Christmas 2012

Finally I'm posting some pictures from Christmas. As I've said, the boys were sick for much of the holiday but we still managed to have fun (and unfortunately, unknowingly expose our loved ones to the flu!). Sorry! We thought it was just a cough....

After this lovely morning, we headed to the Millers. The boys got to spend time with their cousins from Canada which they're always so excited about! Here are the Miller cousins by the tree.... although I had a pretty hard time getting any of them to look at me :)

Colin, Adrian, Gabe, Carter, Finn, Everett

My guys! You can tell that Colin is starting to not feel well.....

 Opening gifts on Christmas Eve.

On Christmas day, thinking that Colin was getting better, we heading up to my parents house. Probably not the best move since all the boys started throwing up after only a day there. But during that short window of time where everyone seemed pretty healthy, we had fun. Taking a cousin's picture at my parent's house proved just as hard. haha

Macy, Colin, Everett, Carter, Finn. We were bribing them to sit with Pirate Booty, which is why they all have their mouths full!



The boys got water bottles, just like big brother Colin uses... and thought they were hot stuff. Oh my goodness, they were so excited about these "big boy" water bottles!

Carter, still clutching his water bottle, with my Dad.

If you have to be sick in bed, nice to have a lovely Christmas tree by your side. My mom always put a Christmas tree by each of our beds growing up.... a tradition that continues to this day.

Waffles heal all?

Brothers- in good times and when fighting the flu

Not a lot of blogging going on because we are STILL not well in this house! The boys were healthy for about five minutes before Colin (and myself too this time) caught another flu bug. The above picture was taken when all the boys were sick though. I was heading upstairs and saw my camera laying there (never a good spot to leave your camera....) so I went to pick it up and take it back to my room when I saw Colin lean over to comfort Finn. One of those moments that as a mom makes your heart swell a bit. I love when I see them care for one another, in between fighting over toys. They didn't even notice me quickly snap their picture. Poor Everett, he was so sick. Thanks in large part to being a preemie, he somehow always has the most respiratory involvement whenever illness strikes our home. He was so miserable. 

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Last night was the BCS bowl game. We were SO excited to cheer on the Irish. 

Finn wore his football onesie under his green outfit all day.

Everett wore his ND hat, on an off. 

My brother Gavin was at the game and sent a video to Colin from outside the stadium, which Colin watched about fifty times. 

Yup, we all couldn't wait for this game!

And then we realized that ESPN wasn't going to stream the game online... a BIG problem for us because we don't get cable. (We've been trying life with only a Roku box). 

There was a bit of panic (okay, A LOT of panic) in the Miller household, along with the thought about whether to take the boys to the bar down the street (ruled out for many reasons including the fact that's a completely INSANE idea). The game didn't even start until 8:30, well past bedtime.

So Chris kept trying to figure out a way.

Notice what is happening in the background as Chris tries again and again to find the game online....

Those trips.... they are always up to mischief, especially when we are distracted. Poor Colin is on the couch, too sick to participate in the naughtiness. :(

Silly boys.

We ended up watching the game by skyping my father in law and watching it through the camera on his computer. The quality was pretty good actually and it was fun to feel like we were watching the game with my in-laws, who are huge ND fans.... although by now you know how the game ended.

Painfully and poorly for Notre Dame.

This morning we drown our sorrows in waffles (actually the boys didn't even know or care the results of the game). Plus Colin was home sick from school and not enthusiastic about much of anything.

I think when I told Colin that ND lost, his response was something like, "Oh"

Someday you'll care though boys.... I just know it. You are your father's sons.

ND blood runs deep in your veins.

Happy New Year!

Pizza delivery

Movie

My husband and I sharing a blanket and a bowl of ice cream

In bed by 11:30

Sound exciting?? 

It was perfect

On New Years day the babies got up at 6 a.m. thanks to Finn who has an internal alarm clock like no one I've ever known!

When I woke up, I realized that Colin was smack in between Chris and I. Somehow he'd made his way from his bed, down the hall and climbed into our bed and neither of us had even realized it. This was a first. New year, new trick for him I guess.

It was my turn to get up with the babies so I brought them downstairs and told each of them, "Happy New Year", but all they wanted were bottles. 

Fair enough. All I wanted was coffee.

They laid around me and drank their bottles (which they can hold all by themselves now- hallelujah! If you have multiples you know what a helpful milestone this is). I drank my coffee.

I felt such happiness, such deep thankfulness.

All those New Years I spent staying out super late and then sleeping in super late, likely nursing a hangover?

pic taken one early morning last week at my parents house

This is way better.

Our big accomplishment on New Years day was bathing all the boys. It was quite a sight. For some reason we choose to do this in the smallest bathroom we have and it snowballed into quite a circus. There seemed to be naked babies everywhere, squirming as we tried to dress them. Dressing 9 month olds.... not so easy. All they want to do is move! Colin sat with a towel wrapped tightly around him yelling, "I'm too cold!"

I'm so excited and optimistic about the coming year. 2011 was a big year for us and I'm still sort of processing it all. 

I had three babies.

Sometimes at night when I sneak into the kids room before I go to bed, I look at them, all sleeping differently, in their own preferred, predictable positions and it still doesn't seem real,

I had three babies last year


Then I look at my sweet boy sleeping in his big boy bed next to the cribs and think, I have four sons....  What a huge responsibility. 

Over this past year so many people have stepped up to help us, pray for us, and encourage us in ways that will continue to inspire me to try and be better, for the rest of my life.

I'm not much of a resolutions person, but patience and organization always seem to be at the top of my list of what I'm striving to improve upon these days.

Most of all I enter 2012 with such deep gratitude. Life with triplets plus one brings really good days and really hard days, but even on the hard days I know how lucky we are and I never loose sight of that.... never.

If there's one big lesson that I'll carry with me from this past year it's that how you approach each day with your kids is a choice. The moment our feet hit the floor running, we can decide what our attitude will be and this can make all the difference. In our home, every single day seems to involve some level of chaos and stress just because of what goes into providing and caring for triplets plus one. Chris and I find that if we choose to approach the day with a sense of humor, thankfulness and joy, well then everything just feels easier and more manageable. We stumble...... often. But this is always what we come back to. We choose. 

   

Merry Christmas from the Millers!

Sunday afternoon, during the short window between naps when everybody is up, we attempted to take a photo for the Christmas card.

Wow. Not so easy getting a 2 1/2 year old and three 8 month olds to cooperate and smile at the camera- all at the same time!

This picture pretty much says it all

Can't you just see it?

Merry Christmas from the Millers!

But it's my favorite picture from the day because seriously, it's the most realistic.

Four boys going every which way, each could care less that mommy wants "ONE NICE PICTURE FOR THE CHRISTMAS CARD!!!!! IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK?!" Not that those words were coming out of my mouth or anything....

as a side note, it turns out you really can't reason with 8 month olds.... or a 2 year old for that matter.

More pics from this delightful photo shoot in future post :-)

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Earlier in the weekend, Chris and I snuck away- overnight away!- to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary. 

It was so wonderful and even though we were barely away for even 24 hours, it truly felt like a vacation. 

We went to our favorite hole in the wall martini spot to grab a drink, then had a long leisurely dinner at The Green Zebra. If you are a vegetarian (or even if not!) you would love it. 

This place holds great memories for us. It's were we went for dinner to celebrate after I told Chris I was pregnant with Colin.

We also slept 12 hours straight!!!!! That's two night's sleep for me! 

Then we grabbed brunch, wrote out our x-mas list of "to gets" for all our loved ones on the paper table cloth and returned to our boys. 

Colin hugged us like we'd been away for a week. And it sort of felt that way. We were happy for the break and happy to be back home where we belong. 

*** Special thanks to my amazing mother in law and sister in law who took such good care of our boys.

A new chapter

At first the triplets slept in the basement.

Eventually they made their way up to our bedroom where they've been every since. One baby sleeps in Colin's old crib and the other two sleep in pack n plays. Although I like having my babies close, it's hard having them in our bedroom. For one, there never seems to be an end to the day, when I can walk into my bedroom, close the door and unwind from the day. Instead, we'd tip toe into the room, keep all the lights off and fall asleep listening to the sounds of my babies sleeping. On one hand I love hearing those sweet little baby sounds, but on the other hand, it's caused me to get a very poor nights rest for....well, as far back as I can remember.

Thursday night I was beyond exhausted by the time I quietly crawled into bed. Right on cue one of the babies heard me and woke up. What followed was what you might call, a MOMM moment. Mother Of Multiples Meltdown. No tears, but a lot of over the top statements about how I. CAN'T. GO. ANOTHER. DAY. WITHOUT. SLEEP!!! I'd hit my breaking point. Clearly we needed to figure out out a way for the babies to be out of our room. It was time.

The only problem is we that live in the middle of a city and for us that means small living quarters. Our little Chicago bungalow only has two bedrooms on the top floor. Chris and I and the babies have been in one room and Colin in the other. Until last Friday, we'd never considered putting all the kids together in Colin's room.

I mean, it wouldn't work, right???

The babies would wake up Colin during nap time and in the middle of the night. His room is only 9 x 12 and besides, it was Colin's room first. Colin would be traumatized by the babies encroaching on even more of his space.... right?

But we were desperate to try something. So we did. Friday night Chris and his little helper Colin broke down the crib and pack n plays and moved them into Colin's room. I waited for the meltdown from Colin that I was sure would come.

It didn't.

He was fine about it all. Dare I say he was even excited about the brothers moving in with him.

That night, I had the best nights rest that I've had in as far back as I can remember. The babies slept better too.... practically through the night. It was such a success, that I drove straight to Target on Saturday and bought two more cribs and all the bedding to boot.

Saturday night Everett and Carter both slept almost 12 hours straight. Finn got up just once for a bottle. And I got to walk into our bedroom, actually turn on the lights and the t.v. and read before bed. It was amazing and rejuvenating.

Saturday and Sunday afternoon we offered that Colin could nap in our bed (usually what he always asks to do) because we worried that the babies would wake him since they take a much shorter nap. To my shock he responded, "No. Sleep with babies!" So that's what he did. And you know what? It was fine. The babies woke up and he continued sleeping.

I continue to be pleasantly surprised that the things I often worry the most about, are the very things that more often than not, end up being no big deal. I was SO worried about how Colin would react to the brothers moving in, and yet, he was thrilled and welcoming. I was worried it would be too close quarters but it seems kind of cozy and hey, they're brothers.

I'm thinking this is going to be a good move for all.

Cozy

Sometimes all you need is a good laugh....

Whoa! 

Everett and Carter had me up way too late last night.

Finn, per usual, announced that he was up for the day by singing at the top of his lungs. It was 4:45 a.m.

Colin was sick today. All stuffy and snotty and coughing and warm.

Then Everett suddenly transformed into a stuffy nosed, coughing, congested little man.

They were dropping like flies.

Nap time was a disaster. They all desperately needed naps but could not seem to sleep.

All Colin wanted was for me to hold him and rock him while he watched Elmo.

And all I wanted was to clone myself for the afternoon so that I could rock and hold Colin as he asked, and also rock and hold my other little sickie and play with Finn and Carter who's noses seemed to also get runnier as the afternoon wore on.

Bedtime turned into an almost 3 hour process. Nobody seemed to feel good and everybody was crabby from not having good naps.

I told Chris that I was ready to "cry it out". He thought I was talking about the boys.

I was talking about me.

I said that I needed to get off the carnival ride, even if just for a few minutes! So he stayed with the babies and I went to open a bottle of wine.

Just as I'd screwed in the wine opener and tucked in the corner to pull out the cork, the opener somehow broke in half.

REALLY?!

I carried up the wine with the broken corkscrew sticking out of the top and proclaimed to Chris that this might just be the straw that breaks the camels back and sends me to the looney farm.

He could tell I wasn't joking.

So he said, "Stay with the babies while I go get something to fix it".

So I did.

Then he returned and stated, "What you need to fix it is downstairs in the kitchen"

Super!

I entered the kitchen to find an assortment of pliers lined up next to the bottle of wine.

Seriously.

Truthfully they scared me, so I waited for Chris.

When the boys were all finally asleep, I stepped back and watched Chris work his magic.

Let me tell you, watching Chris wrestle this wine bottle open as if the sanity of his wife depended on it, was just what I needed to feel like I'd stepped off the crazy carnival ride of mommyhood for a moment.

I laughed out loud until I couldn't breath and was thankful for a husband who will do whatever it takes to get his wife that glass of wine!

As the old adage goes, laughter really is the best medicine.

Thank you broken wine bottle opener.


***** As you might notice, this blog was recently accepted as part of the BlogHer publishing network which I'm really excited about! However, I'm not entirely pleased with the layout of their advertising (i.e. the one plastered across the top). Please excuse the mess, when the kids noses stop running, I hope to work out a few of these kinks!