Downward dog, anyone?
They’re almost 9 months old. You know this wasn’t set up.
(I know approximately two yoga poses. Maybe three. Don’t hate if this is sooooo not downward dog. Blame the babies. It isn’t my mistake – they obviously just aren’t doing it right.)
I know movies and TV shows always talk about the “What I did on summer vacation” assignments when school starts, but I honestly don’t remember doing any of my own.
ANYWAY.
I-77 South seems to be closed from Ohio to North Carolina, so we loaded the trio and headed “up north” to introduce Toby, Eleanor and Callista to our extended family and friends back home in Northeast Ohio, where Rob and I were born and raised.
The trip went amazingly well. The babies did a fantastic job in the van and didn’t complain much until the return trip, when we were almost home and they were SO OVER being strapped into their seats for so long. We couldn’t blame them.
Lessons learned:
No amount of Purell can keep family germs away. I’m currently snuffling my way through this entry, having caught my first illness since the babies were born. I hung out in a hospital for 2.5 months and didn’t get sick. I spent two days with family and can’t breathe.
Awesome.
It’s really difficult to take enough photos when you’re wrangling three small busybodies. I’ll be assigning my camera to someone else, someone who is sitting and watching and not chasing around/propping up/soothing/passing/wiping babies.
Don’t forget the PumpEase. Let’s just say pumping in the backseat of a big van, sitting between two hungry babies while we bump down country roads … well, it certainly testes tested (holy hilarious typo, batman) my coordination and grip. I realized I had left it before we left our neighborhood, but I said, “Meh, I’ll be OK without it.” Ha.
Highlights:
The babies met a great
And two great-greats
(lighting changes were too much for me to keep up with)
(also, Eleanor is missing from the second set because she wasn’t in the visiting mood.)
Toby thinks sand on his toes is yucky and waves are scary.
Eleanor and Callista didn’t want to touch Lake Erie, but they thought watching it was pretty fun.
Lake Erie scared Toby to sleep on Daddy,
and it wound Callista up.
It wasn’t the same beach where Rob and I were married, but it was the same body of water. Putting the babies’ toes in Lake Erie – their first encounter with water other than their baths – was pretty special. They’ll grow up boating on Lake Norman, but their first was where we grew up.
I realized recently that I’ve made peace with my babies’ birth.
There is no point in holding a grudge against my body. I’ve forgiven it
There is no point in holding a grudge against myself. I didn’t choose their premature birthdate.
There is no point in wishing the babies hadn’t needed to fight so hard so early in life. Their battle scars don’t run deep.
There is no point in feeling badly for our different experience. Differences make life more interesting.
Things happened in their own way, not at all as I had planned, but so did our entire family-growing experience.
I never planned on the physical and emotional pain of a battle with infertility. I never planned on triplets.
Plans are for suckers. All that matters is that life is good, no matter how events take place.
The lighting didn’t agree with me and the babies had no interest in anything but their own agendas.
But they’re cute. And I love them more than you’ll ever know.
And they finally fit into the onesies stitched for them by the wonderfully talented Katherine.
Time hasn’t been my friend this week – free time, at least. I have much to share, much to tell and much to ask. The babies had their first encounter with the duck tub this week, and I vowed bending over a tub (whether you’re sitting or standing) is for the birds. I’d rather be in the tub with them. Or, you know, hosing them down in the back yard.
NOT THAT I’D REALLY DO THAT. (OK, I may consider it.)
On top of our normal daily business has been a new time suck for the week – preparing for our first roadtrip as a family of five. Oof! We’re packing for a whirlwind trip to NE Ohio, where Rob and I were born and raised and where much of our family still lives. It’ll be quick and we hope it’s painless, but more importantly, we hope it’s fun.
See you next week!
This was from more than a week ago, but I completely forgot about it! I dressed the babies in special outfits for my birthday, but I didn’t remember to take a photo before Callista yarfed avocado down her sleeve and Eleanor soaked her shirt in drool.
Babies.
But! I was browsing through my mom’s camera and found this, taken right after dressing them that morning.
Cuuuute!
Instead of sleeping in, we snack on each other’s heads.
And we get in each other’s way.
And we spread out.
But we’re doing more for ourselves lately.
Sometimes we hold hands and gossip.
Look! Mommy caught us all together!
