So I quickly called the doctor, only to discover they close at 4:30, not 5:00 like I thought. Ugh! So now the decision had to be made whether to take him to the ER or not. I called Steve and he thought that we probably should, just in case it was really bad and he needed something done now. I get him to the ER and they look at me like I'm insane (never mind that I rarely take my kids in if I don't have to). The nurse asked who our family doctor was, then informed me he was on call. I said "Good!" a little too enthusiastically apparently because she got VERY upset with me. You have to understand, we have three doctors in town. One we used to go to and she isn't all that bright and usually I became her therapist when we went. The other is an imbecile and doesn't barely understand English and is 100 years old and should retire. Then their is our doctor, who is VERY good and we are really lucky to have a doctor like him in a town our size. So, of course, I was very glad that he was on call. She looked at me and said "If it is really an emergency, you wouldn't care who was on call." To which I replied, "which is exactly why we are here...I had no idea who was on call and I am just concerned about my baby." The other nurse, who is a sweetheart, said to me "It's just a bonus when your own doctor is on call." Precisely....and the others are idiots. Well, he came in and didn't see anything in Noah's eye and said it was pink eye. Didn't I feel like a jackass for taking him into the ER for pink eye! None of my kids have ever had it so I really didn't think that was the problem.

We got home and had Austin's choice of dinner (chicken Parmesan), so at least it wasn't a total loss. We didn't even get to eat until 8 pm, but at least the babies were down, so we didn't have to worry about that. I feel bad that he got put on the back burner on his birthday of all days.

Happy Birthday Austin....we love you!!!

Standing...already?!?!

Today I tried to get a decent picture of each of the babies in the steel tub, which I have done with each of the other boys. Ha! Nice try! It started out OK, but they really didn't want to cooperate.

Noah was the first one up. I put him in and started snapping away, when all of the sudden....HE STOOD UP!!! By HIMSELF!!! Scary! I knew he has been able to stand if you put him in that position, but he has never pulled himself up on anything. Fantastic!

Why, oh why, do they have to grow up so fast???

Birthday Party

Today we had Austin's family birthday party. It went well, but once again, I was unprepared. Shawna was here for the weekend and she got put to work big time and I felt bad for not thinking things through better. Thank you sooo much for all of your help Shawna...you're awesome!!! We ran around like chickens with our heads cut off all morning to get everything organized, but it worked out in the end!

Ever since doing so well on his photography at fair, Austin has wanted a digital camera of his own. He has been saving for a laptop for over a year (and will be for a long time) but he said that his money from this party would go to a digital camera. Steve thought it would be really nice if we told his family what he wanted so we could have it there for him and he wouldn't have to wait to order it or anything. (It didn't hurt that Dell had them on sale last week!)

So he opened his presents from my mom and then he got a bunch of empty cards. He handled it really well...I was surprised. You could see the disappointment on his face, but he wasn't letting on too bad. Then we handed him the card and case for the camera. He got a little more excited. Then, finally, he got the digital camera. He was so excited and he loved it. I am just glad that he likes it so much. He took a bunch of really great pictures already, but he deleted a bunch of them before I got a chance to download them. I was disappointed because I thought they were great...he didn't though. I have downloaded the two that he kept on my dropshots page. He takes awesome photos.

I'm glad the day is over with...it was a long weekend. I am still amazed that my "baby" is going to be 12 on Wednesday!!

Cattle Congress Paint Bags Working Exhibit

Austin had his Cattle Congress working exhibit today with his Paint Bags. We were so unprepared I felt awful. My days just fly by and I didn't realize what time it was, so we got a bit of a late start.

We got all the way to Cattle Congress before I realized that we needed more quart bags. So, I dropped Austin off with my mom. He had 17 baggies with him to get him started and he needed to be there in 10 minutes to set up, so I was hoping that was enough to get him started. Then I flew to the nearest store that I thought would have ziploc bags and found a Dollar General. My sister realized half way to DG that I might have tossed a majority of paint into the van before leaving, which meant it was at home. So, thankfully, there was a Hobby Lobby right there and I whipped in there quickly and picked up $40 worth of Tempura paint. Got back to CC and thankfully, he had enough supplies to get himself started, but we quickly realized we forgot the baby wipes, which are crucial because people need to clean off their hands after they make one (they are working with paint). Thankfully, Shawna was willing to run out to the truck and grab a bag of wipes I had in there for the babies (who wonderfully stayed home with Daddy!). So all was not a total loss, but I still felt like we just threw this one together and he would end up with a "participation" ribbon because of my lack of preparation. The worst part was I totally forgot my camera...and I take that everywhere. I was very disappointed in myself for that one.

We went quickly through Wendy's and inhaled lunch and got back to CC for the awards, only to find that they were running behind. So Austin and I enjoyed a tuba solo, soprano solo, performance by three young ladies, and another solo before they got to the awards. Aidan went with Shawna and her kids and my mom to the petting zoo for all of this.

Finally they had the awards and Austin received an award of Excellence!!! I am so proud of him. The only "good" mark (rather than excellent) on his evaluation form was "needed help with clean up." That was my fault, I thought he had to get torn down quickly, so I helped him clean up. Next time, I know to stay back again. I was so happy our lack of prep didn't show up there!

The best part of the day was when Austin and I were walking over to the petting zoo to get everyone to head back home. Austin reached for my hand and held my hand all the way across the grounds. He let go a couple of times for some reason and picked it back up. I realize this seems odd to most everyone, but this was awesome for him. Due to his Asperger's, he hates to be touched and he has to initiate all contact. This means I rarely get hugs, never get kisses, and he doesn't show much affection at all. But I am resigned to this because I know that it physically hurts him and he just doesn't understand what it means to me. So for him to do this was incredibly special. When he does give me hugs or says "I love you" back to me (which is even more rare), those moments are much more special because of what they mean. I guess in the long run, I would much rather have him only say or do these things rarely and have them mean something very special than have him say them all the time and lose meaning because of it. It was also very nice to get time alone with him, because that so rarely happens anymore.

Introducing...Bob???

Noah says "dada, daddy, dad, dadadada" constantly. So I have been working with him on "mom." When he says anything with "dad" in it, I say "I'm Mommmm, Mmmmommmy, Mmmmommma," you get the idea. Since this happens on a pretty constant basis, we do this little exchange a LOT lately. Today he looked right at me and say, clear as day "Bob." Well, apparently, I am "Bob" because now he says quite often to me "bob." I guess that's better than dad.

[Yes, I am aware they are just babbling and none of it means anything yet anyway, but it doesn't hurt try!]

Signed,
Bob (aka Mom, aka Trista)

Reflecting

"To whom much is given, from him much will be required." -Luke 12:48 NKJV

Last night, Ethan woke up around 10:30, which seems to be his new "normal." As I was rocking him, I looked at him and thought of how far we have come. I am in awe of all that has happened in such a relatively short period of time. We are so very blessed and I am forever grateful for all that has been given to us.


I was thinking back to just finding out we were pregnant and how excited I was! I couldn't believe it finally happened. And then to see three tiny heartbeats on that screen...wow! I will never forget praying in the restroom right before my ultrasound that there be a heartbeat and the "baby" be OK, and oh, yeah, God, as a sideline, please let there be at least two babies and preferably three. I was utterly flabbergasted when I found out there were three babies. Steve has since told me to be a little less specific next time...I'm thinking maybe more specific would be helpful (please let there be another baby, and oh, yeah, only one next time Lord!!). Being told to abort "at least one, and preferably two" makes me think who wouldn't be here? If I had put all my trust in a human, instead of the Almighty, who would I have killed?

Remembering the entire pregnancy and worrying throughout all that maybe something would happen and they wouldn't all be OK. Wondering how early they'd be, how long they'd be in NICU, would they all come home?
Then thinking back to the birth and all that happened before and during. Hearing their first cries...how thankful I was and how amazed that they were all fine! Bringing them all home, with us, on that cold, cold day in February and being in awe of them when they got home. Watching Austin and Aidan interact and bond with them in the hospital and again, at home.
Those first couple of months went by in a blur. The nighttime feedings and how miserable Noah was. I prayed that something would be figured out and it was.


Now, at only seven months old, it seems like so much has happened in the last year since finding out. Staring down at Ethan, when I laid him down in that big ol' crib by himself, was just amazing. He is still so tiny, and yet, so healthy. They are all so happy and peaceful. They have come such a long way and we were spared all the heartache that could have been, and much of which is a reality for parents of multiples.

I have been told more times than I can count that God doesn't give us more than we can handle and God must have known what he was doing when he gave us triplets. I don't believe at all that God doesn't give us more than we can handle. Of course He gives us more, otherwise why would we ever lean on His strength and not our own understanding? But has he chosen us as parents of triplets? I believe so. And I take great comfort in knowing that God believes we can handle all of our children and has blessed us with each and every one of them and I lean on that daily.


We have come such a long way and we have all blended into this wonderful family. Yes, things are difficult some days. No, we are not perfect parents by any means and we make mistakes. Our lives are hectic and busy and full of activity, but would we ever change any of it? No way!


We are so very blessed and so very thankful. And I am reminded once again of "...to whom much is given, from him much will be required."

Up All Night

Ethan seems to have discovered after the weekend that if he gets up in the middle of the night, it's party time alone with Mommy and Daddy. We stayed at my sister's on Sunday night and Ethan and Nathanial had a hard time getting to sleep. More because they didn't feel good than anything else, I think. Ethan was starting to settle down, but decided it was much more fun to just stay awake, so he took forever to get down. Every single night since then, he has decided that he needs to wake up any time between 10 - 12 and he tries to stay up! Monday night, Nathanial had a very rough night because he couldn't breath through his nose and the only way he could figure out how to breath through his mouth was to cry. So he ended up sleeping with me all night, while Steve slept on the couch. He would exhaust himself from crying, sleep for an hour, then be back up. It was a very long night, especially since I was also sick. Steve was up with Ethan from 12 -2, but not because he wasn't feeling well, just because he wanted to party. He finally just put him down in his crib and Ethan went to sleep. Imagine that! Tuesday night, he got up around 9:00, so I stupidly took him downstairs since it was still "early." Big mistake, he was back up at 12:30, so Steve got up with him, he was up 30 minutes, then he put him down and out he went. Last night, he woke up at 10:30 and I took him into our room for a little while (Fred Thompson was on Leno, I didn't want to miss it!) then took him back to his room. He got upset very quickly when I laid him down, so I went back in after about 30 seconds and rocked him for a little bit. He tried smiling at me, talking to me, touching my face, anything to get my attention. It was very difficult to not interact with him, but I knew I couldn't. We rocked for about five minutes, then I laid him down and he went back to sleep. Now I know, we shouldn't even give in to these little midnight visits, but it is very difficult not to and I cannot listen to my kids cry...it breaks my heart. So I guess if he wants to be up for a few minutes, I'll keep letting him. At least now I know to limit our visit to the rocking chair and try to ignore him!

Growing up way too fast!

This week has been FULL of new discoveries for Nathanial, Ethan, and Noah. They have decided that they would perfect the crawl-rock and even rock hard enough to scoot forward some. But even better than that, they discovered that if you rock in such a manor and swing your body upwards, you can sit up all by yourself with no help from anyone. Imagine my surprise when I left the room to three babies on their tummies and walked back in to two of them sitting up!! I thought Austin was playing a joke on me, until they fell over and got themselves BACK UP!!!! Their babyhood is going by way too fast for me!

Sick, Sick, Sick

We are all sick with something nasty this week. It started with Aidan last week with a mild cold. Then we headed to my sister's for her childrens' birthday and the babies came down with it. Monday we went to Steve's sisters and I started feeling really icky with a burning throat and throbbing ear. Today I couldn't even get out of bed. Thank goodness for Steve. He stayed home from work and took care of the babies, Aidan, and me. That was a relief! I am starting to s-l-o-w-l-y feel a tiny bit better but it just keeps hanging on. Steve and Austin also have terrible colds now. Ugh!!