Breath of Fresh Air

So, our cruise may have ended last Friday, but I have apparently had a hard time getting out of cruise/vacation mentality. I keep eating whatever I want whenever I want it, I have been partying with family all weekend, I keep spending money like it grows on trees, and I cannot seem to shake the feeling that I am swaying back and forth. So, all those things must come to and end at some point, and aside from constant vertigo (seriously, how long does this sea-legs feeling have to last?), I don’t want them to. But saying goodbye to my mom and dad yesterday really put me back into real-life mode, so I finally decided to sit down and get a little vacation documentation underway. I’ll just give you the highlights. I was pretty conservative with my camera, which I am very proud of myself for. I guess when the kids aren’t around, there just aren’t as many photo-ops. Anyway, here are some tidbits for you.

My Favorite moments:

• Fresh air, and endless ocean to gaze upon 24-7.
• Awesome fries, and ice cream cones. I ate way too much of both, and I have no regrets.
• Great food, including a breakfast and lunch buffet every day, and gourmet dinners every night, an appetizer or two, an entrée or two, and always two or more desserts. I could never decide so I just ordered multiple plates of food every day. I have no shame. KC usually shared with my anyway.
• Jet skiing on Cocoa Cay, the cruise line’s private island. My first time, and I’m converted.
• Parasailing in Nassau, Bahamas. Seriously, I was so rejuvenated after our excursions. Just what I needed.
• Hangin’ with the awesome in-laws (minus Camille, who we missed dearly)! Playing games, chatting at meals, swimming in the ocean, or just lounging in the lounge.
• Getting our pictures taken at all the cheesy photo-ops so we could look at them in the gallery later and laugh. Then taking pictures of the pictures. Don’t worry, we bought one so it was all honest and fair.
• Feeling the warm strong wind on the upper deck (though my tangled hair didn’t like it that much), and gazing at the stars at night.
• Working out to the sun rising every morning. The BEST way to start the day.
• Spending some time alone with KC, which is a rarity these days. I forgot how much fun we can have together without the triplets needing our constant attention. Love that guy.

Some Accomplishments:

• I got a nap EVERYday! Something I’m not so fortunate to have at home.
• Not a speck of a sunburn! I was diligent about applying sunscreen and it paid off! I have spend a lot of vacations in pain from being sunburned, and I was not going to let it happen again. Thank you Target brand spray sunscreen!
• I was able to let myself enjoy my time away, instead of worrying. I may have called several times the first day before we set sail, but then I just sat back, and relaxed (for the most part).
• I didn’t over or under pack. I used almost everything, and felt like I had options as well. Quite an accomplishment, right ladies?!
• I just went ahead and joined in on Karaoke night. It was embarrassing, I didn’t sing my best, but I’m pretty sure everyone was a little tipsy, so we all had a good time.

The trickier Parts:

• Even though I said I was able to relax while away from the kids, I still missed them like crazy. I let myself watch a video on my camera on day 3, and couldn’t stop thinking about them. I think I watched it a dozen times.
• I forgot to bring a book, magazine, or even a crossword puzzle. There was a lot of time where we were just sitting, and enjoying the view, which was nice, but I‘m not used to being so still. I’ll remember to bring some reading material or something on my next luxurious lazy vacation.
• I could NOT sleep in past 5:30 AM most days. One day it was 6:15 because I stayed up until 1 AM the night before. I seriously have a problem. Thank goodness the gym opened at 6, and I got a nap every day.
• The day we traveled home seemed like an eternity. We stood shoulder to shoulder in lines with strangers all day long getting off the boat, in the shuttle, at the airport, at baggage claims, the Metro, etc. I was one happy girl to finally be home on Friday afternoon.

So, there you have it. I came back a few pounds heavier, and a very refreshed. We were so grateful for this vacation. KC’s parents put the whole thing together, and we can’t thank them enough for the great time we had. And I was right when I said that vacations are also great because you get to come home to your kids, because I don’t think I was ever so excited to come home from a vacation. I held each of those older and wiser looking children so tight the second I walked in the front door. I think they thought I was some crazy lady  trying to kill them or something. They were happy, healthy, and a darling as ever. My parents deserve a vacation now! It felt so amazing to be so footloose and fancy free for a few days. I forgot how simple traveling without kids was! Thanks again to both sets of parents for showing us how wonderful a vacation can be for the mind body and soul. And even though I missed the kids terribly, I’m more than willing to miss then again anytime! I’m sure the kids would love another week of playing with any willing grandparents while we hide away for a while (I got a good dose or real life today, and I’m definitely missing those white sandy beaches.) Hooray for a great vacation!

Here are more pictures for those interested. There are a few at the end from the rest of the weekend, cause the kids just make the slideshows more fun.

It’s gonna hurt.

We are about to embark on a luxurious cruise with KC’s family. I get thrilled just thinking about how free and easy my life will be while we’re away. I have had vacation fever for a while, and it couldn’t come at a better time. Did I ever really need a vacation before I had kids?!

But the decision to go wasn’t easy. My parents have generously agreed to watch the triplets while we are gone for 4 1/2 days (it might not seem that long to you, but it seems like an eternity to me). We’ve only taken a few overnight trips away from the kids, and they were asleep most of the time we were away. Going on this much-needed vacation took a lot of praying, convincing, and serious thought on my part. I didn’t know if I could put all the responsibility of three individual toddlers on anyone but myself or KC without having guilt hanging over my head. I know all the ins and out of these kids. I’m used to the work, and know what to do in most tricky situations, and it can get tricky. Not to mention, I’m seriously attached. I wouldn’t want to miss out on their cuteness.

But then I realized that taking time away from them just might be possible now that their getting older (with a lot of planning, lists, menus, manuals, stroller assembling/disassembling tutorials, and willing grandparents, of course). And good for me too. When I finally came to terms with that fact that I can actually leave my babies in the care of someone else and go on an actual vacation, I started to get really, really excited! I’m going to miss their faces every five minutes (I already feel ill thinking about how much I’ll miss them), but I’m sure I’ll have a little fun while were enjoying the sand, fresh ocean air, and endless eating of food that I didn’t have to prepare! Much thanks to KC’s parents from planning this vacation that finally got us to start a new phase of our lives, and to my parents for rolling up their sleeves and doing the dirty and exhausting, yet very fun work of wrangling one year old triplets. And, the best part of getting away as a parent is, as great as it will feel to get away from the mountains of diapers, early mornings, and stepping in oatmeal everyday, it will also be GREAT to come home to babies that know you, love you, and hopefully missed you too.

So my swimsuits and sunhats are packed and my mind is already on the beach. We did have the mandatory last minute fever/ear infection yesterday, but we were in and out of the clinic and antibiotics have already been started. There have been times in the last 24 house when I’ve wanted to cancel the whole thing, but I remember that my parents are more than capable, and my kids are really great kids most of the time (though you wouldn’t know it from seeing the disaster that was today). I’m going to try to not think of every possible thing that could go wrong, so that I can finally just sit back and relax. I’ll give you a few pictures to hold you over while we’re gone. So, until I come back to reality, enjoy these sweet faces for me!

Ruby loves eating with a fork. And is wearing two different shoes, of course.

Bennett often asks me to help him put on a hat. Hey, at least this one isn’t hot pink.

Alex and Ruby taking turns having the front seat while on the webcam with Nana Jan.

Bennett and Penny playing with their potties. (Don’t worry, I’m not crazy enough to even THINK about potty training one year old triplets. We’re just playing with the little seats.)

Goofing around before church.AB

And then falling asleep at church. Precious Bennett. We planned on heading home after the first hour of nursery, but he didn’t even last that long.

He did something similar at home one morning. He stayed here for a good five minutes, and probably would’ve fallen asleep, but we felt bad and made him more comfortable on the couch. That will teach him to wake up at 5 am!

Ruby is a champion nebulizer-er! Now, when she sees me getting it ready, she hops on the couch, and gets all situated. Sometimes she’ll even hold it herself.

Alex’s new favorite thing to do is fasten clips together. He worked on one of the leashes one day until he figured it out. Then he discovered the jackpot--the highchairs. Now every time I am buckling them in, I have to unclip them all first. On this occasion, he hopped into the chair himself (he and Ruby have been doing this for a while), and buckled himself in. Quite helpful, as long as he doesn’t learn to unbuckle any time soon.

Ruby an Penny decided to give each other a hug one day, without any prodding from any parents.

Alex is my champion tooth-brusher. He LOVES it! The others took some time, but now have found the joy in clean teeth as well.

He thought brushing the old fashioned way was boring, so he tried holding it with his foot. He didn’t go a bad job either.

Sometimes all it takes it a couple blue chairs to entertain these kids. They are usually put away so the kids don’t use them to get into higher shelves, but were pulled out for book group. I think they played on those for an hour straight.

This is just a snippet of what my parents will go through this next week. Be good babies! Please! I can’t wait to give you all a million sun-kissed, rejuvenated, well-fed, rested, KISSES the second I get home. Bon Voyage!

Big reunion for little people.

We had the pleasure of attending our NICU reunion last week. It was a beautiful day despite the warning for heavy rain, and we had a wonderful time. It was great to chat with other “survivors”, a.k.a. parents of triplets. We could’ve talked, laughed, commiserated, empathized, warned, interrogated, and applauded for hours. We actually met the couple on the left at the NICU Christmas party when their babies were only a few days old. Look at the chubbiness now! I loved that round-faced, rosy cheek age. We met the other family that day, and only a few minutes after the picture was taken met a couple other triplet families. There’s nothing like talking with people that truly know what you’re going through. There is an instant bond.

While observing other families managing their multiples, we realized that we might be in the most difficult stage when it comes to going out and about. The younger ones would just sit or lay contentedly on the blanket, unable to crawl yet, happily drinking their bottles. And the older ones stayed by their parents, or held hands with each other. Imagine that! Our kids just run away, in all different directions! Bennett got pretty cranky by after a while from being strapped in his stroller. Suckers had to be used. Luckily we were given tickets to ride the carousel, and decided to give it a try. They loved it.

I saw another awesome friend I met while in the NICU. Her baby was SO TINY (like under 2 pounds) when we left the hospital. Now she is a beautiful, bubbly toddler. The NICU is an amazing place. I hope we always keep in touch.

I was thrilled to see all these people, including some of the staff that were able to make it. They were all part of this huge and significant time in our lives. I hope we can attend more events like this in the future.

Alex’s Glasses

Alex became attached to these sunglasses that the lenses fell out of a while ago. Throughout the day, I’d find him wandering around the house with them on (much like Bennett’s pink hat obsession). Sadly, they broke a couple days ago, but I don’t think he’ll be too heartbroken. Too bad though. Seeing my chubby boy walk out of the play room with those on always brightened my day.

 

Also, Elise can’t get over how much he resembles Carl Fredrickson from Up.

Never a shortage of blog material.

These kids are quite the characters these days. They always come up with something new to make us laugh harder than the day before. They also surprise us with their growing brains, and what they pick up on. I can tell this phase is going to be overwhelming for me as I try to jot down their new skills, words, and rapidly developing personality traits. Here are a couple snippets of our evening with the little crazies.

My kids are definitely not picky about personal space. Being in the womb together probably helped with that.

I also got Ruby to do a few of the signs she know on camera. She’s been saying and signing “Stars!” all days long.

This show is the culprit for all the signing. It’s usually more interactive than this. I try to get in on the fun with them. They even show me a sign or two when I can’t remember. You wouldn’t think they were really learning anything from the zombie-like expressions on their faces, but I guess it’s soaking in.

I might as well throw in a couple more while I’m at it. This is when Ruby was up after a very short nap due to coughing. Good thing she is so fun to hang out with, cause nap time is very valuable to me. She’s doing much better on the coughing front, btw. Phew!

And here are the boys hanging out. (Bennett really does know as much as the other two, he’s just a little camera shy, I think.)

There is always great live entertainment over here. Lucky me.

If it just wasn’t SO hot.

So, there are some happenings to catch up on here on the blog. My plate has been a tad full lately. My darling Ruby was in great shape after recovering from her cold nonsense, but an intense cough soon returned, mostly at nights and naptime, keeping us awake for hours in the middle of the night, and leaving me without much of a break all day (which is truly crucial for the wellbeing of the entire family-especially when I’m sleep-deprived). I started to go a little crazy from being on the couch every night to keep her somewhat upright so she could sleep. And no amount of nebulizing, humidifying, Vicks, fluids, or pleading seemed to help stop her from waking up in a cough attack, so I took her to the doctor. It was hard to pull the trigger on taking her in when most of the day she is absolutely angelic and bubbly, but the other parts of the day and night, she gets in a coughing fit that only goes away after a long bathroom steaming, among other things we’ve tried. It just seemed like it would go away one of these days, but we hit our limit.(We’ve actually had some pretty fun middle-of-the-night moments together. She really likes to bring her spazy self out in the wee hours.) Anyway, the doctor put her on a six week, once daily, preventative nebulizing treatment. Silly asthma. Hopefully after that (ugh) long period she’ll be as good as new. If not, we'll look into acid reflux. Fun, fun. The boys have been their happy, healthy, great-sleeping selves (knock on wood.) So, that’s the haps, and now onto the catching up.

I’ve always loved the summer. I’m sure it’s rooted from being a kid and finally out of school. But now that I’m an adult, and school schedules don’t apply to me (yet), I kind of dread the summer. It’s just too hot for me and the kids to go anywhere and enjoy ourselves. And forget taking them to the pool or the beach. That had danger written all over it. But, I’m doing my best to make the most of it all the same. Here are some things I’ve enjoyed about this season so far.

We fired up the grill! And made ice cream! Elise’s birthday fell on Memorial day, so we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to have a little shin-dig. Grilled pizza will forever be one of my favorite foods. You’ve really never had pizza until you’ve grilled it. And what makes it even better, is when you finish it off with homemade root beer, and homemade vanilla bean ice cream. Thank you Costco for now selling vanilla beans! It really hit the spot, especially paired with a tart lime pound cake I made for Elise. We’re definitely looking forward to more outdoor cooking in the coming months.

And we may have run through the sprinkler set up for the kids.

I’ve also been loving our family walks in the morning. There is NO WAY I would attempt taking walks alone in our neighborhood with kids this size. There are too many hills, and too many lbs. KC and I have to join forces to get up the hills. But when we all go together in the morning before it gets too hot, it’s just gorgeous. Just before sun rise is my absolutely favorite time of the day. It’s so peaceful and quiet outside, the kids are pretty mellow, and it just feels so good to breath in the fresh air to start out the day. I hope we keep this rejuvenating habit up.

The neighborhood farmers market is also a highlight. Those ham and cheese croissants are heavenly. I also bought some locally made Italian sausage. It's great to have a little market to enjoy so close by.

And you really know it’s summer when you’ve had your first bite of Key Lime Pie. That’s the true taste of summer for you. We had a great time with KC’s cousin Alicia and her husband Dustin while they were in town. When they came over for dinner, I thought it was a great occasion to make my favorite summer dessert. I’m sure I’ll be juicing limes again very soon.

So, I’ll do my best to find the good parts about this sticky season. Even it it means I gain a few extra founds from eating more homemade ice cream and pie!

Thanks for coming.

The picture party is about to start. Alright babies, let’s show everyone a good time!

They have discovered how fun the piano can be. Though, there isn’t quite room for three at a time. Bennett didn’t last long on the edge of the piano bench. There was crying involved.

Ruby likes to put random things on her head and continue to play as normal.

Night-night is a new favorite game. Many times during the day, they’ll just lay on the ground and say, “Ooohhhh, night-night.” I like games where we all lay down and pretend to sleep. Unfortunately they aren’t as sleepy as they pretend to be.

A

Ruby feeding her baby before nap time.

B

 

They are more willing to wear their sunglasses than I thought they would be.

Sometimes they even fall asleep with them on.Or having just taken them off.

Always competing for my attention.

Sometimes you just feel like lounging, ya know?

The sharing is getting a little better lately. Just a little.

Post-bath yumminess.

They thought they were pretty clever when I found them like this. I think we’re gonna need a bigger table.

Alex always finds new ways to entertain himself.

I thought getting the ball pit out again would be a good idea, until they realized it was more fun to throw the balls outside the pool, than keep them inside it.

Everyday, they all bring me random shoes and insist that I put them on. This is how they ended up one day.  

ABR

My shoes are part of the shoe obsession as well. Ruby gets SO mad when she can’t walk in them.

If you ever want to keep your toddlers entertained for a while, give them a flat of water bottles. They’ll end up all over the house, but they will also keep the kids quite for a good, long while. Bennett likes throwing them, and Alex likes lining them up. I find them lined up on the window ledge behind the curtains sometimes when I’m cleaning up.

I pulled out the play mat for a friend who came over with her baby. Of course, my babies thought it was for them, and played with it for days. They can still all fit!

Ruby using her watermelon as a “hat”. She turns most of her food into a hat.

Bennett resembles Linus a lot these days as he drags this blanket everywhere. Luckily, if he doesn’t see it, he doesn’t need it. But when it’s in sight, he doesn’t let it go.

Reading is serious business over here.
Ruby can’t be bothered.

Cousin Penny being her adorable self. She is looking at her mom through the window.

She wears the pink hat with style.

Cozy, Alex?

My attempt at a ponytail. It only lasts about 2 minutes, but it’s fun to play.

I walked in to the room find that Ruby had done this all by herself.

Traffic jam.

The bench cushion is the place to hang out these days.

Thanks again for joining us. We hope you enjoyed yourselves. See you next time!