Five Long Years...Five Short Years

Some days have seemed so long. When John was working 16 and I was home by myself functioning on NO sleep with three little ones I never thought the day would end. I kept reminding myself don't wish this time away.

We prayed for a baby for five years. Those five years were painful and sad, each month a struggle to go on. Friends and co-workers became pregnant and I was happy yet it always felt like salt on an already sore wound. Each trip to Walmart where I ran into a pregnant teenager felt as if God was simply mocking my pain. Everynight I would lay in bed and pray to God, just give us one healthy baby.

However in August of 2003 we found out that I was in the nurses words "REALLY PREGNANT". Within two weeks we found out that "REALLY PREGNANT" meant triplets. We were thrilled yet nervous, wondering how would we take care of three babies at once. ((People still ask me to this day how we do it)) Each day of the pregnancy was a rollercoaster. A triplet pregnancy is extremely high risk and each day that I carried those babies was a struggle. I began having contractions in November and was put on bed rest.

Bed rest sounds like a blast til someone actually has to do it. It's no wonder my kids love the Golden Girls because I watched it about 6 times a day while I was in the bed.

While I was pregnant we had two very sad things happen, Johns Grandma Reynolds passed away. She knew I was pregnant and having triplets but we didn't know what they were at that point. Days before my babies were born Johns Grandad Reynolds passed away. His Grandparents both meant the world to us. His Grandad couldn't believe I was going to be able to carry 3 babies and he was happy to know that there was two girls and one boy and his Great Grandson would be Richard McKinley.

On Feb 9 John went with me to the Doctor and we were given bad news. I had pre-eclampsia. This is a condition that affects the bloodpressure and also hurts the babies nutrition, I was then put into the hospital. After 2 days and receiving shots to strengthen their lungs we were told they would need to be born. They would be better off in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) because my body wasn't able to take care of them any longer.
They told us every bad thing that could happen with them being born at 29 weeks.

On Feb 11, Johns Grandfather's funeral was held. That same day his 3 Great Grandchildren were born via c-section. I swear that on his way to Heaven he gave Buddy his ears :). Many family members and friends were there. At 2:17 Payton Noelle was born weighing in at 2 lbs and 9 ounces. At 2:18 Rylee Gray was born weighing in at 2 lbs 5 ounces. At 2:19 Richard McKinley (buddy) was born weighing 1 lb 13 ounces. They were very small. They were put on respirators to help them breath.

Months of going to the NICU daily followed. Not being allowed to hold them. Not being able to see them whenever I wanted. Being 60 miles away at times. Those days passed slowly.

April finally came and the flowers at the hospital were all in bloom. When they were born there was snowy weather, it was hard to believe we had watched a season pass. The girls came home April 15 and we were delighted. Two weeks later little brother came home as well.

Those first few days are a blur. I'm pretty sure I have no memory of how we did it. We were the most tired we have ever been. We fed them every 4 hours for months and months to help them gain weight.

The first 2 years we mostly stayed home. Going out as you can imagine was a difficult task.

Once they were big enough to walk on their own and stay with us we started taking them places. One of the biggest reasons we wanted to have children would be to let them experience as many different places and things that they possibly could. We went on many trips and have done many awesome things.

All of a sudden they are five years old. They are still tiny for their age but are developmentally perfect. I am blessed that they are able to go to school and experience the chance to get an education. I loved school and I want them to as well.

The five years that we suffered waiting to have ONE BABY was a nightmare, I wouldn't wish it on anyone. The five years that we have had the opportunity to get to know these three perfect little people have flown by. I hope that I have instilled in them all the things that they need to know to be able to have a great first day. Parenthood is a blessing, it is a gift, and I thank God for each and every day that I have with them. Whether the days past slow or fast I just want them to be the best that they could have.

Day 3 Myrtle Beach 2009

The third day at the beach will go day in history as the day Buddy chased chickens at Dixie Stampede...........or moseyed behind them I should say with his hands in his pockets.

However before I get to that I must repeat the usual...out to the beach for sun and sand. The girls continued to enjoy boogie boarding and they are absolutely fearless of the ocean which is a little frightening to watch.

Ashly and I threw on our fancy dresses for some chicken chasing, pig racing, and an overall good time. The girls had their picture taken with the Dixie Stampede greeter which impressed them. Then we headed into the arena for some really good seats. We were cheering for the North...as Virginians I feel like we can swing both ways, lol. As soon as we were seated our server asked if Buddy would like to chase the chickens during the chicken race.......I immediately said YES! Then I went to work talking Buddy into it. He first said he didn't want to chase KITTENS.......I reiterated that they were CHICKENS. Then he was concerned about the dirt factor. I assured him that no matter what happened it would was out.

Then the show began and they started out by bringing us their yummy soup in the mug. For those of you who have never been Dixie Stampede = not having silverware. The soup is amazing.....so much so that we bought two bags of the mix to bring home. Then they give you a delicious cheddar biscuit, I can replicate these at home exactly. Next up was a chicken...not to chase but to eat. It's fun to sit there and pull apart a chicken with your bare hands, it's kind of dark in the arena so you don't worry about looking like a neanderthal. Then they give you a half of a seasoned baked potato. Once the main meal was over they brought on dessert, an apple pastry with icing. Then they bring out a scalding hot towel that can give you third degree burns if you don't let it cool off a bit before using it to wipe off your paws and face.

Ok, once the chowing was over Buddy and John went down for the chasing of the chickens. He walked out with the other children and the emcee asked his name....I waited with bated breath cause most times he says, " I don't care what you call me".......however he said Buddy, to my joy! So the kids were supposed to chase the chicken down to the other end of the arena.....apparently Buddy didn't get the memo on the chasing. He just leisurely wandered beside or behind the chicken, like he was out for a stroll. We were all screaming like maniacs, "GO BUDDY!!!!!!" In the end the North lost, but he got a medal which is what every kid wants anyway.

After Dixie, the men wanted to practice hitting some balls at the driving range. We enjoyed watching from the sidelines. Next we hit Captain Hooks Putt-Putt course, it's one of our usual spots. I hit four hole in ones however I still lost, I believe the score keeper (JOHN) may have played a part in my demise.

Then we hit the Krispy Kreme cause putt-putt makes you hungry!
Stay tuned folks, for the rest of the story!!!!!!

Day 2 Myrtle Beach 09

Well friends, day two of our vacation brought on a new realization; when it comes to hotels it's LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION! Our fine establishment just happened to be located directly beside Public Beach Access. Those are three words that this mother did not want to see!



Sunday at our "resort" wasn't quite as crowded as Saturday. However nothing about the cleanliness, parking, or pool situation changed. We all went down to the beach and enjoyed soaking up the sun. The girls had a blast on the boogie board, Buddy kept asking to go to the kiddie pool ((calling it the kiddie pool is a huge stretch.....it was about 4 feet wide and 4 feet long and had metal railing keeping your child out of the big pool)). John, John, Gary, and Kathy played some corn hole which attracted drunk dudes but we kept them at bay.



At poolside we noticed a sign that gave several warnings 1. In case of Emergency the phone is located across the street ((good to know if myself or my children gash their heads open I only need to walk a block to the phone)) 2. If you have been experiencing nausea or diarrheal (yes diarrheal) symptoms do not get in the pool. Well I had been experiencing nausea since we pulled our van into this place. However we crossed our fingers, closed our eyes, and jumped on in.



Later the same day, we threw on our clothes and went out on the town. We decided to eat at a place we had never heard of called Sticky Fingers. This decision was quite possibly the best one of the trip. We had the best waitress ever and the food was the best I've ever had. I highly recommend this place it's near the mall.



Speaking of the mall, after eating our super yummy meal we went to stimulate the economy. We walked around as usual, hit up the Dairy Queen, got Rylee's hair trimmed, and Gary (aka Manfriend) got one of those water massages. Buddy was worried that Gary was going to get his clothes wet. Always worried about the outfit!



After the mall we decided to ride around and go into EVERY nice hotel on the strip. John and I went into the lobby of every high end hotel to see if there was a vacancy................and there was not...........anywhere. The only thing that this did was make me see what I was missing out on!



Stay tuned more adventures to come.............

Myrtle Beach 2009 Day ONE!

After this vacation our family has made a unanimous decision that John will no longer be in charge of picking out the accomodations. I should have known when we pulled up to the hotel and he said, "Well it was nice when I came here as a kid," that it was NOT going to be a good time. Once he checked us in and we finally found a place to park ( which was NO easy feat) we went up to our room. The elevator had a noticeable stinch that seemed to change each day that we were there. Never was it a good smell....just a different weird smell. The room wasn't terrible however it was below my standards, I couldn't really see any visible signs of dirt of stains but I'm pretty sure it was just a blacklight away.

We looked around and just thought to ourselves, "it will be okay" we changed clothes and hit the beach. Of course the beach was fabulous....you've gotta work pretty hard to screw that up! The sand was good, the sun was hot, and the waves were fun. However, the time rolled around when a young voice called out, "can we go to the lazy river"? So, against my better judgement Ashly and I took the three little darlings to the lazy river. (( Did I mention that my sister in law, Ashly, is 8 months pregnant? She was a trooper the whole trip and never complained....ok so she might have had some complaints....but she didn't voice them. ))

Now when I envision a lazy river, I see myself leisurely floating in a tube, not a care in the world. My children floating independently in their own tubes laughing with glee and enjoying the independence of just hanging out in a fake river. THIS IS NOT WHAT HAPPENED!!!!!!
There were masses, and I mean masses of people. Apparently all of the people had kids who they just let run amuck around the place and about 100 of them were in the lazy river. They weren't floating in the river they were acting like maniacs. Within about 20 seconds in the "lazy river" Ashly and I decided that it wasn't for us. This experience cemented my idea that I wasn't staying in this establishment.

After showering in the shower that made me feel like I needed another shower, we went out for dinner. We headed to Broadway at the Beach and ate at a place called Tripps. This was our first visit there and the food was good, however the waiter was clearly distracted by something else. He had no interest in things like bringing out the food or refilling our tiny little cups. All in all, we seemed to have alot of complaints about our first day. Don't get me wrong I was grateful to be there and I love spending time with family but it's nice to be pampered.

I really am happy that my children are lucky enough to be able to travel and have fun in new places. Ok Myrtle Beach isn't a new place for them to visit but the Boardwalk Hotel was a lesson in where you DON"T want to visit, lol! This is their fourth year visiting Myrtle and it's amazing the the things that they remember. Tomorrow I will try to update the rest of the vacation days. It was a little hard to update the blog in our fancy hotel, they probably thought WIFI was some sort of question.

Suddenly I see

Suddenly I see how annoying whistling can be. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled that my children are able to learn things and seem to be musically inclined but whistling has it's time and place. When we go into 3 or 4 stores and my child whistles and then I'm like "STOP IT!!!!!!!!!!!" then there is some store clerk giving me the evil eye. Then I wonder to myself....are they giving me the evil eye because my child is whistling or because they think I'm being hateful to my whistler. And that same store clerk doesn't realize that the whistling has been going on for the past 3 or 4 stores. To the right you will see a picture of the alleged perpetrator....otherwise known as "whistling Payton."

I have also come to realize that Harry Potter movies may truly be for an older set of children. Buddy is walking around with an unsharepened pencil using it as his wand. He even used it in the van and was convincing the girls that he was making the stop lights change to green. They have also been calling me a muggle...which for you who don't have the Harry Potter priviledge means that I don't have any magical powers. It's a good thing I don't have any magical powers...I'm not sure what I would do but my first order of duty would be a spell that makes lumber turn into a deck.

Ok, I'm going for now, this place is in a state of array. Hope you enjoyed and stay tuned for the rest of the story!

Starting Over..Again

I find it humorous that I think I have time to write a blog. What makes it more obvious that I DO NOT have time to do this is that fact that I sit here typing at 1:30 in the morning. Beside me lies my boyfriend. Now, don't fret, Tiffany has not lost her mind. It's my five year old significant other who is currently sporting a stylish pair of footed pajamas. ((SIDE NOTE: I'm a little worried about how much he enjoys his footed pjs and fear he could be a freshman in college walking to the communal bathroom in his footed pjs)) I'm also washing clothes and trying to maintain the neatness that my husband somehow created in this house while I was gone.

Sorry about that, my mind does seems to wonder at times. Speaking of the craziness in me being awake at this hour I'm embarrassed to say that I am also watching Big Brother After Dark. Only people who are a fan of this show could understand how you can sit and watch strangers sit and talk for 3 hours straight. Clearly a reality show where you sit around and talk, eat, sleep, and once in a while play a little game is the only type of reality show I could participate in. Well maybe not, these shows have standards. I have no silicone in my body....unfortunately for John. I must be able to have access to a television.....these people have NO entertainment....wait they do have the girls with the silicone, so I guess they do have entertainment.
So seriously I'm going to try and write a blog a couple of times a week. Whether it's just to rant and rave (( I'm a complainer, if your going to read this, get used to it)), tell funny stories about my children (( Yes, I am one of those parents who think that their children are the only ones who say things that are humorous)), or just to post my thoughts in general. I am very opionated and nothing I ever say will be meant to offend. Always remember that I am thankful for everything that I have! So with every complaint that I ever make there were and still are a thousand prayers that I prayed in order to be where I am now. Anyway, enjoy and I can't wait to see if anyone reads this. Please give me feedback, I love positive reinforcement and making sure that I am being entertaining and making you laugh will inspire me to write more often.
For the ending of my first note I will share some Buddy-isms. At his Aunt Ashly's house he recently asked her if she would be going to her baby shower naked.
When I returned from my beach trip, he immediately asked what I brought him. I told him to chill out and I'd show him in a minute. Instead, he dug into one of my bags (the snack bag from the hotel room) and found the Better Cheddars. He pulled the half eaten box out and yelled "Hey sissy's she got me Better Cheddars". His face was priceless when he found the bag opened and the contents half gone.
The girls on the other hand were thrilled to find that I had bought them each their own Bath and Body Works Foam Hand Sanitizer. Which Rylee calls "HANATIZER". I may have scarred my children for life by constantly de-germing them.
Ok, I'm out for now. I'm going to cary this small child to bed. Sheesh I jinxed myself, Payton just strolled in. I wouldn't believe it if I didn't see it myself.

Disney Vacation Day 1

Sat, Feb 28, 2009We...I mean I, got up at 4:30 and got the troops prepared to go. I was hoping that they would stay asleep and just be carried to van peacefully, no luck with that. All three of them woke up and were geared up for the trip ahead. Five minutes into our trip, Buddy was the first to voice those dreadful words..."Are we there yet?" I knew we were in trouble at this point.

John drove the first part of the trip, I assisted by sleeping quietly beside him...your welcome John! The kids took turns sleeping on and off. I woke up in North Carolina which was quite nice. Our first stop was a Burger King drive thru at about 9:30. As of this meal nothing has been spilt in the van.As we ventured thru NC the weather turned rough. There was quite a monsoon and we really couldn't go the speed limit but we still made pretty good time.

After watching Madagascar 2 and a couple short movies it was now time to take a stretch. 12:15 was the first time I heard the second set of dreadful words...."I need to use the bathroom". Don't get me wronrg I'm not cruel, I know they need to use the bathroom but when you are doing it multiple times it does get lengthy. The Octuplet mom is going to have some really fun times with that....Any we stopped at a rest station in SC, it was still raining a bit but we were able to stretch our legs.

The Professional Driver, and by that I mean John, decided that he would let me take the wheel at this point. I feel so honored. The rain slacked off, thankfully since he doesn't think I can drive in inclement weather. There was about a zillion miles of road work however it didn't seem to bother John, he was snoring.Now a couple of paragraphs ago I mentioned that Buddy said "Are we there yet?" Well multiple that by 100 and add to it the fact that he mixed that question up with others...."Are we at Disney?" "Where is our hotel?" "Mom, turn the radio down so I can ask you sometime." I'm loving this vacation already. The girls however, were as happy as could be. I made them a box with lots of goodies and it kept them busy as bees....Note to self.....next time put masking tape in Buddy's box.

OK, so at this point your asking yourself.....ARE WE THERE YET??? Well yes, sort of. We ended our day in Jacksonville at a Marriott. Had a yummy dinner at Cracker Barrel and then got our Facebook fix.I decided that I'm going to try and write a note each day to keep up with each days adventures. When I finish this I may try to write a blog, but I'm not sure my brain can handle that at this point. There are three five year olds jumping from one bed to another...I'm just trying to block it out.

Hope you enjoyed reading this, if not I don't care. I'm in Florida and it's 80 degrees...thats right I said 80.