1st Christmas...post from mom

Christmas is over. I'm sure there probably should be a million pictures here of all the gifts and fun we all had but that would be way too original for my liking. We had fun. Yes - we are blessed. Pete and I have 3 beautiful and healthy girls. For this - we are beyond thankful. We are also thankful for the people who are here most to help with the everyday upbringing of the girls. I'm back to work and it's not easy to walk out the door everyday - but it sure does make the day go a lot smoother when I know the girls are being taken care of by people that love them dearly. So here's a personal thanks to my mom, Pete's mom, Donna (from Church), Jenn (a friend of mine for 20 years now) & my little brother.

Christmas is over (I said this right?). We had 3 Christmas gatherings this year. And for the most part all was well. 1st Xmas was here at home, 2nd was at Pete's parents house and the 3rd was up in MA. Thank God it's over. By no means is this post a complaint in any way. I am just putting out there that our life is crazy and when Holiday's are added to the mix of things it just makes it that much crazier. Christmas #1 and #2 were great. Things went well and the girls were still on their schedule which made things a lot easier. As a family however; we ruined Christmas #3. How can we ruin Christmas? Easily! You see...we show up, the girls cry for 3 hours straight and we leave. Now for the explanation...this might be long so get comfy...

The girls are now 10 months old. When I was home with them we would leave the house almost on a daily basis. Now that I'm back to work - I barely get home in time to get them to bed...so our outings have been drastically reduced in numbers. Not a bad thing since it's winter and we still do have to "worry" about RSV. I don't dwell on it because it's not something most people even know about...never mind actually understand the depth and consequences of it. So when we do get out of the house it's a bit overwhelming for the girls at times. Add to that a good number of people in one strange location after a long ride in the car...and you have a recipe for disaster. The icing? That would be that the girls have learned object permanence and along with that comes stranger anxiety. GREAT! So here we are - Christmas #3 and all the girls want is mommy & daddy and their own cribs to sleep in. But what we offer them is a handful of family members willing and wanting to hold them, play with them and coddle them in every which way shape and form. So how does this look to the outsider who doesn't really know how the girls are so very independant and well behaved at home? I'll tell you. It looks like we have 3 spoiled rotten little brats that want nothing to do with anybody and who are screaming their little heads off but somehow find the "off" button when mommy picks them up. And of course I pick them up because they're screaming their poor little heads off and I can't take seeing them like that! The girls have their moments and they're not angels 100% of the time. But 99.9% of the time they are. So when they have a triplet meltdown due to circumstances that are beyond their control I tend to do whatever it takes to make them feel more comfortable and most of the time that means picking them up and holding them. And if that means that to other people they "look" like little brats who only want mommy then so be it. I don't care. We left Christmas #3 with 4 of us crying...as the saying goes "If you can't beat 'em - join 'em!" and that's what I did. I felt so horrible for how they were feeling and the situation at hand that we ended up leaving and I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye! Lucky for me this was family and hopefully they'll understand. I plan on making more trips up there with the girls (God only knows if we'll ever be invited back!) so that they can get to know this part of my family more. Pete and I are exhausted. Christmas is over - Thank God.

Now for the pics. Hannah has a new "camera" face. Anytime she sees the camera she makes her "mad" face. So most of the pics are going to be Hannah and her new camera face. I love it.

Mom