This post is not directly related to a book I read several years ago by Michael J. Fox titled Lucky Man. It is, however indirectly related. The book is a good read and I think most people agree he is the kind of man most aspire to be.
I have to give a little background by saying it has been an emotional couple of weeks for Sarah & I. Sleep deprivation, long hours for Sarah at work, three teething toddlers, combined with some of the everyday stresses has put us both on the edge mentally and emotionally.
Anyway, we took the girls for dinner last night to The Outback, and similar to my grocery shoppingexcursion with the girls, dinner went VERY well. I will let Sarah tell the story, I just wanted to comment on a tiny piece of the evening.
While we were waiting to settle the bill (and for Anna to finish eating -what else is new), I was admiring my beautiful girls' smile and turn heads. I was feeling grateful for what I had in my life, but also, at the same time, sad for what I did not have - Abbey. It was a weird mix of emotion which I cannot put into words. Other patrons who were seated near us were paying their bills and going home - many stopping to say hello to the girls, make comments, or to simply smile.
An older gentlemen, walking with a cane, who was probably born a few years after my dad, stopped at the table to say hello. Before I continue, I must tell you that I believe older generations have a whole lot of wisdom to share. The gentleman looked me in the eye when he spoke to me. He smiled a smile that told me he had lived a fruitful life filled with all that life has to offer. With humility and pride, he briefly told me about his family. The entire time he was leaning over the table talking, the girls were looking at him - Em was kicking her legs as she does when she is excited, Allie dipping her fingers in ketchup and shyly turning her head away - Anna was being Anna with that "not a care in the world" smile.
Before the gentleman turned his back to join his wife of many years, he turned to me one more time. He then looked me in the eye and said "you are a lucky man". I knew exactly what he meant when he said that to me.
We had barely made it out of the parking lot before Sarah & I were in tears. That is because only Sarah & I know how this feels.
Maybe I am a lucky man.
A First.
I had a successful trip taking all three grils to the local Stop & Shop today by myself!
If you follow Sarah's blog (http://thegreatumbrellaheist.blogspot.com/), you know the last couple of weeks have not been too good in terms of sleep for the girls. So, this morning, when Sarah went back to get some additional sleep, I told her I may take the girls grocery shopping. Her reply, after giving one of those "why" looks, was "how"? "How" and "why" are questions Sarah & I ask each other quite often when it comes to things related to our girls.
The answer for how to bring two year-old triplets grocery shopping by youself is to find one of those shopping carts with a two-driver car attached to the front. Two in the front and the third sits in the shopping cart seat. The answer to "why" is that I wanted to help everyone keep thier sanity this morning. It would give Sarah a chance to get some shut-eye, give me the chance to get out and it would also help the girls by getting them out as well, especially given the teething situation.
Things could not have worked out better. For those non-mutliple parents, the trick to doing grocery shopping with triplets is to locate the shopping cart with the car in the parking lot so you do not have to concern yourself with trecking three little ones across a busy parking lot. I eyed one as I pulled in - it was sitting nicely in one of those cart corrals. Bingo! Next step, after loading them in the cart, is to give them a donut - check! The bonus would have been if I could have carried my coffee with me, but that was just not logistically possible.
With the exception of some semi-rough play between the drivers (Allie & Em), the girls were well behaved. They were actually singing Barney's "I love you" song at one point.
All in all in was quite a successful first.
If you follow Sarah's blog (http://thegreatumbrellaheist.blogspot.com/), you know the last couple of weeks have not been too good in terms of sleep for the girls. So, this morning, when Sarah went back to get some additional sleep, I told her I may take the girls grocery shopping. Her reply, after giving one of those "why" looks, was "how"? "How" and "why" are questions Sarah & I ask each other quite often when it comes to things related to our girls.
The answer for how to bring two year-old triplets grocery shopping by youself is to find one of those shopping carts with a two-driver car attached to the front. Two in the front and the third sits in the shopping cart seat. The answer to "why" is that I wanted to help everyone keep thier sanity this morning. It would give Sarah a chance to get some shut-eye, give me the chance to get out and it would also help the girls by getting them out as well, especially given the teething situation.
Things could not have worked out better. For those non-mutliple parents, the trick to doing grocery shopping with triplets is to locate the shopping cart with the car in the parking lot so you do not have to concern yourself with trecking three little ones across a busy parking lot. I eyed one as I pulled in - it was sitting nicely in one of those cart corrals. Bingo! Next step, after loading them in the cart, is to give them a donut - check! The bonus would have been if I could have carried my coffee with me, but that was just not logistically possible.
With the exception of some semi-rough play between the drivers (Allie & Em), the girls were well behaved. They were actually singing Barney's "I love you" song at one point.
All in all in was quite a successful first.
DOG DAY OF SUMMER
My day started at 1:15 am when Allie woke up crying. She kept crying/ whining so we went with plan A. Plan A didn't work so Sarah came in for plan B, which didn't work either. Anna and Em woke up at this point. Three crying toddlers at 1:45 am is not good.
Long story short is that I saw 2:15, 3:15, 4:15 and 5:30 on the clock. I got some sleep in between, but not much. 5:30 am = sun rise = Emily wakes up. (She ended up in bed with me sometime during our middle-of -the night fun.) Efforts to get Em to go back to sleep were futile so downstairs we went before 6:00 am to hang out, play and watch a little Barney. We actually ended up having some QT together, even though we were both exhausted.
It is 9:45 pm now and Allie finally went down about 1/2 hour ago. She is not having a good time - I think it may be molars? I just don't know. I mentioned to Sarah tonight maybe we need to get The Nanny over here. Are we doing something wrong or is it just teething? The girls just DO NOT go down easy.
I am going to have myself an ice cream treat and call it a day. Let's hope for a more restful night tonight.
Long story short is that I saw 2:15, 3:15, 4:15 and 5:30 on the clock. I got some sleep in between, but not much. 5:30 am = sun rise = Emily wakes up. (She ended up in bed with me sometime during our middle-of -the night fun.) Efforts to get Em to go back to sleep were futile so downstairs we went before 6:00 am to hang out, play and watch a little Barney. We actually ended up having some QT together, even though we were both exhausted.
It is 9:45 pm now and Allie finally went down about 1/2 hour ago. She is not having a good time - I think it may be molars? I just don't know. I mentioned to Sarah tonight maybe we need to get The Nanny over here. Are we doing something wrong or is it just teething? The girls just DO NOT go down easy.
I am going to have myself an ice cream treat and call it a day. Let's hope for a more restful night tonight.
I'm back.
I think I may give my blog a little life in the coming weeks. Things have slowed down a bit and will be until September and I feel the need to share some of what it is like raising our family.
Stay tuned.
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