Woolsey Family Chronicles

I experienced a Monday morning Mitz'vah today. I loaded all the kids up to take Ava to piano class. The little kids and I play in the park for about 45 minutes while Ava tries her hands at becoming the next Mozart. On the way home I thought I could really use a mocha from Starbucks, and it is the perfect Starbucks because there is a drive through, and because it is directly on my way home. I pulled up to the order speaker and Ava had already placed her Starbucks order with me – a vanilla milk – and then I realized I had not brought my purse. I told the Starbucks employee that I just realized I have no money to buy our drinks so I will just have to drive on through. Ava let out a long disappointed moan from the backseat. Then the Starbucks employee told me that I should just order whatever I want and they will take care of it. So, I ordered my mocha and Ava's vanilla milk but nothing for the little kids in the very back of the car. Well, now that they are two, they are pretty insistent on getting a little something from Starbucks as well when we are there. But since I didn't have any money to pay today, I thought I may be an imposition to order FOUR vanilla milks. Elsa was so angry about the fact that she didn't get a vanilla milk that she cried the entire rest of the way home. Oh well, Ava and I were pretty happy. Ava said, "that was the nicest thing anybody has done all day!" Thank you Starbucks for spotting me some cash for my coffee this morning!!

A few days ago my Triplet Connection magazine for higher order multiples came in the mail. It comes very sporadically and infrequently, but because I am part of this fairly small segment of the population of people who are raising triplets, I find the articles totally interesting.

Moms and dads share their stories of having and raising triplets and the ups and downs they experience as parent of higher order multiples. One article was written by a mom of triplets and an older child that are now all in college. She told her tragic story about when her older child was four and her triplets were two, and her 35 year old husband died of a massive heart attack in his car on the way to work. I couldn't even imagine how she survived each day by herself with all those little kids and the loss of her husband. It put my life in perspective.

In the back of the magazine there is this section called "Our Hearts Are With You" extending sympathy to the people around the world who have lost one or all of their triplets. It is heart wrenching. This section is always hard to read. Even with all of the information out there, while I was pregnant with the triplets I turned a blind eye to the many sad outcomes of triplet pregnancies. Today, as I read about the little tiny babies that didn't survive their multiple gestation, I was cuddling my precious 2 year old triplets on either side of me. I was thinking that even though I have had a rough couple of weeks managing all of these kids and have been pretty grumpy along the way, I have so much to be thankful for. My outcome could've been devastating like these families in The Triplet Connection. Again, my life was put in perspective.

Violet June made some big strides in speech therapy last week. She repeated almost every word the speech therapist asked her to. She did this for about 40 minutes until she because too tired of talking and then she would just shake her head when asked to say something. I am so proud of her.

Ava-ism:

"Mommy I want to have my own baby," Ava proclaims. "But you already have three babies and that is a lot more than a lot of kids have," I reply. "No, I want to have my own baby growing inside my belly," said Ava. "Oh, well you are too young to have your own baby in your tummy," I explained. "How about when I am 7?" "Nope, you will still be too young. Maybe when you are 25 or 30 you can have your own baby," I tell Ava. Ava processes this for a few. "Oh! I know why I can't have a baby when I am 7! Because I won't have any boobies yet and you need boobies to feed babies!"