Our pediatrician has given us the green light to start getting out. Never ones to do anything small, we’re starting off by taking the kids to a family reunion in 2 weeks. In another state. By airplane. Are we crazy? Probably. But we’re doing it anyway. Adam and his siblings haven’t all been together in a year and a half, and only his parents and one brother have met the babies, so it’s worth the chaos.
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/Because of this upcoming trip, this last week we have been doing some practice outings, our spring training. Adam took the week off to help me with the kids and we’ve had a great time. We went to Home Depot the first time. It went really well. We left right after feeding them. They just looked around at everything. They didn’t fuss at all. Honestly, I was amazed. It’s a lot of new stuff, but they were champs about it. The next day we went to the Home Depot Landscape Supply store. Again, they were very good. The day after we went to Target. It was another success. I love getting out of the house, but I hate being a spectacle. People stare, point, talk about us like we can’t hear them, take out their cell phones to either take a picture or call someone to tell them about our little freak show. The conversation goes something like this:
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/”You won’t believe this but I’m looking at triplets. Yah, really. Um, two boys and a girl. I don’t know, maybe 4 months old. They’re in this crazy stroller thing. Seriously. Ok, I’ll take a picture.”
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/I’ve learned not to make eye contact and pretend I don’t hear them. If they really insist on talking, I reply over my shoulder as I keep on trucking. At HD, this lady spotted us in the parking lot and literally chased me down. I saw her coming so I picked up my pace. She was pretty short (maybe 5 feet tall) and I have long legs, so I knew I could outpace her. She caught up to me and literally jogged alongside me the entire length of the store trying to look at them and talk to me. It was hard not to laugh at her determination. It will no longer be possible to anonymously peruse the bread aisle. All of my errands will take infinitely longer than they should. I know people are curious, but if I stopped and chatted with every curious person, I’d never get anywhere. I’m tempted to create a flyer with all the stats and answers to frequently asked questions. I could just hand them out as I go. I suppose it’s the closest I’ll ever come to knowing the invasiveness of celebrity, and it’s too much for me. I do not envy the famous.
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/This loss of anonymity also means I always have to look extra good when I go out, for two reasons. One is people will always be looking at me because I am the ringmaster of this little circus, and two, people expect me to be a wreck because I have triplets. I get up and shower and get dressed and do my hair and makeup every single day. I am still a wife and a woman. I’ve always taken care of myself, and I refuse to be that sad woman in sweatpants and a stained t-shirt with my greasy hair kind of pulled back in a ponytail dragging 3 scraggly kids through the grocery store parking lot. i just won’t do it. Do I do everything I did before? No. I need a pedicure and a manicure. I will probably get one for my birthday, but I’ve needed them for a while. I exercise 3-4 times a week and I’m only 3.5 pounds above my pre-pregnancy weight. I still need to feel good about myself.
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/I think a good money-making scheme would be to put a sign on our stroller, “50 cents a peek, a dollar a question.” How badly do they want to ask the really rude and instrusive questions they have? I’m always quizzed about their conception. The truth is, it’s no one’s business. Did I ask about any of your sexual encounters? No. Nor would I. Just because I have triplets people think it’s ok to intrude on my personal life and pump me for information that does not concern them. I’ve tried to blow it off with a funny remark, but people push and push. My answer to everyone now, no matter how many times they rephrase the question is, “We were just blessed with triplets. These babies were meant to be here together.” Because that is the truth, 100%. They are a gift and a miracle no matter how they got here. I’ve had to repeat it as many as 6 times, but that is all the information they will be getting from me. Sorry, I got off on a tangent.
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/All of this success on our outings gave us the courage to make our first attempt at church. Because of bed rest during my pregnancy and then our quarantine during RSV season, we haven’t been to church since last summer. We really missed it. Once the restrictions were lifted, we started planning it. We made the trip today, on this beautiful Easter morning. It truly fed my soul. From week to week it’s noticeable how daily life drains you and church renews your spirit. After all these months, my spirit was parched, and today it was filled. I have attended church pretty much every Sunday of my life until this, and I confess I took it for granted. I loved every minute of it today. We only stayed for the main service, sacrament meeting. The kids were fantastic. We woke them from their naps half an hour early, fed them when we got there and let them sit in our laps or play in the floor on a blanket the rest of the time. When the organ started up for the opening hymn, it startled them. We were on the front row right in front of it, and I don’t think they’ve ever heard anything that loud, but they adjusted after a little soothing and went on eating. They were really great. Unfortunately they snoozed during the 20 minute ride home, which meant they had just enough of a catnap to still be super tired, but enough energy to fight a real nap, which they desperately needed. Lesson learned, next week don’t let them snooze in the car. Now we just have to figure out how to achieve that….
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/The reason for all of our HD trips is Adam has been hard at work on a vegetable garden. I love fresh vegetables and have always wanted a garden. Adam never does anything half way. He is building a retaining wall and raising the garden. He likes working outside and landscaping, that type of thing. He got a lot done this week. We had a surprise cold front move in this week (below freezing at night, down from 70-80 degree weather), so we can’t plant until Tuesday. Right now the plants are living in our kitchen. It will be really nice when it’s finished.
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/The other day I had the misfortune of placing my head between Kimball’s mouth and fist. Instead of moving his fist under my chin or around my head, he decided to chew through one side of my head and punch through the other. He would be reunited with his one true love, himself, even if it left me without a face! I wisely moved my head back so they could be together. I’m not jealous. I know there’s room in his heart for me, too, even if it’s not as big of a spot as he has for himself. When Kimball was born, everyone agreed that he looked like a little old man. He was wrinkled and had a receding hairline (but he doesn’t now). He always had a grumpy look on his face. He seemed less interested in his surroundings than Brinlee and Sawyer. He went from grumpy looking to just mellow. You could do anything or not do anything and he didn’t seem to care. He was always the one we put down to deal with the oher two because he didn’t seem to mind. You could put him straight to bed and he would just quietly lay there until he fell asleep, and would stay there quietly until you came to get him. He was definitely the easy baby. Last month Kimball found his on switch. I remember the exact moment it happened. He woke up an hour into his nap and had no intention of going back to sleep, and he let me know. My mellow baby turned on. He is alert, aware and on all the time. He is loud and vocal and energetic and constantly going. Now he has opinions and voices them with little provocation. He laughs and coos and giggles and screams. He screams and shrieks for fun. You can’t soothe him to make him stop because he’s not upset. He’s just making noises and happy. I’m going to buy stock in Advil. I’m glad he found his on switch, but I do wonder if there is a slow motion or pause switch sometimes. When properly motivated, Kimball can drain an 8-ounce bottle in about 7 minutes. We call it The Machine. You can hear him getting the rhythm of his mm-gulp going.
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/Brinlee is starting to connect the dots. Because she is immobilized on her wedge for sleeping, her back is to the door of the nursery. We put blackout shades in there to make a better sleeping environment (especially for Kimball who sleeps with his eyes open like his dad does. It’s just as creepy when a baby does it as when your husband does it. Moving on). She now knows that when the room briefly gets lighter (because we opened the door to come in), that mom or dad is in the room. She’ll stop fussing for about 4 seconds. If we don’t act fast enough, she starts again. Not to say that our mere presence is enough to soothe her. She still fusses with us in there, but now she knows we’re there and expects action. Brinlee also knows if we come in and get one of the boys out of bed. If she was awake and just being quiet, then sees the light, hears the velcro (from the sling that holds them on the wedge) and then we leave the room without her, well, let’s just say she objects. She won’t be the one left behind. She is so curious about her neighbors. She can’t see them, but she can hear them and is always trying to get a look. Brinlee has also started making this heart-wrenching little whine/moan/cry sound when she is going to sleep. It sounds like she just finished a hysterical cry, but she hasn’t. She is soothing herself to sleep, but it’s hard to listen to. Sometimes she does it while she’s asleep, or just sitting in the exersaucer playing. You just want to pick her up and hold her. Even though she’s not upset, it sounds like she is so sad. We have a floor mat with a star at the top that lights up and plays music if they make it move. We always set them up so their feet are kicking one of the supports and that will set it off. It goes through batteries pretty fast, and when it’s at the end of its juice, it will play the first 2 bars over and over, which gets annoying, so we turn it off. Well, Brinlee has figured out that kicking is supposed to make that star flash and sing, so when it doesn’t perform, she gets pretty ticked and will kick harder. Until we change the batteries, I just put her in other toys. She is also starting to chew her tongue like it’s gum, and she sucks on it so loudly that it sounds like she is sucking her hand.
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/Sawyer slept 12 hours last night. He was ready to do it last week, but then he had a growth spurt and started chowing down his 9:30 bottle. His growth spurt ended and Adam courageously skipped that feeding last night. Why was it courageous of Adam? Well, we alternate nights of feeding Sawyer and being on monitor duty and being off duty completely. So if Sawyer had woken in the night because he was hungry, Adam would have had to get up and feed him. They don’t get us out of bed usually, but they do wake up and chatter during the night. Whoever is on duty doesn’t sleep as well bc we are half listening to see if they’ll escalate. Still, I’d rather be half awake in my comfy bed than all the way awake next to their cribs. So that means we are (mostly) off duty for 11-12 hours at night now! It’s wonderful! This is something we have been waiting for since they were born. Sawyer really examines things. He’ll sit and study a piece of the exersaucer and touch and look for a really long time. Maybe he’s trying to figure out how it works, like my dad always has done (I’d better lock up all the screw drivers so he doesn’t start taking things apart to find out if he can get it back together). He just looks so thoughtfull like he’s really contemplating the item. Last week I had to start putting Sawyer in another room for naps. He is a light sleeper these days, and if anyone makes noises during naps, it wakes him up, and before long I have a 3-baby riot going. It has worked out really well.
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/All three of them have figured out the pouty face. I don’t know how they know to stick out that lip, but it comes naturally to them. Sawyer was the first to do it. They are all masters of the spit bubbles too. Brinlee will make huge bubbles and then just suck it right in. And of course they are all slobber monsters. The only toy I registered for when I was pregnant was Freddie the Firefly. Adam teased and teased me, but guess what? They love Freddie. He’s the favorite toy. Of course there won’t be much left of him if Kimball keeps eating him.
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/One year ago I took a pregnancy test and it immediately showed positive. The doctor’s office had me go in early on Easter morning for bloodwork. They wanted to watch my hormone levels. I was scheduled to go back for more bloodwork in two days, my birthday. On Monday they called to tell me that they were also going to do an ultrasound. I thought that was strange, but I didn’t think much about it. Apparently, my hormone levels were so high, they knew that either I was wrong about how far along I was, or there was more than one baby (normal would have been 150, my hormones were 2,500). On my birthday we found out there were three babies in there. What a birthday present! It’s the best that I could ever ask for. A year ago we received the shock of our lives. A year ago we were trying to imagine what life would be like now. Today I do the same thing. What will the next year bring our family? Our babies won’t be babies in a year.
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/We are constantly amazed at their increasing awareness and development. Just a few weeks ago they were intentionally swatting at things. Now they have the control to delicately handle and hold things. They are very aware of us, which is wonderful and difficult. We used to be able to walk in and out of the nursery while they were going to sleep, but now they know it’s us and they want our attention, or to be rescued from their prison. They notice that we put them down and pick up someone else. They notice that we are holding someone besides them. They are also noticing each other, and it is so cute. They grin and coo at each other and reach out and touch each other. It’s really amazing.
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/We’ve started to put them in the exersaucer and jumperoos. They have quickly developed head and muscle strength. They haven’t quite figured out what to do in the jumpers. They bounce a little, but I think once they really figure it out they’ll go crazy. Speaking of equipment, our family room is better than Disneyland. We have 2 swings, 2 bouncies, 2 gyminis, 2 jumperoos, one exersaucer, a basket of toys and blankets, a changing table, a diaper champ, 3 bebe pod infant seats, a floor chair for me, a travel swing, and that’s just the babies’ stuff. Last week I took down the portacrib because it was all just too much! Throw in our 2 full length couches, end tables, ottomans, entertainment center and speakers. The clutter is driving me crazy. It’s a hazard area. Our bedroom is the no-baby zone except for one bouncy seat and one swing. We only have to use them occasionally, like when they are waiting for their turn in the bath.
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/Last night we reached another milestone, although it was one I not-so-secretly hoped would never happened. We had our first pooping in the tub incident. I told Brinlee that her punishment was going to be that I tell the world what she did. She thought it was funny at the time. Will she think it’s funny in 16 years? I doubt it. Maybe then she’ll be sorry, because she certainly wasn’t last night. I had to bleach everything. Gross.
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/Picture time:
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/Another Grow sibling brawl. Brinlee tackles her victim. Kimball throws her. Brinlee is utterly stunned. We might have staged the tackle, but the throw was all Kimball.
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/We could charge admission to recoupe the cost of building Disneyland in our living room. Does Growworld have a nice ring?
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/All three in their Easter outfits
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/Kimball in his Easter outfit (that’s daddy’s handsome toe in the corner)
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/Brinlee on Easter
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/Sawyer on Easter
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/Sawyer in one of the jumpers
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/Kimball in the exersaucer
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/Brinlee in the exersaucer
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/Brinlee loves her piggies!
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/Look how well they sit now!
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/Kimball and Sawyer just stared at each other for a long time