Last few August Pics

These are just a few random pictures from the end of August.

My dad arrived after they sat down to eat snacks. When they heard his voice in the kitchen, they all had to poke around the corner to see what the commotion was about. How cute is this? They love their Papa!

Marie's milk beard.

Abby makes a funny face every time she sees the camera, but it's not always the same face. She has so many silly expressions.

Another one-she's sporting a black bean goatee in this pic. Yes, they are all over her face. Do you now understand why most of the pictures with them in their high chairs they are topless? After too many food stains, we learned our lesson.

Here is Will getting all jacked up for the Dawgs game. He's saying, "Yeah, bitches, we're #1!"

Here he is after the game. Not so happy. I have a picture of Billy with the exact same expression. Ha!

Marie and Abby sported adorable game day outfits, compliments of Marmie!
The static electricity from the plastic pool had the girls experiencing a bad hair day!

Triplet Q&A

So there is a whole series of questions that are typically asked when I say have triplets or when people see me with the trio. Here is the list of FAQ, along with my responses (well, some are embellishments of what I actually say. I wish I said all of this sometimes)....

Q: How do you do it?
A: I just do. What's the alternative? Ignore them? Hope they figure things out on their own? You take one day at a time, and you just figure it the eff out. That's it.

Q: Do you have help?
A: Yes, tons. That's part of how I "do it." My family, Billy's family, our friends, etc....everyone pitches in. I don't know how people do it without the support that we have.

Q: Do you sleep?
A: Not much. I'm not a very pleasant person some days after a particularly bad night, but I've adjusted to having very little sleep. I'm hoping that when they are teenagers and sleep a lot, I'll have my turn to catch up also. Until then, I suck it up....and I drink a lot of coffee.

Q: Do multiples run in your family?
A: Do you think I don't realize this is your sneaky way of asking me if I did some sort of medical intervention? I've got you figured out. I may be sleep-deprived, but I'm not stupid. No, they don't run in my family. In fact, here's the story. My eggs had issues so I had to opt for egg donation, and not just from a stranger, but from my sister! Yes, these babies are actually from donated eggs from my sister plus sperm from my husband! I did in-vitro to have them. We went through 2 failed cycles, and on the third we put in 3, and holy shit, they all took. Blah, blah, blah...I continue on and on with details about in-vitro, how it differs from insemination, etc. I put it all out there until they are bored to death so that maybe, the questions will not continue. However, that rarely happens. It usually goes on.

Q: Were you shocked when you found out?
A: Again, this is a sneaky way of asking if I had in-vitro because people know that if you do some sort of infertility treatment, you have an idea that multiples are a possibility. Anyway, I say, "well we knew it was a possibility because," and I start at "here's the story" from the previous Q&A.

Q: My sister's cousin's best-friend's 3rd grade teacher has triplets. Do you know her?
A: Shit yeah I do. I know pretty much everyone with triplets. There's a secret society, and we get together all the time. Her name is Anne, right? WTF?

Q: Sometimes, it's more like my sister's cousin's best-friend's 3rd grade teacher has triplets, and they are 4 now. Then, they stare blankly at me.
A: What am I supposed to say? Awesome for your sister's cousin's best-friend's 3rd grade teacher!

The most common comment we get is, "You sure have your hands full." Yeah, we have both our hands full, and there's still a baby left over! Our hands, our hearts, our home, everything is full...except our wallets-those are empty.

I'm not writing any of this to make you feel bad if you have asked this before. I just find it humorous that we hear these questions again and again. I don't mind answering these questions most of the time, but sometimes, I just want to run my errand, mind my business, have a conversation with my husband, etc....not talk to a stranger about his/her sister's cousin's best-friend's 3rd grade teacher.

However, close friends and family always want the good info! The questions I get asked most often from them are "What are they doing now?" and "Tell me about their personalities." Therefore, I need to devote a few posts to those, more important and interesting issues! They are all so different and becoming such little people. I have to work on a post for each baby to give individual updates, praise, and attention.

More sleep talking

The last few nights have been a little rough with sleep. There's just so much to do, and I find myself staying up late to get everything done. Then, I have to wake up early and work. This full-time schedule is getting to me.

Anyway, a couple of nights ago, I feel asleep in bed with Will around 8. He was being fussy and wouldn't fall asleep. I think he was just jacked up because the evening had been action packed, and he was having a hard time winding down. Hurricane York (Cooper, Carley, and Chloe) had blown through our house that night, and they had brought along all the madness that accompanies their visits.

Liane and Jason brought over some pizzas, and the babies were going nuts eating it. I was chasing them around in the family room while eating a slice, and then, they all came up to me with their mouths open begging for some. Before I knew it, I was being attacked by all three of them, and they had eaten their way through 2 or 3 slices of my pizza! This was after they had already had their regular dinner. What a bunch of little piggies.

I was holding out a slice for Will to take a bite when all of the sudden, a black figure moved through, and the slice was gone. Winnie was back in action. She ate 3/4 of a slice without even chewing it. Everyone in the room was in awe of her ability to suck down food. Unfortunately, once she got a taste for Papa John's, she wanted more, and Carley was the next victim. Poor Carley was walking around, eating a slice, and trying her damnedest to avoid Winnie because Winnie scares the crap out of her, but Winnie was stalking her, and when she got her opportunity, she chased her down and stole her slice of pizza. Carley was pissed! She got another slice, but after that, she refused to put her feet down on the floor at our house. She had to be held.

Back to later that night....I fell asleep while putting Will to sleep, and I was passed out until 11:30 when Billy came to see where I was. Yes, it took him 3 1/2 hours to realize I was missing. He was very busy drafting his fantasy football players. I then got up and got ready for bed, but I wasn't able to go back to sleep for about an hour.

Then, the next night, Billy's dad came by, and he locked his keys in his car. He didn't realize it until late, and he had to call AAA to come out. By the time they arrived, it was 11:30. I was already in bed, and of course, so were the babies. However, when they popped the lock, his alarm went off, and I woke up, along with Will. He went back to sleep a few minutes later, but it took me a little bit.

I was working from home the next day so I knew I could sleep a little later than usual, and I was looking forward to a solid night of sleep. However, Billy decided he was going to wake me up not once, but twice with his stupid sleep talking episodes. It's been a while since he's done it, so I guess he was due.

The first time, he grabbed my leg, and said, "Who is this?" I was like, "It's my leg." He said, "No, it's Abby. Are you sure it's not Abby?" I said, "No, I can feel it, and it's my leg. You have your hand on my leg." He said, "Okay," and was back off to sleep.

A few hours later, he said, "What's with all this juice?" I asked, "What juice?" He then tried to explain that there was juice all over his side of the bed. I told him there was no juice, and he asked, "Are you sure?" Of course I was sure. It was 4 a.m., and who the hell would have put juice in our bed? When I asked him about it in the morning, he said he vaguely remembered the juice thing, and he thought he was asking about beef juice? What is beef juice? That makes even less sense now. He's so weird.

I hope that he got that out of his system and that I can get some uninterrupted sleep soon!

Stolen Identity?

Warning: This post contains some cuss words. It's absolutely essential to the story, and I'm not saying it (well, sometimes it's me), it's just quotes. This is always how Drew justifies cussing. When he feels like saying a bad word, he'll tell you about a quote from a movie, and that makes it all okay. That kids sure is smart when he wants to be.

So Vivian enjoys some expensive things in life. She's never been one to wait for a sale to buy her clothes, shoes, furniture, accessories, etc. If she wants something, poof, she buys it. I sometimes buy something on the clearance rack and then get home and still feel guilty that I paid too much. Did I really need that shirt that was originally $80 and was marked down to $9.99? Yes, I stress about $9.99! Vivian, on the other hand, not so much.

Anyway, she decided she would have her hair chemically straightened. She has naturally curly hair, and it does get pretty big and crazy some days. She decided it was time to calm it down a bit so she opted for some ridiculously priced hair procedure. She also needed highlights at the time. Therefore, off she went to an insanely expensive Buckhead salon (Julio Cesar for those local folks who read the blog).

An army of people work on her hair. Different people wash it, highlight, lo-light, dry, straighten, etc. Therefore, when the bill comes, her hair plus all of the various tips comes out to around $700! Are you thinking I mistyped that figure? I didn't! It's over $700! Here is where I cuss...Holy Shit!

Liane was the one who told me this whole story, and when she gave me the total, she said, "I haven't spent $700 on my hair in the last 7 years." Amen, sister. What kind of insanity is this? Is the straightening solution made of liquid gold? Again, I have to repeat, Holy Shit!

Vivian pulls out her amex card and does some quick calculations in her head. The charge won't hit on this month's bill so she'll have another month to come up with an explanation for Paul (her husband). Then, Mr. Julio says, "Oh, we don't take amex." Now, Vivian has to pull out her checkcard, which means the charge will hit immediately, and she's got some explaining to do.

A little later, she receives a call from Paul who is going on like a mad man about how their identity has been stolen...."Someone stole our effing identity and made a huge charge to our account. Shit, I think it was our yard guy. Our yard guy stole our effing identity. Isn't our yard guy named Julio Cesar?"

Vivian corrects him and tells him that the yard guy is actually Carlos Ortiz. Side note: It's hilarious that a man married to a woman with the maiden name Rodriguez thinks that all Spanish names sound the same. We're all just a bunch of crazy Mexicans, right?

She then goes on to explain that Julio Cesar is where she just got her hair done, and the charge is from them. Paul is then relieved, and he says, "Oh. Well, call them and tell them they made a mistake. They put the decimal in the wrong place. The charge is like $700. "

Imagine his shock when she tells him that the charge is actually correct. At least it was her birthday weekend when this all happened so she was able to try to pull it off as her birthday present.

Vivian then showed up at my dad's house last week with curly hair. Liane and I were all like "WTF? Did you pay $700 for two weeks of straight hair?!" She said it's not as curly as before. I told her she should have stick straight hair for a lifetime for $700.

5 1/2 weeks

No, I'm not 5 1/2 weeks pregnant. If I was, I would have to quickly erase the previous post that says I don't want more kids because I wouldn't want that kid to read it and say, "I was an accident?! You didn't want me?!" Then, you have to go into all the b.s. about how they weren't an accident, and you love them very much, blah, blah, blah. This would surely land that kid in therapy for life. As it is, the kids we currently have may develop issues with understanding the whole "who's my mommy?" thing. I'm going to have to think about how I'm going to explain all that craziness to them.

I heard my parents give Liane the "you weren't an accident" speech. Although, it really was something more like this:

My dad: "I thought your mom was taking her birth control."
My mom: "You weren't an accident; I planned you. Your dad didn't really know about my plan, but it wasn't really an accident."

We always kidded with Liane that she was Mexican because my mom got knocked up there when we were on vacation. She's Montezuma's Revenge!

Anyway, back to the 5 1/2 weeks. This is actually the amount of time that Winne was healthy post-surgery before her other knee blew out. Yes, now she has torn the ACL on the other leg. The vet told us to expect that it would happen sooner or later, but c'mon now, 5 1/2 weeks? It's now time for another $3,000 surgery and 3 more months of recovery. This is going to suck big time-AGAIN!

Again, Alice went back to her suggestion of putting Winnie down. However, after having invested $3K in her just a few months ago, I'm not willing to give up on her. A friend of mine (hi, Lori!) said that when it happened to her brother's dog for a second time, her dad suggested amputating the leg. She said that was "old school" for you. That's not an option I'm willing to consider either. UGA Vet School...here comes Winnie.

Nature's Cruel Joke

Wouldn't it just be my luck that after having an irregular period, no ovulation, infertility, etc. for 3 years, it just takes having triplets to normalize my body's menstrual cycle? Yes, that's right, I'm now Miss Normal period with a 30 day cycle. How could this be?

Now this has me thinking that maybe we should just try for one baby. A little guy or girl that is actually conceived the old fashioned way and grows all alone in my uterus. Wouldn't that be something? If you are reading this and think I'm serious, you don't know me well. I don't really want another baby! I'm thrilled with what I have. These babies make me incredibly happy and exhausted. I wouldn't push the limits.

Besides, my husband just had his ball sack cut to avoid this whole situation. What if I now turned to him and said I changed my mind. He would kill me.

Here are some shots of my perfect little family:

Marie shoving baby cheetos in her mouth with her feet propped up on her little table. This kid is a class act.

Will hiding in his favorite corner with his devil eyes. Maybe I should do some red eye reduction. Who has time for all that crazy photo-shop business?

Will looking through the rails going up the stairs at Marmie's. Yes, that's right, they climb stairs. I didn't think they could climb stairs, but off they went, and very quickly might I add. Scary!

Abby's little smiling faces kills me. Look at those silly little teeth. She is insanely adorable!

A couple of weeks ago, they all got into this hat thing. They wanted to wear hats. They had3 or 4 of them out, and they would trade them and pose with them on their heads. Will looked particularly fetching in the one that Marie is wearing here when it was his turn. Billy is not thrilled about the cross-dressing I do to that poor boy some days. I have to keep assuring him that a few little girly outfits, hair bows, etc. will not turn him gay.

They remove the plastic lidsoff their clothing bins, sit on them, and wait for a sucker to come along and push them around. Their combined weight is pretty heavy. I can't push for long, and they get mad at me when I give up.

Nobody keeps a bib on during meal times. I end up doing multiple wardrobe changes every day. Here is Abby removing her bib and putting it on her head.
We went to a friend's birthday party at Monkey Joe's, and the kids loved it. Here's Abby doing her famous finger point inside one of the jumpy things. She points at everything and says, "Dat." Well, she does have one word she knows well. She points at Winnie and says, "DOG" very clearly.

Here's the trio sitting in the middle of one of the jumpy things trying to figure out what is going on. Once they realized it was so bouncy, they crawled around like crazy and had a blast.

They are very into examining the mechanics of everything. They want to know how everything works. They look very closely at the gate, including the latch where we open and close it, their toys, basically anything and everything. Once they do figure out how it all works, we'll be in big trouble.

Belated thank yous

Having triplets takes a toll on your body, but what really gets me is the effect it has had on my mind. I just don't have it all quite "together" yet. I think it's because I'm constantly thinking of a million things...the kids, Billy, my job, my dissertation, what I'm going to make for dinner, how long since I did laundry, who's taking a baby this weekend, etc., etc. When your thoughts are split in a million directions, some things end up slipping through the cracks. A while ago, I discovered a major slip that I feel badly about, but I'm sure it won't be the last time something like this happens.

After the kids were baptized, I had Billy find our box of thank you notes. I wasn't sure where it was, and he dug around for a while and came back with it. I opened the box to discover tons of envelopes labeled with names and cards in them. What happened here? I suddenly remembered that these were the thank you notes I had written soon after the babies were born to thank everyone who gave us stuff during the homestretch, at the hospital, and soon after we got the babies home. In my lack of sleep, drained of breast milk stupor, I must have put them aside, thinking I would mail them but never did. Way to go, Leslie!

I wasn't sure at that point what I should do. I thought it might be too weird to mail them because: a) I don't recall anything I wrote in any of them, and with the state of mind I was in, it could be anything, and b) is it totally weird to get a thank you months after sending a gift? At that point, you probably don't even remember giving the person anything.

I thought that maybe I should write a little note on the back of the envelopes saying "I wrote this soon after the babies were born. I don't remember what it says, and I'm sorry I didn't get it to you sooner, but thank you for the gift." I thought that would be awkward also because it's like saying, "I don't know what you gave me, but we probably used it by now. I don't know what we used it for, but I'm sure it worked." That doesn't seem like a proper thank you.

I decided to write a post here instead. I figured most of the folks who gave us gifts during that time probably read this blog, and I could give them a good explanation of what happened. Therefore, if you did not receive a thank you note from me for something you gave me, please understand that I am incredibly thankful for whatever it was you gave the babies and/or me. I used everything. I returned very few things, and even if I returned something, I got Babies R Us credit, which I've used to buy diapers, food, wipes, etc. Your gift and/or meal was appreciated, but more than that, I am so thankful that you thought of us!

I apologize for my rudeness, but I'm hoping that Year 1 in the life of the triplets entitles me to a "free pass" on being rude. I may not answer e-mails, phone calls, texts, evites, etc. It's not because I'm avoiding you. It's because my life is so full of insanity, that I don't even want to drag you into it. I don't know when things will slow down, but when/if they do, I can't wait to gather my thoughts, stop being rude, and reconnect with friends. When will these kids start preschool already?