That just made my day.

Call me a nerd, but I am just a tiny bit ECSTATIC to find out that a BRAND NEW COSTCO will be opening less than 10 minutes from my house in a month!  When it’s that kind of stuff that makes you as happy as I am right now (well, that and that fall tv has finally started), you know you truly are a real life stay-at-home-mom. But seriously, if you’ve seen how crowded and ghetto the Costco I currently go it is, you’d be happy for me too.

Some other things that have made my day lately:

*Ruby has enough hair for pigtails!  Though, it might make her look even more bald when I tie back all the cute, loose curls. This girl’s hair is something else, being still quite bald on top, but growing nicely on the sides. Oh well. She’s cute enough without a full head of hair, if you ask me.

*We pulled out some Christmas pjs I got on sale last year since they already fit. It love seeing them all holiday-ish. They look like little elves. I think Bennett has a career in modeling, hmm? Alex would rather play with toys than model for pictures.

*Ruby loves dipping her face straight into the bubbles during bath time. She always ends up with this little bubble beard. It makes us laugh every time. And why not throw in a picture of the boys too. Bath pictures never get old.

*The babies have finally adjusted to their new schedule. Nighttime sleep is back to around 12 hours, and naps are great as well. Rested babies, are happy babies. And happy babies, make a happy mom. Thanks kids.

*For lunch today I gave them some avocados, grape tomato pieces, black beans, and cheese. When I realized I was practically feeling them nachos, sans chips, I decided they better have a little squeeze of time with it. I think they liked it. See for yourself. (Of course we missed their initial reaction on camera, but you get the gist.)  

*And last but not least, I am very pleased to announce that my triple stroller is now complete! I was getting a little nervous when it didn’t come in the 8 week time frame I was given (more like 12). But the beat up box, all the way from Australia, arrived at my door earlier this week. When I made a loud exclamation of joy as I opened it, Alex mimicked me, joining in the celebration. Ha! I can tell we’re gonna have fun with this. 

Here I go again on my own.

As I reluctantly said before, my mom’s time with me has come and gone. But before she left (and before I begin my sad, lonely rant) we had a couple more visitors. My dad and grandma flew in for a short visit, to not only to see all of us, but also to attend a conference in D.C. they come to every year. I love that Grandma has joined my parents on these conference visits, so I can always count on seeing ALL 3 of them every September. 

Grandma Julie is such a wise woman, who I consider as more of a sister, or girlfriend. She is someone you can share clothes with (seriously, she wore my skinny jeans, and my pink heals while she was here, and they looked so great on her, I told her to keep them), split a Ritas Gelati with, watch Friday Night Lights with (and both agree that Tim Riggins is quite the looker), go running with, and we even enjoy the same bright red color of toenail polish. We can also talk about motherhood, recipes, and delve deep into the meaning of life. She happily played with the babies, and loved seeing how much they’ve grown. I am so happy that she is a part of their lives, even if we only get to see her once or twice a year. It still makes me sad that they won’t know their great grandpa, though Grandma and I both think he had a chance to give them a few words of wisdom before they arrived. I’m so glad she made the trip.

Dad is always a good time. He always likes to stock up on pop, and snacks when he comes, which is kind of a treat to us, since we generally don’t buy a lot of those things for ourselves. And I know mom was happy to have him here. They were busy with the conference on the weekend. On Saturday we made the trip to DC to see their booth where my mom was selling her book, and had a picnic. Besides the traffic, it was a fun little adventure.  During the couple days before and after the conference, we kept ourselves busy going on normal errands to Costco, or Aldi, and also ventured to Five Guys for a much needed burger. The babies LOVED the grilled cheese they have on the menu, and we are starting them off right, teaching them the deliciousness of French fries. They will never be satisfied with anything else, now that they have tasted Five Guys fries. (It was the perfect place to take the trio, with the loud atmosphere, and three high chairs waiting for us. It’s especially nice that they can now eat table food.  New opportunities open up with these babies every day. Though I don’t think we’ll take these babies out to eat with us that regularly. But at least it’s an option now.) Before they left, we also took a gorgeous walk through the Arboretum’s Herb Garden, played a rousing game of Farkle, and watched movies while eating ice cream cones at night. That is, until we all pooped out around 9:30. (I feel old.) It’s nice to have such fun company around to enjoy everyday life with. 

Now they are all gone and I’m here alone with my little cuties. Has it seemed like the time flew by to anyone else? I am confused at where it all went. I’ve been so spoiled having that extra help getting the kids in/out of the car, feeding them and cleaning up the mess afterward, entertaining them, bathing them, snapping, changing, wiping, holding, buckling. . .I could go on. One day, she even told me she was fine if I needed to just get out of the house caused I was feeling overwhelmed (I was only gone for a few hours, but it was a lovely few hours). She found joy in the babies’ successes with me, and laughed with me at the funny things they do. She is also GREAT company for me. I am so happy that we could all spend time together.  

It’s been a tiny bit of an adjustment getting back into my solo groove, and I am actually a bit apprehensive about going anywhere alone with the babes, even though I did just fine with them before. The babies have changed A LOT in the ways of mobility since she came here, so the one cart situation might not work out as well as it used to. But I’m going to try to step back into my independent lifestyle the best I can. I just need to get out with these kids to feel like a real person, and I don’t feel like getting a babysitter every time we need milk, or a change of scenery, so  we’ll make it work somehow. 

But I don’t have to get too used to being alone, since Lili is coming in a week or something crazy! That seriously saved me as I tearfully said goodbye to my mom. It always helps to have something to look forward to. I can’t wait for the fun to begin! Now, I better make use of this nap before it’s over. I miss you mom!

Reminiscing.

While Mom was here (Yeah, she’s gone. I don’t want to talk about it.) I had a few little excursions planned for us. I had been wanting to take the babies to see the all the doctors and nurses, etc. that have helped us along the way.  So one day, we finally made our way to the hospital where all of our old friends are.

First we stopped at the Greater Washington Maternal Fetal Medicine and Genetics office. That is the team that helped me through the high risk pregnancy from the beginning. I was seen by all four of the doctors, and had grown to love all of them. I also dealt very personally with the head nurse, Elise, on the left. She really pulled strings for us, making sure we had the very best, and promptest care. The only Doctor we were able to get a picture with was Dr. Manly, the woman standing next to me, which is appropriate, since she was the one paged in the middle of the night to deliver the babies. They were all so sweet, and excited to see how the little chubs are doing.  It was a great reunion. I really miss that team. 

We also were able to see one of my favorite nurses in the High Risk Perinatal department, Asha. She always requested to have me on her shift because we had such a great time together. I was delighted to find out she was working the day we were visiting. It was fun to have my mom there too, since she knew some of the nurses as well as I did. We still quote some funny things Asha has said to this day.

And of course, our beloved NICU staff. I couldn’t wait to see some of the nurses that we grew so close to. They couldn’t get enough of the babies and they funny faces. They were getting a little antsy and tired, and really wanted to crawl around on the ground, but other than they, they were all smiles. I was so happy to see a few of those familiar faces. It gave me a little bit of closure, I think. Everything was always so rushed and crazy last year, I feel like I never was able to have any proper goodbyes. It was such a wonderful day.

And we just had to stop in the healing garden, where I spent my luxurious wheelchair time. How much had changed since the last time I was there.

And while I’m talking about Doctors, I might as well share a couple more appointments the babies had. We had our one year (and follow up to the asthma fun) appointment last week. After my mom, KC’s mom, and I waited WAY too long, they were finally seen and were all deemed healthy, happy babies. Alex is still the biggest being 23 1/2 lbs., Bennett a couple ounces under 22 lbs., and petite little Ruby coming in at a little over 20 lbs. Very consistent in the weight department. I just hope Alex isn’t always known as the fat twin. They got five shots each, which was very sad, but must be done. Looks like Alex knew it was coming in last pic.

They also had a follow-up at the Ophthalmologist, to check on their eyes. A lot of preemies have to get check out for the first couple years. The waiting at this appointment wasn’t nearly as bad, which is good because it was only my mom and me, cause KC had a work thing, and all the visitors were either gone, or hadn’t come yet. I love this office, because we always just wait right outside the door in the beautiful atrium area. This time it was especially nice because the babies had a blast sliding around on the slippery floor, chasing after their balls, and enjoying the echo they voices made. We even brought their lunch and fed them out there. The staff was so nice, and thankfully they didn’t have to use the speculum/torture device they used when they were newborns. They all had speedy eye exams, and we were told all their eyes look normal and great. Ahhh, music to my ears. We’ll see them one more time in a year, and then we are finished with this chapter. 

We had also planned to go see the team at my fertility clinic another day, which I was very excited out, but with their colds, all the festivities, and more visitors, it just didn’t happen while mom was here. We’ll have to work something out during one of KC’s lunch breaks or something, but I just HAVE to show them these little faces that make me so happy. They played a MAJOR role in bringing them here, so it’s the least I could do.

Our family has been extremely fortunate to have been given the greatest of care. And we have prefect, sweet babies to prove it. We really couldn’t ask for more (except maybe shorter waiting times at the pediatrician.) Thank you to everyone!

It’s all a blur.

That is usually my response when people ask how the first year of parenting triplets has been. Most days just ran together, making it hard to distinguish one day from the next. I honestly can’t believe how quickly a year can pass you by, when each day can seem so long. I am always amazed at how perfectly healthy and happy my once-tiny babies now are. It’s almost like they wanted to prove to everyone that they would be just fine, despite they early arrival.  The road we took to get these babies in our lives will never be lost on me. Of course, there are hard days that I have felt stretched so thin I could hardly think straight. But I have still been able to see why God has given me such a wonderful task. I think the kids and I will learn a lot from each other in the years to come. And since I have a tendency to ramble, I’m going to stop right there and get to the fun stuff.

We had a GREAT party! Their birthday was on Sunday, September 12th, so we had  the party on the Saturday prior. My goal was to create as little stress as possible. I made a  small cake for them (carrot so it could be their dinner at the same time (j/k , it just sounded good)), ordered a big cake from Costco for the guests, and also had animal crackers, fruits snacks, grapes, and homemade root beer. We blew up the pool, and had a sprinkler going for the kids. The weather was perfect, being warm enough for the pool, and cool enough for lounging outside (except for those annoying mosquitoes that were eating us alive.) My mom was here, of course, and we had invited KC’s parents a couple months ago, and were so delighted that they could make it. We also invited a few of our closest friends and their families. We knew the babies wouldn’t know who came or not, but I needed my support group there with me to celebrate this big event. We’ve had A LOT of help with the babies, that is for sure, and I wanted this to be a little thank you as well. We wish that our family and friends that are far away could’ve celebrated with us too. The babies will always be reminded of the many people that love them.

Instead of making three cakes, I just made one, decorated three different ways.  As we were all singing Happy Birthday, it really finally dawned on me that I was singing it to my children. I couldn’t help but get a tiny bit choked up, but not noticeable enough to make things awkward at the party, so don’t worry. They were appropriately messy after their first big piece of birthday cake.

A

B

R

The babies splashed around in the pool for a while, and then decided they had had enough of this party business, and wanted to go relax inside where that could crawl around and play with their toys. The babies got a nice bath, chaperoned by Grandma Robinson, were changed into their snuggly pjs, and KC’s parents were kind enough to look after them inside while we stayed outside with our friends for little while, but we did get visits from the babies now and then. And even though I said presents weren’t necessary, people were so kind to bring them anyway. These are some lucky babies I have.  It was a great night for me. I felt so close to everyone there, and so happy to be celebrating such an event.

After everyone left, we fed the tired birthday babies, and put them to bed. I think we were all pretty beat. We cleaned up, ate our dinner, and all retired ourselves. A very successful, memorable day.

On Sunday, their actual birthday, I woke up so excited to celebrate some more. It was almost like Christmas to me. We had a lot more presents to give them, and I couldn’t wait to see how they liked them. I was so happy to see their sweet faces when they woke up, and to tell them happy birthday. We pulled out a few fun new things in the morning, which kept them pretty busy. After church I showed them the big pool of play balls we got for them. It wasn’t as well received by Alex as the other two, but I think it will grow on him. They like to play with the balls, even if they don’t always want to play in them yet.

After a good nap, the party continued. KC’s parents were staying in a nearby hotel (which was very kind of them, as the house is quite crowded these days) so we took advantage of the hotel pool. The babies have never been in a real pool before, and after the initial caution wore off, they LOVED it! They were kicking and splashing like crazy. It was so fun to see their faces enjoying it so much. 

We came home, got dry, and had more cake after dinner (only because I had leftover carrot cake batter that I made into a bundt.) So we thought we might as well sing again, and let them eat more cake. But this time I cut it into bit sized pieces, and gave them considerably less, but they loved it all the same. We had a few more gifts to open, which the babies really enjoyed (and since the new toys and books keep them so busy, they make me happy too). And then the very tired babies went to bed after another long, celebratory day.   

And that is where the birthday celebrations end. It only took me a week to record it. Geez. I have to say, when we put them to bed, I was feeling a little down that the celebrating was over. Kind of how it feels after my birthday or Christmas. But I know there are a lot of birthday yet to enjoy, so my post-birthday blues didn’t last long.

I suppose I could do a little list of all the thing the babies are doing at this pivotal time in their lives, but then this post would be even longer, so I’ll spare you. They are just adorable, hilarious, smart little people, and they amaze me every day. It’s been the most wonderful, crazy, heart-wrenching, sweet, happiest, most stressful, hardest, joyous time of my life. And I know there is even more fun to be had.  I still can’t believe they are mine. Here’s a little walk down memory lane.  

Alex

Bennett 

Ruby