Dear Trips,

Here are a few more pictures of you all at 8 months. I wanted to take some without any shirts on because one of my most favorite things about this age is your cute little fat rolls and buddha bellies. 

Everett, Carter, Finn


This picture perfectly captures each of you at this point in time in so many ways. Everett, pulling to stand, Carter sitting just perfectly and Finn scooting around on his belly! Each of you interested in finding out what's going on outside the window.

Carter- you have two teeth on the bottom and more coming in on top. You sit just perfectly and seem to be right on the cusp of crawling. I know one of these days you're just going to take off. When you laugh your eyes open real big and you take a big breath in, pull up your shoulders and then smile with all your might. It's so incredibly infectious. You also love to jump in the jumper while laughing and shrieking. It's hilarious.

Finley- You are so content these days. You spend a lot of time on your belly shimmying here and there. When you see something you're interested in, there's no stopping you from pulling yourself across the floor, under tables, around gates to get at it. When my mom saw these 8 month pictures she said that you look just like I did at that age. You have two bottom teeth with more coming in and have started vocalizing "mamamama", which although I don't think is purposeful towards me, I still love hearing it!

Everett- You made getting a picture of you and your brothers very difficult as you are always on the move! You crawl, climb, and pull to stand every chance you get. Sitting for a picture is just not something you're interested in doing! Sometimes I have trouble keeping up with you! You just got your first tooth (on the bottom) and I think you may be getting a second on the bottom because you've been a little crabby going to bed at night. One of the cool things about you being so mobile is that it's even more clear than ever before how much you love to cuddle. You'll climb right up into my lap and throw your arms around me!

The three of you now want two solid food meals a day, stare at me whenever I'm eating "real" food, and love to try and eat puffs cereal. I think one out of every five puffs actually make it in your mouth but that's okay. It seems clear that half the fun is figuring out how to pick them up and reach your mouth! You play with each other by making raspberry sounds back and forth and laughing. You love when Colin sings to you. You love to watch him play with his trains and trucks and little people. I think you're plotting how you're going to get them at first chance. 

You've started grabbing toys from each other.... sometimes this is a problem. I can only imagine what the next years will bring in terms of sharing toys. We'll just enjoy today and not worry about that yet!

Carter and Finley. Everett is crawling somewhere out of frame....

"Does anyone think she'll ever let us out?"

"Yes, I believe so, one day when we're more manageable."

8 months today!

Here are my beautiful babies at 8 months!

Everett, Finley, Carter

They, along with their big brother Colin ran circles around me today. The moment I heard myself utter the phrase, "We don't touch poop", I knew the day was getting out of hand.

So I'm heading out on a mommy break to grab dinner and drinks with a friend and I'll post more pictures tomorrow. Before I do, here's one I got a kick out of:

I imagine Colin explaining, "So here's how it works. I'm the boss, follow me and I'll show you the ropes, and don't ever touch my stuff, especially my tools."

As the babies are getting more mobile, they're into his stuff more and Colin is concerned about this. He's working on using his words and asking mommy or daddy for help rather than taking matters into his own hands and having to share so much of his space so early in life. 

And yet, gaining all these brothers at once has revealed such an extraordinary side of him. He's so loving toward them- except when he's not of course ;) 

Yesterday he asked if he could hold Everett. 

Of course.

Just look at that brotherly love!

Thankful, Hopeful, Prayerful.

I have much to be thankful for this year.

My family, friends, faith and of course, my boys.

Chris, Colin, Carter, Everett and Finley

Lunchtime!

and our sweet Olive, who is sooooo good to all of us.

This year I'm especially thankful for modern medicine. From the researchers and chemists working behind the scenes to the doctors, nurses and many other staff who work tirelessly and with dedication, even on holidays, to bring care to those who really need it. 

If you happen to be one of those people, I sincerely thank you. 

In truth, this Thanksgiving was a mixed bag for me. This one will be remembered as part of the year we were blessed beyond our wildest imaginations. The year we've watched Colin grow more into his awesome little self and gave him THREE brothers to grow literally side by side with. We have terrific kids that bless us with their vibrant personalities every day.

This Thanksgiving will also be remembered as the day my Dad was so deep in the valley of sickness from his transplant (his 3rd), that he was admitted to the hospital. The Thanksgiving that my dad's temperature was way too high, and the Thanksgiving that it hit me, he really does have cancer. And it sucks.

I'm writing this post with Finn wrapped to my body, his fuzzy little baby hair against my lips as I type. 

He can't sleep.

He smells so good. 

Having him wrapped to me is like getting a constant hug.... which tonight I welcome.

We just put our tree up. It's fake but it's beautiful. 

Christmas music is playing over pandora and every now and again Finn pulls his head back to look at me and smile. Like he's just double checking I'm still here.

I keep picturing my Dad and I out to breakfast at our favorite spot. It's where we've had so many brunches and great talks. It's the place he'd order from and bring me when I was on bed rest with the triplets, huge and and hungry and unable to move. He took such good care of me.

I can see us there, laughing and talking and looking back on his transplant. The transplant is behind him and he's healthy and the myeloma is undetectable. 

That will be a great morning. 

Oct 2011

7 months, what's working?

**Periodically I try and post something about what's been working for us along this journey, in case it's helpful to others.

2 weeks old..... just yesterday, right?

Once again I realized that I'm late writing an update from 7 months about specifically how things are going and what's working for us. In just a few days they'll be 8 months! Ahhhhh! I say this every month, but "where is the time going???"

When I went back to see what was going on at 7 months, I noticed this list of 10 thoughts, that I wrote one very late night just as the boys turned 7 months. Earlier in the day someone had asked me for the 100th time, "How do you do it?" Sometimes I get bothered by that question only because sometimes it feels like people are implying that we are doing something extraordinary and really we're not. We simply received an unbelievable blessing and now we're doing our best to honor that each and every day. Some days are wonderful, some days are hard and messy and we just plow through.

But as I sat in bed that night, I thought about how I ask also that question of other people too. "How do you do it?" Like moms who have even more kids to care for, moms who manage to homeschool (can't imagine!!), moms who also work outside the home, single moms, moms who parent kids with medical issues or other special needs, moms who somehow overcome great tragedy and continue mothering with grace and joy. I wonder how they do it... which I suppose is part of the reason I love reading other blogs. Getting a sneak peak into the lives of other moms, gives me pause in my own life with my boys and often causes me to see things in a new light.

So before turning the light out, I couldn't get that, "How do you do it?" question out of my mind. So I raddled off ten pieces of advice in about three minutes. They are a few of the things I've learned through this experience of a high risk pregnancy and now parenting triplets plus one. They are the pieces of advice I'd go back and give myself one year ago, when I desperately wanted some insight into what to expect.

I never planned to share them on this blog, rather to keep them for myself to see how the lessons change as the boys age, but today I changed my mind. So here they are, raw, unedited and my thoughts 7 months out.

7 months: What I'd tell someone expecting triplets (if they asked!)

1. Learn to embrace chaos! Our home is rarely quiet, rarely clean, the laundry basket is never empty, it seems that somebody is always up. Although we set schedules and work harder than we ever have to get and stay organized, inevitably things come up and you just have to roll with it or else you'll go crazy.

2. Accept your own human limitations, you can only do what you can do!

3. Be kind to your spouse and forgive each other quickly and often. Everyone is over tired, everyone is overworked, everyone is trying. 

4. Laugh. 

5. Hire as much help as you can afford, don't be afraid to ask for help when you need it and take help offered

6. Go out on a date night whenever someone offers to watch the kids for you!

7. Decide what your attitude is going to be- we made a very conscious choice early on to focus on the blessings and not the challenges of this situation. Whatever comes our way, we know that God will provide for us.

8. Focus on the journey, not the destination. I try hard to focus on today and not worry about how we'll manage tomorrow.

9. Let go of what you can't control and trust God's plan. What we've experienced, especially toward the end of the triplet's pregnancy, which I wrote a lot about here, made it all to clear that so much of life is out of our hands. Trusting in God's plan for us and choosing how we response are things in our control. 

10. Remember that what your kids need most to grow and thrive is a happy mommy. Be kind to yourself.

We survived!

Photo courtesy of Colin

For the past two days, our sweet Amelie, who helps me care for the boys each day from 8:30-1:30 (and often later if I ask!) has been out sick. So Thursday and Friday it was me and my boys alone together all day.

Here's the obvious statement of the week: Raising these four boys is WAY easier with help.

I've gotten quite used to Amelie's smiling face at the door each morning, always looking refreshed, rested and ready to jump into the chaos of our lives for the next five hours. She's calm, fun and can handle anything that comes her way. We are so blessed by her and with her by our side, our mornings run pretty darn smoothly.

So Wednesday night when she called to say that she was really sick, I felt trepidation for what the next days would bring. It'd been a while since I'd had all four boys alone all day.... could I handle it without loosing my mind? The other piece that worried me was simply that the babies aren't sleeping well and therefore I'm not getting a whole lot of sleep lately, and I find when I don't get sleep, parenting feels soooo much more overwhelming.

But we made it and in the process made some memories too.

As it's been said, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times".

Some highlights and low points:

• Colin pushing Finn after Finn tried to grab his toy, and who fell into Carter- low point

• Coming back into the room after taking Everett and Carter up for nap to find Colin on the floor, on his belly, at eye level with Finn whispering sweet brotherly things and making Finn laugh so hard- high point

• Story time, take one, initiated by me who thought, "Won't this be nice, we'll pick out books and I'll read to the boys and they'll all sit and listen and learn lots". Colossal failure! Everybody was grabbing books from each other, and the boys quickly ended up in tears. - need I spell it out: this was a low point

• Impromptu story time, which happened when Colin noticed Carter looking at a Winnie the pooh book? High point! Colin started to lovingly "read" to Carter and the other boys were also drawn into the experience. Sure it only lasted for a few brief minutes, but it was something.

• The moments when I felt like a complete failure because it seemed no matter what, I couldn't keep up with meeting everybody's needs- low point.

• The moments when I felt like a mom warrior cranking through the day, determined to stay patient and loving and moving forward despite the limitations of one person- high point. 

• Everett getting into everything everywhere- lowish point

• Finding an enormous baby gate in the garage and realizing I could carry it in the house myself, and that it would fit perfectly in the basement- high point! Score! Everett is now contained!

• The times when all the babies were hungry and crying (or screaming) and Colin was frustrated- low point.... those times usually only last a few minutes but when they come on, they feel like an eternity

• Catching a moment of sweet silence, cuddled up on the couch with Colin in my arms while the babies slept, watching the Lion King.... HIGH POINT. There's nothing like snuggling with your kids to remind you of how worth the effort it all is.

Around 4 p.m. Friday, Chris texted me and asked, "How are things going??"

So I texted him back: "Super! The babies are quietly and independently coloring and Colin is organizing his toy room. I have a pot roast in the oven for dinner."

Typical man, he replies: "Wow, really? That's great! See you soon!"

My response: "No, not really. Really, I'm standing in the middle of baby chaos, in my pjs, my hair is a rats nest and the house is a pit. I have no idea what we'll do about dinner."

:-)

Everett

You ran me ragged today! Holy moly are you into everything and testing the limits of your physicality every chance you get. For a while, and I mean a looooong time, you've been able to get up on all fours and rock. Then one day, perhaps after your thousandth rock, you took off! It was exciting!

Then that excitement turned to "O.M.G. how do I contain him?!"

You are into everything! 

Perhaps a day after you learned to crawl, you pulled to stand in your crib, captured here. Now, you are pulling to stand on everything and everywhere. What you're not yet able to do is let go and balance.... but you do let go. And you fall. And you fall. And you fall. You're making me so nervous!!

Here's the problem. I kind of have a lot of kids to look after in one space. On many occasions today, I'd turn my head to be with one of your brothers, and turn back to find you standing by the couch trying to grab something, and in the process let go and fall backwards. One time I turned away only to look back to find you standing wearing a big smile and waving one hand in the air.... and the other pressed into Carter's face, using him as leverage. Carter was not pleased.

You can also suddenly crawl over the pillows that divide the room in half. One half of the room is designated for Colin's toys and one half is where you babies can safely play. I can tell by the glare Colin gives you as you begin your climb and decent over the pillows, that he's a little worried....

"Mommy, Oh NO! Look! He's coming!" Colin will point and yell.

(This always sort of makes me laugh because the way Colin talks you would think Everett was a sophisticated stealer of toys intent on causing destruction.) 

He strikes again!

And I thought I'd have a glorious few weeks where all three triplets were in the "sitting" phase, unable to move and get into stuff but happy to sit and play upright...... hahaha, what a pipe dream.

Watch out Everett, Finn and Carter are right on your tail!... they're quickly getting the hang of crawling too.

......................

Okay, I just re-read that last line and I'm laughing because really I'm the one (not Everett) who better watch out as they all start motoring!!! Sometimes, like today, I seriously wonder how we'll manage three little boys moving all about, getting into everything, testing the limits of their bodies as they pull to stand and try and let go... and then when they (deep breath) try their hand at walking. Especially within an environment that has a 2 1/2 year old who wants to play with his big boy toys too, such as making long and winding train tracks for his trains and trucks to ride on (Oh how the babies LOVE to try and get at those train tracks!)

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE watching them grow and develop and I'm reminded everyday what a true blessing it is that they are each healthy, curious and engaging. Still, while I welcome each of these little phases, it can be daunting to think about how we continue to adapt their environment to be safe for them.  For example, it was just last week that Chris and I thought that lining the couch pillows up to keep the babies away from Colin's toys was so brilliant. That lasted about three days until becoming completely ineffective. Luckily, I know we are not the first family to deal with this issue and like everything else so far, I suppose we'll just figure it out as we go.....

Home

This morning, 6 a.m. and ready to play! 

Back home in Chicago!

I could hardly wait to hug and kiss my boys. 

Chris did an awesome job of caring for them as they were all still in one piece when he picked me up.

I also feel so grateful to my in-laws who took them all in, kept Chris feed and helped out with the boys.

My weekend in Salt Lake was really really nice and I'm so glad I went. My Dad was still feeling pretty good after his round of chemo on Friday so Saturday and Sunday we were able to explore the city a bit, try a yummy new restaurant, and go for a walk. 

On Monday my dad received melphalan, a wicked chemo (not that any are easy to take but this one is really no fun!) but one that will hammer the myeloma. He receives his stem cells today and then begins the slow decline into what he calls, "the valley". The only way out is through!

As we sat in the infusion room amongst many others also living with cancer and watched the cocktail of drugs slowly dripping into people's ports, I kept thinking about a few things:

1. . It sucks to watch someone you love walk through fire

2. No one gets through this life without challenges

3. While we often can't control the challenges that arise, we can choose how we respond

4. Family and friends are EVERYTHING in this life

5. Dr. Tricot rocks!

6. Huntsman Cancer Hospital is a wonderful place, filled with smart and caring staff

A few examples of why I find Huntsman exceptional:

They offer free valet parking every time you arrive and they greet you with a big smile

While in the infusion room, around noon someone walks through and says, "Mr. Mooney, what can I bring you for lunch?"

There's a wellness center with things like yoga, acupuncture, nutrition education, counseling... all free for patients and their caregivers. 

The view is incredible. 

View from just outside the infusion room

The hospital sits half way up the mountain and overlooks the whole city and valley. I only had my iphone with me so my pictures don't do it justice but trust me. If you have to be treated for cancer, you may as well have this peaceful view while undergoing the treatment. 

And because you never know who might randomly stumble across this post, I feel I should say that 

if you or someone you love is diagnosed with myeloma, there's a lot to be very hopeful about. The statistics that come up when you google myeloma often don't reflect the most current, exciting, and hopeful treatment advances that are happening every day. 

My dad's life is very full and wonderful and as soon as this most recent transplant is behind him, he'll return to it. 

Two problems with this video...

So I'm missing my babies like crazy.... but also having a great time in Salt Lake! It's SO weird to only be responsible for myself, to get a real nights sleep and not have any pacifiers, diapers or random gold fish crackers falling out of my purse.

The hospital sits on the edge of the mountain overlooking the whole city. It's beautiful! Today it was snowing like crazy, big, fat snowflakes. The best kind. My dad and I walked to the local coffee shop and sat with our warm drinks and talked without the worry of having anywhere to be. I savored every minute. In the afternoon my mom and I went swimming. The local gym gives free memberships to the caregivers of cancer patients... pretty cool I think.

When I miss the boys, I watch this video, taken Thursday night. Chris was working late and I put the babies to bed myself, with the "help" of Colin.

I've never shared a video on this blog yet, but this one is too yummy not to document!

So- the problems I have with this video....

1. The babies are only 7 months old and ALREADY fooling around and making each other laugh instead of settling down for bed. I thought they wouldn't start doing that until much later.....

2. Everett is pulling to stand!!! This was the first time he's ever done this! Time to lower the cribs....

And duh, these really aren't "problems", they're the things I've dreamed of my boys doing... staying up late talking and laughing with each other..... and being strong enough to pull to stand to see each other better.

And in case you're curious, here's what was going on in the rest of the room:

Packing my bags for Salt Lake City....

My dad is a person living with cancer. 

He's an amazing dad, fun to be around and when you talk to him, he makes you feel like what you have to say is important. 

He often mispronounces names, blares a certain news channel a little too loud for my taste, and tapes his favorite slippers together with duct tape.

When he's home and not undergoing treatment, he drives other people, those who don't have rides, to get their chemotherapy. He sits in the waiting room and waits for them, as long as it takes, then drives them home.

If you knew him, you would like him. Everybody does. 

Tomorrow I'm flying to Salt Lake City, UT to be with he and my mom as he undergoes his 3rd bone marrow transplant. 

They only give you the transplant because first they give you a lethal dose of chemo. The transplant saves your life.

Administration of the chemo and the subsequent transplant of stem cells is done completely outpatient and is almost a non-event. 

But the recovery.... that's a whole other story.

I'm nervous to leave my four babies for the weekend.... ugh, can't even think about it.

I've never been away from Colin for more than one night, two days.... and that was one time. But they will all be in good hands with my husband and in-laws. And I know I'm doing the right thing.... for me.

My dad is a person who lives life to the fullest and although the reason for this trip is certainly one I'd never choose, we're going to have a great time together. 

Always do.

Angle Dear Lovies

** Periodically I update the 'From the Trenches' page with products that we like, love or could not live without! To be clear these are just our opinions and experiences of what has worked for us.

Colin, around 20 months

This item happens to be in the category of things we COULD NOT LIVE WITHOUT! Back when Colin was born, my Aunt Judy sent him a 3 pack of these adorable giraffe blankies (or as we fondly call them, lovies). I also love that they came in a 3 pack because when we lost the first one, I didn't have to completely panic and have another shipped overnight :-) But, they come in all sorts of different animals and colors. See?

Colin's giraffe lovie, has gotten us through many car trips and nights of sleep. He just loves his giraffe. So, I knew when the triplets arrived, I needed to pick out 3 more animals.... if was a hard choice but we decided on the Monkey, the Lion, and the Puppy Dog. A dear friend of mine also bought us the cow blankie, without even knowing what a fan I was of the Angel Dear products. We love that one too!

With the triplets, it was even more important that they have comforting items to help them self-soothe and also put themselves to sleep, for the obvious reason that there are more babies than adults to help. For bedtime, the routine that worked for us early on was to swaddle them, give them their pacifier and their lovie, and place them in these. Now, their sleep routine is that we put them in their sleep sack, place them in their cribs where their pacifier and lovies are waiting.

(***before they boys had very well established rolling skills, we didn't leave the lovies unattended in their cribs... I feel like I should make that clear)

The last reason I love these is simply because they are SO soft, even when washed 1,000 times as Colin's has probably been by now.

Sneaking up on Carter. He's got the whole crib to himself, but he often prefers to curl up against one side.

Everett. What? You can't tell it's him? 

"Mom, why on earth are you taking my picture when you want me to go to sleep??"

Dear babies,

I love watching each of you grow and lately I'm noticing some big changes. 

Carter, you were the first to get a tooth. Then you got a second tooth, before either Finn of Everett even got their first.

Finn, you seemed to pop two bottom teeth seemingly overnight. Out of nowhere, suddenly there they were!

Everett, you were the first to get up on all fours and rock. You LOVE to do this. In fact, as Colin snuck into bed late last night, you happened to be up, on all fours, rocking in your crib. Go you! Although you're not crawling forward yet, you'll make some headway moving backwards.... occasionally this gets you into some sticky situations.

Carter, you were the first to sit. Lately you love to sit and play with toys, especially anything that makes noise, like rattles. You shake them wildly and laugh.

Scootin' your way into trouble

Finn, you are the master at army crawling. I'm amazed at how you can get into almost anything by slowly, steadily pulling and sliding your big belly across the floor. 

Even though you're brothers, all the same age, with the same parents, same toys and day to day experiences, you are each your own special person developing in your own way and time. I hope that as you grow, you'll embrace these differences too.

Everett, scootin' his way back into the couch

I love watching each of you as you intently watch other. Everett, you'll be rocking in one corner of the blanket, backing into the couch. Carter, you'll be shaking your loud toys as you sit just perfectly. Meanwhile, Finn, you'll be army crawling your way across the blanket trying to get at some toy- one that you probably shouldn't have. As all this is going on, you watch each other. Sometimes you stare in wonder and sometimes you just to share a smile and laugh as you continue doing your own thing.

It's almost as if you're saying to each other, "What you're doing is different than me and at the same time, pretty cool. Go us!" 

6 a.m. and doing their thing!

I hope you can can hold onto this perspective as you grow side by side, each one of you developing in your own perfect way and time.

Saturday

Today we did nothing. It was wonderful.

Colin and Chris got dressed because Chris took Colin to music class in the morning. But the babies and I, we stayed in our pajama's all day.

All of us spent the bulk of the day huddled together in the basement.

I snuggled babies while watching Chris and Colin play trains (his most FAVORITE toy of late).

I chewed on babies hands and toes and gave about a 1,000 raspberries on on fat little bellies. I couldn't get enough.

Movie time!

We rented Winnie the Pooh and watched it. Twice. Chris slept through the second time.

Chris and I pretended Colin was a ball and tossed him back and forth until our arms hurt. He kept saying, "one more time!"

I fed the babies carrots. They got EVERYWHERE.

When the kids napped, I did too. Chris packed up the cushions off our summer deck furniture.

Around 6:00, I thought maybe I should get dressed, so I did. I went upstairs and changed into new pajama's.

After the babies went to bed, Colin and I made homemade pizza.

Everett had trouble sleeping so I rocked him in the the rocking chair. He buried his head into my neck and breathed ever so softly as we rocked.

Today was filled with nothingness and yet, it was everything.

6 months, how are we managing?

****Periodically I'll try and update how we're managing the triplets plus one in case it's helpful to anyone else. 

Finley, 6 months

Since the boys just turned 7 months, I was about to write a post about how things are going and I realized that I never wrote one for 6 months.

Here's the truth. I can't hardly even remember the 6th month because that's how tired I was am.

Around the time the boys turned 6 months their sleeping habits turned a bit haywire. What I always say is that individually they are each great sleepers! Individually, they occasionally have a rough night, especially when getting a new tooth, have a cold or are experiencing some sort of developmental shift invisible to the eye but which causes their sleep pattern to go a bit wonky. I know this is a normal part of babyhood.

What I've found extremely challenging, especially around the 6 month age, is that collectively it seemed like someone was ALWAYS up. Their were nights that I'd be up from say 2 a.m. until 6 a.m with one or two babies and then the third, who'd slept well, would be up at 6 a.m. refreshed and ready to start the day.

So for us, this time period was way harder, in terms battling sleep deprivation, then when we first brought the triplets home as newborns. As you might remember, for a long time after we brought the babies home from the hospital, Chris and I slept in shifts and that worked well for us. Shifts isn't an option anymore. Early on, life seemed paused in a sense. Chris took time off work and our only focus was taking it day to day parenting our new babies and helping Colin adjust. But now, life has marched on. Life is back to a new normal and life can't be paused for the luxury of sleeping in shifts.

Around this 6 month time there were days I'd wake up after far too little sleep and think, "I just can't do it today." Maybe you've been there. And then, because the kids are calling for you, you put one foot in front of the other and you just do it. We are mothers.

Thankfully, we've had and continue to have wonderful help and support to help on many of those sleep deprived days.

There's something to be said for just getting up and putting one foot in front of the other when the days seem overwhelming and there's no break in sight. Trudging through the best you can, leaning on others who offer help (a hard one for me), and going easy on yourself (i.e. if the house is a pit and we're all still in our p.j.s when Chris arrives home from work and there's nothing to eat but raisins in the cupboard...It's OKAY).

And most of all repeating the mantra, sometimes in a 3 a.m stupor.... this too shall pass..... 

As a side note, around this time period, my friend forwarded me this post from a blog that we both enjoy. It was about all the things we as mother's try and balance in our life: Quality time with our children, cleaning the house, laundry, family meals, work, sleep, time for ourselves, date night, time with friends, exercise, etc etc etc...... and how depending on what's going on in our lives at any given time, some priorities move to the forefront and some fall behind. She likens this process to a horse race and it really resonated with me. The family dinners that I raved about at 5 months? Went right out the window for during the sleepless 6th month! I was just simply too tired. But what I love about that post, and reading other mommy blogs in general is that I realize I'm not the only one who struggles to find a balance.

That's refreshing.

It's a BOY and a BOY and a BOY!

This is a post that I meant to do a long time ago. To share with you the Triplet's birth announcement we sent out to friends and family!

The front

The back
Seeing this takes me back to this day, which seems like just yesterday

A few wonderful blessings coincided to create this announcement. Back when the boys were only a few weeks old, our friend Amy Sayre came to our home and took the most beautiful pictures.

Then my amazingly talented sister-in-law Daniela offered to create announcements for us. All I had to do was send her a few of my favorite pictures and next thing I knew I had an e-mail from her saying that she's put something together and I should let her know what I thought.

Well, when I saw what she'd created simply from a few pictures and a brief e-mail conversation, I cried.

They were beautiful and EXACTLY what I would have created..... if I had any ounce of talent or know how in this area- which, I don't!

I felt like she had read my mind.

Next thing I knew a box of the announcements showed up at my door and we were set. EASY.

All I had to do was put stamps on them and send them out.

Which took me until the boys were about 5 months old! And now it's taken me this long to post it on my blog! If you have kids, you might understand how this can happen. Unless you're suzy on top of things. In that case, I don't know what to say.

Daniela's company is called Momento Design and has won awards for it's fabulousness. She works with clients all over the U.S and Canada and is AMAZING at what she does, which are custom invitations, announcements and stationary. We will definitely be doing our Christmas cards through her! (and I secretly have a great idea for the picture, hee hee)

Check out her website:

And her blog:

A Dr. Seuss Halloween!

I introduce you to The Cat in the Hat and Thing 1, Thing 2, and Thing 3!

The "Things", left to right, Carter, Everett and Finn

This is my favorite picture from the day, capturing a "keepin' it real" moment between brothers! 

Couldn't resist

My mom sent the book, "The Cat in the Hat" last week so that we could read it to Colin each night in preparation for Halloween. She's always thinking like that....

Turns out it was a great idea because by the end of the week, he was very excited to be the Cat in the Hat.

I'd also forgotten what a great book it is! 

Miss Olive

Taz, looking thrilled.

Even the dogs got into it! 

Okay so we made them :-) But I'm pretty sure they were happy to be a part of the group and sniffing around the neighborhood. 

The crew, off to score some loot!

Babies outfits found here

Colin's hat is just like this one, although for some strange reason I can't find the original seller

Colin's costume we got off Amazon, found here

The dog's costumes found here, Olive size small, Taz size extra large :-)