Vacation? Try misery!

Lesson of the Day: (or week, rather) Bear Lake is no place for 8 month old triplets. Dave's family spent a week up at Bear Lake this week and we had planned to go spend 4 days with them. A couple of days before leaving, I was feeling like I should just let Dave and boys go and me stay home with the babies. Haylee was up at girls' camp the same days of Bear Lake, so she had plans. Thursday morning, I decided that I was just being a party pooper if I didn't go, so I decided to brave it and go. Mistake.

The first hurdle was the extra time it took to get us all ready. I bet adding me and the babies into the mix added on 3 extra hours of packing and loading. But we all tried to be patient to go on a fun family excursion and survived that day. Thursday night at the condo, after being there for only about an hour or so, the babies started to cry...

Bella had a runny nose, and Eden started coughing repetitively. We struggled to manage it, but we were stuck in a condo that hadn't been remodeled since the 70's (I'm not sure if the carpets had beed cleaned since then, either), trying to figure out where to put three baby playpens along with trying to keep Bella contained. Not to mention that we were on the third floor--stairs, of course. Balcony as well. The boys were excited because there were bunkbeds, but did I mention it was hot with no A/C? Needless to say, I slept very little that night. Between Eden coughing and Hannah awakening with a runny nose and not being able to breathe, to Bella awakening in the middle of the night crying because she was in unfamiliar surroundings, I think my longest stretch of sleep was 2 hours. Fortunately my boys are big enough to go out on the lake with grandpa and not with mom and dad, so they headed out Friday morning while I got the girls their morning bottles and changed them all, etc.

The next issue? They couldn't fall asleep anywhere! On top of not feeling well, they'd cry and cry because they didn't know where they were and there was nowhere for them to stretch out and play. I'm sure they weren't reacting to my stress...so I was able to get Hannah to sleep but it took her entire naptime to get Eden and Bella to nap--Eden finally zonked in my arm on the couch and Bella face down on a blanket on the floor. And Hannah awakened.

Of course I didn't want her to awaken the other girls sleeping in the family room, so Hannah and I became prisoners of the bedroom. In the meantime Dave came in to try to take a nap. That didn't work so hot. Dave's mom came over around 1 p.m. to give us a break. Of course the girls were still freaking out to be in unfamiliar surroundings, so they wouldn't eat from anyone but me. (I'm sure they were also having discomfort at eating--I think they must have had earaches or headaches or something.) When I finished feeding them, I threw on my exercise clothes and went for a very LONG walk with my ipod. Thank goodness for that long walk.

By 4 p.m. the babies were still whining and crying and Dave was delirious so I took the babies for a walk in the stroller. This was the calm hour of the day. They enjoyed it and even dozed for a bit. Of course I was roasting but I didn't mind because they had finally calmed down. When I got back an hour and a half later, Dave was awake, Hannah was crying, and Dave asked what I thought about packing up and heading home? Why on earth did I cave to the desire to not be a party pooper in the first place??? Had I stayed home Dave and boys could have had a glorious day golfing, boating, mini-golfing, swimming, etc....

Well, hindsight is 20/20, right? I took the babies to the pool with Ben. Note to other future triplet moms...taking three babies swimming by yourself doesn't really work AT ALL. But I needed to do something to kill time while Dave took Tyson on a last boating excursion, and the babies loved splashing in the water, even though they didn't love taking turns. When they all starting crying again in unison, I headed back to the condo and tried to get some dinner going. I felt so bad for the family next door who was probably wondering how many babies we could possibly have in our condo and why on earth were they crying so much. In fact, they were thinking, why on earth would anyone bring three babies to Bear Lake anyway??? Who is crazy enough to do that? (me, I would say...yes, I didn't want to spoil the party...) Dave returned and we started packing. After 3 more hours of babies screaming into the evening, we finally had the car loaded up and I hit the road at about 10:30 p.m. I convinced Dave to stay with our two younger boys so that the trip would not be completely IN VAIN! They could ride home with his parents today, Saturday. Tanner wasn't feeling well so he headed home with me. Fortunately the babies were able to crash in the car and finally relax, and when I laid them into bed at 2 a.m. this morning, I think they were thrilled to see their cribs!

After unpacking the cooler and perishables and unloading the car, I finally fell into bed at 2:50 a.m., exhausted. Isn't it great that I proved that I'm not a party pooper?!!!

Note to self: Bear Lake is no vacation for 3 sick babies, or anyone associated or even within earshot of them! That was 36 of the most excruciating vacation hours I've ever spent!

8 months old

8 months old! We are SO BIG! (l-r Eden, Hannah, Bella)

You know that feeling when each day seems to drag on forever, but the accumulation of them adds up so quickly you have no idea where the time has gone? Well, my sweet triplets are now 8 MONTHS OLD!!! Somehow I have managed to keep them alive for 8 full months! They are getting more adorable every single day. Bella started crawling on July 5th, Eden cut the first tooth of them all on July 9th, Hannah's hair is getting longer, all three girls are sitting up, giggling, jibber-jabbering, and loving life! And I adore these sweet little babies.





The other night I had the opportunity to go on a gals' outing with my Tate gals (Dave's mom, sisters, and sis-in-law) and on our way home I asked them to share their recent life lessons . I love to ask this question of people and hear their responses. I am of the opinion that, as a rule, we spend way too much time talking about nothing and too little time talking about the important stuff. And if I am to learn from other people's experiences, it helps to know what they are learning from them! Anyhow, my sisters in law spoke about patience and learning to recognize the hand of the Lord in every aspect of their lives. Yup, that's good stuff. When they asked me, I had to reply that the past year of my life has been about COURAGE. The willingness to go forward into the dark and unknown. The willingness to not turn and run at the first signs of struggle but to look ahead with trust in the Lord, knowing that He will certainly provide a way to walk or leap or run or whatever it takes to go through the trial. There have been countless times when I have heard the little voice inside my head shiver with fear at what lies ahead of me but somehow God has given me the COURAGE to move forward and keep going. My heavens, the pregnancy alone took more courage than I ever imagined I could muster. And you know what, I have adapted. People tell me daily that they cannot imagine how I do what I do. If anything, this experience has given me a great understanding of the human capacity to adapt to our circumstances. I admit that I desperately need the assistance that is given to me by my mom, and Dave's mom, and others who have shown up to help. In fact, I would be locked up in an asylum by now if not for all the help. But I have adapted. Yesterday I took the girls for a long walk in the triple jogger and a woman pulled over in front of us and got out of her car to admire the girls. She said, "I know that parents of multiples hate this, but I just HAVE to see your babies." In my mind I caught myself thinking, "Oh yeah, I AM a parent of multiples!" I know that it's unique to have triplets, but I'm just Julie and these are just my babies. I don't know if that makes sense, except to say that I forget that we are so unique to everyone else. Well, I'm beginning to ramble. And my 5 year old has been screaming for 30 minutes because he is so OVER-TIRED. My fault, should've put him to bed 3 hours ago. Isn't the first parenting mistake I've made, and most certainly won't be the last...

A recent addition to our home is a wall hanging that reads: "When you come to the end of everything you know...and the next step is into the darkness of the great unkown...you must believe one of two things: either you will step out onto firm ground or you will be taught to fly." I'm doing a little of both firm ground and learning to fly.

I encourage you to start to share your life lessons with others. And ask them to share theirs with you. It's nice to hear about each other's days and where we got our new shoes (I love shoes!), but so much more powerful to learn what life is teaching us. In the meantime, I will be here, with these cute 8 month olds, watching them giggle and grow, and facing the future with COURAGE!

FAMILY!!!

Woolstenhulme family in Provo, July 6, 2009 (Me and the kids are on the far right in the picture, the triplets are being blinded by the sun on the front row)

I seized the chance to take the kids down to Provo for a reunion of sorts with many of my family on my mom's side (Woolstenhulme). My uncle Steve (my mom's bro) and his family were here from Texas and Arizona for a baby blessing and summer reunion of their own and invited us all to join them. Strangely enough, my kids accompanied me without struggle and we all went down sans Dave, who was working, to meet at a park in Provo and we had such a great time! Many of my cousins had never seen the triplets and my kids had fun playing with some of their 2nd cousins. They even gathered together willingly for a family photo. WOW! It's amazing how much fun you can have when your kids cooperate. Maybe someday they'll realize how much more fun THEY have when they cooperate! They played catch and badminton, ate yummy food, played on the playground, and enjoyed a summer evening. I cannot begin to express how my heart sang when I looked over and saw my four older children playing badminton TOGETHER and laughing and having fun! For a minute I was wondering if aliens had descended and replaced my children with lookalikes who didn't know that my children like to fight with each other. Not to worry, once we got in the car for the 30 minute ride home, the children I know and love returned so they could enjoy bickering and "one-upping" each other quite loudly while arguing over the radio station and seating arrangements. Nonetheless, for a couple of hours, we were engrossed in family bliss!