Triplets Turn 3!

November 5, 2011

Three years ago today I gave birth to three little girls who have turned my life upside down and carved out a place in my heart and I will never be the same again! Their arrival has brought me extremes I had never known: exhaustion, sleep deprivation, frustration, feeling of inadequacy, desperation, home upheaval, chaos, and exapsperation! Not to mention a myriad of physical woes aside from just... carrying them and delivering them. But in those very moments of upheaval, they also have stretched my heart, expanded my abilities as a mother, developed my sense of humor, and helped me to enjoy the moment. I've learned to recognize my angels, depend on others, find peace in my imperfection, and savor the tender mercies of the Lord. I am a better mother, friend, and human being because they came to be my daughters. And while it's challenging, messy, chaotic, and crazy most of the time, I feel more lavished by the love of God who knows better how to heal wounded souls with three precious little girls than I can explain. Who also knew that I would have more courage inside of me than I knew existed. Happy Birthday precious Hannah, Bella, and Eden! I am forever grateful to call you mine!

10 Years Old

Who remembers what it was like to be 10 years old? I don't remember much. I know I had a major crush on Matt Heninger. My 4th grade teacher was Mrs. Spackman. I remember liking her but I talked to a friend of mine a while back who remembers her as a crabby old hag. Hmmm. That was the summer I set some state records in swimming. I was tan from all the time outdoors. I traveled to Albequerque New Mexico for a track meet. Camille Woolley was my best friend. She's still one of my best friends!

Well, my sweet Tyson turns 10 today. Double digits. He's growing up! Really, really fast. He's awesome, you know?! He loves sports--mainly basketball and soccer. He started piano lessons in December and has taken off learning. He's a wonderful student, capable and applies himself! He is helpful, loves mowing the lawn (well, sometimes loves it), jumps right to it when his baby sisters are in harm's way, and is an incredible swimmer. His challenges??? He has picked up on the anxiety that Tanner has finally got a grip on. I think the past 2 years have taken their toll on him. He sometimes just needs to be home, and sometimes needs to be right by my side in order to feel okay. He's pretty sensitive--if a classmate says "shutup" or something to that effect he automatically thinks that person hates him. These things will someday bring him strength and growth but right now are causing him stress!

However, he's 10 and I'm so amazed that it has been 10 years since I pushed and delivered a cute 9 pound baby boy who was actually a little gray in color and ended up in the NICU for 6 days. Happy birthday, my little sports nut! I love you!

photo update

We LOVE getting out of the house, even if it means we re bundled up so much we can harly move!

We got rocking chairs for Christmas from Grandma Tate. We love them!

Mommy reads us stories and we love it so much. Of course Eden wants to turn ahead to the next page, or back to the other page, or look at the cover, or...

This is from our birthday. It was on November 5, 2009 and we turned one. We loved the cake and balloons. Bella was a little leery of having so many people over, but Eden loved it! The award for the messiest eater goes to Hannah, and the tidiest eater...Bella!

Time is flying. It just is. These girls are growing up so fast and even though it's wearing me out I can't believe how fast it's going. They now give each other luvs and kisses and clock each

other on the head with cups, or toothbrushes, or whatever they have in their hands. They also climb up onto my desk and throw everything off, but I'll survive it.

I'm exhausted much of the time. The days are long and often I find myself counting down the minutes until naptime or bedtime. There is laundry everywhere--some clean, some dirty, some in the washer, some in the dryer. There are toys everywhere and the kids rooms are disaster areas. The sink is full of dirty dishes and the dishwasher needs to be emptied to make room for the next load. Vacuuming needs to be done. There are beads in the carpet from the necklace my girls broke today. I need to organize my back patio. I need to wipe the fingerprints off the TV. I need sleep--my eyelids are droopy.

I still consider myself the luckiest mom. I wouldn't trade these precious children (all 7 are precious to me) for anything.

They Are 1!!!

The babies had their first birthday on Thursay, November 5! We made it through the first year! Now for the second year...

We had the family over for cake and ice cream. It's always so telling to see how babies react to their first cake. Surprisingly, our little sweet Hannah was the one to be the most aggressive cake-eater! And Bella, our adventurer, was as dainty as can be, picking little bites each time. We barely even had to wipe her face and wash her hands when she was done! And Eden, well, she loved the cake and was up past 10:00 p.m., wired from all the sugar. I could've predicted that.

Needless to say, I was completely exhausted by the time the party was over. In fact, I'm still pretty exhausted. Oh, wait a minute, maybe that's from my life, not just the party...