Tripletville Adventures : Where do I begin...

...I'm seeing so many posts of people who are saying how thankful for all the wonderful things in their lives and when I start thinking about what I have to be thankful for, my mind almost blows up... I'm going to try to list those that are most important to mention:

Firstly, I am thankful for my amazingly beautiful, intelligent, clever and loved beyond words children. For Zachary, I am thankful for his dramatic view of the world as even though it may be silly right now, I believe it will turn him into a deeply emotionally driven person like his mom and I haven't turned out too bad. I mean yeah, I cry at commercials and at cute old couples kissing, but still, living through your heart isn't the worst way to live. For Samuel, I am thankful for his overall positive outlook of the world. He is not a hard baby to please and he is almost always happy. I hope he continues to live without a dark cloud over his head. For Jacob, I am thankful for his "no fear" way to live. This scares me sometimes as he may be a little too carefree and put himself in situations he may not see as dangerous. He may also be my world traveller who I'll never see as he'll be off living this or that adventure but since those are some of the things I wish I had done more of, I hope that it happens for him. I know that I'm reading a lot from my almost 11 month olds, but for now, that's what I see.

Secondly, I am thankful for my amazing husband without whom I couldn't handle this triplet mom life. He is my partner in crime and although we don't always see eye to eye, when it comes to our children, we're on the same page and that's an amazing feeling. I know that if, God forbid, something were to happen to me, the kids would be fine and they would be raised the way I envisioned; as empathic, generous, strong willed, intelligent and resourceful men. Thank you for being you and letting me be me. I know it's not always easy but we always find a way to make it work. Simply said, I love you.

I can't forget my formidable family without whom we would be lost... Mom... there is simply nothing that I could give you that would equal what you have given us in the last year... When I was down and out during my pregnancy you became my cleaner, cook, personal shopper and anything else I needed when Gab wasn't around. You were with me every day in the NICU while I went through the most emotionally hard period of my life. You moved in with us when the boys came home for a whole month putting your life on hold while we got used to the triplet life and you continue to be here for us day in and day out without ever expecting anything in return. Now that I know how deep a mother's love is, I can understand why you were there as I would do the same for my boys but you go above and beyond. The boys will be lucky to be so close to their grandmothers. Thank you simply isn't enough... Speaking of grandparents... my in-laws can't be looked over because they also have been here for us more than any grandparent normally would be. My father in law is here every single night after work and one of his favorite new things is taking the boys out for a walk after their supper every night. The boys love it, Gabe and I love it, and Pépère loves it. Mémère often works and can't be here as much as she can but whenever she can, she's here loving the crap out of the boys. They are the reason Gabe and I get to go out and be a couple every once in a while and for that, we thank you and our marriage thanks you. To my sister, as busy as you are, you always find the time to come give us a hand or come show some loving to your favorite nephews. You rarely show up without something in your hands to give me, whether it be a latte (yumm!), a box of diapers or some food. All of which are super appreciated! We love you all so much and know that our lives would have been much different had we not had the support you constantly provide. People often ask us: how do you do it? Our simple answer is often: our family.

To my friends near and far who have provided either emotional or materialistic support, we are also thankful. We know and realize that we are all busy with our own lives and the fact that you have taken the time to offer us any little thing you can shows us how truly lucky we are to have friends like we do. I don't have to mention those of you who have been there more than others, you know who you are and I hope you know how much I love you for that. Thank you.

Lastly, I can't forget my triplet mommas. You ladies rock! I have never actually met any of you but I feel like I know many of you on a personal level and you have gotten me through some pretty rough times and I'm so lucky you have been put in my life. This electronic age may be annoying to some, but to me, it gave me a new family. No one knows but us how difficult raising three little ones at the same time truly is but I know that I can always turn to you. To Sam... you are simply amazing and I don't know what I would do without you and I hope we can meet one day... Maybe flights between England and Canada will one day NOT cost an arm and a leg?? Thank you ladies xx

It has taken us an army to get us through these (almost) 11 months so thank you for being part of keeping us sane!

Alright, now that I've gotten my thanks out of the way, here is a tidbit of my week. My mom was away visiting our Campbellton family this week so I was mostly alone. Thankfully my in-laws were on vacation so there were there to help should anything get really ugly. Well Monday and Tuesday went great! We had our little routine and had our play time and had our wagon walk time and we went to the mall and all was swell and then Wednesday hit...

We were up at around 3:30 with Sam, who was in and out of his crib until 5:00 am, Gab took him at this point because I was so tired and I just needed to lay down for a while. Took him from Gab at 5:30ish because he had to get ready for work. He slept on me for about 45 mins and then I put him back in crib to do my morning routine. He cried for about 10 minutes and then passed out. I was going to let them all sleep in because Sam woke everyone up in the middle of the night. That really pissed off Jacob who we let CIO (cry) three times for 5 minutes and Zachary was just puzzled looking around and furiously sucking on his thumb. My sleeping in plan didn't work as 7:05 was their maximum (they normally get up at 7 haha). I changed 8 diapers by 9am, their morning nap was crap so I didn't have much of a chance to chill/nap myself. Got them up, gave them a snack and decided to go to the mall which was actually a great idea. Got home in time for lunch and of course they hated their nice Mexican bean soup lunch I slaved over (I actually just poured the can in the bullet and then nuked it) so they ended up eating peanut butter on a rice cake and a fruit pouch. Did three outfit changes as the rejected Mexican soup was all over their clothes. Nap #2 time HAS got to be better than the morning one because they're so tired right?? Wrong!! Sam went down right away. (Small blessings). Zachary would not stay down as he can't get down once he stands up in his crib so I must have gone in 6-7 times to lay him back down and of course, every time I went in, Jacob, who wasn't asleep, saw me and freaked out... Finally Jacob fell asleep and Zachary finally stayed down (he had no one left to talk to). This took about 35 minutes. Of course Sam had slept really well so he woke up 30 minutes after Zachary had finally given up and woke everyone up. My in-laws were here already waiting to take the boys for a drive so that I could get some rest (Big blessings). So off they go and into bed I get. I had kept my phone by me in case they called about the boys... I finally fell asleep when 9 short minutes later: brrrr brrrr brrrr.... I thought I had turned off my phone's text notifications but I guess the lowest it goes is vibrating which, seeing as I'm so popular (haha), just kept on vibrating (it was actually just Gabe). Oh well, I think it was the first time I was alone in my house without the boys or my husband being here so I was able to completely relax and just lounge in bed surfing the Internet for two full hours! I know I could have made better use of that time but I just didn't have the energy... if only I had had ice cream and wine... maybe wine ice cream? Does that exist?? The rest of the night went fairly well. Sam cried for about 15 minutes when we put him to bed, but seeing as he was happy as a clam before we put him to bed and didn't appear any sicker than his brothers (who were all leaking like hoses today), we let him cry. He is now sleeping, and I hope I get to sleep through my night.... Today made me realize that for Christmas, I would like a complete day alone in my house... Like wake up when I want to (which would probably still be 6:30 but it wouldn't be out of necessity), watch a whole season of whatever Netflix has to offer while eating cereal (or wine ice cream... seriously, let's make that a thing) in my bed... It's funny because a year ago, when I was couch ridden waiting for my miracles to make their appearance, I would have given anything to be able to jump out of bed and attack the day... Funny how things change... A change in reality has a huge impact on your perspective...

So Thursday rolls around and things were going swell... until I sat my fat behind to close to their baby jail mirror and break it... I quickly remove Zachary, who I had in my arms, out of harm's way. I turn around to get baby #2 and I see Jacob quickly going to inspect the new decor and I miss him by 1/2 a second... he sliced his finger open poor little buddy. So I get him out quickly and leave him in an exersaucer because I still have to get Samuel, who thankfully, doesn't much care about decor, out of there. I put Samuel in his exersaucer and take a bleeding Jacob into the kitchen to run some cold water on his finger to try and remove any glass that may have gotten into it. I then take a face cloth and start applying pressure. I'm still not panicking too much as I call Gab and ask him to come home to help me assess the situation. Poor little Zachary and Samuel had no clue what was going on and were both crying as I'm sure they could feel that something was different. Jacob, who hates being held unless he's sick, was not liking the fact that I was holding on tight to his finger and keeping him locked on me. He hadn't even cried yet and he was almost crying now, not because of the pain, but because he was angry that I wouldn't let him down. Gabe gets home and we call telecare to see what they think because neither of us knows what's an acceptable amount of blood for a small baby. They ask me way too many useless (to me) questions and she finally tells me to take him in to the ER just to be sure as he was still bleeding quite a bit after 20 minutes of pressure. We call my in-laws who rush over to take care of the other two boys and we head off to the hospital. It took about an hour of pressure for the blood to finally coagulate which is about the same amount of time it took to see the doctor who said there wasn't much to the wound and just put a bandaid on. Oh well, better to be safe than sorry right? Gabe was back at work within 2 hours and my in-laws and I were even able to make the boys' library play date (we were late but they still enjoyed it). Can't let a little cut keep us from fun! I had another feet appointment later that afternoon so my in-laws came back and took the boys to the mall while I went. Friday was pretty lame as compared to the other two days. My in-laws came back to take the boys after their afternoon nap so I went to Frenchy's to do some thrift shopping for the boys and then went off to my hair appointment. It was all in all a good interesting week!

Here are some pics :)