Babies are cute

Pics: Troy's godmother, Margaret (and godfather, Les, who is not pictured), stopped in for a few minutes last week and we got a quick picture of her with Emma. Uncle Stevie with Kendall. All three babies hanging out in "jammies" (pajamas) on the couch in the nursery. Kendall inflicted the scratch on her own head last week as we were entering the pediatrician's office. Oops. Fortunately, my sister was able to "vouch" for us.





OK, so I know that Troy and I are VERY biased, but we just can't help it. We think we are so lucky to have cute kids. And it's a good thing they are because sometimes it is really hard to stick with this thing they call "parenting". Sometimes you just want to go somewhere - far, far away.

Right now, so many people are planning summer vacations, have been away for the holiday weekend, etc. We don't know when it will be feasible for us to travel again. Where would we go? How would we work out the logistics of traveling with three children under a year old?!?!?! Troy and I are "vacation people". We get through each week of work knowing that we will have a break at some point and go out of town. Right now, that is questionable. We realize that we have always been very fortunate to be able to go to places like Hawaii, Savannah, Orlando, West Palm Beach, St. Augustine, Stone Mtn, etc, but it is also a very hard habit to break (I feel a Chicago song coming on.....). It's hard to just plan an outing to go visit people or go to the dr, so I can't imagine a trip that would require hours in the car and then being in unfamiliar surroundings. But we know that someday soon, we will have to try a little outing for the whole family to "test the waters" so to speak. We are both excited to one day take them to Disney or children's museums or national parks all over the country, but for now, it will probably be a trip to Gatlinburg or something like that. We'll see what happens.

The babies are doing great. They are continuing to get so much better at "tummy time", which helps them strengthen their stomach and neck muscles (primarily). They are all chatty also, although Kendall is the most "talkative". We are working to add new toys, activities into their day just to keep it from getting too boring (for babies or for mommy???). They spend time in bouncy seats, swings, on the floor just kicking or on the activity mat. They love to watch balloons and are beginning to learn to hold things and seem to like hearing the sound that the various rattles make. We have been taking them on walks a little more often and that is a mixed situation. Sometimes they sleep through the whole thing, sometimes they are looking around wide-eyed and other times they are fussy. You never know what will happen, but we will keep going anyway. Eventually they will get out in their choo choo wagon (wait until you see pictures of THAT) and they will look forward to outings around the yard or the neighborhood.

I was just telling Troy how I occasionally look at the three of them and think they are still strangers since we haven't known them for long and I can't believe that we are related at all, let alone that they are our children. It's such a strange feeling to have kids....wonderful, awesome, but strange. And that there are THREE. How incredibly crazy is that?!?! Again, it's so amazing and wonderful, but I just can't believe that at this time last year, we had NO IDEA what was in store for us. I'm enjoying the process of getting to know them and learning how to be their mom. And Troy is doing a really great job being a dad to them. He really interacts with them and loves to cuddle. He feels so rewarded to come home and say hello and get a big, toothless grin from any one of them. I have to say that I LOVE those smiles too.

I have a "mother's helper" coming this week for a few hours and then another one next week. We also had a new nurse helper come last weekend. Unfortunately our previous nurse moved away last week. She had been with us since just a few weeks after they came home and had also been one of the nurses assigned to them during their NICU stay. We were sad to see her go, but hope that it's a great move for her family. So, we had a new nurse on Saturday for a few hours while he worked and I ran errands. It's amazing how hard it is to start over with a new person since there are so many things that you THINK you need to tell her. I realize that she has raised a child to adulthood and probably can handle it just fine, but still, we have triplets and it seems like I should be really clear about everything. She and her dad did a great job and we will see them again soon.

Thanks again for checking in with us. We wish Clark (the big one, not ours) a wonderful, albeit belated, birthday. And we are sending get well wishes, hugs and prayers to Jan for a speedy recovery.

We'll be back soon.