Sometimes I'm Forced To Reflect. Not Sure I Like It.

Three babies were baptized this morning at our church, which means the odds of one of them crying were pretty good. One of them did and of course no one minded because it's such a wonderful thing to watch (we're water sprinklers, by the way, no dunking or pouring). It's wonderful to say "amen" when the congregation is asked to help raise these children.

Anyway, one of the babies did not enjoy the water part and, before the morning prayer which happened immediately after the baptism, one of our pastors commented and his words made me think. I don't especially like that; it's much simpler to breezily float through life. This is gist of what he said and apologies to Ben for the attempt (can't find the paper I wrote his words on).

We are like these infants here. They have no idea what just happened, just that water was just put on their heads for apparently no reason. Sometimes it is a thunderstorm and sometimes it is a sprinkle and sometimes we cry because we don't see the blessing that is in it.

I need to see the rainy blessing more often. The days are rare when I don't feel some sprinkling of water and there are a lot of thunderstorms, and my knee-jerk reaction is usually irritability. An example: Lizzy has a huge melon. Her pediatrician wanted to rule out anything (especially since her gross motor skills are behind the others), so we had an ultrasound on her head done a couple months ago. Several frustrating/rainy things happened:
1. It is not easy to find babysitting for 3 other kids during the day
2. The visit was, of course, during naptime = crabby child.
3. They were almost an hour behind schedule and they brought us back at the time I had told my sitter I would be home.
4. Lizzy screamed the entire time.
5. We were now VERY late to a birthday party for one of Ainsley's friends who did not live close by (we ended up being there for maybe 45 minutes and she loves, loves, loves going over there. It was not easy to leave.). I was on my second round of babysitting because I couldn't bring the crumbgobblers to a birthday party.

Everything was normal. The kid just has a big head and we hope she will grow into it someday.

So I was driving home, complaining to myself and God about what a waste of time it was, why did we have to go through a crappy day, why was it raining and cold, waah, waah, waah. Rain, rain, rain on my head. Then a brick smacked me broadside. I stopped. I felt sick because I realized I was whining about how my kid, my preemie, my sweet Lizzy (the biter), is healthy. All my kids are healthy. As far as we know, we're 4 for 4 and are crazy blessed (that word is so overused; I'm almost embarrassed to use it.). I had the audacity to be angry and I felt ill and ashamed because of it.

Solo deo gloria. Forever and ever.

Christmas Pics

Since it would have been a Sisyphean effort to get the crumbgobblers + Ainsley in one picture, we didn't even try. There's already too much self-inflicted frustration during the holidays and we weren't about to add more, at least not without several happy beverages. We did attempt individual pics though, and some turned out rather well. Too bad we can't photo shop everyone in together...maybe next year.

Ainsley

IV

Lizzy

Gracie

Merry Christmas!

Real Men Wear Princess Jewelry

You know your husband is one when he, with no coercion, agreed to play "Pretty, Pretty Princess" with Ainsley and me tonight. I did have to explain the rules a few times, though. It must have been too far into Girl-Land for his brain to compute. I wish I had a picture, but you will have to trust that he looked gorgeous in his necklace, earrings, ring, bracelet, and bejeweled crown. He did get to be the blue princess, therefore retaining an eensy-weensy bit of his masculinity.

Thank you, War Eagle Family, for the kids' presents. You are too generous with us.

Christmas Tree Solution/s

Remember our quandary? Success was achieved in two phases:

Phase One: Laird Circus style (makeshift)
Phase Two: What normal family whose young'uns are too small and numerous to police (and this one was suggested by an old friend).

The First Impenetrable Fortress (only because they couldn't figure it out - encouraging because it means we can still out-fox them).



The Second and More Aesthetic Line of Defense (I'm a little disappointed. Lizzy and IV only go up and give the cage and occasional shake. I thought for sure someone would climb it.)

You Know It's Time To...

...get rid of the exersaucer/bouncer thingy when you find your son doing this:



And then not two minutes later:


It was hard to loan it out. The little guy was so happy using it as some sort of newfangled gymnastics apparatus. Visions of ER visits successfully influenced our decision.

How 13 Month Olds Play Peek-A-Boo

It took us a bit to figure out what the girls were doing. We thought Lizzy was just tired or sad (sometimes she would even rest her head on her tray) and who knows about Gracie. The kid rarely covers her eyes during the game. If you're wondering about IV, he doesn't play. No worries, Ainsley was too cool for peek-a-boo, too.

Miss Lizzy. She would just randomly do this while they were eating...such a goofball.

Gracie. You can understand why it took a few days. It wasn't until she started flinging out her arms and occasionally getting one hand over an eye that we understood. Crazy girl.

A Helpful Hint

Please do not ask a parent of triplets if they:
a. used fertility
b. did in-vitro
c. had "help" (one of my favorites)
d. used medicine (what???)
e. did this "naturally" (another favorite)
f. were "surprised" (a back-door way to ask if fertility treatments were used)
g. there are more but I think the point has been made

I do not hide the fact that John and I did fertility treatments and I also do not mind if people automatically assume such. It just is not polite to ask. It requires me to provide a nice response to an invasive question, which goes against my horrible nature. It makes me want to ask about your sex life and your reproductive system so that you understand how incredibly rude you just were, even if you did not mean it and are just curious. It is okay to wonder if something as bizarre as triplets happened spontaneously (I do, too, when I see a set). It is not okay to open your mouth and have said wonder spew forth.

I would write more but then I would start sounding defensive and petty.

Deep breath...