Happy Thanksgiving!!

On Thanksgiving morning I ran a half marathon (13.1 miles). Cecil and the kids were at the finish line to cheer me on. I ran into my good friend Kim (to my right) who ran most of the way with me (Thanks Kim!). April ran too but she left me in the dust! The kids did not seem too impressed with the whole race atmosphere.

Princess Ella

Helen loves to pull her socks off and then crawl around with her sock in her mouth

Ella is still trying to fit through the gap in the stairs

The kids "helped" me fold laundry. Surprisingly, Ella did not mind being stuck in the clothes hamper

She crawled into the laundry basket by herself and was happy to sit there

Alex is starting to push the cart across the room and "walk" too!

The kids have a great time pulling on Daddy's retractable ID badge on his uniform

Grandma and Grandpa came for Thanksgiving!! Alex is a little giddy at seeing someone who looks just like him.

Grandma reading a First Thanksgiving book to Alex

Grandma and her Thanksgiving blessings

Helping Grandpa carve the turkey

Mommy's first Thanksgiving dinner turned out OK!

Alex ate almost as much as Grandpa

Ella had a good time keeping Grandma on her toes

Helen liked the turkey

Countdown to the Big Birthday

Ella is "walking"!!!! She cannot walk by herself yet but I came home from work one day this week to find out that she had figured out how to push her little cart back and forth across the room. And I can hold her hands and she'll walk across the room. Looks like she will be the first walker, but I'm still not encouraging it!

This weekend we went up to Cecil's grandmother's in Georgia for a visit. With no baby gates and lots of fun stuff that is usually out of reach, the kids had a great time (and kept daddy and I constantly running from one imminent disaster to another). Here's Alex playing under the table with the chairs.

Daddy and Helen

Grandmother reading a book to Ella

Back home, the three starving children crying at the gate to be fed (the last feeding of the day is always a rough one - very little patience left by then)

Happy Alex

Daddy and Helen snuggled up

"Hey Ella, are you going to finish that bottle??" Alex hovers waiting to see if there might be some leftovers he can snatch up.

The girls, Ella and Helen, have to be right up in front of the TV when they watch Baby Einstein. I'm constantly pulling them back to a decent distance and trying to hold them down to keep them there.

Not Alex, I can plant him down and put on Baby Einstein and he does not budge.

Grandmother and Ella on the porch swing

It has been a busy week with lots going on for us. It was really nice to get away to Georgia for a few days and relax. The kids did great on the trip and had lots of fun destroying, um, exploring a new house. Now we are getting ready for Thanksgiving - Grandma and Grandpa are coming down from Ohio - and our big 1st birthday on Saturday!! I ordered the cake from the grocery store this week and asked if they still did a free cake for the first birthday. She said sure, then I asked if they could do THREE free cakes. She just looked at me and then said, "You have TRIPLETS??" She kept going on and on about how amazing that is and asking to see pictures. Then she starts annoucing that I have triplets to the other people waiting in line and to the other employees. It was a little embarrassing...but I did get three free 1st birthday cakes :) I'm anxious to see what the kids do with them next weekend. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I know we have an enormous amount to be thankful for this year.

Mommy is gone....again

Helen does not have much hair, but she has enough for a mohawk :)

This weekend I had to go out of town again for a conference. Hopefully this will be the last one for a long time - I'm tired of travelling and being away from the kids and Cecil. But the good thing about the trip was that I got to go back to Bloomington, Indiana where I went to law school and see my good friend Robyn who lives there. Here I am at my law school in front of the trophy case - they still have the trophy in there that my partner and I won at a moot court competition!

While I was gone, Daddy was flying solo - but not really because he had to work all weekend too. So cousin April and Aunt Wanda came to the rescue. Here's Aunt Wanda with the kids - Ella, Alex, and Helen

Helen giving Ella a run for her money for a change. "What? Isn't this what the ears are for?" -- Helen

"Why is everyone laughing at me?? What am I missing??" -- Ella It is getting cold enough for hats and these kids definitely need them. Their hair is still coming in very slowly. Ella is growing a baby mullet - short on top and growing long in the back. We think we might have to start trimming it soon if she does not start growing more hair on top.

Alex is trying out the scooter

Everyone survived just fine while I was away but I really missed everyone. I'm looking forward to getting to spend lots of time with them over the holidays. Daddy did great being in charge too. He even had to come home from work early on Sunday when I missed my connection in Atlanta....again. It is good to be home and even better that everyone is healthy again!

Our first trip to the Emergency Room

It has been a very long week. Ella generously passed along her virus to her brother and sister...and parents. On Monday, Alex was coughing so bad that he went in to see the doctor. She said it just had to run its course. By then, Helen was getting sick too but was not too bad. By Tuesday, she was starting to wheeze - which the doctor had warned me about and meant that she might be having trouble breathing. So on my way home from work on Tuesday, I called the doctor and she told me to take Helen to the emergency room. So I went home, packed her up and our nanny had to stay late until Cecil got home. This was my first trip to the ER and it was quite an experience. I have a friend who is an ER doctor at the children's hospital so I called her on the way to see what I should expect. She told me to be ready for a 4-5 hour wait. Yeah.

When I got there, I was not sure where to go and where to check in. Another mom who clearly knew the drill told me where to sign in and wait. Then I looked around and saw a lot of parents and kids who looked like coming the ER was a regular occurence. Some of the kids were special needs and looked like they often had medical problems. Some of the parents looked like they did not have health insurance and that this is what they have to do when someone gets sick. Thankfully we did not have to wait too long. We were seen by a doctor within an hour and he said Helen did have some wheezing but it was not too bad. They did a chest xray to be safe and that came back clear. I have to think that the only reason we got out of there in a few hours was because my friend called ahead for us and asked them to take care of us. We are very very lucky to have such a good experience and that nothing more serious was wrong. Here's Helen in the ER in her baby hospital gown. She had a great time - smiling and laughing with everyone.

Helen playing peek a boo on the climbing castle we bought them for their birthday (it's an early birthday present but we figured they don't know how to read a calendar yet and we want to get our money's worth out of it!)

Mommy playing the See and Say for everyone - they love the animal sounds

The view from walking up the stairs

Alex and Daddy hanging out on the couch for the Gator's game

By the end of the week, everyone was feeling better and we thought we had survived another triple illness. On Sunday afternoon, we were heading to our church's fall festival. The kids were eating their bottles on the way there when Alex suddenly uh, revisted his lunch...all over himself and his car seat. There was not much we could do except turn around and hose him and his car seat off when we got home. We also discovered when we got home that Helen had had a blow out in her diaper. So everyone got a bath. We had a sneaky suspsicion that something might be going on. Add to that Cecil and I who were not feeling so good either. Then on Monday the kids had their first dentist appointment (I know it sounds ridiculous to take kids so young to the dentist but they said they should go as soon as they get their first teeth. Who am I to argue??). All of their teeth are doing fine but on the way home, Alex had another "incident" in his car seat again. Did I mention that this time I was hurrying to get to work in time for class? Hurry home and another round of baths and hosing off the car seat. The poor little guy is still not feeling well but hopefully he is getting better. Cecil is doing worse and is quarantined from the kids. Thankfully the mom gene has kicked in and I seem to be getting better. Let's just hope we don't keep passing this back and forth and never get rid of it!!

Happy Halloween/ 11 months

Helen and Ella getting ready for their 11 month birthday

Ella and Helen playing

Alex is happy that his sisters are leaving him alone for the moment

Grandma gave new Halloween books to the kids - here's Helen touching the furry black cat

Grandma reading to her grandchildren

We took the kids with us when I had to get my hair cut this week. Helen wanted to be near me the whole time so she came with me to get my hair washed

Ella was not feeling well and was happy to stay in the stroller and not contaminate everyone

Grandma and Helen once Helen was willing to let me out of her sight

Ella wanted to check out the scene from the chair

Happy Halloween! Helen was a butterfly

Count Alex was a vampire (I tried to explain to him that vampires don't generally smile but he did not quite get it)

The butterfly in retreat

It was really hard to get the three of them to sit still all at the same time

Ready to go trick or treating! (Finally Alex is practicing his menacing look)

Even vampires need a break from their capes every now and then

Our beautiful butterfly

Ella was a ballerina - and she was on the move

Alex and Ella getting ready to go trick or treating

Once again our plans for this weekend got changed at the last minute. We were planning to go to Panama City Beach for the weekend and watch several of our good friends race in Ironman Florida (I've done the race once and Cecil has done it three times so it has a special place in our hearts - it is a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and 26.2 mile run. It is a huge undertaking so we wanted to be there to give our support for our friends). Early in the week Ella started getting the sniffles and it got worse as the week went on. I took her to the doctor on Thursday and it looked to be a bad cold. We decided not to try to travel with one sick kid and most likely another two on the way. Sure enough, by Saturday, Alex and Helen were sneezing and had runny noses too. Three babies are a blessing but when they are all three sick at the same time, it is hard to remember that!

Less than one month to go until their first birthday. I keep thinking back to a year ago at this time and what life was like then. Cecil was already in Kansas at Ft. Riley and my friend Chace had moved in with me to keep an eye on me. I was pretty much homebound except for going to the doctor. I was 7 months pregnant but measured like I was ready to pop at any moment. Last Halloween I managed to sit on the front porch and hand out candy for about half an hour before I was too tired to sit any longer. And even though it was about 70 degrees outside, I was sweating and needed my nice cool climate controlled house. Cecil and I thought how fun it would be to paint a big pumpkin on my belly and plant me on the front porch for Halloween. But when the day actually rolled around, just the thought of getting the paint from the store was exhausting. I'm pretty sure I was in bed by 8:00 on Halloween last year :)

This year we took the kids around the neighborhood for their first Halloween. I think they all were adorable but there is something about Alex in that cape that puts me over the top. The kids were a little disappointed that more people did not give out Cheerios, but they certainly got a lot of attention on the couple of streets we went down. Next year will be even more fun when we can teach them how to say trick or treat.