Surprise!!

Another month has flown by and I can't believe we are approaching July! The triplets turned 7 months today and I can now finally say that life has become hard!!! I knew the honeymoon period would soon come to an end and it finally hit at the beginning of summer. I think partly because I now have all 5 children at home all day with me, even though we think of Ava and Emery as the "easy" ones, they are very typical 4 and 5 year old who still throw fits, require to be entertained and two extra mouths to feed!! As a typical mom I have tried to do it all by myself including taking all 5 to swim every morning,  nights by myself while Brian was out of town, run to Walmart for a good behavior gift for the girls,trip to the splash pad  and I even attempted taking the triplets to gymnastics. I was successful in doing it all, so it made me feel good that I could still do what I used to do and do it alone, but I will say I have been SUPER tired and my husband will say I have been a tad bit grumpy!So realizing that a very tired and grumpy wife and mom is not who I want to be for my family we are excited for our hired help starting next week! It will be very different by having someone other than family come help with the kids but I think it will be good for everyone!  I'm anxious to be able to spend more one on one time with the big girls, maybe take them to a movie, swimming or to a park. I am also looking forward to having some un interrupted editing time and even possibly sneaking in a nap!! I am sure I will still greet Brian at the door to handoff a baby or two but hopefully I can feel a tad bit more refreshed the next day.
I know I've said it before but I have to brag on Brian again, I am so thankful for him EVERYDAY. He has really done an awesome job of working hard all day, sometimes catching a 6:30 am flight to Houston and getting home around 7 or 8 and picking up right where I need him to by giving baths, feeding or putting the kids to bed. Not only has this been a big year for him personally but just last week he got promoted! So I couldn't be more proud as a wife to see that he works just as hard at home as he does at work. There are not too many husbands that encourage their wives to go out and enjoy themselves and they stay at home and tend to 5 kids! I picked a good one!!
Lastly, I'm sure many of you saw the picture of myself with the triplets at the airport. We had been keeping a big secret from my grandparents for months now. My nana, papa and Oma were all supposed to have flown in for Christmas to visit the triplets, but due to a terrible winter and sicknesses they weren't able to visit. So I decided to use all our SWA points and fly my mom, sister and the triplets up to Indiana to surprise them. So my cousin Lee and his wife Ame threw a couples Bridal Shower for my brother and fiancé and had the grandparents to attend. They arrived early so we could have a chance to sit down and chat before the guests arrived. This turned out to be one of the most amazing surprises that either grandparents had ever received! Nana started crying and Oma, well she didn't recognize us for a few minutes until we got closer. After a few seconds of taking it all in we all got hugs and kisses and several " I can't believe this" for the rest of the day. The shower was great and I am so glad Megan and Sean got some great gifts and had a wonderful day with friends and family. 
We had a quick but wonderful weekend.Thankful for three great traveling babies. The trip up there all three  fell asleep each leg of the trip. The flight attendants fell in love with them and gave them their own wings, held them while the flights changed and didn't want them to go. Of course we couldn't be quite as lucky on the ride home. We had two delays one in Indy and one in Atlanta along with an hour wait on the tarmac. But even through 9 hours of either at an airport or on a plane all three did great. Best traveler award, of course, goes to Annalee with a tie for second place of both the boys. They just couldn't fall asleep with so many faces to look at! It was so funny because Elijah was sooooo tired, but he would stretch his neck around the seat so he could lock eyes with the girl behind us and just give her the biggest smiles. We brought lots of people entertainment and lots of smiles that day! I am so thankful for happy travelers and can't wait once again to see where next month brings us! As you can tell, we never stop!

Half a year old!! Oh my!!!

What a very exciting month for our entire family!
First off Ava graduated preschool and is so ready for Kindergarten. She had a wonderful four years at Hosanna Lutheran preschool. The girls have both started  "swim team" in our neighborhood pool in which is not going as planned!! Ava our typically shy and timid one, jumped right in and absolutely LOVES the team. Emery, our typically outgoing daughter has cried every time we go. He haven't quite figured out what the issue is, but we are going to give it one more week!!


 Every month we continue to try new thing and have new "firsts". One which included our first trip to Sam's Club. Brian and I are not lettng anything hold us back being parents of five young children. We soon learned that we would HATE to be famous. We got a small dose of what it would be like. We had a ton of people stop and asks us questions, make comments and even take pictures. We mostly just smiled and said thank you to all the people who told is we were very blessed! It is nice getting them out and about and used to being in public- almost every time someone would talk to them ALL three would smile at them.

Another "first" this month was a family trip to the beach. We went to Orange Beach, which was a quick three hour drive. The babies did great and it was short enough that we were able to unpack the car and get settled in before the next feeding. The bigs girls were super excited about the trip and were counting down the days! They rode with Grandma Heidi on the way up because she had a DVD player and kept her company! Honestly going into the trip I knew that it would be a lot of work everyday and that it wouldn't be much of a vacation just a change of location! In some ways I was correct but in others it was truly a great vacation. At times Brian, my mom and I would take turns "relaxing" or playing with the big girls while the other two would tend to the babies if they were up. The last time I laid and did nothing was when I was near the end of my pregnancy, so to sit on the beach or by a pool and do absolutely NOTHING felt amazing. I'm so used to doing a million things a day and not stopping that getting five kids "beach ready" and going down and up from the beach really was not much different than what I do on a daily basis. 

We are so glad that we don't let anything stop us from doing what we would typically do on a daily basis and we mainly do it for the big girls. We want them to experience everything that they would have before. I have always tried to keep everything as routine as possible for them. One night Mom stayed home with the babies and we took the big girls out on "dates",they felt so special and it's great to spend alone time with them. They have been great big sisters and have transitioned so well.

This month has been so much fun watching all of them grow from newborns into real babies. I feel 5 months was such a turning point. The boys are rolling all over the place from front to back and pivoting allowing them to reach all their toys. Elijah is able to sit unassisted for a few seconds and hopefully Liam won't be too far behind. Annalee still prefers to stay on her back, but pivots as well to get to where she wants. Her latest trick is to stick her tongue out and blow raspberries! She is soooo easy going and we have been especially thankful for that considering the boys have been requiring a little bit more attention lately!! 

I can't wait to share what the summer brings!!! We have a lot in store!!!